South India: Thekkady to Kochi

Macaques make attractive vermin, Periyar Tiger Reserve

Guides in the park are all recruited from a local tribe.

No tigers in sight..

This is probably bad for them. The macaques at the visitor centre aren

Morning cruise on Periyar lake. Eery atmosphere and some actual wildlife observed.

I

Not a highlight. They load the pil with tourists and have it walk around in circles.

At the pil washing station. I think the word &quot;pil&quot; should be used in all languages since it

Up high in Munnar in the Western Ghats,

Rare photo of our driver, Hussein

This is tea plantation land.

Echo Point, Munnar

Bite-size watermelon? I didn

Jesus is coming soon!

A tea supermarket

CSI Christ Church is over 100 years old.

We stopped at one of the many spice gardens.

Trying out the traditional irrigation method.

Safety first!

Driving into the city of Kochi / Cochin and straight into massive gridlock. Note the flag of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the largest political party in Kerala.

The Chinese fishing nets

17th century Dutch tombstone. The Dutch were the dominant colonial power in Kochi before the British took over.

Fish market at the port of Kochi. The catch can be grilled and served for you right there. Hygiene is a bit questionable.

A public auction. The fisherman dumps their catch on the mat, and bidding ensues.

Dad posing with the fishing nets. They are only viable as a tourist attraction these days.

From the port we sprinted to a kathakali performance, to the extent that you can

A visit to the train station

Many other places still have a separate

Some kind of Hindu religious festival. We popped in and stayed for a half hour. The noise from the drums and horns is almost unbearable.

Temple pilim. They don

Dana and dad inspect the proceedings from a discrete vantage point.

At the city laundry. The customers are mostly businesses - hotels and such. The workers belong to a tightly controlled guild.

Coal-fired iron

We found the pilim from the festival relaxing after work.

We took the ferry mostly for the ferry journey itself.

Dad was fascinated by people eating curry with their bare hands. They were usually happy to have their snack time immortalized. We were always given forks ourselves.

Taking a short break from India.. Our hotel rooftop in Kochi