Cool little boy I spent my birthday with

Cool little boy, originally uploaded by goingglobal.

Sri Lankan family welcome

As I made my way down the rock I found a Sri Lankan family at the foot of the mountain. An old granny in her late 50's spoke superb English and was visiting the rock with her cousins and two grandchildren. I spoke to them for 15 minutes and was keen to chat to them for longer but had to try to get the one direct bus to Kandy. So making my excuses I headed for the guest house for a quick cup of tea.

As I sat drinking the tea for 15 minutes the family walked through the door and we continued our conversation. They were a fascinating and lovely family to chat to. They invited me to diner and paid for drinks refusing to accept any money from me as it was my birthday. They then gave me a lift in their van back to Kandy and continued to refuse to let me pay for anything. The youngest child was about 5 years old and spoke an amazing range of English. As we drove to Kandy I played with him in the back of the van. The grandma lived in Switzerland as a carer for a 82 Swiss German man who was actually with us. He seemed like a nice old man but unfortunately he didn't speak a word of English. She spoke no fewer than 7 languages fluently and translated between Singalese, English and German.

I have to say that they were one of the nicest families I have ever met and made my birthday a really unforgetable day. I have found two types of people since arriving into Sri Lanka. There are those who will try to con you and rip you off all the time and then there are some really decent and caring Sri Lankans who will go the mile for you. I was fortunate to be able to spend the day with such a great family.