We are about to leave on another great adventure.
On the 6th August we depart for Sri Lanka, primarily to attend a wedding, however, my travel adviser says that we can’t go all that way and not tour around – fair enough, so we will spend 3 weeks doing that, and then head for Africa, specifically Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Zanzibar, and Namibia.We will return home on the 6th October.
On Wednesday morning we set off, travelling, due to our rapidly diminishing points, in Business Class – really the only way to go. We arrived in Singapore and were faced with a 6 hour connection to the Cathay flight to Colombo, which turned into a 7 hour connection because the Cathay flight was late.Now, about Cathay Pacific; Most of you will know that I worked for them for 9 years, and they were regarded as one of the best airlines in the world.I know that I am judging on only one flight, and we haven’t flown with them for some time, but things were less than impressive. The gate lounge was chaotic, with the business class passengers having to barge through crowds of people who were trying to board first ( I know this sounds elitist, but business class pax have paid a lot of money – except us! ) instead of having a designated line. The line was there, it was just that nobody was policing it.On arriving at the aircraft entry door, we found that there was nobody greeting passengers, everyone just wandered in and found their own seats, which was no problem, but that would NEVER happen in my time.Then there were the seats! We were in a Boeing 777, business class, and the seats were terrible. They would have been bad in economy. Fortunately the flight was only 3 and a half hours, because by that time I had a back ache. Elly managed to get a bit of sleep by curling up in the foetal position, the seat didn’t fully recline.Needless to say we were not in good shape.OK, that’s enough moaning, everything else is good.Our driver, Janaka, was waiting for us, and drove us to our hotel, just on the outskirts of Colombo. We spent some time sorting out our luggage and it was 2 am by the time we made it to bed – 6:30 am Melbourne time.On our drive to the hotel, Elly was quizzing Janaka as to what we would be doing the next day. I had in mind a bit of a sleep in bearing in mind the 2 am thing. But no, the schedule called for a 7 am visit to a fish market! Yes, be still O beating heart, 4 hours sleep then drag ourselves out of bed to visit a fish market.Now some of you may be aware that fish is not my favourite thing, and ergo, fish markets are not my favourite thing. I suggested to Elly that maybe we could give the fish market the flick, sleep in a bit, then head off to our next point of interest.
She said No, she wanted to go to the fish market! But then – wait for it – she said that if I wanted to sleep in she would go on her own. I mentally photographed that moment, and it has taken its place among the high points of my life.
I slept in!Apparently the fish market turned out to be ( surprise) underwhelming, so we set off for a 2 hour drive to the elephant orphanage, which was initially set up to rescue abandoned elephants which had lost their mothers etc., which was a great idea, but recently they have been breeding there, and it has become more of a tourist facility. Apart from the fact that some of them had chains around one of their legs, although not tethered to anything, they seem to be happy and well treated. When we arrived they had walked down to the river, which they do by crossing the road in front of their facility, then walk down a road, with shops either side, to the river, where they play around and try to convince the crowd to give them food.
Later, when we were sitting on a balcony of an hotel on the river, having a beer, we watched a baby elephant, lying on its side being pampered. Two minders were standing in the water next to it scrubbing it’s back and side, while the elephant just lay there lapping it up. After a while it rolled over onto its other side so they could complete the job. All in all it. Seemed like a good setup, but we would much rather see them in the wild, which we will in Africa later.On the way to our hotel in the hills surrounding Kandy, we stopped at a herbal farm type place where Elly was plied with things she eventually didn’t buy, including being taken aside and offered a cream to encourage erections, ” just in case your husband needs some help”. She thanked him and told him thanks but no thanks.
View from our room at the Amaya Hills hotel in KandyOur hotel is out of town, high in the hills overlooking a beautiful lush valley. It has a lovely large pool and a massive restaurant. We are a captive audience, so no other options for meals, but the food is extensive and cheap ( US$22 per person for dinner).Friday 8th Aug.This morning Janaka picked us up early and we headed out for a 3hr drive to the east to pay a visit to the Veddah people. These are the indigenous people who were here first, about 18,000 years ago, and are now almost gone, with only a few hundred pure bred Veddahs remaining.We arrived at the small settlement of the Veddahs, and were told that for the measly sum of $A70, we would be treated to a full “program” which would consist of fire lighting by flint, along with traditional dances etc.
I will digress for a moment to mention the driving in Sri Lanka. The prime objective appears to be: pass the vehicle in front of you. To this end, you drive with the car straddling the white line, which is there only in an advisory capacity to tell you how far into the oncoming lane you actually are. Whilst encroaching into said opposite lane, you expect that any oncoming traffic will make do with what they have left. Amazingly this system appears to work, and, in fact, could be utilised in Australia, because instead of just having 2 cars, one each way, on a given section of road, you actually effectively have 3. This would dramatically relieve Melbourne’s traffic congestion.We thought about that for a while, and decided that after driving three hours to get there we would pay the money, even if only to help them to support their community.
We marched to a cleared area in the bush, which had lots of rocks laid in a circle for an audience to sit on. A gentleman dressed in only a loin cloth sat down in front of us and banged a metal thing against a piece of quartz and made a spark, which then ignited a bit of strange looking substance, which was then passed on to some dry grass, and voila, we had fire,He then offered me an opportunity to try to achieve the same result. I then proceeded to scrape skin off my finger, and bleed everywhere.
Next came a pythonesque performance involving 2 guys dressed in leaf skirts pretending to be honeymoon hunters catching food in the bush. A couple more similar things, including shooting an arrow, which Elly tried and failed, and the show was over. I shouldn’t make fun of it, because it is their history, but in a way it is a little sad to see them having to survive by dragging in tourists and then trying to flog their craft artifacts to them before they leave.
The drive was pleasant, with good scenery along the way, and we had occasional stops to check out lots of monkeys, which were either sitting on the side of the road, or leaping amazingly, enormous distances from tree to tree.
A hot day today, 41 deg but started raining on our way back to Kandy, where we stopped to take in a performance of traditional Sri Lankan dancing, and fire walking, which was really very enjoyable.
Wi-fi seems to be a bit sparse, so we can only hope to find some as we go along. Stay tuned.
We enjoyed our time staying at the Amaya Hills, just out of Kandy.
The day after visiting the Veddhas, we spent a couple of hours wandering through the Botanical Gardens which are really quite beautiful, having been established in 1821, and have some magnificent old trees as well as open lawn areas. Also, like the Melbourne Botanical Gardens, lots of bats.
Kandy Saturday 9th August
Next we went to the Kandy Temple, which houses the Sacred Tooth relic, supposedly one of Buddha’s teeth, which arrived in Sri Lanka in the 4th century. No one can actually see the tooth, as it is encased in numerous containers, a concept similar to Russian Dolls, although with much more gold.
The King, at the time decreed that the relic should be carried in a procession through Kandy each year. Am I being irreverent when I am reminded of the shoe in The Life of Brian?However, as a result of the King’s decree, there is a major ceremony lasting for 10 days each year, called the Perahera festival, with an enormous parade through the streets each evening, and we happened to be there on the 9th day. All along the route of the parade, chairs and other forms of seating are set up, and people buy tickets, often sitting from early morning, waiting for the parade which begins at 7pm.We were lucky as we had booked tickets, but, even so, we had to be there at around 5:30 to nab our seats, which Janaka had ensured were in the front row.The parade itself started with whip cracking demos, leading into fire hoop juggling and spinning disc tricks, accompanied by hundreds of drummers and dancers. In amongst all this were beautifully adorned elephants gracefully moving with the parade, being gently directed by their minders. There must have been at least 30 elephants throughout the whole parade, which lasted over 3 hrs. It really was an amazing spectacle, and we were so lucky to be in Kandy just at the right time.
Walking back to the car afterwards was a bit like leaving the MCG after the grand final, but more so. We estimated the crowd to be around 300,000. However, our man Janika guided us safely through.Speaking of Janika, we have decided that he is definitely just a driver, not a tour guide. His driving is excellent in the chaotic conditions I have previously mentioned, and he tries very hard to please Madam (Elly). He knows instinctively that if Madam is not happy, then things are not good, however Sir doesn’t matter at all because his decisions are ignored anyway.He is very good, but his English is very marginal, and if you ask him a question, he either starts mumbling to himself, eventually forgetting that a question has been asked, or he replies in unfathomable English of which we can only guess the meaning. At one stage as we were driving through a small town, he looked at me in the mirror and started talking. I could have sworn he was expecting me to understand native Sinhalese. After looking at him in, I am sure, a totally horrified way, desperately trying to get my brain to register something, I detected “home town” . I said, ” this is your hometown?” Wrong, so off he went again. But this time heard ” spinner”. Ah ah, now I had it. This was the hometown of one of their cricketers whose name is Mattiah Muralitharan ( or something no Australian cricket commentator or me, has ever pronounced properly). Janika was giving his first and last name with full Sri Lankan accent and telling me it was his home town!I mentioned quietly to Elly that this spinner has a suspect bowling action which has caused great controversy years ago, so Elly loudly said to Janika: “Alan says he doesn’t bowl properly”. Thank you Elly, Sir is now an even lesser person.Janika is a very nice and helpful person, as are, it seems, most people here. We can infer this from many things, including a sign we passed the other day, which said: ” STOP ABUSING VEGETABLES”. Now you can’t get more humanitarian, or is it vegetarian, than that.On our way to our next hotel we called in to a Buddhist temple, Aluvihara, which was interestingly set in rock. Among the points of interest was a room full of models of people being tortured or murdered, with brains being scooped out, legs being amputated,etc. This work was being carried out by devils, and is supposed to represent what would happen to you in the afterlife if you have been naughty in your life.
Dambulla Sunday 10th August
We then arrived at our latest hotel the Heritance Kandalama, in Dambulla, near Sigiriya, just over half way up the island of Sri Lanka, and midway between the east and west coasts. This hotel was designed and built by the famous architect, Geoffrey Bawa, and is quite spectacular. Walking from the check in desk, which of course was too much to bother us with, we walked through a tunnel with rock walls to a waiting area where we were deposited and served welcome drinks whilst all the tedious stuff of checking in was taken care of.
View across the lake to the Heritance Kandalama hotel.The hotel is built into a rock face, which protrudes through walls and rooms where necessary. It covers around 1 km from end to end, has 3 swimming pools, a gym and lounges everywhere.
Polonnaruwa Mon 11 th August
A substantial drive north took us to an area called Polonnaruwa, which is the region of the rulers of the country dating back around 800 years and more. En route we had the marvellous experience of seeing elephants in the wild just off the side of the road. Some areas actually have a 2 metre high electric fence to stop the elephants wandering across the road. We also saw lots of monkeys doing their own thing by the roadside.
Firstly we visited a museum with statues and artifacts from as far back as 3 BC, but mostly around 3 – 6 AD. Close by is an extensive area of ruins from around the 12th century. These consisted of temples, stupas, walls, etc in various stages of decay, but showing the skills which existed in those times, as far as architecture and masonry are concerned.
Unfortunately I had asked whether we would be visiting any temples that day, and was told no. The reason I asked was to determine my footwear! Temples mean taking off shoes and hats to enter, so I chose to wear my socks and runners. What I didn’t know was that at each of the sites of the ruins there were ancient holy places, often without a roof, where you still had to remove your shoes and hat.
After removing my shoes and socks, and my hat in 36 deg heat, around half a dozen times, I was reaching my limit. The last few I left to Elly. I don’t wish to diminish the incredible skills and workmanship at these sites, so long ago, it was quite amazing.
Elly will be in anything, for example, Janaka asked her: ” Madam, would you like to see some wood carving?” As he pulled to the side of the road. Elly said ” Yes sure”. My heart sank, as I had visions of visiting some wood carving place where we would be accosted, and pressured into buying something, even though we can’t bring wooden stuff back easily. Some confusion ensued, until I realised that Elly had heard, instead of ” Madam would you like to see some wood carving?” as ” Madam would you like to try some good curry?We didn’t go to the wood carving shop!On the way back towards the hotel, we were to take a ride on a bullock cart. Why, you may ask. However, since it was around 3 pm and we hadn’t eaten, we were to be taken to a restaurant before the bullock cart ride. We thus transferred to a Tuk-Tuk, and were driven into the scrub down a narrow dirt track to a small village. Here we were led to an open thatched roof hut which had up one end, a bench with about 8 terra cotta pots containing a variety of vegetarian dishes. We helped ourselves and proceeded to eat the food with our fingers, as is tradition. The food was great, and fresh, probably much less dangerous for us than eating at a restaurant on the street.
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After the lunch, we boarded the bullock cart for a journey through the countryside. The guy controlling the two bullocks ( and I mean controlling), was very vocal in his instructions to them. I decided I would try to learn bullock language; ” Gerahhh” means ” Straight ahead” and “Mucktah” means ” veer right and stop eating the leaves”. There seemed to be no instruction for ” don’t shit on my shoes” because they both did it.
Sigiriya Tuesday 12th August
We set off for the famous Rock of Sigiriya, which is visible from a distance in many directions. This rock is a towering square shaped edifice, rising some 300 metres high. It has ruins of what were a series of temples and rooms. The information published by The Lonely Planet, and that of the official museums seems to conflict, in as much as the official version states that the buildings at the summit comprised, among other things, a palace, whereas, archaeologists quoted by the Lonely Planet state that there is no evidence of a palace there. There are, however, a lot of ruins on the way up, and at the summit.
During the climb, which we undertook fairly early to beat the heat and the crowds, there is an area with rock paintings, protected from the weather, and remarkably preserved, after 1500 years.
Eventually we made it to the top, after what turned out to be a relatively non exhausting climb, although there were some areas of open steps with a view downwards which was a bit scary. The wind increased as we climbed, and by the time we reached the top, it must have been around 50 knots as it screamed up the side of the the rock. I had visions of my hat being found at an archeological dig somewhere in a few hundred years. From the top we had a great view over all the surrounding countryside.
This claw below, about half way up the climb, formerly belonged to an enormous sculpture of a lion, which has now disappeared, leaving this foot and its opposite number. The stairs ( shown later) rise up through the space which was once the lion.
Above are some views from the summit. Below are some of the ruins at the summit.
Hanging onto my hat in 50 kt winds
Cobra hood rock which looks like it will collapse within a short time, a hundred years or so.
The steps upwards, where the lion used to be.
Another restaurant visit for a local lunch.
View from the outdoor bar area and pool at the Heritance Kandalama
Dambulla Rock Cave. Wed 13th Aug.
We headed for the Rock Temple – no, not a memorial for the Rolling Stones – another temple! However, this one is quite special. We climbed a multitude of stone steps and stone without steps, entertained by the monkeys and their oh so cute babies on the way.
Upon reaching the top, once again we discarded our shoes and hats. This place was amazing, with a whole wall of caves adjacent to a paved full length courtyard. A colonnade facade of white has been constructed as an interface between the caves and the courtyard.
There are 5 separate caves which are entered through doors in the facade. The 3rd cave was the most spectacular, being some 52 m wide and 24 m deep with ceiling varying up to 7 m. All the ceiling and walls have been covered with a layer of plaster, and artists have painted images over the whole surface.
In the cave are many ( around 30) statues of Buddha along all the walls, as well as an enormous Buddha in repose, it is a mind boggling scene.
This view is reproduced in modified form in the other, smaller caves.How these statues have been created here is a mystery. Were they carved out of the rock cave, or were the masonry components delivered here and then shaped into these images?
Leaving the Rock Temple, we traveled to Minneriya National Park for a Jeep safari to check out the wild life, mainly in the form of elephants.
We drove for around 40 mins through scrub country to the shores of the Minneriya Reservoir, there to see large flocks of Pelicans, ibis and Heron. But mainly to see the Elephants which come to the water here, not only to drink and bathe, but to take advantage of the receeding water which then produces nice edible grass.
A group of about 30 elephants awaited us, grazing together near the shore. Eventually, the leader, headed for the water to drink and bathe, followed, of course by all the others. Elly took some great photos from our Jeep, even including an altercation between a young male and his elders.
We have been having a great time checking out the monkeys in our travels, from their appearance outside our balcony door in the morning, throughour travels during the day, and back to our balcony in the late afternoon.
Elly has some great photos of mothers with tiny newborns on the climb to the Rock Temple.After returning to the hotel after the day’s travels, we were on the balcony having a beer, when a monkey scampered down a vine, leapt onto the table and snatched a large avocado which Elly had been nurturing to ripeness for days. It then leapt off the balcony and disappeared, taking the avocado with it. It is hard to get angry, when we have been warned by the hotel staff to actually latch the balcony door closed because the monkeys can open an unlocked sliding door.Also the young kid monkeys are just so full of life, and obviously enjoy every minute of their lives.This is the last day of our hotel here, tomorrow we move on north.
Aukana- Anuradhapura Thursday 14th August
Janaka drove us first of all to Aukana, to inspect yet another Buddha. This one was special, because, not only does it date back to the 5th century, but it is carved out of the rock to which it is still attached.
We had been having trouble with the blog app crashing every time I tried to post the latest epistle. I was tearing my hair out and thinking I would have to find some other system, or, shock, horror, deprive all of you of the ramblings emanating from my weary brain.As is obvious now we overcame the problem, but the wi-fi here is abysmal, with barely enough signal to even open emails. As I write, my group email advising you of the latest blog hasn’t even summoned the strength to escape the bowels of my iPad.After we checked in to our hotel in Anuradhapura, we embarked on an excursion inspecting ancient ruins, of which there are many in this area. Site after site of Stupas, monasteries, temples ranging in age back to a couple of hundred years BC.
The history here, for such a small country, is astonishing. I won’t bore you with detailed descriptions of site after site, but will post a few photos.
Our friends the monkeys are here all over the place, and are undisturbed by the locals as they leap around, or snaffle some piece of food from wherever they can.
Towards the end of the day when I was pondering a cold beer back at the hotel, but Elly and Janaka were still at full speed, I sat down on a rock near some ruins. Elly spotted me and took a photo. I said to her that the caption will be “Which one is the real ruin.”
On the way back to the hotel, just after dark, we went into a Buddhist temple’s grounds, where there was a path weaving its way deep into the rear of the grounds, and along its entire length were statues of monks placed as if walking in a convoy as far as you could see.
In the background, through speakers, were chants, from the main chanter, followed each verse by children repeating the verse. We followed the few people who were walking the path, and it was a very peaceful calm atmosphere. I spoiled it a bit for Elly, who would have continued walking for Buddha knows how far, by saying I had had enough for the day and would wait for her back at the car. She was a bit shitty, but she grudgingly turned back.
Wilpattu National Park Friday 15th Aug
Janaka gave us the morning off, which I lapped up trying to sort out the crappy internet connection. The idea was to visit the Wilpattu National Park, which is a large 130,000 hectare area extending right across to the west coast, which is the habitat for birds, deer, elephants and, rarely, leopards.We were lucky, once again, to have the jeep to ourselves, which, I have no doubt was achieved by throwing copious amounts of money at our travel agent. The seats were padded and very comfortable, which was fortuitous because the tracks were rough.
We had the driver and Janaka in the front, and Marcello, the tracker sitting behind us. We saw some interesting stuff, eagles, deer, and a few other inhabitants, but, of course, Elly was insisting that we should see a leopard. ( We are accustomed to this type of behaviour where whales are concerned, but this was the first for leopards.)We all know how difficult leopards are to spot, erhum, particularly when there are only about 35 in the whole national park, but nevertheless Elly nagged on.Most of you will be aware of Elly’s ability to find a parking spot wherever she wants to go, while the rest of us can drive around interminably looking for non existent spots. Well, it works with leopards too.
Elly wants a leopard, so we find a leopard! There it was, a most beautiful creature, just lying there having a nice sleep. Of course, when all the jeeps started to crowd in, although at a respectful distance, it sat up and had a bit of a look around. Cameras were clicking all around, especially Elly’s and a man in an adjacent jeep, who had an even bigger lens than she did. She looked over at him and confessed to having Lens Envy!
This was a wonderful thing to see, such a rare animal in beautiful condition, doing its cat like thing of licking and cleaning before strolling off into the bush.The safari lasted more than 4 hrs, and was made excellent by our leopard. We had mentioned to Janaka that we would like to get a SIM card for the iPad, to try to bypass substandard hotel wi-fi systems, so he stopped on the way back at a little shop, and I bought a card, which seems to work fine, although the wi-fi in our next hotel was perfectly ok, but it is good being able to access the internet now from most places.
Mihintale Sat 16th Aug
Driving through a small town not far from Anuradhapura we came upon a street parade celebrating 75 years of a Ceylon bank! Of course we stopped and walked with the long line of dancers, musicians and many in the procession just holding bank flags.
A stop on the way out at Mihintale to visit yet another Buddhist temple. This area is regarded as the cradle of Buddhism in Sri Lanka. There are 1840 steps to climb right to the summit, which is perched on a high rock with views over the whole area. Shoes off again, and no hats, so once again I spent my time trying to find spots of shade in the 30+ heat at only 10am. In fact I elected not to cling to the Buddha or the Stupa, as they were all out in the direct sun. Janaka kept Elly company on those climbs, whilst I sat and discussed world politics with the monkeys.
On the path back to the car, Elly managed to spot a spotted deer ( another spot joke), with its accompanying stag.
We arrived at our quite flash new hotel out of Trincomalee for just a single night’s stay. Trincomalee is a natural harbour on the north east coast, which has been inhabited for thousands of years and attacked many times throughout its history.
We were supposedly having the afternoon at leisure, which I thought was great, however, my wife has difficulty sitting still, and was talking about visiting some island and going snorkelling even though it was already 3pm, so my afternoon had already been reduced by Janaka suggesting to Madam that she might like to visit a Hindu temple, and Elly saying yes, whilst, yet again ignoring Sir.
I was saved from any activity by a torrential rain storm, which even prevented us from getting to the poolside bar. Tomorrow is 0545 for, wait for it, Whale Watching!
Trincomalee Sunday 17th August
An early morning from our hotel further along the beach to some boats set up for whale watching, covered sun shade tops and a few seats, with a substantial outboard motor.Everyone was very friendly as the boat, which we had to ourselves, was eased into the water.We scrambled aboard and set out heading east away from the coastline. We had been moving fairly quickly for about 20 mins, when we came across about 10 other boats all hovering around, obviously all waiting to sight a whale. We were all scanning the horizon for a whale blow, without success, when suddenly there was a shout, immediately followed by 11 outboard motors at full throttle.Someone had sighted a pod of dolphins loping along minding their own business. All boats were converging on these beautiful creatures at a frightening speed, with the boat drivers screeching at the top of their voices.We took some photos before the dolphins declared enough and disappeared. This procedure was repeated every few minutes, as there appeared to be lots of dolphins in the area.We were finding this most distressing, and absolutely not the way to treat animals of any sort, so we told our driver to break from the pack and to go gently to see what we could find on our own. We saw lots more dolphins, and with some instruction by Elly, managed to keep the driver under control, and cruise gently parallel to their path without frightening them.No whales were sighted, and after we returned, we felt a bit downhearted that this sort of abuse is happening daily here. We have already advised the travel agent and she has promised to take the matter up with the operator, so hopefully things may improve.
Tea Time Newara Eliya Sunday 17th August
From there we set off for a long drive to Newara Eliya, which is high in the mountains at about 6000 ft and is the tea growing area. Our hotel was some distance out of town, and is a converted tea factory, in fact, it is called the Heritance Tea Factory. It was established about 130 years ago, and has been extensively converted and operating as an hotel since 1996.Below is The Heritance Tea Factory hotel
Ella Monday 18th August
Today we were taken to the local railway station to catch a train for a 3 hour ride to a town called Ella. The town is not particularly significant, but the journey was supposed to be magnificent. It wasn’t. Well, to be fair, it started raining so the scenery was fairly bleak, but, with good conditions it probably would have been much more splendid.
Janaka was waiting for us to drive back to Newara Eliya. On the way back Elly managed to take some good photos as the mist was blowing up the mountains and causing the surroundings to change by the minute, giving a very mystical scene. The temperature at that altitude was pleasantly lower than the high 30s we had been experiencing.That night we met up with some friends from Hong Kong, Diana and Cawsi, who are here for the same wedding we will be attending in a few days.
Horton Plains Tuesday 19th August
We decided to give Janaka the day off, that is, after he had driven the 14 km out and back in the dark along the dog track that passes for a road to our hotel, to pick us up at 5am, – how generous of us!We were to meet up with Diana and Cawsi and travel with them ( they had a driver with a 6 seater van) to an area named Horton Plains where a 10km walk awaited us.
On our walk the reason we had to start early was that, along the track there are 2 places of note, Small World’s End and World’s End. These are positions from which you have a magnificent view over steep cliffs down and across a valley of lush vegetation and greenery. The problem is, that from around 10am, as the sun heats up the valley floor, and the air begins to rise up the side of the escarpment, its moisture begins to condense and becomes rising mist climbing up past the viewing areas, and from then on you can’t see anything.
On our arrival at Small World’s End we stopped for a short time to soak up the view, and we could see the mist starting to rise in the valley below, even though it was only 9am. So we set off for World’s End, but when we arrived, the mist had beaten us to it, although it did partially clear for a quick glimpse before closing in again. Never mind, at least we saw the view, which is more than a lot of the later comers would have seen.
Waiting for the mist to clear at World’s EndIt was a great walk, good exercise, for a change, and in lovely weather and pleasant temperature.
That afternoon we decided that we would visit a tea factory, as the whole mountain area is covered by tea plantations. We had just had lunch, and Cawsi declared that if he couldn’t go to the park and lie on the grass and have a nap, he would spread himself out in the back of the van whilst we found a tea factory.This proved to be a challenge.We told the driver we wanted to visit a tea factory, so the driver shouted at some people on the street, obviously asking directions. With much animation and discussion, and arms flying everywhere, we eventually set off in the direction indicated.We had given the driver the name of the tea factory, which was the Pedro Estate, and we saw some signs on the way, so we were comfortable, but eventually, we had passed that area and were heading further out of town. Finally we turned in to a narrow road which looked a bit familiar, and had a sign “Heritance Tea Factory”, which one might assume was looking good, unless, like us, you knew that this was the dog track to our hotel which, as I have mentioned, is a converted tea factory, and is called the Heritance Tea Factory!”No!” We cried, ” This is not the way to the tea factory”. Indignation was evident on the face of the driver, as he said ” Yes it is!” Window down and much activity involving passers by resulted in more arm waving and pointing towards the dog track. The whole world seemed to be firmly of the opinion that that was the way to the tea factory, which, of course, it was, only it wasn’t a tea factory, it was the hotel. We shouted the driver down and told him to drive back towards the town and we would tell him where to go, and, sure enough, when the Pedro signs reappeared we directed the driver and finally arrived.Time was ticking along and we were unsure whether we would be too late for a tour.Cawsi, in the meantime, had woken from his slumbers, having missed all the fun, so he bounded out of the van, with me on his tail, all of us in hysterics at this stage, down the steps into the reception area, saying ” Where do we get tickets?”The girl on the desk recovered admirably from the shock of this moustachioed Indian gentleman bounding through her doorway without introduction, and issued us with 4 sets of protective aprons and head covers, whereby we rejoined our wives and galloped after the tour group which had just started as we arrived.
The Pedro Tea FactoryOur antics raised a few eyebrows in the group but everything settled down and we did the tour. Cawsi transformed from the bumbling B grade movie character, into the engineer that he is, and was asking very serious and knowledgeable questions throughout, finally enquiring as we passed the tasting room, ” Who has that job? I would like it” we were then offered the honour of entering the hallowed walls of the tasting room.The factory itself dates back more than 130 years, and the machinery appears equally as ancient, but, actually dates back to the 1930s. Built in Great Britain and Ireland, it still functions effectively after all these years, but it is still a very labour intensive business employing vast numbers of people, from picking through to processing, grading, packing, marketing and shipping. Only the initial stages are done by the factory, and the tea is then sold to organisations which grade and export from there.One interesting fact we learned is that the word Tea derives from Tannin, Essence, and Aroma.That was the end of the day, and after dinner we parted company with Diana and Cawsi for a couple of days.
Road from Nuwara Eliya to Galle Wed 20th August
A long drive for around 6 hours down from the mountains through all the beautiful lush green tea plantations, across to the west coast brought us to the ancient town of Galle. The tip of the small peninsula is the old fort which encloses the old part of town, which is where we are staying, and where the wedding will take place.
Galle
A walk through the old town after our arrival reveals character filled streets which are totally different from anything we have seen in Sri Lanka. We met up with Kim and Kai, the parents of the bride, and their children and partners, who have rented a whole house for the family to all stay together, it is just beautiful, and within a few minutes walk from us, and everything else in the fort
Galle Thursday 21st August
Our intention of exploring was foiled by some heavy rain showers, so we scuttled around a couple of corners to Kim & Kai’s mansion and socialised there for a while and met some more of the guests, who are going to number more than 100. Not bad considering nobody is from here.
Pre wedding drinks this evening, a good time had by all, then stumbled around Galle looking for food. We found a restaurant serving Indian food which was willing to take a mob of 16 rowdy customers, so we left it to Cawsi to order for us. A great evening.
With Diana
Friday 22nd August
Heavy rain all night and through the morning was really beautiful in the tropical surroundings, but did cancel our planned walking tour of Galle. Elly went walking in the rain.
Banyan tree
Hidden in the Banyan tree
Friday 22nd August
We did a little wandering around and some dodging of the rain.The weather cleared in the evening, so a group of 11 of us went hunting for a restaurant, which one of the group had recommended. This was a place which was outside the fort, about 10 minutes along the coast road. The place was quite dingy, because they had bamboo screens pulled down in anticipation of more bad weather coming in from the sea.We asked them to pull the screens up to give us a view, and eventually they grudgingly began to do so, but then advised us that they would charge corkage of around $A 20 per bottle of wine! We asked them whether they would rather have 11 guests for dinner, and no corkage, or no guests for dinner, and no corkage. They chose the latter, so we left.We returned to inside the fort and found another place called The Lucky Galle Restauran and then a T underneath (I can’t work out how to do it on the iPad). I thought it was just bad sign writing, a bit like the Plan Ahead joke. However, I then noticed that there was another sign on the other side which was exactly the same, so who knows why!We invaded this tiny restaurant, which already had several guests dining in the front open air area, and it became apparent that it would be difficult squeezing another 9 (we were down to 9) people in. You could just about hear the collective ” There goes the neighbourhood” from the other diners. A suggestion was made that we could set tables up outside on the road ( which was a one car width road), and amazingly the wonderfully co- operative owners said OK, so there we were, 9 people at 3 tables, blocking half the road and having a lovely time.Whenever a Tuk Tuk came along, we tucked ourselves in, and it would just squeeze past. A couple of cars came through during the evening, and for them we had to move the chairs from the road side of the table, and guide the driver past. But nobody complained, and even when a couple of police came past, no comment was made. A great, fun night.
Kit & Ibere’s Wedding Saturday 23rd August
This was the wedding day. The service, which was an unofficial one, was held outside at a villa, with chairs set out on the lawn. After that champagne was served, before we all departed, convoy like in pre booked Tuk Tuks , for another villa on the sea. This was a magnificent place with a large indoor section for speeches and dancing, a large covered outdoor verandah, and sweeping lawn down to the sea wall, with the waves rolling in on the other side.
The crowd was an amazing mix of people and nationalities, reflecting Kit and Iberé’s background, Kit having a Chinese father and an Australian mother, with a Hong Kong upbringing, amongst other places, and Iberé being Brazilian. Six of the seven continents of the world were represented. The Antarctic people were busy! Kit and Iberé have both worked in East Timor and have many friends from there.Dragged ourselves home around midnight, although, of course, Elly stayed longer!
Sunday 24th August
This morning, after breakfast adjacent to the front garden, a family of monkeys paid us a visit, and were fed fruit by staff and guests. They regularly visit, and sit in the trees waiting to be fed. They aren’t aggressive, and wait patiently to be handed a piece of fruit. The house dog “Darling” was not impressed; she sat and watched disapprovingly.
This was just a relaxing, unwinding, day, as we all headed back to the beach villa to polish off the last of the food and wine, to make sure there was none left over, although I do believe there is a large amount of cheese available for anyone who has the luggage space.
Mirissa Monday 25th August
Having been disappointed with our whale watching excursion last time, Elly and I arranged another one, this time with a more ethical company. Pick up was at 5:30 am, and we were driven in a Toyota Prius for the 30 min drive to the boat.I have been amazed here in Sri Lanka at the number of hybrid cars on the road, far more than in Australia. There is the Prius, and the Honda Fitt, which is the same as our Jazz. Honda also have another hybrid which isn’t in Australia. Here, in Galle, there are not many cars, just motor bikes and Tuk Tuks, but what cars there are, I would guess, are 30% hybrids.
Our whale watching boat was quite large compared to the last one, we had around 20 customers. The sea was relatively calm, with just gentle undulations, although one poor guy spent the whole time raucously throwing up.
We saw a couple of whales loping along, nothing spectacular, no tail fins or leaping breaches, but the boats were sensible, and we didn’t harass the whales, just steadily cruising parallel with them 100 or so metres from them.
After nearly 3 hours we returned happy ( although Elly wanted more – surprise!). We passed several outrigger fishing boats on their way out to sea. These are very regal, colourful boats, and look really majestic as they head out with fishermen clinging on to whatever is available.
On the way home we stopped to photograph the ” Stick” fishermen. This is a really weird sight, as these guys hang on to sticks that have been driven down into the sand, and they just hang there hour after hour swishing fishing poles back and forth, trying to catch small sardine type fish, although their main source of income seems to be by virtue of their “Minder”, who pesters gawking tourists who feel they must stare at men on sticks. Our drivers warned us later not to stop because of the outrageous sums the minders ask for. We, in our ignorance gave them next to nothing, and when they complained, Elly told the guy to just live with it, and be happy. We found out later that we had given about a twentieth of what they ask.
What a fun way to spend your day!
Tuesday 26th August
This was the day to finally leave the lovely Galle Fort, – it left its mark on us all.We had a long drive east, following the coast, to Yala, which is in a National Park. We stopped to climb up a lighthouse to see spectacular views and then on to a rock temple with sweeping sea views.
A Blowhole on the way.We were booked in at a place called Cinamon Wild, which is a safari type establishment, quite upmarket, with individual small lodges instead of rooms. The main area is resort like, with open dining/bar areas, as well as an upstairs restaurant, and even a rooftop bar, from which you can look across a crocodile filled lake, as well as to the sea. We had dinner, with me watching a Sri Lanka v. Pakistan one day cricket match, while Elly did her emails and Facebook.
Hotel warning sign
Yala National Park Wednesday 27th August
Up early for a 6:00 am safari in to the national park. Again we had our own 4wd, although we were in the company of lots of others. The things to find in this park are: Elephant, Wild Boar, Deer, Bears, Monkeys, Peacocks, many birds, Mongeese, Water buffalo and, of course, the rare and shy Leopard.
We did very well, particularly at water holes. It has been very dry here for a couple of years, so the remaining water holes get used by everything. Sadly, there was a group of deer trying to get a drink at what was really just a mud hole, no water, just mud, and they were waist deep in it trying to get water.At another small water hole we saw some local drama, as Deer and Wild Boar jostled for priority. Water Buffalo and Wild Boar were alternately scaring each other off at another.I needn’t remind you that Elly was nagging about Leopards again, as the tracker rolled his eyes, and indicated that we possibly wouldn’t see any Leopard. She was bossing the driver around when he wouldn’t/couldn’t stop exactly where she needed to be, and did actually say ” if you see a Leopard you’ll drive on past anyway”. While we were all looking on both sides, Elly was adamant that she saw a Leopard, but by the time the driver reversed back, it was gone.Next thing I hear is Elly shrieking “Look in front of you”. Whilst everyone was looking either side, Elly had seen a Leopard casually strolling across the road 100 metres in front of us. Of course, by the time we got there, it was gone.Later we pulled up at a nice water hole, where a couple of other Jeeps were parked, and were told by our tracker that sometimes Leopard come to that place. We waited for probably 20 mins, and a few Water Buffalo wandered down to the hole and spent some time there. Elly announced that a Leopard would come, she could just feel it!
Elly was photographing birds whilst waiting for the leopardI was beginning to think that the chances of a Leopard turning up just because we were waiting for it, would be extremely remote, when, of course, quietly out of the scrub, came our Leopard. She padded carefully down to the water, checking all around for danger, lay down and had her drink.
This was another beautiful creature, like the one we had seen last week, and she gave us a good display, with plenty of photo ops for Elly. I really do think these animals are the most exquisite wild beasts you can see, so clean and bright even though walking through mud, she looked as though she was freshly washed. Cat like licking probably.When a Water Buffalo wandered in from the side, she just quietly padded away.
We saw all of the animals I mentioned earlier, except a bear, including some tiny baby Wild Boar chasing after their parents as they crossed the road.
When we arrived back, I was looking forward to a quiet, relaxing afternoon. Then Elly announced that she wanted to do an afternoon safari as well. I said I would see her when she returned. She did well on the second safari, managing a bear this time, as well as another Leopard. She hooked up with a young couple from Amsterdam, and we met for dinner later.
Thursday 28th August
Now, we were going to be picked up by our driver for the long road to Colombo, at 9:00 am, HOWEVER, Elly decided to get up at 5:00 am and do another safari! Talk about high maintenance!
The Bear
Road to Colombo via Bentota Thursday 28th August
Janaka arrived on time yet again, this time for the six plus hour drive to Colombo.On the way we called in to a turtle hatchery. A very poor facility (financially), doing a good job of obtaining eggs, which are dug up by various shady characters, after being laid on the beach by the mother turtles, and buying them at above market price, so they can re-bury them in their controlled hatchery. After about 40 days the eggs hatch, and these guys check them all out for good health, and, at night when it is safe, the healthy ones are released into the sea.
Any unhealthy babies, i.e. Those with deformities, or missing legs or eyes, etc are kept instead of being released. Lots of these were swimming around in the hatchery’s tanks.Not sure how long they keep them, but Elly suggests it maybe until they have enough for turtle soup.We called in at Bentota, which is a beach resort on the coast. We took a cruise along the river there, and it is really quite beautiful, with lots of trees and greenery along the banks, with some expensive houses embedded in the woods along the way. We even pulled into the rear of a restaurant and talked the owner into selling us a beer, with glasses to be returned on the way back!
Colombo Friday 29th August
Janaka made himself available to show us the sights of Colombo, including the market for Elly. A good friend of ours, John Symons, had suggested we visit the cricket club, so we did. Janaka is a cricketer, both batsman and wicket keeper, so we could talk about the game – sort of – without too many negative comments from Madam!
On the way out, we noticed a game in progress on an adjacent ground, so I stayed behind for an hour or so whilst Janaka drove Elly to another temple, one on the lake designed by that prolific architect Geoffrey Bawa and another famous temple nearby. The cricket match turned out to be the national under 15 side playing a friendly match against the Sri Lankan women’s team. I really enjoyed it, and enjoyed leaving my shoes, socks and hat on, which wouldn’t have been the case if I had stayed with Elly.
During the day we also stopped at the old Dutch church, built around the 17th century. It was built on the highest point of the city, because the Dutch owned the city. It was used as a marker for ships approaching Colombo. Later, when Buddhism became the dominant religion, it wasn’t deemed appropriate that the first sighting should be a Christian church, so a Stupa was built in a direct line of sight, blocking the church and becoming the first landmark sighted by ships.
Elly was foiled in the evening because she had her heart set on a crab dinner at the “Ministry of Crab” restaurant, but it was full, so we settled for a Chinese meal at the Hilton hotel.So here ends the Sri Lankan section of our trip. We thoroughly enjoyed the country and the people. My only comment otherwise is that the philosophy of tipping is everywhere, you have to tip everything that moves, and some that don’t move. Everyone has their hand out, even Buddha!
Off to Rwanda.