1st june
walked into the arrival hall n we were approached by many travel touts. they wanted us to book a tour. even the staff at the tourist info center advised us to get a personal driver.
guessed the uncertainty/fatigue on our faces attracted the drivers n they swarmed towards us, offering their services. finally we decided to settle on wicky as neng thot he had a hao ren lian (gd man face). not only was he our personal driver for the next 5 days, he had to arrange for our accomodations n breakfast.
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roads.
roads r simply a one lane affair for a 2 way traffic, w much overtaking. so much for us initially wanting to cycle thruout lanka. *laughs. we wont b able to make it past 1km from the airport. most of the vehicles on the roads r tuk-tuks (autos) n minivans. cars r rarer, needless to say luxury cars. (so far, ive only seen one mercedes on the road.) roads r filled w potholes such that long road journeys give me a headache. *whines. roads conditions, esp country roads, r simply appalling. the windings n the bumpings....
spent much of my time looking out of the windows. within a day, ive seen coconuts/pineapples/rambutans/rice plantations. fertile soil, even the grass is taller than me. so much greenery. now, i laugh when i recall that spore is labelled a green country.
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locals.
we were the only tourist at dambulla caves (even though it was crowded when we went) n dambulla caves has been labelled as a tourist hotspot. hmm....
locals were really friendly. their smiles were so white n geninue, u can c the smiles in their eyes. so innocent. so unwary of strangers. so unguarded. a grp of v ah beng boys were following us n when they saw us looking strangely at a pot of water, they pointed to the ceiling of the cave n went 'falling waters'. wld the ah bengs in spore bother explaining?
descending from dambulla caves, a local boy asked where did we come from. 'spore.' he rummaged thru his pockets, pulled out a fistful of coins n gently nudged a familiar coin towards us. his hobby i guessed, so we gave him another coin to add on to his collection.
wicky patiently waited 2 hrs for us, to b done w dambulla caves b4 speed driving us to kandy for the night.
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2nd june
kandy-- the city which most locals n foreigners love. however, i disagree as i find the place too touristy. every 50m, i can c a wood workshop/mask workshop/batik workshop/massage parlour/gem factory/handicraft shop.........if ure trying to b diplomatic, u wld say that kandy helps to preserve local crafts n culture, but to an old meanie like me, kandy is built to lighten the tourists' pockets.
only thing that i love abt kandy is how it's built ard a man made lake n set in a picturesque bowl of hills. as each house was built along the slopes, each had a fantastic view.
went for an ayuvedic massage. massage? it was more of an oil rub. i was practically swimming half naked in a pool of oil. the women werent skillful. but oh well, after the head/hair massage, i saw a marked improvement in the condition of my hair. *beams. king coconut oil. *cheers.
cargills -- a major supermarket chain. neng n i spent quite some time in it, exclaiming over certain particular items that reminded us of our childhood. kandos-- the flat rectangular chocs w a diff pic on each choc. used to collect the wrappers when i was younger. *smiles. so, this is where my old toys/tidbits went to.
saw the oldest working typewriter ive seen while travelling.
*smiles.
ive fallen in love all over again.
took their namecard. in case, i struck lottery in spore n decide to puchase the typewriter, i can simply email them n they wld ship it over.
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public holiday.
the locals celebrate every full moon. while sporeans were celebrating vesak, the lankans were celebrating posson, where more than 2000 yrs ago, buddhism was first introduced to sri lanka. v staunch buddhists here. in fact, more than 70% of the population is buddhists.
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the pple here lead v simple lives. so close to nature n their respective gods. im envious.
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3rd june
our first arrack, a local wine, made of coconut, which tasted like whisky
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its time i learnt how to drink, to learn how to hold my liquor, even though i detest drinking.
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i shld bring rope n masking tape for my next trip.
much improvisation needed.
