emmagsrilanka

This weekend I went to Sinharaja Rain Forest and Udawalawa National Park, based in Sri Lanka’s hill country. The drive from Hikkaduwa to Sinharaja takes around 3.5 hours, so we were picked up at 6am. We arrived in good time, paid our entrance fee, and a picked up a guide, who was female, which is highly unusual in Sri Lanka! She was very nice and knowledgeable. As we walked around Sinharaja I kept getting the urge to burst into a chorus of “YMCA” as she kept on saying “and the village peoples use these berries for…” “Village peoples make jaggery from this tree…” I didn’t know that the Village People were rain forest natives!! We did a 6km hike through the rain forest and saw loads of different plants, flowers and trees (obviously!) the guide explained ... read more

Tour - Day One We started our tour of Sri Lanka on Saturday. We left the house at 4.30am so we could get to Pinawela Elephant Orphanage in time for the morning feed. We arrived at about 9.30am and the park was really busy; with tourists but also locals as it was a Saturday. There was also lots of military present as the Indian High Commissioner was visiting that day, so security was extremely high. I didn’t really like the elephant orphanage. Well I didn’t like it at all! The staff seemed to treat the elephants really cruelly, hitting them and shouting at them all the time and they were also chained up really tightly. I know they have to keep them under control, but it seemed a little excessive from where I was standing. One ... read more

Claire arrived on Monday…she was supposed to get here at lunchtime but didn’t arrive until nearly midnight! Her flight was delayed about four times and she was stuck in Kuwait!! On Monday at the pre-school we had an “English Day”. We did some activities typical to an English pre school and made cucumber sandwiches! The little ones didn’t really like them that much! As I circulated the classroom they kept spitting them out and holding them out for me to take with a look of disgust on their faces!! They scoffed the bread though! The older ones and teachers seemed to enjoy them more though; only one or two got rid of their cucumbers! On Tuesday I left Claire in bed as she was knackered - she had not slept for over forty hours! I ... read more

Well I know it’s been longer than a week since my last update, but I’m so busy with work and exploring I’ve not got round to it!! Here it is though!! I’m learning more and more about the Singhalese people. They are so different to English people! They seem so relaxed about everything, it’s very much a Manana culture - I suppose it has to be in hot countries, or are the Brits just uptight??!! People hardly seem to do any work - and that’s the ones that do have jobs!! When you walk down the street or pass the shops on the bus, people just seem to be sat around on their doorsteps having a good old chin wag!! You can be waiting in the bank for an hour as the person in front is ... read more