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Published: September 21st 2017
As the Sri Lankan adventure slowly moves towards finishing so to has my timeliness with this blog. I am now two days behind and writing this on the morning of our final day. There is an unspoken rule amongst us blog writers that all blogs must be completed prior to disembarking in your home country. Hence the two days covered here and what will probably be two days in the next posting.
After our trip to Galle we decided upon a quieter day so a trip to the beach followed by a cooking class and dinner in the guest house.
Tuk tuks to Polhena beach which was about 6km from Marissa so 15minutes by tuk. The staff at guest house said this was a beach favoured by local folk not so much by tourists but was quite nice. Took snorkels as we were intending to watch some of the turtles that are apparently prevalent around this coast but have to date proven to be elusive for us.
The northern end of the beach was given over to traditional Sri Lankan stilt fishermen. They perch on a cross bar called a petta tied to a vertical pole and driven
into the sand catching sprats which are then sold by the roadside. This practice is relatively recent having started during World War Two as a means of fishing during a shortage of food then. Nowadays most of the stilt fishermen are merely tourist props, doing it in exchange for a payment by tourist wishing to photograph them. The fishermen at Polhena were however the real dea, actually caching the odd fish and no interest in extracting payment for photos.
Chris and I went for a snorkel hunting for the elusive turtles. Unfortunately the current on the beach was very strong, once your were about twenty metres offshore there was what can only be described as a river running along the coast pulling you to the south. we did battle it for a while but apart from the odd tropical fish and a lot of dead coral nothing of real note.
Marie and Donna had a swim and were immediately befriended by a group of local girls who wanted to be photographed with them. Obviously foreigners on Polhena are minor celebrities.
Because it is out of season here (or perhaps it is always like this?) there were a
number of restaurant type places on the south end of the beach but all were deserted, some open but no staff to be found, others locked up, the odd one with staff but none with any customers. Nevertheless we stopped at one that was staffed and had a cold drink before departing on tuk tuks to visit a local weaving shop.
Unfortunately the weaving shop was, like the turtles, elusive. We tuked down little lanes and finally into a somewhat bemused family's front yard but no weaving so home to the guest house for pool time prior to cooking class.
The cooking class was fabulous. We've all enjoyed Sri Lankan food immensely so seeing how it is prepared and learning a few recipes to bring home was great. The guest house chef took us through the preparation of prawn curry, ocra salad, Dahl curry, and stuffed peppers. Got a taste of each one as it was completed and I think we are all looking forward to sharing some of the amazing flavours with family and friends on our return.
Some of the interesting points were the large quantities of curry powder, salt and coconut milk used. Don't
be surprised if we install a tanker unloading facility at home to allow bulk shipments of coconut milk to be delivered!
Dinner enjoying the dishes we'd been taught to make at the shared table with an English/Canadian group of four. Really only needed to share with one of them though as he (Mike, the butcher) did all the talking. Eventually Marie and Donna got totally glazed over and said they needed sleep, Chris and I gallantly offered to escort them to the rooms to ensure nothing untoward occurred on the way (this despite the rooms only being up a short flight of stairs about 3m away) thus securing our escape!
Up early the next morning for another very hot run down to the marina, even at 6.30 in the morning the heat is oppressive. Locals are so lovely when you pass them though, many call out hello and kids all laugh and chatter and periodically a stray dog will follow for a bit.
Walked down to the shops after breakfast as Marie and Donna wanted to get a few more local craft things. Hmmm, shop doesn't open until 11.00 so we "camped" in a small, air conditioned,
Donna's fisherman again
Note the life jacket and cigarcafe and enjoyed a good coffee.
Chris and I departed for train before Marie and Donna as were keen to experience the local bus. Actually pretty tame, seats far more comfortable than Nepal, there were even water bottle holders on the side, power points to charge devices and free WIFI, not that we availed ourselves of any of these complementary add ons. Ticket for the 30 minute journey to Matara was the princely sum of 30c, so pretty cheap way to get around. But perhaps slow given we left twenty minutes before Marie and Donna and they were waiting on the steps of the railway station when we finally arrived.
The train to Mount Lavinia is the Colombo commuter train that starts in Matara (where we were) and finishes in Colombo stopping at about twenty stations along the way. It is the classic very old Sri Lankan train with only 2nd and 3rd classes and no seat reservation. We splashed out on second class ($2.20 per person).
The train was on the platform when we got there despite us being nearly an hour early. Chris and I went for a wander along it to have a look.
This culminated in my being in the locomotive and Chris in the wagons when it moved off to change lines and pick up some additional carriages. Needless to say I was thinking " Marie's not going to be impressed" as it chugged off down the line initially looking to all intents and purposes as if it's off to another town. Fortunately only as far as the next set of points where it reversed onto another line and backed back to the station. Chris meanwhile was at the rear of the train supervising the hitching of the wagons. Marie spotted him going past her which she described as somewhat surreal.
Now this train is the one that was hit by the Boxing Day tsunami killing approximately 1700 people. Reading the story of how this tragic event unfolded is harrowing as the train stopped and large numbers of people climbed onto the roofs of the carriages before it was hit by the largest of the waves which are estimated to have been several metres higher than the train. The locomotive was washed for over 100m.
Riding on this line it was not hard to imagine how events unfolded as the
line follows the coast most of the distance between Matara and Colombo, sometimes inland of the road and other times with the road inland. As is the case everywhere we went in Sri Lanka, people have established their homes (frequently in this area mere shelters) alongside of the rail line, hence not only those on the train were victims but also the people living along it. One other interesting but equally sobering fact was that the deaths were largely women and children in these communities as large numbers of the men were at sea fishing and rode the wave out only to return home to devastation.
Despite the sadness, the journey is spectacular following as it does the coast and having the lush green on the landward side.
Seating was ok and welcome as once we got closer to Colombo the train filled quickly.
Upon arriving in Mt Lavinia the train station is right beside the Mt Lavinia hotel where we are staying so we decide despite the heat to hoof it. Arrived into the very posh foyer dripping in sweat and joined the other more relaxed and perhaps better attired guests who mainly seemed to arrive
One of the deserted cafes
This was aptly named lions den in chauffeured BMWs or similar.
I'll expand on the Mt Lavinia Hotel further in the next posting but it came highly recommended by two of our dear friends as a bit of colonial luxury we should indulge ourselves in after our travels around the island. It certainly was a welcome oasis after a hot day.
Had,what might be the last navigational error or the trip,when trying to find the "happy hour" and ended up on the beach at a deserted beach bar that had no tables and leaners built around coconut trees. Unfortunately in establishing the ergonomics for the leaners the builder was either a midget or used his six year old son to define the height. Another possibility was they were actually kneelers designed for prayer circles!?
Needless to say we moved on and finally found a restaurant that had a happy hour. They also had a new take on mojitos using lemoncello and whisky although on tasting the whisky was not apparent so perhaps lost in translation??
Another great seafood meal, curry again for me and grilled for the others. Continuing to work on the curry a day rule!
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