Arcticterntalk.org

The blog of a travelling psychiatrist and football lover. Who happens to be a halfway decent photographer. Takes a cynical view of the world

Archive for the day “January 2, 2015”

02 Jan 2015

Customer accidentally leaves £6000 tip at Nando’s

This story amused me for many reasons not least because leaving a tip is actually very complex on most PIN machines and we are increasingly asked if we want to. i once left 22p as a tip by simply getting the units wrong. The whole thing is getting a little ridiculous though as the other day in the pub ordering at the bar routine drinks and paying by credit card, I was asked if I wanted to leave a tip on the machine……..

The chicken dinner below is Sri Lanka and not Nando’s by the way!

http://www.itv.com/news/2015-01-02/customer-accidentally-leaves-6-000-tip-at-nandos/

02 Jan 2015

Sri Lanka – Memories of a Tsunami Survivor and photographs of Then and Now. Hotel Citrus Hikkaduwa

One of the more interesting characters I met in Sri Lanka was the man who looked after the poolside and his main role was to give out beach towels and beds to those who asked him. A highly intelligent man who kept and read many of the magazines left behind by the hotel guests. He was pleasant and helpful as are most Sri Lankans. He told me one day his Tsunami story. He was on duty that day and heard the eerie silence that preceded the Tsunami. He saw the waves coming and ran, so was luckier than most, and ran around 2 kilometres to collect his wife and family and then went up in the mountains, where he stayed for 6 days. No one knew what was happening, there was very little in the way of effective communications there and his memory when they came down from the mountain was dead bodies floating in the sea, lots of dead bodies. In any other country this guy could do most jobs, but here he is doing a job way below his intellectual capacity.

The before and after photos are from the Tsunami museum at Telewatta and the ones I took, so approximately 10 years apart but the differences are eerily small.

IMG_9673c

Posted in Uncategorized and tagged colombo, hikkaduwa, hotel citrus, hotel citrus hikkaduwa, pareliya, pareliya junction, photos tsunami, pool attendant, Sri Lanka, sri lanka photos, sri lanka tsunami, telewatta, tsunami, tsunami museum, tsunami survivor | Leave a comment

02 Jan 2015

Food Photographs Sri Lanka

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The food quality in hotels is high. Many foods are offered at all meals including fruit and curry. Some of the best fruits are the pineapples , mangos, watermelon. The bread tends to be of the American type and a little sweet mostly although the basic white and wholemeal loaves contain no additives and taste great. For me the pineaple was the best food, this was available easily and cheaply. The Sri Lankans enjoy their sweet foods too and desserts are essenatially types either of cake with cream in them of various flavours, or mousse like desserts. Sri Lankan coffee is a little of the acquired taste. Can I recommend it? Not really. The tea though is wonderful and like a totally different drink to what we have in UK. There is no need to add milk to tea. Meat is not offered in huge amounts and tends to be…

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02 Jan 2015

Reflections on Sri Lanka

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The last time I visited Sri Lanka was 15 years ago before the Tsunami and when the civil war was threatening to ruin tourism. Many things have changed. To start with the Tsunami although a devastating event did open up many lines of altruistic development in the country. People visited and learned what a beautiful people the Sri Lankans are, investment has flooded in and importantly time is a great healer. The end of the civil war also meant that less money and effort was being expended on weopons and death. So what did I find?

The first clear difference is that when arriving at the main airport near Colombo, Bandaranaike International Airport, there are no soldiers lining the avenues that form the entance and exit. The second difference is that there are now 2 international airports. A new one has been built down south at Hambantota.

Mattala Rajapaksa International…

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02 Jan 2015

Sri Lanka. Images of a Beautiful Country

There are few reasons not to choose to go to Sri Lanka. Whatever one wants from a holiday can be found there. Here are a few images I took on a visit there in July 2014. Please enjoy and encourage others to visit this wonderful country. There are photos here of photos from the Tsunami museum.

Posted in Uncategorized and tagged airport, aviation, beach, beach photos, birds, citrus hotel, fish cleaning, fish feet, gangabada, hikkaduwa, holiday, prowns, Sri Lanka, sri lanka holidays, summer holiday, tsunami, turtle, turtles | Leave a comment

02 Jan 2015

Paintings by Vincent Van B for Xmas 2014

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02 Jan 2015

Rubber Duc. This band could be massive in 2015. You heard it here first.

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One of the biggest musical finds for me in 2014 was Rubber Duc. A South African trio whose members are:

Nick Jordaan – Vocals, Guitar, High-hat

Brendan Campbell – Backing Vocals, Lead Guitar, Kick

Sheldon Sham – Saxophone, Percussion

I found them thanks to my daughter working out in South Africa. The first discovery was that they have 3 songs on Spotify. And of course You Tube videos. Their musical genre really means or meant nothing to me “ folk swing”. They are relatively new launched in 2013. The songs have great lyrics and meaningful ones at that.

The most recent single has a great video . It’s Alright

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlUBFxL8jt4

‘It’s Alright’ is about the beauty and freedom of individualism. Whether you are rich, poor, crazy, sane, quiet, loud, shy, a couch potato, an intrepid explorer, all about the treble or all about the bass, it’s alright to be who…

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02 Jan 2015

Tsunami Photo Museum Telewatta Sri Lanka

On Dec 26th in 2004 the Tsunami hit different Asian countries including Sri Lanka. Very many lives were lost, at least 40,000 and because records are not so excellent there numbers may well be higher. Sri Lanka in fact was the second worst country that was hit. Since then the country had had a resurgence with a second international airport recently completed in the south and the start of a motorway system embedded in the country, meaning what was previously a 5 hour trip from Colombo Airport to the south is far nearer two hours now.

What however many people remain unaware of is that there is a museum devoted to the Tsunami. From the outside it does not look like a museum, in fact it looks remarkably like a ramshackle house that was hit by the Tsunami in the Pareliya area just back from the coast. This is exactly what it is, a house ruined that has been left essentially damaged but turned into a small museum that houses photographs, paintings and stories of how local people built up their lives from scratch. There is free entry and one can leave donations in a small box.

The aim of the museum is to keep the stories alive for future generations and show people what actually happened.

When I visited in August 2014 it has to be one of the most emotional places I can recall visiting.

The museum is almost opposite the National Tsunami Monument near Pareliya junction ( where around 2000 people on a train lost their lives that morning), and is on the main road traveling north out of Hikkaduwa around 4 km or 9 km south of ambalangoda.

Their website is

tsunami-photo-museum-srilanka.blogspot.com

Further information can be got on info@kunstkoffer.nl

Below are a selection of photos I took of the photos in the museum, I challenge anyone not to find these things quite emotional.