November 30, 2015

Busy, busy, busy!  It has been full tilt boogey here.  I sometimes wonder how I found time to work.  Retirement is a full time occupation.  The biggest luxury is that I only do what I really want to and I do most things on my timetable, not someone else's.

I finally went with my friend Ava to the relatively new hotel Ozo for breakfast brunch.  Ozo hotels are operated around Asia by a Thai company.  Apart from the fact that the location is a bit of an eye sore, the hotel is very good.  How they got permission to build right above the lake across from the Temple of the Tooth, I will never know.  It is a big white box that dominates the slope on that side of the lake.  Inside, however, it is tastefully done.  The service is great, and the breakfast buffet is fabulous; wonderful fresh baked croissant, breads and pastries, cheeses, tons of fruit, real muesli, an egg and waffle station, Sri Lankan and Indian breakfast, English breakfast too with baked beans which I find disgusting but is popular with everyone else.  All for LKR.1000, about C$9.50.  It also includes espresso/cappuccino/americano coffee at no extra cost made with a great machine that grinds the beans as it is making the coffee.

Of course, Ava is there every other day.  Yesterday was her birthday, so on Saturday, we had a surprise breakfast for her.  She was truly surprised and the 6 of us had such a good time, we stayed for over 4 hours.

Last Tuesday, November 24, I went with Judith and her friend Mary visiting from Britain to Hunas Falls.  Hunas is close to Matale with is about a 45 minute drive NNW of Kandy.  There is a lovely hotel there with a small 9 hole executive golf course.  Good luck to anyone trying to golf there.  The only level spots are the tee boxes and the tiny greens.  Everything else is a steep slope.  The area was a tea plantation previously, so the terrain is very hilly.  There is still some tea grown, although the plants are poorly tended and the factory is closed.  This was also a spice growing area which is mostly derelict now.  We drove through a large clove plantation where the trees are so big that it would be impossible to harvest the cloves.

We stopped at the hotel and had a coffee before walking around the water tank formed by a dam at the top of the falls.  Then we had a nice lunch and came back home.

The Falls.  There is a ticket booth at the bottom trying to charge money to get directly into the base of the falls.  I can't imagine they get many takers, as you get a great view from the parking lot.

Interesting bracket fungus

Asoka our driver.  He could be a movie star

Judith on the left, Mary on the right

Don't know what this plant is called, but it has these beautiful large flowers.  It lets off air roots like an orchid or a philodendron.

The water tank with the virgin jungle beyond.

Yesterday was Discovery Club.  We went to a small cottage candle making factory in Katugastota where we also had lunch.  The family was lovely.  The daughter gave an introductory speech in which she talked about how much she loved her family and how proud of them she was.  The candles were very good.  It is very difficult to buy good candles in Kandy, so I stocked up.

Unfortunately, I drank so much King Coconut and beer that I had to go to the bathroom.  Usually, this is not a problem as it is so hot that you sweat out the liquid.  Right now, however, it is quite cool, so lots of bathroom trips.  Although the bathroom and the whole house was very clean, they only had an Asian squatter.  So it was off with my trousers so that I could do a bucket bath after going.  Believe me, you can't be in a hurry to accomplish this. 

This week is full again, with fur/claw, art group, my friend Devaraj coming from Colombo, and 2 parties at the week.  It will be like this until after Christmas.  Oh that we should all have such problems!