Sunday 20th October 2024

Rohan picked us up in the school van to drive us down to Kandy, as we had been invited to lunch at my good friend Kamal's house. Kamal works at the Grand Hotel in Nuwara Eliya, and I have known him for 5 years now, since my first trip to Sri Lanka in 2019. He lives just outside Kandy in a fairly small village with his lovely wife, Menaga, and his two gorgeous boys, Abiyuth and Abisheak, who just happen to be almost the same age as our two granddaughters, Isabella and Esther.

We received such a warm welcome from them, and they had prepared a delicious lunch for us, which we ate at the table on banana leaves. We even ate with our fingers (as all Sri Lankans do), and I managed to cope pretty well with it today. It still feels rather odd, but I actually think that I could get used to it now. The children ate afterwards on an extremely large banana leaf on the floor in the lounge, with a neighbour and her daughter joining them.

Kamal and his family are Baptist Christians, and we went for a short walk after lunch to see their church, which has lovely views across the hills from it. A little tuk-tuk ride took us down to the river, but it wasn't as spectacular as it usually is, because it has dried up so much in this very hot weather, with not enough rain yet to bring it to its normal levels. All too soon, it was time to drive back again to Kurunegala, and I felt a little sad to leave them.

Back at our apartment in Kurunegala, we were determined to get a swim in this evening, as we have been scuppered by heavy rain on some nights, and then went away for a couple of days. It ended up being a pleasant evening, so we were successful in having a lovely swim in the floodlit pool, before heading back for a shower, and a relaxing evening in the apartment. It really has been a lovely day, but it's back to work tomorrow, with lesson observations at 07:35!

Today's photographs are devoted entirely to our visit to see Kamal, Menaga, Abiyuth, and Abisheak at their home near Kandy, where we enjoyed a lovely lunch with no plates or knives and forks - just delicious, simple food presented on banana leaves, and eaten with our fingers!









Comments

  1. SunshineOctober 20, 2024 at 8:57 PM

    Wonderful ! ❤️

    ReplyDelete
  2. Menaka AriyadasaOctober 20, 2024 at 10:06 PM

    Woow sir ,

    ReplyDelete
  3. CharlesOctober 22, 2024 at 12:59 AM

    Good to see you have been able to share some of your former TLV experience with Valerie, Keith.

    ReplyDelete

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