Sri Lanka revisited

I had gone to Sri Lanka again last week….

It was my third visit to the land in 12 months. After the December medical relief mission last year, one of the team members had called up and asked me if we can do it again in the August. I answered to her plead after praying to the great one.

I did not plan for any personal trip as in the past; my shift was too packed and I was not in a mood to think about some side trip beside of the tour.

However when the schedule came out, I was surprised and again the great one have proven that he is the mighty jireh.

Unlike the previous trip, we would be taken to the world’s end, Galle and the Elephant orphanage….The new serving brother had heard my plead last year and he had changed the planning after taking over from the previous serving brother.

As usual the flight was tedious as we have to transit via HKG, BKK…but however the lodging was excellent this time. We had stayed in the Grand Oriental Hotel; which is more than 150 years old. The trip to Nurwara Eliya was less stressful as we had a stop in Kandy before the final ascend.

The medical service was a success even though we had utilized openemr as our charting system. We used a router with USB dongle as the LAN provider + a ultrabook as a server. It proved to run well with 2 clinics+registration+pharmacy. We use tablet and smart phone as our major input device and it has a great interface for users. However some tweaking is still needed and I would be learning php for future modification

The peak of the tour was the trip to World’s end. Again, I was puzzled but the decision of choosing the right route or the left route. Our local guide/brother in church, have suggested the right route…and indeed, it was the “right” choice. Although the right route took longer to reach world’s end but yet it had less ascend; it is a route smoother for the elder one. However the risk was we might not be able to reach the World’s end before the fog storm in…

With grace, all of us completed the walk and were still able to get to the world’s end in time and enjoyed the spectacular view (it was like 5 mins before the fog covered the view).

My advice to the world’s end:

1.To start early(as early as 5am)

2.Take the right path

We had the De Silva Special Burger during our stay and it was indeed up to standard and highly recommended.. The cons: the shop was too small for a large group like us.

The trip to Galle was an excellent one. We enjoyed a luxurious seafood meal with a great view along the beach. I was able to soak my foot in the Indian Ocean with the kids. However I missed the walk along the street. As usual, I enjoyed the food and took every chance of getting my hand on seeni sambol bun(sambal bun) and wadai.

The return flight was a tiresome as usual. We did not take a lodge in the Bandaranaike transit hotel but instead we took a rest in the Plaza Premium Lounge while transiting in Hong Kong. It was an amazing experience for everyone for us, the view and the food ( Yun ate 6 egg tarts, and the fishball kiewtiao was superb).

Well, while the rest of the family was taking a good sleep 1 day after the trip, I had returned to the desk..

The trip is a conclusion for us to Sri Lanka…but will it be the last ? I will let the great one lead…