Cochin Tour, Home of Hope

Chinese fishing nets

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Home of Hope Orphanage

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We went on a guided tour of Cochin today. The city was very touristy with many little shops, cafes, and some internet cafes. We saw Chinese fishing nets. They were wooden docks with long poles sticking up over the water. The fishing nets were attached to the poles. The poles were lowered into the water and then pulled up to catch fish. The fishermen will let you help pull up the net, then charge you money for it.

There was a Dutch and Portuguese influence in the area. We saw two churches and a synagogue. We also went to the King of Cochin’s palace. It was set up like a museum with some reconstruction inside. We saw pictures of royal women that used to be topless before the British came over. Then the royal women started wearing a loose shirt with no sleeves. It seemed strange since women dress so conservatively now.

After lunch we went to the Home of Hope orphanage. A group of girls greeted us by singing a welcome song. It was their summer break, so not many girls were there. The girls ranged from 2nd to 10th grade. A few of them did some choreographed dances to three songs. They wanted us to sing and dance for them, too. We sang the beginning of “My Girl.” We all danced together for a while.

After our visit there we went to a small beach on the Arabian Sea. The water was warm, but the beach didn’t look very nice to swim in. A man caught some fish with a cast net. A funny sight there was all of the goats. We saw some of them jumping up on walls and eating posters.

Stepping in the Arabian Sea

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Catch from the cast net

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