Highlights of a Sri Lanka Tour

 Some Highlights to Consider When Visiting Sri Lanka:

Nuwara Eliya - Tea Plantations
CENTRAL south of Kandy

Galle - coastal colonial Dutch, Fort
SOUTH WEST

Colombo - Capital City, Kelaniya Temple, St Anthonys Church.

Bentota Beach 65 km south
SOUTH WEST

Kandy - Temple of the Tooth Relic, Peradeniya Big Buddha and Botanical Gardens  CENTRAL PROVINCE

Anuradhapura - Bodhi Tree, Ruwanwelisaya Temple  NORTH CENTRAL

Negombo - Beach 38km south of Colombo

Sigiriya - Ancient Rock Fortress CENTRAL PROVINCE near Dambulla

Dambulla - Rock Cave Temple, Murals near Kandy

#yongkevthoughts

Blog 18th Anniversary - As Seasons Change

 Now the air is still crisp,

but with not so much of a bite.
What do we choose when things take a flip,
The right path, even when so dark, is when we do see the light.

It can be the best time of year, to have blooms and buds on shrubs and trees,
when gentle becomes the night.
There can always be so many things to do with busy bees,
and the most joy is to see what is deeply bright and just right.

The mood lifts, or is it just me,
As we ignore fights and diversionary might,
Grow upon our journey forward to be truly free,
To open our hearts without fear or fright.

Time we have can be just spent like a passing night,
like a ship that goes out of sight.
We are born with a fresh page and delight,
We leave behind a trail of memories and likes.

#yongkevthoughts

Blog 18th Anniversary - Choosing To Be Happy

 Letting ourselves choose to be happy.....

I can hear the pitter patter of an increasingly heavy rain downpour.  Now, in the hour after sunset, nestled between the hills to the west and the ocean to the east.

I choose to smell the refreshing moisture in the air. I choose to slowly unfurl at this hour to close the day.  Soaking in water reinvigorates the body.

I choose to anticipate the toast I am having for breakfast, uhm, tomorrow.

I choose what uplifts me.
I relish in getting my body break in sweat running up that hill - or soaking in the salty winds along the beach.  I put my fingers to run over the bark of stately trees that stand like a sentinel of a friend looking over me - or breathe in the oxygen exuded by leaves as they make their chlorophyll.

Tucked in bed, in a totally darkened space, my eyes look at the emerging stars across our Great Southern Sky.  There is a lack of reflected artificial light, so the Universe up there becomes so much easier to discern and enjoy a view of.

I choose to make more sense of all the episodes and incidents paraded in society, to find a more meaningful thread to explain such things.  I choose to recognise causes rather than symptoms.

I choose to ride on beneficial outcomes out from roadblocks and irritations, no matter how big or small they are.  For example, looking for a safety pin made me more organised as to where to easily find a stand by first aid pack.   Movement restrictions imposed by authorities made me more focused and less distracted.  Misinformation led me to realise the truth.   What looked like deprivation, disrespect and dissolution initially can lead to true personal liberation.

I choose to see what can be, rather than what cannot.  I choose to laugh, even if I may hurt.  I choose to understand, even if there is nothing to start with. I choose to try.  I choose to continue, towards where I want to go. I choose to go forward.  I choose to continue heading to where I am meant for.

#yongkevthoughts

A Suggested Birthday Wish

"May the winds of inspired joy breeze through,
May the veins of gratitude and belief flow,

May the gleam in your eyes echo and glow anew,

And may you celebrate the plenty from what you have sown."

#yongkevthoughts

Diversity on a Normal Day

 My normal routines here in Australia have a variety of meeting people of various backgrounds.

I do not think of race - only conscious of people with positive energy, people who inspire me, people who can teach me new things, people who change my mindset in a good way.

So in a weekend I can weed spray my bricked courtyard, having learnt safe techniques from an Anglo-Saxon.

Then I have brunch in a local eatery run by Italians.

I can chat with international students working in a fresh produce market before I go home to cook. I have my free to air tv on, just listening to the barrage of usa generated propanganda on news bulletins streamed in from the night before.  Know your friends, but know the manipulators better, lol.

I like to watch contemporary Asian movies, but films also reflect the problems, opportunities and attitudes in society.

I also love pottering in the garden and enjoy Indigenous, South east Asian and Euro origin plants and blooms.

Near dinner time, the Rupert Murdoch funded forces spew one sided news on the commercial channels here.  It is so liberating for me to realise I do not have to believe whatever is pushed to my ears.

Then to wind down, I look for views from a more multi polar political world.  No time to attend to distractions, diversions and disillusionment.

#yongkevthoughts