Weekend Getaway – Kochi Part II

Presenting Part II of my Kochi travelogue. I know, I can hardly call this a travelogue, considering most of the focus is on food and shopping. The thing is, whenever we go somewhere on holiday, my first question is about the shopping venues and Mr. Tiger is solely concerned about where and what we’ll eat. Seriously, he plans where we’ll have our breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks well before we even book our tickets. Yes, I’m married to a man who is married to his food. Sigh!!

Jew Town, Princess Street, Bazaar Road are some of the good places to shop in Fort Kochi. You get a lot of touristy stuff here, and some useful things too. Mainly known for their curios, antiques and travel-related books, you can also find lots of cotton tunics/kurtas and plain maxi dresses hanging outside the little stores. Also available are stone jewelry, scarves, Tshirts, perfume and massage oils, and several other knick knacks.

Here is Cub enjoying a Kinder egg in front of one of the colorful street shops at Jew Town.

I found a charming little pocket watch neck piece for which I've been looking all over!

I was so happy that I put it on instantly! You press the little button on the top to make it open:

And also, this cute fridge magnet with a houseboat on it:

There are many stores on M.G. Road, many of them dealing with sarees and of course, gold. This is Kerala, after all! We didn’t get much time here so I didn’t buy anything.

The malls have most mall-y stores. However, the usuals are missing – Pantaloons, Westside, Lifestyle. There was a real cute Ayesha store in Nucleus Mall; though I've heard a lot about it, this was the first time I actually visited a store. I personally found the prices a little above the usual, but the pieces are really unique. I’m kicking myself now for not getting anything :-(.

Another good place to visit is Mantra at Oberon mall. They have really nice cotton kurtas with quite a wide variety. The basic kurtas start at 1050.00, which is a bit steep compared to fabindia and the rest, but they are really well made. The quality seems very good, they are very comfortable and the fit is amazing. 

Speaking of fabindia, you are bound to bump into a store wherever you go in Kochi. I spotted one at Fort Kochi, a second standalone store somewhere else nearer to town, and one in each of the three malls we visited. It is no wonder that my Kochi shopping is almost exclusively from fab :-).

They’ve got a new collection called ‘Rang Barse’ for spring/summer. I got two kurtas to add to my summer wardrobe. (I’m kidding, I don’t buy new clothes every season)

This one is actually kind of olive green, and not as light as it appears in the picture:

This one’s got a nice floral summery print on it.

Typical fabindia stuff, I know, but both of them are really comfy and soft.

Then I got this necklace with multi colored janglers (which don't really jangle):

And a pair of bright multi colored earrings:

This bangle-neckpiece set was part of their old collection and was on sale. I got it for just 60 rupees!!!

And a little travel soap bar (No, I'm not leaving anything out :-))

We also did some book shopping:

Cub’s book and CD Haul:

Yea, that’s about it. I didn’t have any shopping list to begin with, so I was careful not to go overboard. But I’m quite happy with my little haul, though my fav has to be the watch neckpiece :-). What about you guys? Do you guys shop a lot while holidaying?