Long day, no beer

We arrived in Kochi after a rather mammoth drive - almost 7 hours. We were told 3-4 yesterday so it's a bit of a shock and a long haul for us and the driver.

The drive is totally horrendous at times. Single carriageway being treated as dual by oncoming traffic to the point where our half of the road have to stop completely to avoid crashing or being squashed.

We see a number of accidents too which are disturbing.

The road surface is initially ok but deteriorates to potholed mess, there are diversions, and in all it's not the best road experience I've had.

Still, we have got aircon and it is getting warmer.

The driver stops a few times, once at a temple. I wonder if he is praying to the Hindu version of St. Christopher - it doesn't fill me with confidence!

We stop for lunch but he rejects the place so we move on to somewhere else. The chosen spot is big, airy and quite busy. We go to the veggie section he goes to meat section - strict segregation often with separate kitchens.

Our thali is nice, not the best, but perfectly edible and the service is nice and friendly. It's 280rs for all 3 of us. Or £4.

Back on the road we eventually hit Ernakulam which is next to Kochi. The 2 kind of merge together as a huge city and it takes us almost 2 hours to get to our final stop.

Kochi is on a group of islands so crossings are bridge or ferry. The bridges are small and very busy.

At Leelu's homestay the driver tries to claim that he suggested we stay here and get a tip/cut of our bill, but since Leelu has already established that we found her in the rough guide and we booked ourselves this doesn't get very far!

He's got a tip and lunch from us anyway...

After a nap while it rains a bit, we stroll out.

And as our restaurant of choice is closed we end up choosing another which is totally wrong. The food is underwhelming, I have a piece of fried fish and rice. No sauce, no spices, no zing, it's not even very fishy! And the rice is cold and it takes 30 minutes to arrive. And the bottle of soda for my lime soda is filthy. If anything upsets me I'll bet it's that.

We try to find a beer to no avail! The only bar is full of westerners, very noisy and I just can't be arsed! We call it a night and hope for better tomorrow.

At the coast

Location:Kochi