kochi

we have been doing a good job of exploring indian food, although we have not even started sweets. our method is ordering things that we have never heard of, and for me, cannot pronounce. today for breakfast we went back to the krishna cafe, which is some of the best local food around here, and cheap! i had a donut that was made of potato and herbs. that's my best description.

tea is a lot of fun because it is always served in a steel cup resting in a steel dish. to cool off the tea you pour it back and forth between the two vessels, although you have to be careful because sometimes they are different volumes and the steel dish will spill over. so far the coffee here has been crazy sweet with a lot of milk.

yesterday we went to the touristy area and picked a restaurant out of desperation to get away from the heat. we sat on the roof of the place across the street from a giant catholic church. it was a lot of fun watching all the children in uniform walk out of there, pile 2 or 3 on a bike, and go home. we ordered french fries, vegetable fried rice (chinese), and two curries; it was weird but fine. service was not very good but we tipped because during our wait for our food the waiter/chef/host (only guy there) hopped on his scooter and went to the grocery store. we were one of two customers. at least the food did not make me sick, yet...

later we met up with two travelers who are also staying in the same place as us. they are coming down from nepal and going to thailand, and we are doing the opposite, so we went out to eat and swapped stories. we ate at this awesome vegetarian restaurant (about 50% of restaurants here are vegetarian) called the pumpkin, and it had awesome authentic indian food. it's silly to even mess with non-indian food here.

this photo was taken from sitting on the doorstep of our hotel; which we love. we find the people working here to be incredibly nice and helpful.

i understand why people worship cows; they are so peaceful. i see cows just standing in the middle of the narrow streets with cars, buses, and scooters zipping by on either side, and they could care less. these cows were just taking advantage of the shade, usually they hang out in groups of 2 or 3 but i see some on their own just wandering. there are also lots of goats which i believe are around simply to keep the grass short.

unfortunately we did not take the ferrari motorized rickshaw; we took the one that was more like a 1993 toyota corolla.

the photos cannot capture the heat of the sun. it is so hot here, and also humid. standing in the sun it feels well over 100 degrees, but in the shade its only mid 80s, i'm guessing. it's the kind of heat where you drink a liter or two of water and don't have to pee.

one of the biggest attractions where we are is this synagogue. the area has served a large jewish population that has been here for thousands of years. it is unbelievable how many religions are present in india.

tonight we are going to listen to some indian classical music at an 8 to 9 show after dinner. i am definitely looking forward to that.