garnet

just got back from Kataragama, and what a circus. Lots of fire dancing and elephants as hoped, though noone suspended themselves on hooks. There were a few pilgrims at the end who had undergone a variety of ritual castigations, including one guy who had a hatchet embedded a good 2 inches into his shoulder. We also watched some guy tap two icepick looking things into his skull and put three skewers in his face and arms.

Apparently if we'd wanted to see the suspensions and a lot more weridness we should have stayed home. The papers showed some devotees who had been rolling on the ground for several hundred kilometers and passed through the capital over the weekend. What a country.

The trip was worth it, though. We did a safari through one of the national parks and saw lots of monkeys, elephants, water buffalo, birds, crocodiles, etc., though we did not get to see the gay elephants having sex (the guide told us this), much to the disappointment of my gay traveling companions. I also got to pet my first monkey and first snake, and got a kick ass black sarong with punk flames on it. Lots of other weirdness, but I'll leave it at that... I hope all my travels are this f&*ked up.