Tempting fate, yes, but probably for the last time.

We lounged a lot yesterday. Our room is huge, comfy, with a couch and a seaside balcony. We didn't want to leave, but finally we admitted that we needed to eat. First it was off to the bus station, to see about advance express bus tickets for Chennai... which we can only get on the day, annoyingly enough. This irked Claudia substantially, so we went for a beer.

Beer in India is an odd experience. Kingfisher — or "Budfisher", as I've dubbed it — is the #1 beer in India. It blows. But I'm a micro-swilling snob from Oregon. Prior to coming here, Claudia's hardly bothered with drinking. It's expensive, and not very tasty to her.

Tamil Nadu, however, doesn't charge the exorbitant taxes other states charge, and they have a decent range of beer. It's all lager-type stuff that's a bit stronger than the Buds, Coors and Michelobs of the US, but currently, hey, that's the beer culture here. The Budfisher we bought in Kolkata cost 80 rupee. The Royal Challenge &151; a tastier beer that almost tastes like the real thing — was 615 ml of 40-rupee goodness (90 cents! Line 'em up!). We forgot about the bus.

After our appetizer, we set off to find Satsanga's Restaurant. Let's Go recommends this place highly. The restaurant had moved since publication, so after wandering into a hotel we finally got put on the right street, and at last found ourselves in a cozy thatched lot, with grass, gravel, trees, thatched roof, and a nice view of the starry sky.

Service? Not bad. Sweet lemon sodas? My lips are still puckered. Lemon chicken... tart as well, but good.

We saw chicken on the menu, and couldn't resist. Claudia wasn't nearly as keen on her Chicken with Red Wine Sauce though. It's been so long since she's consistently eaten meat, that the chicken just wasn't as appealing to her. (I wonder what will happen when she finally orders a steak...) I made short work of my lemon chicken and mashed potatoes though — despite the little part of my mind chanting "You'll never leave the toilet... you'll never leave the toilet..."

Well, I've hardly been. This has been our second experience with meat in restaurants, and we came out unscathed. Though neither of us is as keen on flesh as we thought; it'll just be veg from here on out. Until Thailand, anyway.

But I make no guarantees about the beer.