Day 17 Cochin India (and half day 18)

It is Monsoon season here in Southern India which means it rains every
day.............except for today! We have been so lucky with the weather
so far, today was warm and humid but not , but it was nice to get back
onto the air conditioned bus after each stop on our tour today. We had a
river cruise (yes we can't get enough of boats), which was on boats that
had plastic chairs on them and they were poled by two men, think
Gondolas but not so romantic! They took us to an island where we saw the
different local crafts done by the people on the island including,
jewellery making, pottery, getting fibre from the coconuts, basket
weaving, mat making and coconut leaf weaving. It was a Saturday so all
the children where there (no school on Saturday), every one was so
friendly and all throughout the day we had all the folks waving at us
and us to them from the bus. The trip to the boats took about an hour
and all the way we were entertained by one of the most knowledgeable
guides I have come across. I now know the history of India, how the
states were formed and a thousand other interesting facts. After we
finished on the island we were returned to the bus (by the boats) and we
then visited a fabric making co-op, then a small coconut oil factory
and then a coir/rug making facility before we were given a wonderful
luncheon feast prepared by some local women. It was wonderful!! We were
so full afterwards, the meal was served on banana leaves and was
vegetarian and so delicious.
I was pretty impressed by our bus as all on it ate the lunch, on other
tours we have heard people say that they wouldn't eat any foreign food.
Really can't work out what they are doing on this cruise then! We have
been really happy with our 3 Princess cruises so far (Darwin, Langkawi
and Cochin), our next stop is Mumbai and it is a private tour with just
Katie and I on it, think we'll choose to shop and eat! It is now day 18
as I am typing this and it is very showery and seas are a tad rougher.
Katie finds sitting on deck 12 and taking a stemetil very effective. I
am on the balcony enjoying the movement and the scenery (rolling seas!)
The pool was interesting this morning, 3 people were in it, resembled a
washing machine and at one stage they were all tossed out of the pool
and onto the pool deck because of the swell......
Have mentioned this before but thanks for the comments I do read them
(replying still a pain) and this is also my diary as to what we do each
day so sorry if it rambles occasionally. We also would have had some
pics of Cochin but Katie's camera died after 2 photos and we didn't take
our iPhones, but I did have my small video camera ( so video for the
family when I get back). Camera is now fully charged for Mumbai!