Doormats and Houseboats

Friday 5^th December

No one needed an alarm call this morning. It was provided by the singer at the local temple who chanted repetitively over his loudspeaker around dawn, – followed by a drummer just in case we had drifted off again. Some rose and went to the gym while others drifted down to breakfast rather early.

Dawn from our hotel in Kochi – Temple chanting disturbed the peace

It was another one of those breakfasts where you simply do not know how to choose, constraint for some motivated by the results of jumping on the bathroom scales provided in each bathroom. One or two announced with triumph that they had actually lost weight and others discussed the reduction regimes they planned on returning home.

Despite these plans our first stop was to buy supplies of alcohol for lunch on the houseboat today and in preparation for Sunday, which in Kerala is a ‘dry’ day.

Dileesh tried to explain the politics of Kerala, a prosperous state with a flourishing communist regime, where the workers strike regularly, and in fact a half-day strike had been called at the coir-matting factory we visited. We will not look at a coir mat in the same way again, appreciating now the sequence of manual processes involved in the production.

The husks from the coconuts are soaked in water for about three months before the fibres are removed, chemically washed and then woven by hand into a coarse thread.

Fibre from the coconut husk, washed and ready to weave

Woven threads – incredibly strong

Tangle of dyed and natural threads

Machines for producing coir matting designed by the British

Eventually we boarded our houseboat and while lunch was served with some of the tepid white wine we had purchased we advanced slowly along the canal into the lake. Delightful domestic scenes were visible on the banks of the canal and cameras were at the ready for the wonderful reflections.

Amanda – At leisure on the houseboat

Our destination was the Coconut Lagoon where we have 36 hours of down time before our final two nights in Kochi. Bird watching, early morning yoga, a cooking lesson, another massage and the hours will pass all too quickly.