Kochi is the old spice port of Kerala, and it still has the look of a place where traders from many countries have come and gone. Arab, Chinese, Portuguese, Dutch and British merchants all passed through, and the old quarter around Fort Kochi keeps traces of them: Chinese fishing nets on the waterfront, a Portuguese-era church, a synagogue in Jew Town and colonial houses facing the water. The city itself is spread across islands and the mainland, tied together by bridges and ferries, with a lot of water around.
Kochi is a very practical place to start. It is a big, busy city, so fuel stations, cafes, hotels and mechanics are everywhere, and you can find almost anything you need before heading inland. The hard part is traffic. City roads are crowded with buses, auto-rickshaws, scooters and trucks, and the drivers are quick and inventive, so the first hour is more about patience than pleasure. Leave early in the morning, before the heat and the congestion build, and you will be out of the built-up area faster.
The ride east toward Munnar is the reward. As the land rises from the coastal plain into the Western Ghats, the roads wind through rubber plantations, spice gardens and patches of forest, and the air gets cooler. Tea terraces cover the hills around Munnar in a deep green patchwork. This part of India is one of the wettest, with the south-west monsoon arriving around June, so the drier months from roughly October to March are the more comfortable ones for riding.
Food is worth some attention. Kerala cooking uses coconut, curry leaves, mustard seed and black pepper in ways that are quite different from the north, and fish curry with rice, appam with stew and a simple banana-leaf meal are all good ways to eat here. Fresh seafood is plentiful near the waterfront.
Treat Kochi as a starting line and a homecoming. It is an energetic, humid port city, and after a day in the hills, the ceiling fan and the cold drink at the end are a welcome sight.