The secret garden

This photo sums up how I felt on my first day in Kerala - a bit fuzzy and out of focus. I arrived at this lovely b&b at around 10am, hot, exhausted and grumpy after a very long air journey, the last leg of which was spent sitting next to a man who believed in washing down his curry breakfast with large quantities of brandy!

The b&b is called The Secret Garden, and it was. Tucked away in the backstreets of Fort Cochin, it had simple, rustic rooms with shady verandahs and a small pool. After a rest, I went out to explore the town. My first impressions weren't that positive. It was dirty, with open sewers running along the edge of pathways. Interestingly, the next day was a working day and I noticed workmen beginning the process of filling them in, obviously a municipal project.

I'd read that a lot of money that flows into Kerala comes from remittances, from people working elsewhere, particularly in the Gulf, and sending money home. It's evident in nice villas built next to more simple dwellings, all on the same street looking out on the sewers. Affluence and progress from a very low base.