Dambulla

I'm now a man, wearing a skirt.

But before I get into that, let me backtrack.

Randomly met up with Charlie, a british guy I met in Kandy last time - I saw him in the street, and we got together later that evening for a drink. I'm actually somewhat annoyed that I need to move on, if for the sole reason that I would really like to stick around and talk to him for a few more days.

Went to the Sri Lankan airlines office, and changed my return date. I now leave for Chennai/Madras on the 5th of Oct. That should give me enough time to see the sites I need to, and then leave.

Some bigwig in Kandy died a few days ago, and so the streets were packed with schoolchildren and other people waiting for the funeral procession to pass through town. White fabric was hanging over the procession path. I wanted to stay for it, but I needed to get out of town, so that I could make it to Sigaria before the weekend (when local tourists decend).

This afternoon, I took a 2 hour local bus up to Badulla - a nice leisurely bus ride (although the drivers are a bit insane), that was made easier by the fact that I bought a ticket for my bag, and myself. giving me a padded bench to myself on the bus.

I'm now in Dambulla.... a small town, by the looks of it thus far.

In any case - in regard to the title of this post. I brought one pair of pants with me on this trip - a pair of purple thai fisherman's pants - which i've more or less been wearing every day for the last few weeks. I decided to break down today, and wash them, which presented the problem of what to wear while they were wet... solution: A Sarrong.

A lot of the men here (the poorer ones it seems) wear sarrongs, which seem to be nice and cool (temperature wise)... I bought a purple batick styled one for 3 dollars, and have been wearing it for the last hour. It's certainly breezy, and is making me somewhat aware of the people who honk as I go past...

In any case, the pants will be dry for tomorow morning, when I head off to a huge rock/castle thing about an hour away. I'm going to try and be there for 7:00 (fingers crossed), to avoid the crowds, and heat.