And so we had a free day....

Wednesday, I seemed to sleep a little better, but still awoke dopey and bumbly. The digestive system began to function gain this morning, which is probably more information that the reader requires, but never the less was significant since it brought comfort and some peace of mind eventually. 

So we went for a walk, discovering the main shopping street of Morjim and getting very hot in the process. 32 degrees and high humidity make a December-adapted European perspire hard. And because it was a free day, we went back to the beach for a swim and relaxation on sunbeds (in the shade). It also gave me time to catch up with this.

Photographically the place is potentially very good, however the heat and humidity plus not having transport (I find it hard to just grab a taxi) and a wife who would be bored on a photo-walk have worked to stop me going places that make good pictures.

Since we’ve just been disturbed by the crows/jackdaws I’ll mention wildlife. There are huge crowds of some kind of jackdaw-like corvids round here, and in the evening they are really noisy as they circle overhead. We’ve also seen kites and (possibly) sea eagles elsewhere on the coast. There were also clouds of dragonflies for the first couple of evenings, though I’ve not seen so many today. There are plainly biting insects about, as the occasional lump will testify, but it’s not been a big problem and we’re coping OK.

There’s a diverse range of 'local' people-groups about, and we’ve seen what look like family-distinct features on different sets of people. There are also those who clearly have a wealthy background, illustrated by their relative obesity and intentionally ‘nice’ clothes. Some of the guys have quoifed hair that stands up in a sort of quiff with beards stretched to be a little pointy, and that my be a ‘local speciality’. But it’s harder to identify ‘local’ and non-local people – our waiter last evening was Nepalese and I’ve definitely seen Punjabi and Simla facial features. 

In terms of non-local people, we've been greeted "dobrey den" a few times, which makes the assumption we're Russian - the most common non-India race in those parts.

I did manage a walk along the beach this afternoon, while Chris had a massage. Saw guys using seine nets, walking in pairs into the sea with the net piled over a pair of poles held between them, then one walking off into the ocean in a big loop while trailing the net behind him. They caught a few fish and some plastic waste. Also managed to talk to the owner of a fishing boat (he approached me with the classic conversation opened “how are you”) who was pleased to show me the kingfish his workers had caught.

Wednesday night we found a quieter restaurant to eat in, having some modernised Indian food (chicken malai tikka) made with cream of cashews and presented as fine dining. It was nice, but unconventional. There was also a pitcher of Bira beer that was fairly un-beer like, definitely low alcohol.