Bangalore and Cochin!

We got an overnight train from Hampi last night and arrived in Bangalore at 6am this morning. We walked to the hotel had a shower and went to bed. After a few hours kip (you never really sleep well on trains), we set out to explore the delights of Bangalore. We got a rickshaw to the Government building, which is a large impressive building built in semi-colonial style. Across the road is the High Court and adjacent to that is the library, basically everything we need to set up shop properly. Bangalore is a very green city and as such has a large park in the centre, which is a great way to avoid the heat. Although its hot here, it was hotter in Hampi so we are appreciating the few degrees we have lost by travelling further south! We leave Bangalore early tomorrow morning to go to Cochin, so it really was a whistle stop tour of the city of boiled beans (literal translation apprently)....

We arrived fine in Cochin, its without a doubt the hottest place we have been to so far. Not only was it about 35 degrees but also the humidity was up around 60%, resulting in a very hot and sticky pair of travellers! We stayed across the water, so got a cheap ferry across to Fort Cochi for both the days (the more touristy area). We found the famous chinese fishing nets and sat and watched them being used for a while, whilst trying in vain to find some cool! We then had a walk around and found the oldest european church in India! Its a very pretty little church!We walked down the front and then got a rickshaw to Jew Town, to go and see the famous old synagogue, but we failed to realise it was friday afternoon, the sabbath, so it was closed unfortunatly! Nevertheless we had a plod around Jew Town (there are very few Jews left here now), before getting a Rickshaw back to Fort Cochi.

The first night in Cochin we nearly died of heat, we hardly slept! For the second night we had to succumb to the delights of air con (we have resisted so far, as the ceiling fans are quite effective), but i can safely say it was the best few quid we have spent so far!). The room was like a fridge by the morning!

Hope you are all well,
Lots of Love
Chris and Alex xxx