I woke at 0400 and had trouble getting back to sleep; so I slept in till around 0830 and had breakfast. The offering wasn’t the most generous; perhaps it was Italian or continental style light breakfast.
We went for a walk on the beach before it got too hot but it drizzled instead, requiring us to take shelter in some shacks selling craft. The showers passed soon enough and we came back.
After lunch in-house, the internet started working again. It was slow but adequate for me to finalise my purchase of a new smartphone. It had been something I had been researching for. It would be my birthday present from Kim and hopefully it should be waiting for me when I get back to Auckland. The idea is that I’d give my present phone to Mum while in Kuching.
I had a dip in the sea, bobbing in the waves and then lay in the shade. It was pretty much a lazy day, which is quite unusual for me.
We walked south down the beach to a restaurant we had seen last night for our pre-booked set dinner. In the dark, we had trouble finding the place. We got there after a phone call. We enjoyed our meal which consisted of a light octopus curry and rice; platter of grilled fish steak, squid rings and chips; followed by a lobster and half a “squil” (a variant of lobster but I think the Italian owners might had made that English name up). It was a nice conclusion to our African chapter of the trip.
Back at our mini-resort, we sat in the dining shed to use the internet. Two of the tables were taken by European women with their young Masai man having dinner. Not just any dinner but one table had lobster! It appears women treat their paid lovers with more dignity (compared to how I imagine men treat their paid lovers). There is a lot of spending quality time like swimming together, talking etc.
Male prostitution doesn’t seem to be frowned upon by society as much. Hotels appear to tolerate the female guests bringing their paid “fried” to the rooms whereas many hotels wouldn’t like female prostitutes being brought back to ensure the place isn’t cheapened.
But I don’t know how much talking a much older woman can do with a man half her age, with different interests and a language barrier. Or perhaps the chasm is so wide that everything is an unknown and makes good conversation.
Lobster and squilfor dinner.