Sri Lanka : from Balapitiya to Colombo

Wanna play at "how many people can you put in a tuk-tuk" ? This family won with 7 !



If some of you think that they have a nasty job, tiring and not paid enough, please listen to this and have a look below. One way to fish in Sri Lanka is to use a giant net, rent during a few hours. 5 or 6 people go to sea to put it into place, then around 40 men pull on it, in order to pull it back to the beach. The whole process takes around 3 hours with no break. Sometimes, the result is satisfactory, and sometimes (as on the day when I saw this), they only retrieve 7 or 8 fishes. That is not a lot for 3 hours of tough work, to be shared between 40 or 50 guys, and it might not even cover the price of the net renting...




The last stop before flying back to Paris will be in Galle, an old city almost untouched by the tsunami thanks to its fortifications.




And a last water monitor, to complete the collection ;)




Some of you are probably under the snow right now, and most of you certainly thought it was a bit too cold outside at some point during the days, so the last pictures from Sri Lanka might cheer you up (or grind your teeth...).

Merry Christmas to all of you !

Sri Lanka : Balapitiya

During a couple of days, I've tried something a bit different : stay at a Buddhist monastery. It also houses an orphanage, created after the 2004 tsunami. Here we are very close to the coast, and the memories are still very painful, specially a few days away for the 5th anniversary. Lots of houses have not been rebuilt, and every other kilometer there is a small cemetery with dozens of recent graves. In the monastery live 10 children who lost their parents then, and 2 more who are housed here for social reasons, plus 5 monks. And they have decided to open their doors and have a guest house for people who want to spend a few days there (mostly Japanese, because the money to create the foundation was mainly sent by Japan). There you can share the lives of the children and the monks, including the prayers and meditation at the temple every morning and evening.



Located in the middle of a very small village, close to the river, it gives the opportunity to discover the life in the surroundings. Below : one of the many water monitors that you can, either in the water or in the gardens, girls from the village, a prawn fisherman (and I can tell you that his prawns were good !), a man working in a moonstone mine and an elderly lady working in a cinnamon plantation.



Yes, I could also have chosen the nice hotel which was on the other side of the river, but honestly it would probably have been less friendly and interesting...

Sri Lanka : from Kandy to Balapitiya

After a few days of heavy rain and thick clouds, the sun appears just in time for a few last pictures of Kandy, before heading towards the south.

After the rice fields of the last days, the countryside is now a patchwork of tea plantations, in the middle of what they call the "Little Switzerland".

It is also the country of the water falls, and after the buckets of water which have been falling for days and days, the result is quite amazing. Walking through this scenery is close to heaven, specially with a temperature which has come below 30°C, for the 1st time in more than one week, thanks to the altitude.



For those who would tend to forget that it is already December, there is Xmas decoration everywhere (at least in the Christian villages, and it seems there are quite a few ones around).



And you can even get a nice colored cake if you want, or you get fed up with pineapple and papaya, but I will probably stick to fruit a bit longer, and wait until I am back in France for the cakes...



Then a short trip by train in the "Express to Colombo", but don't believe that the word "express" refers to something even remotely close the French TGV ! OK, you might have to travel sit on a table in 3rd class coach (mmhhh, this reminds me a recent statement from another traveler...), but the permanent activity (greengrocers, food sellers, musicians...) makes the trip seem a lot shorter than the reality.

Sri Lanka : Kandy

Something not to be missed : the botanical gardens of Kandy, with their tropical trees, orchids,... I could have spent days and days in there.



A few more pictures of Buddhist temples, in case you have not had enough, and also some from an Hindu one, to change a little bit (with an elephant skull close to the Ganesh statue).



And to finish the day, it would have been a shame not to try a sari, with so many shops around ! ;)