my big adventures

Photos: the hill country

theus — Tue, 9 Apr 2013 22:25:00 GMT

it's cold up here

Is it a jeep? NO, it's a hairdresser's car!

theus — Tue, 9 Apr 2013 14:16:00 GMT

WE thought that dad would come home with a jeep when we decided to rent a car, but no, he came back with a hairdresser's car! Black and shiny and brand new and amazingly small. Within twenty minutes, the front started to fall off and someone had taken a chunk out of our wing mirror. AFter that tragic start, we drove up into the hill country of sri lanka.

First stop was Haputhale, 1500 m above sea level . We drove up into the clouds , we looked down and saw tea plantations that Thomas Lipton had established in 1890. AFtet that we visited his factory called Dambatenne . We had a tour and learned about the whole tea production process. I loved all of it. After the tea is picked it is taken to the top of the building (3 floors up) and there it is partly dried. After 16 hours of drying it gets pushed down a shoot (which we thought was very funny as it reminded us of the bad eggs in Willy Wonka.. of course mum and dad had to sing!) and then goes down into the cutting machines, and then more drying , warms it up and then rolls it and then cuts it again and warms it and then cools it down and then it's left to ferment .

FACT Did you know that the stuff they put in tea bags is the sweepings off the floor but don't worry.... the floor is very clean!

We bought tea as gifts, not sweepings as it is the posh tea bag stuff!

It was so cold in Haputhale, we had to ask for extra blankets.. it was weird to sleep under a blankey but reminded me of home, and I realised that I miss my duvet!

Next stop Ella.... 1370 above sea level. So we arrived in Ella and the temp was about 18. We slept in a family home stay. It was lovely and they cooked me fried chicken with rice and dahl.. delicious.

In the morning we climbed mini Adam's Peak which was quite a steep climb but the view was amazing but very high . We could see lots of tea plantations and waterfalls. WE had a great time. I love travelling.

surfing again

theus — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 14:56:00 GMT

so after we got back. for the last week i have been surfing on a short board they are very hard but i got it quite quickly.Surfing is fun but you have to have good balence other whise it will turn sideways to the wave and you will fall of.We love mirissa beach but the waves are too big to swim but they are good for me.any way we go to weligama every day now and the waves are quite good.i do not need some one to come out with me.Oh yeh i fogot to tell you something there was a scorpion on mums foot it was worrying but it did not bite her i was in bed becouse it was 10.30pm.

going back to the boring mirissa

theus — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 14:06:00 GMT

so when we travelling i did not miss mirsssa travelling is way beter because there is way more things to see.mirssa is just a beech so i am always doing things like surfing.back soon by

The Other Corner

theus — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 17:13:00 GMT

So the next day we woke up very early for a surprise. We went out of the hotel and there was a truck waiting for us , so we got in the back of the truck and drove away. When we got there we saw lots of elephants and it appeared to be that we were going to ride an elephant, I was very excited. They put on rag round his tummy and a colourful king's coat and a metal encasing on the top. I rode on the neck while mum and dad and Gabe were in the metal casing. IT was fantastic. We went along the river bank and we went passed our hotel. WE saw king fishers, and we saw hornbills... which are huge, in the trees. The river was misty because it had just rained. The elephant's name was Muttu, which means Pearl, she was 24, so a very young elephant, not like the one I talked about in the temple of the tooth relic. We fed Muttu bananas and the man was very funny standing next to us, when she did a big poo, the man said 'toilet stop, too many bananas' ha ha ha.

It takes two years to train an elephant. They prize their elephants , they treat them like kings or queens. They know 26 commands and the owner who trains them speaks in Singhala and their own language. When you see people poaching them that's terrible, because they are precious creatures.

Then we came back and had a lovely breakfast.. I had bacon sandwich.. yummy. Jeevan served us on our verandah overlooking the jungle. There was a lovely pool which looked like a natural spring water pool. so then we went for a swim.

In the afternoon we did an elephant safari, it was scary at first because an elephant chased us. It chased one and then turned around. When mum and I work out how to put on video you will see how quickly an elephant can run! The first sightings of wild elephants was a whole group , mums and their babies. A male elephant stays with his mum until he's sixteen, then he goes solo. So if you see an elephant by itself, it's a male elephant... if they have tusks they call them tuskers. when we went along, we saw lots of other elephants which was amazing. About a quarter into the safari we saw a baby elephant on its' own. Our safari guide contacted the manager to go and have a look as mother elephants never go far from a young baby, maybe she was hurt so they brought out a search party. Near the end of our amazing adventure... with a safari massage thrown in (that's because it's very bumpy!) we saw a changeable hawk eagle. He was in a dead tree because he was hunting and he had a good view without leaves to get in the way. They have natural fires in the jungles and the guides put them out, after the fire there is lots of new grass so the elephants congregate there.

Photos: habarana

theus — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 15:39:00 GMT

Photos: The Other Corner and others

theus — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 15:27:00 GMT

up in the central province in the jungle

Next adventure starts

theus — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 15:08:00 GMT

We woke up at 5 am. I was ok with that because I was excited. The night before I danced in the Perra Herra... and that is when there is a band and dancers celebrating the new moon. We had painted tattoos on our backs and piercing. Anyway, back to the first story. We could not find a tuk tuk so we had to take a bus to Weligama train station and that is where our adventure started.

The ticket cost £1 for a 3 hour trip to Colombo. We did another 3 hours to Kandy. For breakfast mum and dad had fish buns and GAbe and me had pop corn! The trains don't have doors so you can jump on them when they're leaving. I stuck out my head as we went up to the mountains. On the way we saw shanti towns and other houses and a lovely temple you could walk in which had gods all around the outside painted in different colours.

When we got to the guest house it was very cool because we were in the hills , the hotel was called Castle Hill. The next day we went to the temple of the tooth relic. The tooth relic is Lord Buddha's tooth inside a lovely gold house and the pictures you see on here are inside the temple of the tooth relic. The elephant head represents Ganesh the elephant God (son of Shiva and Parvati) and on the walls there was an amazing story in paintings and it showed the life and death of Buddha. Inside the museum at the temple was an Elephant that had been working for 50 years the Sri Lankans love their elephants, so they stuffed him when he died, this is called taxidermi. The next day we went to the Botanical Gardens. They are huge and there were lots of lovely trees and monkeys, pesky monkeys. WE had a picnic in the gardens and ice cream. It was very nice because I was with my family. We played hide and seek in the great big trees, it was great fun and at the botanical gardens, mum stood under her tree laughing instead of crying. It was a good day.

Then we went back to the hotel to pack to go to Habarana the hotel was called 'The other corner'. This was going to be another 3 hours... but this time on a crazy bus. We had to sit at the back and I did not like that because Sri Lankan roads are very very bumpy. The driver was in a race with another bus. people were shouting out 'we are going to beat you' in Singhalese. (Buses are private in Sri Lankan so it is a race to who can get to the next stop first to get the most people on the bus!) Next stop the jungle.....

Photos: kandy

theus — Sat, 9 Mar 2013 19:02:00 GMT

up to the central province

colombo to Kandy

theus — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 20:18:00 GMT

Please stay tuned, as I am travelling at the mo and no computer so will have to upload when we get back to Mirissa. Lots of amazing things to tell you and photos to put on.

Please keep posted...

theus

Photos: Weligama, Polhena.. the southern province

theus — Sat, 9 Feb 2013 19:17:00 GMT

surfs up to spaghetti bolognese

theus — Sat, 9 Feb 2013 18:50:00 GMT

spaghetti bolognese... oh yeah... mum and dad took us to an Italian restaurant by the beach so that I could have some meat. I haven't eaten meat for 3 weeks, mum had a chicken schnitzel that she was very excited about but GAbriel decided he was going to eat meat for the first time in his life.. and ate most of mum's dinner... she's losing weight because he keeps eating her dinner! I had bolognese, it was good , the real deal and I licked the plate. Bolognese is a meal not to be eaten with your fingers.. but all other meals I eat like a sri lankan, with the tips of my fingers of the right hand... mum and dad told me yesterday why you don't eat with your left hand!

We get up really early in the am, about half six, but the family get up about 4.30! and go to bed really early at night. Everyone in this house goes to bed at nine, after they've watched the tele drama.

Our visas run out next week so we have to go colombo but mum and dad are worried about taking us as there are malaria and denghee fever mosquitoes in colombo and they don't want us to be at risk. So I think they're going to leave us here with the family and go and get the visas early in the am and then come back. I don't want to go to the capital. Everyone says it's horrid. Guiseppi, cool guy teacher, says that Hanoi is the only nice city he has ever been to in Asia. Mum says when she was here last, bombs were going off in Colombo because there was a war on, and she was afraid of being in the city for too long. She saw mine fields etc.

ok, so surf's up. so you know I was going to do surfing, well I did!!! I have had two lessons now, an early start, on the bus for 6.30 so that the waves aren't too big as the wind gets up in the afternoons. the beach is beautiful at Weligama where we go.. who's we? my friend Guiseppi, who was a surf teacher in Australia for a year and now lives in Bali teaching so that he can surf every day. The first time I had a lesson I stood up on the board. It was fun. in fact it was more than fun, can't explain how amazing it feels to ride a wave. some waves were really big ad I rode them. You have to know the position on the surf board, otherwise the surf board fips back and teh front bit digs in to the water and you fall off. You always have to fall off the side , because if you fall off teh back you might cut yoru head open on the fins, they are the spiky things on the bottom of the surf board. always cover your head with your arms so that you don't get hurt... don't worry Nonna, it was great and not dangerous! Here are some piccies.

Unawatuna to Mirissa

theus — Sun, 3 Feb 2013 13:19:00 GMT

When we stayed in Unawatuna it was not really proper Sri Lanka, it was a beach resort, so we could trust the food there like chicken , but not beef. When we travelled to Mirissa we went East along the coast, to the middle of the southern province. Mirissa is a very nice place, there are lots of surfers, and my mum says if I'm good I can have surf lessons. THe guest house we are staying in is lots of fun, there are lots of people who visit and some big boys who like playing with me and a girl called Pulmini, who is quite naughty. The boys are called Ishan and Randi. Randi has a motorbike and he can't be bothered to do anything. He has a toast mixture which is butter and sugar, mum and dad bought them a toaster, they didn't know how to use it, I, however I am making the most of it with Nonna's marmite! it is very funny because when my mum got it and told them she had bought them a toaster, they all ran into the kitchen saying 'what is it? what is it?'

It's really fun here, there are lots of animals. In the mornings I see lovely monkeys, one breed is called rhesus monkeys, they are not so lovely, but the big black ones with a silver strip around their backs are fun to watch jumping through the jungle trees. Yesterday I saw a baby rhesus monkey, which looked veery calm so I really wanted to hold it, I said 'monkey monkey, come down' which he did but then he ran back up on to the roof because he was scared, he then jumped into a palm tree and tried to open a coconut. THe baby monkey had a sort of playing game he went up the palm and kept on slipping down and then he did it again and again, when he had finished, he went back to his mummy. I nearly forgot about hte fruit bats, I see fruit bats every night flying over our house, I don't know where they are going. THe sad thing sometimes is that they sleep on the electric wires and they cross the wires and electrocute themselves. When we walk to the beach we sometimes see a fruit bat hanging dead from the electric wires above our heads. yukky.

Yesterday morning I made string hoppers with the women in the kitchen, Malika, Mandika and Charmen (3 sisters) it is very difficult because you have to make the dough, and put it inside a wooden pusher (like a pay dough one that pushes out psaghetti) and then you push it out in 3 circles layered on top of each other, on a basket and steam them.. they are yummy they taste like rice noodle and you eat them with daal and coconut sambol and daddy made the coconut sambol . Mum fed Gabriel with what he calls yummy.. it's a corn meal which you mix with lots of milk and some sugar.. he loves it! please make comments, I have not been able to put on photos because it took so long, but now we have a new package so I shold be able to. Thanks for checking out my blog, look forward to hearing from you all in the comments... and yes Julius, I will bring you back a present.. what about a monkey? just kidding!

adjusting to asia

theus — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 13:03:00 GMT

At the start I was quite scared.But now i have got used to it actually. there are three wheeled cars called tuktuks . We took a tuk tuk to Galle, they are a bit like mopeds but with a roof, they are two strokes and they have no doors. People who drive in them, often sleep in them, You have to agree a price before you travel. the price for 10km is about 200 rupees.

I just wanted to tell you about thste coins.The coins are called rupees so two hundred rupees is £1.in

They have very funny hair styles, some of them get their hair bald on top and the girls all wear plaits or have short hair.

I have been eating sri lankan breakfast. Which consists of coconut sambol, (grated coconut with chilli), daal (split pea curry), string hoppers, they are a bit like noodles but they bounce around a lot like a frog but they are made out of rice flour. With this you also eat an onion chutney , this is the only bit I don't like. We also have fruit lassis. The national fruits are bananas, coconuts, mangoes and papaya. They also eat beef and chicken but we haven't eten beef as we haven't seen any cows!!

Photos: unawatuna

theus — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 23:13:00 GMT

beach resort

Photos: my big adventures

theus — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 13:27:00 GMT

dubai, the atlantis water park

sri lanka monkeys

theus — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 12:39:00 GMT

My first impression of sri lanka to start were the people. The people had pet monkeys but it was ok to hold a baby one and i did.Also there are wild monkeys hiding in the cooconut palm and the monkeys threw coconuts at my head.And they tried to poo on me but he didn't! Fortunately he didn't get me.After that we went to a nice fruit seller and i got to hold the baby monkey again and he let me try the bigest fruit in the world it is called the jack fruit.It was very string but it had a banana texture i sort of liked it the bit i didnt like was the the string bits. This is very funny, every morning I hear fur elise being played, it's like an ice cream van but actually it's a pastry van that sells yummy doughy pastries.

atlantis water park

theus — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 00:06:00 GMT

well, where to begin. Dubai amazing. its full of incredible buildings and lots of big cars that rich people drive around in. water costs more than petrol. it's 30pence for two litres here... I know, I asked the taxi driver. the hotel is quite posh, and mum and I have had lift races. Gabriel likes looking at himself in the mirrored walls of the lift.

anyway, we had tickets so we went to the park. as you drive up to the atlantis, it's an amazing site! we went in, and got the tags etc and as we were going to get changed mum asked dad where his trunks were! he had forgotten them but mum is afraid of heihts so i thought that my day was ruined but mum came to the rescue and cried on some woman in a shop who accepted sterling so that she could buy some trunks for dad. they say atlantis the palm on them and dad was embarrassed!I had an amazing day with my dad. we did the drop of 60m it's sheer from the top of an aztec temple and then goes through to a lagoon.

we did some really scary ones.. which fly you up in the air in your raft, I thought I was going to fall off. Then we went to the aquarium, we were hungry but mum had spent our lunch money on the trunks so there was ohly enough to get me a super duper icecream which they threw up in the air with two spoons! it was delicious. then we went home, I was exhausted.

dubai

theus — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 23:58:00 GMT

the next day my mum dragged us on her own historic tour of dubai with a rubbish map she found at the hotel (which does great sweet and sour chicken!) and we saw the creek with the dhouw's. she took us for a 3 hour 'adventure' on the metro system but i did get a new york yankee cap, so that was good... at the dubai mall. we drank tea by the creek, which was great, to watch the boats travelling up and down then even mum got bored of walking so we went on thewater taxi to the other side of the creek where we were staying. the creek is about as wide as the thames so quite big.