I have just hit my 2 year mark and it's incredible how time literally flies. A few updates are that I have renewed my lease and working permit here in Singapore, time frame, I don't know!? I will be home in July for Danny and Maggie's wedding in July and can't wait! And Molly is coming back to visit, yay she loved Asia! An this time she is coming with the best neighbor a person could ask for Bethany, from Lincoln Park Towers...watch out Asia!
Anyways, I have visited some very special places and felt it was time for an update! I hope you enjoy.
Per usual I think the only way this blog can entertain is with photos. Before I get into Sri Lanka I wanted to share how clever I thought the W Bangkok was with the location specific decor!
The wall of lights is actually lights from Tuk Tuk's around town!
Lights Out boxing gloves on the bed. Very clever since Muay Thai boxing is so popular there!
I will breeze right over Christmas and New Year's because that would be a novel in and of itself! I will dive right into Sri Lanka! I have always wanted to go there and so my friend Colleen and I booked ourselves on a fantastic 5 day trip, 2 nights at the beach and 2 nights in the tea trails!
When your hotel is all inclusive you have Rose for lunch!
The fishermen on the sticks were something I have never seen before. I guess they prefer that, to a boat.
The fisherman did craft a state of the art pier to get to work every day!
There is an actual reason they do this, if you care to have a look:
http://www.wired.com/2014/08/florian-muller-sri-lanka-stilt-fishing/
Every school child in Sri Lanka was on a field trip to Galle the day we visited and it was about 150 degrees.
Clock Tower
Lunch time! What utensils?! Eating with your hands, a craft I have not mastered.
Adorable shopping in Galle, quaint (sweltering hot) streets!
Bike Ride through Weligama:
Rice fields with water buffalo's
2 trouble makers fishing for something ;)
I think these may be rubber trees, a major export of Sri Lanka...hard to tell my since guide wasn't so clear ;). It was only clear he was trying to tell me something important and I should be thankful and take a picture to cherish the mystery trees for years to come!
Tons of peacocks roaming around
Fresh delivery
Well that is basically all I have to share from Weligama and Galle, they were amazing, the food (read, Rose) was delicious and it was a lot of relaxing. The next stop was the tea trails. Everyone says the roads in Sri Lanka are not that great but I always thought, how bad could they be? The answer is BAD! Imagine driving in a Geo Metro up a mountain over huge rocks and boulders for 8 hours, it was like that. The driver was so lost and for 3 hours told us we would be there in 15 minuets/10 kilometers. After he said this for the 12th time I tried to explain the sun was going to set, we could potentially run out of gas and that we had no food. Toonces the driving cat simply looked and me and said...5 minuets/10 kilometers.
Driving around the mountain range about 4 times to try to find our hotel was worth it in the end. It was so beautiful, I think I ended up taking 150 of the same picture.
I got up for sunrise, so you know it must have been good. No filer, it was absolutely divine
The Bungalow we stayed at: there were about 4 in the region in the same company. The Castlereagh was on the water, which was beautiful
Luxurious it was!
Bungalow flowers
Norwood Tea Estate- Tea Tour
To know me, is to know I love tea! Such a great tour!
Betel stains your teeth brown and it's really nasty, Not allowed here...however by the looks of the factory workers teeth, I think they were breakin' the rules.
Example: from Google
The tea is picked from these beautiful, man made tea trails
The heavier your bag, the more money you earn...
There is a quality check, so you can't just fill it up with rocks:)
The tea pickers have dropped off fresh leaves to earn their daily wages. I think it's around $5-$15 USD; they live on government land and their children can go to government school. Typically every female in the village becomes a tea picker and every male, a tea factory worker. The average retirement age is 65...they start between 15-18 years of age
Fresh from the tea trails, tea leaves being spread out for tea leaf quality check
Full house of tea!
A lovely moment at the tea factory
Inside the Tea Factory:
Carefully spreading out the tea to breathe
All the tea, lined up
Before the tea is lined up, it goes through a few machines with a lot of manual assistance
The tea is packaged and ready to go to auction
Time to taste the teas, a few difference types are grown here
Tea time
The trails before the rain
Tuk Tuk'in around the trails...still on one way roads
Bliss!
I am not sure these videos will work, but they are inside the factory.
Until next time! Lots of love, Katy
