Sri Lanka

Today we woke up at around 8 to begin to get ready to head out for diving. Jon did 2 dives, so I got to sit in a boat for 2 hours or so, waiting. The water here is beautiful. Last night we swum across the harbor to the beach on the other side, it was a rather long swim, but it was definitely worth it, I slept great after that.

Seeing the shore from a boat gives an idea of how serious the damage is. All along the coast there are trees knocked down, houses falling into the water, piles of rubble from houses and people working. The main resorts have large crowds of people clearing the debris, and getting them back to shape. Everyone we have talked to says that this area is lucky because of the resorts there is enough money to rebuild, but there are many poorer areas that are not as lucky.

We spoke to the owner of the dive shop today, we are going to be doing some volunteer work for him over the next few days, tomorrow I am sitting down with him and looking over some architectural plans to talk about the easiest ways to build them, and then in two days we begin to build. They have to build over 100 wooden homes over the next few weeks to house the people displaced in this area, we will probably help build 3 or 4 before we head on.

Last night it rained the most amazing, warm rain. We walked down and watched it on the ocean. This country is the most beautiful place I have ever been, between the people and the landscape there is little that doesn’t make the heart sing. Till next time

some plam trees at the hotel.

the view from the hotel.

View from our room.

A Sri Lankan cat for the crazy cat woman, or anyone else who wants to see a cat.

We are staying in a hotel named Sunil Lanka, it is right on the ocean in in a town called Aluthgama. The hotel is sheltered by a island and sand bar, so the hotel and most of the “downtown” area of this town was untouched by the tsunami. Just outside of town is a diffrent story. Rubble lies where houses used to be, children and adults alike clamber around searching for anything that can aid the rebuilding of their houses and lives. Stacks of bricks, roofing tiles, and cement blocks accumulate as people stockpile anything they can find to construct new houses.
Although the scene is rather desolate from a quick glance, you can see that the people who survived are still happy, and dealing with their hardships very well. Kids swim in the ocean, surf, and play ball in the steets, garbage fires burn at the sides of the rails, like those that we have seen all across the rest of Sri Lanka, life seems to continue as usual on the most part.

The town is still bustling, everyone seems to be in the streets, buying things, selling things. Food is plentiful, the groceries shelves are fully stocked with everything from chocolate to ice cream, to the necessities of life, water and bread.

Many of the tourist places are open for business, Jon is getting his diving advance as we speak, at a diving school, right next to our hotel. I am about to head off into town and get some flip flops and a pair of swimming trunks (how could I have forgotten that?). The people welcome tourists with arms wide open. They are happy to see us, and encourage us to stay, and to travel around the area, seeing the sights, but they also point out the devistation to us.

We are going to stay here for a few more days, Jon has a couple more days of diving in order to get his advanced openwater licence, and i am planning on learning how to surf. The hotel we are in is a wonderful place, very friendly and very clean, sadly the only room they had available was the honeymoon sweet so jon and i are sharing a bed, kinda strange but it is ok. Well, till next time
take care

Two nights ago we hiked up adams Peak. It was truely amazing, but after 5200 steps up all i wanted to do was sleep, sadly we were at the top and had 3 more hours to wait for the sun to come up. It was cold, and windy, not Shelburne cold but cold enough to notice. It was probably around 12 degrees c up there, with a rather strong wind. Enough to go through my light long sleeve tshirt and my my cute little fleece. We met some really nice local kids up there, one of whom is planning on going to college in canada, at least he wanted to, so we gave him our emails so we could offer him help if he needed anything.

After hiking up we walked back down to our hotel (any idea how hellish it is to walk down 5200 stairs??) and fell alseep the second we got into bed. We slept most of that day, went out for a short time to try out some Sri Lanka sweets, rather good i might add.

Today we left the hotel by car, to the nearest town, then took a tuktuk to train station in Hatton. From there we caught a train to Colombo. We are going to be heading down the coast tomorrow i believe, finding some place along the way to kick back and relax, get some rays, suntan, and take a breather from a rather hectic few days.

We are in a small internet cafe here in Colombo that is closing in just a few minutes, sadly, but tomorrow i shall try and do a serious update, with photographs if i get around to it. The sunset from Adams Peak was truely amazing, not life changing, but really amazing all the same and i have lots of photographs to share, when i get around to it. For now I am out. Take care all, and enjoy the snow up north.

Just a little Picture of us in a 3 wheeler. Resized and everything, took me for ever so you better be happy!!!

Today was great, we were woken up at 9:55 by one of the hotel staff telling us that breakfast was only served for another 5 minutes so we got up and went and had breakfast, they really know how to take care of people. Knowing how everything works here has made us realize that, even at only 1100 ruppees a night for both of us, including breakfast is ok, because the hotel gets commision on anything they recomend, and also the price of living here is incredibaly cheep. We could get by on about 150 ruppees a day for food and water, and not just any food, really good Sri Lanka food.

After breakfast we got ready for a long 3 wheeler trip, about 40km to the Elephant orphanage. It took us an hour and a half to get there in the back of this 2 cycle 3 wheeler, bumpy, slow, windy and FUN. THe elephant orphanage is a fairly small park filled with tons of elephants, sadly it was not as intresting as i was hoping, but it was pretty cool. I would say there was about 60 or so elephants. There was a cute little baby elephant too. We walked around there for a while, and then headed back to our waiting 3 wheeler. From there we went to a small gardenand got a tour of Ayerveda medicine. It was really amazing hearing how things work, and what they do. We both got some stuff there, I got some stuff for my knees (red oil) and jon got some sandlewood oil, they say it is very good for soft skin.

They gave us a massage as well, shoulder, neck, and scalp. It was really great, helped us managed the drive back to kandy. Driving here is very intresting, to say the least. Many times, on the way back we had to drive on the very edge of the road because there were 3 busses all passing eachother, taking up the whole road. Everyone uses their horn, not as a warning as is done in canada/us, but to tell people they are passing, or to tell people they can move in.

When we got back to Kandy we walked around the street markets for a while, looking for a bank or atm. All of the banks are closed today, it is a holiday in Sri Lanka, but we finally found an atm that worked with both of our cards. We then went to this amazing resturaunt, rather expensive (cost us about 20 dollars) but we had alot of food, and the food was really really REALLY amazing. We ordered it as spicy as they can make it, i think we are both finally used to the spicy food, and i love it. Tea here is amazing as well.

We both have gotten into the habit of eating with our right hand. No fork, just our fingers, it is so much more fun, makes eating intresting, to say the least, but it seems the fingers on our right hands will be perminantly stained red. Tonight we are going to hit the sack early, because we are heading to Dalhousie tomorrow. Once in Dalhousie we are going to hike up Adams peak, said to be the first place Adam went after he was kicked out of the garden or eden. There is a giant footprint on top of the montain, many say it is adams, other say it is the foot print of Buhdda. It is really neat how everything here has a diffrent story for each prominant religion.

Tonight we are probably going to just head back to the hotel, take some pictures of monkies on the way back, and then go to bed. There are monkies running around everywhere, and elephants, and everything else. It is really really neat.

Laura – I have seen 3 cats today, taken photographs of all of them, and i will send them to you at some point. Hope you enjoy them…

Today we havent done much in the way of exictement. Just walked around, did the shopping thing. Jon got his shoes fixed and we got chargers for our cameras. The one i bought at radioshack didnt work so i got one at a little electronics store here that cost me about .70 usd. Things are very cheep here, our hotel, which has a wonderful view, pictures will come soon, costs us 11usd for both of us, including breakfast. We have a view over, not only the jungle but also the city of Kandy. We are a 15 minute walk from downtown, or a 5 minute 3 wheeler ride, and they cost a dollar or so. Meals cost next to nothing, somewhere in the range of 1-10 dollars for both of us, depending on where we eat.

Tomorrow or the next day we might hire a driver for one day, and drive around, seeing all the sights and stuff. A driver costs 25 dollars a day + gas so i think we wouldnt mind paying for it either. Hopefully tomorrow i will have photographs for everyone. Sadly the batteries in my portible hard drive ran out just as i was connecting it to this computer so i will have to upload photographs later.

Today we went to a full body traditional massage place. It was so relaxing and amazing. The man started with a face and scalp massage, then an upper body, then a foot massage, then my back. Then i had a steam bath, and relaxed for a while with a cup of herbal tea. It was truely wonderful, and i feel great, even after a couple hours of walking around down town. It was a bit expensive, about 20 dollars but considering how great i feel, it was worth it.

There are so many monkies here, running around, playing, running down the electric wires, jumping from tree to tree, stealing jack fruit and running down the streets with them. It is a wonderful show, very entertaining. Twice today we sat and watched them play while drinking tea and talking. What a hard life we live.

Its getting dark, and threatening to rain outside. So we should get going.

Laura, I saw my second cat today, but this time i had my camera ready, so i will send you that pic as soon as i can.

We got into Sri Lanka early this morning and took a taxi straight to Knady. The taxi ride, a 3 hour trip, cost us 3000r, somewhere around 30 usd. The ride was beautiful, a bit nerve racking with the passing and the buses and all that, but rather amazing. Our driver was a very kind Sri Lankan who took us to a wonderful breakfast resturaunt. Things here cost so much less, it is amazing. Jon and I just ate dinner and it came to a total of 66r, around $.75 or so.

We have a nice hotel room here in Kandy, a bit expensive, but it has everything we could need to get settled in. I need a new adapter for my camera because the power here is not what radioshack said it was, oh well. I miss everyone back home a little bit, but i have little time to think about it.

Today we went to a traditional dance thing at the Traditional Kandyan Arts Association. They did a cobra dance, and this amazing Panteru Netum dance with flipping and spinning and all kinds of crazy stuff. They spun things on sticks in their mouths and all kinds of crazy stuff. Then they did a firewalk and a fire dance. It was really breathtaking.

We are having no problems communicating, almost everyone speaks at least a little english, making it very easy for us to get around, and walking around town we have already seen 3 or 4 internet cafes, so that should not be a problem. They are a bit expensive, about a dollar an hour, but i guess we will have to suffer. For now this is all, i will write again next chance i get.

We are packing up to leave this hostel, find another one, because our room had been reserved before. Tomorrow we leave for Sri Lanka. I dont think that we will have internet access till after we arrive in sri lanka so goodbye for now. Check out is in 5 minutes and istill need to pack up my bag properly. Till next time, stay tuned

Here are some photographs here in prague, These are just the touristy ones, i dont have any way of looking at my photographs till i get home, so the pretty ones will come in a month. for now, i have a 2 inch screen to look at them and pick them on, sorry. Hope you enjoy them anyway.

We are in prague again, having a wonderful time. We spent the morning walking around town, buying food at grocery stores, street markets and wherever else we felt like getting stuff. We are going to go back down into town in a couple minutes but for now we just finished lunch, sardines, smoked fish, bread, cheese,. strawberries, and lychy nuts. The whole meal came to under 200crown. Its amazing how cheep things can be here, i really love it.

We need to go do some touristy things, get some photographs of us taken and whatnot. Prague is definitly a place that i want to visit again at some point. I hope to get some really nice photographs that i can upload here tonight, we will see. The photo software on this computer is german, and i cant figure it out, but maybe i will by then.

I am off to go back out into the real world and explore a little more. Till next time.

Im sorry that i have no updated yet, for some reason, in london the internet cafes seemed to think that sri.soygeek.net was a porn website so it would not let me visit it. It also would not let me go to gmail. Now that i am in prague everything is working out. Prague is the most amazingly pretty city i have ever seen. We have not been downtown yet much but we will be going tomorrow.

The first night in the Czech Republic we spent in the Czech Airways transfer hotel in some city about 35km outside of prague. It was a rather dingy city, with lots of horrible pollution, coal smoke everywhere, but the people were friendly so it was ok. Czech Republic is an absolutely beautiful country, rolling fields and trees and all kinds of stuff.

London was a great time too, spent all day, both days were were there, walking around, enjoying ourselves. Anyway, i will add more later tonight, i am off to rest a little. Bye all

I am packing up for Sri Lanka, collecting stuff together on tables out in the new building, making sure everything is working, fits into my bag, and will work. Checking I have everything, and checking again, and I am preparing for the great goodbye to my family, my friends, and the woman I love. Although I am looking forward to this trip immensely there are some things that I am going to miss.

I am not sure how often I will be able to access a computer, but I hope that it will be often enough to keep anyone who is interested well informed on my travels. I hope you enjoy reading this adventure as it unfolds.