Thursday 1st January 2026

Although I slept very soundly, I still only managed 5 hours of sleep, as I was awake at 07:00, and Daya's fiancee, Vinothini arrived at the house shortly after that to see us. I guess it wasn't surprising, as my body clock was all over the place after the long journey yesterday, and Sri Lanka is 5.5 hours ahead of the UK. I was too tired to have a shower last night, so my morning shower today felt wonderfully refreshing, and I felt quite wide awake for the first half of the day!

One of the first things that we did this morning was to visit Daya's parents' graves. There are buried just a short way from the house, and since my last visit, the brothers have added a headstone to mark where they are buried next to each other. It is traditional here to honour your parents' graves on days like today, and it was lovely to do that with Daya and Vinothini. There is a beautiful view from where they are buried, although the photograph that I took of it doesn't really do it justice.

I spent the morning sorting out all my stuff (there's rather a lot of it!), as I will leave some of it here at Daya's, so that I don't have to take it all to Nuwara Eliya on Sunday. I am only in Nuwara Eliya for 9 nights before returning here for Thai Pongal, which is on Wednesday 14th and Thursday 15th January, after which I will be supporting the Tea Leaf Centres in Maskeliya and Bogawantalawa, prior to Daya and Vinothini's wedding on Saturday 31st January in Hatton.

You won't be surprised that I was flagging rather a lot by the afternoon today, as the lack of sleep caught up with me. I spent time starting my blog and my daily diary, but I also nodded off a bit, which was blissfully relaxing. I have deliberately paced myself better on this trip (with the help of Mr. James at Tea Leaf), so that I should be in a much more relaxed state of mind by the time I start volunteering at Tea Leaf Centre Nuwara Eliya (which is in Nanu Oya) on Monday 5th January.

Today's photos show my morning visit to pay my respects at Daya's parents' graves, plus a photo of my New Year's Day lunch today (so that you can get an idea of the traditional Sri Lankan food that I am eating), and a lovely view from the back door of Daya's rather lovely home at twilight!






Comments

  1. AnonymousJanuary 1, 2026 at 5:49 AM

    Lovely to host ❤️🖤

    ReplyDelete
  2. Manika AriyadasaJanuary 1, 2026 at 7:31 AM

    Hi sir welcome to sri Lanka

    ReplyDelete
  3. CharlesJanuary 1, 2026 at 9:41 AM

    How nice that Vinothini wanted to visit Daya's parents' grave with Daya and you. Not long until Daya and Vinothini's big day now!

    ReplyDelete

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