Anita reluctantly agreed. We looked into the possibility of renting bicycles, but the tourist information bureau lady wasn't sure if the rental place was open. She called on our behalf, and either “got a wrong number or they were very hung over.”
When going down the road to find it, we found a massive multiblock street market. It's a regular Sunday morning feature, and there’s a wide array of things for sale. For a few minutes, we stood behind the fresh pineapple juice stand. The vendor takes the top off a pineapple, screws in a large screw beater and turns on the portable mixer until the fruit is juiced. Add a straw and hand it in its natural container to the customer.
There were stalls for shoes, kittens, hats, tote bags and dozens of other market type things.
We were also in search of breakfast, so we went to a permanent store and bought a delicious fruit smoothie. Anita wanted to taste mine before committing, only to learn they ran out of mango after mine.
We went to our usual mall to visit the grocery store (more oatmeal, apples and instant noodles) then, after emptying our bag in the hotel room, headed to the newest mall for Nando's. The Imago Mall was massive, glitzy, upscale and full. Overwhelming is another good word for it.
Nando's was on the outside breezeway, out of the crush of traffic, and was a welcome sight. The menu was slightly different from our Nando's in Millstream Village or Langley. We had chicken tenders rather than a kabob each. Unfortunately, they were out of spicy rice, so Mediterranean was an acceptable substitute. We thoroughly enjoyed our meal.
The dive store was a little more difficult to find. The wonderful folk on Sea Tango, who took us snorkelling days before, said there was a dive shop on the second floor of Imago Mall. The concierge said they were mistaken. Down Under Diving was in the next building, behind 7-11. She drew us a map.
We found a door. It looked blank. Anita tried upstairs. It looked so shady that I refused to go up the stairs. We went into 7-11 and asked. The clerk was confused. We went out the other door of 7-11 and found it! Yippee!
According to Anita, I bought the most expensive snorkel in the store. I wanted one that was similar to the one I lost. I also wanted some plastic connectors so that I wouldn't lose another one. The bill was higher than I expected. Sigh.
We took a grab car back. Grab is a service like Uber, and we've had great success with it. Then we spent the afternoon on the Internet and watching The Intern. It was a charming movie, one that I can heartily recommend.
Dinner was at Madben’s, and we found the menu limiting. They sprinkled bread crumbs into the salad dressing, so Anita could not eat her Caesar salad. She enjoyed two bowls of creamy pumpkin soup. My eggplant penne was delicious and a good portion size.
So, for a quiet day, it was not completely quiet. But we did rest. A lot.
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