something like a fashion post

All right! Let me take you for a walk in Diyatalawa! First I show you how the people dry their clothes once there is a rain break and some sun.

Then on your right side you will meet the lady tailor Gertrud. She is very sweet and I gave her some work to do! You will the results later.

On the left side there is these 2 guys, I dont know their names, but they know me. Because I enjoy so much dogging in their piles of old clothes, mainly coming from the West. 80ies jackets and sweaters. But on the picture you see the winter collection "made in Sri Lanka". I bought a silk safari print jacket which got transformed into a sari blouse. Which I am wearing without a sari. I hope that is ok.

 

I took my safarishirt out to the Barefoot Cafe in Colombo, to drink a nice papayajuice. The Barefoot cafe is the place where you can spend hours looking at the beautiful handloom fabrics they sell (like that table cloth). Fortunately the EC-cash machine did not work that day, so I only bought a post card.

There was also a retro poster exhibition. One poster illustrates the sri lankan railroad experience. I add a picture from the train in Diyatalawa.

Puja, sunset & tea time

We had a hindu priest coming over to make a tradional ceremony for us (puja). The altar decoration was pretty amazing: flowers, bananas, cake, inscense and rice and sound and fire and many good wishes and blessings for all of us and our families.

On Tuesday we took the train to Ella, a town  which has a bit more to show ans therefore also more tourists. We had a nice tea time in a chic old hotel, including a panoramic view down to the valley.

We also went to see the Rawana Waterfalls. Rawana is the name of a daemon who is very famous in hindu story telling. Around this waterfall there is supposed to be the cave where he was hiding a beautiful girl named Sita. Her boyfriend had to come all the way from India to get her back...

This morning we climbed up the hill next to the temple to watch the sunset. The air was very clear and very fresh and the light was very bright. It is really powerful to start the day like that:

This is a snapshot from Bandarawela town, where there is a big tea shop. And seems like Dracula build a castle there, too..

Besides this life goes on as usual in the villa... and I got in contact with fashion again! I found a kind of second hand market on the street where you can buy fancy 80ies sweaters (from Europe and the USA I guess)- very funny! One 80ies safari print silk jacket will be transformed into a sari blouse, I will show you the result. Another shop I found is selling used old handmade night dresses which are really beautiful. And of course I gave my favourite pants to the tailor to make a copy. The tailor is called Gertrud and she seems really nice. I have the feeling the next post will be a fashion post....

Buddha and the umbrella

Seems like Buddha is using the same trick as the sri lankan local people do: they wear an umbrella to not get tanned. The Buddha on the right side doesn't care too much- maybe because he is over 2000 years old anyways...

This is Ravi, the wonderful man who takes care of us.
He also makes sure we bring some flowers to Lord Buddha!





And this is impressions from Sri Lankan photo shooting in Bandarwela. Luckily we need the photo only for the Visa application.

The view from our balcony when the sun has gone.. and there is no rain.

Madame yogateacher took us for little hike to the mountains.
There we are sitting next to the Buddha with the umbrella.

The was a storm, trees fell onto cables, so we have no electricity. Only a few lamps are working because they are connected to an extra generator. (The internet works somehow..) Now even those lights are off, so I will go to bed. If I find it :)

Getting to know the place....

My new home has welcomed me very kindly!

The house was build by a British tea farmer family around 100 years ago. Around 1100 meters high in the mountains, it belongs to the village of Diyathalawa. There is huge Eucalyptus trees everywhere and birds like beos and the sri lankan kuckuck.

28 local people work here, in the kitchen, service, office, arjuvedic treatment building, the garden and so on. All are extremely sweet: "Madame has very nice hair!"

And of course, Madame does not need to make her bed, cook, wash her clothes or carry her bags!

I went to the village and met the local grocery dealer and the hair dresser, the police, the post man and the lady tailor. This boy with the funny build shop is selling fried pastry (?).

The weather is almost like at home, I guess: Rain and rain and sometimes a little sun. It feels really cosy. And at 6 pm it is night! Bedtime is around 9 pm and around 5.30 am I get up. The buddhist monks are singing from 5 to 6 am anyways. And at 6 am the Hindi priests start. The moslems sing when ever they want, but not so often...
 

Good Morning Sri Lanka

Good Morning Sri Lanka.
My neighbour in the airplane is a woman from Estonia. She is wearing a very pink shirt but she is not talking much. I start to read my "Wallander" Krimi book. Really really bad music while taking off: Kelly Clarkson. This girl is not from Sri Lanka! Then the stewardesses in turquoise-peacock-sari-dresses serve us very nice food. Rice and curry. Then nothing happens. I go on with my book, which I finish by the end of the 9 hours flight. Before landing: more rice and curry. While landing: Same music again. But this time really loud! This is holidays!

Entering the country. I have been here before, but still- the heat and the humidity and the no-sleep make me feel a little dizzy. All I have to do is  follow the instructions that Mr. Fischer gave me. Go get the luggage, go to the Cinnamon Lakeside Hotel corner, find my name on a list, the driver is coming, he takes me to the taxi that will drive me to the hotel where I will meet my aryuvedic friends. As I sit I think: Oh, the wheel is on the wrong side! But then I remember why this is ok.
I get to the hotel by 3 am which is 6.30 am local time. The sun is rising, Colombo city is awaking slowly. I can smell the city and feel the warm humid air and hear the sounds of the cars and tuktuks and trashy busses and the birds and I feel like coming home. I feel glad I have been here before.
I meet the yogateacher Sirkka in her room. She is wearing a white dress and she looks very fresh. Not like me. That's why I go down to the basement to the swimming pool. The pool is quite fancy. It is just next to a beautiful lake with cormoranes and pelicans. The morning is still very young. I understand why that the name Cinnamon Lakeside Hotel makes sense. Swimming in the pool, the hotel boy thinks I am Australian. But I am not. And I cannot go on swimming, I am too tired. Sleeping on the chairs maybe. Hmm.
At 9 am I give up- too hot. Next brilliant idea is: Breakfast. Breakfast turns out to be a crazy place. I walk around the food and feel like everybody must see that I usually don't stay in hotels. I stick with papaya and yoghurt. But then there is Dhal and coconut sambal. And then there is also Sri Lankan herbal soup. Nice mix. I think that my senses are anyways not yet functioning. And now I am here in the "Business canter" in the 6th floor deciding to write a blog about my trip, wondering whether this first post will be the longest post. I hope not.
Sirkka has informed me that at noon we will go "home" which means to Greystones Villa.
I don't know that place that will be my home for the next six weeks. But I like the idea of having a place I can call home.