A Holy Mosh Pit

Happy Christmas
Hi Rachael. What a great trip. Sylvia and I went to Sri Lanka in 1999 (before TB, sadly). Like you we stayed at Nagombo. We really enjoyed it. The second day we were there, there was a wedding in the village and we got invited. Wonderful event. Sylvia taught some of the women how to bellydance. It was as though they had won a lottery. They were so excited. From there we went to Colombo - which is just another city albeit a bit exotic - but we stayed with a family whose first child Sylvia had delivered in Newcastle, NSW. There is always a different feel to a place when you are more than just a tourist. We were taken to places we would not have seen on our own including the local temple and attached primary school where the children sang us songs and we gave them sweets and told them about Australia. Sadly, that area was badly impacted by the tsunami and we have not been able to contact anyone from there again. From there we went to Nur Eliya by "first class" train - the toilet had a seat but the carriage went backwards so you could see where you had been! Serendipitously we had logged on to the Dilmah Tea website and discovered that they were converting one of their tea factories into a hotel. We sent them an email asking when it would open and actually got a response from Merrill Fernando inviting us to stay with them. They sent a driver to meet us at the station and treated us like royalty. Merrill had been called to a conference in London but we met Dilhan and Mahlik (= Dilmah) and many of the family. We also went wandering around the tea plantation and talked with the (mostly) tamil workers and their children. Sylvia, being a herbalist among other skills, asked them about the plants we saw growing and learned what they were used for and was also able to tell them about uses they were not aware of. It was an enchanting and energising experience. This is almost turning into a blog in its own right so I better stop here. Hope your experience of Sri Lanka is as rewarding as ours was. See you next year back in Sydney. John

Helga's hotel looks great as does the sausage tree, I have never seen a grass collection and doubt I will again very funny