ayubowan: Passion, Loos and Laughs

I was going to call this post, Highs, Lows and Laughs but decided Passion, Loos and Laughs probably summed up our first week in Sri Lanka much better.

Passion:
On arrival at the airport you immediately discover what appears to be the two passions of the majority of Sri Lankan's: The Buddha and Cricket!

Buddha statues are abundant: from the one that greets you in the arrivals hall, to the many sacred sites, the temples in every town, to stickers in the cars and three wheelers.

We heard a guide explaining how focusing on the image of the Buddha brings a sense of peace and calm to the viewer. Although I was not aware of the intention I have always felt that peace and calm myself when looking at the Buddhas I've always had around my home. Perhaps give it a go to see if it works for you :)

And then there's Cricket, and do they love their cricket! At the time of writing the World T20 is being held in Sri Lanka so the whole country seems to be watching and talking about it. Even at the airport they had cut outs of their star fast bowler, Malinga.

Sri Lanka is an amazing country of diversity with many different terrains and several weather systems which has satisfied Feisal's passion for green, mountainous vistas and mine for the power of the Ocean.

No words or photos can truly capture the beauty and freshness of the Hill Country with early morning mists hanging over the lush green hills. The air is warm but so clean, fresh and easy to breath. Then there's the totally different beauty of the beach in front of me as I write this post. The sheer power of the sea as it crashes against the rocks along the beach at Turtle Bay, Tangalla. It soothes my soul.

Loos:
Loos have definitely been part of our laughs this first week but some have been too bad to laugh at!

When you're in hotels all is normal UK style but as we've been travelling by road from place to place each day we've had to navigate our way around to meet the call of nature!

Our poor driver, Sampath, has been amazingly patient, having to go out of his way to find an acceptable loo each time 'Madam' wanted to spend a penny!

Often a loo is a hole in the ground with no loo paper available, just a bucket and a water tap. I'll leave the rest to your imagination!

Laughs:
On our 2nd day, Sampath, explained about the different types of monkeys in Sri Lanka. The most memorable being what he called the Thief Monkey.

So there we were on our third morning enjoying a peaceful, healthy breakfast on the veranda of Cinnamon Lodge, Habarana, when suddenly there was a crash that made us jump out of our skins! When we gathered ourselves enough to look, there before us sitting on our table amidst the plates was a prime example of a Thief Monkey who had dropped in from the roof above. In an instant his hand reached out and grabbed Feisal's papaya. And then as quickly as he came he was gone, climbing up onto the veranda roof leaving us shocked and in fits of hysterical laughter!

He certainly got 10 out of 10 for his smash and grab tactics!

Our next laugh was at my expense and comes under the loo category as well as the laugh category.

Our 5th day was spent driving from the beauty of Kothmale in the Hill Country to the South Coast, for two days of rest after all our early sightseeing.

Knowing that the finding of decent loos would be a problem along this six hour drive I deliberately didn't drink much that morning.

However the best laid plans often don't work out the way we expect! Within 20 minutes Sampath was pulling into a Tea Factory where he had arranged a guided tour for us. The lady who took us around was typical of all the people we've met in this amazing country; happy, smiling and very sweet.

Having learnt how the tea is grown, picked, processed and sold we were taken to the restaurant to sample the different types of tea. Not wanting to offend I drunk all the samples offered. Happily they had good loos on the premises which I took advantage of before we left.

Sadly though the urge was upon me again within just 20 minutes along the road. Not daring to mention this I held on until the need just had to be met!

Poor Sampath had to search through three towns but no luck. Eventually fearing an accident might happen he had to stop the car and ask a resident if I could use his toilet.

Being a kindly gentleman he agreed without hesitation and led us down the path and around the back of his house were two separate toilets were housed.

They were both the squat type with water pipe, tap and bucket but at this point I was in no state to be fussy. Great was my relief until I turned on the tap to fill up the bucket and it (the tap) came off in my hand releasing a great gush of brown water which I couldn't stop from flowing all over the floor of the room and out onto the pathway outside.

In horror, I called Feisal to help but he just stood there in amazement and said 'what have you done?!!!'

Now in panic that the dirty brown gushing water was going to flood the small room, we had to call the owner who had so kindly allowed us to use his facilities, completely unsuspecting that I would vandalise his toilet!

He was very sweet and understanding as he saw my horror and embarrassment at what I had done. Happily he was able to fix the problem before too much damage was done. He did however escort us off the premises before we could cause any more problems!

Back in the car we dissolved into fits of laughter causing Sampath to wonder if we had completely lost the plot!

Even today, two days later, we are still laughing about the horror on my face when I called Feisal with broken tap in hand!

Our last little giggle came this morning at Turtle Bay when the sweet little waiter called me 'Mistress Jayne'.

And so ends our first week. Hmm, I think I could get used to certain aspects of this life style :)