My time at the Marriott ran out today at 12:00 PM. I made
sure to utilize the shower and room service before I left though. :) I took a
taxi over to a different part of Cochin, called Fort Kochi. It is nice and all but it's safe to say I am no where near brand new five star hotel land anymore. I’m
for sure back to normal India—complete with all its “normal” smells, heat and
bugs. In fact, I literally got 25-ish (I got a little confused over which ones
I had already counted by the time I got to 21) new mosquito bites in the first
hour of being here. Lovely eh?
I am doing a home stay arrangement here—but because I had to change my dates because of my surprise Marriott stay, I am in the overflow of the home stay housing. It is great though. I have a celling fan and my own room on the top of a local family's home. They are a Muslim family—and introduced themselves to me though out the day. They have sons living in Malaysia and Dubai, with some of the wives living in this house right now too. They also have a son who is a doctor. His wife is a dentist so I got to spend some time getting to know them too. The family lived many years in Kuwait, and I forget what the father of the family does but he is just as sweet at the rest of them. I have my own access to my room and my own keys, but it is nice to have a family around “watching” out for me too. I laid down for a few hours and then went out to do some exploring. This area is very tourist friendly, which has it’s pros and cons, but overall, I think I’m going to enjoy my time here. Especially because during the last 10 days of the year they have what is called the Cochin Carnival—meaning there are all sorts of decorations around town and different activities going on all day everyday so I’m sure I’ll find lots of things to entertain me. I stumbled upon this cool place called Santa Cruz Cathedral Basilica. I couldn't go in because they had just started a worship service, but the grounds were really pretty. It was originally built in 1505, and Im not sure if this building in the original or not but either was, its just a little old :). Notice the pink stars that are everywhere? They seem to be the standard Indian Christmas decoration--the stars that is, not necessarily just pink ones. I love them! I want to find some to bring home, but I keep finding the left overs of the season so that may not end up happening.
After wandering I went to the Kerala Kathakali Centre. I've heard of Kathakali before, but I didn’t know tons about it. Turns out it is REALLY freaking cool. Basically, Kathakali is a traditional Keralan dance form that consists of story telling through movement of the facial muscles and specifically the eyes. The performers move their arms and legs too, but they are not so much the focus. People spend 6-7 years learning the art of Kathakali dance. The night started out with the dancers putting on their make-up on stage. It is enough of a process that it was very entertaining and interesting to watch. They use traditional makeup methods using all natural herbs as well as intricately cut paper and special adhesive to create a 3D effect for some of the characters.
I am doing a home stay arrangement here—but because I had to change my dates because of my surprise Marriott stay, I am in the overflow of the home stay housing. It is great though. I have a celling fan and my own room on the top of a local family's home. They are a Muslim family—and introduced themselves to me though out the day. They have sons living in Malaysia and Dubai, with some of the wives living in this house right now too. They also have a son who is a doctor. His wife is a dentist so I got to spend some time getting to know them too. The family lived many years in Kuwait, and I forget what the father of the family does but he is just as sweet at the rest of them. I have my own access to my room and my own keys, but it is nice to have a family around “watching” out for me too. I laid down for a few hours and then went out to do some exploring. This area is very tourist friendly, which has it’s pros and cons, but overall, I think I’m going to enjoy my time here. Especially because during the last 10 days of the year they have what is called the Cochin Carnival—meaning there are all sorts of decorations around town and different activities going on all day everyday so I’m sure I’ll find lots of things to entertain me. I stumbled upon this cool place called Santa Cruz Cathedral Basilica. I couldn't go in because they had just started a worship service, but the grounds were really pretty. It was originally built in 1505, and Im not sure if this building in the original or not but either was, its just a little old :). Notice the pink stars that are everywhere? They seem to be the standard Indian Christmas decoration--the stars that is, not necessarily just pink ones. I love them! I want to find some to bring home, but I keep finding the left overs of the season so that may not end up happening.
After wandering I went to the Kerala Kathakali Centre. I've heard of Kathakali before, but I didn’t know tons about it. Turns out it is REALLY freaking cool. Basically, Kathakali is a traditional Keralan dance form that consists of story telling through movement of the facial muscles and specifically the eyes. The performers move their arms and legs too, but they are not so much the focus. People spend 6-7 years learning the art of Kathakali dance. The night started out with the dancers putting on their make-up on stage. It is enough of a process that it was very entertaining and interesting to watch. They use traditional makeup methods using all natural herbs as well as intricately cut paper and special adhesive to create a 3D effect for some of the characters.
After watching the makeup, they sent one character
out to do a demo. The guy leading the show would have the drums start to play
and then he would call out an emotion such as angry, scared (happy, sad,
surprised, etc.) and the character would contort his facial muscles and move
and/or blink his eyes in the correct way to depict that emotion. They also
showed how to do things in different contexts such a go as in “okay, you can go
now” vs go as in “get out” vs go as in “BE GONE! You are banished from this
place!" It seemed to me that Kathakali is almost a whole new (well not new, it has been around for a long long time but you know what I mean) language and form of communication.
After the demonstration, they put on the actual show for us. There was a good guy and a bad guy that ended up fighting--but only after the good guy had been given permission to do so. In the end, the good guy won (duh, of course he would win) and it was obvious that the bad guy had practiced a death scene or two (or 25) in his lifetime. Watching Kathakali is easily one of my favorite things I have done in India. It was absolutely fascinating.
After the show I found a yummy little pizza joint and took a bike ride down to see a big Christmas tree that was the talk of the town. Apparently part of carnival entails decorating a huge tree in town. This year the tree was near an ongoing carnival, flower and pet show. I didn’t see those things up close and personally but I for sure saw the tree. I met some guys who are in town to referee the soccer tournament that is scheduled to happen tomorrow. They were really nice. We took some pics but of course they didn’t turn out the best because, well that is just what happens when locals take pics. :) Oh and I snapped a few pics of locals upon their request. Capturing the culture is so much easier when the people invite you to document it.
PS: Kerala is a LOT hotter then Tamil Nadu right now.............hence my lovely shine.
One of the things Fort Kochi is known for is its religious diversity and I saw many evidences of that tonight. They are representations of Judaism, Hinduism, Christianity, Islamic, Jainism and Buddhism all around town. I secretly loved that the Christians had a lot of Christmas decorations up. It just made my heart happy.
It super bugs me that I can't change the orientation of this movie but here is a short little (sideways) clip. If you pay close attention to his face you will see a lot of little movements
After the demonstration, they put on the actual show for us. There was a good guy and a bad guy that ended up fighting--but only after the good guy had been given permission to do so. In the end, the good guy won (duh, of course he would win) and it was obvious that the bad guy had practiced a death scene or two (or 25) in his lifetime. Watching Kathakali is easily one of my favorite things I have done in India. It was absolutely fascinating.
After the show I found a yummy little pizza joint and took a bike ride down to see a big Christmas tree that was the talk of the town. Apparently part of carnival entails decorating a huge tree in town. This year the tree was near an ongoing carnival, flower and pet show. I didn’t see those things up close and personally but I for sure saw the tree. I met some guys who are in town to referee the soccer tournament that is scheduled to happen tomorrow. They were really nice. We took some pics but of course they didn’t turn out the best because, well that is just what happens when locals take pics. :) Oh and I snapped a few pics of locals upon their request. Capturing the culture is so much easier when the people invite you to document it.
PS: Kerala is a LOT hotter then Tamil Nadu right now.............hence my lovely shine.
One of the things Fort Kochi is known for is its religious diversity and I saw many evidences of that tonight. They are representations of Judaism, Hinduism, Christianity, Islamic, Jainism and Buddhism all around town. I secretly loved that the Christians had a lot of Christmas decorations up. It just made my heart happy.
