Sri Lanka

Its already halfway through a max month long stay here in SriLanka and I have that time fly's feeling.

I have last night stayed in a manse beloging to The Grace Redempton Fellowship. Kethees the paster has allowed me to camp down on his living room floor with a cooling ceiling fan providing comfort from the otherwise prevailing humidity which I have happily grown used to.

Mozzies though are a continuous challenge in the early evenings especially and those in SA always loved the taste of my blood and the same has prevailed here so a mix of nets, fans, covering up, some peaceful sleep insect repellent which I think my mum gave me several years back and a coil have formed my not so succesful defence.

My journey so far has taken me east from the airport (had intended traveeling north) on the Kndy road where I stopped soon after the day I arrived and met with a recently married couple and their parents. The father runs a small roadside store and Istayed with them for 3 nights, visting a local village by bus and another multi bus journey from there oneday to visit the Indian Visa Office in Columbo the capital. I will have to return there againgn to have my passport visa stamp. Not looking forward to that as they require one to arrive before 0900hrs and return later in the day after 1630hrs to collect passport. All this following 8 days to process the visa application costing over 40 pounds for a single 3 month tourist visa.

From discussion I have had with local folks here, it may be that I will limit my touring in India to the south of the country beginning in Madras which is the nearest airport destination from here. I feel that the time I have been spending here has perhaps given me a soft introduction to what is to follow.

I have found the people here to be very friendly and helpful, a smaller number inclined to see me as a cash cow on occasions.
and invariably then dissapointed with my knowledge of what prices should be.

The food here has been really great, rice and curry being the norm with extraordinary spicy and sometimes very hot but delicious tastes. Lots of exotic fruit and vegetables with abundance of fish often very small but full of taste. Around the towns, the streets are often very dirty without any evidence of attempts to control the accumulating litter. Off the main tracks though, the environment is very natural with explosions of vegetation and birdlife, rivers and lakes full of fish supporting the local needs. At the beach yesterday I attended the local fish market following the overnight catch. At 150 rupees per kilo of small but popular fish being about 85 English pence I thing.

For 150 rupees, one can eat a generous plate of rice with at lest one meat or fish and 3 sometimes for different vegetable curries always served with a glass of water which can be refilled at will. I have so far continued to drink the ground water without problem.

Travelling after sunset in some places is reckoned to be hazardous sometimes as apparently the wild elephant population is inclined to travel across or along the roads. So far though, I have not seen any and only one elephant which was standing in a shelter, tethered near an elephant orphanage which I bypassed. I have cycled about 600kms so far and will probably do that much again by bike with possible additional bus and train journeys to cover more ground before I need to leave in 2 more weeks unless my visa is extended which is unlikley.

I stayed at Kandy, the islands 2nd town for 3 days and for two nights on the east coast which is the area I am now in. The tsunami which happened over 6 years ago now is still very visbly evident and on the minds of the local people.

I will travel further south today and then perheps turn inland once again to the hilly/moutainous areas, one of which is called little England, being higher altitude is rather cooler and has many tea plantations from former times. Well, I must get going again as the pastor has kindly let me use his computer and needs to get on with his own work. Hope to provide more detail on the diary again soon. Bye for now.