After a week of R&R on the beach in the Maldives we were ready for adventure again. We flew into Sri Lanka in the late afternoon and hopped on a bus bound for the capital, Colombo. It would be about an hour long ride. The bus filled up quickly with locals, and once all of the seats were occupied, they packed more people into the aisle - personal space was at a premium which, as we found out, was a common situation on Sri Lankan public transport! Soon the south Asian music began to play. Thankfully it was at a reasonable volume since we were already working with a bumpy ride, claustrophobic conditions and a slow pace with more people getting on and off at numerous stops along the way. Except for Lucas, who was already feeling ill from the airline food (he ended up "tossing his curry cookies" 1/2 way into the bus ride - poor guy) we found the bus ride interesting - a great people watching setting. By the time we reached our intended stop in Colombo, night had fallen and we were the only ones left on the bus. We tried asking the bus driver and his fare collection assistant for directions to our place; instead they made it their personal mission to find our guesthouse for us. With the language barrier in place, first they took us to the hotel district where all the swanky, upscale hotels are. 'Not here!' we tried to explain. They wound around the streets asking directions from locals, looking for the right place, at one point the money guy turned to Maya and rubbed his fingers together indicating "this is gonna cost you"! For some inexplicable reason he must have thought Maya held the purse strings in the family. Later we had a good laugh over that. We were happy to pay them for their personalized service once they delivered us to our 5-story funky (not swanky) palace. We settled into our "comfortable enough" guesthouse for our first night in Sri Lanka.
 |
| we are waving at Chris from the balcony of our room, not quite the penthouse, but good enough! |
We woke up to the sound of church bells on
Easter Sunday. We walked out to see loads of people in their Sunday best walking to church. People were dressed up a lot that morning, but we found that all over Sri Lanka people regularly dress very well, women generally in saris or dresses/skirts, and men in dress shirts and trousers. The elderly men were an exception, most of them wearing a version of a man-skirt meaning just fabric wrapped around their bottom half. Given the heat we were feeling, we could understand why.
 |
| Most locals were dressed in extra finery for Easter morning |
Down the street and around the corner
we ducked into a restaurant and had our first typical Sri Lankan meal of roti, egg rolls, and an assortment of other fried and tasty offerings brought to our table on a large tray. We also had our first Sri Lankan milk tea which would become a regular accompaniment to our meals, one that we would miss once we left. Typically in restaurants like the one we ate in that morning there is a dedicated tea maker set off in the back behind a wall with a small opening where the waiters go to to place their tea orders. Visible through the opening is the large vessel in which the water is boiling and the tea maker displays his tea making skills - we were impressed and captivated, eager to to taste our first tea. After that morning's experience we learned to ask for our tea (and coffee) "without sugar".
 |
| the tea maker at work pouring a cup from a good height |
For many tourists, one of the highlights of travelling in Sri Lanka is taking the train through the central highlands which is said to be one of the most scenic train rides in the world. This fit well with our itinerary and budget, and the experience did not disappoint! Riding the trains with the locals was a rich experience (see Lucas' post) and the views were spectacular and unforgettable. There were waterfalls, tea plantations, tea pluckers in the fields smiling and waving at the trains, villages, forests, and locals walking along the tracks. The trains were, at times, more crowded than we thought was humanly possible, and once in awhile vendors selling drinks or rotis would somehow manage to push their way through the crowded carriages, shouting about their offerings as they went, while people shoved together even more to make space for them to pass as the train gently rocked back and forth.
One Sri Lankan that we met loved Canada because we donated trains to Sri Lanka - who knew? When we looked into it, we found out that Canada donated several General Motors Diesel locomotives to Sri Lanka in 1954 through The Colombo Plan - an agreement from 1950 where 7 commonwealth countries all agreed to help states of Southeast Asia to battle communism by adding to the resources or skills in the countries. All but one of the locomotives is still used today, and they are all named after Canadian provinces or cities - pretty cool.
 |
| View of a small village with tea planted around the hills |
 |
| Tea pluckers working hard in the fields, often they would smile and wave at the train |
Our train rides took us from Colombo to Ella in three stages, stopping in Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, and eventually finishing in Ella. In Kandy we stepped off the train with all of our gear into sweltering heat. Although we didn't confirm the temperature, it felt like it was about 40 degrees. We walked from the station for about a kilometre to the core of town where we found a place to have a cold drink, buy a SIM card, and research a place to stay. "Cold drink" is a relative term in Sri Lanka since ice was nearly non-existent there.
We booked a place online and hailed 2 small tuk tuks to take us with all our gear to our new home, which turned out to be a large self catering apartment with air conditioning. It was a treat to come back each day to the cool apartment and we enjoyed cooking for ourselves after several months of not doing so. We enjoyed the scenic town of Kandy with the hills, the lake and the white colonial buildings.
 |
| The scene at a crosswalk in Kandy - umbrellas for shade were common |
Our first activity in Kandy was to visit the Royal Botanical Gardens, which were beautiful and featured plants from all over the tropics with huge sections dedicated to different forms and families of plants - bamboo, cycads, palms, figs to name just a few. There was also a neat spice garden with cinnamon, cardamom, bay, and other common spices - it seems that anything can grow on the lush island of Sri Lanka!
 |
| One of the many beautiful layered gardens along the pathway |
 |
| At the Avenue of Palms, an impressive display of one type of palm, there were many others too |
 |
| Having a rest under the Giant Bamboo - it grows 1-3 feet per day! |
 |
| There was a huge family of playful monkeys in one area, this one was still long enough for a photo! |
Another highlight of Kandy was the cultural dance show, which ended in an impressive display of fire walking and fire breathing. Thankfully the ceiling of the Red Cross building where it was held did not catch fire. We won't be surprised though if some day we hear about that in the news since the flames almost reached the ceiling at one point!
 |
| A group of male drummers/dancers and a plate spinner |
 |
| Part of the fire walking routine - he moved pretty fast! |
Our next stop was Nuwara Eliya, a pretty town in the mountains where many Sri Lankans go to holiday to escape the heat. We were there in the middle of the New Year's celebrations so it was busy but we found a nice quiet guesthouse on the mountain overlooking the town and valley. Being set away from the centre was nice because music and loudspeakers were blaring all over the city as part of the celebrations. We were greeted at our guesthouse with tea and cake in the garden - a lovely touch of Sri Lankan hospitality in the heart of the tea growing region.
 |
| The garden table where we had tea - amazing flowers growing all around. |
 |
| The view from our guesthouse patio |
Sri Lanka, formerly a British colony called Ceylon, is famous for its Ceylon tea. On our last morning in Nuwara Eliya we took a tuk tuk ride through the tea plantations in the area surrounding the city and stopped for a tea factory tour and tasting at the Labookellie Estate and Factory. We learned about how tea is manufactured, sorted and graded and that pluckers earn just $7 per day for a full day of picking leaves, making these women among the lowest paid workers in Sri Lanka. The tea is, in our opinion, worth the fame- it is delicious!
 |
| View of the Labookellie tea plantation |
 |
| Tea pluckers on the plantation |
 |
| As we were travelling back we came across this scene - the pluckers were lined up with their pickings from the morning while the man in the suit weighed their bags one by one and recorded them. They then dumped the tea leaves onto a huge tarp, leaving their bag empty to go back and pick more. |
 |
| From the pluckers' bags the tea would be brought here and spread out to "wither" |
 |
| Once the tea is dried it is graded - OP is orange pekoe, BOP is broken orange pekoe, and BOPF is broken orange pekoe fragments which can be used only in tea bags. Tea quality decreases from the left bowl to the right bowl. |
While in Nuwara Eliya we also booked
a day trip to Horton Plains National Park, which was billed as a beautiful and unique cloud forest ecosystem and where one can hike to an escarpment called the World's End. In reality it didn't live up to the hype and was nothing too special when compared to what we have in BC. One thing that repeatedly surprised us as we would travel through Sri Lanka was the high cost of park entry fees and the cost difference for non South-Asians and Sri Lankans (at Horton Plains it was $32 per person for tourists, 60 cents per person for locals). Our guesthouse manager explained to us that this was fair because tourists have more disposable income than locals and that if tourists can afford to come there then they can afford the fees. Huh! We did see some cool prehistoric tree ferns on the way there though, and we discovered the best yogurt in Sri Lanka on the way back, so the day was still a win!
 |
| Us looking out over the "World's End" where the central highlands end and the low-lying coastal rainforest begins - we felt it would have been worth the name "World's End" if there weren't more highlands just across the valley! Still, the view was beautiful. |
 |
| There was a nice set of falls in the park - Lucas enjoyed checking them out up close. |
Our next stop was to be Ella. We travelled to the train station nearest to us by tuk tuks and bided our time for over an hour whle waiting for the train, which was delayed by 45 minutes because of a forest fire along the track somewhere ahead of us. While waiting, we were fortunate to capture a few photos of the station master's office. The office was a scene straight out of a 1950s period movie. The station master motioned me in from behind his big, old wooden desk where he sat stoically in his white linen collared uniform shirt. I snapped a few quick shots before turning my attention to the table at the side of the office which contained some really old looking equipment that seemed to be in remarkable good shape and free of any dust. I couldn't imagine that the equipment was still being used. However, the station master did get up from his desk a couple of times to make hand-written entries into his log-book. This was "old school" - no computers in sight!
 |
| The station master and his assistant sitting and standing stoically while waiting for the next train to arrive! |
 |
| Some equipment straight of the 1950s! |
Ella was another nice mountain town, this time with a backpacker vibe. It was probably the most touristy town we visited, to the point that we were able to order beer and nachos (albeit a very Sri Lankan version of them) which Kim had been craving! Ella was an outdoorsy place with many hikes and activities in the vicinity. Unfortunately we only had time for one hike in the morning so we decided to go to the picturesque "9 Arches Bridge. We walked along the tracks and then stayed long enough to capture the iconic photo of a train going over the bridge.
 |
| Hanging around on the bridge waiting for the train to come |
 |
| And, there it is.... a famous Sri Lankan scene! |
From Ella we shared a van to Tissamaharama (Tissa) with a friendly German traveller. We swapped stories and were in "Tissa" before we knew it - our easiest commute by far! We originally planned to do a safari in Tissa but were talked out of it by our hotel owners once they found out we were headed to Africa next. So, instead we relaxed by the pool at the hotel and then visited a very interesting religious pilgrimage site one evening in a nearby town called Kataragama. This small village is home to one of the three important religious pilgrimage sites in the country. What sets this one apart from the others is that it is a multi-faith site where Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims and even Christians arrive en masse regularly looking for divine assistance. Although there are ceremonies (called 'pujas') performed every night, the most important and consequently, busiest time, is in July or August when the annual Kataragama Festival is held. Every night of the year visitors can express their devotion to Kataragama, the Buddhist and Hindu God. What we didn't see when we visited were the extreme acts of devotion that some pilgrims display/endure such as crawling long distances to the main complex of temples and shrines, walking on burning coals, or acts of self-mutilation including piercing cheeks, tongues and back skin with skewers. Everyone who does these things believes that God will protect them from the pain. In a way we were sad to miss such displays but wonder whether it wasn't for the best not knowing how the kids would have reacted to such displays. Later, they had the opportunity to watch a short video clip of the self-mutilation seen there by our hotel owner that made us all squirm a little.
What we did see at the site that day we went were:
1. Pilgrims lining up to offer plates of fruit to their God. Lining the streets outside the pilgrimage site were what seemed like 100's of vendors selling plates of beautifully arranged fruit;
 |
| Plates of fruit a' plenty |
 |
| A line up of worshipers taking their fruit offerings into the temple. Our hotel owner told us that he did this one night, and asked for help with his business, and since then business has improved. |
2. Pilgrims bathing in the adjacent river to get clean before making the final approach to the temples and shrines;
 |
| We are watching from the bridge as people get clean before entering the complex |
3.
Pilgrims standing and praying, one at a time, in front of two small shrines each containing a large stone and a symbol of their God. Standing in front of the stone the pilgrims held a burning coconut above their heads while praying. When finished they would smash the coconut down onto the rock hoping for it to break. If it didn't break they might be cursed with bad luck;
 |
| Holding the burning coconut up high and praying before smashing it in the cage |
4. An elephant in shackles and chains being offered fruit and used as a prop for pilgrims to circle underneath a number of times in some sort of mini-ritual;
 |
| This type of elephant has natural coloring of pink ear tips and trunk - it was enjoying the fruit but maybe not the chains? |
5. An elephant taking part in a ceremonial procession and being guided to kneel in front of the temple housing images of the Hindu God Ganesh (darn, it happened so fast we didn't get a photo!);
6. Almost every pilgrim walking to, from, and around the temples was wearing white;
 |
| A lot of white was worn |
7. Small, brightly lit shrines with neon lights lining the walkway to the temple complex;
8. Monkeys on roofs being shot at with sling shots to keep them from pestering pilgrims and to get them off the roofs and back into the trees;
 |
| A monkey clinging to an interesting part of the roofline |
9. On our way out, groups of very energetic and festive musicians marching towards the temple complex followed by processions of dancing devotees (strangely evoking pied piper imagery).
We only spent about 3 hours in Kataragama but it left a really strong impression on us and was one of the more interesting things we saw in Sri Lanka.
 |
| We saw this woman walking on our way into the reserve - Pali knew her, he casually said, "she works here, she's walking to work" - what a beautiful way to walk to work! |
 |
| Pali pointing out how cinnamon is harvested - he was so enthusiastic and knowledgeable! |
 |
| A curious gecko checking us out |
 |
| Lucas sporting a live centipede bracelet to add to his collection |
 |
| that was a refreshing waterfall! |
 |
| The gorgeous green tree snake |
It was a fun day and unique experience to learn about the various uses of the many plants Pali pointed out along the paths, and we saw some cool animals too,
Our final stop in Sri Lanka was Galle, a Dutch fort town with colonial architecture and an interesting history. We enjoyed walking along the ocean on the old Fort wall and wandering through the old town.
 |
| We took a walk along the old fort wall. You can see the lighthouse in the background |
 |
Each of these baskets contained a snake. We watched him charm this python...
|
 |
| then took turns having a cuddle with this boa - Maya wasn't too comfortable! |
On our last afternoon in Sri Lanka we caught our final bus to Colombo then and flew off to Doha en route to South Africa. We ended up spending the night in the Doha airport (it had to happen at some point on this trip!) which was a beautiful airport and had sleeping lounges available for each gender - it was freezing cold in there but we managed to get enough sleep to get us to South Africa!
Sri Lanka Highlights:
Kim:
Riding the trains and buses with the locals
The lush green countryside and flowering plants and trees growing everywhere
The friendly people
The tea
Lucas:
Surfing
Good tea
Riding in the doorways of trains
Maya:
The fun trains (most of the time!)
The delicious tea
Friendly people
The baby turtles
Chris:
Kataragama - a really interesting and captivating place that Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus and even Christians make their way to each year to seek divine assistance
Riding the trains through the central highlands in much the same way they've been ridden for decades - overcrowded and sitting in the doorways
Beautiful scenery of the central highlands including the extensive and lush tea plantations
Watching Lucas and Maya learn to surf
Comments
Post a Comment