ATW Day 57 - Colombo, Sri Lanka

Sailing into Colombo this morning reminded us of the Port of Long Beach.

The pelicans were very happy to have the ship stir up the fish.  It was like they were at a cruise ship buffet!  I hope that you can see the fish in the photos below.

We took an Oceania excursion - Mediation Session with a Buddhist Thera.  A Thera is a monk with over 10 years of ordination.  The excursion started with a drive through the city.

When we arrived at the temple, we were led into the meditation room where we were introduced to the Thera.  She (yes, she) had an interesting life story.  She married a very wealthy man and had 2 children.  At some point she became dissatisfied with that life and became a monk.  She led us through 2 meditation sessions with a tea break in between.  That lasted for almost 2 hours.

The experience was quite wonderful and I feel like it helped to align my mind, my body, and my spirit.  I hope to continue the practice of meditation to help me overcome the negative thoughts that can be so prevalent in our lives.  I liked when she talked about wishing people health and happiness and love and kindness.  Boy, we so need that.

The meditation session was followed by a vegetarian lunch.  Who knew that monks liked their food so spicy!

Now back to more mundane things.  One tool I love using is Magic Eraser in Google Photos.  Check out the magic it performed here:

On the bus ride back to the ship, it struck me that 2 things were missing.  First of all there were no 7-Elevens.  On our bus ride back to the ship in Phuket, we had counted about 20 of them.  And how about this.  We passed many billboards along the way back.

But not a single one was for an Accident Attorney!

Now we have 4 sea days ahead of us until we arrive the Seychelles.

May all living beings be well and happy,

Linda and Larry

ATW Day 55 - After Phuket

Today, Friday, is the first of 2 sea days as we sail from Phuket, Thailand to Colombo, Sri Lanka.  As day 55 of the ATW cruise, it marks the longest cruise we have ever taken, beating the previous record by 1 day.  

We had 2 days in Phuket during which we took an excursion each day.  The first was the Marine Turtle Foundation & Gibbon Project.  We started at the Gibbon Project.

The man who led us around gave us an introduction to the types of gibbons and to the rehabilitation work that they have been doing for 36 years.  Then it was off to see the gibbons which are kept in cages until they can be returned to the wild. It took them 10 years to figure out how to stop the gibbons from coming back to the center once the handler had left them. The simple answer turned out to be that they needed a family. It takes about 1 year to release a pair of gibbons and have them be successful on their own. There is a male Gibbon who left his wife and son in the wild to be with another female. His son comes to visit him every week!

Next was the Sireetarn Marine Endangered Animals Rescue Center.  There were many turtles there that suffered from various afflictions including lost legs from being hit by boats and blindness. They've developed a strong network of people who report turtles who seem to be having difficulty.  Fishermen will often pick them up and bring them to the Rescue Center.

 

And then there were the baby turtles.

The last activity there was to help out by doing some beach clean up.

It was another hot, humid day that did provide a good lightning show that evening.

Day 2 was the Phuket Farmhouse Exploration excursion.  We were takes to a Thai farm that was really a demonstration farm.  

They showed us many different farming activities.  Let's start with rice cultivation:

They showed us how they got the latex out of the rubber trees and then processed it into rubber sheets for export:

We got to feed a water buffalo:

They grew pineapples, lotus, and water lilies.

There was a demonstration of tin panning:

The last stop was at the farmhouse where Linda got to sift some rice and we had a nice cold drink and pineapple.

Upstairs in the farmhouse, they made curry paste.

I tasted it and boy was it hot!  We also walked around inside the house.

Both of our excursions in Phuket were quite good.  Now we have the 2 sea days to recover from the heat and humidity.  Did I mention that it was hot?

And we are now friends of gibbons!

Peace and blessings,

Linda and Larry