August 26, 2022

Things in the country are starting to normalize a bit.  They have introduced a rationing system for petrol that seems to be working.  Diesel is still a problem and we are still experiencing 3 hour daily power cuts.  The price of cooking gas has come down and it is now available.  Some food stuffs have also come down. The latest food scandal was eggs.  They went up to LKR.65/egg.  The government has now regulated the price to LKR.45/egg and has been busting egg hoarders.  

The ousted President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is due to return to the country next week.  Big mistake in my opinion.  However, I think he is coming back to make an application for the restoration of his permanent residence status in the US.  He has has to do that from the embassy in Colombo.

This was the demonstration that finally drove him out.  We could well have a repeat performance if he comes back.

On the home front, mahjong continues.  We are basically down to 4 players as our teacher Gerry has sold her house in Matale and is going up to Jaffna for 3 months and then to Australia.  We don't know if we will lose her permanently to either place.  We play on my veranda every Saturday morning.  Here are the Mahjong Alongers:

From left to right:  Me, Lesley, Gerry (our teacher), Judith

Four out of five playing.  From the bottom, clockwise:  Judith, Lesley, Me, Deanne.  Playing with 5 is chaotic.  We try to avoid it.

From left to right:  Judith, Lesley, Deanne.

From left to right:  Lesley, Gerry, Deanne, Judith

Got in a breakfast at the Grand Kandyan.  My pool membership there expired at the end of July.  I am casting about for membership at a hotel a bit closer.  No point at the moment as we have been getting heavy rains.

Lesley's husband Ralph celebrated his 70th birthday with a party at the Kandy Sports Club, aka, the rugby grounds.  Despite the fuel crisis, over 50 people showed up.

Ralph in his rugby blazer.  He is very proud of it.

Lesley feeding Ralph a piece of birthday cake.  A tradition here in Sri Lanka whenever a cake is presented at a celebration.  My landlady, Tula with her arms akimbo in the background.

Another visit to the dentist where I had to say goodbye to another molar.  Waiting until December to see what will replace it.  Two teeth also had to be root planed.  Altogether not much fun, but Sajeewa did his usual great job with lots of anesthetic.

The big event was a 3 day visit to Trincomalee on the north east coast of the island.

We stopped at a helebajun (a sort of food court that is set up as income generation projects for women) near Kantale where there is a huge reservoir.  There were a lot of dragon fruit plants in the garden.  First time I have seen them bearing fruit.

There are varying opinions about the size of Trinco's harbour.  Some say it is the 3rd largest natural harbour, some say the 5th.  Whatever placement it has, suffice to say that it is an impressively big sheltered natural harbour.  

We stayed at a small hotel in Uppuveli Beach, the Regish Guest House on French Garden Road.  It was very basic, although my room had AC which I really didn't need.  The cost per night with AC was LKR.5000; without AC, LKR.3500.  No place to hand your clothes and lumpy pillows, but very clean.  Plus, you stepped out of your room onto a small veranda and then directly into the sand.

There was a little bar right in front of the hotel on the beach called the Hawaii Bar.  Very basic with a limited menu, but the food was good.  I had the fresh catch for dinner the first day; jackfish prepared to perfection.  Couldn't get any fresher.  You watch the fisherman go out in the morning and bring back the catch.  The bar owner buys the fish before they even leave the sand.  On the second night I had the wild grilled prawns.  Both meals were very good as were the breakfasts.  Eggs with guacamole the first day and avocado stuffed omelet the second.  We did go to a place next door for lunch one day, but it was crap.

Step out of the Hawaii bar onto the sand.  Dinners were under the palms, toes wiggling in the sand, under a 3/4 moon on the shore of the Bay of Bengal.  Something very enchanting about the moon over the Bay of Bengal.

Beautiful white sand on a very clean beach.  The beach here is much better than around Galle or Jaffna.

Fishing boats on the sand.  They go out every morning and bring back whatever is out there.

From the water side.

Ralph and Lesley, who I travelled with, have a good friend who lives in Trinco, Lorna.  We spent a lot of the time with her and her children and her boyfriend.  She also got her hands on some weed from Kerala called KG (Kerala Ganja).  She rolled a mean joint with some local leaf.  They smoke it with tobacco, but I can't stand tobacco smoke.  Lovely mellow stone sitting under that enchanted moon.  When you looked up through the palm fronds, it was a perfect postcard picture.

Lorna with her children, Shelagh and Reese.  Good kids and a couple of real water babies.

Besides going for a dip in the sea, which was very warm and lovely; the fine sandy bottom goes out for miles, Lesley took me for a tour of the major sights in Trinco.  First stop was Fort Frederick.  Built by the Portuguese and then expanded by the Dutch, you really don't see much of it from the land.  An aerial view gives you the real picture.

The main gate to the fort built by the Dutch in 1673.  The original Portuguese fort was destroyed by the Dutch.

The Dutch fort is built in their traditional star shape.

Just beyond the fort, right on the furthest point, is the Sri Thirukoneswaram Kovil.  Dedicated to the Lord Shiva, it was originally built by the Cholas around 400B.C.  It has been destroyed and rebuilt a number of times.  

A very large Lord Shiva with Lesley in the foreground.

The main pagoda.  Most of the temple has been recently restored making for some very vivid images.

Nandi, Lord Shiva's bull facing a Shiva Lingum (Shiva's penis)

The Lord Shiva with his consort the Goddess Parvati along with their sons, the Lord Ganesh; the elephant headed god, and the Lord Skanda and Nandi in the foreground.

Another Shiva Lingum.  Lingum worship is widespread throughout India.

The entire Fort Frederick area is full of spotted deer.  They are so used to people that they do not even bother looking up when you pass by.

The next stop was the Maritime Museum.  It wasn't really open because they were cleaning it, but they let us in and gave us a tour anyway.

The building was renovated after the civil war with aid from the Netherlands.  It was originally the residence of the Dutch Naval Commissioner during Dutch rule.  

Diorama of the Sri Lankan king of the time going to war against the Portuguese.

The view from the roof of the museum.  You had to go up a couple of ladders to get on the roof.  I was scared as hell, but I did it.  Coming down was especially harrowing.

After the ladder experience, I needed an espresso.  We were told that likely the only place we would get one was the Dutch Bank Café in Trinco harbour.  

Another old Dutch building that has been renovated.  This really was a bank back in the day.

We duly went there only to be informed that they had a machine, but no powder.  I told them that they could use local coffee like Island.  Turned out they had a jar of Island, but didn't think they could use it in the machine.  No doubt they had been told by the Lavazzo distributor that their's was the only coffee they could use.  I told them to go ahead and use the Island coffee from which they made a wonderful cup of java.  Now they can use the much cheaper local product instead of the expensive and unavailable imported stuff.

Then it was on to the Kanniya hot springs.  

The springs used to spring up among the rocks but have now been jailied in these concrete squares.  The water is very clean and clear.

Very popular with locals.  They provide buckets that you can use to wash your feet.

Lesley making friends like she always does.

They were selling Palmyra fruit at the hot springs.  Jaffna Tamils believe that Palmyra is the tree of life and, indeed, you can use many parts of the tree to eat:  the ripe fruit, the sap for syrup that is much like molasses, jaggery made from the sap, toddy and moonshine made from the sap and the roots dried and eaten as snack or milled into a flour.  Trinco is known for the jaggery which comes in small balls wrapped in banana leaf.  I don't like the Palmyra jaggery, but I got a couple of bags for Vineetha.  I had never tried the fruit, so we each bought one and tried it.  Juicy but very bland much like star or dragon fruit.

We were served the fruit as seen in the upper left hand picture.  You scoop it out with a spoon made from the severed stem.

You can take the fruit out of the pod whole as well.  It has the consistency of rambutan or lychee.

The only other thing of major import is the acquisition of a puppy.  One day, I hear this crying in front of the house.  Tula's maid is in front of the gate hitting this puppy with an old broom stick.  I almost took the stick to her.  I picked him up and brought him inside.  Tula's granddaughter was staying.  She is a real dog fan.  She immediately adopted him.  

Although she is 29, she still lives with her parents.  Her father told her she could not bring the puppy home.  Then her mother called me, trying to get me involved in the family dispute.  In the end, we have been trying to find him a home with no luck so far, so I have him living with me.  Maryam (the granddaughter) named him Bandi (means belly or tummy) Guru.  He really does like to have his belly rubbed.  He is only about 3 months old, so not yet house trained.  After a few accidents in the house, I have him living outside now.  He is very cute and will make someone a good pet.  I, however, find it exhausting looking after 4 cats including a kitten and now the puppy.

At first I was putting his bed in the front room but after a couple of poops and some peeing, he has been relegated to the back porch with the washing machine.

Remarkably, the cats put up with him.  He wants to play with them but they hiss and fiss.  They swat at him but don't bare their claws.  Chewie, the kitten is growing.

He thinks his reflection is another dog.

Still on the animal front, my friends Simon and Pauline found an orphaned giant squirrel on their property in Naula.  Pauline is a real animal lover and has taken him in and has been feeding him.  His name is Cyril the Squirrel.  Incredibly cute.

His front paws are like human hands.

Here you can see his full size.  He will grow to be about 20 to 35 inches long.

After 6 years, one of my agave is about to bloom.  Very exciting.

The spike growing out of the centre will be the flower.

And, as always, ending with my furry babies.

Buddy and Putha curled up on the toaster oven where they are not supposed to be.

Chewie draped over Buddy.  Her favorite position.