I was not aware I was in Sri Lanka during the traditional New Year's celebration. I knew about Poya, the monthly Buddhist holiday of the full moon, but the New Year's festival was a complete surprise. The night before, Benjamin's dad told me villagers were setting up for a festival, and when I went to bed I could hear workers singing drunk, so loud the neighborhood dogs howled in tune but I did not register how big a festival it was. By the time we returned fro...

Dambulla was a cave temple dating back to the 12th century. The caves house intricately carved statues of Lord Buddha and various Hindu Gods. Not a surface was unpainted, not a section of wall was without some sort of statue depicting Buddha sitting, standing or lounging about. In respect of Buddhism you were required to remove your shoes when entering the temple grounds. This was not a problem for the Sri Lankans, many Sri Lankans were already shoeless climb...

I woke up at 5:30 AM to Benjamin's mom making coleslaw sandwiches and tea for breakfast. Benjamin had booked a minivan to drive me and the Vietnamese couple renting the room on the second floor to drive the three hours north to Lion's Rock in Sigiriya and then the cave temples of Dambulla. Hoài Anh meaning missing you in Vietnamese and Thắng (pronounced Tong) meaning victory, joined me for breakfast before then heading on the road with additional packed sand...

Benjamin's family home lived quite high up in the jungle. Their home was on the site of the Kandy City Mission; there was a small church, a medical dispensary and a school that was no longer part of the property. The home was quite large, with remodeled rooms upstairs for guests. My room on the main was a bit more rustic as was the bathroom I shared with the rest of the family. My room consisted of a lone mattress on a laminate floor over concrete. I was hap...

The plane ride to Colombo was less than desirable. I do like Malaysian Airlines but I gave up my window seat to a young boy who very politely asked. He then spent the next three hours hacking into my ear, moving around in his seat pressing buttons or climbing over me to relieve his tiny bladder. "Please sir may I go to the toilet." little Oliver would say, poking me gently. I thought his grandfather was next to me but he did not know who the child belonged to...