Colombo, Rathnapura (Jan 13 - 15)

Okay, here's another series of updates; I'd stagger it out if anyone knows how to do delayed posting with Blogger. So Reuben's on his mid-semester break from "teaching" "English." We had planned to meet for a week in January, and despite the tsunami he was still pumped to go. Of course outside of the North, East, and Southern coastline you cannot tell anything has happened at all, and I figured this was a good time for a break. A well earned rest from my vacation.

An aside: I had hit the McDonald's last week, just to see what was different. McRice with Gravy was a local treat, but I was annoyed by the spicy chicken sandwich. "Chicken McSpicy." Damnit, it's Spicy McChicken. You already call it a McChicken sandwich if it's sans spice. Plus in the US I believe their spicy chicken sammich is called Spicy McChicken. I don't know why it bothered me, but it did.

Anyway, his flight came in bright and early and we got a jump start on the day. After a leisurely stroll through Colombo, we met up with one of my friends' from Waterloo. He was staying at a nice hotel at Galle Face (the beach/touristy part of Colombo), and inside we saw the Canadian DART team having a meeting in the bar. You can take the military out of Canada but you can't take the Canada out of the military...

Friday we left for Rathnapura. There wasn't much planned, just wanted to see some gem mines and waterfalls. It would be our launching point for climbing Adam's Peak. We stopped for dinner at another hotel, and hanging above us was this giant spider. We didn't notice it until it pooped on Reuben. I'm sorry, but if an insect (arachnid...pedantic?) is big enough that you notice when it poops on you, that's just too big...Biddy you'd love it here.

As dusk fell, we saw and heard the bats come out. They were huge fruit bats, and here's my attempt at taking a no-flash, slow-shutter shot of bat flying. See the squiggly lines? Those are the bats flying over the course of 1 second. I'm not quite sure how to photograph bats from a distance and at night, but if you have suggestions, feel free to send 'em my way. Though I've posted a number of photographs, there is a sizable majority of crap shots like these that you've been saved from.

The following day, the day of our Adam's Peak climb, we made a bad but fun decision. We decide to walk to the nearby waterfalls and climb 'em. It's about 2 km before we stop for directions, and we're on the right path. Another quarter mile and we'll be there. Two more kilometers later and we finally reach the waterfalls. As Reuben has deduced rather quickly, the local population cannot estimate distances. But it was a nice sight, and here's a composite shot of his jump. One of our guides is in the foreground.

And here's one of Reuben's shots; my "Starvin' Marvin chic" look is going to storm the fashion industry. Trust me, stick frame & belly is a hit. This was kinda cool because I happened to stand up right where the sun was shining through.

Our guides were two local kids who we stopped for directions. They spoke a little English, which was enough. After we saw the waterfalls we were invited to their house for king coconut water, which is delicious. I guess I kinda figured we'd hitch a tri-shaw back to town, but none were to be found. So we hiked, with our packs, 4 km back to town to catch the bus to the base of Adam's Peak.

Sri Lanka