Arrival in Sri Lanka, Negombo

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I arrived home on Saturday 19th November and I am booked to leave the UK again on Sunday 27th November. I had a good few days at home catching up with friends and family and sleep. My sleeping pattern has been strange since I returned. I keep waking at about 06.00 and feeling tired by about 16.00. My pictures have come out fantastic. Seeing them on a 17” computer screen is a real treat.
I have been feeling very tired this week. Currently I have absolutely no energy. Maybe it is my body subliminally creating the energy reserves I am likely to need in the next four weeks.
As the departure date draws nearer I am feeling very excited about this trip. I think it will be rewarding and adventurous to travel independently for the first time on my own in a foreign country. I have planned the trip very well, I think, with the help of the Rough Guide. Sri Lanka and India are what I have been preparing for in the last 6 months. I have researched the places that I will go to very thoroughly and with a high level of enthusiasm because I am in charge of where I travel in these countries.

Travelling in Sri Lanka before India is probably a good idea. India is supposed to be harder going than Sri Lanka. By this I mean the level of touting and aggression of it gets worse the further North you travel. So Sri Lanka is easier than Southern India, which is easier than Northern India. So beginning in Sri Lanka should ease me in relatively gently. Looking at the map there are a few 3-4 hour journeys that could be interesting.

I had previously been to Sri Lanka in 1996. I had a girlfriend from London whose parents immigrated to England in the 1970’s. They were Dutch Burghers, who are one of the smallest minorities on the island. Traditionally, they tended to hold good government posts under British colonial rule. They also had a high proportion of interests in the Islands major trading companies. Sri Lanka’s most eminent architects, Geoffrey Bawa and also one of the countries most famous authors, Michael Ondaatje, were Burghers.

We travelled out for 3 weeks in February 1996. There were about 15 of us including 5 children and 3 teenagers. The trip had a very big effect on me. It was only the 2nd time I had been outside Europe (the other occasion being 4 months semester study at State University of New York in 1994). It was certainly the 1st time I had been to a tropical country and I was blown away by the beauty and variety of landscape I saw. On this trip we went to Bentota beach, Pinnewala Elephant Sanctuary, Kandy and we climbed Adam’s Peak, amongst the highest summits on the island and the foremost Pilgrimage site for Buddhist and Christian alike.

Sri Lanka has a long and complex history. To Western people it is best known as previously being part of the British Empire before gaining independence in 1948 and changed its name from Ceylon in 1972. It became a focal point for tea production in the late 19th century and before this was famed by early pioneering travellers for its Gems and Spices. Spices were important and Sri Lanka was on the trade routes and merchants and travellers, including Marco Polo, visited it from ancient times.

The ancient history of Sri Lanka is mainly dependent on ancient Buddhist manuscripts. However, these manuscripts, written in the 1st BC, were also written centuries after the events, so, ‘facts’ were open to interpretation by historians. Most of the writers were Buddhist Monks and their work reflected the interests they held. More recent archaeological digs are helping to answer a number of other areas. Tools dating back 140,000 years and are similar to ones found in Pakistan dating from the same time. Two tribes dating from Neolitic times, about 5000bc are the Veddas and the Nagas

The Sinhalese form 74% of the population and can be traced back to a group of Indo-Ayrans who entered India from the Hindu Kush around 1700BC. From here began the Anuradhapura period and the development of the Sinhalese Kingdom, lasting up until 1000 AD. Following this came the Polonnaruwa period which continued until 1235AD following the Cola colonies King transferring power from Anuradhapura. From this time, their was a period of flux and change until the Portugese Colonists established rule from 1505 to 1656 and then Dutch rule until 1798. Neither of these powers established complete rule of the Island. Kandy remained in the hands of the Sinhalese until some time into the period of British domination, until the British were able to build transport links to reach the Citadel. British rule continued until 1948 from 1798 when the East India Company first made inroads into the Island.

I left home at 06.00 on the 27th November. The flight was only half full for the 1st leg of the journey to Abu Dubai. I had a couple of hour’s stopover here before the 2nd leg of the flight, onwards to Colombo. This flight was full. Many Sri Lankans work in Abu Dubai so the flight filled up with them returning home to see family and bring home remittances from their jobs overseas that are an important contributing factor to the Sri Lankan economy. Seeing lots of Sri Lankans on the flight bought back lots of good memories. Sri Lankan people have very nice looking features and they seem to smile a lot. I had a good feeling as I got off of the plane.

Sri Lanka is 6 hours head of GMT. The time in Colombo when I landed was about 04.00 on the 28th November. I had arranged with the 1st guesthouse that I had booked with to be collected at the airport. After collecting my luggage and changing up some pounds to Sri Lankan rupees I went through passport control and came out into the arrivals hall. It was busy, teeming with Rickshaw and Taxi drivers aware that a flight was arriving and ready for business. I soon saw my name on a piece of cardboard. ‘Mr Ben’.

I introduced myself to the driver, a young man of about 20, the son of the proprietor of Dephani’s guesthouse in Negombo. Negombo is closer to the airport than the city of Colombo making it a popular place to stay on arrival or the night before departure. Sri Lanka has only 1 airport for charter flights so all tourists arrive in Colombo. I had decided that I did not want to stay in Negombo or Colombo for long as my itinerary was to concentrate on the South coast and then moving up through the hill country and ending with a week in Kandy.

The journey to Dephani’s only took about 20 minutes as we raced through the deserted streets just as dawn was beginning to rise. Then we turned down a tiny narrow side street and parked up. I gave the driver the fare and a tip and the entrance to the hotel was opened by a tall, thin, grey haired man of about 50. His role seemed to be like that of a caretaker cum security guard. He looked like he would break if he tried to punch someone so I figured his role was to be the eyes and ears of the place and to be the individual who got up earliest to welcome guests.

I was shown to my room, which was unfortunately very close to the dining area as I realised when after 3 hours sleep I was woken by guests arriving for breakfast. The room is not great. Old not so clean bed sheets and cobwebs in the corners of the room. It is big enough and the bathroom is clean. There is only a cold-water shower though. I got up at about 10.00 and had a shower and went out to the lounge area. The guesthouse is on Lewis St, a busy main road leaving the centre of Negombo town and adjacent to the sea.

The hotel is small and homely. The dining area is under a large veranda and has a colonial style to it. It is semi covered and overlooks a large sloping garden that leads down to the sea at the bottom of it. This is fenced off to protect the guests from touts selling. A few were trying patiently and in vain to get the guests attention. Dephani’s is cheap and seemed to have a few long-term European tourists who presumably stay for a few months or maybe longer. It was like being in a time warp. I had a sense of looking at some lonely people whose dreams in Europe had become distant memories and were eking out there pensions in South East Asia where they could still be looked after and served at a level they could afford. The old fashioned and conservative morality that pervades Sri Lanka made it have a feel of a tropical Eastbourne!

My imagination was running riot as I took in the scene of the guests and the young Sri Lankan girls who came to take my breakfast order. Such a pleasurable indulgence, people watching. Of course, many of my observations could have been way out and my descriptions of these characters may have more to do with my own experience, expectations and prejudices. I would need to actually talk to some people to get a better idea.

The owner of Dephani’s is a small, somewhat rotund man in his late 40’s. His son came to pick me up at the airport. There are 2 young girls taking orders and serving meals who are in their mid to late teens. One of the girls has a droopy, sullen face and the other girl has a bright and sharp look. Her large eyes and even larger smile are typically Sri Lankan. It was about 11.00 and there was no one else sitting at the Veranda eating while I had my breakfast. I was looking out on to the garden and down to the beach. Over the fence next door was another small guesthouse separated by a small alleyway. I could hear the sound of everyday life, a woman beating the hell out of some clothes on the wall and a couple of children yelping with joy at each other. The garden at Dephani’s had a Papaya tree and a few Orchids growing near where I was sitting. Breakfast was good apart from the flies. 4 toast, butter and Marmalade, bananas, 2 boiled Eggs and a pot of tea for 150 Rupees. There are about 170 Sri Lankan Rupees to the pound currently.

I decided to take a walk south into the town towards the lagoon on Sea Street. I never got that far though. I went about 20 minutes and then turned back as I didn’t seem to be heading anywhere interesting. I was surprised that I was not bothered by any people at all. I was reasonably happy about this and it gives me confidence that I can go around for the next few weeks on my own without having my guard up all the time. I stopped off at the beach and suddenly felt incredibly tired. I chatted to a hawker who had all manner of tempting gifts for sale. All within the confines of a plastic bag. I bought a Sri Lankan official cricket shirt for my brother Daniel and a very delicate wooden fishing boat, a souvenir to the many fishing boats (known as Oruwa’s) that dot the sea and have large sails in all manner of colours creating an attractive view out to the Indian Ocean.

I arrived back at Dephani’s and immediately fell asleep until early evening. I feel fully refreshed now though and am pretty keen to leave Negombo and get on with going to all of the places I have planned to. First stop Galle. Before I leave I want to book up here for another night on 21st December before I go home to England. I think the advantage of doing that is I know I can get a reliable lift for £3 to the airport. I also need to plan how I am going to get to Galle on Wednesday morning. I need to catch the number 86 train from Colombo Fort station to Galle at 10.30am. So I need to be there by 10.00 to get my bearings, ticket and find the right platform. I cannot get a train direct from Negombo to Galle and at peak time in the morning it takes 90 minutes to get to Colombo Fort from Negombo though the trains are regular. So I am going to get a tuk-tuk from Dephani's at about 08.00. This will be the 1st and one of the longest journeys I make in Sri Lanka and I am really looking forward to getting on the road.

Dephani’s has been ok though for catching up on some sleep and I have already had one or two interesting experiences. A couple of schoolboys snuck up behind me and played peek-a-boo with me. They soon plucked up the courage to talk to me though and I passed the time of day with them. I asked them why they were not at school, even though they had their bright blue and white school uniforms on. They told me they had been but it had finished. It was only 11.30! Walking down Lewis Place today I passed the odd goat and cow and plenty of huge black crows. The crazed beeping of cars and other road vehicles warning each other that they were about to overtake. There were open drains along parts of this road and it did hum but I have every expectation I will get used to that smell in the next few months. However, most of the places I am going to in Sri Lanka are rural or up in the mountains and there will be a lot less people about so it should be fresh and clean. The humidity is quite high here at the moment and it was in the early 70’s temperature wise when I landed at 05.00.


Tuesday 29th November

I could not sleep last night and am a bit knackered in terms of my sleeping pattern, so I have decided to just stay up as long as possible today and then kip ready for an early start on Wednesday to Galle. I took my breakfast at about 08.30 and then had a shower and went out determined to make it further into Negombo today. I followed my route yesterday and walked past a large cemetery and then down to the lagoon with the view of the sea to my right. I went up a side road and came out onto a fish market. I tried to look around it but soon the smell drove me off. I then stopped to roll a cigarette by the side of the road near the sea and looked at the boats that were tied up by the shore. Sleeping fisherman inhabited a few of them and others were having running repairs carried out on them.

I left the lagoon and headed into town towards the railway station and I stopped for a coffee on the way. The cafe was by the street but there wasn’t much of a view. I was the only customer. It was quite modern. The furniture was clean and cheap and plastic. The place was trying to be western. After finding out the information I needed to at the station I was walking home when a guy on a bike passed me and started chatting to me. He introduced himself as Sanjay. He asked me the 3 golden questions.
‘Where are you from?’ ‘What is your job?’ and ‘Are you married?’!

He seemed fine Sanjay. I could tell from his manner and his eyes that he was a nice guy. Still, it was a bit of a chance I was taking. But he invited me back to his place. We had a smoke and then had a chat. He introduced me to his Mother and told me about his family. He is married and has a baby daughter aged about 2 now. I saw her as she was sleeping but I did not see his wife. I was invited into a main room. There was a bed and a few chairs and some low rudimentary drawers and a storage rack for some essentials, this room led out into the kitchen and there was a ladder that led up to a further bedroom. Sanjay and his family and his mother and father all live together.

His Mum gave me some tea and then an Uncle called Neville joined me sitting on a wicker chair while Sanjay went off. His uncle was also a friendly guy and he seemed pleased to meet an Englishman. He asked me about how it is to live in England and told me a little about the legacy or influence of British engineering on the Sri Lankan railways. He said he had a daughter who he was hoping was going to get the right grades to go onto University and learn a profession. Sanjay returned with his younger brother and introduced me to him. He asked me what western girls are like. I stumbled through this conversation a bit trying not to titillate him too much and then he went off back to his job at the garage over the road.

He stopped to chat for a little while and had a word with his Mum. He then showed me where the outside loo was and as I passed out through the backdoor I met a few other men and female servants busy out the back. I was introduced to his pet pig! Within about 10 minutes his Mum bought in about 5 different dishes. Rice, Dhal, potato curry, Aubergine curry, (a fabulous Sri Lankan speciality) and another vegetable curry and some chicken. All our plates were loaded up and I was given a knife and fork and we eat. I could not believe the way I was being treated. I feel so fortunate. I met Sanjay and felt slightly worried but within 3 hours I felt relaxed and almost like one of the family! The key to it was Sanjay. He had good communication skills and was a bit of a joker. He made eye contact a lot whilst laughing and smiling. Also none of his questions had an undercurrent of being after something from me. He just seemed happy to have some different sort of company and to show me his family. Really he was like me in that I also was happy to have some different company!

He had got to know a Dutch guy when he was younger and had been to Europe, a fact that he was really proud of. Him and his family were certainly not affluent Sri Lankans. There home was modest and was for the whole family. He did not work regularly and like the other adult male members I heard about and met he was not poor but work was not regular. Therefore for his peer group and class in Sri Lankan society travel to Europe on vacation was not common. Then Sanjay, his uncle and his brother tried to teach me some of the language, Sinhalese. I was mildly successful at the time but I can’t remember now!

After this Sanjay went off again and I talked to his Mum and Uncle. I took his number, which was conveniently scribbled on the wall so he didn’t forget it, and we made cautious plans to meet up on the 21st, the night before I return to England for me to come over for dinner.

He said we could get some booze in and that he knew some Sri Lankan women that would like to meet me. Sounds promising! His brother gave me a lift back to Dephani’s in his tuk-tuk as by this time I had completely lost my bearings! What a quality afternoon. I hope it’s all like this! I have been very fortunate to meet a genuine chap and to really see the inside of a Sri Lankan family and to be made to feel so welcome and comfortable. I’m a bit dumbfounded to tell the truth!

Back at Dephani’s I had a few early evening beers and a light dinner and a few smokes in my room and took in the afternoon’s events. I phoned Mrs Khalid the guesthouse I am staying at in Galle and gave her an idea of when I should be arriving
And then took an early night hoping to wake refreshed for a busy da

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