TravelStream™ news feed for member salcat on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/salcat en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sat, 31 May 2008 01:49:29 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/salcat/1/1211817600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/salcat/1/1211817600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/salcat/1/1211817600/tpod.html Sat, 31 May 2008 01:49:29 -0400 Sri Lanka 2008

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Yala National Park, Sri Lanka

Coming Soon!
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Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka

Vesak Poya Vesak Poya is the most important of the Poya days because it commemorates the birth, enlightenment and death of Buddha. It is a 2 day holiday but because it was tagged on to the weekend, we had the 4 days off together so we hit the Ancient Cities. Over the Vesak period there are paper and bamboo lanterns and fairy lights hung up everywhere and it is really pretty. Poya days are also "dry" days and it is generally not possible to buy alcohol, although some of the touristy guesthouses and hotels will discretely sell you a beer if there aren't many SL's around. The Ancient Cities The Ancient Cities are a bit of a trek from Tangalle so really we needed a long weekend to do them justice. They are North of the hill country in one of the driest parts of the country and were the original centre of Sri Lankan civilisation. This area is often known as the cultural triangle with the main 3 triangle points being Kandy, Polonnaruwa and Anuradhapura. Dambulla Cave Temples The Dambulla caves date back to the 1st century BC as a place of worship and are known to be where King Valagamba took refuge. They are also referred to as the Royal Rock Temple. And there are 5 separate caves which contain about 150 Buddha images. At the bottom of the hill there is a huge golden Buddha and monster looking thing which is known as the Golden Temple. In the largest and most impressive of the caves there is a vessel which collects water that constantly drips from the ceiling of the cave and is used for sacred rituals. Polonnaruwa Polonnaruwa is a former Royal capital city and is nearly 1000 years old which is a lot younger than Anuradhapura. The ruins are therefore in much better condition and because they are closer in proximity a lot easier to explore. We rented out bicycles because it is the best way to get around the paths and maximise our time in each place. We cycled for a couple of hours early morning before breakfast to try and beat the heat, so we didn't have time to go round them all but we did the main ones - the Royal Palace Group and the Quadrangle which was pretty spectacular. After breakfast we went to the archaeological Museum which was interesting because it had scale models of what the ruined buildings would have looked like. We then got Lesley our driver to drive us to the sites that we didn't make it to on the bikes and the most impressive of these was Gal Vihara which is 4 Buddha images carved out of one long slab of granite and it is huge - the standing Buddha is 7m tall and the reclining one is 14m long and there are also 2 smaller seated Buddha's. The grain of the stone through the images is really pretty, but unfortunately you can't fit them in to one photograph because of the size.
Sigiriya Sigiriya is probably one of the most well-known tourist attractions in Sri Lanka. It is one of the typical brochure shots and is really quite spectacular because it a 200m outcrop of rock (the inner plug of an ancient volvcano which is made of tougher rock than the outer part which long eroded away) in the middle of a flat dry plain. There are pretty water gardens on the lead up to the base of the rock and on the top there is the ruins of an old palace which was used by a rebelling royal Kassapa who heard that his brother was heir to the throne due to their different mothers connections and moved here as a refuge. The climb of the rock and a little look around then descent took around 1.5 hours. It is quite a steep climb and would certainly not be good if you suffered from a fear of heights because in some sections you are literally stepping up tiny mental steps that seem to be welded somehow to the side of the cliff face. Some of these steps have little holes in them and are quite worn and I don't really know how they know that they are still safe (SL health and safety is quite different - not sure they have a standard!) There is a section that takes along a mirror wall (very polished shiny granite wall) and up a spiral staircase to the cave with the Sigiriya damsels paintings which are quite iconic paintings in Sri Lanka. They are quite unusual because wherever you go there are references and paintings of religious nature so to have young, busty ladies is considered quite something and funnily enough people seem to dwell on it! About half way up is the lion platform, Sigiriya is often referred to as Lion Rock. On the lion platform are 2 massive lion paws at either side of the staircase making the way to the summit. The paws are all that remains of a massive statue. Lions were a very important emblem of Sinhalese Royalty The view from the top is really amazing because it is the highest point for miles in each direction. We went down a slightly different route through some caves and by Cobra Hood rock. Anuradhapura Anuradhapura was the most important of the Sri Lankan Royal capitals and the country was ruled from here for over 1000 years. However, because it was so long ago (it became capital in 380 BC), the ruins are a lot more "ruined" than Polonnaruwa which is much younger in the ancient stakes. We visited Polonnaruwa first, so in comparison it just doesn't seem as impressive to the novice eye, but I'm sure to the archaelogical experts among us there would be a lot more value and appreciation of Anuradhapura's smaller scale ruins. Everything is a lot more spread out as well and I was surprised at how the new parts of the city are quite built up around the ruins, so it was actually harder to find them. At Polonnaruwa they are more clustered together and quite seperate from the new parts of town. We hired out bikes again, although this time they were a bit more rickety, with no gears and little shopping baskets on the front. I think we had been quite spoilt before with our quite modern mountain bikes with jazzy gears. Luckily, both places are pretty much on the flat anyhow so didn't pose too much trauma. We were on the bikes here for about 6 hours on and off throughout the day and of course it was an extremely hot day so from that point of view - it was tough going. Cycling in the midday sun really wears you out. We were Aduradhapura on Poya Day so there were crowds of people there and the majority congregate at the Sri Maha Bodhi (Sacred Bodhi Tree) This tree was grown by a cutting brought from India by Princess Sangamitta who is the sister of Mahinda and it was Mahinda who introduced Buddha's teachings to Sri Lanka. It is said to be the oldest historically authenticated tree in the world and has been tended uninterrupted by guardians for over 2000 years. I didn't think it looked to be a very old tree, but I am no tree expert! There are many Dagobas in Anuradhapura and they are huge. A lot of people spend the whole Poya day praying at the Sri Maha Bodhi or beside one of the big Dagobas, dressed in white and they take little picnics with them and stay till the sun goes down. Aukana BuddhaOn the way back to Colombo, we visited the Aukana Buddha, which is a lovely 12m high rock scuplted Buddha. It was made in the same period as the Gal Vihara in Pollonaruwa and is a really beautiful statue. Unlike the majority of statues on the island which are carved in "Abhaya Mudra" (Have no fear), the Aukana statue is in the "Asisa Mudra", the blessing position, with the right hand turned sideways. The best time to see it is at sunrise and we did have the intention momentarily, but it is a considerable drive of a couple of hours from where we were staying so really would have meant a 4am departure - looked just fine mid morning. It was a really great way to spend the holiday weekend and although a very long trek home for me in the South - (took me 13 hrs), was definately well worth it. I have definately had much temple and Buddha exposure this wkend - you can never see enough Buddha's though!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/salcat/1/1210867200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/salcat/1/1210867200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/salcat/1/1210867200/tpod.html Thu, 22 May 2008 07:30:03 -0400 Sri Lanka 2008

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Hatton, Hatton, Sri Lanka

Adam's Peak Adam's Peak (Sri Pada) is Sri Lanka's 5th highest peak in the at 2243m, but it is one of the most celebrated places of pilgrimage. Every religion seems to have their own reasons to worship this mountain: -
Buddhist: - there is a depression at the top which is claimed to be the sacred footprint - of Buddha himself.
Muslim: - they claim the footprint is that of Adam, who first set foot on earth and had to stand on one leg in pentinence until his sins were forgiven. Hindu: - they claim the footprint was created by Shiva.
Christian: - the colonial Portuguese claimed that the footprint belonged to St Thomas, the founder of the religion in India. Generally, it is essentially considered a Buddhist place of worship and has been a place of pilgrimage for over a thousand years. Pilgrimage season starts on Durutha poya day which falls in January time - this poya marks the first of Buddha's 3 legendary visits to Sri Lanka. The season ends at Vesak poya in May, which is the most important poya day celebrating 3 main events - Buddha's birth, enlightenment and death. During the season thousands climb the mountain and the trail is illuminated with little tea and rotti shops all the way up. We climbed it by night leaving at 1.30am so that we would be up by sunrise. So I bused it up to Colombo to meet in with the others and we got a driver to take us to Dalhousie which is where you start the climb. We had booked a room to try and get a few hours sleep before the climb but didn't really get much sleep. The climb is a steep 7km and it looks quite daunting from the bottom. I had been told by others that it was practically steps the whole way up and it is - many steps that are very steep! We paced it quite nicely to get up in plenty of time for sunrise allowing tea stops en route. It is very cold and windy at the top - the first time I have had to wear a jumper and a jacket since I have been here as well as my walking boots. The crazy Sri Lankans climb up in their shorts and t-shirts and flipflops or bare feet so when they get to the top they look completely miserable with chattering teeth. They did find all of us in our proper climbing attire highly entertaining though, but we were warm and dry! It is really quite dangerous seeing some of them climbing in their bare feet up and down these really steep steps carrying children on their shoulders or supporting their grandmother who can barely walk because quite often there is no railing to hold on to and you really have to concentrate on your footing. A lot of families do the climb over a couple of days because there are several shelters for camping out in - which looked really uncomfortable and cold. As well as the footprint at the top and a couple of temples and shrines, there is a bell for pilgrims to ring and you ring this bell for every successful ascent of the mountain you have made. When we were there a lady who looked at a guess about 50 proudly rang the bell 32 times!! The quite unfortunate thing for us was that it had been a really clear night all of the way up to the top and it clouded over just as it started to get light. As the sun started to rise, the resident Adam's Peak monks started drumming and there were breaks in the clouds. Looking down at the surrounding countryside was pretty spectacular and the way the clouds clung around the lower hills. Due to the cloud, it wasn't possible to see the shadow which lasts for about 20 mins on a clear sunrise, which is known as a Buddhist mystery because although the peak is quite an irregular shape, the shadow appears as a perfect triangular shape. After the sunrise, we started to make the descent, which due to the steep, continual downward stepping motion makes your legs turn to jelly. It wasn't really painful, more just worrying because your legs started to feel quite useless and like they would buckle under you quite easily so you just had to really concentrate on making them work. Although I was obviously disappointed that it hadn't been a clear sunrise, I really enjoyed the climb. It was certainly the first time I have been able to buy a cup of tea ten minutes from a summit before which was very pleasant. The crazy guys that run the tea shops near the top must have legs of steel bringing their supplies up!
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Negombo, Negombo, Sri Lanka

Mulkirigala There are quite a few interesting things to see in the Tangalle area and one of these is rock temples at Mulkirigala which is apparently like a mini version and cross between the Ancient cities sites of Dambulla and Sigirya. I am planning to do the Ancient cities "Golden Triangle" during Vesak Poya wkend in mid May so I will see the more well known, bigger attractions then, but is quite nice to see this less visited one particularly because it is so close to where I live - only about 16km away. There are a series of caves where the walls and roof of the cave itself have been carved and decorated and date back to the third century BC. We went to the top of the rock where we 4 young visiting Monks from the Galle area were who were very obliging for us to take a photo. This was quite welcome because it can be considered insulting to take a photo of a Monk and is something I tend to not do in case I offend, but our guide spoke to them and they were happy to pose. From the top of the rock you got an amazing 360º view including the coast and it was a lovely clear day. It is quite interesting because at these type of attractions where not many tourists visit, they are so not geared up on a health and safety point of view - ie no safety barrier and actually really quite dangerous when you see where you are sitting. Our guide mentioned when we were at the top about a young SL guy who recently fell off and got killed after sitting on the top of the rock drinking arrack which is not a good combination. Wewurukannala at Dickwella At Dickwella, SL's largest seated Buddha is located, which is 50m high and was constructed in the 1960s. You can walk up inside through lots of rooms which feature a cartoon strip of Buddhist life which is used for teaching children and shows some disturbing images of punishments which will happen if you do wrong. When you get to the top, you can actually look in to the inside of the Buddha head in which a little shrine has been made. While you are doing this a little man "keeper of the big Buddha" puts his hand on your head and chants a blessing (for a tip of course). I had read the rough guide before I got here and it describes the flame of wisdom on the Buddha's head as looking like a huge dollop of icecream. It is actually a very good description and because of the bright colours used - all I could see was a Mr Whippy cone . Hoo-Maniya Blowhole About 7km from Tangalle there is a blowhole - Hoo-Maniya which is named after the "hoo" boom noise it makes just before it sprouts water. The blowhole is about 20m deep and a metre wide underneath the rock so when the sea is a bit choppier it can be quite impressive. The monsoon season has just started (runs May to Sept) which is the best time to see it. Although I think it gets more impressive around June time when the monsoon is in full flow, we still got a number of good spouts. BodyBoarding at Goyambokka I spent a weekend staying at Goyambokka back at New Year time and it is a great place for body boarding. The waves can be pretty rough and you do get quite a thrashing around, but the good thing about it is there is no shelf, so even if you get totally swept over by a powerful wave, you know you are safe because all you need to do is stand up! The friendly guys at the Rocky Point Hotel don't mind us borrowing their body boards so have been there a couple of times to catch a bit of surf in the cheaters way. It is also a really secluded beach so you get peace and quiet from the likes of beach traders etc. Dondra Head - Southern-Most Point of SL I always find there is something about being at the biggest this and the most Western that blah blah, so of course had to visit the Southern-most point of SL just to say I had done it! There is a big lighthouse there which you can climb but decided just to wander around the base. When you look South, there is nothing but Sea between you and Antarctica which is over 10,000 miles away, which is quite an interesting thought when you imagine how cold it will be away down there. You can also understand why the sea can be so rough because there is nothing to break its path! Ambalangoda - Masks
Ambalangoda is between Matara and Colombo, so not too far North from Galle. It is the main production centre for the wooden masks that were originally worn by performers in exorcism ceremonies and kolam dances. Many Sri Lankans still believe that diseases and illness can be caused by demons and there is a devil dance (which is like an exorcism ceremony) which summon the demons who are causing a person to be sick, make offerings to them and request that they leave their victim in peace. There are different groups of demons, which are responsible for certain diseases, each represented by a different mask (35 different masks) and some of them are pretty hideous looking. There is also a single massive medicine mask which is a combination of all 35 illness/disease masks. Kolam and folk dance masks are a bit more light-hearted and more pleasant to look at and tend to be of kings, queens, animals and village characters. They were used in a more theatrical way to tell traditional historical folk tales. We went to the Ambalangoda Mask Museum and got a run down of the history of the art of mask making and the different dancing and then went to watch the mask carvers at work. Bentota Sea Turtles Project There are several turtle hatcheries around the Kosgoda area which is where a lot of turtles come to lay their eggs, but also unfortunately an area where there are a lot of poachers and predators and therefore a lot of eggs are eaten or destroyed. These hatcheries are different from the Rekawa project near Tangalle because if the eggs got left where they are laid, they would be extremely unlikely to survive, so the hatcheries rebury the eggs in a secure environment and after they hatch keep them in holding tanks until they are more likely to survive and release them to sea at night time.
The interesting thing about turtles is that the few female turtles that survive to maturity will return to the same spot 15 years later to lay their own eggs. I really love turtles and you got to hold the day old baby's which were just gorgeous and there were hundreds of them - it is really sad to think that the majority of them won't survive. They had other tanks of turtles at various stages which we got to hold and they also had an albino turtle which are extremely rare. The albino turtle had a very sensitive shell because it is softer than a normal turtles and if you touch the top, it tickles so would wriggle away from you - very cute.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/salcat/1/1209798420/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/salcat/1/1209798420/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/salcat/1/1209798420/tpod.html Thu, 15 May 2008 10:56:27 -0400 Sri Lanka 2008

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Nuwara Eliya, Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka

Kandy Re-visited
En Route to N Eliya, we stayed a night at Kandy and had dinner at Helga's Folly which is a real wacky hotel on the hill - kind of a cross between Alice and Wonderland and a dream. It is just full of the most over the top, eccentric furnishings, with mad colours and pictures, christmas bobbles and sparkly things beside very gothic candleabras and a bathroom covered in pages from hello magazine. The pictures I took don't do justice so best to have a look at the website which also plays a tune to you. http://www.helgasfolly.com/ The Stereophonics stayed there and were inspired so wrote a song about it called "Madame Helga". The interesting thing is - I spoke to the Madame on the telephone after our meal - was all quite surreal, the little waiter asked me if I wanted to speak to her and I thought he was going to fetch her. Then he picked up the phone and I had a conversation with her - she was asking me where I was from and if I enjoyed my visit etc, and that she would have come down but she has a bad back - all in an extremely posh English accent. Her picture is on the website too - very posh looking, slightly strange lady with big glasses. On the way to N Eliya, we went in past the Kandy Botanic Gardens which were very pretty for a stroll in the sunshine. Horton Plains and World's End
Horton Plains National Park is situated half way between Nuwara Eliya and Haputale in the hill country. We stayed in Nuwara Eliya which is a good hours drive away on a very steep windy potholed road which made me feel quite sick first thing in the morning. We set off at 6 to get walking just after 7 because the view from World's End tends to mist over at about 10. The altitude is over 2000m so the air is very thin and you feel a little bit out of breath when walking. The main circular trail is 9km which we followed and it is quite different scenery you go through from quite dense forest to rocky paths then open plains. There are gorgeous views of the surrounding hills en route. The first main stopping point is mini World's End which is obviously a smaller version of the spectacular World's End and in a way I thought a little better because you got a more side on view of World's End. World's End "proper" is 2140m and the cliff plunges almost vertically from here for 825m. On a really clear day you can see the Southern Coast - but it wasn't quite clear enough when we were there. World's End is literally the edge of the hill country and it is quite interesting to see the dramatic difference between it and the rest of the island. SL really is generally quite flat except for this mound of Hill Country in the middle. The change in temperature is pretty dramatic too. Here, it is a bit more like UK temperatures with a chill in the evening, although it is generally hotter during the day. Last night I needed no mosquito net and a blanket, yet normally down in Tangalle, I rely on my mosquito net so I don't get eaten alive and find it hard to sleep with a top sheet a lot of the time. Just past World's End there is a further platform which apparently around 10 young couples have commited suicide together - think something to do with religion and SL traditional beliefs. We were just in time to admire the view for about 15 mins when a thick mist came in and you couldn't really see a thing - so was all very lucky. Wasn't quite so lucky for the European family we passed further down the path on their way to World's End!! We then continued round the circular route to Baker Falls which are pretty waterfalls over the rocks. The falls are named after Samuel Baker who introduced English style agriculture to the area, which is quite clearly seen with lots of vegetable allotments growing root vegetables. After Baker Falls there was a couple of km before we returned to the starting point at the visitor centre. Horton Plains is the only national park in SL that you are allowed to go un-accompanied and on foot because there are not the same dangers of lurking animals like elephants. There are apparently still leopards that roam in the area but the chances of seeing one are very slim and we didn't. In 2 weeks time I am off to Yala National Park which is the biggest and best in SL - so I am holding out for leopard spotting there!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/salcat/1/1209657600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/salcat/1/1209657600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/salcat/1/1209657600/tpod.html Tue, 13 May 2008 02:24:07 -0400 Sri Lanka 2008

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Tangalla, Tangalla, Sri Lanka

Cookery Classes I have started going to Sri Lankan cookery classes during the week. My cookery teacher Rohitha, runs an internet café in Tangalle. He is quite an interesting guy and likes to tell his stories, his dramatic roof top escape from the tsunami was particularly animated and intriguing. His café is on the way to the main beach and is quite a nice place to hang out and have a juice. He has a very Western outlook in comparison to a lot of Sri Lankan's in that he aims to provide the type of things that would really appeal - ie he is the only place in town with a coffee filter machine so I can have a proper coffee. Although it is still a bit off the mark in the coffee stakes, it is still miles better than the grey coloured Sri Lankan coffee with milk powder that you tend to get. He also spent a month in France which is a very big thing for the average Sri Lanka because most only dream of making it to the West. He is very good friends with a French business man who was a regular visitor to Tangalle and who suffered the loss of his young daughter in the Tsunami. Rohitha assisted with a rehabilitation and rebuild programme run by this French guy in the surrounding area of the main Tangalle beach. The French guy wrote a book about his loss and the impact of the Tsunami on the Tangalle area - unfortunately it is only in French because I would have been very interested to read it, and Rohitha featured throughout the book due to his commitment and assistance. As a result of this involvement, he was invited to spend a month in France and as a man in the hospitality industry, spent a lot of time drinking coffee, wine and eating continental food. I had been very keen to learn how to cook SL curry while here because it really is so tasty - without a doubt I am going to miss it badly when I go. It makes you realise that the greasy, brightly coloured curry in the UK really is not all that! SL curry is generally pretty hot and coconut milk based and I eat it twice a day and thought I would get sick of it - but not so far! Was finding it difficult to handle first thing in the morning and prefer just to have the amazing fruit platter that Sue gives me at the Chalets. The secret really is in the spices and the coconut milk, and they will be the more difficult things to get back home, they are just so available and fresh here. I have been shown how to fry up and grind the fresh spices and I will prob need to substitute some things for dried versions which will not quite be the same. (and this is my backup excuse for when I don't quite master the technique!) The first thing I learnt was dahl, pol sambol and bringol mogul which are 3 pretty common dishes and 3 of my favourites. A lot of the further curries I have learnt, jack fruit, sweet potato, pumpkin, beans, lady fingers and mango are pretty similar in technique which is pretty good and they are not as complicated as I thought they would be. Meat curries tend to be the same process as well. I have also learnt some "bites" to serve as snacks - our equivalent of nibbles for when you have a beer. Devilled dishes are very tasty too, spicy but without the coconut base, so more Chinese type style and I have learnt them too. I am going to purchase a coconut scraper before I go home because it is vital for prep of the coconut flesh for the milk.

Turtle Night Watch, Rekawa One of the other CWW volunteers Louise works for an environmental NGO based in Colombo. She has been involved in various field trips around Sri Lanka and one of them was with the zoology department from the university who have connections with the night watch turtle conservation project (TCP) in Rekawa, which is about 6km from Tangalle (just beside Netolpitiya where I used to live) So, there were 7 of us and about 50 zoology students went turtle watching and before hand we went on the 2km nature trail way down to the beach. This consisted of wading through a couple of rivers and looking out for bats and other creatures with our head torches on - we did see a couple. When we got down to the beach, one of the TCP staff told us there were 5 green turtles on the beach. Green turtles are the most common species in SL, but there are 5 present in Sri Lanka, Green, Leatherback, Loggerhead, Olive Ridley and Hawksbill. It takes them about an hour to come onshore and select the area for laying eggs and then another hour to dig the egg pit and they can't be disturbed during this time because if they are not happy, they will just return to the sea and come ashore another day. Once they have started laying eggs, they go into a trance and it is possible to go and watch and be in touching distance of them. Luckily, when we arrived one of the turtles had gone through the time consuming process of digging her egg pit and had started laying her eggs, so we didn't have to hang around too much for this. They lay approx 70-80 eggs which look like ping pong balls, then they cover them up with sand which takes and head back to the sea once they are happy. Each turtle is tagged so they can monitor how often they come back to lay eggs and the one we watched already had a tag and had layed eggs several times in Rekawa before. They are also measured - this one was 112cm so pretty big, and their health checked for any visible probs. Turtles are not really designed for on land, so it is quite a laborious process for them and you just want to help her cover them up so she can get on her way. The TCP believe in leaving the eggs where they are buried to leave them to hatch and enter the water themselves. Many other turtle projects dig up the eggs after the mother returns to sea and take them to a hatchery and release them once they are more likely to survive predators and poachers. However, TCP patrol the beach and protect them in the natural environment as well as providing education and research. Website is www.tcpsrilanka.org

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Batticaloa, Sri Lanka

Goyambokka Goyanbokka is about 3km out of Tangalle on the Matara road. The Chalets were closing completely for the New Year week because the owner was going away. I was away for most of the week anyway, but for the couple of nights I was in the Tangalle area, I went to stay in Goyambokka where another volunteer Mark has been staying and it was also his last weekend in SL. I was possibly going to go away for a couple of days but the transport grinds to a halt over the New Year period and I would possibly have got stuck along the coast and wouldn't have got back to Netolpitya for the celebration on Sunday. Goyambokka has a lovely little beach which is good for body boarding. I stayed at the Butterfly Cabanas and we learnt how to play Carram which is a SL board game where you flick draught pieces into pockets by knocking them off each other kind of like you are playing pool - quite tricky, but was getting the hang of it.
Aurudu (New Year) Preparation I went on Friday morning to do my New Years shopping. We took a Sri Lankan guy with us that we know to keep us right on what to buy for people. Everybody tends to exchange clothes as gifts, a sarong for the guys, a sari or jazzy top for ladies and a clothing set for kids and I wanted to buy for Sena and his family because I was going to spend New Year there and then go with them to visit relatives for a few days. I decided to break the mould and get toys for the kids and got a sarong for Sena and a fancy top for Mallika. The clothes shops in Tangalle were totally packed out with everyone buying their gifts. All along the street on the main entrance point to Tangalle there were little stalls set up selling clay pots - for preparing the milk for Kiri Bath (coconut-milk rice) and fire crackers. This is the first thing that every Sri Lankan eats when it is the auspicious time on New Year (astrologically determined time when the New Year is celebrated). It is a symbol of life and fertility and the Buddha is said to have got energy from eating kiri bath and achieve nirvana. It is believed that everyone has to purchase and use a new pot religiously each year for the preparation because it would not be good luck for the new year ahead to use an old pot - everything is a new start. A Sri Lankan was telling me that their mother has passed away a couple of months earlier. When somebody passes away in your family then you abstain from celebrating the new year that year, so when everybody else in the country are carrying out the new year rituals and family celebrations, you do nothing out of respect.
Auruda Celebration I went out to Netolpitya at around 6 on Sunday evening. Sri Lankan's very much believe in astrology and all the auspicious times to do different rituals are determined in this way. This is used on an everyday basis to determine times for going places, as well as matching up people for marriage and to determine the order of events and times for things to happen at New Year. If these times are not adhered to then it would be considered very bad luck. The actual time for New Year is determined by a leading government astrologer (because I did ask how everyone would know what is the actual definite time to adhere to) This is broadcasted by television on the Sunday morning so that everyone is clear and aware of when this time is and they prepare and organise things accordingly. This year from 12.24 everyone had to fast until the auspicious time (New Year bells) which was at about 20.08. It was quite difficult for me to get transport out to Sena's at 6pm because during fasting time everyone stops and either goes to temple or quietly spend time indoors with family. When I got to Sena's house, they had already lit the hearth and the pot of milk was on. Just after 8 we all gathered at the table facing a South direction and Sena lit an oil lamp. At exactly 8 minutes past you could hear fire crackers going off everywhere and we ate our kiri bath with chilli paste. After eating, Sena carried out money transactions with all the members of the family by giving us 105RS on a leaf and carrying out a blessing. This ensures good money fortune for the year ahead.
Siyambulanduwa On Monday I went with Sena's and his family to visit his mother's house and siblings up in Siyamulanduwa which is near Moneragala, about 5 hours North East of Tangalle. It is a very bad road once you get up to the bottom of the hill country so although the distance is not far, it takes a long time. The days following New Year are spent visiting friends and relatives, exchanging gifts and eating lots. Where they live is quite a rural area so I knew that English was going to be limited and so would mod cons. Sena has 8 brothers and sisters and they all have kids so it was quite overwhelming to start with when we first arrived because they were really excited about meeting the foreigner but because they couldn't really speak to me so was quite full on with lots of giggling and loud Sinhala chattering. After they had got over the initial arrival, things calmed down a bit and I felt a lot more comfortable with the situation. I spent a lot of time playing with the children and although a large part of all the ladies was taken up with preparing the next meal for everyone, there were a lot of playing family games which was really fun and nice to see because you could tell everyone was really enjoying themselves. The games were all really simple but fun like marbles, musical chairs, eye of the elephant (which was similar to pin the tail on the donkey but was draw the eye on the elephant), tug-o-war, musical hat (you had to stand in a circle and pass a hat from one head to the next and if the hat was on your head when the music stopped you were out). We also played cricket and badminton. We would have variations of rice and curry for breakfast lunch and dinner and in between lots of sweet coconut tray bakes and various sweet pastries. It reminded a lot of what it was like in Britain years ago before computers and fancy gadgets/toys. It was really nice to see everyone having such a fun time in such a simple way as a big family. Fire crackers and rockets are let off left right and centre by some very young kids and their parents stand watching and laughing as they light them in a haphazard way and they fire into the air at a dodgy angle!! The water that is used for drinking and washing is rain water taken from a well that has a mosquito mesh over it. There are no flush toilets and when I saw the shower facility at Sena's mother - a shower head in the middle of the garden with no curtain around it I was a bit concerned about how I could manoeuvre things. They all got washed under their sarongs in full view, but when they asked me if I wanted to use the enclosed shower facility at Sena's sisters, 2 doors up the road, I jumped at the chance! On Thursday morning we headed back to Tangalle and although it was a lovely experience, I think I am all New Yeared out!


]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/salcat/1/1207756800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/salcat/1/1207756800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/salcat/1/1207756800/tpod.html Thu, 10 Apr 2008 03:30:39 -0400 Sri Lanka 2008

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Unawatuna, Sri Lanka

Living Arrangements
The internet has been down for a week because the modem was blown by a thunder and lightening storm. I spent last week staying in a guest house the Seaside on Medaketiya beach in Tangalle. My family have been decorating for the SL New Year which is on the 13th April and they had are getting the floors pulled up and tiles put down as well painting all the walls, so it was easier to move out for the week. On Sunday I moved in to my new place the Chalet, which is on the Matara Road at the other end of Tangalle. Medaketiya is the main, largest beach in Tangalle but is very exposed and was very damaged by the tsunami. There are quite a lot of locals hang out at night on the beach drinking arrack which is the local tipple (coconut based and quite rummy tasting - nice with ginger beer and lime!). It is very dark at night because there are no street lights so it is not the best area for me to be living long term. The area I have moved into in the Chalets is in a more touristy area of Tangalle although there aren't any tourists just now! It is a small, sheltered bay that I stay in and the Chalets is a wooden restaurant on stilts and you go down the stairs and onto the beach where there are palm trees and hammocks. There are 3 rooms round the side with a little balcony and it is a really pretty little view. It is kind of the vision I have imagined and hoped when I knew I was coming to Tangalle in the first place - because I wanted to live on the beach, but I didn't actually realise until I came over that I would be staying in Netolpitya as opposed to Tangalle. The owner Sue is quite over-protective and keeps telling me that I am a member of her family now! So the last couple of weeks have been a bit disruptive on the accommodation front but that should be things sorted out now.
Unawatuna
The last couple of weeks have been a bit of a beach fest, which is one of the major benefits of being based in the middle of the Southern province of SL and the beaches really are gorgeous. I spent the weekend of the 28th and 29th at Unawatuna which is a few miles South of Galle and one of the more happening beaches. It is the most Western I have felt so far and is where a lot of people go on holiday which is quite obvious from the amount of bars, restaurants and accommodation options. One of the CWW volunteers was heading back to the UK so was having a leaving do in the Happy Banana and it played the kind of music and had the vibe that you would imagine with a name like that, but was quite an amusing night. Spent the rest of the weekend swimming and relaxing on the beach, which was really nice. The sea is so nice to swim in - so warm. Due to the touristy nature of this beach there are a lot of Sri Lankan beach sellers which in a way is quite good because you can buy sarongs and tops etc for around £1 but they get a bit annoying after a while when they insist on showing you everything in their bags after you have already bought something.
Mala's House in Middeniya
Mala is the finance and admin girl in CreativeAction and she is very sweet and has been very helpful to me since I have been here. She invited me to go and stay at her house for a night so I could meet her parent's and see the area where she lives. Middeniya is a very rural area about an hour North of Tangalle. Her parents making a living through cultivation and they have a huge garden which they grow pineapples, bananas, coconuts and loads of different flowers and plants which they then sell at the local market. We passed water pumps in the village because a lot of the houses don't have running water in that area, but Mala's house does - just outside shower and toilet facilities. I forgot to bring my mosquito net and had run out of repellent so slept with my sarong round my head like a mummy because I was paranoid about something going in my mouth when sleeping.
Mirissa and Weligama Bay Went to Mirissa this weekend which is another beach town but not as commercialised as Unawatuna. The beach is quite secluded and there are just a couple of beach side cafes with some SL surfer dudes playing Bob Marley tunes. The waves here are a lot rougher and more geared for surfing. Did some body boarding which was a bit of a work out. Went for a dive on Sunday in Weligama Bay with a couple of other volunteers. It was quite an easy dive that we did because I hadn't been for 2 years and Louise hadn't been for about 9 or 10 years and wanted to get back into the swing of things gently. The PADI instructor is a German guy who has lived out in SL for 16 years and is a friend of my families who put me in touch with him. We didn't see any turtles which I was a bit disappointed about considering there are so many in the turtle hatchery's and conservation places along the South Coast, but there were lots of really pretty fish and coral. Actually remembered more than I imagined I would and will possibly get in another dive before the end of season (end of April/start of May when the monsoon weather starts and the sea gets pretty rough).
Book Launch in Colombo
Went to a book launch in Colombo on the 3rd April. We did it as a day trip which is a long way to go from Tangalle because by the time we picked everyone up and dropped them off the travel time was around 6.5 hours either way. The book launch was all in Sinhala too, although the book was in English! I also took the opportunity to go to the Indian Embassy to organise my Indian visa which was a bit of a time consuming process! This week is a short week because the office is closed for a week from the 10th to the 17th because the 12th and 13th is the Sinhala and Tamil New Year celebration time (Aurudu festival) It is a very auspicious event, and the actual time when they celebrate and eat the meal is determined by astrology. I still have to finalise plans for what I am doing, but need to do my New Year gift shopping on Friday and have been invited to celebrate with Sena and his family on Sunday itself then will probably head with them up country to the Monaragala area a few hours from Tangalle where Sena is from in SL. This is quite a rural area and we will stay with his parents and celebrate with them for a couple of days. So I anticipate it will be quite an interesting cultural weekend!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/salcat/1/1206720000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/salcat/1/1206720000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/salcat/1/1206720000/tpod.html Fri, 28 Mar 2008 05:37:02 -0400 Sri Lanka 2008

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Kandy, Sri Lanka

A lot of Sri Lankan's from the coast head to the hill country on their holidays because the climate and scenery are completely different. I had Thursday, Friday and Monday morning off work so was a perfect opportunity to head on my first trip to the hills. On Thursday morning, myself and Anne, CWW volunteer from the next town along from me Hambantota, headed up to Colombo to meet in with a couple of others. The trip to Colombo up the coast road is about 6 hours at that time of day. Then it was off to Kandy which is the capital of the hill country situated about 3 hours North East of Colombo.

Bancharada Bahawani
We headed down into the centre of Kandy for some dinner and the streets were packed out with a Hindu celebration going on - Bancharada Bahawani, which is a festival that happens once a year. The big Hindu temple was all lit up and everyone was queuing up to go and pray, then big lit up processions floats were going through the streets with men in sarongs handing out baskets of fruit and incence to everyone. Each of the floats represented something specific in Hindu beliefs and was very interesting to see because there was also a lot of dancing and people playing musical instruments etc. We went into the temple which is one of the biggest in SL and was really beautiful inside. There is quite a large population of Tamil's in the hill country - a lot of them brought to SL from India by the British to work on the tea estates. However the Tamil culture in the Hill Country is very different to that in the North of the country and the Hinduism practiced here is not as strict with less support for LTTE.

Pinnewala Elephant Orphanage
I know that there were elephants last weekend in the national park, but we couldn't resist going to the elephant orphanage at Pinnewala around an hour from Kandy. There are around 70 elephants and the youngest is 3 months old. The orphanage was set up in 1975 to look after orphaned and sick elephants and is now the world's largest collection of captive elephants. There is a 3 legged elephant Sama, who stood on a landmine up in the North of the country. Although the elephants are in captivity, they seem to be very well looked after and we arrived at bath time where they are all taken down to the river for 2 hours to hang out, and they also spend 2 hours down there in the afternoon too. Felt very like a tourist there - the largest number of Westerner's I have seen so far. They had really nice gift shops and they also made a lot of products from elephant dung paper called pachyderm paper. They showed us the process of making the paper and due to the fibres in the elephants diet, it makes very strong paper - and the dung is treated 1st to remove the bugs!! The dung is obviously quite readily available and environmentally friendly and the local people make cards and stationary, picture frames and photo albums etc and the money generated helps to buy medicine and food for the sick and orphaned elephants so is quite nice.

Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic - Kandy
On Friday afternoon, we went to the temple of the tooth which is Sri Lanka's most important Buddhist relic, housing a tooth of the Buddha. The tooth is said to have been snatched from the flames of the Buddha's funeral pyre in 543 BC, and was smuggled into SL, hidden in the hair of a princess. It was passed from pillar to post by the army and royalty over the years and eventually ended up in Kandy. Gradually over this period of time, the tooth became more and more important as a symbol of sovereignty and it was considered that whoever had custody of the tooth, had the right to rule the island. Most SL Buddhists believe that they must complete at least 1 pilgrimage to the temple in their life time and to worship at this temple is thought to improve one's karma immeasurably - hence my family wanted me to put in a coin for each of them. The day we visited was Poya day which meant it was exceptionally busy and probably the best day to get the atmosphere.
We went to the Art centre to watch a Kandyan dance show which also involved lots of musical instruments, acrobatics and fire walking. Unfortunately, it was very dark in the centre and my camera takes rubbish pictures in dark light. We then headed back to the temple of the tooth because at 7 every night they do a ritual where you walk past the casket containing the tooth to the beat of drums.

Nuwara Eliya and the Tea Country
On Saturday we headed to the Nuwara Eliya, which is the heart of the tea country. It is an old colonial town and has strong links to Britain from when a lot of British originally set up the tea plantations. We stayed in a hotel called the St Andrews (the 4 of us on our trip were Scottish) and they had a restaurant called the Old Course. We also came across a tea plantation called Inverness and one called Edinburgh. We were trying to get across the Scottish link of the hotel to the SL staff, but it was something they didn't really know much about. So we ended up having a bit of a Scottish/Sri Lankan evening with the staff with a bit of singing and dancing from both countries involved - so think they are a bit clearer now after our lesson! They also promised to raise a St Andrew's cross at the front of the hotel if we post one to them. I do really like the hill country - the roads are really windy and because of the cooler temperature, it is just really nice to drive around because the scenery is really pretty. From a distance, the hills really probably could be Scotland, but then up close they look a bit too green and tropical. It is quite amusing because although it is cool in SL terms, it is still like a really warm day in the UK without the humidity of when you are at coastal SL, but all the SL's in the hill country wear jackets and wooly hats while it is really still what you would call shorts and t-shirt weather. Much easier to sleep at nights as well because you didn't need to sleep under a mosquito net and it was generally cooler. We headed to Pedro's tea factory on Sunday, where you get shown around the factory and the plantation before having a sampling. We weren't allowed to take photos in the factory itself in case we stole the secrets (so they said). Was interesting to see the process from the tea plants that are picked through the drying process and then refinement. I would like to go to the tea auctions at some point in Colombo which are held on a Wednesday because it is supposed to be quite interesting to see. We were told about the job of a tea-taster and how it is a very sought after job in SL, although you have to abstain from eating chilli or drinking alcohol while you do this job so that you can truly taste the tea. - no chilli would be really hard for a SL person because its in everything. I was very put off in my first couple of weeks because of the amount of sugar that is considered the norm here for a cup of tea, but I have to say I am now starting to aquire a taste for it - I think probably because the coffee here is rank and they just don't do lattes etc.

Ella
Ella is a quaint little village located in a valley looking straight through Ella Gap to the plain which is nearly 1000m below, so just at the edge of the hill country. You can apparently see the Great Basses lighthouse on the South coast on a clear day which is a good 3.5 hr drive away, but it was quite misty when we were there. On the way to Ella and all round the hill country there are little stalls selling all sorts of things from fruit and vegetables, sweets, spices, toys and handicrafts so we had a potter at these en route. The place we stayed in Ella was the highest point at the top of the village to get a good view in the morning. I got up for the sun rise at 6, although was not the best sunrise, but still really pretty. We sat and ate breakfast on the balcony looking down on Ella Gap, which was really nice. Then it was time to head back down the coast to Tangalle.

My Work
Work this week has been really good. I have made some good progress with sorting out the proposal format and tying this in with my database. Have been helping with reformatting and translation of marketing material too which although a bit time consuming on the translation front is very positive steps on the internationalisation side of things. I feel I am starting to get a better understanding of how they operate and what they are aiming to do so need to get cracking on the fund raising strategy so they can pull in some funds in the near future! Looks like I will have some more community workshops coming up nearer the end of April, which will be good because they tend to be in little interesting places that you otherwise probably wouldn't visit.

This weekend I am heading to Unawatuna which is a beach resort just South of Galle. There is a leaving do tonight for one of the CWW volunteers in the Happy Banana which sounds like it's going to be an interesting place! Looking forward to seeing some beaches - because have not really spent much time at any yet.

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Tangalla, Sri Lanka

Wiraketiya - Hambantota Rural Woman's Organisation Awards Ceremony
On Saturday morning I went to the Wiraketiya which is about half an hour North of Tangalle because one of the other volunteers Olof had an award ceremony for his NGO which is a Woman's Welfare organisation.
He had been roped into doing a 2 minute speech in Sinhala in front of about 300 people - so think he needed the support, so myself and another volunteer went along. It was quite interesting because they had a torch lighting ceremony and raising of the flag with the national anthem with lots of SL dancing etc.
They also had a lot of speeches and sign ups of volunteers and they were doing things like testing eyes for glasses which was quite nice to see.
We then headed up to Uda Walawe National park after lunch.

Uda Walawe National Park
Uda Walawe National Park is situated about 2 hours North from Tangalle on the large Uda Walawe Reservoir. Myself and the other 2 CWW volunteer's from Tangalle, Olof and Norny headed up there and met in with another volunteer Mark who went up earlier. We stayed in the Centauria Tourist Hotel which was quite fancy and exclusive in SL terms but was actually only about £16. We were all just really wanting some air con and hot water for a night. Our driver Sunimal is very helpful - he is the same guy that took me down from Colombo and is a friend of my manager so he charges us reasonable fares and also recommends extra things to show us etc. We will probably use him for quite a lot of our trips at weekends because you tend to get ripped off left right and centre because you are Western unless you have a connection. We are strongly recommended not to use the public buses to get around in Sri Lanka as a whole just now and I am just going to stick to using a driver and it is much more flexible. Sunimal recommended we go and see the baby elephants get fed on the Sat evening. They are kept in a transit house and are elephants between the ages of 6 months to 4 years that have either been orphaned or injured in the wild and need to get better. They were fed with big jugs of milk then they munched on leaves and grass stuff. On Sunday morning, we got up at 5 for the safari and we rented a proper safari jeep thing with a driver and guide. It had been really heavy raining all night and on the way to the park, but it stopped just as we arrived - which is apparently the best weather for the animals coming out. As soon as we went into the park we saw elephants - there were heaps of them and they were being really playful and very close to the vehicle. There are approx 600 in the park altogether and the are the main animal there. We also saw buffalo, wild boar, deer things, monkeys and lots of birds and lizards. There are some leopards in there too - but didn't see any. Our jeep got stuck in the mud tracks a couple of times because there was a lot of water and mud lying.

My Placement
My placement has been going well this week - I finished my communications database which is also going to act as the document control system for the proposals they put out. This shall hopefully now keep better track of who they are contacting and when as well monitoring the progress of partnership opportunities easily. I am now looking at re-formatting the proposals to tie in with this and making improvements to the web site so that will be my duties for next week.

There was a power cut last night in my village so last night and this morning were by candle light and was a bit concerned about my shower in the dark - don't mind the frogs and co when you can see them! So hopefully when I get back after work there will be power!

It is a local holiday tomorrow and Friday in SL so I have a long weekend which I didn't expect. It is Poya day on Friday which falls on each full moon and is always a holiday (have found out that SL's have lots of public hols but annual leave when they want is a lot more restricted because the public hols are usually ceremonies and celebrations that they do as families etc) On Poya day Buddhists visit a temple for the morning and in the afternoon tend to do something like go to the beach or for a walk as a family but tend to abstain from luxury and entertainment.

I am going up to the hill country tomorrow for the long weekend with some of the other volunteers - so will involve trip to Kandy as well as the tea plantations and factories etc.
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