Yet Even More Oddities

Time for another installment of odd things that Ive come across during my time here in Sri Lanka. Enjoy!

Praying Mantis on the wall of my balcony. Almost human (alien?) head movements. Freaky...

Natrual Spring Water in a bottle? Why not? Figure this one out... Its actually kind of common here.

Danger - Our Highly Skilled Machine Operator Will Be Dropping Heavy Rocks On Your Vehicle.


If you want to see more oddities, just click on the "Oddities" Lable link on the right. Cheers!

When Snakes Attack (more oddities)

Here is my latest installment of Oddities in Sri Lanka. I’ve been wanting to post this pic for months but have been waiting to get the image from my friend Petra (thanks Petra!). When the rainy season starts here in the Northeast of Sri Lanka, a few things happen: of course everything gets more green, the frog population seems to quintuple, and accordingly, the number of snakes increases dramatically. Moreover, they become very active! Within a few week period, the number of snake stories going around Trinco went from almost none to everyone having one better story.

Sri Lanka has one of the largest numbers of poisonous snakes and has the highest snakebite mortality rate in the world. Of course for me this is an opportunity to scare the wits out of our new intern, Marco. It started with Pietro and I making up a story that we had a big snake in our office. Well, at the time it wasn’t true, or at least as far as we knew it. But then when we traveled back to Trinco with Marco for his first visit, we found a 5ft long snakeskin right in my office. It wasn’t there when we left a few days before! And keep in mind that this was where we were sleeping at the time. Needless to say, Marco was terrified and our story could not have been more effective.

So later that week, we ran into some friends at dinner and were discussing our story when they told us about their experience the previous week. Get this: they walked into their bathroom to find a big black snake swimming around in their toilet bowl. I know this sounds like something straight out of a horror film, but it is 100% the real deal. And here is the pic to prove it.

You better check the bowl before you sit down the next time!

If you'd like to see more freaky things from SL, you can find previous oddity posts here, here, here, here and here.

More Oddities...

Time for another installment of oddities from my life here in Sri Lanka.

So, I've shown you photos of the ubiquitous beach dogs and beach cows, but here is a shot of the ever elusive beach reindeer. This pics was taken at the commemoration event for the 17 slain humanitarian aid workers from ACF in August.

Each house that I have lived in has always had one iguana living in the garden. This one was from my last house.

I watched this guy climb up this pole in about 6 seconds, barefoot, with no safety device or pull straps. Obviously, the power lines are not yet energized.

If you'd like to see more freaky things from SL, you can find previous oddity posts here, here, here and here.

Ok, thats it for now. Hope you all are happy and well.
Ciao!

More Oddities

Well its time for another installment of oddities that I have observed in Sri Lanka.

I found this stick bug while I was near trinco buying a bunch of fresh prawns and crabs (13 lbs for 13 USD!) Last night I saw a praying mantis while we where having dinner, but I didnt have my camera...

This spider was living outside my old house. If you look closely, this guy looks like he has Felix the cat jumping on his back.

This is one of my friends little kitty. She is pretty cute. Puppies and kittens are ubiquitous here as NO ONE gets their animals fixed and they all roam the streets.

Oddities... cont'

I figure it was time for another installment of oddities. Ok, it hasn't been weekly, but I will try to keep them periodically. Enjoy!

Imagine sitting on the toilet, minding your own business but then you start to feel like someone, or something is watching you. This is what happened to me when I was staying in Colombo with some friends. I can tell you, after looking over and seeing this guy I felt a little vulnerable with my pants around my ankles and all. Scale: the tiles are 6 inches wide.

This is one of my favorites and I know some of you have already seen my dung beetle but I figured he should be up here for posterity. To get an idea of scale, the ball o' dung is about 1.5-2 inches in diameter.

You can find previous oddity posts here and here.

Oddities...

...of the week?

This is a signboard posted near the entrance to Worlds End, a beautiful park reserve with rolling grass lands that lead to a stunning vistas. It is surely one of the main points of interest in the central highlands. The Of course it sits next to a Singalese version of the same sign. You have to love translations.

We found this little guy while walking back from the market in Nuwara Elliya. He decided to jump onto my foot as we were trying to get a good photo of him. Handsome fellow, eh? (note: this is probably the second time wearing shoes in Sri Lanka, the central highlands can be quite cool.)

Oddities...

Its amazing what can be transported by bicycle. Ive often seen people carrying (dragging) 20ft sections of re-bar and even pvc pipe!

Maybe I will do an Oddity of the week or something... I have some pretty phone pics...we will see.

Still trying to figure out how to post multiple images...
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