Tag Archives: galle

Healing Ramble: Peacock Ayurveda Garden ~ Dikwella, Sri Lanka, 2018

welcome to Peacock Ayurveda Garden

Memo: What follows comes from my erstwhile “Healing Journal” – written/compiled on a foggy meandering journey to various countries (Pacifica, Phitsanulok, Cochin, Pokhara, Dikwella/Galle…) visiting all manner of hospitals, clinics and exploring various healing modalities and techniques.

Shared here more-or-less unedited for posterity (whatever that is) and to shed light to those struggling who might come across this riff. Please watch the “Healing Ramble Introduction” video for context on this series.

With respect and understanding that not everyone can do *this* – i have another riff about “why” to seek medical care or healing treatment elsewhere (not in US/Canada in this case). For now, use it if you need it, if not just pass along.

Gist: Along my healing journey, I sought treatment at Peacock Ayurveda Clinic in Dikwella (map to Peacock), close to noteworthy Galle, in southern Sri Lanka. I stayed in-patient for three weeks for a complete “panchakarma“ program.

Background: Certainly, Ayurveda has a number of different flavours in terms of quality and type of the facilities… Ranging from “spa-like“ facilities catering primarily to relatively wealthy or western clientele, to very spartan and rustic, often government-run, facilities treating local people (see Dissanayake diary).

Can be difficult to find the exact right fit mixing with medical needs but with comfort and safety enough to have a relatively enjoyable and stress-free period of time.

This is especially important because doing an extended panchakarma (five medicines) program as it can be rather intense. You are quite literally cleaned out inside and out, and your days are quite packed from early morning onwards with yoga, meditation, meals, doctor consultations, various massages, eye, ears, and nose cleaning, and some of the treatments, let’s just say can be rather “delicate“ or even rather embarrassing. Further, the effects of the treatment can be very intense and lay one out for a couple of days.

I researched a lot of different facilities around Sri Lanka and ended up on this one which seemed, from the outside, to be a good fit for me. While overall it was not near as fulfilling of an experience at my time in Ayurveda Health Home in Nepal or Dr Veena’s Ayurmantra in India, it was a learning experience.

“darling, i’am off to a rejuvenating Pachakarma treatment, see you in a two weeks”

Grounds / Facilities: Of the four different (at the time) Ayurveda facilities at which I received treatment, this one was definitely the most fancy and spa-like.

oh hi buddha

There was a pool (which frankly I was really never able to use but that’s cool), lounge chairs, beautifully manicured gardens with flowers in abundance, and overall the facility was very splendid, filled with interesting antiques, and the patient rooms were like a very nice hotel rooms, even with a private patio area for sitting and resting.

the grounds were immaculate and yes sometimes peacocks

Treatments / Schedule: The treatments were performed in a variety of traditional style huts, which were quite functional as well as charming. Each day, I was issued a fresh sarong and shirt and hat as the treatments are very oily. Additionally, I was given a basket of tiny disposable underwear to wear during the treatments.

Most days, I would have a short consultation with either the senior doctor (a gentleman who was very busy and often/mostly offsite) or a junior doctor (a young lady who was clearly still learning and mostly observing but very kindly).

Dave working on healing at Peacock Ayurveda near Galle, Sri Lanka (with Dr.)
Dave working on healing at Peacock Ayurveda near Galle, Sri Lanka (with Dr.)
Continue reading Healing Ramble: Peacock Ayurveda Garden ~ Dikwella, Sri Lanka, 2018

Healing: Story of Dissanayake Ayurvedic Hospital ~ Galle, Sri Lanka

not really at the hospital but still captures the spirit of the scene

Memo: What follows comes from my erstwhile “Healing Journal” – written/compiled on a foggy meandering journey to various countries (Pacifica, Phitsanulok, Cochin, Pokhara, Dikwella/Galle…) visiting all manner of hospitals, clinics and exploring various healing modalities and techniques.

Shared here more-or-less unedited for posterity (whatever that is) and to shed light to those struggling who might come across this riff. Please watch the “Healing Ramble, introduction video for context on this series.

Importantly, this is not meant to be a travelogue or creative writing exercise, just laying out my experience as it came to me. I may include some links to other projects or creations that came out of this, maybe… I’m not there yet.

This entry, from is from Galle Sri Lanka, late 2017 and written in the weeks following. It’s now April 2022, i live in Japan, am stable if far from “normal”.  No comments, sympathy requested or accepted. Carry on. 

Dissanayake Ayurvedic Hospital
Dissanayake Ayurvedic Hospital: Sign

Background: Along my healing journey, I received treatment at Dissanayake Ayurvedic Hospital in Galle, Sri Lanka, a government-run, pay-what-you-can facility.

I attended this hospital for Ayurveda treatments for some weeks during Dec. 2017-Jan 2018 and was treated by a kind practitioner called Ruwan. I also met with a wise Doctor who recommended I do a longer in-patient Panchakarma program here, but… some life situations changed and i didn’t do the program. I saw the rooms and talked to the doctors and while it was very spartan and not cozy, the staff seemed to be very intent on their practice.

Dissanayake Ayurvedic Hospital: Lobby
Dissanayake Ayurvedic Hospital: Lobby

Routine: Mr. Prem dropped me off via his Tuk-tuk (he introduced me to the facility in the first place), i then went to a window to announce myself (to everyone’s great surprise!) and then sat in the waiting area. Mr. Ruwan would come back from lunch, i would strip down to underwear and lay down on a wooden table (covered with a vinyl sheet) in a shared room with folks coming and going for massage with loads and loads of oil.

Dissanayake Ayurvedic Hospital: Treatment room
Dissanayake Ayurvedic Hospital: Treatment room
Continue reading Healing: Story of Dissanayake Ayurvedic Hospital ~ Galle, Sri Lanka

Healing Ramble: #MECFS journey to Thailand, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and onwards

Kind of nervous about this project but somehow it feels like a good (or important) idea so here we go… &/or just watch :).

I deal with #MECFS a complicated complex and chronic disease (see below). 

After diagnosis eight years ago (2013), I was kinda ground-up by then-local (Vancouver, Canada) medical system through challenging and ill-advised therapies, a litany of dangerous medications and laborious uneventful tests. Plus my entire life seemed to fall apart… ugh. As such I set out on a meandering journey seeking to figure out what was up with my body and brain and try to find a way forward. Continue reading Healing Ramble: #MECFS journey to Thailand, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and onwards

Collection: Typewriters – variety, unknown, mysteries, odds and ends

as i recall, this machine was at a school near Dikwella, Sir Lanka but truthfully i am not completely sure – pretty good hunch though – am i incorrect? please inform me. regardless, a noble, well-kept Aristocrat machineWhat follows is a round-up/collection of typewriters I either purchased, used, or simply observed along the way on various wanders. 

Significantly, this collection contains images of several machines which ended up in sundry folders, drives and dossiers etc about which i am not entirely sure of the origin. This is important to point out as i don’t want to mistake someone else’s photo or whatever, but simply cannot recall but… since i kept the image, there is some significance which may not be revealed until later (at which point, i’ll dutifully update).

Additionally, if your photo is included, please do let me know and i’ll update. 

Regardless, assembled here for historical / archival reference and personal interest, with annotations where possible.

Olivetti in Marty’s backyard in Provo, Utah – seen elsewhere in this archive, the poor neglected machine was left out in the rain and snow and now is a garden ornament rather than a typer – shared here for an example of what not to do to your machine

Continue reading Collection: Typewriters – variety, unknown, mysteries, odds and ends

Artifacts: 4+ Phonograph/Record Players (from Galle Fort and Dikwella, Sri Lanka)

Record Player: near Dikwella, Sri Lanka
Record Player: Fort Galle, Sri Lanka
Record Player: Fort Galle, Sri Lanka
Record Player: Fort Galle, Sri Lanka
Records: Fort Galle, Sri Lanka

Artifact: Radio (in a Galle, Sri Lanka collection)

Artifact: Radio (in a Galle, Sri Lanka collection)

Mementos: Karapitiya / Galle, Sri Lanka (4 views)

Tending to horse race wager forms (in between naps)
Train station (Galle) cargo office
Writing desk (filled with useful items) and rice fields
Walking a cow past house

Scrapjournal: Sri Lanka, blue / ephemera (2017-18)

Scrapjournal: Sri Lanka - ephemera etc.
Scrapbook: Sri Lanka, 2017-18 / ephemera + musings (blue stamped cover)

Another scrapjournal for the archive, this one containing the usual assortment of paper-y bit collected in Sri Lanka where i received Ayruvedic panchakarma treatment and rambled around a wee bit staying at faded-glory “grand” hotels, rustic tea shops rife with horse race punters, and jungles of monkeys. Left under strained confusing circumstances but that’s neither here nor there.

Nevertheless, a few sample pages to provide evidence of above annotations for your amusement.

Scrapjournal: Sri Lanka - ephemera etc.
Scrapjournal: Sri Lanka – ephemera etc.

Continue reading Scrapjournal: Sri Lanka, blue / ephemera (2017-18)

Collection: Typewriters – variety, international

What follows is a round-up/collection of typewriters I either purchased, used, or simply observed along the way on various wanders.

Assembled for historical reference and personal interest, with annotations and examples where possible.

Typewriter: In Karapitiya Sri Lanka (Dave's personal)
Typewriter: (unknown brand) in Karapitiya, Sri Lanka (Dave’s personal)

This machine (brandname obscured by grunge) was purchased in Fort Galle, Sri Lanka in rather rough shape. Cleaned the keys with a toothbrush and solvent, added a new ribbon, attempted to repair the ribbon uptake (with limited success). The machine’s key produced a rather small typeface size making the cleaning of the worn down keys especially important. Banged out journals, letters and poems for a few months before moving on and leaving it behind.

Here’s a sample of the type produced by this machine – as evidenced, a little rough going but the keystrokes felt great and machine size was just right:

Intentions for 2018
Intentions for 2018 (typed)

Other examples are at: Night lake Diving and a Letter to Ayurvedic Clinic in Galle

Typewriter: Underwood Typemaster at Zed Hotel, Victoria, Canada
Typewriter: Underwood Typemaster at Zed Hotel, Victoria, Canada

Continue reading Collection: Typewriters – variety, international

Collection: Payphones (vol. 3) – hotel house phones + various vintage & desk

Lobby phone in Phitsanulok, Thailand

As part of on-going documentation of various collections of payphones, this gallery features various examples of phones in various states of use, captured “in the wild” in various locations globally, specifically featuring hotel house phones and a few other phone handsets of different circumstances and origins for your edification, lightly annotated.

Lobby Phone at Grand Oriental Hotel, Colombo, Sri Lanka

Hello to the people in the future,

What follows are public telephones created in a time when phones did not roam freely and in pockets.

Perhaps you have already imagined the unsanitary nature of sharing a phone handset (placed next/close to ear and mouth of course) with strangers – though perhaps this increased “herd immunity” despite being rather unpleasant. Note that oftentimes the coin return slots were checked for forgotten change but the miner was surprised to find discarded chewing gum, or even-less-savoury items, instead.

another lobby option at Grand Oriental Hotel, Colombo, Sri Lanka
room phone at Victoria, BC, Canada, Hotel Zed

To make a call, one would either enter a specially-created booth (or box), or simply stand close by as the receivers were tethered to the phone unit by a short cord, then insert a variety of coins depending on the location called (local, domestic or international) or in some cases, use a purpose-made phone card, or even a credit card (though doing so often exposed one to fraudulent actors).

Hotel Zed in Victoria, BC
Continue reading Collection: Payphones (vol. 3) – hotel house phones + various vintage & desk