Today we went back to Fort Cochin for a wander and lunch and to book a 2 day tour into the hills for tomorrow.

The architecture is beautiful, old and new, the town is full of contrasts and colour.

We had more delicious Kerala dishes for lunch. Mine was a spicy stuffed whole fish wrapped and cooked in a banana leaf and Mark went for the Karai chicken curry.

After lunch we walked around the Jewish area where we were lured into one of the many shops and persuaded to buy a new bed cover for Blue Magic.

The textiles here are beautiful, rich colours with hand beading and embroidery using bright, shiny, jewels and metallic threads.

So far we have good vibes about India, the food is great, the people are friendly and very helpful and there is a wonderful vibrant atmosphere.

Tomorrow we are being picked up at 6.30am to go to the hills for a couple of days, hopefully it will be fresh and cool and we are looking forward to scrubbing the elephants….