Sri Lanka
We have been in Sri Lanka for 3 weeks now, and have had an interesting time. We entered Galle harbour on the eve of the biggest holiday of the year, Buddhas birthday, which also was Orens birthday. Of course he was very modest about that, and didn’t go round showing the date of birth in his passport to anyone…..
The week after that, the war ended, and there were big celebrations, street parties and motorcades through the streets of Galle. I had ‘flu, and stayed in bed, but Oren was swept off and placed on top of a statue of fallen soldiers and placed a wreath over their heads. He was on the evening news in Sri Lanka! The feeling in the island is very positive now, and we hope for the Sri Lankans that peace really does last. We would love the same to happen in Israel too, of course.
After getting over the ‘flu, we went up to Kandy, in the mountains- actually it isn’t very high, and the climate is just nice, not cold.The temple complex where a tooth of Buddha is supposedly kept is impressive and there is a lot to see. We were lucky to have a guide who really knew the complex, and unlike most Sri Lankans who offer themselves to guide or help you, he didn’t ask for any money ( so we gave him some, unlike the ones who are just on the look out for gullible tourists!) We didn’t get any pictures because we forgot the camera, and the next day a torrential thundershower started in the afternoon and carried on all night, causing a powercut through the whole city for hours. We were glad we hadn’t gone out!
From Kandy we went to the Botanical Gardens, and now do not want to see any more flowers, trees or shrubs for a long time- it is HUGE. We stayed at a nice little bed and breakfast place and the next day went to see the Elephant Orphanage, which is really very touristy and not worth the money, but we did see a lot of elephants, not many of whom looked like orphans. There was one with three legs though….
We will be off on our way to Thailand next week, hoping not to get too wet. The weather is quite nice now, but another lot of squalls will probably come in soon, so its fingers crossed!