Galle

Finally pictures of when we were in Galle/Unawutuna. Libby take a look at what you will be seeing when you come! I love the extremely tall palm trees reaching to the sky. We'll be there again in a weeks time trying to relax, away from the stress of work and city. Not a bad place to do so.

The only event we participated in at the Galle Literary Festival. Channa Dassanayaka's Cooking workshop. Yummy Sri Lankan curries good enough for the Dalai Lama. Feel good food.

Looking a bit confused on the Galle Fort Wall. Hot hot day. Richard loves catching me making faces on camera. But the Fort is pretty cool and deserves a mention. Too bad a photo can't do it justice. Suffice it to say, Galle Fort could look like New Orleans French Quarter or at least Algiers in a few decades with lots of improvements. Its got lots of Dutch colonial flavor in a Sri Lankan culture.

Unawutuna

Finally I got to spend time with the husband. We went to Hikkaduwa beach and then Unawutuna. Two totally different beaches. Hikkaduwa is a popular surfing beach frequented by backpackers and hippies. Hence there are multitudes of touts, as they are called. Anoying people walking up and down the beach calling out their wares (king coconuts, dirty massages from old men, cheap jewelry, sarongs), they really get in your face when all you want to do is sun bathe half naked with a book in private. You get used to it. I insisted on a strict no-tout policy that Richard had a hard time sticking to.

We treated ourselves to Lobster feasts followed by my new favorite dessert - Banana fritters with ice cream and treacle. Yum.

A little further down the coast is a bay - Unawutuna, just south of Galle Fort. The beach here is protected by the bay making the water a lot calmer. Perfect for a poor swimmer like me. DId I mention that Hikkaduwa beach is the same place I almost drowned after being caught in a rip two years ago when Richard first brought me there. Needless to say i didn't venture too far out in the water. Unawutuna was a more private beach, less frequented by those annoying touts.

The Galle Literary Festival was on while we were there. My impression was that it was a pretentious summer camp for writers. Didn't get too into it. A little disappointed. We did enjoy the cooking workshop with Australian/Sri Lankan chef Channa Dassanayaka. ( i think thats his last name). He made us the food he served to the Dalai Lama and a few hundred monks when they visited Australia in 2007. He is all about peace and goodness through food (and Yoga). Sounds like a good philosophy to me.

A quick week at the beach and then back to work. Too much driving for my tastes. Road rage has a new meaning here. I want to do horrible things to tuk tuks, trucks and pedestrians when I am on the road. No wonder the country is at war with each other, everyone is filled with rage when they simply get into a car.

Richard has pictures on his camera

A Typical Kandy day

Its raining in Kandy, Again. Its always raining these days. Keeps things cool. I'm freezing in fact. I'm not complaining because it could be much worse - hot, humid, mosquitoes...

My days are spent in the office starting at 9AM. The office is generally quiet, a research environment. Everyone is very nice and friendly/helpful. Can get kind of boring though. Otherwise my head is full of HIV research questions and technical applications for this project. But what do I know really? The project is fascinating, its just slow going these days. I watch lots of $2 DVDs at night on my computer. Flatmate, Sanji is nice to have around to talk to and toss ideas around with. Together though, we are not so inspired.

In the meantime I am pining after my husband. Finally I will see him tomorrow after a 1 month separation and we will go to the beach and eat lobster. Phone and Skype conversations are driving me nuts.

Not a very exciting post, but life is not so exciting these days. I need to do something about that. I'm in Sri Lanka for crying out loud.

New Year 2008

What a great start to the New Year. No Family, No Husband, and now Sri Lanka decides to gear up for war. Argh!. Kenya erupts in violence, Pakistan is in political unrest as well with their elections... The world is going nutty - people just can't figure out how to get along. Makes me sad to think that after all these years little improvement has been made in the development of human relationships. Kindness and respect for human life - the most basic of behaviours, remains a challenge. Makes me mad. To think that some people believe they have the right to take another person's life.

England vs Sri Lanka

My first Cricket experience in one of the best cricket venues in the world. Kandy. It was England vs. Sri Lanka - Sri Lanka won four days later. I don't know how these guys can last in the heat and stress for five long days playing the same old thing. I could barely last 2 hours. On our way home there was a bit of traffic on the Peradeniya Road - because the elephant was making its way to work. I was such a tourist when I took this picture.

Anuradhapura

While everyone else was doing work in the military camps, I wandered around the ancient buddhist ruins of Anuradhapura. Once apon a time there were over 80,000 Buddhist monks living and working here. And they built several of these Dagobas, big mounds of mud bricks - no one knows why or what they are for - crazy!

It was a hot hot day - walking around in the mud in my barefeet - checking out the Buddha.

Sri Lanka so far

I have pictures to post I promise, I just haven't gotten around to downloading them off of my stupid camera that barely functions. What with this new "job", weekend with the husband, Birthday, Thanksgiving, I am pretty busy and stimulated - I must say.

They are keeping me busy in the office, or rather I am keeping myself busy trying to catch up with the progress so that I know what is going on and how to jump in. So far I am remembering how frustrating it can be to work in a developing country. But last monday was interesting, I found myself sitting in the middle of a military transit camp trying to be as inconspicuous as possible as the single white American woman in the vicinity. I don't think I blended in very well. I remember melting in the car with flies driving me crazy as I waited for the surveying to finish. Now I am stuck back in the office. I think I have the mosquito thing under control - basically slather the repellant on exposed area in the morning, maybe once again in the afternoon and they pretty much leave me alone. No Dengue for me.

Met up with the husband after a 3 week break - the longest we have been apart in a year (sick!). I caught a beast of a bus to Habarana - 3 hours away. They dropped me off on the side of the road next to a sign for Cinnamon Lodge, but I didn't know where I was supposed to go so I called the husband and waited for him to come pick me up in the dark. I hear a clank, clank, clank and down the quiet road what did I see - an elephant walking towards me. A little man was on top and the clanking was the sound of its chains. Later I found out that there are actually wild elephants in the area and should be careful not to encounter one. I could only laugh at the strange sight and wish I had a camera with me then.

Temple of the Tooth

This is how I spent last Saturday. Exploring the Temple of the Tooth, and paying way too much for it. I should have bargained more and told the "guide" to beat it. Ah well, it was my first day in the town on my own - I'm still learning my way around. Its the place where the buddhists house their sacred tooth relic said to be Buddha's tooth - but no one can see it because it is housed under lock and key under gold domes. I barely caught a glimpse of the gold. The place was interesting despite and I found out that I didn't know nearly as much about Buddhism as maybe I should. Now I know a little bit more.

Finally made it to Sri Lanka

We've arrived!!

We got to Colombo one week ago today after waiting and waiting and waiting for our visas to arrive at the Sri Lankan Consulate office in Sydney. What a hassle. So I was the lucky one who got to spend two extra weeks staying with the in-laws twiddling my thumbs because we couldn't really do anything as we expected to leave any day. As soon as we got the final approval, we zoomed over to Dubai for a 16 hour stop-over. Got some shopping in and I got my Christmas/Birthday present! I love my new MacBook, but I am still learning how to use it. Nice and shiny and white.

Colombo is bustling, hot, sticky, polluted. Everyone stares at you because you obviously stand out as a foreigner. So much for wanting to be inconspicuous. There is good food for cheap, everything from lunch packets that you can get on the side of the road to fancy decadent dinners. For our engagement anniversary we went to Richard's favorite restaurant, The Gallery Cafe, and stuffed ourselves with a three course meal. The coconut souffle was particularly yummy - but I don't think it was really a souffle, more of a pudding. Hmm. I guiltily went shopping yesterday, but everything is a bargain compared to back home, especially in Australia - so I didn't feel too bad for too long.

Its raining in Kandy. The mist creeped in over the hills creating a romantic tropical scenery and the rain started pouring down in buckets. While there is a water shortage in Australia, there is plenty of water in Sri Lanka. I love the rain.

I arrived in Kandy this morning after the most rocking train ride I have ever been on. While the scenery was gorgeous from the "observation deck" - another name for the caboose on this trip - it was most uncomfortable. I was lucky to get a seat next to the only other white person who happened to be one of those unfriendly Europeans. I keep running into them here. Three hours later I arrive in Kandy, my new home for the next three months. Don't ask me what I will be doing yet - I haven't found out yet. I just need something to keep me busy while Richard is away in the north, in a town called Killinochchi, in a region called the Wanni (pronounced Vanni (I think)), where the LTTE reign. There is lots to explore...

On our drive to Sydney

We took our merry ole time getting to Sydney, leaving at 3pm. Took two days, stopping in Coffs Harbour overnight. This is the Big Prawn in Ballina. We missed a photo op with the Big Banana in Coffs Harbour.




Then we finally got to Sydney and got stuck here for over a week with the in-laws. We took one Sunday to visit with Richard's cousin Elvis downtown in the city. We had lunch by the Sydney Opera house and the Harbour Bridge and tried to fit in with the hip city crowd. Don't think it worked. I'm not looking so wonderful.