www.SantaClaus.com

My neighbour asked if I could be Santa for the local Church's Christmas party; I don't remember Santa have balloons on a stick but what you gonna do? I had to walk 50 yards down the road dressed as Santa as they wanted me to arrive independently from the adults organising the party.
First task was to distribute sweets to all the kids.

There were even some nuns at the party.There was a bag of presents for all the children and only one boy cried because his present wasn't big enough. Another boy asked if I was from England but I explained I was from the North Pole. There was even a gift for Santa for making the long journey from the North Pole.
Half the kids went to the church Sunday school and the other half were from a local orphanage.
My neighbour, Angela, who took the photos, explained that Santa needed the photos for his website; one of the kids immediately quipped that the address must be http://www.santaclaus.com/ but it turns out they were just for moodymowlam.

Xmas Party

The office block I work in has a bar set-up on the roof, all be it that it's just for private functions. The bar was hired for our work Xmas party and I wasn't exactly sure how it was going to turn out. There was a schedule for the party that stated that drinks weren't going to be served for the first 45 minutes and after which there would be games; I turned up 45 minutes late and didn't notice the games as I was too busy drinking beer & chatting. The food menu was made up of confusing looking bites including battered chillies, prawns, fish and curried pastries. I found my niche at the bar and settled in for the night.
Hey DJ pump that party.Towards the end of the night I'd drunk a sufficient number of beers to let my hair down and get my groove on to some Sinhalese/Sri Lankan tunes.

November Randoms

Three years after the tsunami there are still houses all along the coast that haven't been rebuilt.
It's the real thing; coke break stop on the bus back to Colombo from the beach.
View of Petta, North Colombo from the roof of my friend's house.

The sea is calm again so it's back to the beach every weekend.
Mosquito bite head wound; not content with sucking my blood they're now trying to tap my brain fluid.
View from the roof of my office, East Colombo.

Work Mate's fun and games.

There was a work party in a hotel at the beach resort of Negombo about a month ago. Unlike English work parties where the main attraction is the drinking, party games were the order of the day. Due to my incredible strength (I've started going to the gym) I signed up for the tug of war. My work mates, however, went in for some more exotic games. Madura entered the fancy dress competition as Mumm-Ra lord of the dead;

Pradeep entered the crazy legs breakdance competition

while Rushdy had the honour of lighting the ceremonial cockerel oil lamp.

End of the Line

We were struggling to find something to do on our second day in Kazhan so we caught a car (hitch hiking is almost the preferred form of transport) to a monastery in the middle of nowhere; we lasted about 5 minutes before we were banished as it was an all female monastery and the sight of me in shorts was deemed to be wholly inappropriate.
Next stop was the amusement park across the river from the Kremlin. After a ride on the rickety mini rollercoaster we rode the big-wheel to get a good view of the city.
Over the 18 days I was in Russia I visited some of the well known tourist spots, but also some out of the way places, which made the trip more special. I would never have visited these places or thought of going to Russia in the first place if I hadn't been invited by my friend Zhenya. I really appreciated all the effort she made to book the train / plane tickets, plan the trip and put me up in Moscow. Hopefully I'll be able to return the favour one day.
The last ride almost turned my stomach and after typical nonchalance before hand, it was all I could do to try and look calm as we were spun around whilst swinging from side to side; I like rides that scare me more than I like rides that make me feel sick.

Then it was back to Moscow to get my stuff together before flying home (Sri Lanka). The underground metro stations in Moscow are definitely a little more up market than the London equivalent.
Always Ready!

Trains, dragons and Islam in Kazhan

A workmate had asked me to take photos of trains, as he likes to paint pictures of them; due to my slackness this is the only train photo I took, while we waited to catch the train from Moscow to Kazhan.
Kazhan, although capital of the Tartarstan region, seemed to have the vibe of a fairly typical small town.
Orthodox Church on the left and bell-tower on the right. Chocolate box church, which was suitably impressive inside,

with chocolate box bell-tower.
Kazhan has its own Kremlin, which is guarded by a dragon.
The Kremlin contains various government buildings, another Orthodox Church and as it's the Islamic capital of Russia, a Mosque.
Pimp my ride; I'm trading in the Beemer when I get back to Blighty and getting one of these bad boys.

Petrodvorets, Pushkin

Everyone one needs a little bolt-hole, especially the Tsars, to get away from the trials of life and spend the summer holidays.
I got a bus out to the Catherine Palace with Nick and Matt, the 2 English guys I'd been hanging out with from the Hostel. The fountains are supposedly naturally fed, without using motorised pumps to create the water pressure.Scenic view down to the gulf of Finland. Inside the Catherine Palace the interior designer had gone for the ostentatious look. Away with the fairies, or should that be angels? There was a lot of gold around, but I think they'd been watching Changing Rooms as there was more gold paint than gold leaf.
Probably one of the best ledge and step skate spots I've ever seen (better than Victory Park) and I didn't even take my rucksack off. There was a huge square with big hubbas and steps everywhere; I would have gone nuts back in the day but now I just crave some transition.

Hermitage and the Horsemen

In Palace square they were preparing for a Rolling Stones concert next to Alexander Column.
This is the Ornate Jordan Staircase at the Hermitage (It doesn't look very Middle Eastern or have any Chicago Bulls logos so I've no idea what Jordan they're talking about). The Hermitage houses untold collections of art, including modern, but 3 hours is my absolute limit for art appreciation in one sitting.
The entrance to Palace square.
I wanted to go to Decembrist Square solely because a indie rock band had named themselves after it (The square is where on the 14th December 1825 Tsarist soldiers fired on 3000 revolting troops and spectators who wanted to turn Russia into a Republic). The square also has the cities most famous statue of Peter the Great (The Bronze Horseman).

Next to Decembrist Square is Saint Isaac's Church and square
where there is another horseman statue, this time of Nicholas the 1st.
St Petersburg is built on Marsh land and canals cross the city in all directions. I took my third and last boat trip of the holiday on an overcast afternoon in St Petersburg.