…or more like multiple bangs. The first many of which were my face, ribs, ass (anything but my feet basically) hitting my surf board, or for the sake of expediency, missing the board entirely and crashing straight into the waves. For 7 days, save a hangover pause for the surf camp crew on New Year’s Day (though I wasn’t actually hungover and went for a bike ride instead). Adding injury to insult, I also managed to strain my rib muscles (intercostal), which made surfing not just embarrassing but painful as well. I’d try to pass it off as my shoulders and back muscles just being too powerful for my poor ribs, to say that I pulled so hard that I basically pulled my body apart, but you know that I’m a cyclist with the accompanying noodle arms, so you probably wouldn’t buy it. Rather, true to now nearly 40 years of form, my body simply didn’t hold up. So it goes.

Anyway, the surfing was awesome, and I’m pleased to say that I can now actually kinda surf. Not gonna be challenging Kelly Slater on anything other than baldness any time soon, but surfing is one of those things that is still a ton of fun even if you suck, so…a week very well spent. Vera agrees, and though she also won’t be challenging for any surfing world titles any time soon, at least she also won’t be challenging Kelly Slater to a baldness competition either.

(Exhausted)

Accidents happen

The second bang was less cool. I wanted to make a joke about how awful the drivers are in here, that there’s apparently a third lane with priority for those who straddle the center line. And I wanted to say, “but somehow it works.” Except it doesn’t, and V and I got first-hand experience of that.

(Black car was ours, we were strapped in in the back seat)

Thankfully, we were fine, just a bit shocked (at the impact, not that an accident happened). And we got immediately picked up by a tourist bus heading to our next destination, so it worked out well. But yeah. The drivers are the worst kind of bad: crazy and incompetent at the same time…which makes the fact that I went on a 40km bike ride in the country side without a helmet even crazier (sorry Mom).

There, surprisingly, the traffic was great. 95% of vehicles passing were either tuk tuks or scooters, and probably a third of them pulled up along side me to say hello before leaving me in the inevitable cloud of poorly combusted diesel fumes. The ride was awesome though. The entire country is basically palm/fig/mango/banana jungle if it isn’t small plots of agriculture (most rice it seemed).

(My beautiful rental steed)

So, car crash and shitty drivers aside, how was Sri Lanka? Fantastic. I had somehow forgotten how long it had been since I last visited a completely foreign culture (I’d even say the Persian Gulf countries aren’t completely foreign, as their current populations are majority expat and the societies are largely driven by consumerism, just like the West). So more than a decade since I was backpacked through India or Africa; anyway, it felt great to have my comfortable bubble burst and be in a vibrant, chaotic,  non-western society. And it really hit home when we got on a bus which had a Buddha with blue, red, and yellow LEDs radiating from his head and traveling the length of the entire bus, which itself had its side paneling wallpapered with random combinations of movie characters like Captain Jack Sparrow and a video monitor up front playing what I can only assume to be the hottest Sri Lankan dance music videos. I’m all about it!

It’s not just the contemporary culture though. They’ve got a Buddhist tradition going back nearly 2000 years, are the producer of many of the spices which got traded on the Silk Road, and have their share of recent history with a civil war that ended not 15 years ago. Fascinating place.

And nature-wise, my god. As said, jungle everywhere, including in the mountains which reach well in excess of 2000 meters. New flora and fauna like wild monitor lizards and bats the size of cats. Rolling hills covered not with wine but with lush tea plantations. And a train ride through it all which definitely belongs on the list of most beautiful train rides in the world.

What about work?

And did I think about work? Occasionally, but not a lot. As I write this, I’m flying to Bangkok, while many of my colleagues will be preparing for their first day back from vacation. That’s to say that it hasn’t felt strange yet because it hasn’t been longer than a fairly standard vacation (in our parts), but that flying onwards instead of back is helping it sink in a bit. Exciting!

Okay, that’s enough. Since I’m not doing these every day, they may get a bit wordy as I try to cram lots into single posts. Bear with me. Or don’t. I won’t know either way ;)