India (1)
Le Meridien Hotel, Kochi (India) - Local time 12.33
Namaste India! When greeting someone in Indian culture it is customary to place your hands together and bow lightly, while saying 'namaste'. Even in Remesh's family who are Suriname Hindustan they do it. It goes to show how ingrained ones culture can be.
Anyway, after travelling for a little more than 14 hours, with an almost 3 hour layover at Dubai's mega airport, we made it to India. We are in Kochi (formerly known as Cochin) in the state of Kerala. Like many Indian cities Kochi changed its name from Cochin to sound more Indian rather than western in colonial times. Think of Bombay... it became Mumbai, Calcutta became Kolkata, Bangalore became Bengaluru, Madras became Chennai etc. etc. It's warm and raining like crazy. The time here is a bit odd... It's 4 hours & 30 minutes later than The Netherlands.
The flight was super. We travelled in Business Class to Dubai DXB on a 777-300ER and in Economy to Kochi COK on a 777-200ER. Business Class was super-de-duper! Great service by the Emirates crew. I can see why its business class product has won so many awards. And Economy? I tip my hat to Emirates as well for their product. There was even an possibility to use your mobile phone while inflight! Okay the charges were a little out of this world, but still!
Inflight AMS-DXB
Inflight DXB-KOC
After the Dutch cold, the humid heat here in Kochi was a nice welcome. We took a taxi to the hotel, checked-in and went straight up to our room to rest. We took a short nap, as we both slept well on both flights. After a bite to eat we will start exploring the city. It's still raining, but even so we will not leave that spoil our fun. We will only be here untill Monday. We are going to see how to get to our next destination. Most probably by train.
I inserted my international SIM-card in my LG phone and we immediately got a choice of connection to Vodafone Kerala, Thuraya, AirTel and Idea. It took a while to get the internet settings right, but it works well. I forwarded my work number to the international phone number in case anyone from the job has to reach me. I am not walking around with 2 phones. So that Blackberry from work stayed at home. No calls are forwarded from my home number or my private mobile. That is way to expensive. I will email/sms anyone in need of the international number or just call me on my work phone. KLM is picking up that tab. Just sayin'.....
Remesh is taking a shower as we speak and I will be next. I'm tired, but in a good way. I don't know when my next post will be again. I'm just here to enjoy myself!
City of Kochi from our room
Posted from LG® GD510 mobile device available from +3762023XXXX & Vodafone IN
Namaste India! When greeting someone in Indian culture it is customary to place your hands together and bow lightly, while saying 'namaste'. Even in Remesh's family who are Suriname Hindustan they do it. It goes to show how ingrained ones culture can be.
Anyway, after travelling for a little more than 14 hours, with an almost 3 hour layover at Dubai's mega airport, we made it to India. We are in Kochi (formerly known as Cochin) in the state of Kerala. Like many Indian cities Kochi changed its name from Cochin to sound more Indian rather than western in colonial times. Think of Bombay... it became Mumbai, Calcutta became Kolkata, Bangalore became Bengaluru, Madras became Chennai etc. etc. It's warm and raining like crazy. The time here is a bit odd... It's 4 hours & 30 minutes later than The Netherlands.
The flight was super. We travelled in Business Class to Dubai DXB on a 777-300ER and in Economy to Kochi COK on a 777-200ER. Business Class was super-de-duper! Great service by the Emirates crew. I can see why its business class product has won so many awards. And Economy? I tip my hat to Emirates as well for their product. There was even an possibility to use your mobile phone while inflight! Okay the charges were a little out of this world, but still!
Inflight AMS-DXB
Inflight DXB-KOC
After the Dutch cold, the humid heat here in Kochi was a nice welcome. We took a taxi to the hotel, checked-in and went straight up to our room to rest. We took a short nap, as we both slept well on both flights. After a bite to eat we will start exploring the city. It's still raining, but even so we will not leave that spoil our fun. We will only be here untill Monday. We are going to see how to get to our next destination. Most probably by train.
I inserted my international SIM-card in my LG phone and we immediately got a choice of connection to Vodafone Kerala, Thuraya, AirTel and Idea. It took a while to get the internet settings right, but it works well. I forwarded my work number to the international phone number in case anyone from the job has to reach me. I am not walking around with 2 phones. So that Blackberry from work stayed at home. No calls are forwarded from my home number or my private mobile. That is way to expensive. I will email/sms anyone in need of the international number or just call me on my work phone. KLM is picking up that tab. Just sayin'.....
Remesh is taking a shower as we speak and I will be next. I'm tired, but in a good way. I don't know when my next post will be again. I'm just here to enjoy myself!
City of Kochi from our room
Posted from LG® GD510 mobile device available from +3762023XXXX & Vodafone IN
posted by Traveller at 8:03 AM
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