Pettah -aphile

Ha ha,a very funny title if you've been there.  Pettah is the beehive of activity that is Colombo's retail and wholesale market.  It is really quite incredible and dare I say it...a bit daunting to go into.  Everyone tells me it's not safe for young women but, that I should be okay!  Ouch!  

9 day shitters

The area of the market that I was mostly concerned with is the textile and notions area.  You see I've decided to try and do a pop up store for yoga products.  There is nothing here other than nasty, crappy bags or the ones with corporate logos.  I have some great bag designs so I thought I'd put them out there.  Also I've have this pair of um...how shall I say?...nine day shitters that are the most comfortable and cool yoga pants I've ever had.  I always get lots of compliments on them so why not offer them up too?  But the funniest and most amusing thing I created, were the eye bags.  I always find yoga products to be so serious, either in design or intent so I made these bags with things appliqued on them. Each one will have a story attached.  (A shout out to the Torrington Gopher Museum for that idea!) So, for example, the eye bag with the x-ray vision glasses (remember those?) will have a story about using these to help you check out your chakras or maybe the ones of the cute yogini next to you.  Stuff like that.

However, I need to do other stuff like printing business cards.  Getting stuff done online here is a bit dubious so this coming week I'm down to the printers.  It will be a pretty simple design, I am just ruminating on what exactly to say on it.

So I went over to The Good Market today to meet with this young couple (www.thebludge.com) who have a stall.   They are thinking about doing a kind of cooperative for single edition items.  They looked at my stuff and seemed to be okay with it.  But as I had done no pricing, no nothing there wasn't much more to be said.  However I'm back there at 4pm today to do a yoga class outside, should be fun!

The class was fun but small...just 2 people but we had a big audience for sure!  Plus I had managed to put my mat down on the ant trail to the rubbish, we had dogs wandering in and out and helpful suggestions from the crowd!  Who said yoga's boring?

Speaking of yoga I also managed to pick up some extra class at the local studio.  It was fun but it's hard work teaching more than once a day. In Sivananda the teacher isn't supposed to be "doing the class", they are giving the class.  However these students for the most part,  are newbies so I had to demonstrate most of the moves.   I downdogged like a demon!  The lovely lass who runs the studio is also interested in seeing my designs.  This might actually work out better than The Good Market.

The whole family is planning to leave Sri Lanka this month for divergent vacations.  N and his dad are off to Beijing for 5 or 6 days.  G is thinking Forbidden City, N is thinking Gucci and Chanel!  M and I are off to Singapore.  M is such a jetsetter!  He is meeting up with a friend of his one day and they will hang out.  I am doing a full medical and can hopefully coordinate it so it is on that day.  Museum Nerd that I am, I am looking forward to the National Museum and then this design museum called "Red Dot".  There isn't much I want to buy except for books,mags and go to a movie.  We'll be home soon enough for other stuff though if a pair of shoes doth call my name....!

My ghetto crocs!

On the home front things have cooled down quite a bit.  Don't know if that's a good sign but it definitely has made life much more pleasant.  I am still anxious about the summer but I've done a lot of reflection and perhaps I'm the change I need to see.  Sucks 'cuz I always feel like I have to change but then it's always better to be flexible. 

Missing in Action...

Taking tea and the views in Kandy.

Whoa!  What a coupla months it has been.  The highs, the lows!  The best part was that my sister came to visit.  She's really my rock and we verbally groomed each other like primates at a Jane Goodall BBQ.  

I'll be interested to hear her opinion of Sri Lanka.  Staying for a month is a lot different than flying in and directly hitting the beach.  She got the "everyday experience that is my life".   Lucky dawg!

Thank goodness that Suze had read the inflight mag because she knew about the Colombo Perahera.  It's Buddhist celebration replete with dancers, acrobats and elephants .  It was a pretty incredible sight and we got to see and smell elephants!  These are some of my pix.  I did get some great shots and perhaps I'll download them later.

GORGEOUS!!!

Gentleman wearing Kandyian garb astride an elephant.

GORGEOUS 2X!

We drove up to Kandy.  I have never felt more alive than when I was that close to death!  It's a real ego boost to drive here and drive sans map (but that was only because I forgot to pack it!)  Fortunately there aren't that many roads to Kandy so you'd get there... eventually.

Tinsmith at the Handicraft Centre in Kandy.

He made this in 10 minutes for us and...a small fee!

The really funky Olde Empire Hotel in Kandy.

Downtown Kandy.

However, the real highlight for Suze was the train ride to Galle.  We had good seats going out but coming back it was packed.  Apparently everyone had the same idea to take the early train back to Colombo! No such thing as an original idea!

She lurved Galle and who wouldn't!?  It's a lovely old fort town and the streets are, for intents and purposes, closed to motor traffic.  So, at night the town is quiet, quiet, quiet!  All you do is walk around, poke into shops, nap, watch the sun set, eat, sleep.  What could be better than that?  We had the best ice cream there at the "Dairy King".  He makes it fresh.  I had ginger with large chinks of ginger in it and Suze had cinnamon, heavenly.  We also met some interesting people. The most notable was a rock star from Canada!  He was traveling around after his band's break up.  Turns out Suze had heard of them because of a hockey trade between Toronto and Edmonton!  Then I googled them and they are Juno award winners (Canada's Grammys).  Their band is called "Alexis on fire."   Chris couldn't have been nicer and must have been amused by our douffyness!  I also remembered that I had had an email exchange from a lady in Galle who owned a design shop.  So I emailed her and tried to connect with her during our stay but to no avail!  But the funny part was I had just been in her shop earlier that day and fell in love with a banana print shirt (don't ask taste is personal!) as well as her tuktuk pattern pillow case!  Weird.
 


I also took her to Negombo by the back road and that was very enjoyable.  Firstly because the road is good and there isn't a lot of traffic so you need not be so vigilant.  We just chilled in the shade and marveled at the various shades of red that went by as the tourists sucked up their last few rays before their trip back home.  I, can't for the life of me, figure out why people suntan...it's so bad for you!

The rest of the time was spent kicking around Colombo, finding coffee shops and overdosing on handicraft stores.  My sister has an unfathomable capacity for looking at tchotchkes!  It's only been 4 days since she's gone but I miss her greatly.  It's very quiet!

This is who she's thinking about!

I managed to get tickets to the "Mardi Gras Ball" on March 1.  It was a costume affair and I only had a couple of days to get my act together.  I love that kind of pressure because it forces you to be creative and work with what you have.  Plus I knew Greg would be on board with whatever I came up.  He's a good egg that way!  Below are the fruits of my labours!

Helping the locals.

So, with my sister's encouragement, I'm putting stuff together for my pop up store.  I still have quite a few details to work out but I'll keep you posted!  I'm excited and terrified at the same time!