Stop. Do not even think it. It is not wrong to have lunch in a pleasant dining room with soft classical music in the background and black swans floating by outside the window. It. Is. Not. Even if one is in an exotic tropical land and should, by real traveler standards, be eating exotically pepper hot hot hot food at the local dive with its many cheap and exotic choices.

Steven declares his Kottu Roti (Sri Lankan bread cut into thin strips sautéed with vegetables in a spicy yellow curry sauce topped with an egg) the best (and hottest) meal on this whole trip.  So there Scott and Robert…you who would scoff at Hilton lunches in far off Colombo.

I had cream of sweet potato soup and a salad fresh and luscious with greens and pears and nuts and olives and a funny sweet fruit/veggie thing accompanied by just olive oil and balsamic vinegar. And two glass of really really nice Sauvignon Blanc.

We walked quite a ways partially along the misty shores of the Indian Ocean to get to our posh little lunch but took a tuk tuk back through booming Colombo’s dense traffic.

Rest of day mostly around the room on our Surfi and books. Tomorrow’s a big all-day trip so both of us felt like a slow day. In addition to the travel wearing us down—even Steven not just me—the constant hustle here from the tuk tuk guides/drivers is a little annoying. But hey, we’re happy. “Are we Steven?” He responds, “Yup. Why not? We have a very full day planned tomorrow. A revived confidence in our abilities to manage tuk tuk travel around town. Enough activities left in Colombo to fill rest of our stay—including GoPro editing time and a couple more movies.”

I miss my Rio Grande ducks and geese. Here’s today’s fowl special.