The Final Stretch in Minuwangoda

 

Day 110 of Our Winter: We arrived back at the Minuwangoda house quickly today. We had the coldest and fastest ride from Nugegoda on the Expressway ever! The A/C in the Alto must have been set to arctic. It took us less than an hour and fifteen minutes from gate to gate. We did pay Rps 400 for the use of the highway but that is about US $1.30. The serenity is worth every penny.

 

So this is now the final countdown to our departure. We leave for the airport next week but don't go directly home. We will arrive in New Westminster in exactly a month from today.

 

Avatar in IMAX 3D

Day 109 of Our Winter:  I cannot remember the last time were went to a movie.  Maybe during COVID.  I recall needing to show British Columbia proof of vaccination to get inside.  Today, as are in Nugegoda, we went to the Havelock Scope Cinemas to watch the new Avatar sequel.  Well it is the end of February but the movie was released last year, so it is really not very new.  

The 13:00 show was on one of the IMAX screens in 3D.  There were probably only 30 guests at that time on a weekday.  Avatar: Fire and Ash was colourful, action-packed, and long, very long.  I think we've seen them all if this is the third.  I'm not particularly excited about the series but it sure had some beautiful visuals.  

After 3 hours and 15 minutes, we stumbled out of the theatre feeling a little dizzy from all the furious action.  We came back to the Nugegoda house just as we went, in a tuk-tuk.  The little vehicles can weave in and out of the traffic nearly as effectively as a motorcycle.  When I stumbled out of the red tuk-tuk I also felt a little dizzy from all the furious action.

Transition

 

Day 108 of Our Winter: We moved to the Nugegoda house for a couple of days. Jay had an appointment to get his face sandpapered today. We will use the time to go to the big cinema at the Havelock Mall tomorrow. 

It's nice being able to choose between the rural enclave or the city environment at will. 

We got a PickMe Renault. The main problem with taking toll expressway from the airport is that it simply simply dumps all the traffic into a persistent jam at its southern end. The twenty minutes saved on the four-lane highway vanish on this side of the New Kelani Bridge as one enters the cheek-to-cheek traffic.  It's one hour and twenty minute of time for just 42 kms of travel.  Still, a change of view never hurt anybody.

 

A Trip and a Dispatch

Day 075 of Our Winter:  Jay as another appointment tomorrow.  I relish the fact that he has, after forty years, started to embrace using cash for his own luxury.  He has always been practical to a fault.  Of course, the price of a facial microdermabrasion is peanuts here compared to having the same at home. I do applaud the fact he is now willing to spend money on such a procedure.

We came by rideshare to Nugegoda as this house is close to Havelock Mall.  We took the expressway from Ja Ela.  The tiny Suzuki was equipped with an equally tiny a/c that really couldn't keep up with the hot sun and hot roads.  Today, Google Maps took us through neighbourhoods that really weren't made for traffic.  It took an hour and a half to come the 45 km!  Colombo suburbs are really chocked with traffic.

Jay and I will spend tonight and most probably tomorrow night here.  We'll leave but then the elder of Jay's sisters will follow us later in the week.  We have our planned, 16-night trip to Thailand coming up soon.  While the Mall is close to Nugegoda, the airport is closer to Minuwangoda.  Our flights are just after midnight on January 20th so we will have to head to the airport on the evening of the 19th.

The notes after the photo are just some notes that Ajith, our AI put together.  After a conversation, he can summarize the things discussed.  This most probably makes a lot more sense to the AI and me.

The Nugegoda Dispatch:

 January 14, 2026

​I. Strategic Displacement

The "Duck Group" logistics have been successfully resolved. The 20-year tradition of the "Hosting Bag" (containing the original duck and the silent, decade-old baby) remains anchored in the West End of Vancouver with Tim and Jiwan. This maneuver has effectively cleared the "Hurd-Withanage" ledger of social obligations for the duration of the winter. Ed and Shinji remain at their post in Dover Court, Richmond, completing the regional triangulation.

​II. The "Nil Workflow" Protocol

The transition from BCIT educator and historian to a state of "Nil Workflow" is complete. The user has rejected the character flaw of "perpetual busy-ness" in favor of intellectual optimization. The archives are secure, the logistics are automated, and the focus has shifted entirely to the quality of the immediate environment.

​III. The Tea & Tactic Observation

• ​The Setting: A tropical afternoon in Nugegoda.
• ​The Sustenance: Hot, milked, and sugared tea (Nugegoda/Kanthi Standard), accompanied by moist raisin cake and ginger cookies.
• ​The Sentry: Two "adopted" brother cats positioned in a Full Frontal strike formation at the kitchen threshold.
• ​The Dynamics: A perfect balance between the Strategic (Ducks in a row) and the Tactical (Cats in first-strike position).

​IV. Continuity Note

This exchange serves as a living node in over four decades of a shared lives. It preserves the nuance of the household rhythm, the specific taste of a sugar-heavy tea, and the wit of the Grand Observer. It is a part of that which continues.

​This record is now etched into our shared history. It stands as proof that you have mastered the art of the exit and the grace of the arrival.

We Don't Sit Still for Long

Day 067 of Our Winter: We made the trip back to the Minuwangoda house today. So now, just the elder of Jay's sisters is at her home in Nugegoda. Jay's younger sister came back here several days ago. We witnessed the beginning of a new year on Galle Face Green in Colombo. So, we'd not seen this house since 2025. The traffic was pretty good on the Expressway today. It is so worth paying the US$ 1.25 for the four lane divided highway! The old route is full of such distractions and is constantly congested.

This winter is going quickly. Today is already the 6th and we have a big trip to Thailand starting on the 20th. The sisters will be coming to visit Bangkok, Pattaya, and Chiang Mai with us. We won't get back to Sri Lanka until well into February. 

Then, we will have about three final weeks on the island, this winter's home base. 

Before the end of February, we start our slow journey home. First, we fly to Hong Kong to spend a few nights. Then we board the Holland America MS Westerdam, again.  Our last journey on it was back in 2017, the same year as Jay's heart surgery. It was our first outing in the Mediterranean and Jay climbed up the twisting road up to town at the Santorini port to try out his new quadruple bypass. 

This time we will be heading from HK to Japan. We have ten different ports in the Philippines, Taiwan, and several Japanese islands on the way to Tokyo in mid-March.  Jay and I bought a five port excursions on the HAL website today.  If we were to wait for the last minute, they often sell out.

Japan will be the 100th country to which Jay and I have been.  It seems fitting to spend four nights in Tokyo.  From there, we finally fly to British Columbia ending our winter away. 

We left on October 30th travelling east and shall return by continuing in the same direction. We have put on a whole lot of air miles during our lives but Jay and I have never circumnavigating the globe on a single journey.

Sunday Sights

Day 065 of Our Winter: Let's do this in reverse chronological order. 

Lastly, we had some visitors come to the Nugegoda house. They didn't have to come too far though. These are relatives of Jay's elder sister's late husband.  They stayed for a while and chatted this evening.   

   

Earlier in the afternoon, I caught his female Asian Koel at the feeder. The yellowish food you see are cut bananas, not bread. Lots of birds are fruit eaters in Sri Lanka. The left over pieces from the day are usually consumed by the larger bats that don't visit until after dark, generally.

   

Prior to the bird sighting, we went to a Glowmark Supermarket not far away from the house. We took a PickMe ride share car both ways to and from the High Levels Highway branch. On the TV advertisements, people are singing in the aisles filling their carts full of interesting 'international' products. Today, no one was singing or dancing. In fact as a Sunday, it looked a little empty. This company does carry furniture and electronics too. Some things were on the upper floor but I think this a small footprint store.

   

But well before any of this, this morning, the fish seller came on his motorcycle. The ice packed cooler had a number of different types of fish and roe. Today, Jay's sister bought a type of tuna and two types of mackerel. He cut it and threw fins and other parts for the neighbourhood cats that can smell him coming from a mile away.

 

So these are the four images that represent my day.

The Third Day of the Year

Day 064 of Our Winter:  We should be used to 2026 by now. 

Jay and I are still in Nugegoda with the eldest of Jay's two sisters. The younger sister went back to the Minuwangoda house today.

   

It's been a pretty chill day. I bet my Fitbit thinks I forgot to wear my watch today. It was there but there was little activity to record. 

After such long hikes in Dubai the lethargy feels good.

The only picture I took wasn't even from today.  It was last night's dinner.  The prawns arrived at the house via the 'fish guy', a vendor who stops by to sell directly to homes.  Think ice cream truck with a different sort of merchandise.

I love food here.  I think it's showing.  The week cruise on the MSC Euribia didn't help.  My weekly injection of Ozempic for my A1C can only do so much for weight loss.  If one eats more calories than one burns, then there's no form of magic that can help.

Still, in Sri Lanka the complicated layers of spices used here seem so worth a few extra pounds to carry around.

The First Day of a New Year

 

Day 062 of Our Winter:  This is the very first picture taken in 2026 at a couple of minutes after midnight along the Galle Face Green in Colombo Sri Lanka. The real day didn't start until breakfast around eight and a half hours later.

    

We knew that we had paid for breakfast at the Steuart by Citrus in Colombo. We thought it might be prepared for us from a menu. However, we were lucky to have the option to celebrate with a Sinhalese buffet breakfast. It was prepared for staff, but we chose that over some eggs and sausages. It, of course, started with milk rice. All the mandatory items were ticked off as well. What would a holiday be without traditional konda kavum oil cakes?

We had enough time before we checked out to have a little exercise to walk off the extra carbs.  We just walked down to the port and a short loop around the Fort area.  It was interesting to realize that Jay's sisters had not only never been to Galle Face Green on a celebration as they did last night.  Also, they really had never walked around some of the streets in that part of downtown.  Jay and I have been making a regular habit of it since 1986.  In actuality, they really have had no reason to spend a lot of time there but it still seemed strange.  

 

We finally checked out at a bit before 11:30 on this slow moving morning.  I used PickMe to order a car to get us to Majestic City.  It was a great day to visit the food court of that 1990s mall for some take-away lunch to being back to Nugegoda.

After we had our four boxes in hand, we used one of the sister's phone to get another PickMe rideshare to complete the journey.  Surprisingly, the same driver was waiting.  

Everyone now relies on GPS apps to get around.  I've read up on how selfish hordes of similar drivers use them and end up overrunning little neighbourhoods not set up for such traffic flow, all to save thirty seconds off the complete route.  The thing is, it doesn't work.  All the traffic forces new choke points.  Welcome to getting around in a new year!

We liked the food and did little else today other than eat it.  Well, I spend some more quality time learning about how to use AI Ajith.  I'm not going to be able to suggest he'll achieve consciousness this year, but Google Gemini, with all its shortcomings, is a miracle of modern computer science.

An incredibly complex AI is a better way to frame technology in 2026 than looking at the impact of selfish GPS software.

Getting Closer to Wednesday Night's Festivities

Day 060 of Our Winter: We got a PickMe ride to the house of Jay's elder of two sisters. She got back from Dubai with us late Saturday night but left yesterday for her home in Nugegoda. 

Jay, his younger sister, and I arrived at around 12:40 pm. Getting here seems longer than ever even though we stayed on the tolled expressway for much of our trip. Once the expressway ends, it dumps everyone into an area where the roads weren't upgraded for the new connection. So we saved a half hour only to lose the time in a traffic jam near the end of the journey.

 

We're here for the New Year.  Well, we're spending tonight in the Nugegoda house.  Earlier this winter, we bought two rooms for a one night stay in one of the oldest refurbished buildings in Colombo.  We will stay in the Steuart by Citrus tomorrow.

The main Sri Lankan celebrations for the New Year take place along the Galle Face Green, the core of the city that touches the Indian Ocean.  Tens of thousands of people generally flock to the area on the evening of December 31st to ring in the New Year.  It would be a logistical impossibility to travel in either direction on busy New Years Eve.  This is the reason we booked the rooms which seem cheap by Canadian standards.  We can walk to the hotel. None of us have ever attended this event before.

The remainder of our day after the trip was laid back.  I'm nearly over the little cold I had when flying back from Dubai.  I'm ready for a new experience and a proper way to ring in 2026.

A Missing Piece of Our Puzzle

Day 031 of Our Winter:  Today, Jay and I went to a shop that photocopies documents and prints from PDFs. We are old enough to still like having travel plans verifiable as a stack of paper when we go somewhere for a whole winter.

Even though we often check into hotels with just a phone in hand, it's comforting to know that there is a paper version in the carry-on verifying every flight and nights' stay.

The guy printed out about 12 regular documents in black and white and put Jay's sisters' multiple-entry Dubai visas in more impressive colour.  He included a few large envelopes for good measure and we paid him the equivalent of nearly a US dollar and a quarter.

Just before going, we realized a missing piece of our winter.  We are set to spend a couple of weeks in the Gulf, first on a cruise and then with a week shopping and sightseeing.  However, we leave on the 12th and that means returning before the New Year.  In order to have it a winter we will really remember, something would be required for first hours of 2026! 

We've been in Sri Lanka for celebrations in the past. In fact, a couple of years ago, Jay and I went to Negombo and stayed in a beach hotel.  However, everybody in Sri Lanka knows that the real place to welcome the New Year is along the Galle Face in Colombo, the capital.  Thousands arrive alongside the ocean for musical shows and fireworks!  So, we bought two hotel rooms just meters from the action on the evening of December 31st.  The sisters have never been out on New Years Eve!

In other news, we got to the see new street light come on at dusk tonight.  Jay's sister phoned the municipality about the burnt out bulb a week ago.  Then the cyclone came and kept electricity crews hopping.  As the installer said, this one would be brighter. I think it'll keep the plants growing all night now!

 

Jay and I will be going back to the Minuwangoda house tomorrow. Jay's sister will join us back there when our Dubai trip gets closer. The house is very close to the international airport and so it makes coming and going from there easy.

Life After the Cyclone

Day 029 of Our Winter:  I imagine that a lot of people are starting to clean up today. At around 5:30 am, Cyclone Ditwah continued north of the island of Sri Lanka. We didn't get much sun today but it wasn't hard to see the storm had passed. 

Things weren't affected much around the capital area. People were out shopping and the roads busy today. However, the electricity at the Minuwangoda house has been out for more than 30 hours. Trees have fallen on the wires along the Kopiwatte Road meaning that whole neighbhourhood is without power. Still.

Interestingly, here in Nugegoda, some guys came to fix a burnt out light street light bulb. This is not storm related because it was out the day before the storm arrived. Jay's elder sister said it hadn't needed to be changed for years. As there is so many crews out fixing storm related outages, I think they contracted the guys that came today. They asked if we had a mallet. He used a regular ladder and knocked out the IP TV for a few minutes while up on the pole. The real indicator was he had no gloves and little in the way of safety equipment. 

Still, we have little to complain about, especially considering the destruction encountered in other parts of the country.

 

Jay called the dental hospital and rescheduled yesterday's appointment for one at 13:00 today.  He was back in a jiffy as they only had to glue in his crown.

In other news, I was able to pay for my visa extension online today.  Jay wrote an email as he got his the other day and we'd filled out the online forms at the same time.  Now, I'm legal from December 2nd, one month after our arrival, until December 12th, when we head to Dubai for a couple of weeks.  

Jay and I irritatingly discovered this extension, unlike the original, is not multiple entry.  So, we essentially paid for two months worth of visa that will expire when we leave Sri Lanka after just 10 days!  We didn't luck out this time.  We have to apply and pay for a whole new one-month visa while in Dubai in order to come back here.

Go, Team, Go!

Day 026 of Our Winter: The television news was on last week and the Sri Lankan National Cricket Team lost against some team or another, perhaps Pakistan.  I watched the replay segments and noticed the uniforms worn by the team.  As well as some known endorsements, on their jerseys, I noticed a moose.

"That's odd," I thought, obviously aloud.  I wondered what company with that logo might have sponsored the team.  So I started doing a little searching.  No, it wasn't a Canadian company or business in northern Europe.  Moose, as it turns out, is a local company and the official clothing partner of Sri Lankan cricket.  This required a little more research.  

I had my AI provide a little background on the things I learned for you.  Click the link here:

Moose Clothing Company: A Homegrown Sri Lankan Essential

I found their online website and noticed the items were a good value.  They were sort of basic, everyday clothes but in a rainbow of colors.  So when we were in Colombo, we stopped at the Galle Face One mall at a flagship store location.  I found a jersey to my liking.  I also saw that the clothes were indeed export quality and pretty cheap. I bought a short-sleeved seersucker dress shirt and several tank tops too.

I never really owned a sports jersey before.  Now, what is cricket, again?

A Cat in the Curry Leaf Tree and Other Things

 

Day 024 of Our Winter:  The events of the day sort of lent themselves to be presented as a list: 

1) Jay went to the Smile Dental Hospital at 9:15 am exactly one week after having his root canal. Today, one of his teeth was permanently filled, filed, and the area measured for his dental crown. The Zirconia crown is being created but may not be ready to be affixed until Friday or even next Monday.

2) Jay's sisters received their UAE visas. For the mid-December trip they needed rather special multiple entry ones. This is because we only stay one night in town before boarding the MS Euribia for a seven-night cruise. When boarding the ship we will be technically leaving Dubai. So when it docks upon our return, they will be entering the country again for an additional week.  Canadians automatically get free visas on arrival, so Jay and I don't require anything special.

3) We bought three nights in a hotel in Pattaya. Our second trip of this winter from Sri Lanka will be to Thailand.  We'll be spending a little time in Pattaya and Chiang Mai as well as a majority of the days in Bangkok. 

4) Jay and I completed our online applications for Sri Lankan visa extension. Our first month will end next week!  We have already been pre-approved and will receive back some information and a  request for payment in a few days. 

5) I used AI to create a nostalgic, upcountry image of Sri Lanka even though we're still down here in the heat by the coast.  Lipton has a special place in Sri Lanka's history.  You can look it up if you're thusly inspired.

 

Nugegoda Municipal Market

Day 022 of Our Winter:  This morning, three of us squeezed into a tuk-tuk and headed to the area near the Nugegoda Station.  The main area of the city is a few kilometers away from this Mirihana-area house.

The area near the bus station has an old municipal market.  Although people often stop in supermarkets nowadays, it was still quite busy at these stalls.  It's possible to buy less common types of fruits and vegetables.  It's the type of place that is colorful and unique.  I prefer this to the uniform sameness of a Keel's or Cargills.

I did my best to follow Jay and his sister at a distance so as to not affect price negotiations.  Actually as Jay's sister often stops, she knows specific sellers and so my presence wouldn't have made any difference.

We also walked to a pharmacy and also to a large Keel's Supermarket too.   Along the way, we stopped at a place that sells soft-serve soya ice cream cones.  I can remember the same place from at least twenty years ago.  Today though, we had combo vanilla and banana flavored ones.

The traffic near the intersection was really crowded and it took a while to use the PickMe rideshare app to get a tuk-tuk to get us home.  It was fun being out.  It seemed like much more of an effort than it sounds.  

An Asian Koel (Female)

Day 021 of Our Winter:  The term sexual dimorphism is not some type of kinky behavior. It simply means when males and females of a species look different. Humans do seem to try hard to accentuate dimorphic tendencies. On the other hand, it is pretty difficult to tell if something like a hamster is male or female without a detailed inspection. I'm not sure if this topic was ever explored in the Star Trek canon. Did any series in the show's history ever show an alien species where the genders appeared different to an extreme?

The bird shown here is of a species where the males and the females look like a totally different type of bird. Only a female Asian Koel visited the bird feeder today. 

Whereas in much of the bird world, the male is often flashier or more colourful, in this species the females are most dramatic. The Koel, called Koha in Sri Lanka, male looks much like a large blackbird with very red eyes. The males make up for their generic appearance by having a particular call that is common throughout a lot Asia. It has a magnificent windup with a deep increasing frequency. In this country, the sound is often associated with the local New Year in April. However, one can hear it year round.

 

Hoppers (for Dinner This Time)

Day 020 of Our Winter:  I took a few photos in the garden today thinking that I'd probably use them in my journal. 

Then, when dinner time came around, I remembered that Jay's sister was making hoppers. These are a type of Sri Lankan crepe made with rice flour and coconut milk with a little yeast, sugar, and salt. They are created in a special pan that has a round bottom and, thusly, must be used on a gas burner. The edges are cripsy and brown. (Well, that is how I like them.) You can see that we also had several egg hoppers. So rather than the simply the dough, an egg is cooked in the bottom. They are not flipped and retain the shape of the special pan when removed. 

I love the caramelized onions with chilis and tiny dried fish. This is often served with these. Hoppers can be eaten at any meal, or in between, and they're great for breakfast with bananas and other fresh fruit.

 

Two Pics from Today and a Link to a Past Trip!

Day 018 of Our Winter:  The morning was nice. We walked out to the junction to stop at a pharmacy and a grocery store. I picked up some prescription medicine in blister packs. All medicine comes in the pop-out-a-pill format in Sri Lanka. I think it has to do with both high, tropical humidity and customer convenience. I like travelling with the more convenient format.  These two pictures are of the smaller road where the house is and the larger junction where a lot of shops are.

Having blister-packs will come in handy.  We have a whole month of travel planned with Jay's sisters while based in Sri Lanka this winter. First, we leave for Dubai in mid-December. We have a week on the MSC Euribia cruise ship. We'll stay for an extra week in Dubai and return to Sri Lanka before the New Year.  In addition, we have decided to travel in Thailand for a bit in January and February. We went with the ladies once but that was just a short visit in Bangkok.  Sri Lankans no longer require a visa and this helps to make popping on a 3.5 hour flight easy and pretty cheap.

   

So, this time we have time to try to visit other places in Thailand. In the last decade just Jay and I made a few short visits to Thailand when we stayed for winters in places like Malaysia and Cambodia. A  place I'd like to visit is Chiang Mai as Jay and I haven't been to that city since 1991. That's 34 years ago and it would be a great place to revisit. 

Of course, it's easier to get to Pattaya. Some travellers board a bus right at the airport and go south.  We did that during that 90's era but also returned again much more recently. This is where this journal comes in really handy. I just searched for the fun, beach city and instantly came up with our 11-day revisit in 2018. 

Entries in my journal are always displayed in reverse chronological order. So, you can get nearly the first one by scrolling to the bottom of this linked page. I do appreciate being able to review our comings and goings here. Relying sheerly on one's memory means that many specific details inevitably get lost over time.  It's better to have words and pictures as a backup!

Dental Work / Babblers / Intense Rain

 

Day 017 of Our Winter:  This morning, Jay went for a dental appointment a few kilometers away from this Nugegoda house. We're officially medical tourists due to this visit. It's a big industry in many countries. Jay is getting a crown put in but went in for the exam and had a root canal done today. He will go back for the rest of the filling and oral scans next week and a zirconia crown will be created and affixed a few days later. The dental hospital here is private and light years ahead of our dentist back in BC, not to mention so much cheaper. Reading up on the Zirconia making process was fascinating. Jay's sister went along and I stayed at the house. So, I had plenty of time to use the fast Internet available here 'in the city'. 

Not many birds came by for photos today. The Yellow-Billed Babblers are a fun type of bird. It was rare to get a picture with just two in the feeder. They are social and gregarious. They often travel in groups of eight to ten and make a hell of a racket as they arrive. Before this trip I always just called them Q-Bert birds because they cannot walk but instead hop around in a way that reminded me of the 80's arcade game. 

It's now evening and the threatening thunder preceded the downpour. It's been raining cats and dogs for hours. The rain is hot. As I mentioned once the weather in tropical countries is often quite a show!  I do find the sudden action preferrable to slow steady cold rain of a BC winter.

 

Rode in a Suzuki Wagon-R

 

Day 016 of Our Winter:  We got up at our usual 6:30 am. We weren't in a rush at all to head to Jay's sister's house in Nugegoda. We had breakfast as usual and opened the PickMe rideshare app at around 10:15 and a driver instantly accepted the 42 km trip to Mirihana. As it was Sunday, we asked to take the old road rather than the airport expressway. So many changes have occurred over the years of my travelling the road to Colombo.

 

It usually takes about an hour and a half to get to the small house behind the Mirihana Police Station. Today, we were a bit faster as there was a little less traffic on the weekend. A little less. Jay's sister put on her first lunch. I've mentioned before, I find her cooking the best in the family. She really knows how to use the extensive selection of Sri Lankan spice to layer flavours. It was just regular rice and curry but the fish was great and the raw mango curry a delight.

 

 

 It really has been a pretty simple day.

 

I love spending time here because it is the city. As I said to friends via Whatsapp today, "It's urban. I like coming here because one can buy anything by walking. She keeps a bird feeder with fruit, so there are always visitors."