Poson

Back in Kandy after 3 days away. I had a 3-day weekend because of Poson Poya and although I was originally thinking about going somewhere with Maggie for a few days in the end I decided that this would be a good weekend to visit Dhanushka's family - his Mum has been asking me to come for ages.

As I finish at 2.30 on Saturdays, I left on Saturday afternoon as soon as I'd finished teaching and was there by early evening. On Sunday Dhanushka's Mum decided that we should go to Polonnaruwa, so along with what seemed like everyone else in the district we spent the morning looking around the ruins. Usually foreigners (including residents unfortunately) are charged an extortionate amount to visit the ruins, but because there were so many people we managed to get in without me having to buy a ticket.

On both Vesak and Poson poyas people set up stalls called dansal and provide food and drink for passers-by as a way to gain merit. On the way to Polonnaruwa we stopped at a few dansal for something to drink and Dhanushka's Mum decided that we had to go to a particular dansal near the tank for lunch. After an hour standing in a queue that wasn't going anywhere I managed to convince her that it wasn't worth waiting - there was no way I was going to wait for 3 hours for something to eat. By that time the traffic had got really bad, so although we'd originally planned to do a few other things we decided to head home. On the way home we came across another dansal and altough the food might not have been as good as the place Dhanushka's Mum wanted to go to, it was OK.

I'd arranged to meet Maggie in Sigiriya yesterday, but Sunday a guy I know from Dhanushka's village asked me to visit the school he teaches at, so on the way to Sigiriya I spent a couple of hours at a school. I thought I was just going to visit a class, but as it turns out there were over a hundred students in a hall, which was a little bit daunting. Somehow though we managed to do a short activity with them.

The hotel Maggie and I stayed at in Sigiriya had wonderful views of the rock and a beautiful pool, but unfortunately the food was a bit of a disappointment, particularly as there was no vegetarian option for dinner, which put me in a bad mood for the rest of the evening. Still, it was great just to be able to relax. We went for a long walk around Sigiriya rock early this morning and yesterday evening climbed to the top of another outcrop just to the north of Sigiriya from where there were amazing views of Sigiriya rock and the surrounding countryside, so it wasn't all bad.

Thankfully there wasn't much traffic this afternoon so we managed to make it back to Kandy fairly quickly. As always though the last stretch coming into Kandy was the worst - drivers here are so stupid at times - and so impatient. It really makes me really mad that people here seem to have no idea just how dangerous the way they drive is and have no respect for anyone else on the road. I've got used to expecting the worst, but it doesn't make it any easier.

I had an e-mail from my Dad when I got back this afternoon saying that they're flying home this evening. When I spoke to my Dad on Friday Mum was still being monitored, but obviously the doctor has decided that she's fit enough to fly home, which is good news. I'm sure she must be so looking forward to getting home.