Om Beach to Cochin

God am I sorry I left Om beach (mind you Im not completely sure because Ronit told me that all the garass has dried up - which of course I dont believe) the beach was great and the living was easy. but I did leave Om Beach and now, after 6 days on the road I am in Cochin.

The first day from Om beach to mangalore was easy, good road and not too much traffic, using my trusty "lonely Planet " I ended up in a truly middle class hotel in the an obviously middle class town - from Mangalore to here I began to see the presence of an Indian middle class. After checking into the hotel I decided to go outside and check out the town and ran smack bang into the middle of some sort of fancy dress parade, very coulorful and musical and photogenic though I have no idea what it was in aid of.
What struck me most about Mangalore was the fact that for the first time since arriving in India I did not have to worry about stepping in cow shit, it seems to me that that makes a hell of a difference, I find it difficult to move into the 21st century if I am forced to manouvre around cow shit and have to stop on the highway, literal and figurative to wait for the cows to move. I dont wait for them to decide to move because they are cows and dont make decisions, they just move or dont.

Mangalore is biggish with many modern 'conveniences' such as a mall and.......oops, thats about it but still more madern than most. I did manage to get little boxes for my bike rack made by hand from scratch - perfect 18th centuary hi-tech. But beautiful work and fascinating to watch in the creating.

From Mangalore to Calicut where I spent christmas and ate shwarma, beefr shwarma, not up to israeli standards but beef shwarma nevertheless. Nothing to add about another large coeless city.

From Calicut to Thrussir, on the way, almost blocking the road i came upon a huge cattle market. I stopped the bike to take pictures and all around friendly farmers made way to let me through to get the best view. I esked whether the market was for racing bulls, due to the huge crowd, excited interest and good looks of the beast. But no, they were all going to be eaten! And indeed im many places in Kerala beef is on the menu though not always available. Thrissur itself nothing special (okay there is a chapter on culture in the town in the Lonely Planet but that is a bullshit book anyway) except for a beautiful church and an important temple off limits to forigners (shit, how do you spell that?).

from Thrissur to Cochin - Of course I looked it up in my trusty (ha!) lonely and they say that Fort Cochi is the coolest place in this city more than 1.3 miilion but only give the names of about 3 budget level guest houses and warn about the narrow winding streets etc.. So of course i took a room outside the fort. Then I went to the main area and was stunned, a roomy friendly town with guesthouses and homestays at reasonable prices all over town. I also bumped into Gali (from Hampi) who told me that Efrat and Yitzhaki (also from Hampi) were in town and I then took a room in there guest house/homestay and we are planning a new years eve BBQ (I have offered to make mashed potatoes - surprise!).

Cochin, for those who dont know was home to several tens of thousands of Jews who all emigrated to Israel in the 50s and 60s and they can now be found there playing cricket every weekend. There is a "Jew Town" here and a few synagogues so I am doing the jewish connection thing.

As soon asIi arrived here a young guy with a baby in his arms struck up a conversation with me and 20 minutes later I had grass in my pocket and a smile on my lips. I like Cochin and will spend a few days here waiting for my sister who arrives on the first for a 2 week holiday with me. Thank goodness she is bringing me de-caffe and shoresh sandals.