1st November - 9th November 2007

Negombo - Colombo - Anaradhapura - Sigiriya - Dambulla

We were a little premature in closing our account of India in our previous blog. When we finished writing it it was about 7pm. Our flight was lunchtime the next day - all we had planned was an early night (we were very tired) so we would be fresh for the new challenge of Sri Lanka the next day. However, on our short journey back to the hotel we were extremely lucky to discover that there was to be a rickshaw/taxi/bus strike the next day from 6am. Not sure what the strike was for but as the Indian President was in town, I think it wasn't a coincidence.

The airport was only 10km away but had we woken up at our intended time we would have wondered why the roads were completely empty for once! Luckily our pre-booked rickshaw for 5am turned up the next morning early and got us to the airport shortly after 5am. Oh well a few hours (8 actually) at the airport wouldn't be too bad, it even looked quite nice, much nicer than Delhi. The three guards on

Flight to Sri Lanka

the door (why have one when you can have three?) wouldn't let us in. You are only allowed in three hours before your flight so we had to sit outside for five hours.

What actually happened was that we got chatting (and card playing to pass the time) with an English couple and a French guy who were on the earlier 9.45am flight (the one we didn't book because the 13.55 would allow us more time to get to the airport. At 6.45am (3 hours before their flight) we followed them in and despite our tickets being checked they wrongly assumed we were on the same flight. Once we were inside we were able to speak to Sri Lankan Airlines to see if we could transfer to the earlier flight - which we did, at no cost and in no time - completely painfree! What a result!

The flight itself was brilliant! It was only 45 minutes long but in that time we were served a meal (which I was still eating when we were preparing to land) and shown a very funny Charlie Chaplin film - forgot how funny he was. Arrived in Sri Lanka (not in

Negombo beach

Colombo mind you - it's a bit like London Luton, i.e. nowhere near London) so we took a taxi to the nearby beach resort of Negombo. This is where a lot of people tend to start or finish their holiday. It didn't get a very good write up in the Rough Guide but we really liked it. The beach was mostly empty only the very occasional hawker and beggar and not a single cow! Truly the first time we have relaxed on a beach - water a bit choppy though!

Plenty of restaurants to choose from, nearly all of them empty. The tsunami (although didn't hit the Colombo area) and the civil war seems to have hit the place hard. Food was excellent though, best we have had so far and the breakfasts we had were amazing. To emphasize the lack of customers when we had breakfast (again the only ones there) they had to jump on a scooter to fetch the eggs and bread!

First impressions of Sri Lanka are that it is much more relaxed, people are not rude/do not stare, buildings look permanent (not shacks), people dress more modern, spitting and relieving oneself in public

Spot the difference....

is the exception and not the rule and no roaming livestock. There is even a Tesco and Asda (not real ones though - just a marketing ploy from over optimistic shopkeepers).

We took a rather sedate Sunday afternoon commuter train to Colombo as we had several chores to do there (change flight time, obtain cricket tickets and extend visa). We had pre-booked our accommodation at the YWCA not to be confused with the YMCA. It's a place for working women - I'm not a woman and Claire's not working but we were still allowed to stay and it was rather pleasant. Claire (or me I suppose) were not allowed to fraternize with the male staff though! The telephone conversation Claire had in booking the accommodation was most amusing and went something like this.....

"Hello, do you have any rooms for tonight please?"
"What do you want?"
"Room, tonight"
"How many people"
"Two"
"Thirteen?"
"No two"
"Ten"
"One, two!"
"Three"
"No two!!" (Now quite loudly - to the amusement of people in the shop)
Man comes on phone and confirms two people for one night and then puts woman back on. She took Claire's name which was something like

Dagoba, Anuradhapura

'Ciao' and then asked us what time we were arriving?
"About 2pm"
"Three in the morning!?"
Man comes back on phone and finishes call. The only sad thing was that I was not there to witness it as I was ordering breakfast.

While in Colombo we found a supermarket with food hall and so ate there. It was an amazing to be in a supermarket again, it felt quite civilised. Well, for about 10 minutes anyway and then we couldn't wait to get out!

We did manage a couple of sites in Colombo, Galle Face Green, which is a green by the sea with a nice promenade in front where people go to relax of an evening. However, the green is currently brown and fenced off! We also visited the bazaar/market area where Claire bought a very cool belt for around 3 pounds (haggled down from 5). Claire's not losing weight, shorts have been baggy for ages, just never found a decent belt in India - so no need to worry back home.

Claire got whistled at by local Police as she was photographing in a high security zone. There are guards/Police everywhere as the President's residence

Dwarf carvings, Anuradhapura

is in Colombo but all Claire was photographing were some slums next to the river.

So we changed our flight (from 11th Nov to 7th Dec) out of Sri Lanka, extended our visa from 30 days to 90 and visited the cricket ground to discover that tickets for the forthcoming England tour of Sri Lanka are not on sale until 10th November, we can buy the tickets in Kandy though.

After successfully completing our chores we were on time to catch the 4.20pm train to Anaradhapura towards the north and part of what is known as The Cultural Triangle. Our seat was supposedly 2nd class air conditioned. By air conditioning they mean a ceiling fan and a window. Train was generally more comfy than India and the journey only four hours.

Arrived at our pre-booked guest house (it was a more strightforward telephone conversation this time) and had our tuktuk paid by them - how nice. Quick look at the room (not bad - hot water always good) and headed for the restaurant. We just ordered pancakes and a sandwich. An hour later they arrived (we were the only ones eating).

The next day we made

Elephants circling base of Dagoba

a start at checking out the old ruins that are the reason for coming to Anuradhapura. The 'Sacred Town' of Anuradhapura houses many impressive dagobas (huge bell shaped Buddhist temples - some dating back to BC), Buddhist Monastaries and Big Buddha statues. It covers a vast area, not one we could do all on foot but our plan was to just cover a small area on our first day (the 'free' parts before having to pay $20 each tomorrow to visit the rest). Like India, Sri Lanka believes in positive discrimination. We also visited a sacred Bo tree which has grown from a cutting where Buddha received enlightenment - it was very unimpressive. We were security checked by some very thorough guards though. Claire was properly 'cupped' (by a female guard) and it was a good job I wasn't wearing my baggy shorts as the force the guard tugged them I was lucky they didn't end up around my ankles!

While having dinner that night we were joined by a French guy called Thierry who confirmed the Rough Guide's assumption that ticket checks are rare (not like India) and showed us his photos which was extremely useful in helping

Our favourite temple in Anuradhapura

to plan our second day. Dinner itself actually took even longer than the previous night to arrive. We placed our order at 6pm, beers were promptly delivered at 6:45 and dinner a mere 1 hour and 15 minutes after this. Sri Lanka is definitely less hurried than India. Can't knock the food though when it does arrive, Sri Lankan curry and rice is a veritable feast!

We rented cycles to visit the many sites which was a fun way of exploring but rather hot and sweaty. The first temple we visited was by far the most interesting and one we would have bypassed if we hadn't met Thierry. The rest of the temples never quite lived up to this one but we were still glad we saw each one. We never got asked for our ticket that we never purchased either.

It was then just a short bus journey the following morning to Sigiriya which is famous for its huge towering rock that housed a palace at the summit many centuries ago (foundations only remain now). We didn't climb this rock that day but climbed the slightly smaller rock about 2km past it. The 'Rock Temple' as its

Big sleeping Buddha

We didn't realise until after this that you are not supposed to ever have your back to a Buddha - sorry Buddha.

known seems rarely visited by tourists, we didn't see any others, but it is really the best place to view Sigiriya Rock and the surrounding area. We were helped to the top at a speedy pace by a friendly monk (he does the climb twice a day) which was a good job as the route up was not obvious.

The alarm went off at 6am the next morning (as planned) as we wanted to get to the base of Sigiriya Rock for 7am when it opens and when it is not too hot. We had a cold shower (no hot water at this hotel) and arrived at the entrance about 7:10am. We were told to wait 5 minutes (I think while the staff finished their conversation) for the ticket counter to open. The climb was less strenuous than the previous day but the final ascent was a very steep and narrow iron staircase and sufferers of vertigo might struggle here. We saw one woman turn around and come back down. Claire had a few dicey moments but we made it. By the time we reached the summit we were drenched in sweat (a mixture of heat, exercise and fear

Another Dagoba

I think) and we were then exposed to the direct sunlight as there was no shade at all at the top. I never knew 8:30am could be so hot?! We didn't stay long as there isn't much to see and we got our fill of scenery yesterday (and have we mentioned our perspiration situation?). We were the only ones at the top with the exception of the same bus load of tourists that visited our hotel restaurant a couple of days earlier in Anuradhapura. We were glad to get back to our hotel for a more bearable cold shower, some well earned breakfast and a good nap!

We left Sigiriya for an even shorter bus journey to Dambulla which has some old caves from the 1st century BC. They have lots of buddha statues inside and paintings on the rock walls. As we had seen quite a few of these already and were tipped off by a couple at our hotel the night before to save our money, we decided to give it a miss. We did visit the Golden Temple though and its' huge golden buddha. It claims to be the largest buddha in the world (built in

'We like to ride our bicycles...'

2000) - apparently a blatant lie! This doesn't stop them displaying this fact everywhere. We flagged down a bus to Kandy. It was air conditioned and very smooth - we felt quite queasy (not used to comfort).

Sri Lanka really feels like a holiday rather than India's 'Survival of the fittest!'.

Additional photos below

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