elephants, elephants elephants and other things too .........

first elephant carrying a relic

18the August.  Its been a whole month since my last blog and I've been busy.  Now I've been told by my sister and my brother that these blogs are too long so I will keep this short - or I will try but there is such a lot to tell.
So there was a Perehera at Dondra and the president of the board at the chamber got tickets and invited me and I took Rosie the daughter of the family from Hebden Bridge staying downstairs.  It was great - lots of elephants - it poured with rain but it was spectacular ..  Rosie took the pictures so they are particularly good but just posting one I have so many more.

they look pretty good for now sleep don't they?

  The Hebden Bridge gang left for the east coast and then it was a week of goodbyes - Sureka and Nanthony finished their project so they left and then the Americans ended their project so they left - so here I am alone again -but don't worry because then Jan and Josie (Sister and niece) arrived .  they stayed in Matara to get over the jet lag for a couple of days but we went to a trip with Suji (otherwise known as Bob Marley) in his tuk tuk to the blow hole an to the lighthouse  and I got them on the bus to Galle and to Barefoot (who cares about jet lag!)  and then off we set on our tour (another Tony tour) we went to Ella first , climbed mini Adams Peak through a tea plantation in beautiful weather and then had a massage which was more like assault.  I don't know if you remember as a child giving your sister or brother a Chinese scrub - you rub your knuckles hard on to the top of the head - (No? well we did it in the Wyman family and it hurts ) well this was at the beginning of the massage and then she started slapping me about the head which caused me the laugh hysterically , which set Janet off and then the masseuse who didn't get what we were laughing at - it was all downhill from then!  Ayeurvedic ? I'm not sure it is supposed to be quite so painful is it?  Much hilarity though .

the view from the train

 Then the next day we took a spectacular train ride to Nuriya Ella through mountains  and tea plantations  and coconuts and waterfalls  - quite amazing - such views, such verdant lands - Sri Lanka really does have it all.   Then on to Kandy where we came upon some political rallying accompanied by the loudest firecrackers you have ever heard.  We went to the botanical gardens - you should have seen the bats - as big as cats - and very numerous - those of you who know me well know my dread of bats . but hey ,they were high up!  Lots of monkeys too. It was a beautiful botanical garden with trees planted by Princess

A very big tree

giant bamboo

a dubious looking fruit, no comment

look at the size of those bats

in theorchid house

famous tree planter

how do they do that ? 

Anne and other more famous people , like the first man on the moon and Indira Gandhi and the prince of wales in 1922.   Then we went to the cultural dancing (again) and then to the tooth temple where we were part of a scrum that was called queueing  up for the privilege of herding past the casket which may or may not contain the relic - the Buddha's tooth!.  In this situation Sri Lankans loose all their politeness and good humour and old ladies will elbow you out of  way and shove you - you can see I was not impressed and  couldn't wait to get out of there .  We left Kandy for Sigiriya which Josie and I climbed - its is still amazing the second time around .  Jan has vertigo so couldn't do the last precarious steps but she got up to the lion's claws.  Lots of monkeys again.  Then it was on to Dambulla - you've seen pictures of that before. 




What about these elephants then?  On to Mineriya national park and 'the gathering' .  The highlight of the trip - in August and early September elephants from all over gather here for a party - a kind of reunion - lots of babies and lots of elephants of all ages.  We saw at least 100 elephants - if not more and we got charged by one who was fed up with tourists getting too close - it was scary , trunk up, trumpeting1.  They are amazing creatures and to see them all together - quite reminded me of a Wyman family reunion!  The next day Jan and I went on an elephant ride which was good .  We then headed for Trincomalee and our stay at the Jungle Beach resort which was so lovely and so classy and so expensive!  It was fab. 

god I love elephants

look at the baby

there were so many

maybe didn't seem quite right after all the wild ones

at the Hindu temple

We relaxed there for the next 4 or 5 days sunning and swimming and we went on the worst nature walk in the history of nature walks - ' a common dragonfly madam' a common babbler madam' - that was about the extent of it !We visited out first Hindu temple in trincomalee and went snorkeling at pigeon island where Josie saw a baby shark .   From there we went  to Anaradapurah and the last bit of the cultural triangle - what a place - it  would take all day to see everything - we saw a lot thanks to Tony who knew which bits were key - and then the next day we went to Wilapatu national park which was a bit of a disappointment - didn't really see anything of note - not a single elephant - i I think we had been spoilt.  Then it was a dash to Negomobo for the Js to get their flight home and me to head back to Matara.  Alone again but what a great trip . This was a good itinerary - varied and lots of difference and it includes the beach.  A feature of this trip was the amount of kingfishers we saw , just sitting on the telephone wires - they are so rare to spot in England but so common here! Entrancing .

Anaradapurah

a Bo tree taken taken from a cutting of the one Buddha was nlightenedt under

the inimitable money eating lotus flowers

a atar tuttle - one of the few animals we saw in Wilpautu

So work - the tourist information centre is still on track for end of September and I started at Hambantota chamber this week - I will work there for the next three months on Thursdays and Fridays - it didn't start too well , too many memories of starting at Matara and thinking what the hell am I doing here ?  I know it will get better and that I will have some interesting work to do so that is good . The work at Matara continues - the CEO is constantly looking for new opportunities for me to teach English - so now I have a class for tourism students (5 people of whom 3 are challenging to say the least e.g. what do you put in a safe?  answer 'a bicycle'  'no a bicycle is too big ' (there's a pciutre of safe for him to look at ) 'what do you put in a safe' answer 'I've been to kataragama' - you couldn't make it up - Visions of Robin Williams in Good Morning Vietnam pop constantly into my head) , I am teaching the executive staff at Lucky Lanka which is good, and the managing director of Lucky Lanka on a one to one basis , she would like to do 4 nights a week but I've kept her to two.  The CEO is desperate for me to do a class on a Saturday and has 5 people waiting to start that - I might do a shortened version for the next 6 weeks to build up another week of lieu time .  So I am busier than I have been , given up trying to give management advice - they really don't want it , especially not from a woman!


I am now half way through my placement and the next 5 months will flay past I am sure - I have a few visitors from October .  There is still such a lot for me to see and do - I have to go to the north - to Jaffna particularly.  I love Sri Lanka and I have come to love Matara .  I feel privileged to work here and to get inside the culture - I might not ever understand it .  The rainy season seems to have ended so it is hot hot hot again .  I guess i will have to think about what I am going to do on my return to England but not yet , no not yet............