The Blue Lagoon

The night before the day after we went out for eats and drinks. The trouble with Buddhist religious holidays is that the monks have persuaded the government to ban the sale of liquor. It's easier to find someone to sell you a beer if you're foreign and at a holiday resort, but to protect themselves the restaurant may serve you your beer in a teapot with teacups.On the next day after almost drowning 3 times due to the large waves we made plans for a little excursion. Prior to our departure the Sri Lankan lady who lived next to where we were staying invited us over for a New Year meal. The meal was a traditional combination of milk rice, dried chilli fish, sweets and bananas. The fish was very spicy and combined with the hot tea I was drinking and the lack of a fan I was sweating buckets. It was touching to be invited into their house and after the meal we exchanged money hidden in leaves, this being a Sri Lankan New Year custom where the guest gives slightly more than the host. The photo below shows Faith with our host and the delicious spread; I cunningly avoided using a photo with me in it as I looked like I was about to have a heart attack due to extreme overheating.After lunch we headed out for our boat trip around the blue lagoon in our luxury motor launch; due to some mix up we ended up in a ghetto catamaran powered by two oarsmen.
Part way through our boat trip we stopped at a Buddhist temple with the biggest door key of any temple in Sri Lanka (you soon learn that every temple has the biggest something to distinguish it by). We had a guided tour by a monk who explained the meanings behind various scenes displayed in the temple. One of my particular favourites is the story that highlights the evils of alcohol and meat consumption. Apparently there was a king who greatly enjoyed meat and alcohol. One day after drinking heavily the king was appalled to find there was no meat in his meal. After the chef explained that there was no meat available the king snatched his own child from the queen's hands and demanded that the chef cook it immediately. This scene depicts the king with the dead baby in his hands, the queen crying and the chef protesting. The moral of this story is do not drink alcohol as you may become hungry enough to eat your own offspring; or maybe do something else equally crazy. After the monks valuable lessons we were back out on the water in search of wildlife. We saw a large water lizard that was described by the guide as both brother of gecko and brother of crocodile and was obviously a reptile of a size somewhere between the two. We also saw bats, some jumping fish and some random birds which I expertly identified by their colour, i.e. "Look there's a black, brown or white bird".
I was a little worried that the lack of wildlife may have disappointed Faith but she seemed happy and it was a pleasant change from the beach for a couple of hours.

The Quietest Day

I had guest who come to stay over the Buddhist New Year, so I took a few extra days off work and we made plans to do a ten day tour of the island. After meeting her at the airport and giving her a chance to recover from the flight we took the well travelled path to Hikkaduwa. Even though Galle is only about 10km south of Hik I'd never been before so on Buddhist New Year's day we hired a 3 wheeler to go and have a look around the historic fort of Galle. I think Galle was one of the first places foreigners arrived in Sri Lanka as it's on the tip of the south coast and it has one of, if not the oldest Dutch church on the island. The Tamil Tigers attacked Galle harbour a couple of months ago, which is one of the main bases for the Sri Lankan Navy, but failed to cause any noticeable damage. The Fort also escaped unscathed during the Tsunami as the waves we unable to breach the walls, although they swept past the fort and decimated areas of the main town. The lighthouse sits on the southern wall of the fort.
The whole place was like a ghost town when we visited as virtually all businesses close for New Year and everyone stays at home to have a family meal and generally chill out. It was slightly creepy as I'm so used to constant chaos and what is usually a bustling market where you can expect to be constantly harassed was deathly quiet; I savoured the moment and enjoyed the unusual peace and tranquillity.
There was a graffiti wall where the local kids had expressed positivity rather than frustration or anger at the civil war and lack of prospects that a lot of them are faced with.