101. Touchdown.

I was at the Sri Lankan airport this morning. Early, early morning. We boarded the 3 1/2 hour flight to Kular Lumpur. I happened to be on the same flight as a girl I know from school. I’d hardly ever spoken to her before, but we have a lot of mutual friends. I talked to her today, though. It was just a weird coincidence. She’d been in Sri Lanka for two months, I’d been there for 6 days, and we ended up on the same flight back to Australia.

The flight was delayed 45 minutes though, and while we were waiting, we were able to watch the news coverage of the plane crashing in the Hudson river live. It wasn’t the most encouraging thing to see at an airport, but I’m glad I saw it.

Not that I’m glad it happened, but, oh, you know what I mean.

Because of the delayed flight, when we got to Kuala Lumpur, we had just enough time to get down from one plane and immediately board the next. 8 more hours flying. It went by fairly quick. An hour or two more at the airport in Australia, and another hour’s drive and we’re back at home.

We stpped by at McDonalds first to grab something to eat.

Just to recap: On Christmas I went to England, and spent the next few days meeting my cousins from Birmingham and Nothern Ireland, went all over London, visited stonehenge and a whole bunch of tourist spots before driving to spend a few days in a cottage by a farm in Wales. On the 9th, I landed in Sri Lanka and met my cousins from Sri Lanka, Dubai and Qatar for the first time in years, and spent three days with dad’s entire side of the family at a resort.

It’s been a busy three weeks, and it’s good to be home.

100. The Last Day. Again.

First things first: My 100th consecutive blog post. I’m going to give myself a well deserved pat on the back, thank you very much.

Back to business: Today was my last day in Sri Lanka. I finally started talking to my cousins, (we played monopoly and got halfway through a game of cheat), and feel like I was only just starting to get to know them when the clock struck 9 and it was time to drive up to the airport again.

They came to the airport with us but, the way it worked out, they were in a different car to me and my brother. Which is a shame.

I suppose, rather than feeling sorry for leaving, I ought to be happy we came at all.

99. Yikes.

It’s my second-last day in Sri Lanka, and this holiday is starting to feel awfully short. We’ve got two days to spend with mum’s side of the family. We spent three days with dad’s side of the family, and went to dinner with them again today. It was fairly uneventful right until we had to leave. It was sad saying goodbye to the cousins I know I won’t be seeing again for a long time. Especially ‘R’, the little 11 month old bub. It’s weird to think that, the next time we meet, he’ll probably be walking and talking.

The day was pretty uneventful as well, I’m afraid. Mum’s side of the family all went to a wedding, which mum was invited to but didn’t feel much inclined to go. Because of that, I spent all day lazing around the house watching Sri Lankan TV. When the family did finally come back from the wedding, we had to go to dinner soon after, so there wasn’t much time for us to talk.

Bother.

98. Tick, tock.

It was another long drive from the resort back to the area where most of the family is staying. Still, this was much better than the drive going to the resort because, now that we’ve all lived together for a few days, we’re much more comfortable making conversation with each other and the time passed really quickly. We played some hilarious rounds of Chinese Whispers.

Oh, I almost forgot! Before we started driving back, a few of my cousins and I rode an elephant! It was brilliant. The elephant looked both ways before crssing the road.

Like I was saying, I had a good time in the van. The fun was cut short quite abruptly when the van stopped to drop us off at mum’s older brother’s house. We said goodbye to dad’s entire side of the family, but I wasn’t feeling bad because we’re sure to meet up again tomorrow. I was feeling more excited about seeing my cousins on mum’s side of the family again. Three years is a long time.

It was great seeing them, and while I was made aware of my complete inability to speak Singhalese, we occasionally tried to make conversation. These cousins were, like I’ve said before, more like siblings to me and my brother back in the day. We were always in and out of each other’s houses, playing all sorts of games, going on all sorts of trips together. While I love living in Australia, losing contact with the family is a definite downside to moving away.

We all sat down and watched a movie together, but everyone seemed to tired to stay up for very long.

97. Sigiriya.

Today was our last night at this resort. We’re going to spend our last few days in Sri Lanka with mum’s side of the family. Still, we made the most of it. In the morning, everyone went to Sigiriya but, since I’ve been to it to or three times already, I opted not to climb to the top.

While an uncle and three of my cousins climbed to the top of Sigiriya, the rest of the family went to the AFLAC village.
Click on the link.
The founder of the village is a very close friend of the family.

When we got back to the resort, I killed time for a while by reading before jumping into the pool for the final time.
We finished off the day playing cards again, and everyone took lots of pictures.
We’ve got to get up early to leave the resort tomorrow.

96. Golden Temple.

Day 2 at the resort:
The family all went to the Golden Temple in Dambulla, Sri Lanka. It’s actually quite impressive.
I’ve been there before once or twice as a kid, but I couldn’t remember it at all.
Click here for the Wiki page, complete with pictures.
I stupidly forgot to take my camera along.
The cave temple was at the top of a rather high hill, and half the family chose to stay behind because it was an exhausting climb. Us kids made it to the top.
There was a bit of an issue when we reached the top, though, because my cousin’s Aussie girlfriend was with us and we’d missed the sign stating that all non-Sri Lankans had to pay 1200 Rupees for a ticket. There was a soldier guarding the door who asked us to climb all the way back down to buy her a ticket. My dad was a Squadron Leader in the Sri Lankan Air Force, and the current Air Force head-huncho was a good mate of his, so he was able to yell talk some sense into the fellow and we got through okay.

When we walked back down, we obviously stuck out as tourists. The local kids came running up to us, begging us to buy flowers or let them read our palms. I can still remember some Singhalese, so I said no, but they were persistent. They walked right beside us right until we reached the door of the van, and even then, some of them tried to block our way. I couldn’t help but feel bad, though. That’s the only way they have to make money.

Back at the resort, us kids decided to play volleyball for a while, and after we got too hot the whole family jumped into the pool. We’re a big group, and I’m fairly sure we drove all the other guests out, but it was great all the same.

We jumped straight back out for dinner, then once again, all us kids met up to play cards till it was time to sleep.

95. Family Reunion.

Day 2 in Sri Lanka:
We woke up early this morning, and went around to all my dad’s siblings houses in a large van to pick everyone up.
My dad’s entire family, that is, us, his parents, his four siblings and all of their spouses and kids are spending a few days together in a hotel. I’m sure I’ve mentioned it before, but yeah, I come from a big family.
My dad’s little sister & family lives in Australia, about a 20 minute drive away from where we live.
The oldest of dad’s three younger brothers and his family live in Dubai.
The youngest of his brothers & his family live in Qatar.
His third brother lives with his parents, in Sri Lanka.
The last time the whole family was together was a very, very long time ago. We’ve had a fair few additions to the family since then. But, for my dad’s brother-in-law’s 50th birthday bash, everyone flew down to Sri Lanka.
It’s great getting to know all my cousins again.
Again, we’re no where near as close as we used to be when we lived in Sri Lanka, and I doubt we ever will be, but it doesn’t hurt to try.

(If anyone’s been paying attention, the cousins in Birmingham and Ireland I talked about from England last week are all from mum’s side of the family. I’ve gotten a chance to talk to every single one of my cousins on this trip!)

The latest family member is my 11 month cousin, ‘R’. He’s an adorable little bub, and justifiably the center of everyone’s attention.

We drove a fair distance to the resort, and just like I did in England, I grabbed myself a window seat and spent the hours staring out of the window and occasionally making small talk with the family.

The resort is fantastic. The rooms are comfortable (they supply hairdryers!) and the food is great. Us cousins all jumped into the pool while the sun was still up while the adults talked in their rooms. Afterwards, we all went to play cards in the bar. I was talking to my oldest cousin’s girlfriend ‘S’ and my oldest female cousin ‘H’, both about 20, and ‘S’ thought I was the same age as them. She was planning to buy me a cocktail when I let her know that I was significantly younger than them both.

Still, it’s nice to know that I could pass for 18.

94. Sri Lanka.

We landed in Sri Lanka today, and the airport was surprisingly modern. Much more so than it was the last time we came, in any case.
It’s been almost exactly 3 years since the last time we came.
My brother and I were bound to shock the relatives, what with the rapid growing us teenagers seem so fond of.
In the airport, I noticed for the first time that the country is a “Democratic Socialist Republic”.
What the hell?
My uncle, that is, one of my dad’s three little brothers came to pick us up.
It’s a relatively short distance between the airport and my grandma’s house where we were headed, but the shocking Sri Lankan traffic turned it into a four-hour drive.
I couldn’t help but notice all the armed soldiers stationed almost on every street.
That’s what you get in a war-torn country, I suppose.
I’m not entirely sure what the political situation is, and I doubt I’d be able to effectively describe it even if I did.
In a word, it’s awful.
Something about a corrupt government fighting a group of terrorists over land.
The country is smaller than Tasmania, but the population is more or less equal to that of the whole of Australia, but there’s still thousands of people dying over land.

Anyway, it was dark by the time we reached grandma’s house, and we met the grandparents, another of my dad’s little brothers, my dad’s little sister, her husband, my two older cousins and my oldest cousin’s girlfriend. Of course, they all live in Australia too and we see them all the time but it was nice to see them all the same.

My dad’s little brother then took my dad’s little sister and her family back to his house, to make room for my family at grandma’s house.

93. The thirteen-hour flight.

I can’t remember what I was doing on the plane. I remember that I didn’t sleep at all, for starters. I definitely saw a whole heap of movies again, but I can’t remember the names of any of them. I suppose sleep deprivation can do that to you.
Anyway, we’ve now reached the Kuala Lumpur airport from Heathrow, completely tired and disgruntled because we haven’t slept in about 24 hours.
I’m having trouble calculating exactly how long ago our last night in England was thanks to the time differences, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s been significantly longer than 24 hours.
My parents weren’t willing to sit in the airport for 7 hours waiting, so we’re now booked into the transit hotel.
I was trying to convince them not to. It seemed like a horrible waste of money to book in for just 7 hours, but my brother snapped at me and told me not to complain.
Fair enough too, I suppose.
We’ve got clean bathrooms and beds to get re-energized.

Oh, and my dad bought me a Nintendo DS duty free at the Heathrow airport, along with the “100 Classic Books” cartridge. I’ve been reading Little Women for a fair while now. 100 books packed into one convenient package? Brilliant.
For the record, I didn’t actually ask for the DS. My dad bought the “100 Classic Books” box thinking it’d be good for me to read on the plane, and didn’t realize that it actually required a DS. When my brother and I told him what it was, he decided to buy a DS rather than return the game.
I know, I know. I’m spoilt (and loving it).

92. The final day.

It’s hard to think that this is, technically, my last day in England. It was kind of starting to feel like home.
It was a brilliant final day though, because it snowed!

A view of my Uncle’s backyard.

It was the first time I’ve ever seen snow as it actually falls.
Brilliant.

The weather’s actually been great. In the two weeks we’ve spent here, it hasn’t rained once. The people who have actually had to endure the English rain have been telling me that we got off easy.

I spent the afternoon watching DVD’s and playing “mum’s and dad’s” with my little cousin “N”, (She took a barbie doll, handed me a teddy bear and said “I’ll be the PRINCESS and you be the TROLL!”), and had to say goodbye to both my cousins before they went to sleep. It’s worrying to think that I won’t be seeing them again for another few years at least.

We have to pack our bags tonight, and leave the house at 4AM tomorrow morning to get to Heathrow in time for our flight.
13 hours to Kuala Lumpur, 7 Hours in transit and another 3 and a half hours to Sri Lanka.
A week later, we have to repeat the process heading back to Australia.
I’m quite sick of flying.