Day 258

Need to quickly write before January is over. 

Happy New Year. I'm still writing 2013 everywhere and a month has already flown by.

The first two weeks were busy with routine work-home-work-home. Then the weeks after were quite different.

My parents and brother were planning to visit me and the buildup of excitement as I counted down the days started early. With a week long holiday to plan, I researched hotels and travel itineraries by the dozen. 

The week before they arrived, I had a site visit to the south east of the island. Set inside the Kumana National Park, this project would had the most beautiful surroundings. As we scaled the site, we could see elephants on the other side of the lake, a couple of jackals and so many species of birds. Our ride into the centre of the park was well into leopard territory.

We spent the afternoon and rest of the day at Arugam Bay- a beach well known for its surfer waves watching fishermen sort through the evening catch. 

A few days later I was counting down hours to the airport pickup. The 6 days of traveling the country began early the next morning. We visited Yala National Park (even managed to see a leopard), drove up the southern coast to the Dutch fort in Galle. We spent one day back in Colombo before we set off North to the perfect beaches of Kalpitiya. 

The morning boat trip to watch the dolphins in pods of hundreds was one of the grandest things I've seen. Lying over the front of the boat while dolphins crisscrossed arms distance away and watching the spinners do somersaults and flips in the air was just amazing.

We had a rather embarrassing yet fun kayak ride into the ocean at sunset- capsized over and over again before we had no other choice but to swim back to shore. 

We ended the trip on another high- snorkeling in Sri Lanka's largest and most living coral reef- bar reef. The variety of colourful fish and coral was breathtaking despite choppy wave and turbid water.

And now it's back to mundane. Always the downside of traveling- saying goodbyes and getting back to normalcy. 

It's been quite a brilliant start to the year, I must say. :) 

P.S.

I sent my poor dying laptop back to India. Maybe it might be revive there. Until then Fudge Together will continue to be sort of dormant. :(