We found a nice hotel near to the jetty that have the mini ferrys to Fort Kochin. We called Yi Fan and she had arrived already (we had arranged to meet her here as she had to go back to Bangalore first). We all took the mini ferry out to Fort Kochin. It was not an inspiring boat ride massive oil tankers line the harbour and many big boats move up and down all giving you they feeling they where used for industry. Near the shores at the Jettys the water stank. Especially at low tide. Soon we where off the boat and exploring Fort kochin. A medium sized island connected to the mainland by a far away bridge that is only sensible if you have a vehicle or live on that side. The government run ferry costs only 2.5Rp and runs all the time. We first arrived and checked out the Customs house. The police waved us in with smiles. We couldn’t figure out if it was disused or customs just did nothing here. Big old warehouses some locked some open had little more than dust and doors. The main office looked like the upper level had been claimed by a civilian as a house. There where two fancy new police boats tied up in a muddy marina but precious little else. Once policeman slept on a bed he had set up near the office. You would find it difficult to catch them working. We saw India’s oldest European constructed Church built by Portuguese in the early 1500s. We then saw these amazing fishing net systems. They require 4 men to work the system of counterweights. They pull the weights to make the net drop This net is about 20m2. The weight remains fully streached out at this size, it is submerged then using the weights lifted back up a few minutes later. It worked on the idea that there are some fish swimming over that area when the net comes up. Then a system of scoops are used to collect the fish they have caught. It looked like they got around 1kg each time. Hard work for little reward. I have the feeling in the past they would have collected many fish with this system as it appears the net systems would be expensive and difficult to construct.