Sri Lanka: 1996

Bathers

Bathers! Many people bathe in the waterfalls, and the women are often lovely, in drenched thin saris that cling to them...some of the men are pretty cute too. If you get a chance to bathe in a waterfall, you should try it; it's an incredible feeling, having the water pounding down on you, rather cold, but refreshing on a hot day. Your shower's water pressure will never feel sufficient again.

I think the young men were as startled to see us as we were to see them, but they took it in good sport, and let us photograph them. I must have looked very strange; a young woman in t-shirt and shorts. Sensible travelling clothes to me, rather inappropriate and probably unattractive to them. It always startles me when I go back there, how uncomfortable I suddenly feel in shorts or short skirts. I always feel that I'm neither fish nor fowl -- if I were white-skinned, they wouldn't think twice about it, but since my skin is brown, they expect me to behave with decorum and propriety. Not always my strong point, especially when standards differ...

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