New photos posted at www.rtsla.photofreeway.com

We left on Saturday for the hill country with Larry and Susan who are visiting us from Portland. What a treat to have company. Anyone else game? We love showing off Sri Lanka and have a spare queen sized bed for the adventurous. We had a great driver and a roomy van. We checked into the St Andrews Hotel in Nuwara Eliya. It is a century old colonial building with great atmosphere and really great food. At breakfast they served French press coffee that was the best I have had in SL. I asked for the brand and when I returned to Colombo discovered Barefoot carries it. Yahoo! I am no longer insecure about the coffee supply. Our recent guests, Dick and Pat and Larry and Susan, had brought replenishments but the end is in sight. Another friend, Ellen, is mailing some as I write this. Now I can buy coffee here. It is a Sri Lankan coffee.

Back to my story, we walked around Nuwara Eliya after having a picnic in our room. Mrs. Bakshi and Veena had given us home made pickles and a casserole the night before and I couldn’t stand the thought of freezing it. Susan suggested we bring it with us and it turned out perfect for a light lunch in our room. It was rainy in the late day but we had umbrellas so were undeterred by the rain. That night we ate at the hotel and were quite pleased with the offerings. The breakfast the next morning was the BEST SL breakfast I have had. I went back for seconds it was so good. Then we took off for Kandy. The main road was closed due to a slide and construction so we took at secondary road and the trip was a four-hour journey not counting the stops. We stopped to do a tea factory tour and have a cuppa. I had almost forgotten how absolutely beautiful the countryside is. We all were running low on batteries for the digital cameras but have posted some photos for you perusal. We got to Kandy and checked into another older colonial hotel but it wasn’t has lovely as St Andrews. It was conveniently located so after checking in we got our driver to take us to the market where we bought spices like cardamom, cloves, vanilla beans, cinnamon sticks and mustard seeds. Ron had a meeting at 6:00 so we took him to the meeting then we went out to dinner. We asked out driver who is from Kandy to suggest a place. He chose a place that drivers take tourists to. It was forgettable. Many places give the drivers a fee for bringing in customers. The restaurant was situated high above Kandy Lake and had a lovely nighttime view but that was it. There were no Sri Lankans at the restaurant but lots of westerners and a few Asians.

The following day Ron had an all day meeting so Larry, Susan and I went to the Kandy Botanical gardens. It was world class. We were impressed and got to see some fascinating plants and trees. The giant ficus covers 1900 sq meters! It was incredible and they are three photos of it at the photo site. Next we headed for a cool drink and sat on the veranda of a guesthouse that was across the street from the gardens. We were struck by how cool it was as we were so hot. We sipped ice-cold sweetened limejuice and chatted. Off we headed to the crafts’ store and Larry found a mask for his nephew and I found a shirt for a friend. Next we went to the Temple of the Tooth that houses one of Buddha’s teeth within seven caskets. We hired a guide who was a delightful 72-year-old man with a twinkle in his eye. Afterwards we headed back to the hotel for a 3:30 lunch of rice and curry. That night we ate at the hotel and Larry and Ron got beaten by Susan at snooker. Can I say they got snookered?

Yesterday we headed home with a stop at a spice garden that was a tourist trap. It turned out to be a place to buy medicinal potions after you were given a tour of herbals plants. The prices were way high, even by US standards so there were no sales from our group. Larry and Susan left this morning at 4:30 for Singapore where they will wrap up their vacation before heading back to River City, Portland. We were sad to see them go as we had had a wonderful time. We have just hosted two couples back to back and had a delightful time with both.

Saturday, March 18th we head out to South Africa. It will take a long time to get there but on Sunday at noon we will be with our South African family, the Sauls. Anthony Sauls and his parents hosted us in 2000 when Ron did an exchange with Anthony. We have wanted to go back ever since. Ron has a meeting in Johannesburg so we are taking extra time to visit our family near Cape Town. We are so excited! Then after Ron’s meeting we will spend a few days in Mumbai, India. Ron and I have wanted to go to India for about five years so we will get a taste soon. Ron has a couple of holidays back to back in April so we have booked a flight to Kerala in Southern India for a long weekend. We think it might we easier for us to take small bites of India rather than spend three weeks there. We will try this and see how it works out. Our friend Raju who stayed with us in Vancouver right before we left for SL, will meet up with us in Mumbai for a visit. Later we will go to his town in Gujarat and meet his family.

Well that’s the latest from SL, where the men are gorgeous, the weather is getting hotter all the time and the Bergmans are having a grand adventure! By the way, Susan agreed with me about the men here.