We went to bed around 3:30. Once you've been up for days, going to bed is a relative term. We played there tossing and turning. Getting our bags brought upstairs was also idiotic. Our bodies were going but our brains had clearly shut down completely. Needing some kind of brain power for Indian Rupees to US Dollars was painful to live through.
We got up around 8:30. We decided we needed to try to get onto India time. By the way, India time is 12 1/2 hours beyond LA time. India and Sri Lanka like the extra half hour. The view from our hotel window is amazing. It took a while to realize that the men in the water were fishermen and not people standing around in the water. Of course, with about 3 hours of real sleep, logic isn't one of my strong suits. The tour today was to do nothing but get over the late night. Since last "night" was in name only I was happy we didn't have a real agenda.
After breakfast we went back to the room to hang around. Charlie took out his computer and realized it had to be charged. OH NO! His charging cord was gone. We really don't know if he left it in the hotel in LA, or left the zipper on the outside of his carry-bag open and it fell out. Either way, it was gone. He went to the concierge in the hotel who suggested a couple of places to try to buy a new one. One was closer than the other, but they didn't answer their phone. The second definitely had the charger and cord. We hired a car for 5 hours and set out to find the cord. We went to the closer place first. It took us 20 minutes to drive what couldn't have been more than 2 miles. The streets are filled with vehicles: cars, buses, vans, motor scooters, bicycles, tuk tuks (little vehicles that are like tiny-vans with scooter motors that can carry about 3 passengers). The last 3 vehicles try to get around larger vehicles on the inside, outside, through the middle. The little vehicles honk to avoid getting crushed and the larger vehicles honk to avoid killing all involved. Controlled chaos. The smaller shop," Imagine", was inside a shopping mall. The driver was stopped (as were all cars). Two men checked under the car with a camera on a pole and inside the trunk. Once all was well we parked in the underground garage. The mall itself was like malls everywhere in the world. Odd to find similar continuity around the planet. You could be anywhere. "Imagine" had Charlie's power cord. Phew. The other shop was 19 or 20 km away - that's where our 5 hours would have gone. We now can be charged. AND, we had our adventure.
Once we got back to the hotel, the car was searched just like the mall. My purse and our bag were pushed through a metal detector, and we had to walk through one too. Of course, Charlie's new hip makes it sound like he's carrying, but we don't appear to be much of a threat.
I'm glad we had a chance to get away, the hotel is large and lovely, but we really have no where to go but inside.
We got up around 8:30. We decided we needed to try to get onto India time. By the way, India time is 12 1/2 hours beyond LA time. India and Sri Lanka like the extra half hour. The view from our hotel window is amazing. It took a while to realize that the men in the water were fishermen and not people standing around in the water. Of course, with about 3 hours of real sleep, logic isn't one of my strong suits. The tour today was to do nothing but get over the late night. Since last "night" was in name only I was happy we didn't have a real agenda.
The view from our window and the fishermen
lovely clouds
Our very short walk outside the hotel - the hotel garden
View of the garden from inside the hotel with a glimpse of the city beyond
Charlie in the garden
After breakfast we went back to the room to hang around. Charlie took out his computer and realized it had to be charged. OH NO! His charging cord was gone. We really don't know if he left it in the hotel in LA, or left the zipper on the outside of his carry-bag open and it fell out. Either way, it was gone. He went to the concierge in the hotel who suggested a couple of places to try to buy a new one. One was closer than the other, but they didn't answer their phone. The second definitely had the charger and cord. We hired a car for 5 hours and set out to find the cord. We went to the closer place first. It took us 20 minutes to drive what couldn't have been more than 2 miles. The streets are filled with vehicles: cars, buses, vans, motor scooters, bicycles, tuk tuks (little vehicles that are like tiny-vans with scooter motors that can carry about 3 passengers). The last 3 vehicles try to get around larger vehicles on the inside, outside, through the middle. The little vehicles honk to avoid getting crushed and the larger vehicles honk to avoid killing all involved. Controlled chaos. The smaller shop," Imagine", was inside a shopping mall. The driver was stopped (as were all cars). Two men checked under the car with a camera on a pole and inside the trunk. Once all was well we parked in the underground garage. The mall itself was like malls everywhere in the world. Odd to find similar continuity around the planet. You could be anywhere. "Imagine" had Charlie's power cord. Phew. The other shop was 19 or 20 km away - that's where our 5 hours would have gone. We now can be charged. AND, we had our adventure.
Once we got back to the hotel, the car was searched just like the mall. My purse and our bag were pushed through a metal detector, and we had to walk through one too. Of course, Charlie's new hip makes it sound like he's carrying, but we don't appear to be much of a threat.
I'm glad we had a chance to get away, the hotel is large and lovely, but we really have no where to go but inside.
Fishermen later in the day.
The fishermen were out with their nets from at least 8:30 this morning until about 5:30. In the middle of the day they took their boats out of the water and had a siesta.
Tonight dinner in the hotel, what else. Tomorrow we go to see some sights.
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