From 1966

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The pump house was build in 1966. I think all the machinery and everything in it is original parts.

Doing some business


Old beautiful machinery stuff


The Pump House

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Then we went to the pump house and got some fresh breeze. The water tank is full of crockodiles but according to the man who is in charge of the pump house they do not harm people.

The Holy Hill

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Today we went to a place called Vakaneri and visited this Holy Hill. It is by the big water tank and it is a muslim person who is berried long time ago and people still visit this place and believe this place it has special powers, even though its not rellay according to their religion. There used to be a small mosque where the hut is now.

Day what in the Big K

Dear everyone, tonight Im actually too tired to write something here - it been a very intense day... But promise to write tomorrow and also show nice pictures from the Water tank in the midst of the djungle!

Snapshot from my trip to Batti yesterday

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He raised the before hand agreed price for the trip after I had done the turn & return trip with him... Strange business strategy.

Eye flies en Masse

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I lifted my eyes earlier today and saw this hanging above me... So NOW you can see lots of these irritating flies I was writing about earlier, apparently they goes under the name eye flies. This gathering is , as you maybe can see, along a bulb kabel haninng from the roof.

Day seven in the Big K

So its Sunday and Im lazy – but for a good reason – had a tropical stomach attack last night, so am a bit weak but now well again.

 

To share with you my cuttlefish experience it was not really un-eatable but, no, had to leave most of it. Runi stated that I didn’t like cuttle fish and I answered that No not so much. And instead I got crab on Friday night – pretty nice. I am being spoiled.

 

Yesterday I woke up early and went to the beach and of course it was lovely.  But on Tuesday I think I will try Kalkudah beach, now everyone is saying that its much nicer than Pasakudah… OK, I will give it a shot, it’s the neighbour bay that is three timea as big, and as I remember it ten times bigger and stronger waves, but I will report back on Tuesday- Of course with pictures.

 

Yesterday I had a busy day meeting people and then I went back here for a late lunch (at 3pm) and then took a 3wheeler/tuktuk to Batti. It was such a change, big road with hardly no bumps and then huge road building constructions more or less all the way.  Its really high development and construction activity around. And I didn’t have my camera out then but two young dusty guys, standing barefoot tur´ning and smilling and waving at me, at the same time they were holding a machine that is crushing the old asphalt two centimeters from their naked feet (you know that kind of machine that is jumping up and down and makes the arms vibrate). Somehow a very Srilankan experience.

 

Then I met with Dan and his fiancée in their house by the lagun and I must say it was a veeeery nice house, veeery nice fiancée and a happy Dan. They had a BBQ going and there were other international people working with development coming and suddenly it all felt very familiar to me. You meet and introduce each other and after two minutes you talk like you have known each other for years, kind of. Of course we had to sit up att catch up three years after all the guests has left, so it got very late. And not even was I going back very early (not so hot I thought yesterday when I planned this) and on top of this a tropical stomach started during the night.

 

So when I finally came back to Kalkudah and my room at 8.30 I just went back to sleep.

 

Tomorrow we will go to Ampara, the district south of Batti, it will be very nice to see some old faces and places from  before!

 

And yes, Im now invited to Dan and his finacée wedding in Bangladesh in the end on November!

 

 

 


There is nothing like a Mango taken just from the tree

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Sat infront of my computer when Runi swang by and gave me this lovely mango! I smells so nice and its warm. Looking forward to eat it later.

Nice bottle in glass...

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and just look what a nice bottle it is! EGB is the shit!

Elephant Ginger Beer!

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I just realized today that I hadnt had a EGB yet - so after lunch I had one - great!

Day five in the Big K

Put the alarm on this morning but continued sleeping, so no beach this morning

 

Had an amazingly tasty breakfast. It was coconut bread, shaped like a pita bread, and inside there was vegetables and a bit fish. I got two but could only eat one. Don’t know why they give me so much food… maybe because this is how they serve with big portions, or maybe they think I need to eat a lot… hehe. Runi’s wife looked a bit disappointed when she saw  I only had one of them. She doesent speak English but I still told her in English it was so tasty and I could not eat both because it was too much. Still she didn’t look convinced.

 

I finished my morning coffee in the confy-chair and enjoyed the speedy fan. When I was sitting there Runi’s wife came with incense/rökelse and above my door there is a Hindu symbol of an animal and she reached her arm towards that picture with the other arm a bit crossing the other holding the incense/rökelse. Then she went to the end of the veranda and came back and putting her hand together in front of the picture. I didn’t really know what I was supposed to do right there and then… I was sitting there drinking coffee with my legs up on the two chair-extensions, laying there like a parsha… so I smiled and looked a bit at her and a bit not.

 

I just said to myself yes may God bless this room and the whole place and then I rushed off on my bicycle.

 

After some assessments and observations I actually think this is a special hindu day, either Fridays is hindu days (I should know this by now , no…) or this is a special day. Will find out. My memory is good but short.

 

And I actually think there is a tamil dog language. I realize that they all sound exactly the same when they bark and howl/ylar.  Its especially clear when I go to bed and hear all the dogs in the neighbourhood. Makes me smile.

 

Tomorrow I will go to Batti and enjoy myself so probably no blogging until Sunday.

 

 

 

 

 

 


Day Four in Kalkudah

Last night I was watching Bad Teacher with Cameron Diaz and Justin Timberlake – a just ok movie, barely. Then I had a good night sleep!

 

Woke up this morning and put on my surfer shorts and took the bicycle to the beach. Same procedures like last time, as lovely as last time.

 

Then I went back, had a shower, had a breakfast – this time it was milk rice with fruits and cashew, simply very tasty. A bit like “risgrynsgröt” but less creamy.

 

Got a bit late but jumped on the bicycle and went into town to meet people. When I was going back I was quite far away from Kalkudah and it was 1 o´clock = veeeery hot and the sun in zenit. So it took me 15 minutes to bike, no hills at all, just flat but still I was totally soaked with sweat when I came back. Sat down in the confy-chair, had 1,5 litres of water and then lunch, rice&curry of course.

 

Took a shower and then read in the confy-chair. Hard life, no!?

 

Then Sanoon came and we talked for two hours about the days ahead, very nice and exiting. Actually before he arrived I swiped the veranda, or one half of it because it was soooo dusty, made me feel useful. The Runi family had many projects going on today so they had no time for cleaning I think. It has ben windy today so much sand and dust on the floors.

 

Just a few minutes ago a room with AC just got ready, some AC workmen has been installing it for two days. So when they left the whole Runi family went into the room and closed the door and put on the AC. It worked well Runi said afterwards and the fuse did not go either! But I will stay in my room, its in the middle of the building and not so hot.

 

Tomorrow afternoon I might go to one of the fancy hotels and have a fruitjuice or something – want to try the feeling.

 

Oh, I just heard I might get cuttle fish for dinner - horrible... ok, will eat a lot of rice....


Black Berries

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Akka came this evening and asked Runi why he hadnt given me a King coconut today. Runi smiled and said King Coconut not good now, only inte the morning. I said that he most probably was right. So Akka brought me some small black berries she wanted me to try. So I did (of course) and the tasted like something I never tasted before. Good, but dry, but yet a bit sweet. They have big core (kärna) so not much to eat from each berry.
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And in the picture you can also see my irritating washing/bicykle blister at the begining of my pointing finger. :-(

The fan is on!

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I thought the fan was broken because it was barely moving on the highest step... So finally today I told Runi that I think its somehow broken. He went to the switch and put it on the lowest speed, that means step one and look - now it was spinning so fast that the roof almost lifted!

Day three in Kalkudah (realized today this how they spell it)

Oh Im so tired now and a bit down for no good reason – maybe because Im tired…

 

I have been riding my bicycle in the area today during the day, so that might be the reason why Im a bit exhausted now.  And I didn’t sleep well last night… OK, I just had to complain a bit.

 

Otherwise everything is so nice here and people are so friendly and happy to meet and talk to me. And it feels a bit strange to talk about things but with a different role. Again I have to say Im so lucky to have Sanoon helping me – because he really is! He has suggestions and ideas that really are super duper good.

 

But we are both a bit lazy, or we realized that we  hasn’t done anything workwise for months and are still on vacation mode. So when Sanoon suggested we would meet at nine this morning I looked at him and he said yes, that is too early, no! We met at 10.30 instead.

 

Runi is a bit concerned, I think, that Im too much lonely in the evenings, that nobody comes visiting. So tonight he sat with me while I had my dinner – very sweet! He told me he had read in the newspaper about a guy in Indonesia who had seven dogs and went away for a two-week vacation. The guy just left the seven dogs inside his apartment and locked the door. When he came back after his vacation and opened the door, the dogs ate him! The neighbours found the luggage standing by the door and… Runi was very upset (and I got upset as well) how a man can treat animals like that. He said that man should have stayed alone, not being aloud to keep animals.

 

Tomorrow I will get a bedside lamp ( or Runi will get one for me) so that I can read in the evening. Otherwise I have only a naked energy saving lamp in the roof, not so cosy.

 

Good night everyone – tomorrow is another (busy) day!

 

 

 


New coconut kind of juice

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After lunch Runi's wife gave me this juice. Its from one of the coconut trees, the coconut is black on the outside. Its not the usual King coconut, that I have had so many times - its the best rehydration ever! Anyway, this juice I ofcourse had to try. It looked like mango juice, a bit thick and similar colour. But tasted completley different. Not sweet at all but very thick. Strange. Dont know if I liked it but I drank all and feel fine afterwards. ;-)

Laundry Day

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Today is laundry day and with a bucket and some detergent I have been washing my clothes today. I got a blistard from all the hard work! The really great thing is that it gets dry within just an hour or two. You can also se a three wheeler in the picture and I think its Runi's son or son in law who owns it. It is in prima shape. This is truly a family business group, where everyone is doing something. Unfortunately Runi wife is not healthy, so she can only cook one meal a day, that means dinner. Her sister is cooking the other meals (or she is Akka, she seem very much older than Runis wife, could be her mom,  but hard to tell). In the background you see my clean clothes.

Small dangerous flies

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In the top left corner you can see something very small back thing - that a flie and I only managed to catch one in the picture - usually they come in big groups. But the are fast and they never come alone. These litte flies, back in 2006, made a small tiny normal blistard to become a serious infection on my heel... And got my whole lower lef t oswollen up and become twice as big... Anyway, the other thing you should look at is my new glasses - I love them!

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