Blogs from Central Province, Sri Lanka, Asia - page 11

Owing to rubbish WiFi only just able to blog again. So the last few days involved travelling to Kandy in the rain via a spice plantation, where the guide gave me a hard stare when talking about the merits of red pineapple for weight loss. Then an unexpected stop at Aluvihara Rock Cave temple where we once more paddled in the rain, climbed a million slippery wet steps and got drenched. This place was slightly different though in addition to all the Buddha's were also lots of graphic paintings of demons doing an assortment of horrendous things to the people who end up in hell. Not only that but there was also a cave full of nearly life size models demonstrating the various torture methods and punishments meted out by the King of the time. No ... read more

That night we were kept awake by the dogs in one village talking to the dogs in the other villages. They kept up their conversation until day break. Along with this was the buzz of the mosquito which woke me up from my broken sleep at 3 am. There was no phone in the room nor tea making facilities and so we had to phone Keith on our own mobile for morning coffee. We were the only guests and so we had our own chef. The food was superb - string hoppers for breakfast and spicy curries but I was already seriously bitten and the three of us had not slept so we sent a Whatsapp to Jagath to ask him to move us sooner than scheduled. We had a late-ish start to a tea plantation. ... read more

Friday was our lazy day. We davened on the balcony which overlooked the jungle and all we could hear were the sounds of the birds and the weir. (Well there had to be a reason it was called Weir House - it was situated far above a weir which diverted some of the canal water.) For breakfast we enjoyed string hoppers with dahl curry and sambal which is a very hot curry along with fresh fruit which tasted divine. We lazed around until Shabbat reading and playing Boggle. I finished my Agatha Christie book "Sleeping Murder" and Caroline finished "Decline and Fall" which meant that I had a new book to read for Shabbat! Don had read "The View from Serendip" on the flight to Sri Lanka. This short work written in 1977 by Arthur C. ... read more

Bonjour, pour ceux qui ne le savent pas, j’ai dû faire un petit détour par l’hôpital hier. En m’assoyant dans un hamac, le billot de bois sur lequel était attaché l’un des côtés a lâché (pourri à l’intérieur) et je l’ai reçu en plein sur la caboche. Il y avait tellement de sang (on parle niveau « film d’horreur ») qu’on aurait pu croire que j’avais le crâne fendu en deux. Ça a tout de même rapidement cessé de saigner. La mère et le fils de la famille propriétaire de l’hôtel où on restait m’ont rapidement conduit à l’hôpital local. Ils ont été extrêmement aidant, mais c’était un peu leur responsabilité (équipement fautif). Le service à l’hôpital a été pas mal plus rapide que par chez nous. Cinq minutes pour voir le médecin, quinze minutes pour ... read more

We woke up to an amazing view of the beach and the blue, blue lagoon on which Negombo is situated. To adopt a phrase used by the housekeeper to a friend of ours, I communed with my G-d overlooking the golden beaches and the sea. We met up with Caroline and went down to breakfast. The fruit tasted so fresh as if it had just been picked off the tree. Then there was breakfast - a choice buffet of a full English breakfast, on a separate section a buffet of continental breakfast, on the third counter the traditional vegan Sri Lankan breakfast of string hoppers and curry. After a few cups of coffee and a Sri Lankan breakfast it was onto the van for our drive to Sigiriya. We had to start the holiday with our ... read more