Leaving for Goa

Thursday, Dec.15, Mangalore

It was a hot day. I walked down to the old port area where there are many old, tile-roofed buildings. Unfortunately, none of them have been resorted. And, unlike other cities, Mangalore has done Nothing to restore the waterfront and open it to the public.
From there I walked back to the college district where I was yesterday. It's a much nicer shopping area than the downtown is. I stopped at a cyber cafe, ate lunch, and got a haircut. I had a paper masala dosa for lunch. It's a thin, crispy pancake about 18 inches (1/2 meter) in diameter with a center 1/3 of it filled with a mixture of potatoes, onions, mustard seeds, and other spices. It came with two dipping sauces. And I had two lime drinks with it. The haircut included a scalp massage and a shoulder massage and cost only 46 cents. I could go to the barber every day if I lived here!

I napped again this afternoon. Then I watched some young guys doing their laundry on the rooftop across the street. I've seen these guys moving around on the roof (where people here bathe, do laundry, etc.) as I sat on the balcony yesterday and this morning. There are 6-7 of them living there. They would glance my way, but generally they acted as if they hadn't seen me. This afternoon, I awaved at one of them, and that changed everything. They would look at me without being embarrassed, and I watched them without worrying that it was disturbing them. We actually ended up waving back and forth several times.

For dinner tonight, I had chicken biriyani. It was cooked authentically in a copper pot. There were two good pieces of chicken and a boiled egg in the pot with the rice. It came with a spicy mix to put over the rice, and the yogurt-tomato-red onion salad that I like here. I ordered two lime sodas to eat with it. Again, it was a great meal.