August 1, 2005
I debated whether or not to check in today.
I'm totally knackered. It was a late night of burocracy both at immigration and unexpectedly the hotel. It seems the airport enjoys having 4 or so international flight ALL arrive at 1 am and the hotel has had several guests unable to return to their homes in Mumbai due to the flooding...I didn't get to bed til nearly 4am.
I friend emailed me from a Muslim area in China regarding the "doll". He shared his similar tales of coming across the Bin Laudin action figure...actually I had forgotten I had seen that one too. Thanks Rod. It seems these toys are quite popular the world over. He went on to tell me how these otherwise friendly folks pour over gun magazines like american lads with playboys...it is a wonderful world we live in!
The drive from the airport.
At every intersection their were shrines, mostly buddhist, but some hindu and christian mixed in for variety...Picture 3 dimensional characters glowing in neon or florescents and sprinkled with crhistmas lights. It was like the Super Friends pantheon...there was St. Sabastian and Mary, the little baby J and Gatama (sitting. walking and lying down), Shiva and Ganesh...remember the "It's a Small World" ride at Disneyland...?
Colombo is a trip...Unfortunately their cease-fire with the northern Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels ended abruptly a couple of days ago and the war is on again. (Im sure I'll fill you in later for those unawares...) It's wierd crossing through dozens of military check points, complete with sandbags, barbed wire, fully armed troops...jeez I'm just trying to sightsee.
They've gotten rather creative with the bombed out buildings...don't rebuild, just throw in some furniture and a makeshift staircase and you have a breezy office building with great views!
I'm leaving the Beirut-of-the-Indian-Ocean for the hills at 6am tomorrow!
Anyways, thanks to everyone that said "hi" it really means a lot to me... and again I'm sorry I can't respond to everyone personally (but remember thats what these emails are for!)
xx paul
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