Post #27

This blog entry is about a fabulous trip we made to Morocco when our daughter Gal was 18 months old. It is some time ago, but we had such a great trip and learned so much about traveling with kids that it has held us in good stead as she and our other kids have grown older.

Morocco is one of the most fascinating countries I have been to. Great architecture, friendly people, fascinating history and maybe best of all, wonderful food.

We flew into Casablanca on Royal Air Jordanian – perhaps not one of the world’s great airlines but not bad nevertheless. Immigration was friendly and impressive, with a huge marble waterfall right there in the immigration room. After that we connected with Royal Air Maroc to Fez.

From the moment we landed in Morocco people were enchanted with little Gal, from the airline staff to the immigration officials. In Fez we stayed at the venerable Palais Jamais, one of the oldest and perhaps the most famous hotels in the city. Our room was a last-minute cheapie and overlooked the parking lot but it didn’t matter. The hotel was a palace – ornate public areas, and the best gardens we have ever seen at any hotel, with countless fountains and little pools. We ate one evening in the hotel restaurant – a memorable meal, with the highlight being the pastilla – a sweet pastry appetizer made with pigeon. Gal slept through the whole evening in her stroller.

Fez is a city made for exploring – and not with a stroller. We had with us a baby backpack, and it was our saviour. The Old City of Fez is a World Heritage Site, and is the largest intact medieval old city in the world. Guides are plentiful and we felt necessary,  as it is easy to get lost in the little lanes that make up the old city. We saw the tanneries, one of the best known sites in Fez, and wandered around the markets. We ate one of the most fabulous dinners of our life in an old Riad ( townhouse ). The whole floor was scattered with rose petals, we rested on cushions, and ate fantastic Moroccan dishes including pastilla, couscous (Morocco’s staple food of semolina, meat and vegetables) and various tagines, the famous Moroccan stews of meat and fruit, named after the distinctive cooking dish. Gal ate couscous and then fell asleep amongst the cushions. 

In general, we found it a complete delight to travel with an 18 moth old – by nightfall she was tired and slept wherever we chose to eat dinner. By day she was the focus of attention of almost everyone we encountered, from the guides to the stall owners to the regular people in the street. Moroccans are generally welcoming and friendly to tourists, and all the more so to those traveling with young kids.

We took a day trip by train to the old imperial capital of Meknes and wandered around the great city walls, and then it was back to Fez again. The food continued to be a highlight of each day, and Gal was happy as can be eating couscous at every meal.

On day two we met Mustafa, a delightful young Moroccan who immediately became friends with Gal. Not surprisingly he offered to be our guide and since he and Gal were getting on so well we agreed. We hired him to take us to Sefrou - a day trip from Fez and a fine example of a non touristed Moroccan town with a great weekly market to boot. Sefrou had also once been predominantly Jewish, and this interested us as well. The visit was a great success, and Gal found plenty small kids pretty much her age to play with as well. All in all,  one of our best memories, mainly for the simple joy of seeing people going about their every day life in a non touristy environment, our great guide, and of course the fact that people were immediately attracted to Gal, who caused everybody to smile and become friends with us immediately.

From Fez we caught a flight to Ouarzazate- a nondescript city that acts as the gateway to the desert.  We went to the local zoo – very unlikely to appear in any tourist literature because as zoos go it was less than ordinary BUT Gal loved it and consequently so did we.  We have learned over the years that zoos and/or aquariums are great stops in any family holiday.

In Ourzazate we picked up our prebooked rental car- driving in Morocco can be challenging for a number of reasons – signage is in Arabic and French (not a problem for us as we do have basic French), and the mountain passes are high and the roads are narrow – you really need to be an experienced driver to feel comfortable crossing the mountains. We managed fine, though our single mistake was not taking our own car seat for Gal. The seat we hired from Avis was a disaster.  We worried most during our driving about her falling our of the seat, which happened every few hours. I would take a car seat next time!

Driving gave us complete freedom. We drove through the desert, stopping at various oases and villages such as Ait Benhaddou, which has become a film set. We slept in the little town of Zagora, surrounded by date palm groves and famous for silver smithing. Zagora has a huge sign at the outskirts pointing to the Sahara desert that shows how many days it would take to travel to Timbuktu by camel!

Driving through the Draa region we were amazed to learn that it is a huge center of rose petal cultivation and we stopped at stalls to smell the perfumes. Just incredible.

The food was consistently outstanding, and since Morocco was once a French possession, French bread is commonly available, as is La Vache Qui Rit (The Laughing Cow),  a brand of cheese imported from France that comes in triangular wedges that makes excellent sandwiches for kids tired of the local food! (Though it is true to say that Gal loved the loccal food and was happy to eat couscous every day!)

We drove to Marrakech via Telouet, home to one of the great Kasbahs (castles) of Morocco.  It is not old, dating back only about one hundred years, but it is a fabulous site, evidence of great wealth and power that lasted only a few short decades – the Kasbah is today slowly crumbling and is desolate. This is the High Atlas, Morocco’s great mountain chain and a site for fantastic  hiking. With Gal though, we decided against hiking and stuck to the cultural sites.

Marrakech is famous and we stayed in the Palmeraie, a suburb removed from the old city and home to some decent hotels. We’ll never forget the Jemaa el Fna, the main square of the city which comes alive at night with hundreds of food stalls offering anything from soup to whole sheep heads. We loved the atmosphere, ate at the stalls and saw amazing sites including snake charmers and circus performers. Marrakesh is beautiful and exotic and like the rest of Morocco, easy to visit and friendly.

We took a side trip to Essaouira, a few hours way and a world away from touristy Marrakesh. Essaouira is an old port city with a maze of streets, fortifications, a long windy beach and terrific accommodations. It is not a seaside resort though, and life is much more centered on fishing than any beach fun. We spent two great days  here, enjoying a very different slice of life.

Finally, after seventeen exotic and incredible days, we left Morocco. We only saw a small piece of the country, but it was enough to make it one of the greatest places we have ever visited. And traveling with Gal was a breeze – she was an easy child to travel with for sure, but our visit was so much richer because of her – people smiled and opened us to us as people and not as tourists, and that really made the experience so much more special.

Travel in Morocco is not difficult. Tourism is well-developed, food is healthy and good, people are friendly. Our accommodation was excellent across the board, and ranged from top class hotels to small two star establishments. Car hire worked for us, but others may be daunted by the conditions, and language.  If you know French, life will be a bit easier but like everywhere these days, as an English speaker you’ll do fine. And don’t even think twice about taking your kids – it’s a breeze!

Post #25

Siem Reap is a fun city to explore – it’s not big and the main road from the airport consists mainly of brand new big hotels to accommodate the millions visiting Angkor. The center of town itself is only a few roads, with the indoor market and the night market two of the big attractions.  We love markets, and so we looked forward to visiting  both.

The meat market in Siem Reap

We visited the night market on our second night in the city – an easy walk from the main drag of restaurants and pubs, the night market essentially caters to tourists but nevertheless was fun. Many stalls, with loads of handicrafts from across Cambodia. T Shirts for $2 seemed to be amongst the most popular. Fun, but hardly a quintessential experience.

The covered market was something else completely. This was Cambodian life in a microcosm – from meat stalls (with pig heads and other various body parts prominently displayed) to fruit, to rice, tea, clothes and everything else needed for daily life.  We love markets, and this ranked way up there as one of the more interesting , eye-opening glimpses of local life.  Not for everyone though – the meat displays especially were literally gut wrenchingly realistic. Still, the kids loved wandering between the stalls, watching daily life unfold.  Later, we took a rickshaw (powered by a small motorbike in Cambodia) back to the hotel – it must have taken our driver at least twenty minutes, driving through dark backstreets of the city. We did feel a bit nervous but it was totally unwarranted – our driver got us back to the hotel safely and in good time.

A bemused 7 year old - just what is one supposed to do with this?

Other than the market’s, Siem Reap offers little except for a hassle free view of Cambodian town life. Some boutiques catering to the tourists, a bookstore, many many rickshaw drivers looking for business, but no poverty-stricken beggars or homeless people in site. We felt very comfortable, and it must rank as one of the most family friendly towns that we have visited in South East Asia.

Siem Reap Facades - some of the old Frenchness still lingers.

Although typically not an attraction in itself, we felt that Siem Reap warranted at least a day for wandering around in, before or after the tour of Angkor.

The following day, it was back to the airport. The security/customs personnel struggled to believe that gal was only 11 and therefore exempt from paying the exit tax. We probably had to show her passport to at least five officials before getting the ok to proceed. The fact is, at age 11 she was quiet a bit taller than many of the officials.

A short but fascinating visit completed, it was goodbye to Cambodia and back to Singapore to catch our onward flight home.

Mural in Siem Reap

 

Post #24

We had come a long way to see Angkor and it had taken me a long time to get there- about fifteen years later than when I initially thought of going. But what would it be like with a 3,7 and 11 year old in hand?

A moody day at Angkor!

Angkor is the reason most people visit Cambodia – it is on the national flag and is one of the most famous and evocative archaeological  sites in Asia. Quite simply, it was a royal city, spread out over a huge area, containing temples and secular buildings and housed perhaps up to one million people about 1000 years ago. It is way too big to see in one trip or in fact in many trips, and so most concentrate on Angkor Wat, the ruins of perhaps the world’s largest religious monument ever built, and its surroundings. It served both Hindu and Buddhist religions and the artwork on the walls and the look of the buildings themselves is quite similar to what one will see in some of the famous sites in India.

Angkor is like one big playground for kids.

Angkor is famous today also for being a movie set – the images of jungle draped ruins are well known to many. We set about exploring the site over a period of two days. We had decided to use a car with driver to ferry us around, and a guide, but after day one we realised that probably half a day with a guide would have been sufficient. The history and art is amazingly interesting, but the kids really just enjoyed the sense of exploration that these ruins seemed to have been made for. Jungle everywhere,  opportunities to crawl and climb – it’s a kids paradise. Within reason of course – Angkor is a ruin, and ruins must be respected, both for what they are and for the fact that they could be unstable anywhere, anytime.   Probably our main problem was the lack of rest rooms – Eitan aged three and I had to walk into the jungle to take care of a rest room stop that he just couldn’t wait out. It was also hot and hugely humid. I use our baby backpack for Eitan – the site was simply to huge for him to keep up with us.

Angkor was amazing not only for the buildings but also for the people – we saw dozens of Buddhist monks exploring just like us and they found as to be as interesting as we found them.

Remind me - who is the tourist over here?

Summary – we had a terrific time at Angkor – it’s a great place to take kids, though  I would suggest taking it easy on the guides and just spend time wandering about the ruins.

Visiting Angkor was very different from our touring in India. Firstly, Angkor is well established on the international tourist map – lots of foreign tourists everywhere- but by and large we didn’t feel overwhelmed in any way.  Could have been because we were there in late October, before the main tourist rush or just because no matter how busy it was it didn’t compare with the number of people you see every day in India. Out of Angkor, there seemed to be very few people – especially in the countryside, but also in the city, which was a walkable pleasure with kids.

Post #23

Palm Village

Siem Reap offers outstanding accommodation value – good 4* and 5* hotels can be found for really reasonable rates, but we chose somewhere quite different – Palm Village. Situated a bit out of town, Palm Village is a little oasis consisting of small simple bamboo rooms, a nice pool, beautiful gardens, and the most incredible food.  We paid well under $50 a night per room (we had two rooms),  and really enjoyed the place. Kind of rustic – the rooms have got a bed, a small tv and a bathroom and that’s about it, but we just slept there.

Palm Village - rustic rooms, beautiful gardens.

There were frogs hopping around the place (not in our rooms) that added to the feeling of rusticity. The main reception/hang out place had a pool table and was the centre of everything. The biggest triumph was the Khmer food – now for reasons that I still can’t figure out, Palm Village has a regular menu that doesn’t have any Khmer food – the food on this menu was VERY average. If one knew to order a few hours in advance though for the Khmer food, things were totally different. The food was simply sensational – whatever we ate off the Khmer menu.  I’d go there for the food even if I was staying somewhere else. The kids loved it – not too hot or spicy and quite different from Thai or Vietnamese.

Incredible flowers everywhere!

That same afternoon we headed for Angkor.

Post #23

The next morning we were up early to catch our short flight to Siem Reap in Cambodia. The flight was uneventful, and we arrived at the sparkling new Siem Reap airport, excited about our coming adventure in Cambodia.

Siem Reap is the gateway town to the ruins of Angkor and the World Heritage site of Angkor Wat.  I had always been intrigued by Angkor, but while I was growing up it was impossible to even consider visiting. During my formative years Cambodia was called Kampuchea and was under the rule of the genocidal regime of Pol Pot. That regime was overthrown by the end of the 1970’s but it was only in the early 1990’s that Cambodia opened up to tourism again, after over two decades of being closed to outsiders. National Geographic magazines from the 1960’s had profiled the incredible ruins at Angkor, but sadly they had become a battle zone and still were into recent years.

I have a friend who toured Angkor in the mid 1990’s and he insisted I visit, stating that it was an untoured tourist gem that would change forever sooner than later. It was still a risky area at the time, with mine fields around the ruins and nearby areas still not fully under government control. With a young family I decided to wait. Finally, over ten years later, we had arrived in Cambodia. Clearly, Cambodia had been discovered. The brand new, beautiful airport was packed with tourists and we were delighted to be approached by someone who told us that he was an airport employee  whose job it was to make the visa process easier for families. He collected our passports along with two other families) told us that the visa cost $25 per person, and $125 lighter he was on his way.

He returned with the passports, stamped with the required visa stickers, and we were on our way. It was only in the taxi that I studied the visas in depth, and was horrified to see that the kids visas had been issued free of charge. Our “helper” had absconded with $75 from us, and similar amounts from the other families that he had scammed. 

We were not in a good mood.

Post #22

We arrived in Singapore in the early morning and took a cab to our hotel. What a change from India - if I woke up in Singapore and you told me I was in North America I’d believe you. But Singapore is cleaner.

We only had two nights and a day before our flight to Cambodia. I had a lot of plans but after we checked in, we fell asleep and by the time we woke up and went to find a place to eat, it was clear that if we saw one “sight” we’d be lucky.

Singapore deluge - the umbrella was purely symbolic.

We went into the foodcourt at a nearby mall. An incredible array of choices confronted us and in the end we went for soup and noodles – pretty much a fallback staple in our family and well covered by nearly every Asian cuisine in one way or another. After lunch we decided to go for a walk – to an area known for its mosque and Indonesian handcrafts – but it was all closed – before we could figure out why the skies opened up and we were walking through the most drenching downpour we had ever experienced anywhere. We took refuge in restaurant where we just stood for about twenty minutes not knowing what to do until eventually the rain lessened somewhat and we ran back to the hotel. Back at  the hotel the family vetoed any further walk outside.

The boys and I went for a swim in the hotel pool. I can’ remember another time in my life that I have gone swimming in a deluge. But the weather was hot and humid – it was just very wet everywhere. We had a great swim and a memorable  experience.

The rain stopped and we decided to visit the night zoo. We took the subway, then a bus and made it to the zoo. Basically a tourist trap.  I suppose this is the typical ”family friendly must see” that you find advertised in any big city and mentioned in guidebooks.  The night safari was unusual and unique because it was basically a zoo open at night, but the bottom line was that we couldn’t easily see the animals because it was dark, and the kids were afraid to do the “hikes’ - because it was dark.  So was it a successful outing – not really.

An uneventful bus and subway trip and it was back to sleep at the hotel. That is what is great about Singapore -  we happily and successfully traversed the city on public transport on our single day in the city and we felt safe at all times – truly something unusual these days.

Post #21:

Our houseboat docked and Raja picked us up to take us to our last stop on this India trip – Varkala. We had chosen Varkala because we wanted a few days at the beach and wanted somewhere different from Kovalam, where we had been on our first trip to India.

Lots of fun at the Arabian Sea

Varkala is a lot less touristy, at least as far as Western tourists go. It attracts a lot of local people since it is an auspicious religious spot, but the foreigners go for the beach.  Varkala was a fine place to end our trip to India. The beachfront/tourist area is almost a small self contained town by itself, separate from the main business district of Varkala about 5km. 

Varkala beach is backed by high cliffs – the resort area consists of a small lane running along the top of the cliff with hotels and guest houses, stores and restaurants.  One walks down flights of stairs to the beach below.  Very laid back for India. We really felt that we could give the kids some freedom here – the beach itself is sandy and beautiful – but we learned very quickly that the waves and current are super dangerous.  The water of the Arabian Sea is warm, and the waves not that high, but we couldn’t let the kids in the sea by themselves as the backwash or current when the waves run out is incredibly strong. Initially I went in with both boys but got them out quickly and had to take them in one at a time. They couldn’t let go of me. Still, we had a great time – not much better than warm sandy beach pretty much to yourself and a water temperature that’s fun to be in. Eitan sat at the high water mark and let the waves roll in over him.

Varkala at night.

There is not much else to do in Varkala – we found a spice store selling incredible vanilla pods and spices from all over the country, and we found good rug stores where we bought some Kutch rugs from Gujarat. Souvenirs from all over India were everywhere.

Sunset in Varkala is very special – the sunset itself is just incredible – the whole sea glows orange-red and yellow and the clouds are magnificent. Dinner time was an absolute treat – at the Sunset restaurant we found some of the best food of our whole time in India – and the five of us could eat some outstanding fish for the equivalent of US$10.

Incredible Sunsets!

The hotel we stayed at was the Hindustan Beach Resort – good rooms, nice pool but hardly a resort and while at the sea, too far from the main beach area to happily walk all the time – we took rickshaws for about $1 for all of us. Our main complain about the hotel was that we did some laundry us which was obviously dried over a smoking fire – we smelled of smoke for the next few days.

We did go into the center of the town one morning – busy like all Indian towns but we happily walked around. It was Diwali and the gold stores were packed. After three weeks in India we felt pretty much at hom,e by now but it was time to leave.

The iconic motor rickshaw

Sadly we said goodbye to Varkala and much more sadly we said goodbye to  Raja, who after driving us to Trivandrum airport to catch our flight to Singapore would have a one day break before meeting his next clients. Raja had quite simply become our friend, and when we go back to India one day we will let him know far in advance.  Raja is typical of the emerging middle class – his Tata Nano car is on order and he is even thinking of turning his small property in Tamil Nadu into a homestay. He sends his three year old daughter to a private school. We will gladly give him our business if he realises his dream.

 Possibly one of the worst airport buildings I have had to spend a few hours in  with nothing to do, nothing to buy and almost nothing to eat is Trivandrum (Thiruvananthapuram for long).  They are building a new terminal at Trivandrum which will probably be a huge improvement. We had to suffer intense boredom.

Our Silk Air flight to Singapore left late, and from Singapore we would be travelling on to Cambodia, the last country on this journey before heading home!

Post #20:

Henna

Our island was called Emerald Isle and we did very little there – it was just a place to chill out from our pretty hectic itinerary. The historic family house that has been in the same family for generations has been converted into guest accommodation and is a great example of truly local architecture. The rooms were large and a nice touch was the well appointed outside (en suite, private) bathroom – in the heat one doesn’t need the bathroom to be inside. We were staying the room that the current owner had when he was a child! At night, a fire was lit and a cultural dance program took place purely for us.  

Fishing

We are not a fishing family but the boys and I took a piece of bamboo each, some line and bits of bread and fished in the fish ponds – we actually caught a tiny fish but when we took it back to the kitchen we were told it was “not an eating fish”. We lay in hammocks reading, explored the island, and the girls had a cooking lesson which they really loved – since the kitchen was tiny and the chef was the owner’s wife, it was all very personal. I went for a great massage – Ayurvedic massage relies on various oils, and so the masseur explained exactly what oils he was going to work with – he began, and I fell asleep. When I woke up I felt great. (Very different from  a massage I once had in Turkey – scrubbed from head to toe with  a cloth that felt like velcro).

Kitchen secrets revealed.

The next day we went on a houseboat which is arranged by Emerald Isle. When we visited Kerala years ago, we toured the famous “backwaters” by small motor boat. The backwaters are one of the great highlights of India – a system of canals and lakes in the most incredible lush tropical environment imaginable.  But more than  that – whole communities live alongside these canals, and the water dominates their life – they bathe in the canals, water taxis zip in and out and commerce is conducted on the canals.  Back then, in the early 1990’s, tourists were a rare site, and we were greeted wildly by kids everywhere. We may have seen one other boat with tourists.

New found friends outside the houseboat.

Things have changed. Entrepreneurial locals discovered that there was demand for overnight stays on boats in the backwaters, and they refurbished traditional rice boats into floating accommodations. Today, houseboats are built resembling the original riceboat design, but have never carried a single load of rice. We saw fleets of these houseboats.

Our boat was pretty comfortable.

Our riceboat floating “hotel” with two bedrooms pulled up to the island at lunchtime, and a short while later we found ourselves cruising the largest waterway into a lake. I was afraid that the kids would find this whole experience boring, but they loved sitting up front with the driver and later, they really enjoyed popping in and out of the torrential downpour that lashed the boat. The crew closed all the palm flaps, and we cruised along, watching people and animals on the shore rushing to find shelter from the pelting rain.

It's raining like crazy out there!

After the rain had stopped later that afternoon, we pulled up to a small village and we went for a walk through the local market looking for CD’s or dvd’s to play on the machine on the boat. The only vaguely western movie we found was a pirated Chuck Norris action movie with Malayalam subtitles which we bought to watch after dinner.  

The food was exceptional – prepared on the boat, it was very simple, fish and vegetables, and was really excellent. We saw our movie and then it was time for bed, in small but comfortable rooms and a tiny bathroom that did the job just fine.

Backwaters traffic...sometimes fast

If we had one complaint, it was that clearly the crew was trying to conserve gas, and so we spent a long time moored when we would have prefered to be cruising. We really didn’t go very far at all and in our 24 hour experience on the boat we might have cruised for about six hours tops.  The kids loved the whole experience. It really felt like our own private hotel.

...but usually S..L..O..W

One night was enough to make it a great experience for all – almost certainly two nights would have been too much and I’m glad we didn’t go for that.

I’d recommend one night on a riceboat to any family. It’s a lot of fun, comfortable and the food is good. It is fascinating watching everyday life on the canals.  But don’t expect to be going very far – you won’t be, and its best to know that in advance.

Post #19:

Daniel was really sick overnight as a result of (probably) eating chicken in a fish restaurant.  He showed all the symptoms of some kind of food poisoning and by morning was dehydrated. While we didn’t feel that this warranted a visit to a doctor or hospital immediately, we were prepared to do this if we couldn’t treat it ourselves. Dehydration is never a joke and if not taken care of certainly will lead to a hospital bed.

The problem was that we had to move on from Cochin – Raja picked us up from the hotel and Daniel, feeling miserable, had to get into the van.  Raja was very optimistic that Daniel would be on the mend soon.  We were in Kerala, a region very strongly influenced by Ayurveda, the ancient Indian medical system dating back thousands of years and our next stop was a homestay deep in the Keralan countryside, an area where Ayurveda is still practised regularly. 

To reach our homestay we had to take a short boat ride to an old plantation called Emerald Isle, and when we arrived, we immediately informed the family of Daniel’s situation.  The motherly lady of the house told us that dysentery and dehydration are common problems in rural India amongst local children and she was well prepared to offer a solution.  She suggested fresh rice water, and a ginger concoction to follow.  Daniel was struggling to keep anything down, but when the rice water was ready he drank it and went to sleep. When he woke up he was given the ginger mixture. By nightfall he was feeling much better and was able to eat some rice.  A folk remedy perhaps, but it worked, most probably a lot better than the rehydration salts we had brought with us.

Taking it easy at Emerald Isle

This was our second episode of food poisoning and dehydration on our trip so far.  The lesson learned – be vigilant about what you eat in India, all the time!

Post #18

The one that didn't get away - Cochin fish market.

With our arrival in Cochin we were firmly back on the beaten track. Cochin is a fascinating town with a long and varied history. It was a possession of the Dutch, Portuguese and British at various times and was always an important port . Today it lives on in quiet decrepitude as the hustle and bustle of  modern India takes place across the water in Ernakulam, the commercial city that has effectively replaced Cochin. Cochin feels like an open air museum now, catering mainly to the tourist trade. For the traveller, it  is a relaxing respite from the tumult that is India and that is in itself a reason to go. More so, it has some fascinating sites.

During our first trip to India we had explored Cochin in some depth but had been frustrated by the fact that the famous Paradesi Synagogue, one of the highlights of the town, had been closed. The  synagogue is one of the most famous landmarks of the city and  in fact in India, and has been commemorated in Indian stamps.

The history of the Jews of Cochin is mired in legend, and basically tells of a group of Jews who escape the Babylonian conquest of Israel in 586 BC, arrive by ship on the Keralan shores and establishing a community with the blessing of the local ruler. Whether true or not, the fact is that the synagogue itself is nearly 500 years old, and foundation stones of even older synagogues are on show from other parts of Kerala. We were lucky this time – it was the festival of Sukkot and the synagogue was open for us to visit. The building is famous for its hundreds of Chinese ceramic tiles on the floor but what we found most interesting were the oil lamps. Most of the lamps appear to hav been donated by this or that wealthy family or benefactor. We were shown a lamp that was donated by a British Collector (a senior administrative position) who, while fleeing for his life from a mob of enraged locals, sought and received sanctuary in the synagogue. The lamp was his way of saying thank you.

 Now, while we were in Kerala, the whole state was having its power cut by one or two hours every evening to conserve electricity. While we were in the synagogue, the lamps were all lit, and when the power was cut, we stood in this amazing old building illuminated by hundreds of oil lamps.  This was perhaps our greatest experience in India – it felt as if we had been transported back in time a few hundred years.  We had tickets that night for a Kathakali show – the classic Keralan dance theatre – but we missed it on purpose in order to prolong the experience in the synagogue. We’d seen Kathakali during our first trip and the kids would have enjoyed it,  but nothing could come close to matching that evening for us.

Cochin is a fun place to wander around. Much of it is being restored for the tourist trade, but there are still corners where you can wander around and see amazing snapshots of the old and the new juxtaposed. We saw kids playing soccer on a field just steps away from a  restored VOC building that had been converted into the headquarters of a very upmarket Indian fashion designer. VOC buildings are common in all former Dutch colonies and date from around the 1700’s. The letters stand for the Dutch East India Company, the trading company that  was responsible for the colonisation of places as far apart as Cape Town in South Africa and Java and the Spice Islands in Indonesia. As a former Capetonian myself, I have seen many such buildings in and around Cape Town, which was established as a refreshment station for the Dutch ships on the way to Java.  Clearly Cochin had been an important stop as well.  Nothing much remains of the Dutch empire today except for buildings such as these scattered across the world.

Masters of the ancient Keralan martial art - and then they asked for a volunteer from the audience!

When travelling with kids one often has to sacrifice conventional tourist sites – we skipped the Palace, as the kids were more interested in an old playground which had seen much better days, and in the fish that were being caught by the fisherman in the famous Chinese fishing nets.  We did go see a performance of kalarippayattu, which is the Keralan martial art. The boys loved watching two guys  leaping around seemingly trying to maim each other with an assortment of fearful looking weapons such as swords, knives and hacksaws.

We stayed at the Old Courtyard Hotel. A really old heritage building and popular with families and European tourists it seemed. The manager told us that she has to have the building painted three times a year because of the intense humidity. There are plenty of good accommodation choices in Cochin – we were happy here, as we probably would have been in many of the other similar hotels in the town.

We saw plenty of other travellers in Cochin, from backpackers to package tourists. After a few weeks well away from the beaten path, it was good to see other western travellers again. We ate at a fish restaurant where we all had fish with the exception of Daniel, who wanted chicken. Big Mistake! He started throwing up in the night and was on his way to being dehydrated by morning, when Raja was due to pick us up for the next stage of the trip.

We learned an important lesson – don’t veer off the tried and tested – if there is a big crowd at a restaurant – eat there. If not, don’t go in. Likewise, if a place clearly caters to one kind of food, eat that. Don’t go for something different.

We were well equiped with an array of powerful drugs that we had brought with us, but  Raja advised us to treat Daniel with a local remedy. Kerala is home to Ayurveda, an ancient medical system that is clearly preferred by locals to Western drugs. We saw many Ayurvedic  pharmacies, carrying stocks of medicine totally unfamiliar to us. The local remedy for Daniel would prove to be simple and very effective.