Quik Thinking

Last weekend Anita and I decided to spend a few days this week visiting the Eastern Townships as a break from city life. With a bit of effort, we found somebody in Magog with whom to couch-surf for 3 days mid-week. Our intention had been to take our bikes on the bus and use them to get around once we were there. Unfortunately, Anita forgot to lock hers up for a few hours the night before we were supposed to leave and it was only while packing that she realized she still had the lock with her. By then, of course, it had already been stolen. Faced with this last-minute hiccup, we figured we could just hitch-hike our way around instead.

Much to my surprise, the bus was packed. I had no idea so many people would be going to the Eastern Townships on a Tuesday morning. Upon arrival in Magog, we ate lunch at a little place called Chich Taouk, which our hostess, Marthe, had recommended. Anita even had some meat! After lunch we hitched a ride to Marthe's house, where she told us a few things about the town and then sent us on our way to the lake. Walking down the street, I was puzzled to notice that the traffic lanes had been created using wet toilet paper!

The lake was cold. Not so cold that we didn't immerse ourselves in it but cold enough that we had to keep moving around in it to generate heat. After we'd had our fill of swimming around, we lay around on the grass to dry off before playing frisbee and then returning to Marthe's for dinner. We helped Marthe make a casserole type dish. It was fun cooking with her because she had so many culinary gadgets. Marthe regaled us with fascinating stories until it was time for bed.

I joined Marthe for brekki around 8:30am. Although she doesn't eat fruits because the citric acid makes her fingers hurt, she had bought some just for us. I cut them into little pieces and proceeded to eat them very slowly until Anita eventually joined us and took over that task. Energized for the day, we were driven by Marthe to Mont Orford so we could hike up it. 

Despite stopping a few times for some impromptu bouldering, we made it to the summit, where we enjoyed a view that extended as far as Vermont. There were several yurts around, which are probably used by skiers during the Winter. I'd never been inside a yurt before so was quite enthralled by them. We took a gentler route down but, even so, I had to walk backwards to relieve the strain on my toes. It took a few tries this time but we were again able to hitch a ride back to Marthe's for dinner.

This time we followed dinner with some Coaticook ice-cream, which is made in a little town near Magog using the traditional method. It started raining while we ate but we decided to go out anyway because Marthe had told us about a free concert going on nearby. She drove us there and we enjoyed performances by 4 different string quartets playing pieces by Hadyn, Shostakovich and Beethoven. There was also some lovely vocal music by an opera singer but by the time she went on all the carbon dioxide in the church hosting the concert was making me sleepy. But not so sleepy that I didn't eat a bowl of porridge when we got back.

I ate porridge again in the morning and then Marthe drove us downtown so we could stroll through the marshlands. There were a few informative signs about the local fauna but of course none of them were in English so we made hazardous guesses at translation. Once we strayed far enough from the edges of suburbia, the marshes made for some gorgeous views. But the best part was when we discovered wild blueberries growing in them. We tried to offer some to passers-by but only one family accepted them.

By the time we got to the end of the marsh trail, my feet were pretty sore and I wanted to take the shortest route back to the city so we could grab lunch and rest. Sadly, we got lost trying to find the lake. After buying snacks from a dep, we managed to hitch a ride back into town, only to discover that Chich Taouk was closed for an hour between lunch and dinner and we'd just missed the lunch shift. We spent the better part of an hour looking for another place that offered reasonably priced vegetarian fare but in the end we just came back when it reopened for dinner. After we hitched yet another ride and packed up our stuff, Marthe kindly dropped us off at the bus station.

Interestingly, the bus we took back to Montreal was nearly empty.

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The fire alarm in my apartment building went off while I was cooking lunch today. It had been raining earlier so I grabbed a raincoat and my keys before heading down the fire escape. On my way down I found that several tenants had been using the fire escape as extra storage, blocking it with chairs, empty beer bottles and various other crap. Fortunately, I seemed to be the only person using the fire escape, which mystified me somewhat.

Upon reaching the lobby, I was amazed to discover that not only were there no other people there but the doorman was MIA too! A quick glance at the alarm console told me that it had been pulled on the 10th floor. I live on the 5th floor I would have been pretty far removed from the action if there was actually a fire. Nevertheless, I figured it wasn't worth the risk so I walked to the grocery store, intending to return in 20 minutes or so and see if the situation had been resolved.

On my way there I did see a fire truck with sirens blaring heading toward my building and by the time I returned the alarms had been shut off, although the elevators hadn't been turned back on yet so I had to walk up. Not very exciting at all.

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"Hey Jenny, ya ever wonder why there aren't any trees in front of me?"

"Oh George, must you bring that up again? I've told I don't mind handing you leaves from the tree behind you. After all, if you starved to death, I'd miss you terribly."

"I know, Jenny, and I do appreciate that you always feed me too but I just think that, you know, it'd be nice if I could return the favour now and then. If only there was some way I could make myself face the other direction..."

"That's crazy talk, George, and you know it!"

"Why must you always be so dismissive of my ideas, Jenny?"

"Well, for starters, you'd have to stick your head sideways out of the plate to turn around and that simply isn't possible."

What makes you think there isn't a 3rd dimension, Jenny?

"Hush, George! What if somebody heard you talking like that?"

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Since moving to Montreal 3 weeks ago, I have been cooking about twice a day. Based on my experiments, I have come up with a recipe for a delicious and nutritious meal that is both cheap and easy to prepare. Here it is.

Equipment:

• kettle (for boiling water, which can be done in a pot or microwave if you don't have a kettle)
• skillet and spatula
• pot
• wooden spoon
• cutting board
• chef's knife
• spice/coffee grinder (optional)

Raw materials:

• 1/2 cup cous-cous
• vegetable oil (e.g. olive, sunflower, canola, sesame)
• 2 carrots
• a handful of chives or 4-5 leeks
• 10-12 fingers okra
• 6-8 mushrooms
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• a few pitted black olives. [green may work but I haven't tried them]

Powdered spices (best made fresh in a grinder):

• cumin
• cilantro
• turmeric
• red chilli (go easy on this)
• fenugreek
• black pepper

Method:

1. Grind the spices if you have whole spices and a grinder.
2. Wash the veggies.
3. Pour some oil into the skillet and put it on a low flame.
4. Slice the carrots and add to pan.
5. Chop the chives/leeks into itty bitty pieces and add to pan.
6. Slice the okra and add to pan.
7. Add half the spices to pan and stir.
8. Chop mushrooms into quarters, add to pan and stir again.
9. Cover pan with lid.
10. Add a cup of water to the kettle and begin heating.
11. Check your email and return when the kettle screams.
12. Mix cous-cous with 1/2 cup boiling water, salt and remainder of spices in pot.
13. Stir with wooden spoon and cover with plate.
14. Turn flame off under skillet and stir contents.
15. You have time for one more quick email check but don't forget about the food!
16. When cous-cous seems to have absorbed all the water, ad a tablespoon of oil and fluff with fork.
17. Add contents of skillet to pot and stir.
18. Garnish with olives and serve. Serves one person with my appetite so probably good for two regular people.
19. Don't forget to wash your dishes!

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Go to http://qntm.org/files/hatetris/hatetris.html

Click the "show a replay" button.

Paste this into the dialog box and hit OK:

C02A AAAA AAAB 00AA AAAA AC08 AAAA AAC2 AAAA AAAA C2AA AAAA AEAA AAAA AA56 AAAA AAAA B55A AAAA AA96 AAAA AAAA D5AA AAAA A9AA AAAA AAB5 AAAA AAAA AAAA AAAA DAAA AAAA 9756 AAAA AA8A AAAA AAAB AAAA AAAB 5AAA AAAB 56AA AAAA AAAA A82A AAAA B00A AAAA A6D6 AB55 6AAA AAA9 4AAA AAA6 AAAA AD56 AAAA B56A AAAA 032A AAAA A65B F00A AAAA AA6E EFC0 2AAA AAAA EB00 AAAA AAA8 0AAA AAAA 802A AAAA AA54 AAAA AAA1 AAAA AAA0 AAAA AAA0 0AAA AAAA C02A AAAA B002 AAAA B00A AAAC 2AAA AAB0 AAAA AEAA AAA9 5AAA AAA9 D5AA AAA5 AAAA AAB5 6AAA A6AA AAAB 5AAA AAAA AAAA DAAA AAD5 56AA AA2A AAAA BAAA AAD6 AAAB 56AA AAAA 82AA AC02 AAA7 B5AA D556 AAAA 52AA A6AA B55A AB56 AA80 FCAA AAA5 583F 0AAA A9BB BF00 AAAA AE80 32AA AA82 FAAA A802 AAAA 96AA AA1A AAA8 2AAA A00A AAAB 00AA AB00 AAB0 AAAB 0AAB AAA9 5AAA AD56 AA5A AAB5 6AAC 02A9 AAAB 5AAA AAAD AAB5 5AA2 AAAE AA0A AAB2 AAD5 6AB5 AA02 AAA0 0AAA B55A AD6A BAAC 2AAB 0AA0 C2AA C02A

Be amazed.

If you aren't impressed, try playing the game yourself and see how hard it is.

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Having worn eyeglasses since I was 12, I'd been meaning to get laser eye surgery for several years but was waiting until the technology had stabilized and I could afford it. About a year ago I decided to get it after I was done with Invisalign. Last week, not long after I moved to Montreal for the summer, I ran across a Lasik MD booth in a mall and scheduled myself for a free consult.

Meanwhile, I'd been doing a lot of research on the various options for laser eye surgery and the risks involved with each. At my consult, I discovered that my large pupils (8mm) meant I couldn't use the standard Lasik procedure, which has become very cheap. Instead I'd need the more expensive Wavefront laser. At least I had thick corneas so I wouldn't need to undergo the pain of PRK. I mulled over it for a couple of days, knowing that I could afford the surgery and the surgeon assigned to me was one of the best in Canada but also that there was a 1% chance of complications and a 15% chance of minor regressions.

The day that I finished the Invisalign treatment my glasses also came apart. That was the last straw; I got Wavefront Lasik two days later. The operation itself lasted only a few minutes and was entirely painless. They'd warned me that my vision might remain blurry until the next morning but I was actually able to see fine immediately afterward. That night, however, I realized that I was experiencing ghosting in my right eye when looking at light sources (like traffic lights and neon signs).

Upon my return to the clinic the next morning for a post-op exam, they detected that my right corneal flap had a microfold, which was most likely causing the ghosting. Apparently those are unavoidable and common. Fortunately, they are also easily fixed. The surgeon simply peeled back the flap and smoothed it out. My right eye had blurry vision for the remainder of the day but the ghosting had stopped.

When I awoke the next morning, everything looks great. I returned to the clinic once again for a check-up and was told I now had 20/20 vision. [The ability to burn through steel with my eyes would come later, they promised.] Apparently most people wait 5-7 days before getting to 20/20 so I've been fortunate to have recovered quite fast. Here's hoping I don't experience any regressions in the next few months.

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In Bangkok, for the first time, we stayed in a hotel with a swimming pool. The pool was necessary because Katherine had been so badly bitten by mosquitoes that she was in dire need of chlorinated water in which to soak. After checking in, we ate dinner at a nearby restaurant that had an awesome tuk-tuk sign posted outside and then went right to bed, exhausted after a long day of travelling.

In the morning I awoke early (as usual) and set off on my own to find some street food for brekki. Before eating I stopped by a park to enjoy the fascinating sculptures on display there. While doing that I discovered a swimming pool that was open to anybody who wished to purchase a very cheap annual membership. And, of course, there were a bunch of people practicing Tai Chi. As I was about to leave the park, I heard music start playing all around me and everybody suddenly stopped and stood very still. It took me a few seconds to realize what was going on: the daily national anthem!

When Tony and Katherine had been trying to catch their flight from Tokyo to Bangkok a few days before, they'd missed it because Tony had forgotten his passport at home. They were able to purchase and take a different flight later that day, at which point they thought the incident had been put behind them. Unfortunately, however, Expedia then left them a message informing them that their return flight had been cancelled by China Airlines because they'd missed the original one. Annoyed at this reckless behaviour, we decided to visit the China Airlines office in Bangkok.

Getting there proved to be complicated because Google Maps gave us the wrong location for the office but eventually we found it. The woman at the customer service desk was extremely nice and promised Tony that he could get most of his trip refunded. She explained that, although the original return flight no longer had any seats available, they should be able to take a different flight within a day of it. That seemed reasonable enough so we left. But it then took several additional frustrating phone calls to Expedia before they were actually able to get the refund.

In the afternoon, after returning from China Airlines, it was very hot so we hit the pool. We had the entire thing to ourselves, which was nice. But there's only so long we could handle lounging in the pool and eventually it began to get a little chilly so we left for the Victory Monument, which is where I'd accidentally ended up when I caught the express bus from the airport a few days earlier.

By the time we reached it, we were rather hungry. The monument is littered with snack vendors so Katherine and Tony wanted to just nibble on snacks as we wandered around. Normally that would have been a problem for me because eating is a heavyweight operation for me thanks to Invisalign. However, at that point I had just completed the fortnight-long cycle for that particular pair so I decided to try an experiment. Removing them for the rest of the evening, I snacked with impunity. The freedom of being able to eat at will gave me quite the rush! The experiment was marred only when I managed to cut my thumb while peeling a local fruit.

After snacking, we took the skytrain to Bangkok's largest park and walked around for a while. Katherine bought a can of beer before we learned that drinking alcohol was not permitted in the park. I thought it was odd that beer could be sold in there if nobody was supposed to actually drink it. While Katherine furtively stole sips of her beer, we amused ourselves by watching an enormous crowd participate in an outdoor dancercise session. Although the participants were mostly female, there were plenty of guys too. 

As darkness fell, we left the park for the night market just outside it. There was a wide variety of food available there, although they wouldn't take our money. We had to purchase coupons and then use those to buy food. I was initially skeptical about ending up with extra useless coupons at the end but Tony pointed out that they would happily refund unused coupons. I guess they must have instituted the system to isolate the handling of cash to a small number of people. The food stalls are arranged in two inward-facing rows on either side of a lawn filled with tables and chairs on which to eat. At one end of the lawn is a stage on which various musical numbers are accompanied by dancing. It's a very pleasant experience.

Once we'd eaten it was time to hit the shops. Bargaining was underway everywhere we turned. Tony and I eventually grew tired of walking around and sat down to rest while Katherine continued window-shopping. I noticed several old white men accompanied by cute young Thai women. That didn't surprise me but what did was a young European dude with tattoos all over his arms yelling at an overly made-up Thai woman for trying to steal his medicines. She returned them and slunk off, disappointed. 

On our final day in Bangkok we decided to visit the zoo. I've been to many zoos in my life and this one was by no means among the best. However, I think I saw more interesting things there than I have any any of the others! At one point we were walking around when I spotted a strange lizard on the road being attacked by a crow. Never having seen a crow attack a lizard before, I stopped to watch. The crow seemed to be taking its time, waiting for a few seconds between attacks. The lizard, meanwhile, was desperate to escape and struggled mightily every time the crow grabbed it in its beak. Suddenly a young European woman walked by and, taking pity on the lizard, tried to shoo away the crow!

Some time later, we were looking at the reptiles when I noticed a snake that had just gotten hold of a mouse in its mouth. I think it had killed the mouse already and was about to swallow it. I hung around, curious to see what this swallowing process looks like, having never witnessed it before. The snake appeared to be in no hurry as it just lay there with the mouse in its mouth, tail sticking out, for a couple of minutes before finally getting down to business. Unhinging its jaw, it slowly stretched its mouth open even wider and very slowly used peristalsis to move the mouse into its gullet. Eventually the tail had vanished and there was a bulge in the snake's body that continued to move down. An amazing sight to behold.

At one point we walked into the sea lion show and found a troupe of monks in training. I'd never seen so many young boys in the traditional orange robes with their heads shaved! Despite being well behaved, they were by far the most playful monks I've ever seen. They seemed quite amused when I decided to climb onto a large dinosaur statue. 

By the time we left the zoo, we were quite weary from walking around in the heat for hours and watching a movie in an air-conditioned mall seemed like a welcome change. Alice in Wonderland was playing in IMAX 3D so we saw that before returning to our hotel room. I had an early morning flight to Toronto by way of Tokyo and Washington DC so I asked for a wake-up call. As it happened, I woke up on my own right around when I wanted to, which was good because that call never came! 

I took a cab to the airport, rescued my luggage and caught my flight, making it all the way to DC without incident. In DC, however, I had to go through the US CBP and the line was so long that I missed my flight to Toronto. The CBP officer was amused by the fact that I've had four different kinds of US visas but since I was just in transit he didn't ask me any questions and I was able to get on the next flight to Toronto easily enough.

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Rather than flying back to Kuala Lumpur again before heading to Canada, I decided to simply fly into Toronto directly from Thailand. This meant that, unlike my forays into Cambodia and Sri Lanka, I had to take all my stuff with me when I left KL. That proved to be problematic because I was flying from KL to Bangkok on Air Asia, which has a much lower baggage allowance than my flight from SF to KL did. I ended up discarding a bunch of stuff in KL and still having to pay $40 in excess baggage fees. 

I also needed to exchange hundreds of ringgits for dollars after getting my rental deposit back. I'd hoped to do this at the airport but ended up getting there later than I'd meant to and standing in the wrong line for a while. To make things worse, I almost left my passport at the check-in counter. Fortunately, the flight had been delayed so I had enough time to visit a currency exchange booth. They were able to give me some Thai baht but when I asked for Canadian dollars they did not have any so I ended up settling for greenbacks instead.

When I landed in Bangkok, after leaving my suitcases at the Left Baggage station, I caught a bus into the city. According to Google Transit, I needed to transfer to another bus so I could meet my friends Tony and Katherine, who were visiting from Tokyo, at the Ekkemai transit station. Unfortunately, I had no way of knowing when to get off the bus and the conductor gave me the wrong information so I ended up going too far and found myself at the Victory Monument, which is quite far from Ekkemai. I was supposed to meet them at 2pm and it was already 1:40 so I took a cab to Ekkemai and got there with barely a few minutes to spare.

From Ekkemai we caught another bus and then a ferry to the island of Ko Samet. It was already dark when we arrived and we weren't sure exactly where our cabin was but Tony managed to lead us to it. The cabin had a miniscule bathroom and the veranda had a low-hanging beam on which I kept bumping my head but it did offer a nice view of the water. And there were a couple of pigs outside!

In the morning Tony and I set off to explore the island while Katherine slept. I noticed a tamarind tree growing near the cabin. Although most of the fruit had been eaten by ants, I managed to find a couple of god ones. I kept one for myself and fed the other to one of the pigs. As in Sri Lanka, there were no bicycles to be had. Apparently motorcycles are all the rage these days. What we did find was a place that served amazing pancakes and had hammocks to lie in after eating them.

We also found a better place at which to stay. It was run by a guy whose name was also Tony! Although we had to share the bathrooms, they were very pretty. Initially I thought there was no wifi but when I asked about it, they told me they'd just forgotten to turn on the router that morning and then did so. These people take power-conservation seriously! 

After moving our stuff to the new hostel, we headed to the conservation park where, for a few dollars, we gained access to a beach with gorgeous white sand, an incredibly gentle slope, crystal clear water, no current and barely any waves! We played in the water for hours, amazed by how the water seemed more like a giant swimming pool than a seashore. For lunch I ate congee and cheap fruit at a beach-side restaurant. The only problem with the beach was that there didn't appear to be any toilets anywhere on it, which eventually forced us to return to our hostel. 

Katherine and Tony decided to take a nap but I wasn't sleepy so I headed out on my own. Finding a little store that sold fruit, I bought and ate a mango and a coconut. I also picked up a pair of imitation Crocs before deciding to get a massage. Traditional Thai massage turned out to be similar to Khmer massage at the macro level, although the details are different. By the time I got back to the hostel, the mosquitoes were starting to make their appearance for the evening. Tony didn't seem to be bothered by them much but I got several nasty bites and Katherine was practically covered in them.

Once we'd picked up some more insect-repellent, we went out for dinner. I'm pretty sure our waitress was a tranny. I ordered fried noodles and they were really good. During my time in North America, I hadn't been a huge fan of Thai food but those noodles made me realize that I simply hadn't eaten good Thai food before. I washed them down with a pina shake that was gone almost as soon as my lips touched the straw.

Having sated our appetites, we strolled over to see what the beach looked like at night. There were glowing coloured balls hanging everywhere and music playing from various restaurants, all of which were packed with tourists. On the sand there were some fire dancers, a few of whom looked like their daytime activities were confined to a classroom. Also on the sand were some food carts hawking roti pancakes. If it hadn't been for my Invisalign, I would have eaten a pancake.

The next morning a thunderstorm broke over the island and we were stuck inside the hostel waiting for it to end before we could catch the ferry back to the mainland. The staff took advantage of the excess water to clean the floors! We watched the storm for a couple of hours before it finally died down enough that we could make a break for it.

When we got to the mainland, we had plenty of time before the bus was supposed to leave for Bangkok so we killed time at the market across the street for half an hour before returning to board the bus. Unfortunately, when we tried to get on, we were told that what we thought were return tickets were actually vouchers for tickets and we needed to exchange them for tickets to board. Kinda annoying but the ticket booth was right there so it seemed simple enough.

Ten minutes later we finally got to the head of the short but slow-moving queue and were told that all the seats on this bus were already sold and we'd have to take the next one in an hour. We could see quite clearly that there were several empty seats on the bus but pointing that out didn't seem to get us anywhere. So we had to watch in frustration as a bus they claimed was full pulled away with entire rows of empty seats staring tantalizingly at us.

We amused ourselves for an hour with the free wifi and a gigantic cockroach before boarding the next bus. It made good time until we hit traffic in Bangkok, at which point we crawled along beside the Skyrain track as trains whizzed by us. I would have loved to just get off and take the Skytrain but we had luggage that had been stowed so that wasn't an option and we had to wait nearly a hour before we could disembark.

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For our last night in Sri Lanka, Anita and I decided to sleep in Negombo because it's actually closer to the international airport than Colombo is. But I really wanted to stop in Colombo on the way to have one last faluda before we left the country. When we tried to buy tickets for the train from Galle to Colombo, once again they had no first-class seats available. But having seen what second-class was like, we figured that third-class wouldn't be any worse and got tickets for the instead, thereby obtaining the trifecta.

As it turned out, there were a plethora of seats in third-class. Unfortunately, the only others in our car were a group of hooligans who acted like they'd never seen a woman on a train before. Ultimately I swapped seats with Anita so I was between them and her.

The faluda in Colombo was most enjoyable but afterward we had to wait a very long time for the train and it took far longer than we'd expected to reach Negombo. By the time we got there, none of the buses were running and we were forced to resort to a tuk-tuk for the third time so we could get to our hostel. We didn't have enough cash to pay for it and there wasn't really enough time to hit an ATM so I paid in USD and ended up with a lot of effectively useless rupees as change. 

Our flights were scheduled to depart only a couple of hours apart so we accompanied each other to the airport early in the morning. The tuk-tuk driver who was supposed to drop us off at the main bus depot actually dropped us off a block away and told us to wait for the airport shuttle to come by. Ever suspicious of tuk-tuk drivers, we went off in search of the actual bus depot and found the shuttle there. It was good that we did so because it by the time it left the depot, there was no room left on it and it shot right by the place we'd been dropped off without stopping to pick up any of the unfortunate people waiting there.

At the airport we discovered that everything was done backwards. We had to go through security first and then show our boarding passes. I didn't have mine yet but we somehow bamboozled the staff into believing that Anita's itinerary printout covered both of us. Upon reaching the airline counter, I was informed that they didn't use computers and had to look me up by name on a sheet of paper before handing me my boarding pass! Although the departure gates for both of us were right beside each other, they wouldn't let Anita through to wait with me because her flight wasn't for another two hours. So I blew her a kiss through the glass pane before stepping onto the aeroplane.

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After a long bus ride, Anita and I arrived at the port city of Galle, home to an old Dutch fort. We had booked a room at a hostel inside the fort itself so we checked in there before going for a stroll around the fort's ocean-facing walls. Our walk was punctuated by the discovery and dissection of yet another weird fruit, a charlatan who dried piquing our interest in sketchy gems, and an accidental detour into the maritime academy. 

The next day we decided to compose brekki entirely of local fruit. Leaving the fort, we went into town in search of fruits and returned with, among other things, half a jakfruit. Anita had never cut open a jakfruit before and my memory of doing so was rather hazy so we forgot to remove the core and thus ended up with sap all over our hands. Unlike the sap of most plants, jakfruit sap cannot be removed by mere glycerine and water. We had to use coconut oil to dissolve the sap and then use soap to get rid of the oil! At least we did end up with a large mound of delectable jakfruit flesh :-)

Near Galle is a beach town called Unawatuna and we'd been hoping to bike there for a day trip. But the selection of bikes at our hostel was pretty awful and nobody else in the fort seemed to have bikes available for rent. So we ended up taking the bus instead. Unawatuna had gorgeous waves and wasn't crowded at all but the sand had sharp gravel in random places, the slope of quite steep and the height differential between when a wave hit us and the tide pulled back was a mind-blowing three feet. When we'd had our fill of playing on the beach, we ate lunch and then I promptly fell into a food coma for the next two hours. When I woke up, Anita informed me that she'd been trying to wake me up by waving jakfruit in front of my nose, which made me laugh because that's exactly the sort of thing I would do. 

Upon returning to the fort in Galle, we decided to finish our exploration of the walls. This time, however, we were accosted by sketchy people and security guards who didn't speak any English. Apparently we had been loitering near an active military camp the day before the president was supposed to visit the fort and they thought we were up to no good! But when we returned the next morning nobody seemed to mind any more so we had a chance to shoot some excellent photographs on the fortifications by the ocean.

We'd been running low on cash all this time and when we had lunch for the last time in Galle, we calculated how much food we could afford before ordering. Unfortunately, we neglected to account for the taxes and fell short of the amount required to settle our bill. To our great relief, the restaurant didn't make a big deal out of it and let us off with nary a scolding. We ended our stay in Galle with a trip to the marine archaeological museum, where I learned that Ceylon was populated in the stone age and even as far back as a couple of millennia ago it was trading with the Roman empire!

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