Photo link: https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZwjmeHjDmj3k4Y7s8

This Sri Lanka holiday was planned many months ago. Here is a link to a Google Map of the route: https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1BCD5ZnE6FI231WoC2MsB9evK3d3ZvqM&usp=sharing

I nearly cancelled at the last moment due to the horrendous natural disaster in Sri Lanka, with widespread flooding, landslides, etc. Anyhow, here I am and so far, glad I came. The country is very damaged in many places, but many are normal as well.

I met my driver/guide Chaminda at the airport a little after midnight, and we headed off to Ambarella Guest House, a working coconut farm & accommodation. His overtaking style is to do it very slowly on a blind corner, so any collision would be mild. The assumption, if not a formal road rule, is that any oncoming traffic will be given way to by whoever can most easily do so. Nobody drives fast here, or complains about oncoming traffic - the whole road is to be used. Asking him about whether the Tamil political situation was reliably calm, after a lengthy discourse, assuring me things were ok, he finished with ‘the soil remains infected with bacteria’.

He has a postgrad qualification in cultural studies, and we had an interesting discussion about origins of languages and where Lithuanian fits in the Indo-European thrust, and how many words in Lithuanian are the same in Sanskrit.

The first two nights were in a lovely place, with incredible sounds of bird and wildlife. The room was great - simple but stylish.

The shower was a magnificent experience that could only be found in a country with ample water - a torrential volume of heavy warm rain from a huge showerhead. It would surely be illegal in Australia. The toilet accepted deposits in the usual manner, and looked modern, but it rocked somewhat, being unattached to the ground. I wondered where the leak would be. It would probably be illegal in Australia.

The bidet attachment had enough pressure to create an immediate embolism. It may have been a decommissioned water jet cutter (like the ones that cut marble and steel). Surprise circumcision (or worse…) is a risk if the aim was poor.

I completed my ablutions, and remained of tenor voice.

I woke to an incredible symphony of bird and animal sounds (find a recording here): https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1zM08I2hoVSTvM8Jopt7RizsDIeR7fGAb?usp=sharing

I used an amazing app - Merlin Bird ID, free, from Cornell University. You record the sounds on your phone, and the app matches with it’s database to give you a list of birds it’s matched. Quite amazing.

The property is about 20 hectares of coconut, forest, and spice plants. The following night I could hear chanting from a Buddhist ceremony in the wee hours, but it was meditative rather than annoying. I definitely preferred it to Muslim call to prayer at 5am, which is hard to go back to sleep from. To be scrupulously non discriminatory, I don’t like church bells at night either, which may be the worst option.

Breakfast was a huge amount of super ripe fruits, coconut roti, some SriLankan pancakes with caramelised coconut, and water buffalo yoghurt with palm sugar syrup, all from the property - km zero! Dinner was some great curries.

On the first day did a tuk-tuk tour of the local village, and saw a pottery factory, a coir rope making process on a farm, and a spectacular small Buddhist temple. The rope making equipment looked potentially very hazardous to the operator and any small children nearby. It would be illegal in Australia.