Cottages, Mud Slides and Cinnamon Tea

Within just a week of being in Sri Lanka and after only four days of work, I already had a trip planned. 

The cousins and I set off early Friday morning by bus to Nuwara Eliya, a quaint little town up in hills. After having to wait two hours for the bus and after six long hours on the bus, we were about 1800m above MSL and 10 degrees cooler.

We got off the bus as close as we could to our accommodation, but still ended up walking about 2km uphill to the Green Forest Hotel. We really couldn't have asked for a better location. We were right at the top of the road, on the edge where the tea plantations met the Piduruthalagala forest reserve. 

Our hotel design, like most of Nuwara Eliya, is representative of British colonial architecture. I especially loved the wooden floorboards and staircases. On the landing just outside our room was a little 18th century chippendale table and chairs by the large French windows overlooking the tea plantations. Perfect breakfast setting.

We walked into town soon after, mostly driven by pangs of hunger and had quite a grand lunch of iddiyapams and jack-fruit curry at Sri Ambals. The curry, sambhar and chutneys came in steel pails. Definitely enough to satisfy. 

The afternoon and evening came with a lot more walking. Gregory lake is a beautifully serene lake nestled in the middle of the hills, forests and tea estates. The well kept gardens and walkways, the picnic benches by the food stalls and the bridges and docks (and a gate) provided plenty of crazy photo settings. 

We had read about this place that makes all things strawberry- Adma Agro. We walked over two kilometers around the lake while the sun was setting and the clouds around us brought the visibility to a minimum to get there. But the strawberry pancakes we had with chocolate sauce and fresh whipped cream was totally worth it. 

Hello Humidity.

I had the most amazing one year break after I finished my internship last May. Last month I sent out job applications only to places by the sea. I was quite eager to knock off 'Live by the sea' from my bucket list. 

After confirming a job in Colombo, and booking my tickets for one week later, I frantically planned out my last few days in Bangalore. How on earth do you pack for a year!?

Well, I'm here now and all set for a fun year ahead. 

Decided to post all my Sri Lankan ramblings on a new blog. Read here- 

Hello Humidity.

(Link on top of the side bar for future reference)

SATB and a Beat-Boxer

I've grown up in a family of singers. We had enough singers and a pretty much equal distribution of vocal parts to form a family choir. In fact, for one wedding all the music was sung by our choir. 

Even the four of us at home love singing quartets. Despite fighting over parts and arguing over what arrangement sounds better, my parents and brother are my favourite people to sing with.

Of late, I've started loving groups that sing a cappella (voices and no instruments). And this isn't just the usual 4 part harmony, but a superb addition of beat-boxing and vocal percussion which often sounds like a full blown orchestral backup. 

Here are some of my recent favourites:

PENTATONIX:

The group of 5 won The Sing Off in 2011 and have since released 2 albums and a number of singles. They stepped out of their a cappella zone recently and added a cello and violin in one of their covers.

My favourite by far is their version of 'Carol of the Bells' It was in my head the entire December.

I am not a fan of the genres; electronic dance or house, but this mashup of two popular songs by Swedish House Mafia is pretty awesome. 

PERPETUUM JAZZILE:

I would move to Slovenia just to join this choir. Their energy shows just how much they are enjoying themselves. They have such innovative arrangements and some really talented soloists. Their conductor is brilliant (no question where they choir gets their energy from). I think they should do 'Bohemian Rhapsody' next.

Their most famous song is their cover of Toto's 'Africa'. I listened to it with my eyes closed to realise how realistic they sound. 

This cover of Rihanna and Lady Gaga's 'Telephone' is my favourite. I've tried to count how many parts there are, but in vain. What a performance!

Just recently, they released their first music video. A mashup of some of the greatest hits of ABBA.
P.S These people even dress really well!

ECLIPSE:

This group has been singing together for over a decade. So many great covers. I just wish these groups would start composing their own stuff.

In this one they sang along with Jake Coco.

WALK OFF THE EARTH:

This group rose in popularity when their cover of Gotye's 'Somebody That I Used to Know' with their 5 members playing one guitar created a storm on YouTube. I love all their crazy videos and catchy covers, though only a few are a capella. They are quite a fun bunch. 

THE RESCUES:

These indie group is not really an a cappella group, but they have perfect harmony in all their music. Here's one song that is a cappella. Such perfection.