Home Coming Party

I was invited to my second Sri Lankan home coming, which is the equivalent of a wedding reception but it takes place after the newlyweds have returned from honeymoon. The event started with Kandyan dancers who backflipped across the hall as part of their dance routine.

Jo and his new new bride light the ceremonial lamp.

Jo works at the same place as me and the event was well attended by our other workmates.

This was at the end of the evening (approx 1am) after eating, drinking and dancing and I'm probably in better shape than I would have been at a comparative English wedding reception; less drinking and more dancing seems to be the Sri Lankan way.
Photo credits R.P.

Say no to cutlery

On the first of January Sri Lankans celebrate with a brunch of milk-rice, curry and Sri Lankan sweets.

Correct etiquette dictates eating with your hands whilst not getting any food on your palms; it actually tastes better that way as you get to blend the food before you taste it.

Hikkaduwa Feedback Loop

On Boxing Day the surfers paddled out to a point off the main break and joined hands in a circle to remember the people who died in the Tsunami on Boxing Day 2004; it's something the surfers in Hawaii do when a surfer dies. The waves off the main reef are too big for a beginner like me to handle.
Another day watching the sun going down.
Stumbling home along the beach one night I came across a group of people watching something on the sand; it turned out to be a turtle returning to the same spot as last year to lay its eggs. The turtle had been disturbed so its starting to dig a new hole to lay its eggs. Coconut pickers are probably the fastest tree climbers in the world with the aid of a looped piece of rope around their feet.
I've been going down to surf in Hikkaduwa every weekend for the last 2 and a half months and I intend to keep heading down for the next 3 months; every weekend is kind of like Groundhog day, but one that I'm not bothered about escaping from.

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.