As soon as I started wandering around Fort Cochin the next afternoon I was immediately accosted by a rickshaw driver, this one offering to take me on a tour for an hour of all the sites for only 50 Rupees. I decided to take him up on it. I have to admit that he did a great job. First we stopped at the Santa Cruz Basilica, a church 500+yrs old built by the Portuguese, followed by a bit of driving and pointing things out, such as an old water tower. I noticed pretty quickly that he had a penchant for pointing out anything over 100+yrs old, no matter how obscure of run down, and then repeating and emphasizing the age. I finally caught on that I was supposed to be impressed by these old buildings, all the more so for the dilapidated ones (such as the big, rusty, tin shack that looked more like a garbage pile to me), and I started to ooh and ahh, which gave him a smile. Eventually we did end up at a small market down by the water where fishermen were still making use of giant 'Chinese fishing nets', although it looked like they were mainly successful in catching garbage and sewage than anything else. I'm still not sure why they are 'Chinese'.
From the fishing nets we went to a big warehouse/factory for ayurvedic medicines and treatments. In the main room there were big burlap sacks with material that looked like it was probably sold over the counter in scoopfuls. We also had a peek into the large store rooms further down the lane past more giant white sacks filled with who knows what. In these rooms were giant piles of everything from tree barks, to wax, to tar, shrubs, spices, sugar, etc...most of which I was told was for export to China for medicinal purposes.
Next we headed to another similar warehouse explicitly for drying, packing, and storing ginger for export. Here we saw massive piles of ginger being sorted by quality and spread out in long rows to dry in the sun and then put in large bags. I was told that 1KG of the best quality ginger there was 'very expensive' at 200Rupees...about $2.50. That wrapped up the 'official tour' but then of course came the 'shopping' which started with a tea and pickle store at the ginger warehouse (where I escaped buying only a little tea), followed by a giant shop where I was prodded toward buying gaudy jewelery and giant bronze scupltures but somehow managed to resist, and then on to a varitable strip-mall of spice and curio shops by which time I realized that all these stops gave my guide a chance to have tea with his buddies...and then we were done.
Photos: Cochin
From the fishing nets we went to a big warehouse/factory for ayurvedic medicines and treatments. In the main room there were big burlap sacks with material that looked like it was probably sold over the counter in scoopfuls. We also had a peek into the large store rooms further down the lane past more giant white sacks filled with who knows what. In these rooms were giant piles of everything from tree barks, to wax, to tar, shrubs, spices, sugar, etc...most of which I was told was for export to China for medicinal purposes.
Next we headed to another similar warehouse explicitly for drying, packing, and storing ginger for export. Here we saw massive piles of ginger being sorted by quality and spread out in long rows to dry in the sun and then put in large bags. I was told that 1KG of the best quality ginger there was 'very expensive' at 200Rupees...about $2.50. That wrapped up the 'official tour' but then of course came the 'shopping' which started with a tea and pickle store at the ginger warehouse (where I escaped buying only a little tea), followed by a giant shop where I was prodded toward buying gaudy jewelery and giant bronze scupltures but somehow managed to resist, and then on to a varitable strip-mall of spice and curio shops by which time I realized that all these stops gave my guide a chance to have tea with his buddies...and then we were done.
Photos: Cochin
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