We will carry a holy, blessed flag up fat mountains
Our climbing flag is blessed to climb fat mountains and I return to the frozen lands of Edmonton
This is a travel journal of our adventures in South East Asia. Trust a bunch of Newfoundlanders to find trouble no matter where they go! You can read the entries as we climb Mt. Kinabalu and explore some parts of Thailand. A month after we left, this entire region was devastated by the Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004. We were very lucky to have witnessed life and adventure before that and our hearts go out to everyone in this journal who might have been affected. A gallery of photos from this trip is available on my photos site.
Previous: How to dress like a fat Kandyan prince
6:30am December 6, 2004 Colombo, Sri Lanka
Well, this last day of my holidays had to finally arrive. It’s also the day of my brother and his new wife’s Homecoming.
But first, the events of yesterday. I took yesterday as the last day of my break where I could truly relax—indeed, the last day for a few weeks, I suspect. We did, however, visit the holy Buddhist temple at Bellanwila, just outside Colombo, to get the Royal Anarcho-Geographic Society of Newfoundland (RAGSN) climbing flag blessed.
First, I took the flag and walked around the holy Bodhi tree—under which the Buddha was enlightened—carrying the flag and a bowl of water as an offering to the tree. This I did seven times because seven is the perfect number in Sri Lankan Buddhism. All instructions from Mum.
Then we took it to be blessed by Lord Kataragama—Lord Murugan in Tamil—one of the patron gods of Sri Lanka. The flag was placed on a tray with fruits and money offerings and taken to the Devale. There, I explained to the priest—the Capu-mahathaya—in my broken Sinhalese that the flag was used by me and my friends on expeditions to go on loku kande.
This set everyone—about 50 people around me, including the priest—into a state of giggling and bewilderment.
Loku kande means "large mountain," but in the sense of broad or, well… fat.
Anyway, a smiling priest led a sermon beseeching the blessing of the god upon the flag and upon us for our mountain-climbing efforts. Yes, it was very specific. He even took me inside the temple to specifically douse me and the flag in holy oil.
He was still grinning when he led me out.
We also visited the temples of Ganesha, Paththini, and Vishnu, presented alms, and prayed for the flag. Not as elaborate, but still—the gods are now smiling upon our flag.
Our flag is holy. Let the crusades begin!
The rest of the day was spent sleeping, reading, resting, packing, and basically relaxing.
12:17am December 7, 2004 Colombo International Airport
It’s all done. I just phoned my parents, and they’ve made it back home.
My brother’s Homecoming is over—more Kandyan dancing, lots of relatives, great food, and plenty of tradition. In the end, this is the hardest part for me. I have to balance the eagerness with which I look forward to going home with the incredible sadness of leaving my parents. At least this time, I leave with a sister in my household!
All my bags have been checked through to Edmonton. Will the gods play any tricks on me yet this trip? We’ll have to wait and see.
Can’t someone invent transporter technology so I don’t have to deal with 18-hour flights?
Please?
12pm December 7, 2004 LAX Tom Bradley International Terminal
Right. 24 hours of flying done, and now I’m in smoggy, miserable Los Angeles. Again. After my time in Changi Airport—or any of the numerous airports I’ve had the pleasure of walking through—LAX is still a shit airport.
Oh well.
Might be slightly better than Terminal 2 in Kota Kinabalu, of course.
Let’s see—the flight to Singapore was uneventful and sleepy. The flight to Narita/Tokyo was incredibly bumpy and also sleepy. The highlight of that flight was coming into Narita on a clear sunset over Tokyo. In the distance, Mt. Fuji rose, majestic and lonesome—a very young Mt. Kilimanjaro, I suspect.
Why do I get the feeling I’ll be scaling that sometime in the future if I can help it?
The flight to LA was shorter by an hour, thanks to the jet stream being kind. Personally, I’d much rather have spent an extra hour on Singapore Airlines than an extra hour in LAX.
So now, I’ve changed clothes (thankfully), switched from sandals to shoes, and wait for Air Canada. I’m sipping a Sam Adams and waiting for my lunch.
Of course, I can’t help but think back on this odyssey of a trip. It’s certainly hard to compare with the Africa trip of last year. It’s almost like comparing apples and oranges. I do think I’m more relaxed returning from this trip.
My mum’s cooking likely helped. Phuket also helped calm me down.
Some things I’m remembering—I forgot to report on the marital status remarks from the various receptions. I actually lost count of the number of times and the number of people who came up to me with variations of the following…
"So this is a rehearsal for you?"
"Rehearsal?" I asked naively the first time.
"Yes, for your wedding!"
Or…
"So you’re next?" (Very common.)
"You should marry a nice Sri Lankan girl..." (This conversation usually led to badness.)
"Are you single now?" (I could see the calculations of the person’s cousins, etc., that would be foisted on me in this conversation.)
"I know this girl..." (Obvious.)
"When are you coming back for your wedding?" (Sigh.)
"Wow, you’re looking good! You should get married now while you still have all your hair, unlike your brother." (My favorite.)
I actually lost count after the seventh such comment—in a 20-minute period—during the wedding. Even the wedding helpers were asking me, including the driver I had hired and people I had just met that day for the first time.
Do I have a "Marry Me Off" tattoo on my forehead?!
Just talked to Craig Welsh in Newfoundland. Apparently, Mike has made it back okay. Chris has already posted some photos. I guess it’s four hours until I’m on my way home.
Gosh, I can’t wait.
December 8, 2004 – Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Well, obviously, I made it home safe. Coming back to Edmonton was a rude awakening, though—it was -23°C, which was 50 degrees colder than Sri Lanka when I left.
Good lord.
Why is it that I live where I do?!
The jet lag has been unbelievable. Several times, I’ve crawled under my desk at work to catch a brief cat nap.
Well, here’s to the next adventure. It’s got to be just around the corner!
