Not Just Better, Different!

Well, it has been a while since I put anything down in writing so I will just jump straight in with the girls visiting!

Bertha (Nicoral as she is now known) don’t ask, I am not sure I even know and I was there! And Trin and Sal came over on 16 August, arrived around 9pm with Sam the driver I had arranged. They got on well with Sam because he let them drink and smoke in the van from the airport!
Of course social excitement got in the way and we managed to polish off a bottle of duty free gin by about 1am. Sal was up bright and early the next morning, so we all had to get up, hangovers and all. Headed to the beach for breakfast and for a day of sun, swimming and relaxation. The sun was harsh on their winter white skin and some managed 3rd degree burns that didn’t clear up for a week! But apparently all worth it! Dinner at One Love, Sri Lankan style (fingers only), what a great way to eat food. No gin……

Day 2, we headed to the pool where I taught a school holiday lesson with the coaches and the girls made friends with some of our ‘support crew’. I don’t know who enjoyed it more, but I know there was a lot of noise from the deep end. It was great that they could see where I have been spending most of time and meet the guys, all of whom were quite perplexed at all the white girls, and Sumith was very taken with Trin!
New Zealand was playing Sri Lanka, so of course while in the country you have to go to the test match! That makes 2 international tests for me in total and both at the Galle International Cricket Stadium! We got on TV and was recognized by a local when we headed into the fort later in the afternoon, he actually stopped and told us he saw us on TV, then of course wanted us to see his shop! Found ‘Barefoot’ and the shopping frenzy began.
Dinner at the Not Just Better, Different restaurant, where things were not really better or different, but we have a new catch phrase, so it can’t be all bad.

Day 3 saw us pile into a van with Roshan and we headed towards Ella. We set off down the south past the stilt fisherman and many fishing boats, stopped for many photos, Nicoral helped the locals launch their boat, which I think they enjoyed…hard to say really. Not long after as we headed off again after one of our many photo stops, we came across a gruesome accident, a beggar had been struck down in the middle of the road and no one willing to help. I can only imagine he was dead by the look of him (foreigners are advised to stay away from helping in these situations and our driver was not stopping anyway!)
Our journey took us through Weligama, Mirissa, Tangalle up to Tissa, Hambantota and across the desserted plains of what could easily have been west of Dubbo (same temperature too, hot and dry, all very bizarre within a space of less than 200kms). Stopped for curd and treacle, sounds bloody awful, but is pretty good. Tastes like yoghurt and golden syrup crossed with maple syrup. It is made from the Kitul Palm. The place was literally in the middle of nowhere, curd pots sitting in sun, and here we are eating it on the roadside! All good and in the name of travel. Stopped in the pouring monsoonal rains to climb a lighthouse at Dondra from where apparently you can see Australia! But unfortunately that day was too wet and we couldn't see Australia.....I love the guides in this country.
From here the scenery changed dramatically into incredibly beautiful mountainous country with huge waterfalls that the locals bathe under. It was quite spectacular, the end of this day bought us to Ella, a lovely small village with a very quaint, English look railway station high above the canopy of trees. We stayed at the Rawana Holiday Resort and had one of the best curries I have had since being in Sri Lanka. I was told it was a more traditional ‘tamil’ curry.

Day 4 and I woke early and sat outside reading the guide book, the mist had started to clear when I sat down and I could see the road and the small amount traffic going up and down the mountain, then about 10 minutes later I put my head up after being engrossed in the Lonely Planet and I could even see the grass 2m from me! It was beautiful and eerie at the same, and I was very excited because I could wear my jumper for the first time ever in country (and for the last time!). We headed across to Kandy taking our time via Nuwara Eliya (pronounced Nurelia). We spotted tea plantations just outside of Ella and our first tea pluckers, it was incredible. The tea bushes are beautiful and incredibly compact, we know a lot more about tea now than we did before, and have more of an appreciation of what goes into a pot! The drive was spectacular over the mountains, very windy (yes, I was feeling a bit queezy), but so much to see. We headed through the vegetable growing region and was stunned by the amount and the compact way everything is growing, along with the overpowering smell of leaks! Got to Nuwara Eliya, stopped for tea at a very exclusive hotel, Sal got her beloved Club Sandwich and we moved on to the highlight of the day! We found tea pluckers right at the road side, we jumped out, got the photos and plenty of addresses for all these photos to be sent back to! It was amazing to see them up close and personal and I think we were lucky that day that they were working so close to the road. You will notice by the photo’s the tea plants go way up into goat country and they could have been up there picking! Next stop was the Labookellie Tea Factory to check out the goings on of tea making. This was quite fascinating. Apparently, the tea pluckers have to pick 3 leaves and a bud (this would explain why plucking is still done by hand!), then tea leaves go through a number of drying processes until the final product, but it only takes a matter of hours, not days as I thought it might. Did the obligatory sales outlet, bought much tea and moved onto Kandy!

Day 5 found us in Kandy and onto the Sacred Tooth Temple. Our day happended to be a special day at the temple and we stood in line for nearly an hour to see the sacred tooth in its casket, to be pushed along once we got there as we were not offering any cash (I think they forgot that they charge foreigners a fortune to get into the place in the beginning AND take your shoes into the bargain!) BUT, saving grace there was an elephant being washed, so we went to check that out and the zoo woman among us went over and hosed the old down for a bit!

Roshan had this thing about the Botanical Gardens and that we should be seeing them, but we set him straight and told him there were plenty of gardens in Australia! So we went to the Tea Museum instead. And for something that sounds a bit old and boring, it was pretty good! And we were the only ones there. They reckon there was a busload the previous day, but I have my doubts…We headed back into Kandy for some lunch with Roshan and then we hit the markets, both the clothing markets and the food markets. Fish, meat, fruit and vegetables, it was great. Bertha got into it with the butchers and had them all laughing along at her. Did a bit of haggling, got lots of photo’s to show the grandkids and headed home in a wild tuk tuk race down the main drag! Apparently Roshan could hear us from the highway and came running out to see if we were OK! (He was always looking out for us, and was concerned about leaving us at the markets by ourselves!) What a guy.
Day 6 was pinpointed for Pinnewalla Elephant Orphange, but not before Malik the guesthouse owner did a bit of ripping off! He certainly got the message we won’t be giving any good reviews about his hotel! (No wonder he can travel to France every 3 months!) Picked up a couple of stray Brits and took them to Pinnewalla to see the elephants who apparently weren’t being washed that day, but we still had to buy the ticket! These guys really know how to make money). We hung around for a while watching the large number of orphaned elephants feeding and playing. No fences, just pure elephant right there in front of us! Then we headed off in the direction of Colombo, however we had a stop on the way. Roshan had invited us to his house for tea, but when we got there his whole extended family were there to greet us with sandwiches, cakes, curry puffs and watermelon and milk drinks. It was a feast! And he was so proud to take us to his home and for us to meet his family, who were lovely and very accommodating! It was really special to be invited into his home. And in typical Sri Lankan style, they wait on you while you eat. They generally do not eat with you, they tend to eat later or in a different room, but we managed to get them to sit with us at least!

We had a tour of his yard and his birds, his whole family were in on it, along with a few hangers on who heard the white girls were in town.

Then to Colombo to the Galle Face Hotel, where after a bit of a wait and funny hiccup with the booking, we got our rooms, and headed straight to the pool for a dip and some beers, then dinner and bed.

Next morning, had a huge breakfast before heading off to Colombo’s ‘
Barefoot’ as the others hadn’t done enough shopping in Galle. But alas, it was closed, so we went to Odel’s, spent a lot hours and money there, and they still weren’t finished (by this time, I had got in on the act too and started crazily buying nieces and nephews t shirts etc), so we decided to try Barefoot once again, and this time, voila, it was open. A couple of hours later we went back to the hotel in a crumpled shopped out heap! Back to the pool! Dinner was accompanied by 3 bottles of wine and a Sri Lankan wedding. Sal and Trin danced for hours in front of the wedding, and finally they were asked to join in on the dance floor by the grooms mother! All their efforts were rewarded by glistening sweat running down their faces and some fun with the boys at the Sri Lankan wedding! Bertie and I sat back in the relative cool sipping the last of the wine. Who needs sweat dripping off them at midnight?

Bertie and Trin had to leave at 3am for their flight to Singapore, so we bid farewell around 12.30am and Sal and I slept soundly until 8am!

Keep tuned for the remaining few days!

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