Thursday
After an unusually late breakfast we headed off to Cochin, stopping of course for lunch on the way.  The long four hour journey was broken up with tea breaks, and a great opportunity to photograph a waterfall. This was more interesting than it sounds as it gave me the opportunity to use a soft fitter technique, which I have been wanting to try.  The idea is to film the water, using a tripod, on a long exposure, around 15  - 20 seconds. This should then produce a soft water effect. See for yourself.

 Cochin was as expected. . .very busy.  The hotel is again very good, right on the waterfront overlooking the harbour and new town across the bay, where most of the luxury hotels and shopping malls are. After a quick freshen-up we walked down to the famous fishing nets to film the sunset. This is an iconic vista, with sun setting behind a row of old fishing nets hung over the waters edge. Unfortunately, the low misty cloud did not allow us to get any decent photos. I will have the opportunity to revisit again in the coming week, but the group return home on Saturday and will probably not have another chance on this visit.

I walked around the immediate area for a while taking in the people and street sellers, selling everything the tourist doesn't want.  Although persistent, everyone is friendly and happy to have their photo taken.  One activity I did witness was a fish auction. The small boats were coming in every fifteen minutes and unloading tuna, swordfish and lobster, and lots of what may have been small mackerel. The buyers formed a close knit circle and bidded for the catch, but there was no shouting or fast talking as seen in other auctions, it was done almost in silence, with a nod to indicate a bid.

I will revisit this area again soon as I am sure there are more interesting activities to discover.  One of these in fact is the face painting of the dance troupe who perform in the large folklore theatre. For one hour you can watch and photograph this colourful spectacle and then watch a performance of traditional dance and martial arts. Some of our group have seen it elsewhere and highly recommend it.

After dinner some of us pooled our duty free and had we had a good evening talking over where we had been and what we have achieved. I will miss this bunch next week.
Tomorrow we have a tour around the Jewish quarter which has a good street market and a visit to one of the largest slice outlets in the region.
We are also having a final banquet. Most, if not all the women have brought saris, and the guys a traditional Gurta shirt, so we will be looking impressive for the group photo.  I will let you know how it went.
When I move to my new guest house on Saturday I will not know what broadband facilities they have until I get there, but as I will be less active than these previous ten days, I will only post two or three blogs, if that is I have anything interesting to share.