a wedding, a holiday and a street festival

Hello sailor

18 April  ..... its been a while because I have been quite busy.  Lots to report on.

First of all I went to the wedding of a couple of volunteers from Hackney in Unawatuna.  it was simple and stylish and very very hot.  There were lots of volunteers there which was good as I got a lot of reassurance from them that all placements start slowly and that you have to learn to go with the flow - its just hard when the flow is so slow .  The wedding was held in a kind of villa in the jungle - it was amazing , the food was excellent, the drinks flowing and the dancing (yes dancing again) got pretty wild, you should have seen as all doing Gangnam style at midnight!  No, no pictures.  Lots of people wearing saris , beautiful saris and shalwar kameez.  The sari wearers must have been seating to death as I was wearing a simple cotton dress and the seat was rolling down my back (Too much information? sorry ) the bride was wearing a beautiful dress from San Francisco.  It was the first time I drank pinot grigio for a very long time so I was a bit hung over the next day.  I was staying in a retreat which was lovely if a bit mouldy.

the beautiful bride and groom

in the garden of the retreat

volunteers at play

So then I had a week to prepare for the coming of the only son - no not Jesus , Joe.  I actually had a lot of work to do and the boss was acting a bit strangely, disappearing for long periods , anyway I got in the two bids for funds for projects and organised a workshop but I don't think the invitations went out because the boss disappeared on the last afternoon .....more of that later.

mother and son at the gangaram temple

I went to Colombo on the 6am train and checked in to the Galle Face Hotel ,  a lovely old colonial hotel right on the ocean and with a beautiful terrace for sundowners and a pool right on the shore.  Check it out , I would highly recommend it - it's a bit down at heel in some parts but the new wing is marvellous and the food is good too.  They even gave me a birthday cake on my birthday and fruit.
So I met Joe and we had sundowners on said terrace and then the next day we walked to the old dutch hospital for dinner - we went to a crab place but I don't really like crab so we had giant prawns - yum.

on the pelican lake in the middle of Colombo

The next day was my birthday and Joe had brought me not only Sipsmiths gin (made in Hammersmith) but also season three of Breaking Bad.  What gifts.  We wandered around Colombo went to gangaram temple and pedalled in a swan boat on a lake full of pelicans.  We went to Barefoot for lunch and for me to lust after the beautiful clothes and materials they have there and then we went to the pool by the ocean and relaxed..




Next day was the start of our tour.  We were The Next day was the start of our tour - we were picked up at 6.30 sharp by Claude Anthony De Silva (a catholic Sri lankan who runs Tony's tours).  and we headed off to Sigiriya which is a long drive .  Sigiriya is the site of an ancient palace built on a huge rock , there are cave paintings and lions paws and monkeys and hilarious signs all over the place.  We climbed the rock in the heat up some very dodgy iron steps but it was worth it .   The view was amazing and it felt like an accomplishment .

ancient wall paintings half way up

Ok I know he looks like a giant - us at the top

This is Sigiriya and we went up it !

luckily we didn't see any roarming elephants that day

The next day we went to Kandy, the home of the Budha Tooth relic which of course we went to see - you cant see it actually as it is in a box - but it is very holy.  Kandy is very busy and we walked by the lake and pushed through the crowds to find somewhere to eat.  Later we went to Kandian dancing (more dancing but I wasn't required to take part)  which consisted of lots of men leaping high into the air and lots of women doing graceful things with their hands and feet and lots of drums.  It was finished off by a man walking on fire.   After that we discovered Arak and Kotu.  Arak is a local spirit a bit like whiskey but without the burn made of coconut but not tasting of coconut .  Kotu is the Sri Lankan fast food - roti , chicken , vegetables all chopped up.  Both very tasty (as Tony would say).

Its the Buddha in the background

The next day we went to a tea plantation and a spice garden which were both fascinating and we were supposed to take the train to Ella to check out the view but the weather had turned and so we didn't do that we went to Ella by car.  Ella is a calm small village in the hills surrounded by mountains and waterfalls and full of massage places offering Ayurveda treatments.  We climbed mini Adams Peak - a relatively small hill - got caught in a terrible rain storm and then we had a massage.  It was the first proper massage Joe had ever had and i think he was a bit phased by it - especially when they tried to have us both in the same room !  That was sorted out and the massage was great , full body with head and face and then they put us in a wooden box with a round top for steaming.  I didn't like that much as it was a bit claustrophobic even though you had your head out.  Joe liked that bit best funnily enough - I guess at least no-one was touching him for that bit! So after Ella and more Arak we headed to Yala the next day for animal watching via large Buddhas and more cave painting

here he is again, lyingdown this time

Kandian dancing

fire walking

red pineapple - good for something I forget

tea plantation

its not always sunny in Sri Lanka

We went on a jeep safari which was so bumpy it felt as if your internal organs were being rearranged, but that aside, we saw elephants , mongooses, water Buffalo, wild boar, hundreds of birds including a green bee eater with an amazing blue breast, crocodiles , deer , elk but no leopards.

This is what Riki Tiki Tavi looked like

This elephant tried to attack us later
 

And that was it the tour was over - it was great - Tony organised everything , he booked the accommodation, did all the driving and was a mine of information - if we had tried to do it ourselves we would never have seen so much.  I really enjoyed in - I forgot what good company Joe is .  We still had the weekend and we were off to Mirissa to do whale watching.  We stayed at apparently the best place in Mirissa, The Paradise Beach Resort where we had a great cabana overlooking the sea but it was somewhat marred by the terrible service!  Anyway the whale watching was amazing - we went out to sea for about 1.5 hours and then low and behold there were one two or three blue whales.  We couldn't get close as the they don't like to be disturbed.It was amazing we could see them clearly - they are huge , the biggest mammal on the earth - fantastic to see them.  The camera didn't do justice to them and we saw dolphins chasing tuna fish who were jumping out of the water.  What a sight.  I will post some more photos on my face book maybe as I need to get this done.  The guys in the boat were really good - they knew a lot about whales and were really responsible - they went as close as  they could but not too close and they were always aware of the safety - forget all those bad reports of whale watching in Sri Lanka - these guys were good and we had a fantastic trip.

there he is - the camera just doesn't do justice !

Then it was up early again to say farewell to Joe - I was so sad to see him go.  Felt quite bereft.  But the next day there was a street festival in my street and that was sooooo good.  The whole community was involved .  Old, young , male, female.  They threw themselves into it , they thoroughly enjoyed all the games like egg throwing, three legged race, slow cycling, singing and palm weaving.  They were having great time - they welcomed me with open arms , found me a seat to sit on and just left me to it .  It was great - simple pleasure! 

oh the simple life - a bit of coconut palm weaving

The singing competition - they all won

 During the week of the holiday my boss emailed me to tell me he had  resigned.  He would no longer be coming to the chamber - that's it,he was gone.  personal reasons and money apparently - nothing to do with me and my rather bullish approach honestly!  So I was left wondering if I would be going for an early bath back in England but I met the chairman yesterday and he assured me they wanted me to stay and carry on with the plan such as it is so we will see.  They need to get someone else in that is for sure.  I am just going to bide my time and do my thing and see what happens.  I think I can hang on for another 10 months or so. .................