Fate and her impeccable timing

Image Credit: http://thumbs.dreamstime.com


Such a B**** she is. Couldn’t wait 30 seconds till I shut down the machine. Yeah, my laptop and router are fried thanks to whomever the bastard that is in charge of lightning. The first strike of the night and he had to come looking for me. Bah Humbug. Might be out of commission for a while.

In any case, I want to wish all of you guys and gals out there the very best of the season.

Rock on!

TC

Trees, Trees, and more Tress

With a history dating far back as 1371, Royal Botanic Gardens, better known as the Paradeniya Gardens, is a national treasure that we should be proud of. It was initiated during the reign of King Wicramabahu III, and made into a Royal Garden by King Kirti Sri Rajasinghe. It gained its current botanical garden state during the colonial times, under the direction of Alexander Moon. The idea was to use the gardens as a testing ground for crop cultivation, such as Rubber, Coffee, Nutmeg, etc, before mass cultivation.

The garden covers an area of 60 hectares and is bordered by the River Mahaweli on three sides. It is home to around 10,000 plants and trees from around the world. In addition, there are many species of animals calling this place home.

They have a good web site with lots of information so anyone interested and check it out.

Y'all have a super duper weekend :D

Orchids Galore

Took a little trip up to Kandy last week, and thought I’d pop into the botanical gardens to get some pics. It was there that these pretty little ladies caught my eye, hiding in the Orchid house. Unfortunately I don’t know their names.

Apparently, the Orchid family, or Orchidaceae if you want to get technical, is the largest family of flowering plants, with 880 listed genera and about 22,000 accepted species. That’s about four times the number of mammal species. Orchids can be found in every nook and cranny of the world, except for deserts and glaciers. They can even be found in the extreme colds above the Arctic Circle. Anyway, I’m not going to go into a Botany lesson here, but those who are interested are more than welcome to check out wiki.


















Aint Mother Nature Cool!!! :D

Random Drivel

Well, I managed to get through the exams without turning my brain into mush. Was a bit stressed out since I only had a few days to study, thanks to this little thing called work. Oh well, hopefully have gotten through. Free for couple of weeks, till classes start again.

The goings on of the country are quite depressing don’t you think. Difficult to imagine where we are heading to. The future is unpredictable and it is scary. I blame the game of politics, politicians and their non-exhaustive greed for money and power. To me politics, especially Sri Lankan politics, is like a bunch of rabid monkeys fighting over a basket of rotten mangoes. How i wish all assholes would just vanish into thin air. *poof*. It would solve a lot of problems. I want my paradise isle back...

Anyway, don’t want to clutter my blog with drivel. Been catching up on my reading these days. Currently on a spree of Stephen King (All Hail!) titles. Finished Cujo couple of days back and now going through Duma Key. Get my mind off the shit that is happening. There must be sales in bookstores now, this being the season and all. Must take a look and get my hands on some new books.

Speaking of the seasons, feel a little guilty about celebrating, since saying I’m religious is an understatement. Haven’t been to a church for a long time, makes an appearance on Christmas day to make the parents happy, but other than that...nada.

This post is a bunch of nonsense :P

Sometimes i wish i could trade places with this bugger. Funny, still haven't named him. no point really, since he never listens to me.

Happy Birthday Sesame Street

Wow... a post after long time. Well sort of a post. I haven’t had some free time for couple of weeks now. Swamped at work, classes, several assignments to finish before the 15th and exams in 2 weeks. Still haven’t even touched a book. Officially starting to go on panic mode, something that rarely happens to me. AAAARRRGH....

The reason for this appearance is to wish Sesame Street a happy fortieth birthday. I found out about only when I saw the Google Sesame Street logo today. So Happy Birthday to Big Bird and the gang...

Image from here: http://amerginaccounting.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/sesamestreet-group.jpg

Sesame Street


I’ll make another appearance if my brain doesn’t turn in to mush by the end of the month.
Take care all

Cheers

Habarana and Trinco...

It was the first time I’ve been to The Cinnamon Lodge at Habarana, and I must say I was pretty impressed. Not by the hotel buildings or the service or anything, but just by the environment. The abundant trees and the cool breeze blowing in from the lake is more than enough to refresh a weary soul. In truth, it’s not what I expected. I thought it’d be hot and dusty, but because of the amount of trees, you don’t feel the heat. I don’t know who designed the place, but they’ve done a great job. Man, how I wish I could build a house somewhere like that.

Trinco is booming with tourists these days, very much beneficial for the people in the area. Nilaweli beach was jam packed. During the two months since I first went to Tinco and last week, I think there is a noticeable increase in the amount of visitors. The boat operators to Pigeon Island are raking in the dough these days.

Coincidently, I came across this article in the Sunday Times about how the increased invasion of visitors is having an adverse effect on the coral population. Truthfully I also didn’t think about the effect of the visitors to the eco system till I read the article.

“This area was full of live corals three months ago, before the current tourist frenzy started at Nilaveli. Visitors who come to the island often walk on the corals and some of them even break the live corals to take home as souvenirs,” Eric said. A diving instructor who operates from Nilaveli Beach Hotel, Eric does several dives around the Pigeon Island reef daily.
Pigeon Island is one of the two marine national parks in SL, the other being Hikkaduwa, which from what I hear is not in a great state. What the marine biologists fear is that the same thing will happen at Pigeon Island.

I personally don’t see the attraction in bathing there, mainly because you can’t. The corals are razor sharp, and almost all who go in come out with several cuts. Sure, you can see the fish, but I prefer to have another way, rather than being covered with scrapes. I’ll take a sandy beach for a rocky one any day.

The other thing is the taking of corals as souvenirs. I don’t see the attraction in that either. It’s just adds more clutter to the house, which I already have a problem keeping clean. Then again maybe it’s just me.

Luckily the Navy is keeping an eye on things to make sure people behave. I saw several being advised by the soldiers to leave the corals they were carrying.

I’m not saying that I’m 100% environmentally conscious, but I try to be at least 80% whenever possible. I always try to stick to the mantra “Take only pictures and leave only footprints” where ever I go.

We are blessed with a naturally beautiful country, whatever the state of other things may be. That is why we have a great advantage in attracting visitors and promoting tourism. If we locals set an example of being environmentally conscious, and respecting our land, then the visitors will also learn to do likewise.

The work week was extremely busy, with tons of work, made maddeningly frustrating by network issues at office, gah… Looking forward for a relaxing weekend at home, well at least the Saturday. Its back to classes on Sunday. Gah…Gah…
Have a fun filled weekend all!

Little porky, has a funny expression. @ the Cinnamon Lodge farm

Trinco Beach

Like my sexy pose?

This bugger fell to the ground with a thud and was feeling woozy i guess :)