Day 356

How on earth did time fly by so fast?

One year already? 

I'm awake at 2am half packed and realized that this blog needs it's final post. 

The past month has been pretty crazy. Sinhala New Year meant a lovely extended weekend. I did one final trip in Sri Lanka. I went on a completely unplanned trip with the interns from work. Four girls from Bangalore with an extremely limited Sinhala vocabulary, but ready with our backpacks, sunglasses and cameras. :) We took the bus to Dambulla. Visited the Kandalama hotel- Geoffrey Bawa's crowning piece of work. The hotel was stunning. Nestled on the side of the hill, 1km in length and split up on 7 levels with breathtaking views of the Kandalama tank and Sigiriya rock in the distance.

We managed to make it to Sigiriya by evening and climbed up and down before sunset. The heat was torturous, but the view was totally worth it once we got to the top, drenched in sweat after 1700 steps. 

New year weekend meant that the towns were desolate, shops and hotels were all closed. We had to skip out on Anuradhapura and were lucky enough to get a bus back in the thunderstorm. 

All my pictures are on my camera. I don't know why I didn't take a few on my phone. But I do have two to remember the funniest incident of the trip. Between Kandalama and Sigiriya, our auto ran out of petrol. The driver deserted us and went off on a cycle with an empty bottle. We were left in the middle of nowhere for what seemed like forever. He did eventually return on a motorbike with petrol after we had attempted moving the auto by ourselves. (Tanvi might just kill me for posting this picture)

The following weekend, Cheryl, Andre and I got haircuts. It was a fun day with lots of posing.

Work has been the usual. Alternating between busy days and not so busy ones. Rainy afternoons with coffee and good music followed by wet muddy journeys home. 

I had to get sick at least once in this country. A few days of fever and being stuck in bed with no voice and no appetite and in between them- dragging myself out of bed to go to church and preach! 

The final few days in the country meant winding down with work, finishing off all last minute things in the few days before I left. I hate goodbyes- farewell surprises and last meals and final fun days with my new friends here.

I visited Geoffrey Bawa's Colombo residence on my last day- beautiful house with such intricate details in the house design, the interiors and the exquisite furniture- all so perfectly fitted together. Perfect way to spend the last day.

I should probably finish packing. 

Goodbye Sri Lanka- couldn't have asked for a better year- The people, the beautiful beaches and mountains, the food and a great work experience. 

:)

Day 170

This is quite shameful. I had decided to post many times, but kept putting it off.

Days and weeks have gone into an interesting cycle. 

Days when I get a bus immediately in the morning and manage to catch the evening bus too and it's empty and the driver is super fast. Other days when the morning bus comes half an hour late and drives so slow that the trees have grown an extra ring and days that I miss the bus in the evening too. 

Days when things are a bit relaxed at work and I get to catch up on new music and have time to read. Other days when there are busy crazy deadlines and hours of extra work late into the night (and early into the morning once too).

Days when we cook up a storm at home- desserts and juices and multiple course meals and other evenings when we feel so blah and drag ourselves into the kitchen half asleep.

Some days I have the energy to read, to catch up on my online courses and to be productive and many days I scroll up and down my Facebook news feed all evening. 

And yet in all routine and mundane weeks of hot sultry afternoons and rainy nights, I still love it here. There are still so many exciting things in the middle of blah days. Here are some I can remember from the past 3 weeks.

- This morning I saw a snake in my loooong wait at the bus stop. It slithered into the gutter just a few feet away. Happened too fast for my brain to tell me to be scared.  

- Two weeks ago did a measured drawing in an old building and in the middle of our snooping and scavenging through the massive house, we found some old black and white pictures. 

- We went for the production of 'Jesus Christ Superstar' Was so awesome. Such great singers and a pretty solid show.

- The weekend following that, we did a musical marathon that continued into the week. Watched Evita, Rent, Mama Mia, Fiddler on the Roof, Moulin Rouge, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Annie. Had my fill of singing. Was great!

- I always look forward to weekends. Now a days they are extra special because of the Christmas programme practices. Choir and the play and lots of music in general. 

:)

November is going to be a busy month. I have trips being planned and friends visiting and beaches to look forward to. Cannot wait. 

Day 132

The past week has been busy and the best kind of busy. My mum came to visit and I got to spend 4 days away from work with her. I've been looking forward to this for so long. She arrived Wednesday night and although my aunt sadly couldn't come, we all still had such a grand time.

Thursday morning was our perfect kind of morning. Slept in, had a big fry up for breakfast and watched Schindler's List while still in our PJ's. 

We headed over to Water's Edge for The Good Market. We had visited the market just the week before (read here) and knew my Mum would love it. As we hoped, the market was a lot more fun this time. There were loads more stalls, and because we were there early, the food stalls were plenty and the food was so fresh.

Skipping lunch gave us great appetites. We went straight to the food section. The tables covered with icing topped cakes, gooey brownies, fruity pies, perfectly decorated cupcakes and trays of cinnamon rolls and other delicious things. We liked the 'Butter Boutique' best. Desserts that don't skimp on butter are true desserts. :) We had a lovely smooth chocolate-y pie, sticky cinnamon roll and one very rich dense brownie.

I wish I could have taken more pictures, but the desserts were too distracting and my hands full anyway. We beat the heat with some passion fruit popsicles.

We stopped at The Bread Company. We didn't buy any of those lovely rolls, but we made use of the free samples. :P We picked up some bags of ground nutmeg and cinnamon from Saaraketha and got a slab of jaggery and some Kithul treacle for my Mum to take home.

We needed something savoury to balance out all that sugar. While there was a ten minute downpour, we took shelter in a very popular stall; the toasted sandwich stall- Panino. They hot crispy toasted stuffed sandwiches were in great demand. So much so, that things got crossed of the menu while I was ordering. The hot sandwiches with oozing cheese and fresh mushrooms and veggies were definitely worth waiting in long queues for. We ended the eating spree with some polos (baby jackfruit) cutlets along with garlic+chili chutney and mango+peanut chutney. Yummy. 

The other stalls weren't as exciting as the food section. Loads of clothes, crafts, paintings, shoes, etc etc. Plenty of colour and textures, especially in the Selyn stall.

The ambiance was vibrant. A live band complete with a double bass and a harp, a lone percussionist with a drum at the percussion instrument stall (I've always wanted to own a rain stick). Little kids covered in wet smudges of colourful paint and another gang of them walking around in single file with animal faces as part of the Ecokids walk, plenty of photographers trying to capture the spirit, and loads of interesting aromas which sadly no gadget can capture yet.

This has become one of my favourite things about Colombo. Was a great afternoon spent with the mother and cousins. 

Thankfully all the food was digested fast enough to make room for our Japanese dinner that night. 

Day 124

Another weekend comes and goes.

Today we tried out a new venue for our morning jog. We went to the lake side, where we visited the Good Market last week.

It was really beautiful in the morning. The paths alongside the lake, lovely gardens with rabbits and a funny 'tail-wagging' goose and a cafe overlooking the water. Oh!, and sailboats too; two bright blue little sailboats.

I will take pictures the next time we go there. The sun was horribly harsh. I guess all the reflection made it worse. Struggled to cross the 6km mark and I think I did more walking than jogging.

I found a couple of pictures from a Sunday jog 2 weeks ago where there was a vintage car rally. I gladly took frequent breaks mid-jog to watch them show off up and down the roads. 

In the evening we went for the Colombo Book Fair. The scale was pretty impressive. Tonnes of stalls of various publishers and quite a variety of books. We browsed a lot. Unfortunately, they were more expensive than books in India, so didn't buy any. We did, however, get a poster of coral reef fish varieties of Sri Lanka. Can't wait to do some snorkeling/diving so that we are able to identify what we see.

Day 121

Every Thursday from 12-8 pm the marquees of The Good Market fill up with exciting stalls. 

We had heard about this a while ago but always assumed that it would be too late once we got home. So glad that we decided to check it out this week. 

The market is at the edge of a lake and the lights and glowing canvas tops cast reflections on the water. The whole setting created a hazy blur through the light drizzle as we drove up. 

Despite nearing closing time, we were still able to enjoy the number of exciting stalls ranging from healthy desserts (quite an oxymoron! I personally prefer full-fat desserts), handmade jewelry, spices, art, organic vegetables, hot food and some other stalls too which were packing up when we came.

The whole setting was faintly reminiscent of Bangalore's Sunday Soul Sante, but a less-glam, smaller scaled and more homely version. 

One of my favorite things about food markets like this is the people. All the stall owners were extra friendly and chatty. We got to sample some of the food too (another reason I love these places); healthy kurakkan brownies, cinnamon tea (perfect for the weather) and some tangy tamarind pulp. 

The hand made jewelry stalls, aromas of coffee, crepes and egg hoppers wafting through the space, live portrait pencil drawing and the music by a banjo player created quite an exciting evening. 

After buying some cauliflower and potato tartlets, apple and cinnamon cake and some spicy banana chips we walked around the aquarium. I would much rather see fish in the ocean than in a tank, but it was a nice addition to the market entertainment. 

Looking forward to more Thursday evenings spent here. 

Day 113

The other day I got to Kelaniya Temple (where I change buses on the way to work) a bit earlier than usual, I walked through the temple complex. 

One day, I will take my camera along and properly check it out. The best time to visit temples is in the evening, when all the lanterns and candles are lit.

Day 32

The weekend came and went and then it was Monday again. But somehow one month of work is not enough to start Monday blues. 

Sunday morning, the snooze button got the better of us and we made it to Freedom park for the 'jog' almost two hours after we planned to. The warm sun was already in full blaze and I will blame that entirely for my inability to actually jog more than 1 1/2 rounds in the park. Sigh. I am back to feeling unfit. How I miss my swimming days.

The park was quite beautiful. Here is picture I took last year on my holiday when we visited the park at night. The place was beautifully lit.

Sunday's picture is not as cool, because I took it while briskly walking (so brisk it was almost jogging! Hehe)  

We were at Galle Face as the sun sank below the horizon. Phone pictures don't do justice to the golden colours in the sky. The breeze left my hair in a tangled mess and my skin sticky and sandy, but it's all part of seaside enjoyment. The street food however, didn't look appetising to me.

Day 17

The weekend came and went so fast. I have a busy week ahead. Lots of work at the office and some annoying visa things to sort out.

I finally finished putting together my write up for Vesak. Read HERE. Taking pictures at night was not that easy. So many blurry ones. :( Managed to get enough good ones for a blog post.

Today we went into the centre of colombo. We drove down Galle Face Drive up to the World Trade Centre. Fanciest part of town- all the posh hotels and big offices are in this bit of the city.  We had lunch at The Dragon. Sri Lankan Chinese food is definitely different to the Indian version. I enjoyed the meal except for the Chinese Tea. Bleeah. The Dutch Hospital building is a beautiful contrast to the modern high-risers. Can't wait to visit the little cafe there with an empty stomach.

Day 2

My first Sabbath this year in Colombo was quite nice. I visited Bethel church last year and was lucky to visit on their 90th anniversary celebrations.

The congregation was a lot smaller today than it was on that day. The service was nice and finished much earlier than Cunningham church in Bangalore. I didn't even start feeling hungry during the sermon like I usually do. The many greetings I got changed from 'How long are you visiting for?' to 'Oh, we'll be seeing a lot more of you.' 

The city centre is quite lovely. Again, I have to mention the lack of garbage. I could walk barefoot if I had to! Another thing that I was pleasantly surprisingly to see was the use of a zebra crossing. People actually use the crossing and traffic actually stopped and let people cross! 

The evening brought with it lots of introductions, new Sri Lankan food and hours of entertainment. (I should correct that to evening, night and the following morning actually). The rule was 'no sleeping'. I paid the consequence with three painted toenails. Luckily I woke before the toothpaste attack.

Here's a picture of the church from last year. Love the lights.