Time log of the trip. As events are unfolding. Mostly for us, but if you find it interesting dig in. Side notes:
1 EUR = 91 INR
Videos are coming later.
[09:45] Woke up. Could sleep more, but we need to get up to catch breakfast. If we don’t eat the day will be a bit trickier with respect to food.[09:55] I’m a bit surprised that it took us 3,5 hours to get to the hotel yesterday, unpack and fall asleep. And the whole thing went really smooth though.[09:56] Shower.[10:08] To breakfast[10:12] Breakfast. Ok that was eventful. More staff then customers. One to show you the table, one for water, one for tea, ...So the boss of the restaurant is dressed better then servers. And boss of the lobby and restaurant is dressed slightly better. Food was good. They had the European and Indian food for breakfast. Bit spicy but not to rough.[10:52] Reading newspapers in the lobby. The lounge is for use if you get at least 500 INR of stuff. But you can sit on the couch next to it for free, you listen to a song on repeat though.At some point a guy causally abseiled through the lobby cleaning a glass elevator. I was to shocked to take a photo. [11:12] Reception: "Go to ground floor for the map. They have it there sir."[11:15] Ok so now we have to wait for the map in the lobby. The hack. So we played the cat and mouse game. Who's the boss for what. There's a lobby boss, a transportation boss, boss for luggage, boss for the map, boss for security, boss for the door, ...=> I'm not kidding there were 15 people waiting outside in the driveway to except people and 3 customers 😅[11:24] Got the map. And a lot of tips. Where the market is, How much ricksha should be and where to get smaller banknotes, ... The head of transportation explained what's what. He was the expert 🙃 And I'm actually not kidding here. [11:30] Got the smaller banknotes at the reception. 500 INR to 5 x 100 INR. Turned out to be a good move later when we tried to get our first ricksha.[11:32] Back at the room.[11:38] City view:Yup on that temple there were dudes climbing up in the rain, no safety of course. [11:40] Sorting cash, getting the city map, …[11:56] Phone setup for the travel blogging notes.[12:05] Booking the flight to Kochi for tomorrow. Around 70 EUR's per person. That was last minute. With IndiGo.[12:40] Planning the upcoming two days.[13:40] Off we go. At reception managed to pay for shuttle. For Hyatt Kochi we need to call 0 number in from our room and will connect us to the central. Got tips for Kerala and Wayanad Kochi from a hospitality lady. It takes apparently 4h by bus to get there. Looks nice. Might be worth visiting it.Oh and yes at reception. If you get the wrong person they can do only basic questions, payments, ... only few men can do it all 🤦♂️[13:51] To the world. Haggling for ricksha. This is nuts. We got one for 100 INR (1.1 EUR's), during the drive he first told us that we overpaid then at the end wanted 150 INR 😅We messed up a little bit because it turns out that T. Nagar isn't a market but a huge district in the city. The whole district is a market, ...[14:05] At the market T Nagar. Biggest market in the world sir.[14:43] Got the shirt in MAX shop. 10 euro for it. Debit Card works. Just you have to convince the shopkeeper to use it.In front of the shop there was a street food stand where ricksha drivers ate. Lady was washing plates on the floor ... Again was to shocked to take a photo.[14:50] After buying the first shirt we found around the corner from MAX an Indian shop with shirts. Went in but they had only smooth silk. Super nice though. In span of 2 minutes two folks were selling me shirts. Then giving us advice. We ended up getting tips for where to find the currency exchange to get more rupees for dollars we brought with us.=> They directed us to Pondy Bazar, part of T. Nagar. [15:04] Walking around:=> Get electronics or buy a coconut. All in one place. Or selling clay bricks next to a mall. Why not.[15:10] Got 1L of bottled water for 20 INR. He didn’t want to take the 500 bank note, we barely managed to get him take 100 INR.[15:20] To Pondy Bazar. Stoped in the bank in between. People super nice. No sir this bank only INR, exchange another bank. OK[15:40] At Pondy Bazar according to maps. No Exchange, but a shop and foot massage. Got water and cookies for like 60 INR at the shop. We asked where the exchange is, not here sir, but around the corner.[15:45] Raining cats and dogs out of nowhere. Chilling with those guys:Yes a golf cart ambulance.[16:00] OK going around the corner. Trying to find the currency exchange without success. So we decided to find another spot for weathering the rain.[16:16] OK let's try to find a ricksha for 100 INR to the Kapaleeshwarar Temple. First one wanted 400 INR and we were like noup. So we walked. Second one 300 INR, 200 INR, ... So Jerca tried to get us one on Uber for 150 INR. No luck. As we were raining a guy stopped on the bus station with the motor bike to chat with us. Where are you from, ... Yes I've been to UK. Do you have Instagram? ... Showed him my account, but he didn't follow me 🥲[16:42] Then eventually we got a ricksha. For 200. Rain price sir. Alright. Time is also money so off we go. A 20 minutes drive.=> BTW later we realised that 3 ricksha Uber driver's tried to call us, but since we canceled like 3 minutes after the order it was all good. Ricksha market is a dynamic economy of it's own 🤓[17:01] At the temple. Good that we paid for the ride. Can’t go in unless barefoot. Makes sense, but it's just to dirty to take off shoes and go in, for our taste since it just rained. We were a bit disappointed of how little we saw, but decided to walk around a bit:Then found this gem:And a few more later.[17:16] While taking photo's I spotted a pharmacy and asked if they are selling Pudin Hara tables for calming down the stomach. A kid:
Kid: Dad do we have Pudin Hara?
Dad: No.
Kid: OK sir first street left, then right, shop at the corner.
Me: OK.
We go there. We don't see the shop and want to go farrowed and suddenly I see a green box somewhere. Huh they have them. Pudin Hara tables for free 60 INR for 20 perls, online they are like 5 EUR's. It looked like a witches shop but we got what we were looking for. Walking around.Ok taking photos with locals.The moment I took the camera out. Photo sir? Am sure. Few guys even stopped us to take a picture with us. Little wired, but hey.Trying to buy pants. Since they said 3 shirts and pants for 1500 INR. BTW they had Under Armour 🤷♂️As I'm walking over the street I see one more seller to approach. But then as I enter the store there were 2 more behind the counter. So yeah four dudes were selling me pants, only issue all of what they were offering was too short 😅[17:30] Ricksha to metro station near our hotel (our hunch was we'll get away with paying less), a cop/marshal had to help out the driver to figure out where we want to go. Once we settled that we haggled on the price a bit. Almost had to walk away. Jerca is enjoying this way too much.Saying that the traffic was chaotic would be an understatement:[18:20] At hotel:[18:30] In the room. Choosing dinner. Yes Europay-ans 💰 not for long though. [18:40] Shower. And dress.[19:11] Chill. Start editing the blog stuff.[19:30] Dinner:=> Panner with some spicy Masala, Indian bread and some sort of chicken with rice. Also spicy.[21:00] Finding a hotel in Kochi. Hyatt no longer available.=> So we decided to go for Fort Kochi, Green Woods Bethlehem that we found in the Lonely Planet. [22:30] Chat[23:15] To sleep.
