Day 230

It's the last day of 2013 and what a year it has been! 

Christmas was grand. Had so much fun. The Christmas musical at church came out well. The week after was a mix of sleepovers, get togethers, lots and lots of cooking, movies, presents. It was great to get a few days off for the season. 

In order to eliminate post Christmas blues, we went on a grand trip up into the mountains of the Uva Province for 3 days. Hiking with the breathtaking scenery, clear air, clouds and pine forests  and train rides through the mountains was a perfect trip. Couldn't have been a better way to complete to year.

Alas, my laptop needs some repairs. Have to rely on phone posts and phone pictures till then. :(

My New Year's Eve will be spent at home with movies, pizza, cake and finishing up my year end blog post. 

Here's a picture from our breakfast picnic. What a view it was!!

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 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 150

I took a bit of a break from blogging.

After my Mum left things got a bit busy at work. Deadlines and such. My aunt was here for a week too and then in the middle of things, I knocked out 'update blog' from my schedule. 

Rewinding time a bit to when my Mum was here. We spent a day in Kandy. We visited the Temple of the Sacred Tooth and the rainy weather actually made it so much more beautiful. There was some sort of baby dedication day and hence were plenty of families with little babies at the temple. Was quite lovely.

All roads in Kandy lead up to the lake in the centre. We loved the scenic drive through town and around the lake. Apart from the temple, the other thing on our 'to-see' list was the British Garrison cemetery. People would probably consider us a bit morbid, but I have this thing for epitaphs (my Mum does to).

The cemetery tucked behind the temple complex and a little walk uphill had a little under 200 graves going back as far as 1817, dotted between Frangipani trees. Apart from the many depressing child graves many from the same family affected by various epidemics, there were some interesting ones too. One in particular was the grandson of the author of the hymn, 'Abide With Me'. The three of us after many failed attempts and tonnes of giggling sang the hymn at his grave. :) 

Here's another that caught my attention: He was the 7th and last recorded death of a European killed by a wild elephant.

We ended the day watching quite a grand display of Kandian dances at the cultural centre. We were treated to a variety of performances from graceful peacock moves to the contrasting energetic masked dances of the spirits along with drums and tamborines and balancing poles and the grand finale of fire breathing and hot coal walking. 

I really need to finish sorting through the pictures from this trip (as well as the rest of the South African trip ones. sigh)

Her trip was so short, but still really enjoyed 4 days with my Mum- talking, watching movies, cooking for her, shopping and showing her around Colombo.

Other highlights from the past 2 weeks:

1. We have an oven and a blender. The mothers visits came with many gifts of which the oven and blender were the most exciting. So far, we've already baked apple pie, cinnamon cookies, apple crumble and chocolate cake. Fun times ahead.

2. The church picnic. We spent quite a nice Sunday at Hanwela with the church gang. How I've missed swimming.

3. Choir practices. I love that we get to start Christmas excitement early by researching Christmas music for the choir and the play. So much fun.

Speaking of music, I've decided to start a new post type on my other blog to feature new music that I come across. Here's the first one of the series: New Music 01

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 90

Hello to routine- work, home, cooking, a movie maybe and bed.

I still have so many pending posts from my South Africa trip, but sadly haven't managed to finish any. Last week my laptop crashed. It's five years old and has been though a lot, so it's probably just old age, but I was determined to fix it. I went through website after website and read through too many laptop forums that went way over my head and I managed to get it to some form of working condition. Unfortunately my graphics is a bit conked and all attempts to save it have so far failed. All hope is not lost (yet).

I had to edit pictures blindly and then check them on my phone to make sure the quality was good. My laptop makes movie watching very vintage now.

I did manage to finish one post about driving though South African countryside- Yellow Buildings, Canyons and Macadamias

Today got to go on a site visit two hours away from here to Kitulgala. This little town set in a rainforest up in the hills is known for the sets of the 1957 movie The Bridge on the River Kwai. I remember watching this movie about 14 years ago with my Dad. 

We stopped for breakfast and lunch at the local rest house and had the most beautiful mealtime view. The river, the forests and the clouds moving over the mountains.

The site we visited was set alongside a waterfall of one of the tributaries of the main river. Each chalet was barely 15m from the edge of the water. The surroundings were very overgrown with ferns and moss of all types covering the forest floor. Rubber and teak trees formed a canopy over the site making the rain fall unevenly over us. 

Unfortunately this was a site visit trip and not a holiday. I would have loved to walk downstream or possibly jump in for a swim or even better- raft down. Kitulgala is known for white water rafting. Definitely cannot wait to do that while I am here. The setting was so perfect, it seemed almost a crime to have a steel/concrete roof over your head. A tent would be so much cooler.

The coolest thing I saw at the site was a really interesting mushroom- Phallus indusiatus or the stinkhorn or the fanciest of names- the orange veiled lady mushroom. At first I thought it was a mushroom growing through some plastic mesh and only when I looked closer did I realise that it was a part of the mushroom. Now I wish I had gotten close enough to smell it's distinct odour. It's not a very common species, but is known to grow on extremely wet forest floors.

They say you can't visit Kitulgala without taking at least one leech back with you (my boss's words) and I stuck to tradition and left the site with a little black bloodsucker on my leg. Thankfully I found him fast before it got fat and ugly. Blahh.

Day 26

I said no more boring food and vegetable posts, but this one's an interesting one. I bought Banana Flower at the supermarket yesterday and made a fry with the recipe from Love Food Eat.

Came out a lot better than expected. Even made it to the main blog. Pictures are ok. I struggled with the macro setting. Just wasn't focussing like I wanted it to. Oh well. Read recipe HERE.

Have two new interns at work. Two students from India. It's a bit weird to have to tell them what to do. My last job was an internship and I haven't quite gotten used to the fact that I have moved up from that. 

The weather has been lovely the past few days. Gone are the hot sticky days. It's been windy and rainy. Will love it while it lasts.

Day 4

I woke up to a complete downpour and felt quite lucky that my new boss was picking me up for work. Working out bus routes in the rain would not have been fun.

The office is located right out of the city in the middle of nowhere and is part of a beautiful stone and exposed concrete house. I sit at the corner desk and have the nicest view. The rain, the jungle outside the window and some smooth jazz playing created quite a tranquil setting. It was almost too nice to be working in (note: almost). Oh, Andrea Bocelli was featured in today's playlist at work- I 100% approve of my boss's music choices!  :)

Despite being such a small office, there are many big projects to work on. It was only my first day at work and have already been loaded with things to do. I'm quite excited. And the shelves and shelves of books only adds to my excitement. 

Last night, went grocery shopping and was quite interested in the variety of strange vegetables here. Potatoes and cauliflowers are expensive, so I'm going to be experimenting with new veggies this year. Bought some snake gourd to cook with dhal. First time cooking with snake gourd and it came out quite ok.

The picture was taken from my phone. I didn't bring the 450D with me and I'm not going to carry the other camera everyday everywhere. 

Day 1

Welcome to my new blog.

I've been planning to start a new blog completely dedicated to my year in Sri Lanka and the name only came to me this morning. I don't want to clutter my other blog with ramblings about the weather, my job and the food, so will post all that here on 'Hello Humidity.'

After a month of job hunting, I was offered a job on the island of Sri Lanka. Despite only being a 1 1/2 hour plane ride away and in the same time zone as India, it'll still going be one crazy year ahead away from home.

I stepped off the plane to 27 degrees and 80% humidity (at 10pm!), but was especially appreciative of the orderly traffic and garbage-less roads on the way home. 

Day 1 -at home in my new room. Internet makes it even easier to feel close to Bangalore. I forgot to pack my toothbrush. It was the last thing I used before I left home, and it didn't make it to my suitcase. Hooray for finger brushing!

I ate some Sri Lankan brinjal pickle with my lunch today. Indian Priya pickle you have no competition. 

^ view from my bedroom.