Sri Lanka

ok folks here is some of our photographic magic from sri lanka - it isn't all because there is another card we need to put on cd, but will do that when we get back to bangers.
the man with the sign!!

unawatuna beach - about a 10 minute tuk tuk ride from aaron's house.

palm tree at unawatuna

unawatuna at night

aaron's house!

aaron's living room

a monkey in kandy

fire walking in kandy at the kandy dancers show

taking the train

at the elephant orphanage!

elephants taking a bath!

baby elephants playing!

james at the botanic gardens

xoxoxo
mad

hey everyone

yesterday, we got up early and missed the lovely breakfast of pineapple, yoghurt, eggs and toast that our guesthouse puts on, and took the 7am train to Rambukkana. it was a nice train ride, we were in second class which was pretty empty.

when we got to rambukkana, we took a tuk tuk to.. the ELEPHANT ORPHANAGE! it cost 1000 rupees to get in, which is the foreigner price - about $12 - but for a local it costs about 50 rupees. we trudged up the hill and then encountered 70 elephants just standing round, being elephants. the orphanage started with 5 elephants, but keeps the babies that are born there as well as taking in orphans who have been abandoned. we were urged by the sri lankan men working there to touch the elephants and have photos with them, which was followed by a demand for a tip! i touched a big manly elephant and a baby one that only had one ear after it was attacked by a predator and abandoned. it's name is pandu. after looking at them all, we went down to feeding at 9.15am, which is where they had two babies chained up and they feed them milk from bottles. they are so interesting to stare at. then at 10am, the elephants are lead down the main st of pinnawala, past all the many many souvenir shops, to the river. the river isnt very deep, but it is very wide. we watched them all trundle into the river, all 70 of them. some of them just stood around, while others lay down. james had particular fun watching three tiny babies playfight with each other. some of the elephants walked across to the other side of the river and climbed up the bank which was very amusing to watch. it was so strange being so close to so many of these amazing creatures!

after watching them for an hour and a bit we walked back up the street and did some souvenir shopping. we hadn't really done any real souvenir shopping till then so james bought a present for his mum and one for alex and i got a really super cool, super touristy sri lanka t-shirt. we also bought another memory card for the camera.

after that we took yet another tuk tuk back to rambukkana station and caught the train back to kandy. it was really full so we had to stand up, which wasnt that bad actually. there was a nice old sri lanka woman who showed us the best way to stand and then me and james amused the other passengers with our stupid games. the scenery is beautiful too.

we got back to our guesthouse very tired and hot, so after a shower and some reading and cards, we decided to have dinner at a resteraunt about 3 doors down from where we were staying. it was nice, but very empty, it's strange being the only people in the place.

then on tuesday, we got up to the sound of lots of children yelling and crying. our guesthouse is 3 floors, the top two being rooms and the ground floor is a preschool. and tuesday was the first day of the school year so there were some unhappy campers. we had a lovely breakfast and then grabbed a tuk tuk to the botanic gardens, which are about 6 kms from kandy. they are beautiful. they are the biggest in sri lanka and we saw some really strange and cool plants. things like cannonball trees, lots of palm trees including double coconut palms, sausage trees, rubber trees, a javan fig tree which covers an area of 1600 sq ms. we also saw a group of monkeys, who james wanted to watch play all day. i finally dragged him away when some of them began to run at us. we took some interesting photos.. and then took a tuk tuk back. we went to rams for lunch, the indian resteraunt we had dinner at the other night. wrote some postcards and had really yummy food - vegetarian thali, rice, roti and 7 little dishes with samples of curry and veg and chutney and yoghurt. then we went to the internet cafe and the bookshop.

that night we ventured across to the temple of the tooth, where they supposedly have buddha's tooth. it wasn't that interesting, lots of people and you don't get to see the tooth. you just get ushered past a doorway where you can glimpse the thing that is holding the tooth. which is supposedly just a replica anyway.

we went to bed early coz on wednesday we had to get up early for the 6.30am train. we'd booked tickets on the intercity express, so we had reserved seats in second class. i had lots of fun sticking my head out the window and waving to all the sri lankan people we went past.

we got to colombo station, where everyone is really helpful, whether you need help or not! we got second class tickets on the next train to galle - 9.30am, about an hour wait - and then as the train was pulling up a deaf man showed us where to wait and then jumped on and grabbed seats for us. he then asked for a donation to the school for the deaf where he works, which we gave willingly coz he was really nice and funny. i hope he's legit, he showed us id and seemed ok.

so on the train i finished my 15th or so book and had to start james' book. we were going backwards the whole time and it was very bumpy. when we arrived at galle we were asked by so many guys f we needed a tuk tuk, but we'd called mandula and asked him to pick us up. he came and then we went to a hotel near the beach and picked up aaron's mum, priscilla, who'd been having lunch and we squeezed in the tuk tuk back here. we lazed around last night, aaron made yummy dinner and i fell asleep early.

today we are taking a 2pm train to weligama, and from there a tuk tuk to mirissa. i don't know what the internet situation is down there so if you don't here from us (on the blog) for 5 days thats why.

xoxo
miss everyone lots and lots
mad

good afternoon to all our readers, i hope you're all well.
we are currently sitting in a dinky little internet cafe in some side street of the lovely city of Kandy, we've been here a total of 2 days, with 3 more to go, but before i ramble on about Kandy i have to update you about our last few days in Galle.

i think Maddie got as far as last last Monday in Galle, so i suppose I'll start with Tuesday.
Tuesday was washed out, it rained all day, so we had another lazy day reading, watching the cricket (go the aussies) and just watching the rain come down. it might sound pretty miserable but it wasn't all bad, the rain really brings out the amazing colours of the wildlife and the landscape when the sun shines.
Wednesday was another day at the beach, lounging about in the water and on the sand. we started up the other end of unawatuna and walked around till we got back to the lovely imesh restaurant. maddie unfortunately got a splintr in her big toe from a mean rock, which caused a resonable amount of pain, but don't worry all is better now (almost) we got some lovely sunset photos of the beach that hopefully will be posted in the not to distant future.
Thursday was repeat of Tuesdays but without the short periods of sunlight. so once again it kept us indoors, except for a hour or so, when i braved the rain to tuk-tuk it into galle to do some shopping before aaron arrived. (also i had to purchase some more books for maddie, we've been away 20 days and she's read 12 books.) that afternoon aaron arrived back with his mother from thailand. But friday was when it all happened.

On friday we were up and out of the house early to go to kandy, the first part of our journey was very uneventful, we managed to get seats in second class for the 3hr trip to colombo. the scenery along the railroad was fantastic, lots of white sandy beaches and tropical forests plus lots of waving children. we got to colombo, but found out the the first class tickets were sold out, which was a bummer because there is an observation deck on that train, and amazingly so was second class, so we coughed up our 160rupees ($2) and braved it in 3rd class. it was an all in scramble, lots of pushing and shoving to get seats but we did (thank you maddie). the majority of the trip was relaxing and 3rd class isn't that bad. but things took a turn for the worst. the train broke down!!!! 10kms from Kandy. so we followed everyone out and up the bus shelters this short but nervy hike consisted of a 4m walk across a plank no bigger than my hand (and you know how small my hands are) which was made all the more worse by the damp conditions and rubber crocs. but we made it. we got the first tuk tuk we could and resumed our journey to kandy. we did get lost though, our driver was sure he knew the way, but didn't, so we ended with another 20min detour. We eventually arrived at our guest house 90 mins late but in one piece.

we've been in kandy for 2 days now, yesterday we walked alot, around Kandy and through the Udawattakelle Sanctuary, full of beautiful trees and foliage and lots of cheeky monkeys that enjoyed chasing after maddie. in the evening we went to the Kandyan Arts Assoc. & Cultural Center to see some traditional singing dancing and firewalking, Yes FIREWALKING, and not just hot coals either, full on flames, those crazy sri lankans. todays been uneventful forecast for lots of rain, so our plans to go the botanical gardens have been postponed, and since its sunday Kandy is very busy. one overwhelmingly good aspect of Kandy is the Food, its incredibly good and a lot more traditional than the western foods of unawatuna.

thats all for now, but i'm sure maddie will edit and add things i've forgotten.
Lots of Love
J

hey everyone! sorry i haven't updated in a few days. we've been taking it slow.

lets see.. the last couple of days that we had in bangkok we pretty much spent sitting round reading, eating, playing cards and generally relaxing. we got some new books to read, put our photos on cd and then onto the blog, bought the new sri lanka lonely planet and some more pirated cds.

we left for the airport at 6pm on wednesday got through all the customs stuff fine and then waited around coz we were there so early! the plane took off about 11pm. unfortunately we were in the two seats that back on to the door, so we couldnt recline our seats, but the people in front of us reclined theirs right back into our faces. woohoo. i slept some, but james didnt at all. we got off the plane in colombo at bout 1.30am local time and then made our way through the airport to find the man with the sign! aaron had arranged a man with a van to pick us up. we got into his van and then started the 3 and a half hour trip to galle. the drive was long and windy and i did sleep a lot. it was kind of disorientating to keep waking up and having no idea where you were whatsoever.

anyway, finally made it to aaron's house at about 4.45am. the house is gorgeous. there isn't any glass on the windows, just bars. its all wooden and the gardens are beautiful and there are palm trees everywhere. anyway on thursday i slept a lot and then aaron made us delicious dinner.

aaron runs two businesses on his property, one a plant nursery and the other a ceramic pot company. so on friday we met aaron's business partner roshan and his employees. everyone is really nice. aaron called a friend of his, mandula, who lives around the corner and who drives a tuktuk and he took us into unawatuna beach. he dropped us off at roshan's mother's resteraunt which is right on the beach. this bay is absolutely gorgeous. think paradise and you are half way there. so we laid around on the beach, went for a swim, had lunch (james had tiger prawns), laid around some more and then raju who works at the resteraunt, and also has a tuktuk took us home. we watched a dvd (aaron has a big collection) and had a nice dinner.

yesterday we got up late, and mandula took us into galle in his tuktuk. it is gorgeous here, but you can still see wreckage and damage from the tsunami. aaron was building his office at the time and when the tsunami hit he took the building crews down to unawatuna and helped rebuild. the cricket ground is still under repair - :-( in galle we went to the bank, and then went for a drive around the fort. i'lll write more bout that when we've been there properly. we stopped quickly at the grocery store as aaron calls it and then came home for more relaxing.

aaron told us yesterday about the bombs here. we don't feel unsafe at all. we are very comfortable. but we will be and always are sensible.

aaron leaves tonight for thailand, to meet his mother who is flying in from the US and then they'll be back on thursday. on friday we are going to take a train to kandy, which is in the hills and then maybe another train to ella. we arent sure yet.

xoxox
miss you all so much
mad