Jumbo and friends

My friends and colleagues Dr. Rana and Dr. Khaleda rode with me yesterday from our base in Batticaloa to Polonnaruwa where today I had a nice long massage, steam bath, and other treatments that come highly recommended for any hard working Project Coordinator.



On the way here the driver suddenly called out 'elephant!!'






This bull was ambling around, eating tall grass and keeping a sharp eye on us although not as sharp as the eye our driver kept on him... he had the engine running and the car in gear just in case.

Although I once rode an elephant called "Small Ears" for hours through the jungle of western Thailand this was my first wild elephant. He walked casually towards us and then passed behind - presumably towards greener grass.

Meanwhile Sri Lanka is a haven for birds. There's a serious risk that I'll have to buy an expensive new lens.

I think the rotation of this picture can be blamed on a bump in the road - I've 'never' shaken an image myself. I like the effect though.

Though a symbol of India (and of a tasty beer, reputable airline and now a collectible bathing beauties calendar) this Kingfisher looked quite at home in Sri Lanka.

Stork? Crane? (Pigeon? Chicken? I'm expecting Sue, Sandra, or Steve to let me know. UPATE: Mari has proposed that it's a "long beaked eagle". Nice. But I'm waiting for a second opinion. UPDATE: Steve did in fact pitch in to say it is a stork, probably a Woolly-necked Stork, Ciconia episcopus. But, in his words: "I will give Mari points for her, uh, *creative* guess")

Now even I know that this is a peacock. We saw peahens too. Again, I'd never seen them in the wild before.

Moving on to something more important...

...our route paralleled part of the railway from Batticaloa to Colombo which we're not allowed to ride because of security risks.

I hope to be able to ride this train before I leave Sri Lanka.

2005 wrap up

Kitchen department, Liberian Government Hospital, Buchanan, Liberia

December 31, 2005

Best wishes for a wonderful 2006 to any readers out there.

I'm writing this at 10:13pm on New Year's Eve and I think I'll be too tired to stay awake until midnight.

What an amazing year I've had. In these 12 seemingly brief months I took a mere 60 flights, visiting eight new countries (Brazil, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Ireland, India, Nepal and Liberia, bringing my official country total to 40), riding overnight trains in India, Canada and the US, and setting foot on five continents. I finished one job (working for the Survey Action Center in Afghanistan), started and finished another (with Oxfam in Afghanistan) and begun a third (with Merlin in Liberia).

Amongst my adventures were the following (not quite chronologically):

• Leaving Afghanistan on Business class, drinking Turkish coffee in Istanbul - and then finding myself back in Kabul six weeks later;


• Dancing until dawn in Itajuba, Brazil during Carnaval;


• Being spied on by monkeys with Jenny on the Pao De Acucar in Rio de Janeiro;


• Riding an elephant through the jungles of western Thailand after rafting through gorges, jumping off waterfalls, and enjoing welcome serenity in an eco lodge;


• Learning to Scuba diving at Koh Chang, Thailand;


• Taking my most comfortable (yet affordable) overnight train trips ever (Bangkok to Chang Mai) in Thailand;


• Climbing and pondering the incredible monastery at Angkor Wat, Cambodia;


• Swearing yet again that I'd attended my last Formula 1 Grand Prix (this time in Malaysia);


• Gazing up (from valley floors) and down (from tiny aircraft) at the most beautiful country (Afghanistan) I've ever seen;


• Being given an improbably large number of interpretations of whether or not the Holy Koran permits alcohol consumption;


• Being told (before takeoff from Yawkalang airfield above 8'000 feet in the Central Highlands of Afghanistan) that we would make an immediate right-turn because otherwise "if one of the engines fails we'll hit that hill...";


• Being the only person to follow Blue Rodeo around all twelve of their UK tour gigs - and in so doing drinking Guinness with some of them until long after their Bambridge show, being played 'Lost Together' for my personal loyalty in Leeds, and bar hopping with some of them and their most wonderful fans in Dublin;


• Continuing the process of falling in love with Scotland;


• Realizing that the Kings Cross bomb exploded 48 hours to the minute after I'd been there;


• Visiting the incredible Taj Mahal but also the arguably more wonderful nearby Agra Fort;


• Being required by kidnapping threats to ride cars from within and between walled compounds in Kabul;


• Emerging from an ultra-modern cinema in Delhi into a darkened shopping precinct and bumping into a very dark and sacred cow;


• Feeling a gentle swaying of the ground in Kabul - then flying to Delhi before learning that it had been a devastating earthquake in Kashmir;


• Reaching out to hold hands with friends - riding in a separate speeding auto rickshaw weaving in and out of Delhi traffic;


• Discovering truly wonderful restaurants in Delhi that would star even if I hadn't just emerged from Afghanistan;


• Relaxing on a houseboat in Srinagar - then while at 10,050' in Indian-administered Kashmir being hailed by my tour guide from western Thailand;


• Wallowing in the friendliness and extreme comfort of Kathmandu;


• Feasting at American Thanksgiving (with great friends old and new);


• Confirming once and for all that I'm too old to sleep on transcontinental railways without a bed;


• Not sleeping in one bed for more than five consecutive nights between October 8 and December 25 (as I've already moaned);


• Requiring the services of an English <> English translator in Liberia;


• Beginning my potentially most rewarding and meaningful job ever.
  

Above all meeting lots of people in lots of countries, almost all of whom are immeasurably more gentle than their governments, and meeting and revisiting many wonderful and very very special friends (in one or two cases, quite unexpectedly). Almost my only regret in 2005 was that I couldn't go to see all the rest of my friends. You're all welcome to come and visit me in Liberia!!

Happy New Year.