Blogs from Sri Lanka, Asia - page 167

We arrived in Colombo, Sri Lanka around midnight. From the airport, a group of very nice Sri Lankans from the school drove us in a bus to Kandy. Unfortunately, the drive was in the dark, so we couldn't see much. We will be staying at the Peradeniya University. When we arrived, it turned out we are staying at a guesthouse on the University. It is a big house, we called it a mansion, tucked away in the hills. I woke up this morning refreshed. I am not experiencing any jet lag so far. We met our chef this morning. His name is Siri and from his details about his cooking experience, I could not wait to taste his cuisine. He is planning to show us a cooking demonstration on cooking curry tonight. For breakfast this morning, ... read more

It is a little past midnight as we leave the airport and head towards Kandy. We still have several kilometers to travel before reaching our beds. The bus ride only gives us a narrow view of the countryside. Buildings line the street. We never seem to leave the buildings, mostly shops; still at two in the morning several of the shops are open. We stop to buy bottled water. A gas station is open. Several college students came down to the airport to meet us and help us with our luggage. This is our first chance to meet and talk with the people of Sri Lanka. At 4 AM the bus finally stops; the traveling is complete we have arrived at Mahakande Gal Bungalawa. The name means large rock house, built in the 1800s, and it ... read more

THE TRIP THERE The less said, the better. Besides the currently-accepted practice of being considered a terrorist every time you fly somewhere, and giving up any rights to personal privacy, the actual flights were L-O-N-G and painful in those tiny seats. After all, Sri Lanka is on the other side of the world from my home in San Jose, California. It is impossible to travel further away! Of course, the pleasure of being in Sri Lanka is worth the pain of getting there, but that's hard to remember when you're trying to sleep upright. However, it is worth noting that Singapore Airlines is a superb business venture. I would recommend them to anyone who is traveling: excellent service, excellent food (with printed menus of the choices), and the video-entertainment system called Krisworld (recent movies, TV shows, ... read more

It was a dark and stormy night. The day before had been windy - trees down, power outages everywhere. The plane gained speed. San Francisco is behind us as we race west toward Sri Lanka and three weeks of classes and adventures. Seven of us to study biology and sociology of this island country. Just being in a new country is an education. What is different? What is the same? To start with the people; they work, they have families and friends. The first people you meet are in uniforms - airline staff, immigration, and security. Outside you meet the cabbies, the bus drivers and luggage-handlers. Then there is the air. At first it is av-gas then trucks and badly tuned cars. Finally the smells of the countryside arrive. For me in Sri Lanka it is ... read more

We combined my birthday with a New Years Eve Party. We decided that rather than subjecting our guests to our “not-yet-refined” Sri Lankan cooking skills, we’d have a good old fashion Kiwi BBQ on our roof. Easy and simple, yet effective. This also meant less standing over a hot stove in a very hot climate, and as it was my birthday as well it suited me. So Murray started looking for a BBQ. Our options seemed to be a small rectangular thing about 1 meter off the ground and big enough for maybe 20 sausages, and a round thing similar in height that could probably fit 8 sausages, both particularly unstable. So Murray decided to build one. This turned out to be rather interesting, consisting of many shopping outings, with various bits of things congregating by ... read more