An astonishingly poor meal today from a very expensive restaurant. One of the only times (perhaps the only time ever?) I sent a dish back. This was at one of the expensive beach resorts so I didn’t have very high expectations of the food, but I was surprised when my fish tacos turned out to […]
Hunt for a beach
After a bit of work, we took a rickshaw south to a fishing collective we’d been recommended, there to have lunch. I do like this way of travelling around: just amble out and in less than a minute a rickshaw will arrive and take you off. We undoubtedly get overcharged, but it’s worth it for […]
Change of fortune
We’re in Kenya, much to our surprise. Our taxi driver arrived, our airline existed, our various COVID tests and documents were correct, our visas went for a full three months, and there was a guy waiting outside the Mombasa airport to whisk us to Diani, where we are for the next couple of weeks. It […]
Chaat soup
Today we tried urojo, which is a mango coconut soup with vadas and crispy chatpatta stuff, drizzled with chilli and tamarind, and topped with a skewer or two of grilled beef. It was the first food we had which was tasty, distinctive and local, a trifecta that has largely eluded us (getting even one has […]
Both negative
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 […]
Furniture shopping
We went furniture shopping and it was a surprisingly pleasant experience, though we didn’t actually find anything we urgently need (a small dining table, a bed, a fold-out bed, a wardrobe, a comfortable chair). We were going to a warehousey sort of place that does up old furniture and provides to film and TV sets, […]
Mardan
Yesterday, the driver arrived at around 10. We’d planned to go to Taxila, see some sights, return, but one of our hosts proposed a different plan which I immediately leapt at. This was to go to Mardan, about 2 hours from Islamabad, there to visit the remains of a Gandharan Buddhist monastery at Takht-e-Bahi, and […]
Lights, lights, lights
Today we went and ordered most (though not all) of the lights for the flat. The place the GF had discovered seemed to have good quality and was certainly a slick operation, very helpful folks. So we have ordered single and double spots for the side lights, rod-shaped hallway lights, pendants for the kitchen, and […]
Again, unexpected
To my surprise, my negotiation was successful and I received an offer very close to what I asked for – in addition to an increased number of working days. So, hurrah! In the evening the GF and I went to a part of Besiktas we had not yet visited, a quiet, trendy bit with a […]
Back on track
After a longish holiday and returning to find my computer would not come on and taking it off for repair, I’m now back online. I’ll fill in a few posts from the last month retrospectively, but in this one I’ll list some key points and events. First, my computer is working again, hurrah! Who knows […]