Wednesday 25th April 2012 - Colombo, Sri Lanka

Today when I woke up I was covered in mosquito bites. Despite covering myself in repellent the bastards got me many times - even on my bum through my leggings. Shana was at the house - He was on a night shift in the evening but had things to do during the day. This was the first time i had seen him since the airport so i finally got to thank him for letting me stay at his house. He seems very modest because when i tried to thank him he just said, "don't worry" in his strong Sri Lanka accent while waving his hand and looking away - basically like 'just forget about it, its nothing'.  He got his laptop out for me to check if Upul had messaged me yet to give me a date and time to go to the ashram, but nothing. Shana then pulled out a map of Colombo and started marking out all the places for me to visit today along with shops where I could get white clothing for meditation.  I tried to ask Shana about money and how much I should give him for letting me stay there but he said just forget about it. I don't know whether that means I pay nothing, or whether it means don't worry about it now, enjoy yourself, get comfortable, and then at the end I will hit you with this massive bill. I insisted that rather than him shocking me with a ginormous bill at the end, I would prefer to know now the daily rate for me staying there. All he would say was dont worry. You hear so much about these kind of things so of course I am worried but I figured that even if he did charge me the discussed rate for the other place he was going to send me to then that would be fine. In fact, I would probably want to pay more because you can't put a price on the warmth and kindness his mum and nan are showing me.  Anyway, Shana went out and left me with the map, the address I am staying at, his contact number and instructions to buy a Dialog simcard for my phone. I had a shower and was in my room getting ready when there was a knock on my door - it was Shana's mum saying "Come, eat!" She then walked me over to the dining table where a surprise dish was waiting for me under a fly guard - a massive bunch of small bananas and two large slices of Papaya. Shana's mum had asked me earlier if i wanted to eat what the family were eating, which was curry and rice, but my body just wont accept big food like that in the morning. After I had eaten and finished getting ready Shana's mum walked me downstairs to let me out of the gate. She warned me to be careful and closed the gate behind me. That was it - I was in the madness! Their house was just above Deliwaha in Colombo-6 which doesn't seem to be touristy at all. The house is on a little lane which is just manic. The houses are basically on top of eachother and the tuk tuks drive along the little lane like crazy people either beeping their horns or asking people "tuk tuk?" People from the houses were on the street outside their house and they all looked at me, immediately acknowledging that I looked different. I just walked along smiling graciously and saying hello to everyone. Their stares soon turned to smiles.  It was monsoon season on the west coast of Sri Lanka and had been raining all night and morning so I figured it wouldn't be that hot - how wrong was I?! The sun was blazing hot! I was walking along applying sun cream when I saw a white person - I smiled and carried on walking. I have found on my trip so far that there is a respect amongst travellers - I think it can get a bit lonely sometimes so there is a little twinkle of comfort in seeing someone who is also not from a country and the smile is out of recognition and understanding for what the other is going through and serves to give a little reassuring hug.  This lady however was a bit more forward and asked me quite bluntly if I spoke English. I said yes and she was like thank god because she hadnt seen any other foreigners in this area. She was an American lady of 61 years old and was doing voluntary work over here. She asked me where I was staying and told me that she was looking for a room mate where she was staying to half the costs of her room. I told her I was happy where I was. Whilst I was applying my cream she started telling me about the mosquitos and that I should be careful. She then kinda had a go at me for applying sun cream because I was apparently just going to attract them more. I said yes maybe but I also don't want to get burnt. She was like just get an umbrella - this stuff is no good, the Mosquitos are going to come more - "I should know" she said. She was a bit too in my face with her advice for my liking. I told her that i wanted to get some repellent anyway because I had been eaten by the mosquitos. She said: "one piece of advise, odomos". I asked if it had deet in it but she continued with her forceful opinions "I'm allergic to that stuff. But are you crazy?! That stuff will give you skin cancer. Those people don't care about you.....blah blah blah".  She mumbled to herself a bit and then asked if I had eaten. I said no and she started to ask if I wanted to go and find somewhere to eat. I quickly changed my answer to yes and explained that the family had fed me. She asked me lots of questions and wanted the address of the meditation centre I was going to and also seemed to want to come with me to buy white clothing because I think she was now also planning to go to the meditation centre. I started walking in the direction that Shana had told me to go but she had something to say about that too! She was like, "no you should go in that direction". I walked with her in that direction for a second and then she pointed out this Ayurvedic place. I recognised the name from my guidebook but couldnt remember exactly what it was - the guidebook did say to make a visit to one of the centres though. She said I should go in there to find mosquito repellent.  We walked in and were greeted by a little lady in a pink  saree. She asked me how she could help me but because English wasnt her first language she asked "what do you want?" I didn't think anything of it because she was so friendly and smiley in her approach. The American lady though very rudely said to the doctor in a ridiculously condescending tone: "no it is not what do you want, that is very rude, you say "how can I help you?""  I was in total shock and froze with my mouth open for a couple of seconds but luckily the doctor didn't seem to pick up on the rudeness and continued smiling. I then stood in front of the rude american lady trying to block her out and told the doctor that I needed mosquito repellent. She directed me into what looked like a treatment room and sat me and this American lady at a desk. I immediately realised it wasn't a shop but some kind of medical medicine place - not exactly what I was looking for. She asked to have a look at my bites (including the ones on my butt!!) and I told her that I had been coughing for about two weeks and that I had been getting headaches and was concerned that I had caught something from the Mosquitos. The American lady rudely dismissed what I was saying by saying "it's the heat, its nothing, I have the same thing, it's the heat". The doctor asked me if I wanted external or internal medicine to which I replied that I wanted external. Cue the american lady!! "You should try internal stuff, they like the taste of your blood. You can get tablets that make your blood not so tasty." I turned my attention to the doctor, trying to stop this woman from talking, and asked her if the tablets were safe and effective. She assured me that they were fine and then talked to me about the balm that they sell. I told her that I was concerned by my cough and headaches and wanted to get a blood test and asked her where I would need to go. American lady: "if you get a blood test here you will end up with worse than you came here with - the needles are dirty blah blah blah." She was really starting to get on my last nerve!! I interrupted and sternly said to the nurse, who was also saying I didn't need a blood test, "but IF I did want a blood test, IF, where would I go?" i finally got an answer...the hospital. But of course the American lady had to have the last say and felt the need to once again say it was unsafe. The doctor walked into another room and the American lady started talking to me about a lady in India that hugs people. Again, forceful as you like, "you need to go there. There is a reason you met me. Blah blah blah. It will change your life." I got my phone out to make note of the name of the hugging lady and the American woman so rudely said - "I am sensitive to phones and don't appreciate you putting your phone in my face. It needs to be away from me" - whilst pushing me away from her. I stepped to the side and then she continued "FAR away from me". I stepped to the side again thinking in my head who does this woman think she is. I kept calm and pushed the negative thoughts out of my head focusing on inputting the information into my phone. She repeated "really far away". I just sat down. Anyway, the medicine lady gave me my prescriptions which came to 800rupees and somewhere along the line the American lady said to the lady, again quite abruptly "I'm waiting for HER to go so I can talk to you about my problems. I said goodbye to both ladies (happy to be escaping) and eventually jumped into a tuk tuk after agreeing a price of 200rupees (exchange rate is 204rupees to every £1 so just under £1) to go to the halls of fashion - one of the places recommended by Shana. The place was so cheap I can't even begin to explain. They sold all kinds of clothing, including brands like Firetrap, desigual, marks and spencers, atmosphere (not really a brand but hey!!) - for no more than£5. Whilst walking around i noticed loads of women wearing sarees and decided that i loved them. The sarees looked so elegant and beautiful and seemed to only show the best bits of the body. The Hall of fashion also sold sarees, which caught my eye. I am not experienced in sarees but thought that the equivalent of £10 seemed very reasonable for a nice coloured one so I started looking at them with more interest. They had basic white sarees for like £2 so I bought three to take to the meditation centre after not finding any decent white clothing. The lady who was working in the area wasn't very helpful so although I really wanted to buy another saree with beautiful colours, I decided against it because she wouldn't show me how I was supposed to wear it. After buying my three white sarees I jumped into another tuk tuk and realised it had a meter so asked to use the meter this time to see what the difference in price was. This time I asked to go to Majestic City, another place recommended by Shana. Majestic city was more of a mall than the hall of fashion which was like a big store comprising of 3 or 4 storeys. My aim in majestic city was to find a mosquito net and some repellent. I headed into a store called Food City but after not finding a net I opted for the next best thing - coils (which you burn and put in a room). I also bought some odomos mosquito repellent cream, the brand recommended by the lady earlier.  I then headed up to the next floor and was standing applying my mosquito cream when this man walked over to me and started speaking to me. He was friendly but a bit of a creep and was asking if I wanted to go for coffee with him. I said I am looking around so no. He was too persistent for my liking and said "ok, in like 30minutes". I said no, I want to look around and don't know how long it is going to take me". He asked for my number (I felt bad saying no and had no idea how I was going to get rid of him otherwise) so I reluctantly gave it to him and said "yeh, call me later and we can sort something out". I then called my beautiful mummy munchkin to update her on my travels. I asked her how she would feel about me wearing a saree to her upcoming 60th birthday party - she excitedly said she would love it so once off the phone I headed to the nearest saree shop. The ladies in the store pulled out every saree in the shop! The manager directed the women around and said which colours he thought would look best and then boom, we found this amazing one! It was marked as 16,000rupees and really was far more that I was looking at. The manager then said he would give it to me for 12,000 (£53). It really was beautiful and the staff were so lovely - I had no idea what the price was for a nice saree but after umming and arghing, I finally agreed. For the underneath blouse I would need to get one made - they quoted me 1250 rupees to have their tailor make me one. I figured I was never going to get a top made for that cheap at home so they phoned their tailor who would arrive in half an hour. In the mean time I went and used the Internet and was ecstatic when my homie Lahari was online! Apparently the price I was paying was pretty reasonable and she told me which style blouse would suit me.  Once back at the shop I immediately warmed to the tailor. He name was Fareena. She noticed I was itching my mosquito bites and she asked me what was wrong. I told her that I had been bitten and showed her the things I had bought from the Ayurveda centre. She was like "what is this?! You know what you need, none of this rubbish, you need a mosquito net!" I told her that I had originally set out to buy a net but couldn't find one. She was like, "Right, I am taking you to buy one after this!" I then pulled out the coils I had bought as well. She was holding all the things in her hand laughing with all the other staff like what is all this. Then her brother-in-law said "right, you shouldn't stay with that family, you come to mine, I have mosquito nets, air conditioning, and I won't charge you anything!" I was like, thank you so much but the family are lovely and it was fine. The set up was basically that Fareena was the widow of the man that was the brother of the owners of the store. She was now supporting her and her 21year old son by working with the family as the tailor for customers that needed saree blouses.  The owner of the store then offered me tea - it tasted the same as the tea that Shana's mum made me. I said how nice it was to Fareena and she told me it was Sri Lankan tea and told me how to make it. She then sent one of the ladies who worked in the store down to buy me tea to take home. She was just lovely and caring, but caring in such a funny way - in no way was she smothering or the kind to want to hug me, but just a strong kind of character that didn't want to see anything happen to me - like a bossy older aunty or something.  She took my measurements for the blouse and also asked about a underskirt and whether I had bought one. The girls in the store had earlier tried to sell me an underskirt but in my opinion it was way too short and also it was a horrible bright green. The ladies insisted that it was fine as no one would see it but I wasn't convinced so didn't buy one. The girls  pulled out the underskirt that they had tried to sell me earlier and showed Fareena. She cussed them like "what is this?!" She just outright said "this is no good! This is too short and what is this colour?!" I knew right there and then that she had my best interests at heart because she could have tried to make a sale and said that it was fine but instead she confirmed everything i had been thinking. For the same price they had been trying to sell me the horrible underskirt for she said she would buy material in a colour similar to the saree and make me one. I pulled out the plastic wallet I had been using as a purse to get money out to pay her. She looked at the plastic wallet and said "what is this?!" whilst laughing. Ok, fair dos it was a bit beaten up but I was cool with it. She started searching in her bag and said that if I was lucky she had something for me. She then said "ah yes" and pulled out this beautiful little maroon coloured mesh pouch with glitter hearts on it. She took the money out of the plastic wallet and threw the wallet to the side like rubbish, and put the money into the pouch, tied it up and handed it to me now content.   I loved her and told her so and said thank you for looking after me. She told me that a lot of people here were out to cheat the tourists but that she had travelled to Australia with her son and that it was very expensive and she knew that just because we were from another country it didn't make us rich. Also she said that she hoped that because she looks after people and tries to help them that someone out there would do the same for her son. She then jokingly said "plus i felt sorry for you" (picking up the plastic wallet once more whilst looking at it with a puzzled face!!!) She was just beautiful. Her brother-in-law had offered to give us a lift to buy the mosquito net. In the car it was me, Fareena, her brother in law (Fazly), his sister Nazly, and the lady from the shop that fitted my saree. Apparently Nazly and the other lady also lived in the house with the brother in law. We drove passed Fazly's house, which was right on the beach front and he said, see, this is where you can stay with the other ladies. He said something to Fareena in Sinhala - Fareena said that he said that he never lets tourists stay at his place but he thinks I have a good heart so he will make an exception. I thought that was really sweet.  We arrived at Arpico, a large household type store, said goodbye to everyone and off Fareena and I went to find a mosquito net. She found one for me for like £5 which was pretty damn good!! Once outside the store we said goodbye and went out separate ways - she lived nearby but was going to buy material for my underskirt. She pointed out the road I was staying on (I had shown her my map earlier and which area I was staying in) and sent me on my way - not before I kissed her on the cheek and thanked her again. While walking back I got a call from Shana telling me not to stay out late - I explained that I was just on my way back now.  Once back at the house I knocked on the gate and was so surprised when the guy that had originally driven me from the airport answered the gate. He lived downstairs!! I had no idea but it wasn't a problem. Once upstairs I realised that Shana's mum had definitely taken offence to me not wanting to eat curry for breakfast or not eating large portions the night before because the food that was waiting for me today was packet noodles that she mixed with some vegetables and fried chicken - food that I really didn't invisage to be the type of food she cooked ordinarily.  After dinner I sat with Shana's nan on the terrace as she tried to teach me Sinhala. She had to repeat each syllable like 10 times and found it hilarious when I tried to repeat the words to her. There were trees in their garden with fruit on. She called the guy from downstairs (Taxi driver whose name was Somanamateet) and got him to climb the tree to pick the fruit for me to try. The fruit (cant remember the name) looked like miniature heart shaped red apples. The first one I opened up had bugs in it - i put it down and started wiping my whole body hopping from one foot to other whilst she chucked the cutest little laugh!  In the morning I had been coughing because my throat had been playing up but i didnt realise anyone had noticed so was surprised when, just as I was getting ready to go to bed, Shana's nan brought me a glass of hot salt water for me to gargle. I really was blessed huh?! :-)