A Week Long Update Worth Reading

No story is complete without a little comic relief. This week has been Caleb's attempt to play tourist and enjoy the country that Sri Lanka has to offer. I figure one only come to such a foreign island very few times in a life time, so one must take in and absorb all he can. Monday, I visited a close by botanical gardens located in Newari Eliya. The garden was breath taking, with exotic flowers from around the world. I think the cornerstone of the outing though, was not the flowers but the monkeys. Satheesh, my guide, and myself were walking through the gardens when we ran into a large group of monkeys. I video taped some of their behavior, which is simply fascinating. Anyways, the fun part comes when Caleb came a little to close to mother nature. I was trying to get closer for a photo and was literally in the monkey habitat. I don't think the monkeys liked that because this one monkey started chasing me!! He chased me until I was back on the main trail and out of his home. Hey, I still got the picture ha ha it was great. The only bad thing was that Satheesh was making fun of me the rest of the afternoon :).



Tuesday



Tuesday was a day, very few words can describe. After a hour and a half ride on the back of a small motorbike we arrived among the clouds. We were heading to a place known to the locals as the world's end. A place where you can look out over God's creation and truly see its magnificence. I was able to look past the mountains and the villages below, past all the heartache and worldly strain, and see the shimmering see far in the distance, as the clouds surrounding me seemed to lift me higher and higher. God is truly an artist. Though beautiful, beauty came at a cost. A cost of about nine kilometers up the side of a mountain through dense jungle. After seeing the world's end, Pastor Daneesh and I decided to keep hiking because about another four kilometers is a place called Baker's Falls, a gorgeous waterfall. We arrived at the waterfall, but the area was closed off with barbed wire, but Pastor Daneesh having been there before, took me a different path. The path was down an extremely steep decline, and Caleb's clumsy self of course can't go down an extremely steep incline without a a fall! Yep that's right I busted my but and had a little scrape to prove it. Thank goodness I was wearing jeans or it may have been much worse. Daneesh freaked out, but it was just flesh wound! ha ha and I got up and we made it to the waterfall. We were standing right underneath a breathtaking sight of stone and water, which made a great spot for a photo montage.



The day came to an end and we hiked the last five kilometers back to the motorbike, and I called it a day



Wednesday
On Wednesday, Sateesh traveled to Kandy, the ancient city of kings. It was great a bus ticket was so cheap only $2 per person, but locals told me that the price had recently been increased. Anyways, after arrival I dropped my bag where I was staying, at a bible college in Kandy called Lanka Bible College (LBC). More about the place later, because we immediately set off for the huge arboretum they have in Kandy. This place was huge. We walked around for several hours, with occasionally running for shelter because of the rain. OK I thought this part was funny. After we bought are tickets, we were headed for the gate when the guard told Sateesh that I could not enter through the gate we were headed towards. Foreigners had their own special fancy gate. It was actually quite nice, the gate was built underneath this gazebo, which was odd considering the locals entrance was just a large sliding gate. Well, I guess the difference in ticket price was represented. The gardens were gorgeous and unlike the Gardens in Newari Eliya, there were more tropical trees and flowers. This one walk way was surrounded on both sides with King Coconut trees, and very old trees with sprawling roots. One of the most, moving moments was when we came across a very specific tree somewhat distant from the other trees. This tree was intertwined with an adjacent tree and had formed into the shape of a huge cross. It was as if God had made a tree to show that he is present even among people who deny him. It was as if he was towering over the people with branches reaching out wide, welcoming the people with open arms. I truly struggle at times to truly understand how can love us, a sinful people, with such passion and grace, but none the less the outstretched branches of his cross always reach down to us with his mercy just asking for a return of His love.

That evening was an evening of fellowship. I was back on the LBC campus and Sateesh left to be with his wife, so I stayed and mingled with the students. They invited me to play a small game of billiards, and my love for the a me could not turn them down. Not to brag or anything, but I did kind of make them look bad ha ha, so yeah then I ate diner with the students, which was a great experience since they were amazed a foreigner wasn't afraid of eating rice and curry with his fingers. I'm actually starting to enjoy it now ha ha, so barbaric its great. I think I have finally adapted to their culture.

Thursday
Thursday morning Sateesh picked me up and we set off for our day of adventure, and a day of adventure it was. We were heading for Pinnawala. A city famous for its elephant orphanage. I've never seen elephants outside of the zoo before, and this orphanage allowed for all these elephants to live in the community of other elephants in a natural habitat. We first hiked down to this river where all the elephants were bathing. Have you ever seen a baby elephant bathe? Well, its the most adorable thing ever! Ha ha especially when afterwards they head to the adjacent bank and play in the mud in order to have a excuse to bathe once more in the tropical rivers of Kandy. We gawked at the elephants for probably over two hours before we decided to have lunch. After lunch though we walked over to the elephants feeding area, where the elephants devoured this forest. I don't think they ever stop eating. I think elephants are Americans at heart ha ha. At the end of the adventure we saw the true orphanage part of the reserve where they actually feed milk to the baby elephants, with out parents. Its so adorable because the baby elephants curl their trunks up and put these large bottles of milk in their mouth. They have to feed a baby elephant at least 8 of these bottles a day. Just a little side note, one of the people who helped prevent the elephants from coming to close to the tourists wants lets them touch and take pictures touching the elephant. Well there was only one elephant with huge tusks so I decided to take a picture touching its tusks, and afterwards the elephant guy was like "give money" and I was for taking a picture with MY camera, I don't think so ,and I walked off. He stared at me funny, I think he was lost in translation, but scored as the next tourist gave him a little money for a picture with the elephant. I laughed and walked off.

Friday
Friday was the strangest day. In the morning, we were going to go see this huge Buddhist temple in Kandy built by one of the old kings of Sri Lanka. When we got there, we found out the temple had become a tourist attraction, and required a ticket. The ticket was OK, but they said I couldn't go inside because I wasn't wearing the traditional dress, which they offered for me to by, but at that time I was slightly disgusted at the idea of making a place of worship into a tourist attraction I decided to just head back to Newari Eliya a few hours early. I couldn't help but think what it would be like if huge cathedrals required an entrance fee in order to worship Christ.