SRI LANKA Part I

  Colombo, Sri Lanka
Sunday, August 19, 2007

I was a bit surprised at how underdevelopped the country is when I first arrived.  Though I saw a McDonald's on the bus ride from Colombo to Kandy and a small KFC in Kandy; there were no other signs of the western world until I arrived here in Colombo.  Here, there is a Hilton Hotel, Pizza Hut, Domino's, DeliFrance, McDo, KFC, think that's it.

The country is very green and there are no highrises.  Even Kandy the 2nd biggest city feels like a big village (unless I missed something).  I was expecting something more like India but it's less crowded, less chaotic and less colourful.  Unlike other Asian countries I have visited, I cannot see any cultural signs to define Sri Lankans, nothing in their clothes, habits or customs. Only the food is a bit different.   It's missing something.......... It took me a few days to get used to the country and I just wanted to be in India!

The evenings are really quiet as it gets dark around 6h30 - 7pm and almost everything is closed by 8pm.  So I spend a lot of time reading and writing my journal.  Luckily the  rooms are not too dreadful  to spend the evening.....(but enough to give Katie and Stacey a shock). I am amazed at how much time I can spend alone and not get borred or lonely.  I must say I have a lot of practice!  Will see how it feels 5-6 months from now.....

The ancient cities were OK.  I guess I have seen so many ruins and Buddhas in Asia that it takes a lot to impress me.  I liked the monkeys everywhere though.  The ruins are situated in small cities where there is really nothing to do, not much to eat, no internet........ and a lot of mosquitos!  I was quite upset with the people in the guesthouses in those places.  They know you will most likely be eating there, because there's hardly anywhere else.  So they give you a good price on the room and then get you with the food.  They have no menu and charge you whatever they feel like!  I got so mad, I stopped eating in the guesthouses.



I was really happy when I arrived in the hill country!  I found a lovely guesthouse with good service, excellent food, a menu with set prices and hot water!  The funny thing is I had to order my dinner at breakfast!  I don't now if it's because they don't want you to go somewhere else for dinner of if it takes that long to get and prepare food???  (It does usually take a lot of time to get your food)  At 7h30pm they served dinner to all the guests at the same time! Everywhere I get huge portions for 2 or 3 people (I eat 6 toasts for breakfast). Some places charge me only for what I eat, but most charge me for everything!  I would rather have a normal portion and pay half the price!  I found the trick though, I ask them to keep the leftovers for me and that's my lunch for the next day!  

The mountains were beautiful.  I walked a lot around the tea plantations, to waterfalls and up a few hills to admire the views.  It was really peaceful and relax. 


I met a Dutch couple at the guesthouse and they offered me a free ride in an aircon car!  Wow!  I did appreciate the comfort, the space and not to have to carry my bag around.  That probably won't happen again.....  The taxi cost US$45, that's my budget for almost 3 full days!  The next day we shared the cost of a safari in Yala National Park in the south east.  The scenery was beautiful with lots of water lilies and lotus ponds.  The driver kept pointing to us where the tsunami left traces.  47 Japaneses, 2 Germans and some local people died during their safari.  We saw wild boars, water buffalos,  crocs, a pair of mongoose, monkeys, 4 wild elephants including a baby, 2 leopards and a lot of birds.  We had a really good time.



The same evening I went to a temple in Kataragama to see a puja ceremony.  There was a huge line up to enter the temple.  When the puja ceremony started at 6h30pm 3 priests and an elephant holding lotus flowers came to make offerings at the 3 main shrines.  The elephant did a #2 at the same time!!!  Not very appropriate, but I guess being a temple elephant with ivory tusks he can get away with it!  Then the higher priest goes in on a red carpet and brings offerings of special rice and other things inside the temple.  He is the only person allowed to go behind the 7 painted curtains and no one knows what's in there, it's a mystery!  When he is done, all the devotees can go and leave their basket of fruits at the entrance.  They offer half of it and eat the other half.  People believe that a god lived in the surroundings of the temple and that his spirit comes and visits, so it is a very special place and people from everywhere in Sri Lanka come here on a pilgrimage.  The temple is for buddhists, indus and muslims.  I have never seen such a crowded temple!



The south was fine.  I am not a beach person and when I travel alone I cannot go to the water because there is no one to watch my bag.  On top of that, I have left my bathing suit behind because my backpack is way too heavy........... It weighted 23kg when I checked in at the airport!  The Indian Ocean is quite rough at this time, but at least it didn't rain much.  I walked along the beach a lot and saw lots of places damaged by the tsunami.  A lot of them were just left there.  I don't know if it's because they lack the money to rebuilt.  One guesthouse owner told me that in his town they cannot rebuilt within 100m of the Ocean, but in other places the road in closer than that! I also went to 2 turtle hatcheries.  Both were completely destroyed by the tsunami, but are now filled with cute baby green turtles.  The babies are released to the ocean after 3 days.  They also have injured turtles that get released once they are better and some turtles remain there because they are blind or too injured or kept for education purposes.

                            

The food is not bad.  I eat a lot of fruits (bananas, rambutans, mangoes), drink pineapple juice and just found some tasty chai at the YMCA here!  The rice and curry is good, excellent eggplant, but the dahl is too salty.  I eat roti prata (they're a bit spicy!) and crackers with Happy Cow cheese to save money.  Here in Colombo, I went to McDonald's. They have Mc Omelette, Mc rice and curry with hot sauce and veggie burger.  Today I found a place  very popular with the locals, so I went in.  I had a delicious masala dosa, a small Pepsi and milk tea (yum!) for the price of a bag of potato chips and I am not talking Pringles, I can't afford Pringles! 

I have been busing around for 20 days and saw other foreigners only once!  I had to stand up on 2 bus rides of  a bit more than an hour each.  (2 monks just walked into the internet cafe, that's interesting!)  2 days ago I got on the running bus with great difficulty (they hardly stop when people get on and off, I think they made a special for me) !  The same day, I got on a short bus ride and had to sit on the steps with the door open.  There was no where to sit and there is no way I could stand with my big bag.  They drive like crazy here and I keep bouncing back and forth everytime I get on the bus and try to put my big bag down somewhere.  Some buses won't pick me up because of my bag so I am a bit worried to go to Kandy where everyone is heading now for the festival........