After having finished up at the cybercafe, we slowly made our way back home. After having parked Susanne in a chair on our veranda I went over to the restaurant next door. Once I had explained our predicament I was sent off with a menu so Sue could have a look at it. Soon I was back in the restaurant and gave my order. A green salad washed in bottled water and a few toast for her, chicken tikka masala, rice and garlic naan bread for me. A platter of veg. spring rolls would form our dessert and a nice cold bottle of mineral water would keep us hydrated. It was not overly warm anymore as the sun set by the time I was getting the Eee in my last entry, but we still need a lot of water/liquids. A short while later our food started arriving on our veranda - luxury! A beach hut with room service...
I was happy I had specified my masala as "mild" - I wouldn't want to try "medium". Still, with the right mixture of rice and naan it became just perfect. Om nom. Lady had taken her place by our feet and scored some naan and the rest of the rice. Neither her nor Schnautze (he has a funny snout, Lady's black friend) or Oliver as Susanne calls him, wanted salad. I've heard that beggars cant be choosers, it does not seem to apply here. The dogs here are infinitely more well behaved than the average European family dog though, they either lay down or loiter around in the background until something eatable comes their way. Then they eat, then they vanish into the shadows again. No beady eyes, no sounds. Schnautze once "paw"'ed Sue, but that was to get cuddled, not to get food.
Once we had eaten it was quite late and we were getting tired. I walked back to the restaurant with the dishes. They had opened a tab for me, seeing as we would probably use them quite a bit the next days, which I found nice of them. After relaxing a bit outside with a book I just bought via the Kindle, I joined Sue in bed and were asleep a few breaking waves later.
Today started like any other day here; slow. I have no idea what time it was, but the sun was lazily poking through all the gaps in our hut. I would guess around noon, as our hut is roughly facing west into the Arabian sea and the sun was hitting our southern wall straight on. Slowly leaving bed I made my way outside to the veranda and sat down with the new book. Again by Clive Cussler, this one is the second in the Dirk Pitt/NUMA files series. Can't remember the title now though. It did start off in a great way, having an amphibian WWII PBY Catalina patrol/bomber doing a loop within a few pages, dogfighting an A-3 Albatross WWI figther bi-plane. Books like that are hard to put down. Oliver was dozing off in the shadow close by since I got up until far into the afternoon.
Susanne joined me outside at some point and we figured it was time for breakfast. She opted for the same green salad again with a few toast on the side, I would find something there I thought. Once in the restaurant I briefly explained our situation to the new guy in the bar and sure enough, he had been informed. I chose an English breakfast with orange juice and black tea - but no fried tomatoes. A chapter later the food arrived, my tomatoes being replaced by some sort of sausage. The baked beans were a hint better than those I know from our side of the globe, the egg was nice and firm and the sausage completed the meal. Sue's toast never arrived though, so I raided the kitchen for some. Once back I thought I heard a faint bark of something small under the hut next to ours, I had already been assuming that Lady had recently given birth, and she was usually coming out from the side of that cabin. It would make her tired appearance make more sense, and her breasts seemed unusually swollen. She made off with a larger ration of food than before. I delivered the dishes and went back into my book until Susanne set her mind on cakes. We had seen a German bakery the other day, so she sent me off to find out what they had. I took pictures of their selection and brought a choko croissant and a cinnamon roll for myself. Once I was back, Sue examined my photodocumentation and ordered some cake I cannot remember right now. Off I went again, getting said cake, two bottles of water and a little further down the road a cocoa nut with its top cut off and a straw inserted - Susanne had seen it earlier and wanted one since. Back at our cabin I once again returned to my book while Sue enjoyed cake and nut - though the latter had a somewhat woody taste she said.
The day slowly passed like this, I was mostly reading my book while trying not to get sunburned, Susanne was snoozing or peoplewatching
It was getting a little warm for Susanne, sitting directly in the sun, so she retreated to the shadowy confines of the bed. I joined her shortly for a mid-day snooze. I was woken up by fierce barking and shouting. As anyone who have spent any amount of time with dogs will know, their bark is as distinct as the voice of a human - something or somehow had upset Lady. Moments later I was standing out in the sand in my socks and hastily put on clothes and realised we would have a problem.
The hut sheltering the puppies had been occupied until yesterday. Now the new guests had arrived. The problem was that the third guest was a male Spaniel. This did NOT sit well with the extremely protective mother (not that ANY of the beach dogs here would take lightly to a strange dog invading their territory, they are fiercely territorial even without puppies). Oliver was also adding his opinion to the matter, and the Spaniel and its humans were not very amused. The two Dutch ladies that care for Lady was also coming around to see what was up. I managed to wrangle the frothing furry fourlegged mother a few meters away from the cabin, blocking her access to the new dog but not her puppies. She trusts me and the ladies so handling her was just a matter of making sure teeth did not meet flesh unintentionally. She is a medium sized dog, but again the lack of energy was apparent as she was nowhere near as strong as Solo, the dog I live with in Norway. It became glaringly apparent that this would not work out however, as she would come in for an attack run ever time the poor confused Spaniel would as much as look outside. The ladies and I decided that the only thing that might help was to move the puppies, and once I had my sandals on we found a nice place further down the row of huts and made it just right for a little furry family. Again, as Lady trusts us, moving the puppies was no problem. She just followed us as we carried the little furballs over to their new hive. It did take some time for her to settle in, but with enough biscuits and comfort it seemed that our shelter was accepted.
While it lessened her aggression temporarily it did not make it any safer for the Spaniel to venture out of the hut. I was still on my way back to our hut as she dived for the brown intruder. The Spaniel on his side had no sense of survival what so ever and was just seeking refuge in the arms of the human male - not quite out of reach of Lady. Again I had to handle the very much upset dog, but again with great care and no problems. The temporary solution was a big stick so that the newcomers could keep Lady at a safe distance, she stays a good few meters away from it. Once they were out of her territory it was no longer a problem.
I could go back to bed and back to my book. Sue was feeling a little down from her sudden decrease in mobility, her arms are aching from having to carry her weight, same with the other leg. After getting a little sleep things were looking up though, and we walked down the beach to a nice restaurant for a light snack. Susanne got a vegeburger and I finally got around to try a "Sizzler" - a dish that's served so hot that its sizzling as it arrives. We were both full long before our plates were empty. I also had a roughly mixed but still nice Long Island to the food - no Fenny though, so I was still fine. As I was eating, a smaller dog came and laid down under my chair. It was the softest and cutest and warmest little dog ever! Jackal, the restaurant people called her. As we asked for the bill I ordered a plain roti, a form of bread. As it arrived, Jackal got a bite. Apparently, that's all it takes to buy a friend here. He duly followed us all the way home. The jungle drums here have quite the broadband connection, and suddenly there were 3 more dogs following us, in addition to Oliver who had been lurking around the restaurant since before we arrived. The other dogs vanished before we got home, however. Parking Jackal and Susanne at the beach hut, I went over to Lady's new nest and delivered the bread. She was quite happy about it!
I am not sure what is wrong with Jackal, but her "fight or flight" instincts are not turned on. As I was on my way back Lady zoomed past me, with Oliver flanking her off in the shadow. They converged on Jackal just outside the door of the hut with the Spaniel in it and made quite the raucous stating their territorial sovereignty. Not accepting their claim, however, the outsized and outteethed little Jackal just got the two frenzied dogs even more annoyed and I had to bail her out of there. She decided that she was safe behind me, and I had a little work fending off two dogs hellbent on making sure this impostor was summarily expelled from their land or executed on the spot. I would have nothing of either and shooed them off in a calm but firm manner. Accepting defeat for the time being they retreated. Lady would still come around every so often to see if she could get between me and Jackal, but he was quite safe under my chair. It became apparent that this would not work out over the night however, as Susanne had banned any dogs from entering the hut. I decided to stay outside with Jackal for some time (reading my book) to see if things calmed down, but either Lady or Oliver would keep coming back to see if Jackal was out in the open.
Getting tired, I waited for the two to chase off after another beach dog going north and took Jackal for a walk south across the beach. Taking the scenic route, I waited until I could no longer see I'm behind me, before I turned up a backalley and took the street home. Agonda is the first place I would even contemplate going outside alone at night here in India, much less cross through dark back alleys. Here, however, it is hardly worth a second thought. I did have my trusty MagLite 3D hanging from my belt just in case, anyway. It looks imposing enough to scare away most people, and I guess it could be used both defensively and offensively if needed - though I'd much rather not find out. I met but one person on my walk and we exchanged a pleasant "good night" before wandering off in different directions. I joined up with a large cow walking my way and we had a nice conversation before I had to turn off for our huts. By the time I was back it was already well past midnight and I got ready and beded as fast as I could before firing up my Eee to write a little.
Dogs and cows are not the only animals we encounter here, though. We have house pets too. First one we saw in here was a small cockroach, a cute one at that. Then there was the spider, a larger one covered in brown fluff. Not large enough to be a grown tarantula or anything though. While normally not arachnophobic, I do not know which spiders here are poisonous or not, so I decided to keep a healthy distance as I tried to catch and evict it. It proved to be an exercises in futility as spiders here are far faster and smarter than the Norwegian ones. In the end it simply ran over the wall and vanished out under the ceiling. Then there was the mouse. Susanne was in the bathroom as the told me she had seen one, and just as I turned around I saw it sneak around the corner. It's brown and about medium mouse size I guess. I am also guessing/hoping that it is this little creature that playing "tug" with me as I write this. Every now and then there will be a tug in the mosquito netting and it vanishes down between the wall and the bed. I pull it back up again. A few minutes later, and it is pulled down again. It is getting slightly unnerving, and I think Ill turn on the roof lights before going to bed. I will also check out the undefinable sounds coming from the bathroom first.
Still, even with all the strange animals here, I really like this place. While the rest of India has been an amazing journey both historically and culturally, Agonda is the first place I could have easily called "home" for a few months. Even if I would have like a hut with less holes then. Now off to find my MagLite before I fall asleep...
I was happy I had specified my masala as "mild" - I wouldn't want to try "medium". Still, with the right mixture of rice and naan it became just perfect. Om nom. Lady had taken her place by our feet and scored some naan and the rest of the rice. Neither her nor Schnautze (he has a funny snout, Lady's black friend) or Oliver as Susanne calls him, wanted salad. I've heard that beggars cant be choosers, it does not seem to apply here. The dogs here are infinitely more well behaved than the average European family dog though, they either lay down or loiter around in the background until something eatable comes their way. Then they eat, then they vanish into the shadows again. No beady eyes, no sounds. Schnautze once "paw"'ed Sue, but that was to get cuddled, not to get food.
Once we had eaten it was quite late and we were getting tired. I walked back to the restaurant with the dishes. They had opened a tab for me, seeing as we would probably use them quite a bit the next days, which I found nice of them. After relaxing a bit outside with a book I just bought via the Kindle, I joined Sue in bed and were asleep a few breaking waves later.
Today started like any other day here; slow. I have no idea what time it was, but the sun was lazily poking through all the gaps in our hut. I would guess around noon, as our hut is roughly facing west into the Arabian sea and the sun was hitting our southern wall straight on. Slowly leaving bed I made my way outside to the veranda and sat down with the new book. Again by Clive Cussler, this one is the second in the Dirk Pitt/NUMA files series. Can't remember the title now though. It did start off in a great way, having an amphibian WWII PBY Catalina patrol/bomber doing a loop within a few pages, dogfighting an A-3 Albatross WWI figther bi-plane. Books like that are hard to put down. Oliver was dozing off in the shadow close by since I got up until far into the afternoon.
Susanne joined me outside at some point and we figured it was time for breakfast. She opted for the same green salad again with a few toast on the side, I would find something there I thought. Once in the restaurant I briefly explained our situation to the new guy in the bar and sure enough, he had been informed. I chose an English breakfast with orange juice and black tea - but no fried tomatoes. A chapter later the food arrived, my tomatoes being replaced by some sort of sausage. The baked beans were a hint better than those I know from our side of the globe, the egg was nice and firm and the sausage completed the meal. Sue's toast never arrived though, so I raided the kitchen for some. Once back I thought I heard a faint bark of something small under the hut next to ours, I had already been assuming that Lady had recently given birth, and she was usually coming out from the side of that cabin. It would make her tired appearance make more sense, and her breasts seemed unusually swollen. She made off with a larger ration of food than before. I delivered the dishes and went back into my book until Susanne set her mind on cakes. We had seen a German bakery the other day, so she sent me off to find out what they had. I took pictures of their selection and brought a choko croissant and a cinnamon roll for myself. Once I was back, Sue examined my photodocumentation and ordered some cake I cannot remember right now. Off I went again, getting said cake, two bottles of water and a little further down the road a cocoa nut with its top cut off and a straw inserted - Susanne had seen it earlier and wanted one since. Back at our cabin I once again returned to my book while Sue enjoyed cake and nut - though the latter had a somewhat woody taste she said.
The day slowly passed like this, I was mostly reading my book while trying not to get sunburned, Susanne was snoozing or peoplewatching
It was getting a little warm for Susanne, sitting directly in the sun, so she retreated to the shadowy confines of the bed. I joined her shortly for a mid-day snooze. I was woken up by fierce barking and shouting. As anyone who have spent any amount of time with dogs will know, their bark is as distinct as the voice of a human - something or somehow had upset Lady. Moments later I was standing out in the sand in my socks and hastily put on clothes and realised we would have a problem.
The hut sheltering the puppies had been occupied until yesterday. Now the new guests had arrived. The problem was that the third guest was a male Spaniel. This did NOT sit well with the extremely protective mother (not that ANY of the beach dogs here would take lightly to a strange dog invading their territory, they are fiercely territorial even without puppies). Oliver was also adding his opinion to the matter, and the Spaniel and its humans were not very amused. The two Dutch ladies that care for Lady was also coming around to see what was up. I managed to wrangle the frothing furry fourlegged mother a few meters away from the cabin, blocking her access to the new dog but not her puppies. She trusts me and the ladies so handling her was just a matter of making sure teeth did not meet flesh unintentionally. She is a medium sized dog, but again the lack of energy was apparent as she was nowhere near as strong as Solo, the dog I live with in Norway. It became glaringly apparent that this would not work out however, as she would come in for an attack run ever time the poor confused Spaniel would as much as look outside. The ladies and I decided that the only thing that might help was to move the puppies, and once I had my sandals on we found a nice place further down the row of huts and made it just right for a little furry family. Again, as Lady trusts us, moving the puppies was no problem. She just followed us as we carried the little furballs over to their new hive. It did take some time for her to settle in, but with enough biscuits and comfort it seemed that our shelter was accepted.
While it lessened her aggression temporarily it did not make it any safer for the Spaniel to venture out of the hut. I was still on my way back to our hut as she dived for the brown intruder. The Spaniel on his side had no sense of survival what so ever and was just seeking refuge in the arms of the human male - not quite out of reach of Lady. Again I had to handle the very much upset dog, but again with great care and no problems. The temporary solution was a big stick so that the newcomers could keep Lady at a safe distance, she stays a good few meters away from it. Once they were out of her territory it was no longer a problem.
I could go back to bed and back to my book. Sue was feeling a little down from her sudden decrease in mobility, her arms are aching from having to carry her weight, same with the other leg. After getting a little sleep things were looking up though, and we walked down the beach to a nice restaurant for a light snack. Susanne got a vegeburger and I finally got around to try a "Sizzler" - a dish that's served so hot that its sizzling as it arrives. We were both full long before our plates were empty. I also had a roughly mixed but still nice Long Island to the food - no Fenny though, so I was still fine. As I was eating, a smaller dog came and laid down under my chair. It was the softest and cutest and warmest little dog ever! Jackal, the restaurant people called her. As we asked for the bill I ordered a plain roti, a form of bread. As it arrived, Jackal got a bite. Apparently, that's all it takes to buy a friend here. He duly followed us all the way home. The jungle drums here have quite the broadband connection, and suddenly there were 3 more dogs following us, in addition to Oliver who had been lurking around the restaurant since before we arrived. The other dogs vanished before we got home, however. Parking Jackal and Susanne at the beach hut, I went over to Lady's new nest and delivered the bread. She was quite happy about it!
I am not sure what is wrong with Jackal, but her "fight or flight" instincts are not turned on. As I was on my way back Lady zoomed past me, with Oliver flanking her off in the shadow. They converged on Jackal just outside the door of the hut with the Spaniel in it and made quite the raucous stating their territorial sovereignty. Not accepting their claim, however, the outsized and outteethed little Jackal just got the two frenzied dogs even more annoyed and I had to bail her out of there. She decided that she was safe behind me, and I had a little work fending off two dogs hellbent on making sure this impostor was summarily expelled from their land or executed on the spot. I would have nothing of either and shooed them off in a calm but firm manner. Accepting defeat for the time being they retreated. Lady would still come around every so often to see if she could get between me and Jackal, but he was quite safe under my chair. It became apparent that this would not work out over the night however, as Susanne had banned any dogs from entering the hut. I decided to stay outside with Jackal for some time (reading my book) to see if things calmed down, but either Lady or Oliver would keep coming back to see if Jackal was out in the open.
Getting tired, I waited for the two to chase off after another beach dog going north and took Jackal for a walk south across the beach. Taking the scenic route, I waited until I could no longer see I'm behind me, before I turned up a backalley and took the street home. Agonda is the first place I would even contemplate going outside alone at night here in India, much less cross through dark back alleys. Here, however, it is hardly worth a second thought. I did have my trusty MagLite 3D hanging from my belt just in case, anyway. It looks imposing enough to scare away most people, and I guess it could be used both defensively and offensively if needed - though I'd much rather not find out. I met but one person on my walk and we exchanged a pleasant "good night" before wandering off in different directions. I joined up with a large cow walking my way and we had a nice conversation before I had to turn off for our huts. By the time I was back it was already well past midnight and I got ready and beded as fast as I could before firing up my Eee to write a little.
Dogs and cows are not the only animals we encounter here, though. We have house pets too. First one we saw in here was a small cockroach, a cute one at that. Then there was the spider, a larger one covered in brown fluff. Not large enough to be a grown tarantula or anything though. While normally not arachnophobic, I do not know which spiders here are poisonous or not, so I decided to keep a healthy distance as I tried to catch and evict it. It proved to be an exercises in futility as spiders here are far faster and smarter than the Norwegian ones. In the end it simply ran over the wall and vanished out under the ceiling. Then there was the mouse. Susanne was in the bathroom as the told me she had seen one, and just as I turned around I saw it sneak around the corner. It's brown and about medium mouse size I guess. I am also guessing/hoping that it is this little creature that playing "tug" with me as I write this. Every now and then there will be a tug in the mosquito netting and it vanishes down between the wall and the bed. I pull it back up again. A few minutes later, and it is pulled down again. It is getting slightly unnerving, and I think Ill turn on the roof lights before going to bed. I will also check out the undefinable sounds coming from the bathroom first.
Still, even with all the strange animals here, I really like this place. While the rest of India has been an amazing journey both historically and culturally, Agonda is the first place I could have easily called "home" for a few months. Even if I would have like a hut with less holes then. Now off to find my MagLite before I fall asleep...
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