DECISIONS, DECISIONS

When anyone plans a move, hard decisions inevitably have to be made about what to take and what to leave behind. For us, we did not want to take a great deal of things so we tried to take the bare minimum. Furniture was sold and some stored away in our gracious relatives' sheds. My parents, who had just moved from a small unit to a house, also provided invaluable assistance in taking a lot of the large items.

The lawnmower went (hooray!) as did all the gardening equipment. I love a good garden but they are a full time job and I am much happier without one. The BBQ was sent off to a new, loving home. This proved to be a wise idea. It would have gathered dust as good sausages and steaks are nowhere be found.

All the childrens' toys were kept to start up the toy library for the preschools in the slums. These are treasured and returned meticulously on each visit. We sold the childrens swing set and trampoline, much to their dismay. However, Brenton's good friend has a swing set and trampoline which they can now use on every visit.

Cutlery, glasswear, crockery and cooking utensils made the long journey. Hayley was not going to give up on cooking and, after just polishing off a muffin, I am convinced this was the right move. However, we have carried all the glasses and dinner sets in suitcases back to Australia as the house we are in came complete with these items.

Children's books came, once again as a good start up for the library, and these English books seem to be more popular than the locally bought Sinhala books. Our rather large collection of books remained with their shelves at my parents' house for their perusal.

The most difficult decision was what to do with my tools. As a carpenter, I enjoying building and fixing things and I don't like paying someone else to do it. Selling the tools was not an option and storage seemed like a waste of their purpose. Eventually I settled on leaving the large, single-purpose tools behind. Although they can make a job faster, most jobs can be done without them. Since being here I have built some shelves and fixed some doors and changed washers and general fixing, so the tools have been useful, but not indespensible. I wanted to find something that I could use them for that would help in our work here. It wasn't until a visit to one of the pre-schools that I realised what I could do.

These schools depend on donations as the parents are too poor to offer any form of payment. We help by offering games, toys, jigsaws and books for them to borrow, similar to the toy libraries that we have back in Australia. At this stage, we have been unable to bring in any large items that can be used in the schools. I noticed that they had very little play equipment. They had wanted one of those plastic cubby houses which, we were to discover, cost more than they do in Australia. From this came the idea to build some cubby houses for the library. Below are some pictures that were taken after we dropped off the first prototype. You be the judge of if I made the right decision to bring the tools.

EXPLORING

Every now and then we like to travel a little further from home to explore this island we have found ourselves in. April brings the Sinhala/Tamil New Year and two weeks off school for the kids, so it is the perfect time for such a venture. We had some business to attend to in Polonnaruwa and we had often heard Prince extol the virtues of Sigiriya, so we thought this would be a great time to merge business and pleasure by visiting both places.

We decided to do the drive to Sigiriya over two days, stopping overnight in Kandy. It is not often that we can take our time like this, so it was a real pleasure to enjoy a 'short' drive and not feel like we were rushing. There was even time for the kids to have a swim in the morning and for us to take a stroll before we needed to move on. We stopped in Dambulla for lunch and then it was on to Sigiriya to trawl for a place to stay. We finally picked a place, complete with monkeys running around the grounds.

The next day we decided to visit the Sigiriya Rock Fortress. This is the magma plug of an extinct volcano which is now home to ancient ruins. Many archaeologists believe it to be the site of an old monastry, but locals will tell you that it was the home of an ancient king, who built his palace on the top and this seems to be the description that has stuck. Whatever it was, its pretty amazing to see.

First you will cross the moat and then walk through the remains of the water gardens. You can see the rock in the distance and you will wonder how on earth you are ever going to make it to the top. As you start up the stairs you will be met by many guides wanting to adopt you for the ascent, obviously looking for rupees. We prefer to explore on our own. As you continue up the stairs you will cautiously heed the signs not to make to much noise for the risk of upsetting hornets. The hornet nests are massive. By the time you get to the top of the stone staircase you will know that its a hot day and, undoubtedly, you will have worked up a fair sweat. And now you are at the foot of the rock.

Here you can climb up a large spiral staircase attached to the side of the rock (don't look down!) to view the ancient rock art. Most of these ancient drawings have been destroyed but a few still remain, protected from the harsh sun by a canvas that has been erected. To view the drawings you stand on a plank scaffolding, a bit like a window-washer for a multi-storey building. Definitely not for the faint-hearted, but well worth it. Upon descent you will pass the graffiti wall where, over centuries, people have written praise for the beauty of the ladies drawn on the rock wall. This wall is now protected from the public, so no new graffiti allowed.

You will now go around the rock to the point where you will begin your ascent to the top. On the way you will pass a gigantic boulder that rests on a series of smaller rocks, set up like dominoes. This is an ancient defence mechanism, set up but clearly never used. Should invaders have come, the dominoes would have been activated to set the boulder sliding down the hill, crushing those in it's path. Around from here you will find yourself at the Lion's Staircase. In ancient days, a huge statue of a lion stood over the foot of the staircase. One would begin their ascent by passing through the open mouth of the lion. All that remains these days are the large lion's paws.
The stone staircase ends and one must now climb a set of metal steps attached to the side of the rock. Although the more timid might find that this climb leaves their heart in their throat, they will find it preferable to the way people used to have to get to the top - scaling the side of the rock using notches carved into the rock face. At the top, climbers are able to check out the ancient remains - a palace or a monastry, depending on which story you follow - and are treated to a pretty spectacular view. Up here you will also find the ladies' pool and a throne where the king could appreciate the vista unfurled before him (or the ladies bathing, depending on which way he was looking). Upon descent you will pass the council chambers. This is a large piece of boulder that had broken away from the main rock and is believed to have been used as a meeting place for court matters.

The next day we decided to take the kids for an elephant ride. There is a town, not far from where we are staying, where several houses on the main road have signs advertising elephant rides. We went with a guy who was a friend of a friend of a friend. I was relieved that this elephant ride was in a basket. This was my third elephant ride, but my last one was bareback. Riding an elephant bareback gives you a true perspective of how large these animals really are and, for me, it's quite scary when you realise how far away the ground is. Our elephant was named Rajah and he took us along the main road and then down some back streets to the open plains. As Rajah took us down into the river, the rain began to fall. It was such a fantastic experience to be riding this creature through the river and then up through fields of mango trees, with the cool rain falling on us to break through the hot morning. By the time we returned to the main road, the rain had stopped and the hot sun made short work of drying us out. As Rajah lumbered along the road, passing vehicles slowed and we waved cheerily at the staring onlookers. At the end of our journey we were able to reward Rajah for his efforts with some fruit. Later that afternoon we decided to go for a walk to explore the area around our hotel. Thankfully we did not come across any elephants then, as wild elephants are considered to be quite dangerous.

From Sigiriya, we moved on to Polonnaruwa. Polonnaruwa is also home to many ancient ruins but this was not to be on our agenda this visit. We chose a hotel situated on the large tank (or dam). This tank was first constructed under the direction of an ancient king, although it was more like a series of tanks. Over time, the tanks were combined to create one massive tank, which is a place where locals can fish, wash, do laundry and play. Our purpose in Polonnaruwa was business but after we met those obligations, we were still able to go for a drive looking for wild elephants. Much to our delight, we were lucky enough to see and photograph a wild elephant before it disappeared again into the bushes. No flash photography though, that aggravates them.

Finally it was time to head back to Negombo. This time we decided to do the entire journey at once, so this was a full day's drive. By the end of the day we were back; sleepy, with suitcases over the floor, a full memory card in the camera and heads full of memories.