Kandy, Central Province, Sri Lanka
CTU is an acronym for Centre of the Universe, aka Toronto
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The morning after our final night at Ambalangoda, I awoke at seven o’clock in the morning with a both ends troubled stomach, fever and a sore throat. It was Sunday and we were scheduled to be on the 11:00 a.m. bus to Colombo. Chandi summoned a tuk-tuk driver/project manager. Within minutes the fellow was motoring me off to the local doctor. We weren’t there 10 minutes, when my guy came from the inner office and told me we had to leave. It was all about me and who I was. The doctor wasn’t prepared to treat me unless I paid a fee of more than $100US. I’d have been okay with that, but we were already pulling up to another medical clinic before I could explain. After a quick back-and-forth between my guy and the doctor, I was immediately examined. The symptoms were similar to a bad bug that’s travelling the island. I was told to rest in bed, drink plenty of liquids and take the drugs she’d given me. The fee was $5.50US. We were back at the villa just over an hour after leaving it.
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Our original plan was a go. A two hour bus ride to Colombo, followed by a two and a half hour train to Kandy. I was too excited to be sick. Over the following three days however, my symptoms worsened—and Elenka’s back was again acting up. From the comfort of our bed, we decided to pack our bags and return to the CTU. The following morning, I was awakened by chirping birds. I jumped out of bed and ran to the window to see what type they might be, before realizing I wasn’t sick anymore.
I yelled for Elenka, who painlessly jumped out of bed to see the birds too. Later, during breakfast, I suggested we’d had an overnight visit from the God of Adventure, and that we could not go home now. Elenka smiled in agreement.
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On day four Elenka and I went nuts. We walked to the town centre where I visited a toe craftsman—Elenka called him a pedo something or other, which I thought was rather rude—who worked on both my feet and toes for better than an hour; then I had a shave; followed by dosas, which you eat with your right hand only, at the same restaurant we dined at 10 years ago.
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Back to the birds: I’ve learned over the years, that there are those who will spare no expensive to go into forests, all over the world, for the purpose of seeing and recording the names of birds. Beautiful little Kandy Lake would be a wonderful place to look at birds. The birds, along with the bats, live in the trees that surround the lake. Dusk is a great time to visit the lake too, as the birds have all flocked off and the bats, with their up to 1.5 metre wing spans, have taken over en masse. I’ve also developed a surefire way to sort them all out, without having to constantly crook your neck, trying to spot them up above. All you need to do is look at the walkway. The whiter it is, the more birds you’ll find above your head. If walkway is brownish, your in Batville.
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To get the attention of a couple of Slav speaking women last night, I interrupted them, and said, ‘Are you from France?’
‘We are from Russia,’ one responded.
‘Silly me,’ I laughed. ‘We’ve been to Russia. Would you like to join us for dinner?’
And so they did. As the evening went on, after plying them with beer, I carefully broached the topic of crazy, suggesting that Donald Trump is a lunatic. I was hoping for a broader political response. They did not bite.
cate
2024-03-17
Great pictures......love the murals......iPhones spare no one.........do you think when making these knock-offs they deliberately create spelling errors...........I think I'm behind......I've read .........you're having a good time......stay safe!