WEATHER: BLOOMING HOT and 36C
HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY: Not getting run over with the tuk tuk
after I fell off
BUMMER OF THE DAY: Falling off my bike
WORD OF THE DAY: Tuk tuk crash
THANKS TO ALL MY
WATER CHARITY DONATIONS SO FAR:
Jo Braddish
DISTANCE TRAVELLED: 121km
BUDDHA QUOTE FOR THE DAY:
“When you realize
how perfect everything is you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky”
We leave Anuradhapura today and head to the town of
Polonnaruwa. No sleep in’s on this trip
so far with my alarm going off at 5.55am, breakfast at 6.20am and then our
private bus arrived to take us the 15 minutes to the public bus station and for
our 4 hour bus ride. Indika got us there
a little early to make sure that we would get seats, as it can be a busy bus
and who wants to stand for 4 hours. Our
bags were loaded onto the back seat of the bus and we were free to sit anywhere
we wanted. The seats we in a 2 seat,
aisle and then a 3 seat. I chose the
very small 2 seat thinking if I when we had to get off the bus, one person to
climb over was better than 2. I also
assessed which windows opened, which seats didn’t have windows and then chose
the seat where I could have an open window to myself so I could take pictures
while we were on the move. It is so
important where to sit on these drives not just for the photos but to have the
breeze on my face as I was expecting the bus to be hot with the weather we have
had the last few days. We waited for 45
minutes and with about 10 minutes to go I got a small Sri Lankan guy sit next
to me which I was fine with but there were 50 other seats still available on
the bus. Okay, so he wanted to sit next
to a ‘western’ girl. I get it. So I try and do the right thing and say
hello, ask if he speaks English (it was a no) so I took a self take photo of us
and after that he points to my Ethiopian bangles, still not cottoning on I tell
him they are from Africa, and then he points to my Moroccan ring to which I say
Africa also and then he mimes to out the ring on his finger-ahhhh penny drops,
he wants some of my jewelry. So I say no
with a smile and put in my ear phones. I
tried speaking to the locals and he asks for my stuff. We left on time, which is apparently unusual
and started the slow drive out of town.
Slow being the operative word as we stopped at a billion stops on the
way out of town touting for people as we went.
We did pick up some people, but so far so good in relation to the amount
of people on the bus. If it is a male
getting on or off the bus, it doesn’t completely stop it just slowly rolls to
let the person on or off but for ladies I noticed that the bus would come to a
complete stop, oh and for the oldies…..
There is a driver and a ticket guy on the public
busses. People can get on via the front
or back doors and they just go and take a seat and then after a while the
ticket guy will come down the aisle, he recognizes the new people, they pay, he
gives them a hand written ticket and then scans the crowd for the new
comers. He doesn’t come down at every stop;
he makes a trip when there are enough newbies on the bus. Even when the bus got busy after about 2
hours-he just pushes his way through the throng to collect the fares. He had a system, the money went into the back
of the receipt book, it was windy with all the windows open, the receipts
looked they had been pre written up and he was done. On our way out of town we also stopped at a
roadside shrine where an offering is made for a safe journey and then we are
back on the road again. Literally the
guy jumped off the bus, opened the door, took his shoes off, said his prayer
for us all, shoes back on, him back on the bus and it was all done in 3
minutes. Well if it keeps us safe then I
am all for the ‘unofficial’ stop, but them the people we pick up and drop off
are just by the road with no ‘official’ stops as such except through a few of
the larger towns. This bus had a flat
screen TV and after we had cleared the city limits it was turned on and a
version of Sri Lankan MTV came on and the speakers for the bus were not far
from my seat and even with my headphones on I could hear the beat of the
music. It’s one way to keep people
entertained. As the bus filled up and
people stood in the aisle it was hard to see the TV screen anyway, so I stuck
to looking out my window watching the scenery passing me by. Sri Lankans seem to be so friendly and are
happy to wave and say hello as we pass and stop. They have such warm and friendly smiles and
it makes me happy to get a wave and a smile in return. We had a lengthy stop at 9.40am and there
were a herd of sellers that come on to sell you food from corn, to nuts, to
fried chilies and dhal. Indika bought
some fried dhal for us to all try and I have to say it was delicious. I skipped on the fried chili though but
Christine rekons it wasn’t that spicy.
Yeah right according to Ms. Spice herself. There was another stop at 10.30am for a
toilet stop, not bad for a public bus.
The rule is if you want to get off the bus you need to leave something
on your seat so nobody nicks it. Since I
was sitting on my own and the others were rows in front of me I had nothing
short of my handbag to leave, so I didn’t end up getting off the bus. I didn’t need to use the toilet but I would
have loved a cold drink. So I resorted
to what I had in my bag and that was 2 Bertie Beetle chocolates that my
God-daughters had bought to Thailand for me, better than nothing and a little
disappointed no-one thought to ask if I wanted anything. Never mind.
I am sure it wasn’t intentional.
We arrived into Polonnaruwa at 11.45am. There is an urgency to get all the bags off
as quick as we can so as to not hold the bus up and this was done with the boys
helping Indika shove them all off. Our
guesthouse was only a 50m walk away and as we stepped off the bus the full
force of the days heat hit is and I am not sure how excited I am about jumping
in bicycles again this afternoon in this oppressive heat but maybe it may cool
down in the next few hours. Yeah
RIGHT-NOT!!! The guesthouse was
nice. Lenore and I had a ground floor
room and at this particular accommodation the air-conditioning was NOT
included. Well we had to fix that and
for the princely sum of 500LKR (3.84AUD) we could have the remote control for
the air-conditioner and we got that baby cranked up over lunch. There were a few people who didn’t want to
pay for the air-conditioning which I think is crazy as we really need our sleep
at night as our days are so busy, and it is really quite hard to open a window
as there are a lot of mozzies around. I
mean each to their own, but for 4 bucks it was a no brainer for Lenore and I
AND we went halves, so it was only 1.92AUD each. Lunch was at the guesthouse and then we were
given 10 minutes to freshen up, grab what we would need for the afternoon’s
bike ride and we left the hotel at 1pm for the 7 minute walk to the bike
collection point for the afternoon.
The bikes surprisingly have been pretty good. They have suspension and the seats seem to be
comfy enough, even for my fat arse, the only thing lacking are the gears, they
seem to be preset and I think that may have been part of my ride yesterday, it
was in a high gear that was hard to start off with (any excuse) but today
didn’t seem to bad and they had a choice of man bikes (high bar) and chick
bikes (low bar) which was perfect for this black duck that doesn’t have the
best kick leg action anymore to get over on the male bikes. So after all the seats had been adjusted we set
off down a small rocky lane, crossed the main road of town and rode the 5
minutes to The Polonnaruwa Archaeological Museum. Even that 5 minute ride worked up a sweat, it
was going to be a sweaty grimy day and when we walked through the doors of the
museum a blast of cool air met us, well for the first room and then it was back
to sauna conditions for the rest of the 40 minutes in the building. Our guide was an engineer during his career
so he was handy in giving us information on the buildings. The museum exhibits finds excavated from the medieval
city of Polonnaruwa, a UNESCO-listed site.
It is a great place to start a trip to Polonnaruwa, particularly as its
models of the city’s buildings allow visitors to see what they would have
looked like before setting off to the actual ruins. It’s designed so that you walk from one end
to the other, passing through a series of rooms, each dedicated to a particular
theme: the citadel, the outer city, the monastery area and the periphery, and
Hindu monuments. The latter room contains a wonderful selection of bronzes. Of
particular interest are the scale models of buildings, including
the vatadage (circular relic house), which show how they might have
looked in their heyday – if you follow the theory that they once had wooden
roofs.
Polonnaruwa is
a town and also has the remains of the royal ancient city of the Polonnaru Kingdom. The second most ancient of Sri Lanka's
kingdoms, Polonnaruwa was first declared the capital city by King Vijayabahu I,
who defeated the Chola invaders in 1070 to reunite the
country once more under a local leader. The Ancient City of Polonnaruwa has been declared a World Heritage
Site. The real "Hero of
Polonnaruwa" of the history books is actually his grandson, Parakramabahu
I. It was his reign that is considered the Golden Age of
Polonnaruwa, when trade and agriculture flourished under the patronage of the
king, who was so adamant that no drop of water falling from the heavens was to
be wasted, and each was to be used toward the development of the land; hence,
irrigation systems that are far superior to those of the Anuradhapura Age were
constructed during Parakramabahu's reign, systems which to this day supply the
water necessary for paddy cultivation during the scorching dry season in the
east of the country. The Kingdom of Polonnaruwa was completely self-sufficient
during King Parakramabahu's reign.
We left the museum and followed the path that took us
past the one of the greatest irrigation systems constructed during Parakramabahu's
reign, the Parakrama Samudraya or the Sea of Parakrama. It is of such
a width that it is impossible to stand upon one shore and view the other side,
and it encircles the main city like a ribbon, being both a moat against
intruders and the lifeline of the people in times of peace. The great artificial lake is at once an
expression, a statement of imperial power & monumental feet of engineering:
irrigation of 18,000 acres of paddy fields for two seasons a year, a line of
defence along the entire west flank of the city against the marauding Dravidian
invasions from South India & cooling breeze to the citizens. The great
reservoir was named after its imperial designer.
"Not one drop of water must flow into
the ocean without serving the purposes of man" - King Parakrambahu the great (1164-1196 AD), the builder of rainwater reservoir
"Sea of Parakrama"
It was beautiful with the mountains as a backdrop as we
circled back to the bikes to cycle to the entrance of the ancient city to spend
the rest of the afternoon looking at these spectacular ruins. This did involve riding on the main road for
15 minutes and it was a little hairy with buses and trucks and cars all tooting
us as we rode. I guess it would have
been funny to see 12 white people cycling on bikes at 2pm in the afternoon all
sweating and red faced. I saw a few
air-conditioned vans pass us with tourists inside and I bet that they are
thinking what crazies we are, because that is normally me and I would be
thinking that we WERE crazy!!!
Our first stop was one of the 14 Hindu temples that could
be found in the Kingdom dedicated to God Siva of 12th century vintage. The South Indian invasion of Polonnaruwa
during the 10th century resulted in some Hindu ruins. There are a total of 14
Hindu shrines in ancient Polonnaruwa today, of which the Shiva Devale is one of
the best restored. The Shiva Devale was built by the Chola rulers of
Polonnaruwa, and contains the male lingam and female yoni, Hindu icons
representative of the male and female reproductive organs. The temple bears sign that it has been
restored by anastylosis, a method of restoration which was also employed in
Angkor and Borobudur, in which the stones are carefully dismantled, and then
reassembled. Missing pieces are replaced with similar stones only for the
purpose of maintaining the structure from falling apart. They all still had numbers on the stones
which was nice to have a small insight onto how they carry out the restoration
work.
From here we rode for 5 minutes to Polonnaruwa
Vatadage. Because it was so hot, we had
all packed a pair of socks to wear while we were walking around the sacred
sites. It would just be too hot to go
bare foot, so as we all walked over the sand in our socks (nice look) it did
take the punch out of the heat out of the rock and temples that we were walking
on. Polonnaruwa Vatadage is an ancient
structure and is believed to have been
built during the reign of Parakramabahu
I to hold the tooth relic of the Buddha, or
during the reign of Nissanka Malla to hold the alms bowl used by the
Buddha. Both these venerated relics would have given the structure a great
significance and importance at the time. Located within the ancient city of Polonnaruwa,
it is the best preserved example of a vatadage in the country, and has been described
as the "ultimate development" of this type of architecture. Abandoned
for several centuries, excavation work at the Polonnaruwa Vatadage began in
1903. Built for the protection of a
small stupa, the structure has
two stone platforms decorated with elaborate stone carvings. Four Buddha statues are seated around it, each
facing one of the entrances. The four
Buddha statues, which depict the Dhyana mudra, are also
carved from solid rock. Two of them are more or less intact today, while only
parts of the other two remain. The
stupa in the middle appears to have been of the Bubbulakara (bubble shaped) design commonly seen
in Sri Lanka. The upper part has been destroyed, and only the dome shaped lower
part now remains. Three concentric rows
of stone columns had also been positioned here, presumably to support a wooden
roof. The entire structure is decorated with stone carvings. Some of the
carvings at the Polonnaruwa Vatadage, such as its sandakada
pahanas, are considered to be the best examples of such
architectural features. This is one of
the most photographed images of the ancient city and it was amazing to get to
walk and touch it all.
Not far from the Polonnaruwa
Vatadage was Gal Pota which is a massive 26 ft. slab of stone
lies by the side of the Hetadage in which King Nissankamalla had his own deeds
recorded in stone. The inscriptions also
contain particulars of King Nissankamalla’s genealogy and his wars with
Dravidian invaders from South India. The inscription itself says that the slab
of stone was brought to the location from Mihintale. The inscription has been of great assistance to the scholars since it also
reveals evolution of the Sinhala script. On the side of Gal Pota are two
stone carved Elephants sprinkling
water on goddess Lakshmi, the Hindu Goddess of Prosperity and it is claimed
that the solid slab of stone was dragged by elephants the 110km from Mihintale. There were a lot of midgies around, like the
second you stopped moving there would be 50 of them around your legs but they
didn’t seem to be biting me and Les made a comment that they are probably
drowning in our sweat! Ha ha ha –
funny-they probably didn’t have anywhere to land!!!
Some of the other the buildings that we saw during the
first 2 hours also included:
The Hatadage which
is an ancient relic shrine. It was
built by Nissanka
Malla, and had been used to keep the Relic of the tooth of the Buddha.
The Hatadage had been built using stone, brick and wood, although only parts of
the brick and stone walls now remain. It appears to have been a two-story
structure, but the upper story has now been destroyed. Three Buddha statues
carved out of granite rock are located within a chamber of the shrine. The shrine is surrounded by a stone wall, 37m
long and 27m wide. However, only the
walls now remain. The walls of the shrine are made of brick, and the outer
walls are covered with stone plates. The main entrance leads to a small chamber. At the center of this chamber are three
standing Buddha
statues carved from
granite. These are also partially destroyed. The statue in the middle is 2.7m
in height, while the other two are 2.3m each.
This is the house of the tooth relic of Lord Buddha built by King
Vijayabahu I (1070-1110). This building is built on 54 stone pillars. The tooth
relic has been kept on the second floor probably mage out of wood. The access
to the second floor is through a granite stair case. Few steps still remain of
this staircase which led to the upper chamber of the building.
Satmahal Prasada represents another unusual design for a
temple, unique in Polonnaruwa. The name means "Seven Story Edifice",
and appears as a stepped pyramid. Historians and archaeologists are stumped as
to its origin, as there was no mention of it in the ancient chronicles. Each
floor has a niche that contain figurines, some of which still there. In all likelihood, the Satmahal Prasada
probably bears influences from the Khmers, who are renowned at building temple
mountains which are ziggurat-like as well. Visitors admiring the Satmahal
Prasada can be satisfied with the knowledge that they know as much about it as
the historian, that is, nothing.
Thuparama, a brick-built vaulted shrine, is in a fine
state of preservation. Thuparma, the oldest image house at Polonnaruwa goes back the reign of King Vijayabahu
the first (1055-1110 A.D.). A brick base
about one meter high with three projections once carried an image of Buddha,
which is now simple a pile of bricks. The stone images in the Thuparama date
back to Anuradhapura period. This
image house is one of the few buildings where you can see a roof completely
made out of bricks. Almost the whole building as survived over 900 years
miraculously. The roof is a semi-cylindrical in shape. The original name of
this image house is not known; therefore the builder of this is also unknown.
It is thought that this was built by a minister of King Parakramabahu
(1153-1186) called Mahinda to house the tooth relic. Another belief is that
this was built by king Vijayabahu I (1070-1110). The walls of this building are about 2 meters
thick and inside a large seating Buddha statue has been kept. Nothings remain
of this statue today. It is said that the eyes of this Buddha statue was
embedded with precious stones and the windows were designed in such a manner
the sunlight would reflect on these stones and light the image house.
The Palace of King Parakramabahu. The Palace must
have been an imposing edifice once, richly decorated and seven stories high:
the remaining walls of the palace are of extra-ordinary thickness and the
drainage system is intriguing. The structural techniques of this period were
the same as those of the Anuradhapura period, but there was a greater use of
lime mortar, which enabled the building of brick structures of dimensions never
before attempted. This is a majestic
palace build by king Parakramabahu with seven stories and said to have 1000
chambers. Although the main building possibly couldn’t hold such a number of
chambers, when you consider the whole palace complex it is thought that this
number is a possibility. Today you can
see the massive walls over a meter thick going up to about 9 meters and the
bottom half of the main stairway which led to upper floors. Inside the building
you can see parts of melted brick walls caused by intense heat when this was
set fire by Tamil invaders at the end of Polonnaruwa era. Around the main
palace there are remains of more buildings where the ministers, solders and servants
lived. Large holes in the wall probably
held massive wooden structures that formed the floor of the upper levels. Even after facing such destruction by human
hand and then by Mother Nature for 800 years, the plastering on these walls
still remains in some places.
A little further on was the beautiful royal bath, the
Kumara Pokuna. Across the way is the beautiful Royal Audience Hall -
embellished with lion portals, graceful pillars and a moonstone. (a delicately
carved stepping stone). Here we decided
to stop for a cold drink from a very smart vendor that had set up a shop near
the royal bath. His prices were a little
high, but after being out in the blazing sun for 2 hours, I would have paid
triple for the cold coke that I held in my hands. Then I saw someone with an icy pole, so I
went back and bought one of those and I have never enjoyed an ice block more
than I did at that time and then I went to have a sip of water and I was
running on empty, so I had to go back a third time and I bought another bottle
of water. There was a group of Japanese
tourists we had been following around the last few sights and they then hit the
shop, so he must make a roaring trade down near the baths. The other thing we had to tackle was the
sellers. It was SO HOT, so it was tough
to just concentrate and get from the bikes to some shade to the ruins and back
again let alone telling people that you just weren’t interested in buying a
stone box, a stone Buddha, an elephant family made from wood or any ‘silver’ jewelry
that is not really ‘silver’. I didn’t
want to be rude, after all they are just trying to make a buck as well, but I
was over heated, sweaty and just wanted to be left alone. I did see one guy from the museum that was
now at the ruins and he was smart enough to not ask me again if I wanted to buy
a straw hat and that was worth the high five we gave each other the next few
times we saw each other.
It was now just after 4pm and we had one more stop of the
day and that was to the Gal Vihara. It
was a 25 minute ride from where we were so after our little refreshment stop we
were feeling a little more perked up for the ride. The roads in the park are made mostly of that
loose shale, rocks and compacted earth.
We had the backup tuk tuk again today with Janice safely planted in the
back. Nice Garry had decided to get a
bike today, so it would have made it harder for me to pack in the bike again
today even if I wanted to, but I wanted to try and last the distance today so I
stuck in there for the last stop. I was
at the back of the group and the tuk tuk was directly behind me, so I waved the
driver up to come closer so that I could hang onto the tuk tuk and get a free
ride part of the way. So he did and I
held on for a few minutes before a bridge loomed and I let go so that we could
both pass safely over. He then sped up
again for me to hold on so I did and we over took 5 of the group with me yip
yaying and whoop whooping the whole time telling the driver to go faster. I rekon we would have been going 25km an
hour, we were hooting along and then Gazza decides to jump on the free ride and
took hold of my handle bars. So we now
had a tuk tuk to my left, me attached to the said tuk tuk and then Gazza
attached to me. Does that sound like a
recipe for disaster? Well it was and
before I knew it my bike slid out from under me and I was lying face down on
the loose gravel wondering what the hell happened. The tuk tuk stopped of course, the 5 people
we had over taken stopped and the rest of the group were at the next stop
looking back and after speaking to Christine later who was apart of that first
group thought I had been hit by the tuk tuk, she said it looked bad. I got up, and there was Indika and the tuk
tuk driver washing down the dust and stones from my legs with water and before
I knew it Serena was there with a wipe and band aide to patch up my gravel rash
on my left hand that was bleeding and a gouge I had taken out of my middle
finger on my right hand that was also bleeding.
But other than that I had escaped quite miraculously unscathed. Considering how much more worse it could have
been with a vehicle involved (no matter how small) is considered lucky. I am sure a few bruises will pop up and I was
also double lucky as I had my big camera around my neck and that it had escaped
any damage considering I fell face first!
What a goose. Later again people
we all telling what they had seen and I really think it was no-one’s fault (but
my own stupidity of course) as it seems Gazza let go of my handlebars, I hit a
patch of soft sand and it all went pear shaped from there. I’m not blaming anyone but don’t tell Gazza
that as he feel pretty bad about the whole thing and he later confessed that he
ran over my back tyre in his attempt to stay on his own bike once I had gone
down. So not only did I nearly get run
over by a tuk tuk but I also can add a bike to the equation as well.
Well after dusting myself off and telling everyone I was
okay we cycled on and this is when I felt the pain in my arm and it was
excruciating. I’d say what I had done
was try and hold onto the tuk tuk as I fell and my arm was pulled back behind
me and I think I have now pulled or strained something in the shoulder
region. I can’t lift my arm up past 90 degrees. It really really hurt, but I sucked it up and
even after Indika’s insistence to hop in the tuk tuk we arrived at Gal
Vihara. The Gal Vihara is a rock temple of the Buddha. It was
constructed in the 12th century by Parakramabahu
I. The central feature of the shrine are four images of the Buddha, which have been carved
into the face of a large granite rock. The images consist of a large seated
figure, another, smaller seated figure inside an artificial cavern, and
standing figure and a reclining figure. These are considered to be some of the
best examples of ancient Sinhalese sculpting and carving arts, and have made
the Gal Vihara one of the most visited monuments in Polonnaruwa. Each of the images have been carved in a way
that uses a maximum possible area of the rock, and their heights seem to have
been decided based on the height of the rock itself. Each statue appears to
have had its own image house, as indicated by the remains of brick walls at the
site. The Gal Vihara, or Uttararama as it was known during that period, was
where Parakramabahu I held a congregation of monks to purify the Buddhist
priesthood, and later drew up a code of conduct for them. This code of conduct
has been recorded in an inscription on the same rock face containing the images
of the Buddha. The main feature of Gal
Vihara is the four images of the
Buddha that have been
carved on a single, large granite rock face. The
rock has been cut almost 4.6m deep to create a rock face to accommodate the
statues, and is the only example in the country where a natural rock has been
excavated to this extent for such a purpose. The images position the temple alongside some
of the most significant monuments which survive from the ancient kingdoms of Sri Lanka, and make it
the most celebrated and visited temple in Polonnaruwa. Three of the images are
quite large; the smallest of them is more than 4.6m tall, and the largest is
more than 14m long.
The most inspiring was the reclining image, which depicts
the Buddha's parinirvana,
and is the largest in Gal Vihara. At 14.12m
in length, the reclining image is the largest statue in Gal Vihara, and also one of the largest sculptures
in Southeast Asia. It depicts the
parinirvana of the Buddha, who is lying on his right side with the right arm
supporting the head on a bolster, while the left arm lies along the body and
thigh. The palm of the right hand and the soles of the feet have a single lotus
flower carved on them. The upper
foot—the left foot of the image—is slightly withdrawn to indicate that the
image depicts that the Buddha has attained parinirvana, and is not merely lying
down. So we were barefoot again
for the last time and as you walked around this smaller section of the ruins
you have to remember that when you get your photo taken with Buddha you can’t
have your back to the statue 100% you have to be turned on your side in
respect.
Now it was time to head home-it was past 5pm and we had
around a 30 minute ride ahead of us. My
bike was now making a clicking noise, so I must have done some damage to the
bike also but I think it may just have been a pedal that was clicking on the
chain. Either way, I was happy that 85%
of the ride was downhill and we had to take our chances again on the main road
to get back to the bike drop-off house. There
was an amazing sunset as we were riding to my left and I was going to try and
take a photo while moving on the bike but thought better of it, can you imagine
if I fell off a second time trying to take a photo and I have a funny feeling
the bitumen road will do a hell of a lot more damage than the shale road I fell
on an hour ago. We all made it in one
piece back, again with some toots from lorry drivers and busses, and when we
arrived there was a cold flannel, actually I think it was a frozen one, that we
could wipe our hands and faces with and I have to say it was pure heaven, even
though in the heat it didn’t stay cold for too long, but it was enough to wipe
the grit and sweat from my face. By this
time I was looking quite disheveled. I
was dusty from the fall, which had stuck to the sweat from the day; I had blood
on my shorts, sore knees, cuts on my hands and a sore arm. But I was alive. I just couldn’t wait to get into a shower and
get some clean clothes on. It would also
be nice to have my hair down for once, as it has been too damn hot to leave it
down and it has been up the whole trip, considering I am a hair down girl this
is a pretty big thing for me.
Dinner was low key at the restaurant which suited me fine
with me as my arm was throbbing. Lenore
and Christine gave me some drugs to tide me over till tomorrow when I would
have a chance to get to the pharmacy and get my own supplies. There was free Wi-Fi at the hotel and I got
an email telling me that Human Nature was coming to town at Christmas!!! So I rang Shelly on her mobile, left a
message and told her the great news and then realized that the Elks were still
in Singapore. So I sent a text message
asking what night would suit her best and then I was going to buy the
tickets. I also got a message from SA
that George Michael had cancelled his concerts in Australia-which is a real
bummer as I had arranged all my dates around his concert and to be home for my
birthday. So I am looking at date
changing my ticket home by a couple of days so that I can book on the Saudi
Arabia Airlines fare to Addis and save 500AUD when I go back to Ethiopia in
November. So George can get stuffed and
we now have Toby and the boys from Human Nature to take his place instead.
So it was an eventful day, a hot day, an interesting day
and I SURVIVED. So it is nice to report
that the injury was not alcohol induced and the last time I had a serious
injury was my drunken fall in Africa where I had a bruise that lasted nearly 6
months-there must have been something more wrong than a bruise with that, but I
got some advice to massage the bruise out on my South America trip and it
righted itself.
