Sri Lanka trip 2019 and my wire crochet discoveries
February 25, 2019
In case you were wondering I have been back now for more than a week, those of you waiting for their orders probably noticed everything left in no time...
The trip was amazing and I came back full of ideas and inspiration and of course geared up a lot of precious moments with my daughter.
Before I left I was told that Sri Lanka was a light version of India, India for beginners, as an ex backpacker in India way back in my twenties, somewhere in the previous millennium, I was very excited to re join with something even just slightly similar.
Right after I landed when I still treated myself and took a proper taxi and before I changed to took took only, I tried to understand from the driver how similar if at all the two are, he was almost offended by the question… later on I learned that India and Sri Lanka are not in the best terms to say the least, and due to that there are even no ferries connecting the two, although they are so very close to one another. Hundreds of years ago they were even connected by land, what remains of it is called now "Adams Bridge".
Landing in Colombo and getting into the pace was easy and almost natural, in no time I didn’t mind waiting in line, I didn’t mind getting really slow service when buying a local sim card for my phone. I could attribute the heat if wasn’t coming from a hot country myself, its not the heat, its something else in the air, something that I love so much, a magical slowness that carries you with it.
Rejoining my sweet daughter was really exciting and emotional, I couldn’t stop talking for hours, I was in a high, it was good that I "missed" a night due to the difference in hours , it put a halt tot hat and sent me into a sweet and refreshing first night sleep in Colombo.
The next day we started our journey going south to the beaches, Sri Lanka isn’t an expensive country and many tourist takes privet drivers to show them around, but we preferred the train in order to see the real Sri Lanka, be with the people that take the train, see what they eat, see the stations, the cloths, the voices, experience the place as much as we can.
The journey started in a very challenging way, it was Sri Lanka Independence day, and many locals were on Holiday, the train was crowded, it was hard to even get on it, no place to sit and we were headed towards about 5 hours trip… but I had an experience traveler with me .. and she told me, don’t worry , people will get off, we just need to be ready to catch these vacancies when they come available.
I estimate we weren’t standing more then an hour, probably even less, until we got seated, I do admit that during that part I did wonder weather this was a wise decision … did I really think I could behave like a backpacker… ? ha ha …
Overall the journey was really ok, great views of the coast line on one side of the train and tropical greenery on the other.
when we reached our final station we realized we still have quite a ride to the first bay we planned to stay in, and here comes my first took took ride in Sri Lanka, I'm not a fan of Adventure Parks and I got a ride from hell with a driver that wasn't acquainted with the word danger, I was surprised we got there in one piece. After this ride I understood why in all the sites I read before going there they recommended to not drive in Sri Lanka, the roads are not good and the traffic rules just don’t exist, very similar to India in that manner.
From here it was all peace and quiet, doing little, watching the ocean, eating local food and moving from bay to bay.
It was fascinating how different each beach is from one another, some have long sandy beaches, some rocky, some are busy and touristic and some are almost deserted, I love the sea in many of its forms so it was a great experience.
After a few days of daydreaming, chatting and reading, my hands stated to tingle, and I got out the compact wire crochet kit I brought with me, I kept it really simple and minimal, the new YoolaPlate with a hook stored in it, the S ISK starter and several spools of wires in colors I thought I will be happy to use in Sri Lanka. So on that early morning on the terrace, when I was waiting for my not so early bird daughter to wake up, I began exploring a topic I have been wanting to tackle for a long time, making geometric patterns like you see in Indian and African beadwork, only without beads and without having to cut and reconnect wires, to remind you, I brought no wire cutter with me… and not because I forgot.
The outcome was a bangle in green and orange that only after looking at the many photos I took in Sri Lanka I realized it is a really common color combo there. I'm happy with half of the bangle because only on the second half I managed to achieve a real consistent look of the pattern.
Solving this little riddle led to the understanding how to make what will be called The Mermaid texture, (BTW thank you for everyone that contributed to the name searching on facebook! this is where mermaid came from, suggested by Yulia if I'm not mistaken).
But before I forget I want to share with you the great experience I had with passing the kit through all the security scans on my flights, and I had quite a few because I was flying through Delhi, which means more scans and more security questioning. In all the stations I was asked to show them "the long metal piece" I had in my bag, and when they saw it was stored nicely in the YoolaPlate and also what I was making with it, they approved it in. This does not mean it would go through in other airports, but it did in Tel Aviv- Delhi and Colombo flights from and to Israel are very carefully checked. Just saying… I promise to keep checking this on my next flights.
Sooo…. I think I will stop here, let you enjoy the photos I took there in hope it will inspire you too.
Love
Yael aka Yoola
