Around Colombo

Royal College Dinner Dance

But it really would have been more suitable to call it a DANCE Dinner :) This event was my very first time to wear a sari - something I had both looked forward to and dreaded a little bit. I've heard about the typical Sri Lankan Dinner/Dances, and I really hoped that I would get the chance to attend one while, I was here - it's VERY different than any sort of official dinner event, you would find in DK. Actually, I'm pretty sure, we have NO equivalent ! I had also been dreading the sari wearing part a little bit... It's funny because on a daily basis, I see SO many beautiful women wearing sari's in all the clolours of the rainbow - and they look amazing, but me in one intimidated me a little. I guess it was a mix of insecurity: could I actually figure out how to wear it and carry myself ?But most of all, would it be appropriate or would it be frowned upon a little by the Sri Lankan's ? Of course, I should have known that quite the contrary would be the case! They Sri Lankan's, obviously I guess, think it's wonderful when a foreigner puts on a sari. So, not only did I feel very comfortable being the only non-Sri Lankan in a sari, I actually also enjoyed wearing it. I felt very 'dressed-up', without it being TOO much. It does take some getting use to, though - in particular the JACKET (the short shirt you wear with it). My sari is made by cotton organza and DOES NOT stretch AT ALL. The design in itself is TIGHT, so sitting in this was quite the trial :) And for some reason eating and drinking didn't help ?!?. After some time though, I kindda got used to it (and maybe also slightly tipsy), and then it was working out just fine.

Returning to the order of things - is it dinner dance? Or should it be dance dinner? Well, I guess it's not really up for debate anywhere, but the night went like this (you tell me ? :) ) :

It started at 9pm with drinks, we were there quarter past, and we were VERY early! Around 10 people had pretty much come, and we've had our welcome drinks. We proceeded into the ball room (which was beautifully decorated and very festive!). Then you'd think dinner would be the next point on the agenda - well....guess again. Now the band started playing, people started drinking and only a few moments later the dancefloor was PACKED! By 12 o'clock dinner was served, but that really didn't affect the amount of people on the floor (with the Sri Lankan's passion for food that actually surprised me quite a bit !). Around 450 people were there. By that time, I for one, was hungry, and I figured with the amount of alcohol on the table, the wise thing would be to get some dinner. Dinner and 12 o'clock doesn't really match in my terminology - until now, I guess :) From this point and onwards people ate sporadically, until the food was removed around 3'ish.

To any Dane, or westerner in general, I'm pretty sure that this night would feel like it was done in reverse order. The party went on til 6 pm - and breakfast was serve around 5, I was told (didn't last that long). I truly was a GREAT evening. So affirming to witness people going crazy on the dance floor WITH OUT vast amounts of alcohol having been consumed (well, at least to begin with). I tried to imagine coming to a party somewhere in DK, and breaking in the floor as one of the first things ?!?!?!?! Let alone, consuming dinner around midnight. Would NEVER happen, that's for sure. Sri Lankan's really know how to have a good time - that much I learned from this night!

What I also discovered is the world of the sari's !

A sari is not JUST a sari. I which I could have taken pictures of all the women there; SO many different colours, styles and ways the style it! And the sexiness of a sari, never occured to me before either - it really IS very sexy though. But definitly in the good way ! Nothing hoochie about it, mind you - rather it has a subtle sensuality to it that makes the women appear so elegant, graceful and sensual. I think, if I were to stay here longer, I would definitly add a few sari's to my wardrobe :)

For the moment, I'm very happy with my pink one - it's my first and it was given to me by a friend :) I'm sure, it'll stay with me for a long time. If I'm to wear it again, I'll have a problem though - not while I'm here - but should there be an event in DK at some point because putting it on, is NOT something you just do!

So, summing up this dancing dinner was yet another GREAT experience for me. I feel very lucky to have had the chance.

Lazing weekend - and then some...

Monday is here again after a weekend of nothing but lazing. Had nothing planned, but one thing: work on my TAN ! During the week,I don't really get the chance to enjoy the sun, and since I've been sick and gone to India last weekend, I was beginning to look rather pale ! Saturday morning, I woke up at an ungodly hour - 5.30 -thinking to myself that it was WAY too early to consider getting up, I tried sleeping some more; no luck though! Instead I got up, made myself my mandatory morning fruit salat, lit some incense and sat down on my balcony and enjoyed the quite morning time ! Normally, I have gone to Mnt. Lavinia on the outskirts of Colombo, when I want some pool time, but since Anker is coming SOON, and I've booked a night at Galle Face Hotel for us, I decided to go there and check out the place (http://www.gallefacehotel.com/html_classic/home_classic.htm). The hotel is a landmark Heritage Hotel established in 1864, during the British Colonial Era, and as Mnt Lavinia it really takes you to a different time. It's right by the ocean, so when you stay at the pool, you have the sea right next to you- including a lovely sea breeze:) What you also have though, on the property right next to the hotel (I think, maybe like 150m), is a narrow 3 story building. The building itself is abandoned, but on top of it is an observation post with heavy artillery and two soldiers...... Hmmmmm, some how it didn't really fit in!!!! The reason for this rather odd post, I think anyways, is that opposite the post lies the presidential residence. Galle Road is in between also, so it is not that close, but I guess, they have a nice overview or something from the post! They must be DYING up there - they have NO shade what so ever, and I was almost evaporating on my sunbed, even though I had the sea breeze and the pool to "cool" me off. The pres. residence borders to Galle Road, which is the arterial road of Colombo - the road actually goes almost around the entire island. In Colombo, it is a one way street with 4 lanes all toghether. But infront of the pres. residency and even quite a way before and after, they direct the traffic into only two lanes. The residence is, of course, shielded by a BIG wall, but they have also barricaded it with metal 'fencing' and a lot of soldiers. I really would like to show you what it looks like, but as you might have guessed, it' not really the place to bring out your camera!!!

Anyhow, the past days have been VERY hot, and not a single cloud in the sky, so after 4 hours in the sun I'd more than enough. I walked all the way back home - pheeeeeeewwww: without exaggerating, I'm pretty sure the temp must have been 35+.

Sunday, was almost like groundhog day, though instead of going to the same place, I went to another new place, Cinnamon Lakeside (http://www.cinnamonhotels.com/CinnamonLakesideColombon.htm). The reason for all this 'hotel exploring' is also that my parents are coming to visit in December, and so I'm thinking that in this way, I'll be able to book them into a place, which is just perfect for them.

Additionally, it's also the only way for me, when I'm in Colombo for the weekend, to get out and enjoy the sun without suffering a heatstroke: having access to a pool is a must, if you're soaking up the sun, otherwise it's simply TOOO hot.

This hotel is placed right next to a big lake, Beira Lake, hence the name, and the view there is actually quite nice :) Laying there doing....well not very much, I got to talking to the woman next to me: Swiss lady, who works as a human rights lawyer for the Swiss Embassy. Very interesting company. The thing is, and it is not that easy to explain, in my daily life I'm not confronted with the brutal realities that exsist other places in the country. In particular, I'm referring to the 250,000 displaced people that STILL stay in the IDP camps in the north.... Sri Lanka has just come out of a 27 year long war, but for the people living in Colombo, it's like life has been almost the same for all of these years. I'm really puzzled by this - and I have no answer to why this terrible situation is not referred to in conversations etc. But it's not, it's like it's non-exsistent. This is why, it's so hard to explain, because people are not ignorent, or for that matter cruel, in ANY way... The thing is that the country is pretty much run by three brothers (anyone looking for checks and balances should look somewhere else!), and they have been able to do something their predecessors have not - end the war. This has, naturally, increased their popularity amongst the people. It also means though, that they hold a tremendous amount of power, so when the president argues that the IDP camps are decent places, and not inhumane, that they are necessary because, they need to screen for potential LTTE's, who might have survived and are in the camps, and beacuse they need to clear the rural villages, where the people come from, for landmines, the public generally believes this. And why shouldn't they, one could argue... He is a popular man Mr. Rajapaksa. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahinda_Rajapaksa), but also very controversial figure. I'm not one to judge...how could I even...The situation is SO complex - a lot of VERY questionable (to put it politely) things have and are happening in Sri Lanka, so maybe this 'public amnesia' that seem to be very present amongst the Singalese people, is 'just' a mere survival mechanism? I don't know. I do know that there are so many good things in this country, but it's legacy has made development - not only financial, also political, vay difficult. I truly hope that good and progressive things will happen here over time, but the implications and interests - national, as well as international - are so complex that it is difficult for me to grasp. I don't blame the west for expressing concerns and stipulating demands - they do finance pretty much all of the humanitarian aid (I was told that the IDP camps cost $ 500,000 a day!), and they are by far the largest export markets for Sri Lanka(EU+US), but the rhetoric used by, especially, US and EU, has a very counterproductive effect - as seen a lot of places in the world.

At the moment, it just adds on to Mr. Rajapaksa's popularity, in the sense that his nationalistic politics strive on his anti-west rhetoric, adding to the feeling of recentment in the way the Sinahalese feel the west have handled and viewed the war. Overall, the Sinahalese feel that the west have no understanding of their situation here, and that their sympathy has been, and to some extent still is, with the tamils.

Okay, I better stop now.... I won't get a a sense of clarity on this matter, I know. I feel that the longer I stay here, there more complex and difficult the whole situation is for me to grasp. It is very interesting to me though, and I will do my best to stay as neutral and open as possible. Mistakes have been made for sure through time, but on both sides.

I cannot, and will, not judge - I will however, continue to learn as much as possible about this amazing country over next months !

Alive and almost kickin'

Well, I'm back... Feeling very bad that it has been sooooo long since you've heard a word from me. I'll keep it brief: ferocious Sri Lankan infection made me bed-bound for 8 days. Talk about hitting rock-bottom. The whole episode showed me another aspect of Sri Lanka though; the healthcare system. After three days, with the fever showing no decline, I was told to go to hospital - you never know in this tropical climate, I guess. So I went, a little reluctantly, but I went. I didn't go to a public hospital. Apperently, these are only use be people who really have no other options. I havn't seen one for myself, but over-crowded is supposedly an enormous understatement! So, I went to a private hospital. Works pretty much as the public ones we know in Dk with an emergency room etc. I have to say that I was very pleasently surpriced by this whole healthcare encounter. Everything went very swift, no loooong hours of waiting, nice facilities and only a days wait for blod test results.

Being sick is one thing, it's boooooooring and it stincks when you're feeling like #!!*#!, being sick and having a trip to Bangalore in the very near future stincks EVEN more though. I had booked my flight loongago to go visit Bangalore where Savi and John live. I really couldn't bear the thought of having to cancel the trip and missing that reunion (and a chance to see some more of India - many things can be said about Goa, but being representative of the rest of India, it is not!)

Thursday, I left Colombo in a state of well.....feeling better than days before, but in no way feeling up to full speed, I headed to the airport and got on the plane.
Seeing Savi and John again was so nice, it's been 7 months since last, but really didn't feel like that :)
Bangalore was great. Friday it was so so with the exploring due to the crappy health condition. We did however, manage to go out for a VERY nice, typical Indian 'thali'. Otherwise, I had to lay low. Not my initial plan for Bangalore, but the way it was. This gave me the chance to read a very good book though, and I would really like to recommend to anyone, who feels like straying into the mid 1970's Goa: 'Goa Freaks: My Hippie Years in India' by Cleo Odzer. Easily read, and extremly entertaining.
Saturday morning I woke up feeling a lot better - YAY !!! The estimated population of Bangalore is 6100000, so of course I saw only bits and piece of the city, but I REALLY liked it. Had some similarity to Sri Lanka and Colombo, but it really showed that industrialisation has been a part of Bangalore for much longer than Colombo. That being said the city was still full of cows, pot holes and gravel roads, village areas within the city - all in close proximity to grand shopping malls all tinseling and glittering! The contrasts really work for me. I LIKE the cows, the chai wallas, the ironing wallas (men standing on the side of the street with almost antique looking irons - heated by coals - doing the neighbourhoods ironing), and all the other things that make it worlds apart from the west. That being said, I also realized the comfort of being in a place where you could get everything you would need. I don't really think about it in my daily life here in Colombo, but many things are not that easy to get a hold of here. I have, for example, been chasing a new mascara FOR EVER here in Colombo, with out any result. Sugarfree gum also VERY difficult to find here. But then on the other hand, I'm able to get great herbal products at a price where you wouldn't even be able to buy the container in DK!

Anyway, feeling almost all better Saterday, we went to 'Pebbles', which is a club in Bangalore where both Savi and John play. This particular saturday Paul Taylor ways playing. Bangalore has a 11.30 curfew, which means that everything stops and closes at that time! That doesn't really stop people from partying though, they just go to someones home and pick it up again :) Strange rule though - and even more strange is that it was only introduced a few years back.
I returned from yesterday, not fit as a fiddle, but much better than when I left. I also brought back 2 pairs of shoes (wouuuuppsssss) AND my first SARI, which the lovely Savi so generously gave me. I'm going to a traditional Sri Lankan dinner party next weekend, so that will be my first sari appearance. I see so many beautiful women on a daily basis wearing sari's, but when I tried one on in a store in Bangalore, my eye's almost rolled out of my head. I looked so alien to myself. Also, I felt very naked. Eventhough, we are no strangers to skimpy dresses etc, wearing the sari was naked in a totally different way. Don't know how I'm going to cope with sitting at a formal dinner with my stomach and waist not covered up! Now, I need to have a sari jacket (that's the name of the small shirt you wear under the sari). My sari is in pink organza with small silver threads in it, so I'm thinking maybe silver jacket :)
Bangalore was just GREAT, sickness or no sickness. I met the nicest people thru Savi and John, got an insider weekend tour of Bangalore and got to spend some quality time with S&J. One thing did occur to me during this weekend: staying away from Goa is not realistic ! Who am I kiddin' - it's so close by, and there are even more people to go see again. No one told that I shouldn't go, but in my mind, I was thinking maybe to travel for a few weeks to other parts of India, before I leave DK again. BUT....................... Goa is so close by- only a cheap 2 hour flight away. So I guess, chances are that I'll spend a little time there in January. No fixed plans yet though.

By now, it's already early October...Find it hard to believe - time goes by SO fast. I only have to work 20 more days and Anker will be here. REALLY excited about that :) Can't wait to see him and show him everything. YAY

For now though, it's back to work. I havn't been here for 9 days, so I need to get back into motion!
Thinking of everyone - miss seeing you guys and talking to you on a more regular basis !!! Not missing fall one bit, but I'm in serious need of some quality time with all of you :) Would be much worse, if I didn't miss anything, no ?