Been quite a while since the last post and this is probably a little overdue. The trip to Sri Lanka was sorta an unplanned trip or one with very little planning. Sam and I were supposed to get our work permits extended from a 3 month permit to a 12 month one. Apparently, to do that, applicants have to be out of the Maldives during the processing period, which usually lasts about 10 days. Sri Lanka is the usual 'refugee' destination for those undergoing the application process for good reason - its close proximity to Maldives and good sightseeing opportunities for the length of the stay.
The trip was organized about 3 days before departure, which barely gave me any time to do any research on where to go and what to do on the trip. So me and Sam just decided to wing it and do things as they came to mind - which worked out well in the end.
So first day in Colombo was an laid back day just getting settled in the service apartment that we stayed in (the not so lovely Nesum Apartment). Sam and I planned did some planning and budgeting for our trip.
Naturally, we decided that the chaotic mess of Colombo wasn't the place we wanted to spend the bulk of our time in and so we decided to backpack around the country for 4-5 days and then return to the apartment after to check on the status of our work permits and flights. But before that we did manage to sqeeze in a laze around the pool of one of the Hotels around Colombo Fort where we had a bite to eat and watched the sunset.
The preferred method of transport around Sri Lanka is by 'tuk-tuk' or three-wheeler and costs around US$0.40 per kilometre. Prices vary and there's no such thing as running meters on these things. Obviously there is that potential that you'd be robbed blind if you didn't know the 'rates' any better. Thank god for the Lonely Planet Guide (the bible i later lost during our travels).
The next morning we decided to check out the Colombo Zoo just because it was a stone's throw away from the apartment. It was not TOO bad. For the most part, it was only mildly amusing. Bears, tigers and jaguars pacing back and forth aimlessly and a flock of pink flamingos frolicking in the drain water wasn't exactly riveting stuff... The only consolation was that I was able to distract myself from their sorry state by practicing with my new camera.
Zoos no longer bring me back to that 'happy place' as it did when I was a child....
We quickly shrugged off the whole zoo experience and headed for a walk in the lush green vegetation of one of the city's sprawling parks to get some fresh air and take some photos. Great thing about these parks is that it allows you to forget about how haphazard it is beyond the park's gates. We both sat down on one of the park benches to catch our breath and for me to have a cigarette. After about 5 minutes of rest, I began to feel little tickles on my legs. No....Sam wasn't trying to play footsie with me. I looked at what it was, and it was a tiny little black ant running up and down my calf. I swept it off and the tickles intensified. I looked down again and immediately jumped up with an "Oh SH*T!!!" and Sam goes "What?! What?!...OH F*CK!!!" and leapt out of her seat with the same lightning speed as I. We'd stirred up a whole brood of ants (eggs, babies and all) nest during our period of tranquility and by now our skin was crawling as we reeled in utter disgust. Sri Lanka is full of surprises, and by then we'd had about enough of them for the day.
Early the next day, we took a three and a half hour bus ride to Kandy - the Hill Country in central Sri Lanka in an attempt at some cooler weather and lower levels of exhaust fumes of Colombo. The journey was rough with winding roads and a crazy driver. Drivers in Sri Lanka can put any other driver from developed countries to shame with their maneuvering and overtaking skills.
We got to Kandy a bit dazed and confused in the middle of a fruit market, which led us to consult our LPG (Lonely Planet Guide). We'd made reservations with the Queens Hotel and got there after a 10 minute walk through the hodgepodge of market stalls and its patrons.
That day itself, we managed to visit the Royal Botanical Gardens as well as the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic before enjoying a cultural dance performance at the Performing Arts centre. The botanical garden was impressive, with its manicured lawns and huge collection of exotic and indigenous plant species spread out over a large area. One particularly interesting attraction was the century-old ficus/fig tree that grew there. It's so huge it that its branches had to be supported by bamboo beams cut to shape for that particular purpose. From afar, the whole tree looks like a hilltop covered with lush vegetation, but you can walk inside its canopy to discover a labyrinth of winding, intercepting, tangle of branches - every tree-climbing kid's dream. Stunning!
The Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic has a long history behind it. I'm not really a fan of history (my highshool grades can proove this), but in a nutshell, this sacred place is said to be the final resting place for one of the molars of Buddha himself, which was taken from his cremation remains after his death. The tooth itself has made epic journeys amidst civil wars from almost 2 millenia past, up until the more modern Dutch and British occupations of Sri Lanka - changing hands along the way. Visitors are frisked and our bags were checked before entering the compound. But unfortunately, no one is allowed to sneak a peek at the sacred tooth. However, VIP guests like the Japanese are allowed to enter the chamber where its housed due to the Japanese government's generous donations to the temples in Sri Lanka. Tour guides were plentiful at a cost, but we decided to just leave the interpretations of the frescoes inside to ourselves instead of having a flowery and self-righteous picture laid out for us. The architecture of the temple was very reminiscent of the country's colonial past, which was a bit of a disappointment. But the fascinating story of the tooth was enough to detract from that.
The day ended with a Sri Lankan cultural dance performance that's performed every night for tourists. During the day, we felt like the only tourists around Kandy since we didn't see many other foreigners around and were constantly being hounded by street peddlers and tuk-tuk drivers all because we stuck out like a sore thumb. But when we entered the Auditorium, it was packed with tourists of all nationalities. By the end of the show, the mass of camera-toting tourists dispersed once again. The show itself was quite entertaining, culminating in a fire dance and fire walk.
Sri Lanka is known for its populations of Asian elephants and the local's have an affinity towards these beasts of burden. Therefore, we had to go and pay homage to the famed Pinnawela Elephant Orphange where around 60 orphaned elephants are cared for by their 'Mahouts'. Everyday the pachyderms would be led to the riverside for their daily mud baths along the heavily eroded riverbank. Watching a whole herd of these mammoths walk down the narrow road in between shoplots was quite amazing. Their sheer size and bulk was enough to make anyone dart out of their way in an instant, as the elephants wait for no man to take cover. We perched from the safety of the stands built for watching the spectacle and were awed by the beauty (and lack of grace) of these magnificent animals. Two thumbs (or trunks) up!
Our next stop was a 2 hour drive away to see the Dambulla Cave Temples, where many centuries ago, Buddhist monks inhabited the caves and painted beautiful frescoes and erected statues of their divine Buddha as a place of worship. The caves are on a hill top which is about a hundred meters from its base. The heat of the midday sun would've been uncomfortable had it not been for the cool breeze that blew through the hills. Many locals still climb the hill barefoot to make offerings in each of the 5 caves where the shrines lay.
Our pitstop for the night was a small family run motel called the Globetrotter Inn, which was also listed in the LPG. At US$30 a night with hot shower and A/C, it was a little pricier than what was stated in the book, but the personal service and friendliness of the owner towards us was first class. The owner had a tragic story of his one of his family members going to the US and died of a heart attack while there just a few days before our arrival. The US customs did not allow the repatriation the body to Sri Lanka in time for a funeral in line with Buddhist religious customs. Nevertheless, he was still a pleasant and hospitable man. We felt for his loss.
Sigiriya was next on our agenda. The ruins of Sigiriya is given the status and protection of being a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It's the ruins of the old kingdom's palatial grounds erected in the 5th century AD. There, the king built his palace on top of a 370m tall magma 'plug' of a long extinct volcano with sheer drops from all sides. Breathtaking views from atop the natural structure can only be appreciated after scaling the dizzying spiral staircases, flimsy scaffolding and steep walks uphill towards the summit. On some of the rock faces were delicate frescoes of bare-breasted women, said to be King Kasyapa's wives or concubines. It's said that he had in access of 500 of them. Lucky bastard!
The Mirror Wall was a smooth polished wall that is scribbled with graffiti over the ages dating back to the 8th century AD, which archaeologists have studied intimately. The local language, Sinhala, can be seen evolving through more than a millenia of this 'vandalism' and it is said that modernisation of the language through time was an insult to the true poeticism of the language. Kind of how the English (or any other) language has turned out in this day and age. Surprise surprise!
It took a bit of persuading before Sam agreed to climb to the top with me. She has a morbid fear of heights, but like most irrational fears, its not insurmountable. We both made it up safely and in good spirits and the winds on the summit were howling. Great fun! We could see for miles and miles around us and we watched the sparse clouds dapple the vast expanse below with its shadows. The walk down was much easier than anticipated and much of it was spent watching a lady in front of us crouch on the stairs - sitting on each and every one of the steps as she made her slow progress downwards for fear of tumbling. She basically arsed her way down. Hilarious!
We headed back to Kandy to catch a train ride back to Colombo in order to head to our next destination. The trainride took about 3 hours.
The view en-route to Colombo was of nice green fields of rice and rich vegetation as the train chugged along the hillsides. In the small towns, we saw large fruit bats hanging from their final roosting perches - powerlines. Once back at Colombo, we headed straight for the bus stop to catch a bus to head down south to Unawatuna - a small beach resort town with a tsunami stricken history. We stayed for 2 nights at Sun n Sea.
The owner of the small hotel held on to the front door at the entrance while the waters of the Boxing Day Tsunami flooded the coast. A wooden remnant of that same door still remains at the now rebuilt Sun n Sea. The sign reads:
"Muharam Perera held onto this splintered door as the 26/12 tsunami swept through the Sun-n-Sea. The strength needed for this grip on her beloved Sun-n-Sea will surprise no one who knows this wonderful woman."
She survived the ravages of the rising waters that fateful day only to succumb to cancer the following year. Her siblings have since taken the reigns of running the business with the same fervour their predecessor.
The food of the restaurant was good and waking up to the sound of crashing waves in the morning was more than welcome.
We headed to Galle Fort, a Portugese occupation fort built in the 16th century and later modified during the Dutch occupation in the 17th century. Walking inside the ramparts of the fort was like walking thru time and experiencing life as it was in in the 17th and 18th century. In the backstreets, we were led into family run jewellery stores in attempt to get some business from us. With our background, we weren't exactly looking for the perfect star sapphire setting to match our wetsuits. So we politely declined.
As fate would have it, I left the Lonely Planet Guide in one of the jewellery stores, forgotten and never to be seen again. We only realised once we were halfway out of the fort that we had lost our bible! We decided to let it go instead of going all the way back into the maze of merchant shops. We felt kinda lost without our bible. But fortunately, we had already reached the end of our backpacking trip together.
On our way back to the Sun n Sea, we stumbled upon little crafts store where the owner was hard at work, carving out an elephant figurine from a block of wood. It was the final piece to go with the collection of elephants of various types of wood to be sold as a set instead of individually. His craftsmanship was quick and precise, probably after many years of carving the same design to eke out a living on this southern coast. I liked the unfinished elephant he was working so hard on that I asked if I could buy it. He willingly obliged and sold it to me for a dollar.
The next morning, we hopped onto a bus for another 3 hour journey back to Colombo where we hoped our work permits would be approved and waiting for us.
Sam's work permit was on time and she managed to come back to Maldives on time, whereas my own was delayed by a day, and because of a hiccup in the flight arrangements, was delayed yet another day in Colombo. So in the time that I had after Sam had left, I headed on my own back down south but only halfway. There, on the West Coast, lies a popular volunteer operation funded privately and by tourist donations. It's a turtle hatchery where eggs laid by turtles on the nearby beach were collected and place in the safety of their hatchery for a 60 day incubation, after which the baby turtles will hatch and be kept in large holding tanks for 3 days. The 3 day period is for the turtles to absorb their entire yolks to be strong enough when released in the cover of darkness by the volunteers. The tourist dollars are also used to purchase the eggs from poachers; to be incubated instead of ending up on the dinner plate. Baby turtles are the cutest things.
The turtles were a nice ending to the trip and before long, I was on a Boeing 777 for a 1 hour flight back to sunny maldives enjoying Finding Nemo on the in-flight entertainment channel. I've mised the fishies.
