We went for a careful excursion yesterday, to a cafe which had genuinely good filter coffees. We both had their light roast, I in a kalita wave (in memory of our Cholula cafe, Bartolo – possibly my favourite cafe anywhere) and the GF in a V60. Very pleasant, and it was a nice part of town as well, greener and much quieter than where we are staying. More hotellish, but also more comfortable.
We then walked along the water in Forodhani park, where the boats were moored in neat lines along the horizon, and scores of young boys hurtled themselves in gymnastic leaps and dives into the water. We stood and watched for a good long while, admiring the spins, pirouettes and somersaults on one hand, and on the other, jokey leaps with legs cycling or curling up midair into a sort of napping pose. Or, simply joyous ballistic hurtles. A fellow tourist came up and asked us to hold his valuables while he took a go and acquitted himself rather well in front of a large and pleased audience. I assume he was a gymnast or something, as he did several midair spins which garnered much applause. He told us later that the boys here have a TikTok feed and taking part in it had been on his bucket list.
We walked on to a restaurant that was reputed to be one of the best local restaurants. They were out of their speciality, biryani, so we ordered other foods which were, I’m afraid, atrocious. I can only assume the biryani was not very good either. Extremely disappointing.
We are, incidentally, both negative for COVID, so free to travel, and also close to recovery from what seems to have been a short, sharp bout of the flu. The GF is still feeling weak, and my skin feels sensitive, but neither of us have had fever in some days now.
I am lucky that I had a much milder bout than he did. It often seems to be the way between us – the second to catch it doesn’t get it as badly. This was also what happened, the other way around, when I had that terrible flu on my way from Pakistan to New Zealand, whick knocked me out for days and the GF for far less time.