Life is balanced...

A few weeks ago I got on the bus to go get groceries and handed over my 5 RP and the guy asked for more money. I thought he was trying to rip me off and argued as much as I could (like with the parking ticket lady - I'll write about that later... Wayne is probably still laughing at that...) and finally paid up the extra 2 RP. I got my groceries and headed home and again was charged 6 RP. I figured this was one of the fare increases I had heard about and thought wow, 50% is a big increase. I was quite perterbed as I had been bragging to Wayne about the 4 RP bus ride and now it was 6 RP. Luckily I didn't write in to the papers or make a huge stink as it seems it was an anomaly. I'm back to 4 RP for the trip and still don't know why it was six that day. Maybe something like the no alcohol sales within a week of the election... Anyway, a RP is about the same as a US cent so in the end not a huge deal I suppose.... It was at the time though!!

The flood, the run and the banks...

PB220033
Originally uploaded by Rob@SFU.

Well I went on another jungle run this past Monday. As it turned out it was the start of the heaviest rain Sri Lanka had seen in 40 or 50 years. When the run was laid out the creeks, ditches and marshes were easier to cross but by 6 PM the floods had started and it became a half run half swim event! Again it was very interesting running through a rural area where you’re running through fields of cows, past brick factories (Mud huts where they burn hay or something and smoke the bricks – very smoky and very smelly) past a dump, through back yards, down lanes and trails. Needless to say I was completely soaked within about a minute of the run starting. Just moments before the run I received a message from Cher about the project that was rather urgent so after the run I had her come with the driver to pick me up. The instructions I had Cher print out were VERY specific (start at railway crossing at X and Y street, drive 1.8 KM turn right at Gas Station, drive .3 KM turn left after crossing canal bridge and veer left immediately, drive .4 KM to junction….) anyway, Ravi said the instructions were impossible to follow and decided to try and find his way into the jungle without measuring distance… needless to say it took a lot of time and I was standing in the pouring rain for a couple of hours, but at least it was washing off the leeches and mud (some of the ditches you run through aren’t just rain water… When the van drove up Ravi unrolled the window and someone saw Cher and yelled “who brought an UNMENTIONABLE here”. Well, Cher was as you can imagine less than impressed… I don’t think I’ll be going on another run with that group… there is a Wednesday group that I’ve heard is quite a lot better. In fact we were at an American Thanksgiving party last night and they were talking about the running club and how unfriendly the one group is. I just found them juvenile and misogynistic and it wasn’t pleasant. The runs were good, just the after run part wasn’t.

So the rains were so bad they completely flooded the city of Colombo. The road in front of our building became a lake about 3 feet deep and was stalling cars. The canal outside our office breeched and flooded out the houses across from the university. They say that 20 000 people were flooded out of their homes and were in temporary housing, hopefully they won’t have to wait over a year to get back into their homes like the tsunami victims!

While Wayne and Delcie were here we discovered that Royal Bank cards don’t work well internationally. They require a six alphanumeric code while all the ATM’s here are set up for a four digit numeric code. Our ScotiaBank card hasn’t had a problem at any of the banks so we assumed it would be easy for anyone else…. Well… First we discovered Wayne and Delcie couldn’t get money and then we discovered that our ScotiaCards weren’t working anymore. We would make a withdrawal and nothing would happen after entering how much money we wanted other than a “contact your branch, process unavailable” message… So we went from bank to bank trying to get money for a few weeks. We always try to use the Sampath bank as they have a high limit for withdrawal and we get dinged $5 each time we make a transaction, but eventually we started to try other banks. As it turned out each time we tried with Sampath Bank the transaction would take place in the account but no money would come out. So, when we saw our bank report it stated we had been withdrawing $500.00 every few days and twice on one day! Of course you think there is no way that the bank is going to say yes, we have your money sitting here come and get it… well I started the process and then couldn’t remember which times we actually did get money and where that was so that complicated things even more… Well the bank was great, they said they would look into it and get back to me within 30 minutes. Sure enough they did and although the money isn’t back they say it will be shortly! Also the rupee has dropped considerably the last few days due to a few political issues so we may actually even break even with the $5 service fees for each transaction!!

Trip with Wayne and Delcie

sri_lanka
Originally uploaded by Rob@SFU.

Trip around the south…

As many of you know Cher’s parents came for a short visit. We took advantage of a Poya weekend and a day off work and went on a long road trip. We started Friday afternoon and headed south. We stopped in Kalutara where Cher and I have stayed a few times to drop off a wedding gift for our friend Sanka and it was pouring rain. The roads were flooded and we got soaked just getting in and out of the van to drop off the gift. I was a little worried as I got bit by a few mozzies in the few minutes we were out and this is where Sanka got Dengue fever a few weeks ago. We headed to Bentota and started to look for a room, we stopped at a few hotels and they were either musty or full of mildew or wanted a couple hundred dollars a night. We eventually found a place that nice and wasn’t dirty. As we were parking I saw an elephant walking down the street carrying a load of branches so I grabbed Delcie and Wayne and they saw their first Sri Lankan Elephant working. The next day we went for a long walk in the morning sun along the beach. It was really nice and we saw an elephant carrying a couple off to get married down the beach, it was rather pleasant. After breakfast and another walk and then a sea bath (where I was stung by jelly fish – ouch!) we headed south again. We were planning on staying in Unawatuna where I stayed with Denis back in early July but the hotels were rather full and the “Beach Resort” was more like a hostel that would have been fine if we were backpacking and didn’t mind eating from a kitchen full of rats, cockroaches and other crawleys…. After walking along and looking at some other places we decided to continue on south. We ended up in Tangalle(a) and thought we had found a nice place called the Eva Resort. After showing us a few rooms we were quite happy and I asked how much they wanted for the night. With our residency permits they still wanted $170.00 a night for each room. I argued that this was outrageous for where/what it was and we left. We quickly wondered if this was a mistake as the rest of the places within 20 miles were all either full or not as good as sleeping in the van! We ended up staying in what the Lonely Planet describes as a “monstrosity” of a building. It was a concrete “boat” hotel (botel??) that was very strange. We were the only guests in a 100 room hotel and the view was incredible, it was just an eerie place (see photos). We went for a short walk the next morning and could see lots of tsunami damage and met a nice family on the beach. There was another family who had turned one of the boats destroyed by the tsunami into their residence on the beach. I was taking photos of it when I realized it was now a home. We left Tangalle and headed for the east coast and Arugam Bay. On the drive we saw monkeys and water buffalos and then a couple of wild elephants. Wayne jumped out of the van and was taking photos while I was filming from the safety of the van. He started to get closer to them when we realized he likely didn’t know they often kill people so we called him back in to the van. Delcie was trying to call the insurance agency to see if he’d be covered but couldn’t get a cell signal.. just kidding Wayne :-) We finally made it to Arugam Bay and shocked our driver by accepting the first room we stopped to see. After the Tangalle incident I think he thought we would look at every hotel in Arugam Bay before settling on none and having to drive through the night to another city…. The beach was incredible but the whole town had a very sad feeling to it. There were soldiers on the beach going from fishing boat to fishing boat collecting their “tax” I suppose. In the end they had a whole sack of fish. We headed for Nuwara Eliya and this was an incredible drive. We left the coast and headed back into Hill country which is where all the tea is grown. It was raining and dark when we arrived at the Grand Hotel. It was a bit expensive but well worth the stay, an incredible hotel built by the British in the late 1800’s. It was just incredible and so cold we needed the fireplace in our bedroom! The next morning in the sunshine we all went for a walk through the plantations up into the hills. It was so nice to only hear the wind and smell fresh air. We headed back to Colombo and had an enjoyable drive through the tea plantations and past spectacular waterfalls.

. It was a great trip and we only had to drive on the same road for a short distance between Arugam Bay and Nuwara Eliya. An incredible trip!! See the rest of the photos on my Flickr site…. Rob

Jungle Run

Well I finally went on a Hash Harriers run. I'd heard about the group through a friend at SFU (Jill J. at LIDC) and she said I should run with them. I had looked them up but their website was old and out of date so I thought they were gone. I met a guy at the gym and he mentioned I should join him. Well what an adventure. I got picked up after work and off we went to a suburb of Colobo and parked off the side of a side road where there was a 15 foot cliff, oh, no, that was in Stockbridge MA... Anyeay, it was off in the jungle among the rice paddy fields. So off we went and it was MUDDY, very muddy. The run is sort of a run sort of a scavenger hunt as you follow piles of confetti and every now and then they mark a turn around spot where you have to go back and find a hidden new route within 100m. The run took us through the paddies, through the jungle, through peoples yards and down streets, driveways and back lanes. It was great. Running in the padies is a bit hard though as the trail is about a foot wide with water on either side and as more people run along it they start to collapse. Within 5 mintues I had stepped into mud up to my knee and was soaked. At one point there was a jump off a wall and across a ditch about 8 feet high. I tried to jump down with minimal impact and ended up falling back over the edge and down into the ditch. Luckily it wasn't too full but I was now soaked. Finally the group started to split up and so I stuck with the biggest group and followed them back to the vehicles. It was good but I was worried as it was getting dark and my ride was missing. I was worried that he was out looking for me and as it got later I worried more. Finally he showed up but had to run as he was late to pick up his son so there I was with a group of strangers... They then did the circle ceremony which was very strange indeed. It was all men and they took turns telling crude jokes and stories and toasting and singing to each other. It had started to rain and after two hours of standing in the POURING monsoonal rain my ride was ready to go. Luckily the rain had washed all the crap off me and I was cleaner but a lot colder. I was frozen. I didn't think hypothermia was possible in Sri Lanka!! Only me! I wish I had Cher take a picture of me when I got in but I headed right for the bath... Maybe next time....