Wednesday, December 23

We got up late, had breakfast and let Bruno in. The kingfisher was flying around outside the balcony.

Uday came to visit, and stayed chatting for some time. He is working at a shop on the beach now but there are so few tourists that there is little work to do.

After he rode off on his motorcycle we got a rickshaw to the beach. Leo’s was still being repaired so we went to the Lonely Planet restaurant instead. This is completely vegetarian and possibly the only restaurant that doesn’t sell alcohol, legally or illegally. It is along a path parallel to the beach, and the food was delicious. I had Special Kadai with butter naan. The atmosphere was different, and very peaceful, too.

Naa saw Hari on a balcony and he came down to join us. He has a new coffee business, and a new daughter that he was off to collect from the hospital.

We walked back along the beach and saw that Leo was now open. We stopped for a lemon soda.

Now we are walking back to the rickshaws and Naa is testing the water. It is, she declares, properly warm.

Our rickshaw will take us to the wrong place and then try to charge us extra to take us to the right place. He won’t succeed.