The Seychelles segment of our trip was off to a rough start. An impressive lack of organization at the Colombo airport meant that even showing up four hours in advance was just enough to make our flight without one of us becoming truly unpleasant. Our flight was at 0200, landing in the Seychelles at around 0500 local time. Which means not much sleep even in the best of cases, which was not my case as I’m still a nervous flier. The plane was filled with Sri Lankans going abroad for work, and they were intent on making the most of the free meals and beers on the plane. No doubt they were heading for extended austere/spartan conditions akin to indenturedness (not a word), so who could blame them?Read more
We are in the capital city of Colombo, enjoying a little luxury at the locally owned Jetwing hotel (all their hotels we highly recommend).
First an apology, I reread my last post about Sri Lanka, to avoid repeating myself, and found SO MANY MISTAKES that I felt a deep sense of writer’s shame. Sorry about that.Read more
I wanted to write a proper post with tons of pretentious cultural and literary remarks but it is already day 11 of our arrival here and we are headed to the internetless land of the Maldives tomorrow (because we will be on a boat). So instead here is a bunch of pictures and some hopefully not too pedestrian, or provincial, comments.Read more
Yup, that‘s a George Orwell semi-reference (Burmese Days) and a shout-out to my high school english teacher. I’ll have to re-read that book.
Walking off the airplane after three flights, each averaging around seven hours, I reflect on the saying that it’s not the destination but the journey that matters and wholeheartedly disagree. We are greeted by a large Buddha statue with the hand in the blessing pose (if I remember correctly, I was too crazy tired and in no shape to think about taking pictures). Later there was a large sign saying that carrying illicit drugs was punishable by death.Read more
Today is the solstice, my pagan roots are happy. The shortest day, the longest night. As I get ready for Christmas (my Christian roots are happy) and the new year celebrations, my thoughts turn, unavoidably, both backwards and forwards.
2018 was a very interesting year. I’ll spare you the details, but it was about things coming full circle, about new things desired and old things no longer needed. It was about shaking things loose to see what sticks and what falls away. There was also the very clear feeling that sand is shifting ever quicker through the hourglass, that the bottom part perhaps now holds more than the top. That generated some resignation but mostly, mostly, defiance. Insert Billy Idol sneer and fist pump.Read more
Scuba diving, quality cocktails, taking it easy and other treasure maps.
