I had meant to publish this on April 3, but I got a call from my friend Devaraj saying that he arranged a one year visa, so I rushed to Colombo. Now I am a proud holder of a one year visa. Well one year from the date of my arrival in Sri Lanka, so until November 22. I am now officially a Sri Lankan resident. And it only cost me $700. Would that I had glommed onto this guy a couple of months ago, I could have saved myself the time and expense of two extra trips to Colombo and a bunch of worry. In the end, it was the same guy who on my last visit to Immigration was negotiating a bribe on the phone, who issued the visa. I have named him the Prince of Bribes. Let's hope he still has his job in November.
I will publish this now and add the photos when I get home. I am on the train now and don't have the photos on my iPad.
Finally, I have a minute to sit down and blog. One would never think that I could be so busy.
I started to get things together for a retirement visa that is good for 2 years, just in case. One of the requirements is a police certificate. So off I went to the Kandy police station to be finger printed. The station was very clean and they were very polite. I had to go to the criminal section where there were a lot of unsavory looking men hanging around. I thought they were perps. Turns out it was pay day and they were all cops. I always said there is a small distance from one side of the bars to the other.
Never having been finger printed before, I was quite intrigued. It was straight forward but messy. They use the old ink and paper method. However, a senior officer made sure that I was taken to a bathroom so I could scrub my hands. All in all, not a bad experience.
Then it was off to deal with the Canadian government. I thought that Sri Lanka is bad. We are not too much better. First of all, I had to get a little snippy just to be able to talk to a Canadian at the High Commission. God only knows what they do all day. Finally, I talked to the resident RCMP guy who was nice but useless. He says there is no electronic finger printing capability here when my friend Amal's senior contacts in the police say there is one at police hq in Colombo. This is crucial as it only takes 3 business days to have a criminal records check done with electronic finger prints whereas, it takes 4 and 1/2 months for paper ones. I have sent off the paper ones, but will still pursue the electronic ones. Shame on the RCMP!
Otherwise, I think I mentioned that I was battling with a bad sewer smell in my upstairs bathrooms. We have tried everything; venting, sealing the joins, pouring kerosene down the toilet (that one was not my idea). We even thought that the septic tank would have to be pumped. My electrician/ all rounder, as he calls himself, Ranjith decided to check the drainage pipes. OMG!!!!! He discovered the pipe that drains the one bathroom where the smell was the worst and the servant's toilet was completely blocked. Out came a bottle, a whole bunch of sanitary napkins, and an entire colony of cockroaches. I was freaking out. Ranjith, a devout Buddhist was praising the roaches calling them toilet cleaning men.
Ranjith and his assistant, Pallu cleaned things out. Not until Pallu, who is nice but not too bright had broken a water pipe prying up the drain cap. Anyway, there is a caste system here not unlike the one in India, although the one here is not as rigid. There are very few people left who are of low enough caste that they will deal with sewage. Consequently, they are hard to find and when you do, they are very expensive. I was very lucky that Ranjith and Pallu, and most of all Ranjith's father, who mostly stood around and supervised, were willing to do the job on the spot. I paid them a bonus and thanked them profusely. They made me promise that I would not tell anyone that they had dealt with sewage. I know you will not tell anyone.
So now, the cockroaches are out of luck, but I am over happy.
I've had my friend Jayanthi staying me for 2 weeks. It has been great. She is great company and a great help as she can speak all three languages. She and her brothers have a 9 acre estate just outside of Kandy in Thalathouya. We went out there the other day. It is beautiful. So peaceful. I came back with all sorts of lovely plants that Pallu planted in my garden. Things are really taking shape on that front. I now have a mango and lime tree, some edible greens that I don't know the name of, but I can eat them, a beautiful flowering bush that looks like jasmine but has not odor, a real jasmine, some creepers that will cascade over the walls, aloe, and some jungle things that have beautiful flowers. If I had to buy this stuff, even here, it would cost a bundle. But things grow so easily that you only have to get a bit of root or sometimes no root at all and they just grow.
We also got her caretaker to cut a young jack fruit that is called polos here. So this week, I have had polos curry as well as kos curry which is mature jack fruit just before it becomes fully ripe when it is eaten as a fruit. Jack is almost revered here, so when my maid spied the polos and the kos she almost died.
Two more ceiling fans have been installed. We are heading into the hot season and some days are really bad. Average temperatures have been around 90F. I am not complaining. After all, this is the main reason I came here.
Drawer pulls have been put on the furniture that has been delivered so far. I have speakers and have rigged up one of my iPads as a stereo. It is great to have music. As I sit here writing this, I am listening to the Traveling Wilburys and sipping espresso. Thanks to Rod Germaine for the tip on the Wilburys years ago.
I finally have a reliable Tuktuk man named Nimal who parks very close to my house. He always seems to be available, even at night. As a result, I am going to sell my car. I have never even had it here in Lewella as it has always been in Gampola. Even if I did have it, I am having no end of trouble getting a driver. No point really. I can go almost anywhere by Tuktuk. When I go to Colombo, I go by train or bus. If I need a car sometime, I will either get Amal or Jez to drive me or hire a car and driver. I could use that $4000 for something better, like living.
The cheese business is growing. We have run into a bit of snag in that it turns that we have to be trade marked and registered as a business. I think it is another shake down, but Jez is worried about it so has done what is necessary, so it should be done by Friday. Jayanthi and I are going to set up a Facebook store to sell the things I am designing. Her husband's business in India is not going well, so maybe he will come here in which case, we could set up a small construction/design company. Land of opportunity!
I finally have a plan for my garden room. Repaint it white from the horrible green it is currently. Do the floor in rough local granite. Fill it with identical pots and plants and place a Buddha statue in the middle with a dead bat lamp hanging in front of it will a bowl for the little white jasmine like flowers. It should be nice.
Speaking of dead bats, here is a picture of a poor fruit bat that unfortunately grabbed 2 electrical cables and got nuked. It is directly in front of my bathroom window, so I have a nice view of this thing deteriorating or leathering. I don't know which it will be. Seems like leathering at the moment.
Dharma is doing well. She is happy and hunting. Here are some pictures of her tormenting a praying mantis. I didn't even know there were praying mantis here. The only problem is that she has figured how to crawl under the gate to get out onto the street. No problem with traffic as I am very close to the end of a dead end, but there are a lot of dogs. Mostly she stays in the yard though. She is a survivor.
Went off to meet a friend of Carolyn McAskie's the other day. Carolyn is an old friend I met when I lived here in the 80s. She was Canada's High Commissioner at the time. This friend of hers is a very brave woman. She has an organization called the Association for War Affected Women. They work in the north and east with women affected by the war. The latest project is training women to run for office in the event that elections are ever called in those 2 provinces. Not a popular thing to do, but vital. Her name is Visaka Darmadasa and she lives in Kandy. I was very glad to make the contact. Once the visa stuff is settled, I will do some work with them. Great cause.
Had another close encounter of the insect kind when Jayanthi and I came back from Colombo the last time. Bed bugs! All over the benches of the railway station. I had welts that made my one butt cheek almost twice the size. Hot and itchy too. So this time, I stood while I waited for the train
Can't think of anything else for the moment. Not doubt there will be more exciting news soon.
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