I have had a beer and now want to drive a tuk tuk..

I woke up at the dawn call to prayer, which echoed across the city from the nearby mosque. I went straight back to sleep, but woke again an hour later to Edd's complaints that the BMW I8 literature he had bought with him was all copywriters bullshit, and there was hardly any technical specifications-(well who would have guessed that!?). 

We then went out for a brekafast of idilis which are Indian rice cakes with a coconut sauce that looks a bit like porridge, with a serving next to them of what only can be described as green (very tasty) gunge. 

After this morning feast Edd was keen to do some exercise, so we then took a tuk tuk to the edge of the town to climb the 1000 pilgrim steps to the top of a hill and a temple. In front of us a devout hindu lady bent to place two spots of colour on each step, whilst her husband walked in front of her palpably annoyed at her slowness, and intermittently playing loud music from his iphone, which led to quite a lot of glowering and increased slowness from the lady in question. We left them to a brewing domestic, and continued up the hill past a couple of monkeys, and a rock carved into the shape of a bull and garlanded in jasmine flowers. 

The temple at the top was surrounded by a market. There seemed to be a very blurred line between these two establishments. The devout bought coconuts and jasmine flowers for the gods at the market, before taking them to the corner of the temple labelled 'coconut smashing area', and then presenting the remains at the alter.

We then headed back to the town for a bit of shopping.  We wondered round the market, which has been in the same place for the last three hundred years. Not much has changed, and the narrow alleyways contained overflowing vegetable, flower, and perfume shops-as well as corners for knife sharpening and jewellery. 

Edd had definitely bought more clothes with him than I had so I persuaded him to go shopping. We spotted some really cool maxi dresses in one of the windows. I spent quite a while finding the right colour, and was just asking the sales girl whether there was a local tailor that I could tailor it, when her colleague dropped a bomb shell that this item of clothing was in fact a nightie. I eventually ended up with a green tunic and leggings, this was nothing short of a miracle after what Edd was doing to the shop mannequins.

We finished off the day with a drink at a rooftop bar in one of the smarter hotels (definitely not the one we were staying in.) On the way back the tuk tuk driver made the mistake of leaving the vehicle for a minute to get some change. I turned round to find Edd playing with the tuk tuk controls. Apparently he had 'had a beer and now wanted to drive a tuk tuk.' Fortunately for all concerned the tuk tuk driver reappeared at this moment...

Sent from my iPad

Sent from my iPad