Cochin has an interesting history. First discovered by Vasco de Gama (fortunate for the natives because they didn’t know where they were) in 1552 making it a Portugese colony. Next came the priests to convert the heathens. Then the Dutch took over and converted the Catholic churches to Luthern churches. Then the Anglican British arrived. Well to cut to the quick, Cochin’s 3 million plus population is 60% Christian, overwhelming Catholic.

Jews arrived in Kerala in 72AD fleeing the Romans. Cochin has a Synagogue but only 5 remaining Jews. The majority have immigrated on to the West, Europe and Australia. About 5,000 Jews remain in all of India.

View from our balcony.

Cute Cochin street.

Celeste is giving a few ironing tips to the professional laundry man.

Chinese fishing nets at work.

Think “Slum Dog Millionaire” This is the slum which the movie claims as home. However, very little footage was shot here due to the tight spaces. Most filming was done in other slums or on Bollywood sets. Mumbai is the Hollywood of the Indian film industry.

The Dharavi slum is the largest of Mumbai’s numerous slums. It is the size of one half of Central Park in NYC and has a population of roughly 1.5 million people (double the population of San Francisco). One million are permanent residents and 500,000 are laboring transients. The slum is a city unto itself. Most live and work within the slum. The landlord is the government, charging rent and taxes. Mumbai real estate is the most expensive in India, hence rents are high. Residents of the slum pay about $100-150 USD a month. The residents pay once a year for water, and monthly for electricity. The one shortcoming is sewage. There is one flush toilet for every 2,000 people.

The main income source is processing recycled products. Paint, plastics, soap, etc. are all recycled in the slum in their “business areas. This slum exports over $700,000,000 a year of goods. The majority of areas are residential which we could not photograph. The alleyways between buildings were dark and about 30” wide. Every 10-15 ft. was a front door. The apartments are about 100-200 square feet. Children played in these narrow alleyways. Did a lot of hi’s, and fist pumps. Hundreds of hello smiles.

An amazing experience of how the world lives. Unlike the Slumdog movie, we have not seen a blinded or deformed child begging. There are no more beggars here than Bangkok and those are few and far between.

Tomorrow we fly to Cochin in Kerala state to begin our road trips through tea plantation country.

On  rooftop where cleaned plastic products are dried and sacked.

Recycled products bagged.

Sorting plastics by color.

Walking streets in slum.

Photo op taken by our guide.

Most locals still call the city Bombay which is its original pre British name. The new name “Mumbai” is a religious Hindu name. A congested city of over 24 million people. We are staying in the southern district called Nariman, also the business district. This is where the Pakistani terrorists attacked a few years ago, killing hundreds of people in hotels and restaurants including the Oberoi Hotel next to us. Tonight we will have dinner at the Leopold Cafe where a dozen or so diners were killed. Oh well, life goes on.

The city has abysmal traffic. Half of our all day city tour was spent in traffic. A massive multi-lined subway system is under construction and will be completed in 2019. Prime Minister Modi was here last week inspecting construction. Following are random photos of our day, hopefully with attached descriptions. I have a tough time formatting this site.

Morning view from our room.

Fellow tourists.

Promenade across from our hotel overlooking the Arabian Sea.

Children waiting to enter the Prince of Wales Museum.

The famous Taj Mahal Hotel

This 27 story building is the family home of the 7th richest man on earth. This is the second most expensive residence on earth after Buckingham Palace. The owner never slept a night here, only his mother and children and families. Staff of over 600 people also live here along with a garage housing over 200 vintage automobiles. Before the owner (Jio Corp.) moved in, an astrologer told him that if he slept one night here he would lose his fortune. So, he kept his old residence to sleep in and only visits here.

Mahatma Ghandi’s house. Now a museum of his life. Dr. Martin Luther King visited here on his Ghandi quest.

After an enjoyable two week trip to Rajasthan state in India two years ago, we decided to take advantage of our 10 year tourist visa and return for a second trip. The first trip we flew into New Delhi, this trip we will enter India via Mumbai. Our destinations will include Banglore, Cochin, Goa and most of Kerala State. Celeste & I will always have a dedicated car and driver to move us around on a daily basis. Each day a local English speaking guide is provided. We have a lot of UNESCO Heritage sites to visit. Onward and upward.

Awaiting our flight from Bangkok to Mumbai.

This has to be over our 20th stay in Bangkok. We started in hotels the first three times then moved over to serviced apartments which are huge in numbers in Asia but not in the USA. This trip was our first Airbnb stay. Price was great, 60% of a serviced apt.but the daily room service is missing. You have the same towels but no washer or dryer for 4 days. At home that is OK but in Bangkok one takes 2-3 showers a day.

The BTS Skytrains are jammed like never before. The attached photo is at 9PM mid week. When we first started coming to Bangkok the BTS was under construction. When is opened it was empty. The Thais were shocked at the price. Fast forward 15 years, the length of the routes and stations have doubled, and ridership is up 20 times?? Ten more stations are under construction as lines are extended.

The BTS is an elevated train system. They also have an underground subway system called the MRT. This opened 10 years ago.

We have been amazed at the construction that goes on not only in Bangkok but all large cities in Southeast Asia. The residential highrises follow the BTS stations. Some developments encompass an entire city block. We are talking 40-50-60 story highrises. Bangkok has hundreds of these highrises spread out over the city and there must be 50 under construction. The construction cranes are visible everywhere.Has always been like that over the years.

Tomorrow we are off to Singapore. We haven’t been there over 15 years. Like Bangkok, the changes will be immense.

This was our fourth stay at Rachamankha. An amazingly quiet and serene stay in the heart of Chiang Mai’s walled old quarter. Beautiful rooms filled with antique furniture and covered outside corridors with framed antique prints, sculptures and document chests.

We did a day trip to a Karen village and saw the longnecked women.

Ate all four dinners at Rachamankha. No reason to leave campus. Their breakfasts are served by waiters off menues. The breakfast bone china is pretty special.

Always a pleasure to return to Rayavadee. Familiar staff, we hug Western style. This is our eighth stay. The vegetation only gets more beautiful. After the Asian tsunami in 2004, Rayavadee was closed for a year to remove all the sand and replant the entirety of the grounds. The salt water killed all the plants.

Really enjoyed our 4 day stay here at Baros. Amazingly attentive and friendly staff. Think we are the only Americans here. Mainly Chinese, Japanese,European and Australian.This is their half of the world. Being independent travelers, everyone speaks English, lucky for us. The food has been exquisite and the villa is beautiful.

Tomorrow we fly back to Singapore, overnite, then fly on to Krabi, Thailand for our stay at Rayavadee.

In our foreign travels we are always amazed how technologically advanced most countries are over us. Three years ago we watched old ladies getting on busses in Seoul and tapping their cell phones on monitors to pay their fare. Here in New Zealand, chip readers on credit card machines process in less than 5 seconds. In the photo above, all McDonalds have ordering stations where you touch the screen, place your order, pay on your credit card and receive a paper printout with your order number. Move forward to claim your order.

Here is a grocery store with an entire aisle (both sides) of just wines!! Adult Disneyland.

No other photos, cities are cities. We fly home tomorrow with tons of fond memories. Will definitely return. I hear that most countries will not rent cars to people over 75. Have to look into getting a fake driver’s license which says I am younger than I am. I am summing up the trip as follows:

A) A stunningly beautiful country geographically.

B) The warmest and friendliest people of all races (tons of Asian and Indian immigrants) all seemingly living and working in harmony.

C) The most gluten free option restaurants I have ever encountered. They all have gluten free breads and rolls ( slight upcharge). Most entrees and mains have the option of being made gluten free. Pizza parlors all have gluten free “bases” as they call our crusts. One even had non dairy mozzarella.

D) Logged 3,500 km (2,200) miles on our rental car odometer. Hope they made money. Really got good at left hand driving on two lane roads at 100 km/hr (62.5mph) with 3-4 feet between oncoming cars.