Mutterings*

The magic of postcards. Who can deny it? The multifaceted benefits of this art,  and yes,  it is certainly an art, are oh so many. When you're travelling,  or just in your usual habitat,  what other best way to: 1) send a quick "hello,  I am thinking of you" to loved ones 2) tell people where you are and maybe even send one to yourself,  as a souvenir! 3) explore a new city and get a feel for a country or town by dropping in to a post office and having a chat with the postal employees. 4) remember the awesomeness of the fact a small little card can travel great distances in a couple of days. Physically I mean. Not electronically,  in an instant -  that my handwriting with my very own fingerprints on it can pass from hand to hand and finally end up in the hands of loved one :-) 5) show the love. Others have said it is romantic too, how true! So,  don't be shy. Embrace it. Tell people you are thinking of them. A quick wiki search tells me the

Train travels,  who can resist them? It is the most magical way to travel,  provided you have a lot of time to do it. I won't lie,  I'm pretty crazy about them. I recently took a little trip from Colombo, to Ella - down to Bandarawela (bus) and then to Nuwaraeliya. Having heard about Expo Rail. I was curious about it. As most last minute planning ends up being, well,last minute, observation tickets were out. Expo Rail in a nutshell is a privately owned rail carriage (attached to the normal train - NOT a train by itself) and can easily be booked online. I spent Sri Lankan Rupees 4500/- for two people from Colombo Fort to Ella (One way). It also included breakfast (pastries), Lunch (Sri Lankan rice and the choice of vegetarian - soya rice with carrot and yellow rice, or chicken and the same yellow rice and carrot). Tea/ coffee was provided, along with water bottles and tea time also included a little snack with a sri lankan version of a tiny muffin and egg pastry sort of

Before e-mail and whatsapp came along, there was snail mail. It wasn't instant or easy to do. It required planning and  time and well, patience. It took a considerable amount of effort to go to the post office. Wait in line. Why, it was even expensive. But no one can deny that it was special. Judging from a conversation I just had with one of my most oldest bestest friend, we both agreed that snail mail IS still very very special. The fact that we share this same sentiment, inspired this blogpost and the resolution to make more of an effort to send out snail mail. Funny we use all sorts of instant messengers to communicate to each other that, in fact Snail Mail was still alive and we have to do something about it. We've both made resolutions to do it as often as possible, and this is hoping that you do, too. I realize that, it's one of those things. My friend suggested we were perhaps the only two people who still considered snail mail to be special. I disagreed. I b