We slept like the veritable dead and managed to keep going till about 0930. Unheard of when we are at home. Got up and went to reception to ask if we could extend checkout till 2pm which was when we could check into our apartment. Yes, we could.
Met a lovely British couple who had left their Iphone on the Virgin plane in Mumbai and found it was in Lost Property there. Sounded like it might need a flight back to retrieve it.
We wandered down to the Seaview Hotel and had breakfast there. I had 2 fried eggs on 2 pieces of toast and a cafetiere of coffee (indifferent). Bob had a masala omelette and tea. It came to about a fiver.
Picked up a tuk to Chaudhi and made a first call at the atm near Durga optics and took out cash. Then we went to Durga and ordered our glasses. I got a pair of varifocals, reactalite, non-scratch with nice frames plus a pair of varifocal sunglasses and frames for about £85 (for the pair). Bob got 2 pairs of top quality Swiss varifocals with all the bells and whistles plus a pair of medium quality varifocal sunglasses for about £120. Such a bargain. They will be ready for us in 7 days. Mr Durga is extremely knowledgable and a funny chap. Very serious. it’s a bit of a dusty shop, little on display but he has boxes and boxes of frames for you to go through. We have tried others but always now come back to him.
Then we went upstairs above Durga to the phone shop and got local sims put into our phones. We have a three month deal with a lot of data for £18 each. It is a tedious business, much form filling, photo taking and passport scanning…. Took longer than choosing the glasses. Still…. end result is our phones work and we are online too with them.
Got a bit of shopping and headed back to the Tubki about 130. Checked out and we walked about 100 yards up the road to the Tubki Park Apartments to our new apartment for the rest of the holiday. Thank heavens all the reviews on Airbnb were correct and it is absolutely great. One bedroom, lounge , bathroom, full kitchen and 2 big balconies – one over the pool and one looking out over the palm tree groves behind. It is really well equipped with implements, including a microwave, cooker, toaster, blender, kettle…. lots of pans etc. The bedroom is a/c, the living area has ceiling fans and of course the big sliding doors out to the terrace. One nice feature is a very high tech water purifier system over the sink so that we don’t have to buy bottled water for the apartment. All of this for £18 per night. We feel very lucky and very pleased. Great communication with the owner. Phew….. we can relax now.
Unpacked and rested for the afternoon. Went down to Eve’s tonight for 7 and met the gang. Gloria and her friend, Frances, Joseph and Janet, John and Susan (arrived today from Mumbai). We had a nice g&t and a catch up and then John, Susan and Bob and I had dinner on the beach at Namaste and the others ate at Eve’s. We met Mark and Kate on the way and had a very lovely greeting with them and no doubt will be seeing them for quizzes and maybe a boat trip. In Namaste we met Heather and Chris who were having dinner there. Meeting them tomorrow for dinner at Casa Fiesta.
Lovely dinner in Namaste. The main waiter was very pleased to see us and remembered us by name from 2 years ago. I had prawn masala. Bob had prawn biriani and we shared a vegetable pulcha. 2 beers and 2 gins/1 tonic was £15. Lovely to eat under the stars and catch up with John and Susan.
On the way back we bought some groceries in the little supermarket so we can self cater some breakfasts. Seems a shame not to when we have such a nice full kitchen. We will still have some breakfasts at Sea Front and of course their mega coffee cafetieres….
Bob, John and Susan all had big ice cream cones from one of the two gelateria on the beach road. Bobs was gingerbread and Himalayan salt and it was creamy and delicious. Yes, I did have a couple of tastes! About £1.30 for a big cone.
Turned in to write this and look forward to a full beach day tomorrow.