Tuesday, February 3, 2015

India 2015 Kolorful Kerala : Day 7 - A Dahl Shopping Day

You are at - Jotaro's Blog / Footsteps / India 2015 Kolorful Kerala / Day 7 - A Dahl Shopping Day     | Jump to Day 1&2 / Day 3 / Day 4 / Day 5 / Day 6
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India 2015 Kolorful Kerala : Day 7 - A Dahl Shopping Day
Fort Kochi - 12th January 2015
It's our last day at Kerala - a day for shopping for the girls and some cycling for us guys. The girls did some last minute shopping at Fort Kochi, no shopping in Broadway and then perhaps some at Lulu Mall.

This is page 6 of a 6-page blog, click on the respective titles below to go to other pages :
 - Kolorful Kerala Day 1 & 2 - Of Spices, Tea Valleys & Cool Hills.
Kolorful Kerala Day 3 - Of Tahrs & Kalaripayattu.
Kolorful Kerala Day 4 - Of Elephants & Kathakali.
Kolorful Kerala Day 5 - Of Kerala Backwaters Houseboats.
Kolorful Kerala Day 6 - Of Fishing Nets & Mosquitoes.



Even though our return flight will be in the late evening, we left Fort Kochi after lunch as they will be a few stops for shopping along the way.


The girls had got up for an early breakfast and were soon off on their shopping at the Princess Street area. We guys were a bit sluggish, pulled ourselves up from bed, had breakfast then decided to go cycling.
We rented a couple of bicycles but were quite disappointed that that the conditions of the bike was not quite road-worthy. We had to go through a few bicycles to select two of the better maintained ones, even then their brakes were not working perfectly. Never mind, we won't be racing; so let's just go.


The leisurely pace of cycling gave us ample opportunity to take in the sites along our route. We visited the Chinese fishing nets again and this time got to talk to the fishermen.


In contrast to speeding by in a car, our riding pace allowed us the opportunity to observe life here. Near the port area, a man took delivery of some sacks of rice, loaded them onto his pull-cart and was soon pulling the cart away, heading for his destination which we hoped was not to far away.


We stopped by the Jewish cemetery to have a quick look and said some prayers. Continuing our journey we saw this odd camel being led by his rider. Hey! There are camels here.
About 6km from our hotel, I realised that we were lost. Fortunately, with the help of my mobile phone GPS tracking app, we were able to make our way back just in time to check out from Chiramel Heritage Homestay.
(... click to see more of your cycling Lost In Fort Kochi).


So it's lunch time now and we were cracking our head on where to eat.
Hah! We just walked over a couple of doors away to Dal Roti; it's a place that sells a wide range of prathas (Indian flat bread) cooked in a variety of ways.
This place sells northern Indian Mughal cuisine; so we ended our holiday in south India with a north Indian meal.
Hah again!
I had this Fish Kati Roll. It uses a type of pratha called Lachedar Pratha, a crispy and flaky version. I like it as the bread was well layered and each layer was flakily cripsy.


My buddies went for a Chicken Thali Meal; it's a combo meal that came with a chicken curry, paneer, two vegetable curries, a cooling raita sauce. Two pieces of flat pratha and some rice came with this, it was definitely a filling meal. Fortunately, they did advise that it can feed two, so they shared. Phew....
(... read more at Dal Roti blog).


From Fort Cochin we headed for Ernakulam where we started our shopping exodus at a Himalaya beauty care product shop. No prizes for guessing who got excited over shopping here!


Inside there were shelves of products for body care, hair care and even lip care!
Set up in 1930, Himalaya is renown for their health care products which include ayurvedic ingredients.


Our next stop was a place called Broadway, an open street shopping area. The girls had expected a place something like Petaling Street in Malaysia where they could buys some Indian clothing, souvenirs, etc.; sadly for them this place catered more for locals with shops selling bags, hardware, etc.
So no shopping here for the girls. But Kev did manage to find a neat antique shop along Shanmugam Road and got a few small ones for friends back home.


We expressed our displeasure to our driver Prakash, and he whisked us over to the Lulu Mall located not too far away. Lulu Mall claims to be the largest in South Asia; it is fairly large but not as large as others in South-east Asian countries. Still it has a good share of shops that should satisfy shoppers.
(For a list of the world's largest shopping centre, click here).


The air-conditioned interior of the mall was a welcomed change from the hot, smelly streets of Broadway. We popped into a few shops like this one above but the girls did not find anything that fancied them. Kev got a pair of harem pants for one of his friends.
Seems like this shopping trip benefited him more... Heh... heh...


At the Flora Hotel next to the airport, we stopped by to have a light dinner before checking in. They serve pretty good bun sandwiches here. It's the pan toasted type, toasted in a way that the thin crust becomes very crispy while not being over-burnt.
As we were checking at the airport, this poster of an Indian girl in a classical Indian dance pose seems to be bidding us "Goodbye, come again soon."
Yes, goodbye India, we will come again.


This is page 6 of a 6-page blog, click on the respective titles below to go to other pages :
 - Kolorful Kerala Day 1 & 2 - Of Spices, Tea Valleys & Cool Hills.
Kolorful Kerala Day 3 - Of Tahrs & Kalaripayattu.
Kolorful Kerala Day 4 - Of Elephants & Kathakali.
Kolorful Kerala Day 5 - Of Kerala Backwaters Houseboats.
Kolorful Kerala Day 6 - Of Fishing Nets & Mosquitoes.


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