Blogs from Sri Lanka, Asia - page 121

17 June Well, the women’s classes and I will be one soon. Christina has had her visa extension rejected so I am it as her eyes and ears until she can work things out with the immigration department. It is a real shame as it would have been great to teach with her, now I have to keep her staff in line and they don’t speak English….. Prior to heading Tangalle later today, I had the morning off, as I was breakfasting on my balcony a tuk tuk driver I had met on my first day popped in for a chat. He is a lovely young guy that is well traveled, has a lovely wife and kids and likes to improve his English and knowledge and he wanted to know if it would be OK to ... read more

Journey into Sri Lanka 13 June After an odd start at the Sunflower Hotel, Negombo which is no longer the Sunflower, but the Paradise (they changed the name but didn’t tell anyone, even the taxi drivers….) Anyway, turned up there at midnight to a very dark and odd looking place, upon further inspection I realized the place looked like a building site, they were doing renovations, another thing they forgot to mention. So I head into what would be a reception desk to 5 guys hanging around all trying to help me, one with a folder looking official, but having no idea if I should be there or not! At this stage I was getting concerned for my safety, I asked if there were other guests, to which I received no reply, I then asked if ... read more

The travel fairy has waived her magic dust again, so we have nearly reached the time to venture abroad in Summer 09. To Sri Lanka for a 17 day tour/beach trip. We leave on the 26th so the packing needs to start NOW! Get the mossie spray ordered the tasty Europeans are coming. Will be updating as we go on tour 2009, between cups of tea.... read more

The weekend of 5th-7th June We arrived at the bus station a little later than we ought to have. The first bus was crowded and we decided erroneously to wait for the second. By the time it arrived there were enough passengers waiting to fill the QE2. In the ensuing melee I discovered that the endless hours spent playing rugby as a child were not wasted, but were preparation for getting on the Polonaruwa bus from Kurunegala on a poya (full moon) weekend. I managed to grab a triple row for the four of us to share. Jake got the window seat and Nicky, Elliot a large rucksack and I shared the remaining 2. Even the aisles were packed and the boys were distinctly unimpressed. Luckily we plugged Jake into HP (Harry Potter) on the i-pod ... read more

After 2 days of intensive giving/donating/offering, today we could afford to wake up a bit later and have a relaxed breakfast. Since we spent most of the past 2 days doing charity work and didn't manage to have much sightseeing, today our Bhante decided to bring us around Anuradhapura and Mihintale for some cultural sightseeing. We first went to the Sri Maha Bodhi (Sacred Bodhi Tree) temple, in the middle of the Anuradhapura's ancient site. The sacred tree was grown from a cutting taken from the original bodhi tree in Bodhgaya, India, where Buddha attained enlightenment. The cutting was brought to Sri Lanka by Princess Sangamitta (sister of Prince Mahinda, who introduced Buddhism to Sri Lanka) in 3rd century BC. Not long after, the original bodhi tree in India was destroyed, but the "descendant" in Sri ... read more