Ruwans place 3

Status 13th of June: Rita and I went again to Ruwans place. We think they have done a great job; here are some pictures:

As you can see, the timber is there, but they still need to buy the rest of the materials for the roof to be able to continue the housebuilding!

Ruwans place 2

Here is some pictures taken just 8 days after the opening ceremony!!

I got to know the prisonchief in Galle through a friend. I told him that I worked in a prison at home and asked if I could visit the prison one day. He told me that it was not usual to bring anyone inside the walls, but since he was the chief he could make an exception. It was probably not useful for my studies, but it was interesting to see how it was. Totally different than home... and this prison is acctually called the guesthouse...

Holiday

One month ago I had friends from Norway and Iceland visiting me. I knew that Silja, Connie and Inga was going to spend two weeks here, but I must say that I was really surprised when Guro also showed up. A nice surprise:)


MOUNT LAVINIA, PINNEWALA, DAMBULLA:Day 1 and 2: We spent the first day at Mount Lavinia and went to Colombo for a short visit. Next day our travel started. First stop was Pinnawala, an elephant orphanage. We watched the elephants in the river, took pictures with them and followed them back to the big area where they are most of the time. Later it was time to feed the orphaned elephant babies. Then we drove further to Dambulla Caves. We had to climb many stairs to get to the caves with all the buddhas. Last time I visited the place we met many sellers and beggars before entering the caves. This time it was not that many, maybe bacause it is less tourists at the time. But it was still many monkeys there!

CHAAYA VILLAGE HABARANA, ELEPHANT RIDE, SIGIRIYA, SPICE GARDEN, KANDY:

Day 3: Up early and went for a ride with an elephant in the jungle. All the girls joined. We bought some bananas to feed the elephant. We had to pay extra for this elephantride and even more money to the man following us and the man taking pictures. Next stop was Sigiriya. Once a king lived on the top of this rock to hide from his brother and other enemies. We didn`t want a guide so we told that I had been there before and that I could be the guide. Even then one guy followed us and wanted to tell us about the place and get money. We climbed all the 2400 steps up to the top. There we could see some ruins from the past and a nice view. Then we went for lunsh, the same place where I had lunch or dinner in 1998. That was strange! The program was not finished for the day and we went on to the Spicegarden. We learned about spices, creams and medicines and got a nice massage. Then we bought some of the products - of course more expensive here than other places... Many drivers bring tourists here and the poor tourists don`t know the normal prices!! I knew it was expensive, but I felt that I had to buy something... We rested a bit on the hotel in Kandy and then we went out to the Temple of Buddhas Tooth. We saw a glimpse of the tooth, but you can`t really see much since it is inside several layers of gold decorations. Back at the hotel we had many monkeys on our veranda, and they stole Siljas lighter and bottle of water... Kandy was cool and I was acctually freezing in the evening.

KANDY, NUWERA ELIYA, TEAPLATATION:

Day 4: Rush shopping in Kandy before we had to catch a train to Nanu Oya. This is a nice train journey where you can see many tea plantations and nice nature. We used about four hours and then we were picked up by our driver and went to a tea plantation in Nuwera Eliyia. Of course we bought some tea and then we went to the hotel. The dinner was special, 14th of February, with show for all the tourists.

HORTON PLAINS NATIONAL PARK, ELLA:

Day 5: Not so much sleep, had to get up really early again- 4.30. It was cold and we had a lot of clothes on. We went to Horton Plains National Park and went for a 12 kilometer walk to the Worlds End and the Little Worls End. It was fantastic viewpoints. Inga was sick and had fever so she slept in the car. We drove a bit further and stopped in Bandarawela where the girls took a massage. I waited outside and updated my diary. Later we passed Ella and stopped at Rawana Ella Falls. Many tourists stops here and of course it was a lot of sellars and beggars here too. Sometimes it is just to much I think. We ended the day at Yala Village, a nice hotel in a national park in the south. When we wanted to go to the restaurant for dinner we had to call for a guard to walk with us because of the wild pigs in the area.

YALA NATIONAL PARK:

Day 6: Early safari. Saw several wild elephants, two crocodiles, monkeys, one mongoose, varans, peacocks, other birds, water buffaloes, wild pigs. Heard the sound from a leopard, but didn`t see it. Went with the car to the beach and saw a house totally damaged after the tsunami. Well back at the hotel we finally got some time to relax and swim. We could not swim in the ocean because it was too dangerous, but it was really nice to cool down in the swimmingpool. Then it was time for another safari (from 15 to 18). Inga was still sick so she stayed at the hotel. We saw all the same animals as we saw in the morning. We wanted to stay up a bit in the evening, but all of us were so tired after the tight program and the early mornings, so we went to sleep early again.

TANGALLE:
Day 7: We had some time in the morning to swim before we drove to Tangalle where we spent the rest of the day. Inga went to sleep again and the rest of the party had some drinks and talked. Guro and I sat in the restaurant a bit after the dinner, but not very long since it closed 22.30. We talked a bit with two local gyus, one from Negombo and the other from Mount Lavinia. They said that one was working and one was studying. They came with two white men in their 50s and two women. Inga had seen that one of the young guys kissed one of the old men...

HABARADUWA:

Day 8: Poor Guro, Silja and Connie. They had not slept much because of an invasion of ants early in the night. The ants were everywhere; in their beds, suitcases, closets, floor and on them. It was not nice small ants, but bigger who were biting. They sprayed all their clothes and had a busy night fighting these small monsters. Inga and I woke up in the morning without problems with ants and heard about all the trouble. Poor girls. We left the place and continued our travel. We stopped in Matare to see one buddhist and one hindu tempel. Guro gave some pens to a little girl. Then we went to a turtlefarm in Habaraduwa. I saw Niluk, who I know from Unawatuna there. He was there with a tourist. We saw big and small turtles and paid a bit extra to release all the small four day old turtles into the sea. Then we came back to Unawatuna and Surfcity. We met some of my friends and ate lunch with Johan at Comaran. Guro, Johan and I went with Niluk to Galle to buy some fruit and vodka. In the evening Johan, Guro, Sudesh and I went to Diving Centre.

GALLE AND UNAWATUNA:
Shopping in Galle and Unawatuna, relaxing, sunset at the pagoda, swimming, sunbathing, dinner out, drinks. Two days after we came, Inga had her birthday. We celebrated by having a dinner at Rampart Hotel inside the fort in Galle. When we came home we had some drinks and then all of us went to Diving Centre to have a party. We listened to bongo drums and discomusic, dansed. The day afte Guro had her birthday and we went to Jungle Beach to snorkle and then to the japanese pagoda. There it was busy with people and we felt that we could not disturb, especially since we still had our beachwear on. Duminda and Niluk picked us up. In the evening we went to Flower Garden for dinner and then a birthdaycake at the hotel.

HIKKADAUWA:

The last days were spent in Hikkaduwa. Johan joined us for the first two days. The others went there some hours earlier than me since I started to get sick and needed some rest. When I came it was time for dinner and then the fridayparty at Vibration. I think all of us had fun and we stayed for a long time, before we had an afterparty on the veranda at our hotel. Next day was a bit shopping and swimming. Johan went back to Unawatuna. Guro and Connie went out to Mambo, the rest of us went to sleep. The day after Inga, Guro and I tried to surf with a bodyboard. Fun! In the evening we went for dinner and met some local friends at a bar.
The last day: We were supposed to go to see a waterfall, but we got the message that it was no water there at the time. Then we decided to go to a river and a lagune instead. Silja went to Galle and the rest of us went on this trip. It was a nice travel on the river, with mangrove trees, varans and a nice lagune. We stopped at a cinnamon island and bought some spices. Back in Hikkaduwa the girls got ready to leave to the airport. I was really sad when they left. It had been so nice with friends from home here.