Azamara World Series - The Spice Route: Part 2, India
Welcome back to part two of this blog covering our 17 night voyage from Singapore to Dubai. It had long been a dream of mine to travel to India and Sri Lanka, though Rich was less keen on visiting this part of the world, so we decided the best way to fulfil my dream was to take a cruise covering both countries. In this part we will travel from Sri Lanka to India, spending two days each in Cochin and Mumbai. Having left Sri Lanka early afternoon the previous day we weren’t due to arrive into Cochin until midday, so we thought we would have a lazy morning. We had ordered room service the night before which promptly arrived, beautifully presented and looking delicious. Whilst we normally love a balcony breakfast on a sea day, today the sun was shining directly onto our balcony making it just too hot to sit out there. So we opened the door and set the breakfast out on our indoor table. There was plenty of room for us both to sit on the love seat and the table was big enough for us both to be able to eat off of it.
Little did we know when we had hung our breakfast order on our door the previous evening that there would also be a dim sum brunch in the Discoveries restaurant, and as you will know if you’ve read Part 1, I love a brunch. I also love dims so this was a temptation too difficult to resist. Thankfully brunch on the Quest ran from 9.30-12.30, so we were able to pop in there for an early lunch before getting off of the ship. I have to say we have never had a dim-sum brunch before but it was divine and just what we needed before heading into Cochin.
Expecting there to be long queues and delays through the Indian immigration control we made sure we were one of the first off of the ship as soon as the ship was cleared for debarkation. We were pleasantly surprised that this didn’t take very long at all and just after 12.30 we were shoreside looking for the tuk tuk we had pre-booked over the internet. Zakki was there waiting for us and before long we were on his wonderfully decorated tuk tuk taking the drive from the port area into Fort Cochin whilst enjoying some Indian music and taking in the light show inside his tuk tuk. We had asked Zakki to show us round the main sights of Cochin and the first place he took us was the Dhabi Ghana public laundry where all of the washing is done by hand, hung out to dry in a large communal drying area and ironed using coconut shell charcoal irons.
From here we headed to the coast for a walk along the beach and time to watch the infamous Chinese fishing nets being regularly lowered and raised. Although this is a tourist ‘hotspot’ there were plenty of local people hanging around here and we enjoyed wandering along the waterfront and taking in the sights. Zakki then took us on a tour of some of the colonial buildings and temples, including the Dutch cemetery, the oldest Catholic Church in the city, and a more modern large Catholic church and school. Leaving the tourist areas Zakki then drove us around some of the residential streets before taking us to the shopping district, housing spice warehouses, food and textiles shops, as well as a few touristy gift shops. We finished off our drive around Fort Cochin at the Dutch palace, taking a walk round what is now a museum, learning about the history of the Portuguese, Dutch and British colonisation in this part of the country.
Being in port overnight the cruise director had arranged for a local dance group to come on board to entertain us. So after dinner we headed to the Cabaret Lounge for an hour of local dance, solo performances and two wacky male dancers wearing incredible costumes.
The next day was our second day in Cochin and one I was particularly excited about, with a tour booked to the backwaters of Alleppy for a trip on a traditional houseboat. This was a full day tour so we were up early ready for the lengthy coach ride to the backwaters. As we boarded the coach our guide reassuringly told us the three things you need for driving in India - a good horn, good brakes and good luck! Although the journey was only 60km the condition of the roads, the driving and heavy traffic meant it took us nearly two hours to travel this distance. Kerala itself is a region of India which is geographically a little smaller than Switzerland but is home to 30 million people, roughly the same population as the entire country of Canada, so getting anywhere takes time. When we arrived at the backwaters we boarded a large houseboat covered in traditional coconut fibre. The houseboat took us on a two hour trip around the waterways sailing passed the local communities that live in houseboats along the waters edge or in houses along the river side. The waterways are elevated from the land on the other side which Is farming land used mainly to grow rice which they occasionally flood to allow the land to fallow at which time it will be either fished or used to keep ducks for farming once fully grown.
Despite the surprisingly large numbers of people that live on these backwaters, the waterways themselves were beautifully tranquil, lined with coconut trees to separate the river from the paddy fields. The coconut trees provide an important source of work for the people living there, either making the coconut rope or the oil derived from grinding the coconut pulp. It was really interesting to see the people living here getting on with their everyday lives, washing in the river, doing their laundry or cleaning their cooking pots. Along the way there were areas housing a handful of local restaurants and cafes as well as the odd temple, shop or retreat. The people living here either get around using the footpaths along the river bank or on little canoes which are also used for sellers to go along from house to house selling every day wares such as rich, fruit and beer, and even gas canisters!
Sailing along the waterways was fascinating and so relaxing we could see the appeal of living here as opposed to the hustle and bustle of the surrounding towns and cities, even if life is probably made more challenging by the water. Getting off our houseboat at our original start point we boarded the bus to make our way to a local beach resort for lunch. The lunch was delicious, consisting mostly of local curry dishes, and we had just enough time to take a wander around the beach resort and down to the beach to watch the wild Arabian Sea smashing against the shore.
The long drive back took us through Cochin city, getting us back to the ship with just enough time to enjoy a cooling swim and pina colada before we set sail at 5 pm to make our way to Mumbai. We headed to the lovely Sunset bar terrace at the back of the Windows cafe, to watch the sail out which was perfectly timed with the sun setting over the city. The perfect place to sit and enjoy a cocktail whilst watching the sun set as we sailed away from our two wonderful days in the lovely city of Cochin.
For our first day in Mumbai we had booked another full day ‘Shades of Mumbai’ tour, so early in the morning we boarded a coach where we were introduced to our guide, Chutra. After a 20 minute drive out of the port and through the suburbs we ended up at one of the main train stations for our first adventure of the day, a ride on the public transport of Mumbai. The stations are very busy and the trains extraordinarily wide with no doors to the entrance and exits so people can jump on and off easily at the stations. We boarded the first class train which, since it was a weekend, was relatively quiet. Five stops later we reached our destination and alighted the train at Malahaxmi station which is conveniently placed to visit the Dhabi Ghat outdoor laundry. This is now such a popular tourist attraction they have built a viewing gantry overlooking the large site for people to stop and take photos.
From the laundry we re-boarded the coach and headed to Khoyachi Wadi, one of the oldest residential areas in Mumbai and home to some lovely colonial architecture. It was fascinating walking these narrow alleyways which are still home to so many of the local people of Mumbai, making it a requirement to keep your wits about you so you didn’t get run over by a scooter or bicycle. From here we headed to the Colaba shopping district, an area housing both modern tourist gift shops, smaller local shops and street vendors.
All shopped out and with our stomachs rumbling for our lunch we made our way to the magnificent Taj Mahal Hotel which is located opposite the Gateway to India. Our lunch was being served in the wonderful Masala Kraft restaurant in the Palace wing of the hotel and consisted of a traditional set Thali lunch of little Indian tasting dishes, each of which was delicious. The lunch hour flew by and though we had thought we might have time for a wander down to the Gateway we were enjoying lunch and our time at the beautiful Taj so much that we didn’t make it to the Gateway, although we did have a good view of it from the hotel entrance. .
With our stomachs full we were grateful to be back on the coach for a rest as we made our way to Crawford market, a traditional market building built under British rule and housing a plethora of market stalls, selling everything from fruit and vegetables, spices, toiletries and household goods. It was a lively, bustling market with locals buying their wares before heading out to the crazy, busy streets surrounding the market.
Our final stop of the day was the Ghandi museum located in a a quiet residential area of Mumbai which epitomised the contradictions of India, housing both lovely large residential houses with expensive, new cars parked outside, alongside street vendors and local families pushing a cart loaded with all of their possessions along the streets looking for somewhere to stop for the night. We loved India, it really is a country of complete contrasts and contradictions, but it is so incredibly over populated. India itself is home to 1.3 billion people, one sixth of the worlds entire population, with 22million people living in Mumbai alone! These numbers can’t be ignored - it makes the city crowded, polluted, largely impoverished and generally unclean and laden with rubbish. However, all of the people we came across were incredibly welcoming and friendly, making it such an interesting city to visit. Spending even the short amount of time here that we did was such an anl ‘eye-opener, and made me appreciate the ‘luxuries’ of my every day life which I often take for granted.
After our full and very varied day we headed back to the ship to quickly wash and dress for the Azamara White Night party, a highlight of any Azamara cruise. The party kicked off with the officers cooking and serving the food as the singers, dancers and musicians entertained us with live music. Once the food was served we had the crew parade with lots of the crew coming out onto the open decks for guests to cheer and clap them on in recognition for all their hard work in making our voyage incredible. Then it was party time with lots of singing and dancing, the dance floor full of guests making the most of this lovely outdoor deck party. At around 10pm the party moved into the Living Room though lots of guests stayed out on the open decks enjoying the balmy evening and chatting with fellow guests.
Having had some long, full days on shore excursions, and always liking to try and get a day on board the ship whilst she’s in dock we decided to spend our second day in Mumbai on the ship, enjoying the peace and quiet as other guests went ashore. After a peaceful day making the most of a half full ship we stayed out on deck for the 6pm scheduled sailaway from India, which was perfectly timed for the sunset. Our time in India concluded suitably with a delicious Indian buffet in the Windows cafe where we, not surprisingly, overindulged on the amazing array of curries and Indian delicacies, which we ate al fresco on the sunset terrace with a view out over the balmy Arabian Sea - perfect.
With many thanks to Azamara Cruises for gifting us this voyage.
If you’ve enjoyed this blog then why not take a look at part one where we travelled from Singapore to Sri Lanka, and please keep an eye out for part three where we will voyage from India to our final destination, Dubai, stopping at Oman on the way.
And if you would like to know more about our experiences on Azamara Cruises then please visit our other Azamara blogs:
Azamara World Series - Italy and the Adriatic
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