TRAVEL
The Journey is the Destination
On my way to everywhere
Sri Lanka! - Day 1 in Colombo10/19/2023 I came to Sri Lanka honestly for Sigiriya alone. Of course I wanted to see Colombo and Galle and the Temple of the Tooth and all that but Sigiriya alone was enough reason for me to be here. I didn't have many days here, being only on a 3 week leave. But even within 4 days I saw a lot, at least half of the island's key places. Thanks to all the hardwork of driving done by the people that took me. They were really sweet folks. The 1st full day (19th of October) I just chilled, and relaxing, walked around Colombo. I became very sick from the freezing overnight AirAsia flight . The flight cranked up the aircon on 10 degrees or something, it was also pumping on high fan speed. And i only had a think long hoodie to protect me. I was freeeezing on that flight. It was a midnight flight. I was soooooo uncomfortable on that flight. So welcoming, Colombo, it just poured with rain in the morning and wasn't warm. So it was not pleasant to go around to the beaches. I got cough medicine from the supermarket nearby, and went to the Pharmacy for painkillers as I just got my period, too. (I always tend to become vulnerable to the elements during my period.) I searched on Google Map and found a vegan cafe right on the other side of the main road from where I stayed. So I went over. It was a Books & Cafe kind of environment, it was quite lovely! As I'm a die-hard book-lover. This cafe is called "Pages & Coffee" I wouldn't say the food was the best, but I always am glad to be able to find watermelon juice. Although you can never know how you get food poisoning from in the tropics, it could very well come from any of these juices made with local tap water. What was special though was that I was just telling my buddy about the book Life of Pi and there it was standing very visible on the bottom part of the bookshelf here. This became very heart-breaking particularly as he had just lost his mother as soon as he got home, he found out she passed away just 4 hours prior. If he didn't have that 1 day in Delhi, he would have been able to say goodbye... When I was telling him about the Life of Pi, and recommended him to watch the film, I emphasised to him that "Have you ever experienced a significant loss in life? Someone you love? Some heart break? Then that ending would get to you. Because when I saw the final scene of the film, when the tiger leapt onto the beach and never even turned around~...'" Anyway...💔 It turned out to be extremely apt that I had mentioned loss and that book to him before he knew about his mom becoming unwell... At the time I didn't know his mother was unwell, his mother called a couple of times when he was spending time with us. And he did go buy the quickest flight to go home... Still, it was too late when he arrived... I cannot imagine how he felt that day when he went home...💔 By mid-afternoon the sky had cleared up. Having only limited time in the country, I wouldn't waste another minute, so I ordered a taxi using the local taxi app that Shamanthi recommended me to download and went to the traditional village just in the outer area of the city. That place was really weird after a while. When I first arrived I could hear village performance going on in the hall. But I couldn't see anything as the hall faced the other direction facing away from the entrance. Before long the performance sounds were gone. All the stalls were shut. There was a military base, so it was more like a soldiers area than a tourist area. I was the only visitor there. The soldiers didn't seem to mind me being there. Then I started wandering around since no one came out to receive me or guide me through the village to talk me through the history and traditions. So i walked directionlessly around the footpaths. There were all kinds of odd sculptures throughout the village showing what villagers would do in their daily lives. But these sculptures were creepy-as. ^0^ The only normal things there were a little cluster of doggies who were really bothering their mom at first, so I called to them, hoping they'd stop chewing and jumping at her. And when they saw me, Two of them came over together and 1 of them immediately bit at my favourite dress and tore it with their sharp puppy teeth, so the front of my favourite travel dress was completely split open. Jerk~. I shooed them off as they just kept jumping up and bit at my dress.
The villagers at this point came out and swatted them off with something. I called a quiet puppy over, as it was all by itself. I think this was a girl, she was sweet and endearing, and only wanted to chew at my fluffy bag hanging. @EmmaRyokouFind me on: Archives
October 2023
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