After breakfast at our hotel in Fort Cochin, Joshi collected our bags in readiness for meeting us with the car at Ernakulam at 1pm
Ernakulam is a 20 mins journey by ferry (fare 5p) from Fort Cochin. It has a huge, lively market which we visited last year and wanted to experience again on this trip.
The Ferry
The market is mostly wholesale and is divided into sections specialising in fruit & veg, flowers, fabric & clothing, jewellery, household goods etc. There are dozens of porters there who carry sold items to waiting trucks and carts for delivery to retail stalls/outlets. They really do work hard and carry enormous loads on their heads (they wear padded head protectors)
The market traders are a lovely bunch and I guess much like market traders the world over - Del Boy characters. They were more than happy to pose for photos and have a laugh with us. We told them we were selecting characters for Bollywood movies which seemed to appeal to them. The only guys who don't join in the fun are the porters but I guess they can't afford to relax, time is money and they need to stay focussed.
OK ... so this one just made me giggle
The temperature was in the high 30s and we were wilting by lunchtime so we took refuge in a beer shop which had aircon.
The beer shops are very discreet. Simple signs saying BEER on doors to buildings which look derelict and which are very dimly lit inside .... I'm not sure if females are usually allowed into these dens of iniquity as I was the only woman in the place and the subject of great interest (lots of surreptitious glances my/our way). We were parked very close to the doors so we couldn't see into the depths of the beer cave . I'm a Mem Sahib ... and nobody challenged my right to be there (it really did feel like a speakeasy in the American prohibition days though).
Ernakulam is a 20 mins journey by ferry (fare 5p) from Fort Cochin. It has a huge, lively market which we visited last year and wanted to experience again on this trip.
The Ferry
The market is mostly wholesale and is divided into sections specialising in fruit & veg, flowers, fabric & clothing, jewellery, household goods etc. There are dozens of porters there who carry sold items to waiting trucks and carts for delivery to retail stalls/outlets. They really do work hard and carry enormous loads on their heads (they wear padded head protectors)
The market traders are a lovely bunch and I guess much like market traders the world over - Del Boy characters. They were more than happy to pose for photos and have a laugh with us. We told them we were selecting characters for Bollywood movies which seemed to appeal to them. The only guys who don't join in the fun are the porters but I guess they can't afford to relax, time is money and they need to stay focussed.
OK ... so this one just made me giggle
The temperature was in the high 30s and we were wilting by lunchtime so we took refuge in a beer shop which had aircon.
The beer shops are very discreet. Simple signs saying BEER on doors to buildings which look derelict and which are very dimly lit inside .... I'm not sure if females are usually allowed into these dens of iniquity as I was the only woman in the place and the subject of great interest (lots of surreptitious glances my/our way). We were parked very close to the doors so we couldn't see into the depths of the beer cave . I'm a Mem Sahib ... and nobody challenged my right to be there (it really did feel like a speakeasy in the American prohibition days though).
I love the food market, very Rick Stein xxx
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