We sort of rushed back yesterday for two reasons. First, there wasn’t much to see in Kalpitiya and also Jay needed to squeeze in a day to see his mother’s sister and that branch of the family. I stayed at home. I’m depressed that we are now into our third week here. We’re only going to be here for twenty-eight days. I hate thought that half our time here has already finished.We’ve still got many places to go and things to see. Tomorrow we’ll head to Jay’s elder sister and husband’s place in Nugegoda for a few nights. Staying with them puts us much closer to Colombo things. Directly from there we’ll be heading down with a van and driver to the southern beaches for a day with Jay’s sister-in-law and nieces. Then after that, beginning from there, just he and I will do a week of our traditional, ‘hit the road’ type of travelling. This is when set our sights on a fairly close destination, go there by bus, pick a hotel, and travel around the sites in that area for a few days. I’m hoping Unawatuna will feature in that segment of our trip.
Today has been quite rainy. We knew that this time of year brings the monsoon to the south west to of the island. We sort of like it. A day can be bright and sunny one minute and quite literally turn into a warm torrential downpour seconds later. A vast amount of rain can fall in a short time and within minutes it’s over. The earth and vegetation suck up the water and in a scant bit of time it can be hard to tell there had ever been any rain! This scenario played through several times today. It has been a hard day to dry clothes on the line.
I caught up on last Sunday’s English newspapers. News still comes on broadsheet here with a multitude of sections catering to all sorts of interests. I got stuck in the display-classifieds real estate section. I know it’s not logical to hunt for an apartment on this trip. If retirement comes when I’m 55 that will be 2014. We don’t really need to hold any local property until then. It’s hard to say where the market will go. Economic growth for Sri Lanka is forecast at eight percent in the coming years. To me, real estate already seems excessive but the world slowdown didn’t kill the market here. Maybe if I wait another three or four years, the market will out-price what I’d like to spend on a winter getaway. Canada has lots of half year snowbirds. Spending each November through April on this island would be nice. I absolutely love it here in the jungle and Jay holds the deed for this cute little place, but I think spending $80,000 on a small apartment near the Mt. Lavinia tourist beaches would be more in keeping with our lifestyle.
My last comments about real estate are these: Sri Lankans have seemed to go bonkers over multi-storey dwellings. Jay’s brother built on adjoining land here. Although the place isn’t truly completed, it was started four years ago and is occupied. We laughed at the monster-sized design. Climbing stairs seems silly with the sufficient land here. If you must maximize floor space on a tiny lot, sure, go up. The house fits into this new fad of two and even three-storey houses. Jay blames imported Indian soap operas for creating the desire for such over-sized dwellings.
To me, even traditional Sri Lankan home design is silly. In a climate where one can practically live outside year round, little is done in the way of imaginative use of outside space. A single floor U-shaped building around a massive atrium would be the way to go. Most of life could take place in the inner garden. There’d be little space lost to hallways. Doors for many rooms such as the bedrooms could open directly to that area, somewhat like a motel. I can spend hours thinking of how I’d put a house together but in the end, if I ever own here, it will most probably be several rooms on the fourth to tenth floor of an apartment building. Hey. that sounds strangely like a description of the place we already own in Canada. Well, maybe here the view would be of the ocean rather than the Fraser River.