A “where’s Waldo” moment…

I was just thinking this morning, as I sat listening to the rain in our new comfy little colonial house in Weligama, that it has been almost three weeks since we moved down here. I guess we should do a little “Where’s Waldo update, so if anyone wants to know where we are, here goes. […]

Tigger is getting Older…

All my life I have loved the Winnie the Pooh stories, and have taken so many fundamental lessons from them on how to live and be a better person (as well as plenty of tears for the more epiphanous parallels some have offered). The whole gang has played a role, not just in my development […]

A Little more Tuk Tuk’ing And Elephant Looking.

This is the last one. I promise. I just had some video of all of our recent self-drive safari-ing, and wanted to get that in here, This one is just silly. A bit more tuk tuk travel, but this time not a danger bus in sight. Mostly water buffaloes. And bad roads. We took this […]

Arugam Bay: Pets, Surf, And Self-Drive Safaris. Part Three: Self-Drive Safaris.

We can only surf so much in one day, then we need to eat and go find some adventuring to do. There are safaris all over around Arugam Bay, both into Kumana National Park and Yala National Park, but both can run around one hundred and fifty to three hundred dollars (for two of us) […]

Arugam Bay: Pets, Surf, And Self-Drive Safaris. Part Two: The Surf

If you asked me today whether I think you should go to Arugam Bay for the surf, I would probably say, “I don’t know”. Yes, that is a very clear and concise answer, I know, but it is impossible to answer that simply… There is surf in Arugam Bay, and it isn’t actually that bad […]

Arugam BAy: Pets, Surf, And Self-Drive Safaris. Part One: The Pets

We spent a month in Arugam Bay for the surf and beach time it promises. It didn’t really disappoint, and we stayed at a cute, comfortable, little house for the month we were there. We rented the house from a German girl named Anne, who has been here for years, and has carved out a […]

She’s a Beauty…

I have no idea how I deserve to be with someone like this. She agreed to marry me twenty-two years ago tomorrow (she must be a bit touched in the head to agree to that). We met twenty-five adventure-filled, sometimes chaotic, sometimes painful, always entertaining, and beautiful years ago. She has been the other part […]

Step Away From The Machine, Man…

I just came in from a surf session. It was one of those rare, great sessions when you find clean takeoffs on tricky waves, you read the waves properly, make all your cutbacks, and ride clean lines for long, smooth rides. Today, the waves were sporadic, with a lot of time between good sets, so […]

Sunday Afternoon In Okanda, Part Three: The wildlife.

Part three of our mellow Sunday adventure is about the animals living in this area. As I said before, in parts one and two, we were driving the tuk tuk along the North and East borders of Kumana National Park. The only legal access into the park is by jeep safari, which is pretty cheap, […]

Sunday Afternoon in Okanda, Part Two: The temples.

Part two of our lazy Okanda adventure day finds us visiting a couple of very old temples (yes, more temples), situated on big granite domes in the middle of lagoons, forest, and the savanna country bordering the Kumana National Park. The first was a hindu temple, as mentioned in part one, called Ukanthamalai Murugan Kovil. […]