Health and Safety

I walked past this electricity junction box on the way to work. Look at the warning sign in the top right of the picture and then look at the latch securing the door. This says all you need to know about Sri Lankan health and safety.
It's a twig!

Hikkaduwa again

It's the end of the tourist season, the beaches are empty and the sun is hiding. The bar at A-frame on the beach had one of the last parties of the season. I managed to meet up with some English people and get drunk on the Saturday night. The local drink Arrack is pretty strong and I had a few beers first but miraculously I didn't get a hangover. It took me an hour to walk home as I couldn't recognise my hotel from the beach and walked right past it. It didn't look like this in the middle of the night as they board up the restaurant and only leave a narrow passageway open. There doesn't seem much point in heading back for a while as the resort will be dead until next November now. It will still be blazing hot but the bars will be empty.

Negombo

My workmate offered to take me north of Colombo for the day. I'd been south before but not north and Negombo is the original Sri Lankan beach resort. I got the bus half way and then we drove from there. The guys had to stop at a Catholic church on the way as it had special significance and they couldn't pass it without dropping in. There was a sign asking people not to take photos so I didn't.
I am sticking my fingers up here, but in a W not a V. Take your pick for what it stands for from Westside, Weymouth, West Country or West Coast of Sri Lanka.I got burned when we went swimming in a hotel pool for half an hour, but for some reason the guys got away with it. The official tourist season is over and the beaches were pretty empty, although they weren't that full south of Colombo when I went. Tourism still hasn't bounced back completely since the Tsunami. The beach at Mount Lavinia was pretty busy at New Year and in the evening quite a few locals came down to watch the sunset at Negombo. Traditional Sri Lankan fishing boat (below), probably giving tourists a ride as most of the fishing is done at night. We'd visited another beach further up the coast in the morning, which was the main fishing area. They have a market early each morning to sell the nights catch to locals and merchants who will then sell the fish in the towns.
A boat on the beach, which makes it easier to see that it's fairly retro technology. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Art tart at the Kala Pola

I think Kala Pola translates as Art Market. I bought a newspaper last week and it had an article on the 14th annual open-air art gallery / art fair that was due in town. The local art students sell their paintings every Sunday from the side of the road opposite the National Art Gallery, but this was an opportunity for artists from all over Sri Lanka to exhibit and sell their work. Bizarrely I woke up at about 7.30 on the day of the art fair. I couldn't get back to sleep so I went out on my bike to check it out. I was slightly overwhelmed by the sheer amount of paintings on display. I cycled up and down each side of the street seeing if anything caught my eye and then walked around more slowly to have a better look.
I wanted to get a picture that had a real flavour of Sri Lanka to remind me of my time here. This one guy's paintings caught my eye and I had a hard time working out which one I liked best. After he showed me his portfolio I said I'd think about it and come back later.
I had to cycle home and come back in a tuc tuc, as I wasn't going to try carrying a 3ft x 2 ft painting on my bike. This shot from the tuc shows how near to the road the art and artists were whilst traffic drove up and down as usual.
I bought 2 paintings in the end, which will brighten up my walls when I get back to England. This one depicts traditional Sri Lankan dance and music.
I liked the second painting, as the girls' features were slightly less stylised and looked more Sri Lankan to me. The colours were also cool and the painting kind of glows. I guess my taste is influenced by comics and graphics; they're like posters, which is cool, as I wanted something bold and bright.

Kandy from a baby

I've been working flat out for 4 weeks so I haven't had time to do much or update this blog. Somewhere in the middle of those 4 weeks I went on a sight seeing trip to Kandy. The elephant orphanage is on the way to Kandy, so we left Colombo early to get there in time to watch the babies being fed. After the babies are fed all the elephants go down to the river to bathe. The view from the balcony of the restaurant was pretty sweet and the sandwiches and drinks were appreciated after getting up at the crack of dawn and skipping breakfast. Tuska has a bit of a problem getting to his food as his tusks have grown so long.
The tree is full of bats, but you'll have to take my word for it.
Pretty view but no idea what the large rock in the background is called.
Now we arrive at the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy. The tooth was apparently rescued from Buddha's cremated remains, although it is never seen and even the casket in which it is kept is only displayed on special occasions. Slightly strange walking around whist Buddhists are worshipping listening to a prerecorded tour on an MP3 player.
Monkeys like hanging out at temples for some reason. I can't remember if they're revered or if they just get feed and otherwise left alone.
I was not permitted to enter the temple in my shorts so a sarong had to be acquired. The crazy thing is my shorts were literally about 1 or 2 inches shorter than the sarong, so I reckon the security guards at the temple have shares in the local sarong shops.
After a day of religious culture and a slap up feed in a luxury hotel it was off to the botanical gardens for a walk to help the food go down. Not being the most horticulturally educated the most entertaining thing I found was a tree with a hole I could climb into. I couldn't find Bilbo or Frodo though.
There are more variations of palm trees than you can shake a stick at and some grow pretty tall. I'd have climbed to the top of the 40 ft ones (yeah right) but the gardens were closing so we had to scoot.

Navam Perahera

The Navam Perahera is a prestigious Buddhist cultural pageant. There were dancers, stilt walkers, dudes with whips, costumes galore and guys spinning balls of fire around their heads with their hair. I liked the devils and monkey men that were supposed to have inhabited Sri Lanka before man. Mickey Mouse?
Devil child
Dragon breath
Hempies
DJ Spinbad Morris Dancers
Dance of the sugar plum fairies
Mad bogle dancers on stilts
Wheels of Fire
Burn Babylon Burn
Dancing Peacocks
Monkey Men

The religious significance kind of went over my head but it was a real spectacle and everyone seemed to be enjoying the show; It helps to preserve traditional costume, dance and traditions. Viva la Culture

Fruit Tart

Trying to keep healthy by eating a decent amount of fruit. It's pretty cheap when you get out of the city and the road is lined with stalls selling fruit. I guess it grows there so that's why it's cheap. Once they've transported the fruit into Colombo it ends up twice the price. Small red fruit called Rambutan.

King Coconut is supposed to be the best hangover cure and really good to re-hydrate.
You can also eat the flesh that lines the inside. It doesn't taste of much but it's good for you.
The dude selling the coconuts makes me look tall and buffed. He could still swing a machete (check his right hand) so I wasn't about to mess.