LAST NIGHT
I'm a bit late getting this online because of a little overindulgence. Before posting last night's entry, we knew we might try to see what was going on in Negombo. We did leave the house and walked to the road to catch a bus just as it was getting dark. Seeing Negombo was worth the trip as the city has a big Christian population and the municipality puts up lots of lights downtown. The problem was, however, the bus was on a normal Tuesday schedule. The last bus back to Minuwangoda left at 8:00 pm. We got there at about 7:10. Hum. Not enough time to check out the beach! We were pretty sure a party or event would be taking place. We contemplated just going and staying up all night. Ah, but that sounded like something kids would do.
We were on the return 8:00 bus but went all the way to downtown rather than getting off at Yatiyana Road. We walked back to the Machang. This new chain of restaurants has seemingly exploded everywhere in the area. They are sort of like a sports bar with a simple but upscale design. They have hit on an untapped (pun) market. We asked the manager and he said the Minuwangoda location was the 19th out of the current 20. I saw that a pitcher of 8.8% lager was 500 rupees, or about $4.85, so I got that for myself. Good glassware! Jay always abstains. It was a litre and a half of strong beer and more than I needed. We walked all the way back to the house after amazingly large portions of food. I had the Machang Special and Jay had Nasi Goren.
We were home to ring in 2013 in front of the TV at home. We did it a good 13.5 hours ahead of those in Vancouver. The pitcher would have been enough but I insisted on having a 625 ml beer from the fridge in my hand at midnight. Gheeze.
TODAY
I was a little slow today. But by evening I was ready to go to the free musical show in Minuwangoda. Jay, his younger sister, and I waited for a bus. At about the same time as last night. It is just about the time things get dark. There were hundreds and hundreds of people out. The huge area, where the Sunday Market is, was set up with more chairs that I could could. Boys were stacking them and then standing on them to get a better view. We stayed for a couple of hours. I watched the people as they watched the group. I guess they were famous and had put on shows internationally. I am sure that they were loud, very loud.
