South India, India 2015

Arriving in Kerala we transferred immediately to a house boat for two days of exploring the waterways north of Kochi, with excursions on the shore to see various sites.  The "South India on the Water" is a photo story of the sites from these two days on the water, and "Kochi" is a story from the sightseeing in Kochi itself.  This area is strikingly different than the other parts of India that we had toured earlier.  Very tropical, lots of tea, spices, banana trees, rice fields; beautiful flowers and birds; not as littered as some other areas we had seen; and a number of Christian churches from the heritage of the Portuguese, Dutch, and British.  We visited a synagogue but were not allowed to photograph.  We were also not allowed to photograph inside the Dutch Palace and this contained spectacular wall paintings illustrating the Hindu mythology.  The classical Indian dance was tremendously arresting, colorful and powerful.