Leaning...

No, I wasn’t drunk when I took this shot. The temple really is standing at that angle. It’s the result of damage from the tsunami.

This morning I got the bus to Batticaloa. It was a much better journey than the previous one. The bus was busy and people were standing at a few different points in the journey but it wasn’t nearly as packed as the last one I was on. It was also the first bus that hasn’t been playing loud music the whole way (some better than the rest). Much of the journey was on a narrow strip of land between the coast and a lagoon. The east of Sri Lanka, from what I saw from the bus, seems much more rural than other areas. As well as the lagoon we passed expanses of flat farmland. I’ve lost count of the number of birds of prey I’ve seen from Sri Lankan buses!

I arrived about 2pm, had a leisurely lunch at the hotel and then cycled out the peninsular. It was very quiet. I had Kallady beach and the sea on my right, a few houses (and some tsunami damaged, abandoned buildings) on my left and behind that the lagoon. I stopped at this Hindu temple on my way back. It’s still being used, despite the precarious angle. There was music blaring from loudspeakers in the grounds.


I had a swim in the hotel pool when I got back. I hoped to catch sunset over the lagoon but was about a minute too late for the perfect shot. Maybe tomorrow! As I was sitting looking across the lagoon, the owner of the hotel came to talk to me. Sri Lanka’s largest bird – a white bellied fish eagle – nests in the hotel grounds. He showed me where the nest is and I saw one adult bringing food in for the chick, the other adult sitting on a branch near the nest, and I got a glimpse of the chick exercising its wings. Then a crocodile swam past very close to shore! This place is amazing! I’ll go back tomorrow and watch the nest some more, hopefully when the light it better, as the photos I took today are very dark and grainy.