Cruising to Cochin ~ Our Gateway to India

The, already intense, early morning sun was a spotlight focused on the giant Chinese fishing nets that lined the waterway. A most striking sight to be sure, but not what we’d expected.

After all, we were in India.

The stillness allowed voices to carry from those on the fishing nets- distance and dialect making them indistinguishable – as our ship headed towards the cruise port.

Fishing nets - Cochin, India

It didn’t matter whether we could understand the words, as we consider these distant voices an unofficial call of welcome as we approach a port of call. And on this morning we were gliding to Cochin, our gateway to India.

Fishing nets believed introduced during the time of Kublai Khan - Cochin, India

Cochin, (Kochi, as it is more commonly called  there)  is often called “The Queen of the Arabian Sea”.

These slow-passing scenes that come with arrivals and departures are among our favorite parts of cruising. We find them far more interesting than the thud of an airplane’s wheels on the runway and the hustle through an unfamiliar airport.

Two weeks before, we’d set sail from Bangkok, Thailand en route to Istanbul, Turkey, a 34-day journey -- a Magic Carpet Ride -- aboard Oceania’s Nautica.  

We’d finished three languorous days at sea crossing the Bay of Bengal (the largest bay in the world) and passing Sri Lanka as we headed to Cochin, located on the southwestern tip of India.

We find that approaching and departing cruise ports is much like watching an old-fashioned photo slide show; a glimpse at how people live and work in the place (which is to us often more interesting than highly touted tourist attractions).

Sometimes like in the photo below, you see both the beauty and the not-so-beautiful side of places.

Garbage and Gondolas - Cochin, India

While we hovered at the ship’s railing not wanting to miss anything we noted  very few of our fellow passengers had gathered to watch this arrival. Maybe it wasn’t as fascinating to them as it was for us – this was our first glimpse of India!

Morning commute - Cochin, India

Of course, many of our fellow cruisers might might have been packing as a large group was traveling from Cochin to the Taj Mahal and wouldn’t return to the ship until four days later in Mumbai (as I’ve noted in earlier posts, the land options were many and varied with this cruise line).

A passing scene - Cochin, India

The passing scenes provided snapshots for us of the area’s history beginning with those giant Chinese fishing nets, called Cheenavala, and believed to have been introduced here by traders from the court of Chinese Ruler Kublai Khan (who reigned from 1260 to 1294)  to architecture reflecting both the influence of the Portuguese and British.

It all was a far cry from our preconceived notions of how India would look: a crush of people and traffic, rushing about dirty streets:  Why the water here was finally blue; not the murky polluted stuff we’d been sailing through in Southeast Asia!

Tourist boats line the waterway - Cochin, India

Our departure that evening provided the same sense of serenity – ferry passengers found our ship as interesting as we did theirs:

Ferries - Cochin, India

As we sailed past, we picked out places that we would like to explore in more detail on a future trip (yes, we’d love to return to this place that ranks the 6th best tourist destination in India):

Scenes of sail-away - Cochin, India

A day in Cochin was simply not long enough! We didn’t make it to the modern part of the city, and we’d not had enough time to explore the areas lining the waterways.  We’d spent our time visiting the city’s historic district; the one with a mix of ancient mosques, a 400-year-old synagogue and the remains of a once-flourishing Jewish community and bygone era structures influenced by both the Portuguese and British occupancy.

The TravelnWrite Duo Exploring Cochin, India - up close and personal in an autorickshaw

And we did it as any daring adventurers might: on our own as passengers aboard a teeny, tiny auto-rickshaw, (or tuk-tuk) pictured above. In our next post we’ll take you zipping along with us through the streets of Cochin! Hope to see you back again and until then, happy and safe travels~

Linking this week with:
Travel Photo Thursday – Budget Traveler’s Sandbox 
Our World Tuesday
Travel Inspiration – Reflections En Route
Mosaic Monday – Lavender Cottage Gardening
Mersad's Through My Lens
Photo Friday - Pierced Wonderings
Wordless Wednesday