An Adventure Worthy of Middle Earth* ...

So I’m here in Sri Lanka - land of tea, tuk-tuks, hoppers, bangles, king coconuts, but mostly rice and curry for breakfast, lunch and dinner and chili always. And it’s fruit season so for now there are mangoes, papayas and butter fruit (avacados) aplenty.

I thought I would keep a blog while I’m here, not just as a way of keeping everyone updated but also as a kind of scrapbook for the things I learn and see while I’m here and my ponderings along the way. I don’t have a great memory, so the hope is that this and my travel journal (which I will paraphrase here. If you know me, you know there is a lot of it!) will remind me of my stay here in days to come!

Warning: I like to write, so if you don’t like to read just have a look at the pictures ;)

So first thing’s first, on the 8^th of April I launch off on An Adventure Worthy of Middle Earth (*according to the blessings of my brother David :)

Sitting in the plane waiting, watching, wondering – gliding above crystaline clouds – blue and white perfection. Ready to explore again, praying that my mind would stay open to whatever adventure comes along. Contemplating the importance of moving - the key to growing, whether physically or just mentally - to resist getting stuck in static. I guess travelling makes it a bit easier and so I go, hoping to be inspired and to see my life and the world with different eyes.

I fly with Emirates airlines, over Gaza and Basra, cocooned in my own reality, to Dubai – city of lights and skyscrapers, lights twinkling on the water, paradise for boat parties and pleasure seekers. We land at 1a.m, temperature 28 degrees Celsius. After my connection I’m up in the air again for another 7 hours or so. I fall asleep and wake above the southern-most part of India – lush green mountains dotted with the shadows of the clouds that wrap around me. I feel so close to this country that I have only heard stories of and seen on t.v but yet I am so far off the ground, still ignorant of the people and what goes on down there, just as they are oblivious to me floating above them in the clouds.

We leave the tip of India behind and roll across a short stretch of Indian Ocean until a carpet with rice paddies and palm trees comes into focus below. Miriam is waiting for me at Colombo airport, equipped with water and mango juice, and as we wait on the platform outside for our lift, it is hot and sticky and I am here.