Yala Village Hotel Kirinda

... which turned out to be proper tuna goujons - wow. After lunch we continued down the hill - a brief stop a waterfall for a view, a look at the falls, the view, monkeys and tourist touts. We drove another 3 or 4 hours before arriving at our hotel - the very clean and modern Priyankara Hotel. We got into the lovely rooms, dumped our stuff, and headed into the pool to relax. We talked to a lovely little girl called Severina (English Dad ...

... 45 minutos. Cerca de 3 horas depois, aos saltos pela espécie de estrada, finalmente chegámos a Moneragalla para apanhar o autocarro. Os autocarros apenas estavam identificados em Singalês e Tamil, por isso levou-nos um bocado a encontrar o autocarro certo, mas como quem tem boca vai a Roma lá conseguimos embarcar. O autocarro era lento e parava em todo o lado, e, como se isso não bastasse, passados 20 minutos de viagem tivemos um furo! Toda a gente teve ...

... The evening puja starts at 7pm when flocks of pilgrims appear bearing fruit platters as offerings to Katagarama, and many violently smashed coconuts in front of his shrine (according to tradition, if the coconut breaks cleanly a wish will be granted, when misfortune attends those who fail to do so). The Sacred Precinct would have been extremely busy on the previous (poya) day, and the fewer crowds meant I was able to get involved and close to the action ...

... and they had only been doing it for 45 mins. My faith in them getting it for the opening is quickly diminishing as they were 10 times worse than yesterday! Still they are only 4.... The aftershool class was brilliant today. Had Palmanies class who can talk away to you in English. Taught them the rooms of the house and Niamins class did fruit and for the first time ever did exactly what they were told! Sad note came though when at the end Milani annouced that we ...

Not because of the children for a change, who were their usual delightful selves. The Preschoolers I was with drew suns and moons and stars, then were given plastercine, and some interesting eggs, snakes, bracelets and hilariously glasses were made which made the kids look like teh sri lankan version of Joe 90. I only had one class with the older kids today. Did colours and some got it straight away. Others didn't. I've realsied now who the ones that will get it ...

Although I was nursing some strange skin infection, I went on a trip to Yala National Park with Denise and some Sri Lankan friends. We stayed in a small, cozy guest house a stones throw from the ocean in Kirinda, with a wonderful cook and a beautiful canapé of trees ...

Wow!!!!!! What a cool day!!!! Arrived in Tissa at lunch-time & sorted out an afternoon safari with the place we were staying at (still with german guy & czech girl). It was really good! Saw 3 leopards, 3 wild elephants, wild pigs, loads of deer, water buffalo, crocodiles & tonnes of birds & peacocks! We also saw where the tsunami hit & the monument they've put up to commemorate it. Apparently about 26 foreigners died there that day. Very sad. In the evening we went ...

We had a wonderful time in Ella, it was so beautiful, set high up in the mountains, we walked for 6kms downhill on our second day to the stunning Ella Rawana Waterfall, it was hardgoing in the hot sun, be we made it....and it was worth it - the waterfall was gorgeous and all of the locals were bathing and washing their clothes in it! We left Ella, me sat on my rucksack, with my feet on somebodys bag of onions ...

KIRINDA: Interview with a Local Family When the December 26th tsunami struck, Ansar was lounging outside his house, chatting with friends and enjoying the sunny morning. When a neighbor began to shout "Water is coming!", Ansar and his friends immediately ran toward the harbor to check on their boats. Not anticipating the magnitude of the wave, the men were shocked when met by a wall of water; Ansar quickly turned around, gathered his family ...

KIRINDA: BOAT DAY! Our brief stint as tourists ended late Friday afternoon when we returned to Colombo. A few hours later we were back in the car, this time headed south to Kirinda. This was to be our final trip to Kirinda for the time being. Our plan was to oversee and document the initial delivery of boats, motors, and nets that we had purchased with donations from family and friends from around the world. We were anxious, to say the very least. We were ...