Sri Lanka bus blast

[wakaran 1]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5082026.stm

 

Hope our buddy soubriquet is ok....

[Yuki's Passion 1]

good point, didnt know bout the blast till now. thanks for posting it

[BagOfCrisps 24]

Maybe not the best time, looking forward to hearing from soubriquet when he gets back.

 

>>>>>>>

 

Sri Lanka on brink of war

 

Government troops assault church with grenades after bus bombing and warnings of Tamil Tigers 'fear and panic' attacks

[soubriquet 0]

OK. I'm back (in body, if not mind after a 30 hour journey). I'm touched by your concern, thanks.

 

Overall, a great trip. Sri Lanka is like Bali writ large. Best of all: no Ozzies

 

My main impression is of a country with people all trying to get along in harmony with nature. It's Buddhist, and best illustrated by the wildlife. A fantastic variety of animals and birds with little fear of humans. I was able to get within 2m of a kingfisher, impossible in the UK. Monkeys and elephants. Turtles on the beach. A local told me they are now into protection of eggs and newborn rather than just looting and eating them.

 

 

The soils are poor, typical tropical red-earths, but with sunshine and rain they grow trees and rice. They get up to 3 rice crops per year. Loved the spicy food.

 

It is SW monsoon time, so the surf and beaches weren't great. Weather was mostly good and not too hot. I spent plenty of time trying & failing to catch waves.

 

A great country for afficionados of hopeless UK metal. This is an Austin Metropolitan. The British machine which was going to conquer the US market.

 

 

Beachside in the south and east were many tsunami destroyed buildings. Most were shells without windows and doors. Here the town was destroyed and the bodies recovered from the lagoon behind

 

This what an elephant looks like after it has stepped on a landmine

 

Great trip: fantastic people, wonderful country, beautiful scenery and wildlife. It's terrible that they have the Irish problem though "we are your only true representatives" at the point of a bullet or a bomb.

[scouser 4]

30 hours? Whats the route soubriquet.

 

Poor elephant.

[soubriquet 0]

Colombo - Changi - Narita, with a long stopover. It's 6 hours drive to get home at the end. Narita is horrible to drive to from Tohoku. Singapore airlines were shite too. The cabin crew were lazy and rude. A real surprise because my previous experiences with them were good. Also, the in flight entertainment was rubbish. Big choice of films, but no control on the play. With Virgin, you can start the film whenever you want and pause it if you want to go for a piss etc.

[NutteyCubey 0]

I love elephants, they are truly wonderful creatures.

 

I wasn't impressed with Singapore as well soubriquet. Perhaps over recent years they have got worse.... I'm sure they used to have a really good reputation,

[bushpig 0]

last time I flew with them you could stop and start movies whenever you wanted... Maybe you had an older plane?

[soubriquet 0]

OK elephant lovers, here's more. This one's a boy, big-will anyone?

 

 

 

Re Singapore airlines. The Narita - Changi flight was on a 747-400 which had been re-fitted with new entertainment. The Changi - Colombo flight was in a new 777. There were lots of functions on the handsets which weren't activated. The blighters were passing off Japanese red plonk as wine, when they had French, and Tiger rubbish as beer (made from corn, it can't be beer) when they had Asahi. Cheapskates. I don't necessarily expect fine dining or lavish entertainment on a flight, but the cabin staff were rude and inattentive as well.

[bushpig 0]

that sucks. I'm flying with them going home next month too...

[bushpig 0]

Oh, and was that Big-Will's dad?

 

Looked more like maybe his mother (sorry)