Day 17 - The Incredible Sleeping Wife...

14:30
She’s awake, she’s awake!

After a shade over 15 hours of sleep, my beloved wife is awake, and ready to take on (what’s left of) the day. She has an innate ability to sleep like this. We both think the last time she did so was when we were in Bangkok back in April, and had had a long overnight journey with not much sleep, preceded by a hectic few days (for her) of work before departure. She’s a bloody marvel, a freak of nature, a sleep thief.

I, on the other hand, have been awake since 08:00. Had a slightly ropey night’s sleep, and had to get up at 02:00 for a somewhat emergent bathroom trip. Couple more visits through the night. Nothing too horrific - but probably just something I’ve eaten or drunk that’s not quite sitting as planned in my stomach. I feel a touch jaded this morning as a result, but need to get over to Chaudi, the nearest town, to get some more cash. The reluctance of local bars and restaurants to accept cards means that I need to top up.

The ATMs are India a bit hit and miss. I find one in Chaudi that will accept my card, but will only allow me to withdraw 10,000 INR at a time. That’s about £90, and won’t last long. I’ll check out the money exchangers at Patnem Beach, to see if any of them can do a cash advance on one of my credit cards.

I’m back at Patnem by 11:20, less than 30 minutes after I left. I said I’d give Vicki another hour or so of sleep while I’m out. I’m not quite feeling up to food, but have a masala chai and a banana lassi, on the basis that some caffeine would be nice, and the curd in the lassi should be good for the tum.

Around 12:00, I head back to our room to find Vicki in the deepest of sleeps. I figure that if you can’t beat them… I wake up around 90 minutes later, and gently nudge Vicki to life. She declares that she needs one more 30 minute nap, and then she’ll be ready to go. She wakes for what I think/hope will be the final time at 14:10. It’s an extraordinary achievement. One of her very, very finest.

22:55
My stomach’s still not in the very best of conditions. Not tragically broken, but I’m taking it easy today. Shortly after Vicki wakes, we pad down to the beach in search of a very late breakfast / moderately late lunch. The guys at Round Cube do well - my palak paneer is the best I’ve tried yet. The beach feels quite quiet today, and we find ourselves wondering whether the Wednesday party at Kala Bahia was a late one for many.

We decide to forego the sunset party at Agonda, and focus on rest today. I have a couple of minor toilet incidents, but feel well / confident enough to hit the beach to watch sunset. It’s a belter. Incredible colours. We watch it from the laid back comfort of Om Shanti’s beachfront deck, and it’s quite the breath-taker.

We’re both peckish, so order some food. A plain fried rice for me (in the interests of stomach recovery), and a chicken curry for Vicks. BOSH.

Vicks pops out around 21:00 to meet Darron and Debs for a quick drink. They’ve somewhat bizarrely found somewhere on Agonda Beach that serves a competent Sunday Roast. I’m not sure how I feel about this, but we’ll head over there Sunday to check it out…

By 22:30, we’re both flagging. Vicki’s been awake for almost 8 hours straight, and is urgently in need of more sleeps…Baca selengkapnya