Bikini's and Booze Part 2

Gulping down a tambili (king coconut) before the drive ahead to replenish some of those lost salts and water from the night before I gathered my bearings and crawled into the car, everyone crashed out within the first 5 minutes and awoke at 9am to stop for breakfast at a run-down local cade, the rough taste lingering unwantedly in our mouths until lunchtime…

Tuk tuks

On the ramparts

Into the old Galle fort we drove where we unpacked our bags into the lovely house that we’d walked in and out of on so many different occasions over the years. We checked out our bedroom and lay down, the sky was the limit as the seed grew infinitely and burst into flower ‘J GET OUT!’ M’s voice screamed. I hurriedly grabbed my hippie pants, wiping the sweat off my brow and flattening my hair to run out and have a long catch up over the last 6-months of her life in LA.

Famalam

Galle fort was a Portugese creation in 1588 that was later fortified by the Dutch in 17th Century and in/ around it resides a small English/ Dutch community, many of whom are our old-time friends. Where once there were a few little shops, a jewelers, a café and a few restaurants, modernization is slowly taking over and now over 50 jewelry shops alone have opened, the roads teaming with tourists. We walked along the ramparts holding hands, looking over at the calm sea with various boats gliding past and the moans of the mosque ringing over the heads of the little boys playing football and the American family taking photo’s.

<3

We all crammed into two tuk-tuks and made our way to Wajaya, a friends place that was once a basic beach bar and has since been converted into a lovely motel/ restaurant on the beach that’s always busy. We watched the sunset with a beer and a smile, sitting with a group of old Galle-amigos, hearing what adventures everyone else had been having. Before the mozzies got too violent we headed home for a shocking episode of ‘banged up abroad’…

Have you ever heard of the tourists in 1999 that were 'butchered' in Uganda?(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/289196.stm) It’s basically about a group of tourists who were on safari in East Africa where rebel Hutu’s raided their campsites in their attempt to get revenge at having lost the war 5 years prior. The story’s re-enacted on the program while being narrated by one survivor who describes the horrors of seeing members of their group being taken off and hacked to death with machete’s, having to walk miles through this forest with no idea what the end result was going to be (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZ2O_LwykwY), besides making East Africa wrongly seem a bit savage, it’s a really good watch.

Omnomnom

Post-Dive

So I counted myself lucky to be safe and protected as our heads hit the pillow and we opened our eyes to the sunlight, feeling the first of many beads of sweat on my forehead. Our days in Galle were limited but luckily, in Sri Lanka everything moves so slowly that you somehow manage to fit it all in, what’s the point in rushing when you’re on holiday? That afternoon we went to the Kingfisher, another little place that used to be a shack on the beach and after renovation was now the top place to eat in Unawatuna, I couldn’t believe it. The new highway that had been built turned the 3 hour journey to Galle/ Una into a 45 minute one, so people from Colombo would come up for just the afternoon to have a bit of beach-time before returning home, meaning everywhere was always packed. To escape the crowds we were invited over to Butt farm, M’s new place on the paddy fields. Surrounded by tropical trees, the chirps of crickets and a sky filled with an array of pink, orange and blue streaks; we sipped on champagne and passed around bowls of fresh green salads, sundried tomato pasta and mango salsa accompanied by a beautiful white fish. Camera’s came out as we went through the photo’s that gave credit to all our stories. One of J.E’s photos was of a mammoth python that had terrorized the surrounding paddy fields for years, eating dogs and freaking out all the locals until one day the builders working on the house we were eating in, spotted it coming into the garden, captured it and left it in the empty chicken house – a nice surprise for J.E when she got home, tropical problems!

Roti Stop

A 55ft snake found in the forests of Malaysia
(The guy in the cage died of a heart attack shortly after
discovering it!)

The next morning after a fruity breakfast mum left, it’s always tough saying bye to family when you live abroad, instead of seeing them in a couple of weeks you’ve got to say bye for half a year. Over time I’m sure that will get easier but after falling back into the mode of ‘being the child’ it pulls on a few heartstrings. So she drove off and the boys and I spent the day at Wajaya, playing with the dog-bitten Frisbee and frolicking in the turquoise ocean with the deceivingly strong current. It was another goodbye when dad and my little brother left, tears streaming as I waved them off and clung on to J who at least was still here.

We’d been invited over to dinner that night at I’s and egos ran high as we all pitched in to cook the risotto, chicken and salad with a few home grown fumes to work up an appetite in-between. The others went off and J and I fell asleep with the TV showing Gordon Ramsey eating a snake heart in Vietnam, needless to say I had bizarre dreams that night.

I always find that no matter how much time I give myself in the morning, I always end up running out the door last minute as stressed as can be. This time was no different; we were heading up to my godmothers to stay in Jasmine cottage closer to Una. Gluten-free crepes at Crepeology, a quick coffee and a whole lotta powder… In my rushed attempt to find a present for my godmother I opened a tester ‘dry body scrub’ and tipped it towards my nose spilling all $20 worth on my face, my already-streaming nose went crazy and the sneezing fit began, J burst out laughing and the guy behind the till incessantly repeated ‘was that a tester? Was that a tester??’ Luckily it was, so he was happy, there was no charge and for the rest of the day I smelt like cinnamon, every cloud has a silver lining right…

A fisherman amongst the stilts

Despite the rush, we made it to our destination just as F was getting off the bus, off to the cottage we drove, curry for lunch, boogie boarding some mammoth waves, shower and a yummy dinner of jumbo prawns and fried rice at the ‘Blue Crab’. The next few days were very active, body rash from surfing, a tan from boogie boarding, a cough from too much shisha, goggle marks from diving and a full belly from lots of yummy food. We discovered that teh tarik in Malaysia is the same as ‘yard tea’ in Sri Lanka, a milky sugary concoction that’s the perfect energy boost mid-afternoon. I found out that the reason they like their tea so sweet, is because fresh milk didn’t used to exist but condensed milk did, hence the intense sweetness and the reason they use it in their coffee in Vietnam/ Cambodia/ South East Asia! While we were having the tea conversation at this Thai restaurant on the beach, something lead on to the idea of ‘race’ - do you know what the stats are to maintain a race? You have to have 2.2 kids minimum and if you look at the population stats in countries in the west now, it’s not plausible for the ‘white’ race to survive – interesting huh? I reckon one day with all this mix and matching we’ll all end up the same color, I mean the mixing’s already happening with the majority of people I know, including myself.

 That night with hungry eyes G, J and I munched our way through every flavor of chocolate that the box of galaxies had to offer, until we could munch no more and clutched our tummy’s in bed with a moan. The next night, possible due to our already-expanded stomachs, within the space of a few hours we managed roti, curries, ice cream and somehow a huge Mexican meal at ‘Fortelasia’ a fantastic place to eat in the fort if anyone’s looking for one.

On our last day on the beach we crammed in a few waves to work off the meal the night before, packed up and lay on our bags waiting for the van to pick us up so that we could make it to our appointment with the astrologer, time was ticking and when the ‘van’ finally arrived it turned out to be a car that didn’t have enough space for J and I, so we grabbed our backpacks and ran to get tuk-tuk to the bus station, jumping on the first bus we saw we arrived in Colombo 45 minutes later, jumped into another tuk tuk and yes! We arrived 10 minutes before our appointment, I won’t go into details but it was an interesting session that began with ‘you two are very compatible for marriage’ gulp! This astrologer was well known for predicting years before the disaster, that on the 26^th December 2004 a third of the population would be wiped out – and sure enough, the tsunami happened. During the reading he’d refer constantly to numbers and charts and dusty old books – he was an interesting man indeed and we came away with a few seeds of knowledge.

The dog that ate the cat-fish.

Waiting for our van

There were only 2 nights left! What was happening? We got into another tuk, holding onto the edge of my seat as I anticipated a crash at any moment. We weaved between the wobbly buses, breathing in the sweet perfume of the Mercedes exhaust pipe in front of us, we drove in the opposite direction to the traffic on a one way road and made a last violent swerve as I breathed a sigh of relief at having arrived home safe and in one piece.

Our last affordable classy dinner for a while was at the Dutch Hospital that contains a boulevard of cafes and restaurants, walking back along the green by the seaside we crashed out for our last night together in SL.

Our last day was spent indulging in great food, cakes and coffee with two of my favourite people in the world, a quick haircut and to top it all off… flu L J. had a few hours before the taxi to the airport was arriving and he spent it curled up in bed with hot and cold shivers and a mug of herbal tea, the storm outside was the appropriate soundtrack for the scene. I waved him off, making sure he had a few paracetemol and tissues for the long journey, it sucks to be sick on an airplane…

Last day in Colombo

Now he’s probably in the air, about to touch down for his stop-over in Dubai as I’m about to board my flight. Soon our adventures shall begin in England but I must savour the last few minutes before it all turns into another memory. I’ll close my eyes tonight and feel Ulpotha mud between by toes, hear the sound of the drums, taste the hot coconut sambal, smell the distinct curry leaf and look back in wonder at the magic of Ceylon.

Recipe of the day: Grilled tilapia with mango salsa
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/grilled-tilapia-with-mango-salsa/