Day 196

Sooo I've had such an eventful past week but have been unable to post. My laptop cable burnt out and haven't been able to use it. :( 

Two of my friends from Bangalore came to Sri Lanka for a week long holiday. Time went extra slow that Friday waiting to get home and pack up and catch the train to Trincomalee. 

We spent three glorious days on the East coast; beaches and more beaches, snorkeling in clear waters offshore Pigeon Island, the colourful coral and aquatic life with an occasional black-tipped reef shark swimming by. Our lazy walks on the beach led up to moonlight dinners in fancy hotels. We watched crabs and snails brought in by the waves and counted dead jellyfish and pufferfish washed up on the shore. 

We met many interesting people, ate lots, laughed lots and if I get carried away with all the descriptions, I'll have nothing left for a big feature post on my main blog. 

I was back at work the following week and back into a busy usual schedule. 

December is almost here. Bring on the carols! 

Day 185

I've had a really exciting week so far and it's only Thursday.

Sunday morning started off really early. I was at the bus stop at 5:30 in the morning way before sunrise. We got on a rickety rusty bus that took us up the really windy roads to Kithulgala. Any longer and my stomach may have just given up.

Breakfast was at a tiny travelers pit stop after which a pick up truck from Ceylon Adventure Sports picked us up for the last leg of the trip. 

We walked over tiny pathways through the trees and bridges over streams to the site by the river. The ten of us geared up and got into 2 rafts. The water alternated between calm steady level areas to rocky steep rapids. It was great fun trying to battle the currents. I'm sure our efforts were very feeble and our guide took control of the raft most of the time. 

At one point we all got off the boat and climbed the rocks at the side of the rapids and plunged 12 feet into the white water. I wish I had jumped again. At another calm stretch, we jumped into the water and floated downstream with the current. 

The view was breathtaking. All around us the forested mountains loomed over the river, some peaks partially hidden in the clouds. The river meandered between them creating multiple vistas at ever turn. After we got back to base, we swam in the cold water for a while, sitting in the rocks with the rapids massaging our backs. The clouds gave way for light rain soon after. Mist covered the view with a hazy filter. Really wish I had a waterproof camera.

A hot shower, big lunch and the lazy afternoon afterward went by fast and soon we were on another rickety rusty overflowing bus on the way home in a thundershower. 

2 days later and I had another day trip. This time to the south of the island to the lovely Galle fort. I was meeting up with a friend from primary school in England. We had kept in touch all these years and had only met once in between about 10 years ago. She was in Sri Lanka for a few days on a Asia tour with two of her friends.

I took the really comfortable bus direct to Galle and met the ladies at the Pedlars Inn Cafe. The courtyard house converted into a cafe with it's yellow walls, antique mismatched furniture, blackboard menus and smooth jazz music was a perfect setting for the late morning catch-up.

We strolled the cobblestone streets and walked along the fort walls. The ocean was blue and so clear. We walked into the 19th century Gothic All Saints church. We walked in and out of the boutique stores with souvenirs and hand loom clothes and pottery and knickknacks. 

We had a huge traditional feast at Lucky Fort Restaurant with a large variety of curries with generous refills. More wandering around and shopping and catching up on so many years of news continued in the afternoon. We ended the day with gelato from the Pedlar's Inn.

With two splendid day trips this week, I can't really ask for more. But, two of my friends from Bangalore will be landing in a few hours and then we will be off for three days to Trincomallee on the East coast. 3 days of sun, sand and ocean. :)

Day 176

Had such a lovely weekend nestled between some busy work weeks. 

We set out early Saturday morning for Lakpahana Advenstist School, about an hour from Kandy. Midland driving is just as beautiful as driving along the coast. Mist blanketing over forested hills, clean crisp air that you can take deep breaths from and windy roads that put my stomach in unease. 

We were visiting the school as part of the AYF team to do a programme for the students there. The setting of the school was beautiful; nestled in between completely untouched mountains. The day was great- the morning service, activities in the afternoon and in the evening. It was hard to keep up with the enthusiasm of the children. 

We stayed over in Kandy with some friends. Loved their hospitality, their house, and the view too. Built on an extremely steep site, the entrance at the top and the rest of the house divided into many different levels going downwards with large windows at every landing with no limits to the Kandy scape.

The next day, we visited the Trinity chapel. Definitely one of the nicest structures in Sri Lanka so far. It's such a rare thing to find a church that is built with local architectural influences as apposed to the standard Gothic references that most churches in the early 20th century mimicked.

Completed in 1935, the church was constructed with 50 monolithic stone pillars sculpted by local Kandyan craftsmen that supported a steel trussed tiled roof. Loved how the breeze moved right through the space. A chapel like this really didn't need biblical sculptures or paintings to add to the sanctity. 

I found some pictures online of elephants hauling the pillars up to the site- here

I wish I had my camera. I will have to visit again to take pictures. Posting some that Nen took.