Monday 14/11/05 – Fort Cochin

We wake to crow calls. The sun is already shining and, outside the air-conditioned paradise of our room, the air is thick with moisture. We breakfast, then walk around the shoreline towards Jew Town, the spice market and 16th-century synagogue. My sprained ankle throbs through its sports strap, while the locals stare, bemused and amused, at my telescopic walking pole.

We take creamy orange juice at a cool gallery café before walking on to Mattancherry Palace to see ancient murals gently fading into plaster walls, and a swing that's literally fit for a king. The tiredness comes again, this time with hunger, so we take a Tuk-Tuk back to the hotel and eat a thali meal with the crows. Then sleep and, after the blazing sun sets, a surreptitious beer by the Chinese fishing nets, served in elephant mugs to ward off policemen.

Dinner is a Mediterranean feast at the Courtyard hotel, then home with lightening guiding us through blackouts, for guava coulis and yoghurt mouse:
“the best dessert I have ever had,” – Lise Meyrick.

Next: Tuesday in Fort Cochin