Tea happens to be my favourite beverage. Over the years, I’ve disposed off the need for milk (and sugar in most cases) to get the real taste of tea. I read this yesterday while browsing through a book and liked it so much, I made a note of it: “Tea is quiet and it takes a quiet palate to appreciate something that calls so little attention to itself.” – James Norwood Pratt in the New Tea Lover’s Treasury. So true!

Just next door to where I’m staying here at Fort Kochi, I was delighted to find a small quaint tea room called Tpot. With kettles of different sizes and colours everywhere, and rustic furniture – the place is a really comforting and somewhere you can spend hours reading a book. More about it in the blog later.

I’ve also done quite a bit of eating here (it will take me many marathons to shed all my sins :-). After yesterday’s disappointing dinner, today’s breakfast too was very bad – I tried a French toast at a place called Elite hotel (since it was the only joint open early morning) and I have no idea what they put in it, but I couldn’t get through even one toast! Lunch was more memorable – just finished a garden salad followed by a delicious coconut flavoured fish curry and rice at the Old Courtyard.

Early morning today, I went out on a boat ride and caught the fishermen in action as they worked on the Chinese fishing nets. It was quite an interesting sight as they worked the nets continuously trying to bring in the catch of the day – but it seemed to be a day of no or poor yield as hardly any fish were coming up in the nets.

The synagogue was closed, today being a holiday so I had to be happy with a glimpse from outside. The Dutch palace was quite fascinating and they’re renovating the place now and doing it up – there’s much history there. The only thing left on the agenda and that didn’t get done are two museums and they’re actually close by but laziness has now set in.

I’m planning to take it easy for the next couple of hours, maybe head off for a snooze and then make my way towards the bus station to head back to Bangalore. But before I do that, I have just enough time for one last cuppa at the Tpot!