Sri Lanka is awesome. I guess that in a way it is much more like I was expecting India to be. The people are really friendly, kind and laid back, the weather is hot, hot, hot and the water is so warm.......just beautiful.
There is also tons of wildlife. The area that I am staying in is almost surrounded by national parks and wildlife sanctuaries. So I have been seeing wild elephants, deer, pigs, buffalo, crocodile, millions of pea cocks, huge monitor lizards and at least three kinds of monkeys.
Seeing the crocodiles was interesting. The lakes around here all tend to dry up at this time of year and as a result the crocs all head to a local river. The river itself can't be more than 30 feet wide at its widest but it is absolutely chocka with crocs. If you walk quietly along it's banks (about 3 or 4 feet above the water) you can see them everywhere. They re not huge but there were lots around 8 feet or so long.......and I really would not want to take a dip in the river......which would be easy to do as there are no warning signs :)
And the wildlife is not as friendly as you might expect. I took an early morning trip south to the furtherest surf break from here a few days ago. The break itself is a fair way into the national park and we pulled up a little village near the waves to get a cup of tea. While we were standing there a pack of dogs chased a chittagong deer into the middle of the village. One of the local guys decided to intervene ( I am not sure whether he was trying to help the deer or catch it to eat) but the deer did not take it kindly and charged him butting him in the balls again and again. The poor old guy was trying to hang on to it and punching it as hard as he could......meanwhile the rest of the village were rolling around on the ground in fits of laughter. Fortuneately the deer eventually lost interest, and wandered off with the man's pride in tow.........moral of the story..........I'm not sure.
Things have also been interesting here today. We ( western tourists) have been told to stay out of town and keep off the streets. The local Muslims are outraged by some US YouTube video that has offended them and have been marching around chanting death to America all morning. It is interesting times.
Have fun
There is also tons of wildlife. The area that I am staying in is almost surrounded by national parks and wildlife sanctuaries. So I have been seeing wild elephants, deer, pigs, buffalo, crocodile, millions of pea cocks, huge monitor lizards and at least three kinds of monkeys.
Seeing the crocodiles was interesting. The lakes around here all tend to dry up at this time of year and as a result the crocs all head to a local river. The river itself can't be more than 30 feet wide at its widest but it is absolutely chocka with crocs. If you walk quietly along it's banks (about 3 or 4 feet above the water) you can see them everywhere. They re not huge but there were lots around 8 feet or so long.......and I really would not want to take a dip in the river......which would be easy to do as there are no warning signs :)
And the wildlife is not as friendly as you might expect. I took an early morning trip south to the furtherest surf break from here a few days ago. The break itself is a fair way into the national park and we pulled up a little village near the waves to get a cup of tea. While we were standing there a pack of dogs chased a chittagong deer into the middle of the village. One of the local guys decided to intervene ( I am not sure whether he was trying to help the deer or catch it to eat) but the deer did not take it kindly and charged him butting him in the balls again and again. The poor old guy was trying to hang on to it and punching it as hard as he could......meanwhile the rest of the village were rolling around on the ground in fits of laughter. Fortuneately the deer eventually lost interest, and wandered off with the man's pride in tow.........moral of the story..........I'm not sure.
Things have also been interesting here today. We ( western tourists) have been told to stay out of town and keep off the streets. The local Muslims are outraged by some US YouTube video that has offended them and have been marching around chanting death to America all morning. It is interesting times.
Have fun
The moral of the story is obviously that if you try to help someone they are just as likely to headbutt you in the nuts as they are to thank you.
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