008 - Sri Lanka - Strangling noises in the bathroom and Ella in the light version or simply put: how we sleep through New Year's Eve

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Strangled noises in the bathroom and Ella in the Light version or simply put: how we sleep through New Year's Eve

I am jolted out of a deep sleep. Strangled noises from the bathroom. Our Kathi is throwing up every 10 minutes. Diarrhoea and vomiting alternate. Who knows what she has eaten. We suspect that somewhere she didn't always rinse everything with bottled water, but with tap water. But it doesn't matter, now we have to wait and see if she gets fit again.

We have breakfast downstairs with the homestay hostess. Such a lovely, warm person. We get a huge breakfast. I list all the things she serves: coconut pancakes, omelette, toast with butter and jam, sliced fruit, yoghurt and honey and a huge pot of tea. I'm slowly getting used to drinking tea here. Quite delicious.

Moppi, Gerd and I have a big breakfast, Kathi stays up in the room and just wants some fruit. Which she then vomits up again.

We are thinking about whether we really want to travel further today. Actually, we wanted to go to Uda Walawe National Park and do a safari at dusk. But we will save that now.

I get my first Ayurvedic massage here, after all I have sore muscles from yesterday's ascent and especially from the descent. But the massage didn't really convince me. It was quite firm and on top of my sore muscles - phew.

Sometime around 2 Kathi is well enough to travel. We decide against the cheap bus and take a taxi. We pay a hefty 8000 rupees (against about 300 for the bus) and are driven around the country for 3 hours. The taxi driver is very nice and stops at all sorts of things, little monkeys on the side of the road, at the beautiful waterfall near Ella and at every little natural beauty. He also drives very carefully so that Kathi can sleep well. And she does.

Arriving in Uda Walawe, we move into a romantic cottage with hammocks, 2 double rooms and a living area. The view is fantastic, directly onto a lake. Gerd and I walk a little along the lake, see women doing their laundry at the lake. Seeing a whole herd of black cows being driven into the water for a swim and then out again. Seeing how young people zoom around on their little motorbikes and tuktuks. And everyone is smiling. It's incredible how friendly the people are. I enjoy it so much.

A little further on there is a Buddhist temple that we look at from the outside. It looks beautiful, the sand is swept all around, everywhere decorated with flowers. We remember that today is New Year's Eve. In Buddhism, this is not an important date, but people always decorate for "worship".

On the way back to our cottage we meet some Sinhalese again. Among others, a group of three, 2 women and a sweet girl of about 5 years. She beams at us and shouts: "Happy new year! We are happy and also shout "Happy new year!". The women shake our hands and we are allowed to choose a flower from the flower-filled bowl. I put it in my hair. The three of them move on and we are simply delighted. Gerd even has tears in his eyes. And, by the way, so am I as I write this.

Arriving at the cottage, we see that our Kathi is still not doing so well. She is lying on the sofa and doesn't even want to play UNO. That means something. The three of us play a few rounds until our host serves us dinner. Typical Sri Lanka curry. We make ourselves comfortable for a while, but then go to bed early and sleep through New Year's Eve once again.

Shownotes for iTunes: https://www.leben-pur.ch/008-sri-lanka-wuergende-geraeusche-im-bad-und-ella-in-der-lightversion-oder-einfach-ausgedrueckt-wie-wir-silvester-verschlafen/