I had meant to mention a few of the things that I saw in Kandy, but as time goes by, so does my recollection, except for one thing or should I say furry things? That would be monkeys!
Kandy is famous for its elephant orphanage and Temple of the Tooth as mentioned earlier, but one thing they have that Colombo doesn't is monkeys. There are two types and honestly couldn't tell you much about them, except they do seem to leave you alone. I didn't try feeding them.
I also saw very colorful birds and a about a 1 1/2 foot water monitor (Lizard) at the lake,
I was approached by one tout while walking around the lake, but he knew that I knew what he was up to (Try to talk me into a tour etc) and turned right around and left me alone.
On our way back from Kandy we saw a huge elephant being walked down the main road (Actually called The Kandy Road) on its way to Colombo for a festival at the end of the month.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Train Songs
While riding the train to Hikkaduwa we started naming all of the train songs we could think of.
The challenge was for whoever guessed a song to have the other try to guess it with as few clues as possible. We both had some great stumpers.
The songs had to have either trains in the title or mentioned in the song.
Here are a few we came up with.
(Under duress I had to publicly announce that Chris completely whipped my behind in this game coming up with most of the songs for almost 36 hours +)
Plain White T's - Hey there Delilah
Bachman Turner Overdrive - Taking care of business
Cat Stevens - Peace Train
Ozzy Osbourne - Crazy Train
Berlin - Metro
Arlo Guthrie - City of New Orleans
Molly Hatchet - Train Train
Johnny Cash - Folsom Prison
Kenny Rogers - The Gambler
Janis Joplin - Me and Bobby McGhee (Written by Kris Kristofferson)
Greatful Dead - Casey Jones
Blondie - Rapture
Jethro Tull - Locomotive Breath
Crosby Stills and Nash - Marrakesh Express
Creedence Clearwater Revival - Midnight Special
Gladys Night and the Pips - Midnight Train to Georgia
The O'Jays - Love Train
Marshall Tucker Band - Can't You See
Rod Stewart - People Get Ready
The challenge was for whoever guessed a song to have the other try to guess it with as few clues as possible. We both had some great stumpers.
The songs had to have either trains in the title or mentioned in the song.
Here are a few we came up with.
(Under duress I had to publicly announce that Chris completely whipped my behind in this game coming up with most of the songs for almost 36 hours +)
Plain White T's - Hey there Delilah
Bachman Turner Overdrive - Taking care of business
Cat Stevens - Peace Train
Ozzy Osbourne - Crazy Train
Berlin - Metro
Arlo Guthrie - City of New Orleans
Molly Hatchet - Train Train
Johnny Cash - Folsom Prison
Kenny Rogers - The Gambler
Janis Joplin - Me and Bobby McGhee (Written by Kris Kristofferson)
Greatful Dead - Casey Jones
Blondie - Rapture
Jethro Tull - Locomotive Breath
Crosby Stills and Nash - Marrakesh Express
Creedence Clearwater Revival - Midnight Special
Gladys Night and the Pips - Midnight Train to Georgia
The O'Jays - Love Train
Marshall Tucker Band - Can't You See
Rod Stewart - People Get Ready
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
The Kandy Visit
Greetings from Kandy, Sri Lanka! Where? It's in the interior of the country, used to be the old capitol when the country still had a king.
Let early Monday morning with an overly ambitious driver that got me here in what must have been record time. It was very neat to see the landscape change so much, especially to see the presence of mountains.
The company put me up in one of the older colonial era hotels here, The Hotel Suisse. The room is somewhat locked in the 70's, it even has an rotary dial phone!
I am working at a trade show of sorts. I was told 4 million people would pass through and judging by the crowds I certainly believe it. The line of people entering and leaving stretches for what seems like miles, although I'm sure it's not.
I am working the evening shift and after our first night we went to a hole in the wall restaurant for traditional Sri Lankan fair, egg hoppers, rotti and of course curry. It was SO spicy and good!
There was a TV in the corner and I saw people get up and pay attention to something being said on the TV. The general who was opposing the president in the recent election had been arrested.
I won't make any comments about that.
Today the driver took me to the Temple of the Sacred Tooth which is probably the most famous thing here in Kandy. Basically it is a huge temple that holds what is supposed to be a tooth of Buddah. You can read about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_the_Tooth
it's a pretty big deal here as people from all over the world come to the temple for all sorts of things, mostly healing. There are Buddhist monks everywhere.
I'll post more about the visit soon. I have one more night here.
Let early Monday morning with an overly ambitious driver that got me here in what must have been record time. It was very neat to see the landscape change so much, especially to see the presence of mountains.
The company put me up in one of the older colonial era hotels here, The Hotel Suisse. The room is somewhat locked in the 70's, it even has an rotary dial phone!
I am working at a trade show of sorts. I was told 4 million people would pass through and judging by the crowds I certainly believe it. The line of people entering and leaving stretches for what seems like miles, although I'm sure it's not.
I am working the evening shift and after our first night we went to a hole in the wall restaurant for traditional Sri Lankan fair, egg hoppers, rotti and of course curry. It was SO spicy and good!
There was a TV in the corner and I saw people get up and pay attention to something being said on the TV. The general who was opposing the president in the recent election had been arrested.
I won't make any comments about that.
Today the driver took me to the Temple of the Sacred Tooth which is probably the most famous thing here in Kandy. Basically it is a huge temple that holds what is supposed to be a tooth of Buddah. You can read about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_the_Tooth
it's a pretty big deal here as people from all over the world come to the temple for all sorts of things, mostly healing. There are Buddhist monks everywhere.
I'll post more about the visit soon. I have one more night here.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
February - A Good Month
Besides the fact that there are only 28 days in the month it started off with a the Sri Lanka National Day on the 4th that I had off, worked 1/2 day Friday as usual and now the weekend starts.
Monday I get to go to Kandy which is in the interior of the country as part of a trade show that the company is taking part in. Usually this is not something that I would get to be involved in but the call went out for volunteers. We leave very early Monday morning and return Thursday. Looks like I'll get to stay at a nice place as well. Chris will join me.
We return Thursday and then I am taking that following Friday off and we have Monday off for Presidents Day. So we get in a mini-vacation. I think we are going to Hikkaduwa.
I'm on call for the entire month which isn't s bad, I just have to check my BlackBerry more often.
Monday I get to go to Kandy which is in the interior of the country as part of a trade show that the company is taking part in. Usually this is not something that I would get to be involved in but the call went out for volunteers. We leave very early Monday morning and return Thursday. Looks like I'll get to stay at a nice place as well. Chris will join me.
We return Thursday and then I am taking that following Friday off and we have Monday off for Presidents Day. So we get in a mini-vacation. I think we are going to Hikkaduwa.
I'm on call for the entire month which isn't s bad, I just have to check my BlackBerry more often.
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