Bus spotting photos

Bus spotting, a set on Flickr.

The photographic evidence of my obsession.

Bus spotting

So, at the end of my second week in Colombo, what do I have to say for myself? Having considered the many possible topics, I have settled on my new hobby of bus spotting. As you now know, my day starts with a song from a friendly feathered visitor. However, if you are imagining a tranquil and serene scene, let me allow you a further peek at my surroundings. I am currently living in a guest house in Borella, also known as Colombo 8, one of the 15 suburbs making up the city. Although tucked away down a side street and surrounded by a beautiful tropical garden, the house is just a stone's throw from the busy Cotta Road. The zip, buzz and splutter of tuktuks provide a frequent reminder of this as they weave their way around the surrounding streets. Take a short walk from the house across the railway tracks and you are thrust into the hustle and bustle of city life. The roads are jammed with all manner of vehicles playing a game of dare as they compete for positions on the road and career towards pedestrians and oncoming traffic alike. The incessant beeping appears mandatory and is used simply by way of saying “I am here, just letting you know”. But it is the buses that have particularly caught my attention. Two or three rumble past every few seconds emitting exhaust fumes and carrying with them the shouts of a ticket inspector reeling off the tongue twister of destinations at indecipherable speed out the back door. In addition to some fairly uniform government run buses, there are a great many privately run buses which are a sight to behold. Decorated in a multitude of colours and designs, these buses have inspired in me a slightly worrying obsession with capturing them on camera. Not only am I loving the diversity of them, the buses are also playing a central role in my attempts to orientate myself to the city and have given me a taste of Colombo life perhaps not so often seen by the passing tourist. I certainly would not have the experienced the particular type of sweating one does when wedged onto a plastic covered seat in a packed metal box on wheels in stifling heat. And I could never have foreseen that my first Colombo bus journey would be accompanied by a soundtrack of Gloria Estefan blaring from the speakers at disco volume. You can't put a price on that! But it is by far the cheapest form of public transport. So these experiences are available to me from around 8 rupees a ride (about 5p). And the bus spotting comes for free!

Sri Lanka - photos from my first week

Sri lanka, a set on Flickr.

A few shots from my time so far

A morning song and a daily quote

My oriental friend

What a week! It started at Brighton's Pool Valley Coach Station and has taken me from there to here (a guest house in Colombo) via a range of amazing, exhilarating, exhausting and unusual experiences. Of note were the following discoveries made along the way. I learnt that a touch down on an Emirates airline holds no fear for me in view of the forward camera which leaves no room for my usual catastrophic imaginings of misjudged landings and shortened runways; that I am not as appealing to mosquitoes as I had feared; that I may have missed my vocation as a tuk tuk driver; and much more. But most importantly, I learnt the simple comfort of repetition in an unfamiliar place. Two things have greeted me daily since my arrival. Firstly, a small black and white bird (pictured) has sung to me every morning whilst perched on the cables outside the window of my guest house. It seems he is an oriental magpie robin and he is a welcome and melodic visitor. Secondly, I have enjoyed receiving a daily quote via text to my phone each morning. VSO have given me a local sim card used by a previous volunteer who I imagine must have set this up. It is a small thing for which I have felt surprisingly grateful. Along with my oriental friend, the unexpected texts have provided me with a little routine and a sense of familiarity as I start each day somewhere new. It seems apt that I share with you my favourite quote so far from Kahlil Gibran ...“for in the dew of small things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed”. Of course, what he didn't say was that as the day progresses even the heart becomes rather hot and sweaty!

Arrival in blogland

So, here I am in Sri Lanka. After months of planning, preparing, fretting, questioning, dreaming, talking, thinking, training, reading, packing and fretting some more, the adventure has finally begun. It has only been 1 week, and yet so much has happened and there is much I could say. However, in the interests of not boring you I will attempt to keep this first entry (and all that follow) fairly brief and concise. The intention is not to recount every tiny detail of my time here, but rather to give you small tasters of the experience I am having. I hope to post on a regular basis if time and technology allow. But please do bear with me. The blogosphere is a new world for me, in addition to the one I am currently exploring, and so it may take me some time to navigate my way around and get used to it.