Kandy and Southern Sri Lankan (aka the Beach)

Kandy!  There is an 80ft Buddha statue that overlooks the city on the mountain.  It is faint in this picture, but it is HUGE!

Well, sorry for dropping off there for a bit.  

I had intentions of going to Nurawa Eliya to do some more hiking and tea plantation visiting, but I couldn’t find proper accommodation.  So I had to change plans.

Instead, I went to a tea plantation outside of Kandy, learned about Lipton's involvement on the island, and stayed for another night of the homestay's cooking!  Then got on the train at 510am bound for Mirissa.

But, around 10am the ocean started appearing through the train windows and when I arrived at 1300, I was here:

I spent a few days more than planned on the beach, but while there:

• I read two fantastic books (and almost 2000 pages, sheesh!) and a few short stories when I was running out of gas.  
• Went in search of the (in)famous stilt fisherman of Sri Lanka, but only found their stilts.

• Went night fishing and caught nothing. Which is probably best after the Krane-Donlan-Barnum Fishing Adventure of 2008.
• Help prepare a Sri Lankan dinner (in a sort of cooking class).

• And relaxed…  It had been a fast 4+ weeks since getting back on the road, so it was nice to ease off the gas for a few days.  It was nice, I got to know some of the locals and the family that I was staying with and feel like I lived somewhere for longer than a couple of days!

Now I am in Galle, an old Dutch Fortress, prepping for my flight to Thailand tomorrow.   

I walked around the walls of the fort today and decided on two new goals for the trip:

• To become Scuba-Certified
• To learn how to Surf for real.  I tried a few years back in Hawaii and didn’t do well, then again in Welligama with the same result.  I’ll get proper lessons somewhere along the way.

Sorry for the update not being super exciting.  I'll do better the next time, I promise. 

For now, I'm off in search of dinner and then to bed.  I’m off early in the morning to the airport and then Bangkok.  I’ll have a couple days to do poke around before my friend Megan gets there on Sunday for two weeks that are presently booked to the gills.

But don’t worry Mrs. B,  I’ll make sure she comes home relaxed and in one piece.  But remember, she’s the one who wanted to ride the Elephants…