dennis s. hurddennis s. hurd

Sunday, March 17, 2024

My Last Entry this Winter from Sri Lanka

Day 137 - I'm writing this before noon on Sunday. We will head to the airport at around 4:00 pm. (The airport is only about 20 minutes from the house.)
  2013_01_24 A picture of CMB International Airport taken during a previous trip.

I've mentioned the following quite a few times over the last few weeks. Sorry to bore you if you read regularly. 

We have a 4-hour and 30-minute scheduled flight into Dubai on Sri Lankan Air. We have to wait approximately four hours there for a 2:00 am departure on an Air Canada plane. It is a direct flight to Vancouver and lasts 15 hours and 50 minutes. That should put us into Vancouver a little before 7:00 am on Monday. 

Today promised to be a long one!


Saturday, March 16, 2024

Forth and Back

Day 136 - This is our last full day in Sri Lanka.  We will be heading back to Canada tomorrow afternoon.  It should be an uneventful trip and a relatively quick adaptation to another summer in British Columbia.  Even though there will be a lot to do when we return, I'm looking forward to it.

I love how we get a chance to live in many different environments.  So many people's experiences seem to vary so little.  Tonight we'll be in Sri Lanka.  Tomorrow we'll be trying to get some sleep on an Air Canada flight.  Then, on Monday, we will have a whole day in New Westminster and then go to bed there.

This is an AI-created image I just saved and it doesn't represent a specific location.  However, I think it does a fairly good job of representing the lower mainland of urban BC.
  'Greens and Blues'


Friday, March 15, 2024

Odds and Ends

Day 135 - The day started with my favourite Sri Lankan breakfast. Hoppers are like crepes with crispy, thin edges and a thicker, chewier center. They are cooked in a special pan and done individually. Consequently, making them takes a lot of time and effort. 

Hpppers can be eaten as any meal but the one on my plate has an egg in its center too. This egg hopper was perfect for breakfast. We eat these with bananas. We also eat with palm sugar cubes and onion/chilli paste. I appreciate that Jay's sisters made them today.
  Day 135 - Sri Lankan Hoppers 
Later in the morning, we went to Minuwangoda town. Jay stopped at a bank. I bought my prescription medicines at a pharmacy because drugs are much cheaper and of equal quality. We also stopped as we passed a barber and I got my hair cut. The price was Sri Lankan Rupees 500, so with the tip of 200 it came to around CA $3. Jay luckily found that he had to change his watch battery. Here, his Birks watch was back running in minutes for less than a dollar and a half. Lastly, we walked in the supermarket and got some gift teas. After all this island was Ceylon until independence from Britain. We used the PickMe app to go and return in different tuk-tuks.
  Day 135 - Bank 
Other activities today included copying all the photos and videos from Jay's younger sister's phone. As well as storing them on an old laptop, I put the recent ones with old images on a 128 GB memory stick. 

Just now, Jay got our boarding passes. Our first segment is on Sri Lankan airlines and they allow check-in 48 hours before the flight. It is one less thing to do on the last full day here.


Thursday, March 14, 2024

Dubai Changes

Day 134 - Today one of the most interesting things that happened was Jay burning a few old suitcases, some back from Saudi days in the 80s.  They'd been stored in the covered shed in the back but the plastic, metal, and cloth materials had deteriorated.  They would never be used again.  They made quite a bonfire and a fair amount of smoke too.

I have been in contact with a real estate agent in Dubai to check out the current situation.  I have been wondering about getting a winter apartment in that part of the world.  It is a fascinating city and has morphed into something quite unique and, in fact, spectacular.  In 1991, when Jay and I went to work in the city, things were so very different.  It's like they've compressed development time four or fivefold.

UAE Snapshots 
This scanned image was snapped over thirty years ago. I'm proud to have had a hand in making it a globally important city by working for the Higher Colleges of Technology for five years in the early 1990s.

On Sunday night, we will be in DXB for around four hours but only in airport transit.


Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Yum!

Day 133 - This number represents how long our winter trip has been so far. I just noticed that it started last Halloween and will end on St. Patrick's Day. Our trip home will take 24 hours and 45 minutes, with 4 hours in transit and 20 hours and 45 minutes in the air.  That's a lot of numbers.
     Day 133 - Lunch

We celebrated another important number today.  Jay's sister Kanthi was born the same year as me.  However, she's about four months older than me, and today, she turned 65.  

Day 133 - Happy Birthday!

She worked hard to help create the delicious coffee cake to celebrate her special day.  The whole family here knows how to cook.  I'm glad the talent rubbed off on Jay too.   If I had to choose the best though, I'd have to say 'elder sister' is the winner!  There are always so many layers of taste in her use of Sri Lankan spices and ingredients.  That's what helps separate true cuisine from ordinary food.

Day 133 - Happy Birthday!


Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Afternoon Iced Tea, Indeed

'Afternoon Iced Tea, Indeed' 
Day 132 - The temperature continues to reach 33° or 34°C daily. It seems warm but I have to remember that in a week our nightly temperatures will probably dip to 6°.  I'm sure I'll fondly look back at the climate in Sri Lanka. Why are people frequently jealous of what others have, even when it's as fickle as weather? 


Monday, March 11, 2024

Orange You Happy to See Me?

Day 131 - The hot weather continues. During the first few months we were around, there was rain daily. Now we've not had any for more than a month, although we were away for some of that. It means that we must stay hydrated. In Sri Lanka there are all sorts of fruits one can make into juice. Even this old favourite with a green-skin type of orange.
  Day 131 - Local Oranges

A few more pieces of next winter's itinerary have fallen into place.  We head home on a fifteen-hour and fifty-minute direct flight from Dubai next Monday.  Yet, it now looks as though we'll head back to the DXB in the opposite direction in November 2024.

We're planning a meet-up with the sisters, and hopefully family friend Nazeer in Dubai.  After less than two weeks they'll be returning to Sri Lanka but Jay and I will be flying to Mauritius and Reunion islands for a month or so.  Then, our plans, at this point, include a cruise to South Africa and a few months there.

I like that changes can take place but we'll just adjust and resume, much like a GPS recalculates if the original route is ignored.


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