Lovely photo of Wes at our hotel in Kandy
Dear Friends, I left you as we headed out to walk along the Galle Face – the Esplanade that we can see from our bedroom. It was a hot walk, but exciting to be by the water and watching the young couples sitting together under umbrellas whispering secrets; the families paddling in the waves; the food & drink sellers proffering their wares, and the kite makers entrancing kids of all ages with their brightly coloured and beautiful kites. There were also long queues to catch buses to the quay where a ship was moored and visitors were welcomed. We came back to our hotel for an ice-cream and Wes and Murray arranged to meet our guide, Cecil, tomorrow morning to see the Methodist Orphanage run by his church.
Then we all hopped onto the bus for a two-hour tour of Colombo, including a stop at a Dutch Reformation Church full of tablets to de Kretsers, and a wonderful temple with an elephant with long tusks, two Labradors trying to catch fish in a pond and a Buddha whose eyes follow you around the room a la Mona Lisa. We had hoped to go to a cricket ground or two but they were occupied with cricket matches and heavily guarded. Our favourite was the Nondescripts Club!
Wes went swimming with Norma afterwards and I did Logic Puzzles in the cool of the air-conditioning, then we set off en masse to the Galle Face Hotel for dinner. Keith had booked a table; we did a quick tour of the Hotel, had a G&T then enjoyed an old-fashioned meal in the dining room. One of our party lives on Christmas Island and another in Cairns, but has lived in New Guinea for many years, so there are heaps of stories to hear. Norma told us all that she had tried to buy stamps at reception, where she was informed that they kept stamps, certainly, but she could not buy them on the weekend – only during Post Office hours apparently!!!
We had a completely free day on Monday, so after breakfast Wes & Murray joined Cecil to visit his orphanage and I managed to balance Quicken after a long chat to Viva who is sounding much better – nothing like getting air-conditioning back and the rest of the repairs are being done this week as well.
Our view at the cricket in Colombo
Meanwhile, Norma, Jenny & I got a tuk-tuk to the Cinnamon Grand Hotel about 10 minutes away as it has a supermarket in the basement, so we were able to get toothpaste, nibbles, etc. Wes met us there and debriefed over a cool drink in the coffee lounge which was the only air-conditioned part of the shopping centre. He told us that the Warden of the orphanage asked for $A200 to buy sheets & pillowcases for the 28 beds occupied by the boys they had seen, so we are taking up a collection on the bus today. When Viva heard was Wes was doing she immediately donated $50, so the fund has a good start. Not everyone wants to contribute, which is fine, but Murray has asked us all to collect soaps, shampoos and bath foam bottles as they boys make do with old bits of soap in jam jars when they have their communal showers.
The boys’ dormitory above & kitchen below
We caught a taxi to the Mount Lavinia Hotel, the oldest hotel in Columbo, used the loo, had a good look around and walked along the beach before catching another taxi back to our hotel. Jenny needed to post presents back to Australia, so our driver stopped at a Post Office, went to the book store to buy a jiffy bag for her, and made sure that her parcel was properly stamped before taking us back here. We were very grateful and tipped him accordingly. The afternoon was spent chatting, swimming, reading and relaxing, before we joined others for drinks before dinner, which we had at the hotel Chinese Restaurant, where we shared a yummy meal with Norma, Jenny and David, who lives in Brisbane and has visited 50 countries so far in his 42 years on earth. Conversation was on films and we had a loud and enthusiastic chat. Wes and Norma kicked on with Stacky, but I went to bed at 10.30pm to try to catch up on sleep.
Our hotel was full to bursting this morning with people streaming into Colombo for the day’s cricket, as well as the remnants of 2 weddings of the day before. We breakfasted early to avoid the crush, but when Wes went down to organise lunch boxes, he said there was no room to move. He heard a young man in the lift tell his Chinese partner that he would explain cricket to her over breakfast! Everyone is talking about Ricky Ponting’s resignation and Murali’s injury – you can have a great chat with anyone you meet, provided your topic is cricket.
Orphan boys playing cricket with newspaper ball
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