Back to Colombo

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SINHARAJAH TO COLOMBO

As we descended the mountain and left the tranquil forests behind, we traveled through rural areas for several kilometers. But all too soon the road got wider, the buildings got denser, and we reached the Gaul Highway. Wow! Many lanes of traffic. What's this? A traffic light! Soon we began to notice piles of garbage in front of many buildings. Apparently this isn't normal; there seems to be some dispute about municipal garbage pickup, with the result that the garbage is not collected too often.

On the way to Colombo, we stopped at a Buddhist Temple which is unique because of the hollow stupa (domed building). Most stupas enclose relics. Inside of this one, the walls are covered with a series of paintings depicting important events in the life of Buddha. It took us awhile to get in to see them, because we were waylaid at the entrance by a guide who wanted to explain everything about the temple to us. As by now we had seen a few temples, and heard a few lectures on Buddhism, and even started reading our new What The Buddha Taught books, we were becoming familiar with some recurring themes. We now knew what the Bo Tree was, and recognized the offering tables and oil lamps. We went along with our self-appointed guide, but urged him to go quickly! He made sure we saw it all though, even leading us in a mini water-ritual in which we pored negative feelings down the drain, along with the water.

We also saw a tiny, tiny amount of the damage done by the tsunami. We were at the northern end of the devastation, and we never ventured south into the area where the tragedy really took a heavy toll. We saw some evidence of the continuing relief effort, the temporary housing (still occupied), and the vacant lots with rubble instead of houses on them. I felt very bad driving through here in air-conditioned comfort, while the local people gazed at us tourists, passing by and snapping photographs of their lives. What misery. A full year later, so much still lies in ruins.

Then it was Colombo proper. From the pristine wilderness of Sinharajah to a crowded, polluted Big City. I wasn't too thrilled, but the more normal members of the group were elated. Civilization! Shopping malls! Clothes! NO LEECHES. More shopping places! More clothes! A hotel room with a HOT SHOWER. Well, I liked that part, all right! I must have indulged in a twenty minute celebration. I kept expecting the hot water to run out, but it never did. Bliss. Standard hard bed though.

We went to the shopping mall. It was a shopping mall.

A couple more classes cut into our shopping time, though. Actually they were excellent and well-received lectures on elephant conservation in Sri Lanka, and on bats. The classes were held at another University- the University of Colombo. This is an urban campus, and the classroom could have been anywhere in the world. Same tiny desks. Same lack of moving air. Same.

After the morning classes, we had the afternoon free, so the group went to a seaside resort. It was a bit more like a castle than anything else. They allow visitors to pay a small fee in exchange for the loan of a beach towel, and the right to use the beautiful white-sand beach in front of their hotel, and to swim in the tropically warm Indian Ocean. This was pure bliss for everyone. We bobbed happily in the gentle waves until our skin shriveled up. We all decided that the next trip should spend some quality time here- say a month or two. This is the kind of place where you can get tropical drinks and freshly-cooked seafood right on the beach, and you wonder why you would ever need to leave. In our case, the need was a departing bus.

Oh- I suppose I should mention the most horrendous injury I sustained on this trip. I fell out of a hammock on the beach and skinned my knee. See? It's not all fun and games! Especially with saltwater dripping into the wound.

Everybody split up for dinner that night. Bob and I took a tuk-tuk, a little three-wheeled vehicle that operates like a taxi, to the expensive section of the city. This was part of our futile attempt to have a fancy dinner at the best hotel in town. Unfortunately for us, it was booked up solid that evening. So we went for a seaside walk, watched the sun set into the Indian ocean, and ended up at another fancy hotel where we had a very fine Indian dinner. We grabbed another tuk-tuk back to our hotel, which was on the other side of town. On the way, we were stopped by the military (or local police, I'm not sure which armed, uniformed group was involved) at a check point. As we were legit, and so was our driver, everything was quick, friendly, and fine. But it was a reminder that Sri Lanka is a country which has been in Civil War before, and may soon be again. By the way, a couple days after we got home, I read that several explosions occurred in Colombo soon after we left, and that in each case, the small bomb had been planted in the small piles of garbage such as those we had seen. Maybe in one we had seen! No one seems to know if this is the work of the Tamil Tigers, or some Sinhala group which wants to put a monkey wrench in the peace process.

As the airport is in Colombo, and by now we had spent many days in Sri Lanka, and were in fact getting somewhat tired, it seemed as if it was time to fly home. But we still had two fun days left. Well, we can rest up after we get home.

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