What shopping can be done in Kerala? Well, for the ladies, jewellery, apparels, pashminas. For the men?.....well, pakdokter's friends went out to the mall and came home with lovely good quality cotton shirts at bargain prices compared to what we would pay for the same in Kuala Lumpur! And of course Indian arts and crafts and decorative ornaments are widely available, as well as good quality Kashmiri silk carpets....
For the foodies and the chefs at heart, Kerala is where you get a wide selection of spices and herbs for the kitchen. At the spices store where the group saw the cultural show, the spices were a tad expensive probably because it was a tourist spot. While walking the streets of Fort Kochi, pakdokter came across a women's co-operative spice shop owned by 7 enterprising ladies. For comparison, the highest quality Kashimiri 'saffron' cost pakdokter only 300 rupees per 100 gm compared to the asking price of 850 rupees at the cultural centre.( The saffron from Spain cost 200 rupees per 100 gms and the lower grade Indian saffron cost about 170 rupees per 100 gm). And many other spices, herbal soaps and vanilla sticks were sold at easily less than half of the price at the tourist shops. Pakdokter's friend, Ravee, was cleverer. He went to the spice warehouse in the Jewish Quarter on Saturday morning and bought spices by the kilograms at great bargains!...
Well, now to see what pakdokter ( and Ravee) can come out with, with the spices and herbs that we brought home.
A visit to the bookstore is also encouraged. India has produced many prize-winning authors at the international level and pakdokter found that books are easily RM5 to RM10 cheaper here than in our own MPH or Kinokuniya bookstores. And pakdokter could not help but bought back enough books for the next 6 months!....
sarees in a little street of Munnar..
?gold necklaces.....
jewellery at the culture centre...Fort Kochi
trying out necklaces at the Ramada Resort..
the Museum Company..a large store selling Kashmiri carpets and art and crafts
and apparels
the store is next to the Malabar House in Fort Kochi ..
fancy some local cookies..
sold pakdokter spices at bargain prices and
even presented pakdokter a packet of incense sticks
as a parting gift.....
and maybe a lottery ticket for luck.....!
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