Sunday 9th March

We were going to go to church this morning, (I say 'were' because we slept in), there was an English service at 7am in a nice CSI building not far from the hotel. As it's Sunday, everything is closed.

We went to the Art gallery (closed), the Cochin Cultural Centre (closed - it only does Kathakali anyway - diverse culture!) and the Kerala History Museum (closed). This last was interesting because we got into an auto whose driver said seventeen rupees. When we got there he said No, '7-0'! But 'seventeen' means '1-7' not '7-0' We protested, no, 'seventeen', '7-0'! Learn English you swine! As the museum was closed, we had to pay him Rs30 to get back! I think we've learned not to believe everything we hear.

So What about Kerala then? The differences here are:

• The food - no chilli! How can we survive? Even the biryani is chilli-less.
• They don't sew their lunghis up, and women wear them too.
• Where are the ox carts, the wild cows, pigs, donkeys, goats and dogs? It's something we really miss. Tamil Nadu is more 'Indian'.¹
• Why isn't everyone trying to rip us off? They're all so nice here. There are more people selling drugs, but we don't get pestered so much! Maybe my dhoti helps.
• It's much quieter and more sophisticated!

Dress sense is still terrible though. I remember thinking oh, it's because they can't afford anything better. But it's not - things are all teh same price. It's because they like wearing neon pink with flowers on! Why? A question for God, I think.