Root Canal

Root Canal
Originally uploaded by Rob@SFU.

The last few weeks I've been having trouble with my teeth. The day we were flying out for the Maldives I realized I likely had an absess and sent our friend Ravi out to get antibitotics on the way to the airport and started those right away just in case. Well I made it through the trip without too much pain but knew I had to see a dentist soon. I took some photos of the tooth in question to email my dentist and then called him last night to see what should be done. He said I should get it looked at right away so this morning I went to a private hospital where they have every type of doctor you can imagine. The dentist took an xray ($2.50) and agreed that I had a problem that had to be dealt with immediately. So, he started to drill. Immediately. No freezing, not even the numbing gel they use before the needle to freeze!! The pain was so intense I thought I was going to be sick. It finally ended and I now have a temporary filling in the side of my tooth and have to go back in two weeks when he can spend more time with me. So, my advice...get any dental work you might need BEFORE you come here :-) Other than that the dentist was great... Rob

Our Trip to the Maldives

PA150014
Originally uploaded by Rob@SFU.

Well I finally made it to one of my "have to get to" destinations, the Maldives. I tried to get here a few years ago when I was working in India but just couldn't make it. It was a fantastic trip. The flight was only and hour and was really good, Sri Lankan air is quite nice, we got a full meal on a 55 minute flight, top that Air Canada! The plane was really nice to and had the new touch screen monitors for each passenger. One new thing I hadn't seen before were the inflight cameras, one pointing forward and one pointing down, quite fun to watch the landing from three different perspectives (the window, Cher's monitor and mine). We had a water bungalow which was at the end of a long pier. Each bungalow was very private and had a huge balcony with stairs leading down to a smaller balcony with a fresh water shower and stairs into the water. Just standing on the deck you could see hundreds of fish of all sizes, it was amazing. The snorkelling was awesome except Cher was attacked by a Titan Trigger Fish, quite a nasty character really. It bit her hand and then kept following her. I had to get in between her and the fish and kick at it for it to leave. The fish was about a foot and a half long but also very big and had huge ugly protuding teeth. I also saw turtles and lots of eels, some very large with heads about the size of a miniture schnauzers head - not nearly as cute though mom... I also found that near the reef there were lots of sharks, some as big as 5 feet. Our neighbour called me the shark hunter because I could always find them Our neighbour and his wife were from Taiwan and were really nice, we enjoyed snorkelling with them. He had an underwater digital camera so maybe he'll email me photos of the sharks. I also did two dives and those were amazing! Coming home was a bit interesting. It started raining as I was finishing my last snorkel and boy did it rain! The boat ride from the resort to the airport was fine, it was a large speed boat with 40 airplane seats. We were kept nice and dry and it wasn't too rough. We arrived at the airport (you come and go by boat) and went through the process to get to the gates where it was REALLY crowded. The roof was leaking and the whole place was flooded. About an hour after our flight was to leave I overheard someone from the airline talking with another passenger and went over to eavesdrop. It turned out they had cancelled our flight so we were boated over to the main city and put up for the night. It was an interesting experience. Well must run, hope you are all well. Things are getting interesting with the election here. It is scheduled for the 17th of November. They found a small gun near where they were searching people who were attending a presentation by the oposition party leader. I wonder if it was just something someone carried and didn't want to get caught with or if it was meant to be used... Bye for now... Rob
PS
There are some more photos on my Flickr site....

Sir Arthur

Sir Arthur
Originally uploaded by Rob@SFU.

Today Cher and I raced to the Dive store in Colombo for the third try and again missed it. The store, owned by Sir Arthur C Clarke, is located in a nice part of town and in his house/compound. The compound is surrounded by a 12 foot wall with another 5 feet of electrical fencing. The huge steel gate rolled open after I rang the bell and the same security guard who turned me down the other days again told me they were closed. I tried to explain that it was actually 4:58 and there were still two minutes before 5. Finally the manager showed up and asked what I was looking for. I explained that I needed a prescription mask and that it was a heavy prescription (-10.5). He asked me to follow him up to the office so off we went. When we passed the doorway the name said Arthur C. Clarke and I wished I had a camera as I was trudging through HIS house. We finally went up some stairs and into an office and there he was, Sir Arthur C Clark, sitting there in a wheelchair! I walked over to shake his hand and he was so friendly. We chatted about diving with contact lenses and about how he had thought of the prescription mask 50 years ago. He was a truly charming man. I was kicking myself for not having my camer there and for not bringing Cher into the office with me. Sir Arthur then left and Cher showed up as she had come looking for me. I told her she had just missed Sir Arthur and the manager said "oh, you'll see him on your way out, would you like a picture with him?". I said I didn't have a camera and he said not a problem, he did! So, here is a photo of the three of us chatting :-)

Trip to Trincomalee

Well we made it to the east coast finally. Now I've seen all four coasts as well as the central island. Still lots to see but I think I've been fortuante as a lot of people from Colombo have never been to either Jaffna or Trincomalee from what I hear. It was a wonderful trip that started before 5 AM. We drove as the sun rose and had a spectacular view of the country. We saw a troop of monkeys cross the road and a peacock sunning itself in the morning sun.

There were a few highlights to the trip though, first was the beach, absolutely incredible but absolutely empty. The ocean was so warm and full of great fish. We snorkelled on an island that we took a 40 mintue boat ride to and had a blast playing in the ocean. There weren't too many people there just one or two other groups of people. When we arrived Cher was literaly swarmed by this group asking to have their photos taken with her. It was a bit overwhelming but they were so happy and having such a fun time it was infectious. The tsunami has wiped out all the hotels in the one area and there is nothing left. We were told not to take our cameras to this island which was a real shame as it was so beautiful. I did take some video though and will try to post it. Unfortunately I have this stupid damn PC and not my Mac... On the way home Cher spotted two wild elephants on the side of the road so we stopped and watched them for a bit, truly amazing!

We would love to take Wayne and Delcie there in a few months but there are a lot of travel bans on and it is apparently on the do not go list for Canadians. We did go through a lot of checkpoints for the military and the police. I felt just as safe there as I do here - if not more, but we'll see if we can find a spot where we're all covered by insurance....More photos at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/robmctavish/