Week Three

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I had to go to Colombo, Sri Lanka’s capital city on Thursday. My tourist visa was nearing the end so I had to go to the Department of Immigration for it renewing.
Another ex-pat, Danny, who lives in Hikka too, also had to re-new his so we went together. I met Danny outside Neela’s at 7am and we got the bus to Colombo. It takes about 2.5-3 hours (no timetables here, they just turn up when the please, but then I suppose that isn’t so different form the UK!). You can get two types of buses up to Colombo, The A/C bus or the Express. Danny and I just decided to get the first that arrived. Big mistake!! The A/C bus is pleasant and small and relaxed. The Express is like being on a rollercoaster and its every man for himself. Guess which one we ended up on?!
I had to stand for the first hour as it was so packed. A lot of people commute to Colombo everyday for work. They must be mental, a 6 hour round trip to work everyday! The bus driver was an absolute maniac. Most of them are, but this one was especially bad. I think he had his eyes closed the whole way. He tooted his horn pretty much constantly all the way from Hikka, like he was leant on the horn and hadn’t realised. He also drove at about 90 MPH and kept having to emergency brake every 40 seconds or so. At one point he even UNDERTOOK another bus!! All the bus drivers race each other to the next stop as they are all independent companies so they try to get to the customer first. That isn’t to say they aren’t picky though. I can often be stood at the bus stop for 20 minutes while 4 buses go past just because the driver doesn’t fancy picking up a “tourist”. I used to get really mad about that, but I’m used to it now! It doesn’t just happen to me though, I’ve been on buses and seen locals patiently waiting at the bus stop, stick their arm to stop it, only for the driver to go straight past, then 5 minutes later stop in the middle of the road for a person who just happens to be walking along! There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to it, but it must make sense to them! There’s also an unspoken rule that if a Monk gets on the bus, the front seats are reserved for them. The other day I was on the bus to work and a Monk got on who was only a young lad, maybe about 14, and a man who must have been about 70 years old got up and let him have his seat, and had to stand for the rest of his journey!
After clinging on for dear life for an hour to Colombo, I managed to get a seat. My hands were killing from having to hold on so tight! It was jam-packed all the way, you couldn’t see out of the windows or any floor space for the amount of people on the bus; there isn’t a limit to the amount of people who can get on a bus, they just cram them on!
We got to Colombo at about 9.30am and got a tuktuk up to the Department of Immigration. What a strange place! As you walk in there are two separate entrances for men and women. They search your bag then you have to go into a small cubicle, where nothing happens! I walked through my cubicle and there was a woman in there, and all she did was grab my face and say “lassanai, lassanai” which means beautiful!
Then you walk into the building and there are lots of stalls, cafes and a book shop! You walk up some stairs and that’s where the Immigration Department and Passport Office is.
I was expecting the visa process to take ages, as these things always do and we have the added strain of being in Sri Lanka, so add on 4 hours just for that fact! But we were only in there about an hour so that was pleasing! This one fella who worked there seemed to take a shine to us and looked after us, at one point he even barged into the Controller’s Office, while there was a very long queue outside, to get him to sign our forms!
After sorting out the visas Danny and I tuktuked back into the shopping part of Colombo and went to Majestic City - the shopping mall. This was when I realised I’d been completely Sri-Lankanasised! I’ve been in Hikkaduwa for a month and when you think about it, it’s pretty much the back of beyond! You can get stuff if you know where to go, but you also have to do without a lot of things, or adapt! In Colombo you can get pretty much anything you want! There were clothes, make up, CD’s and DVD’s - allsorts!
I bought a couple of DVD’s to watch on the laptop. They are all copies, I don’t know how they get away with it, proper shops selling copied CDs and DVDs, but they do! The DVDs were only 200 R each (£1). Bargain! I bought Chaliny (Nimal, my landlord’s daughter) Beauty and the Beast, because she only has one other DVD, The Lion King and she watches it twice a day! Since I gave her Beauty and the Beast on Thursday, she’s watched it ten times! She’s very pleased with it!! I also bought teabags as I had just run out of my first supply, and I can’t seem to find them in Hikka! They only have loose tea.
Some of the shops had pretty weird names, for example “Leeds, Leeds” which had nothing to do with Leeds whatsoever. It sold electrical equipment. I suppose they do have electricity in Leeds, so there is a link.
Then we went to KFC. KFC! I couldn’t believe my eyes! Danny only had a coffee, but I chowed down on some finger licking chicken with a blend of 11 herbs and spices made to a special secret recipe! After a month of rice, it was like heaven!
It was amazing too seeing people in western style clothes. In Hikka most of then men wear sarongs, and the women saris, but nearly everyone was in jeans in Colombo. Of course in Hikka there are western style clothes, but even those have got a Sri Lankan take on them - the women wear long skirts and cover their shoulders. Some of the clothes in Colombo wouldn’t have looked out of place in Topshop!
And I didn’t get half the amount of stares I get in Hikka! In Hikka and Boossa where I work, I get a lot of stares. As I’m stood at the bus stop in a morning, every vehicle that goes past slows a little to take a good look, and on the bus I’m the centre of attention. The other day, the bus was pretty full so some people were stood up and I caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of my eye. I looked up and there was a woman about two inches from my face grinning inanely at me! It was quite unsettling! As I walk through Boossa there is a little boy who must be about 3, and every time I pass him he shouts “white” at me in Sinhalese. I used to get a bit fed up, annoyed, even a little upset sometimes at all the comments and stares etc but now I’m used to it. I’m here for a year so there’s no point getting upset, at the end of the day its only curiosity. It still amazes me a little though. I’m in a tourist area, they must see white people all the time, but it’s like being a celebrity with the amount of attention I get!! I just want to blend in and go about my business, but there is absolutely no chance of that!
After shopping and KFCing I had to call to see Dr J, who is in charge of the money for the RMH. We needed some more money so I was to collect a cheque from him. I had to tuktuk to his house as it is across town, and what a beautiful place he has! I’ve lived in a pretty impoverished area for a month; some people don’t even have proper houses - their wall area made from coconut leaves or corrugated iron. Dr J’s house was like something out of Hello magazine. He had a security guard at the front of his house with a machine gun! His wife is the District Judge so they have to have constant armed security!!
After collecting the cheque, Danny and I went to the bus stop and thankfully got the A/C bus back to Hikka. It was like heaven, air-conditioned, small and with some lovely background music - such a contrast to the nightmare of the journey in! the driver even stopped half way so we could get drinks!
When we got back to Hikka town, Danny and I went to a little tearoom he’s nicknamed “Grubs” and chatted to the owner. Didn’t really have much choice as she came and stared at me and kept saying “lassanai” - two lassanai’s in a day! I’ll be getting a big head if I’m not careful! She took a bit of a shine to me I think, because she kept inviting me to her house to meet her family. Maybe another day!
I’m getting to know a lot of the locals now. Before when I walked down the street everyone said hello, but that’s just because they are so friendly! Now people say hello and I do actually know them! Its pretty cool and helping me settle in loads and feel part of the community.
I returned home to the news that the fridge was broken! Brilliant! Then I got a quick shower, got out and was getting dry and there was a power cut, so had to finish off by torchlight! Eventually it came back on so I quickly made a cup of tea; put a toastie in the machine, and then there was a second power cut! Back to reality! We have a lot of power cuts, it does happen quite frequently so I should be used to it by now, but it’s a bit frustrating when you’ve got a half made toastie waiting to be finished off! It was even more frustrating fro the Hikkaduwans. Thursday was the finale to a huge TV drama series that’s been on for a year. Everyone had watched it and was looking forward to seeing the finale, but couldn’t because of the power cut, gutted!
It was a day of contrasts, ups and downs but I enjoyed it immensely. It was mad being back in civilisation. When compared to a western city, Colombo has got nothing really, but compared to Hikka, it’s like New York! KFC and a Pizza Hut - can’t believe I was impressed with that, but I was!! Told you I’d been Sri Lankanasised!

Apart from the trip to Colombo, this week has been pretty nothing! I’ve had a virus for three days so was suck in bed which was not fun! I’ve also passed it on to another volunteer and two teachers - oops!
Work is still hectic - the home opens this week! Wednesday 1st of October, so that’s going be good. At the minute though we are still dashing round like mad finishing everything off and getting things ready, buying things at the last minute and phoning up contractors who have not fulfilled their promises! It’s going to be brilliant when the kids are in though and everything’s finished. I can’t wait!
At the weekends I’ve tended to take a walk to the beach or around Hikka. There’s nothing like sitting in paradise to take your mind off contractors and it makes you realise once again how lucky you are to be in such a beautiful setting, until the stress starts again on Monday morning!
Yesterday morning as I ate my breakfast on the veranda, a man climbed the coconut trees in the next garden and started cutting coconuts down. It was mad to see him shimmying up a huge coconut tree with no safety gear, not even shoes! I got my camera to take a couple of photos. He saw me, and stopped halfway up and started posing! He was loving it, leaning back and grinning at me! I feared for his safety though so didn’t take too many; I didn’t want to be part of an unfortunate accident!

My friend Claire arrives tomorrow so I can’t wait for that. She’s a volunteer too, so she’s going to work at the RMH for two weeks, then me and her are going to do a bit of travelling - up to Kandy and Anuradhapura, Pinwalla Elephant Orphanage and various other places. I can’t wit for that, its going to be amazing!! I’m so excited for seeing a bit more of Sri Lanka now, Hikka is beautiful but I want to see the rest of it!
Until next time….PEACE.

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