SRI LANKA

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It took us the labours of a rickshaw, train, taxi, airplane, bus and some 48 hours to get us from Kolkata to the capital city of Sri Lanka, Colombo.

Before we arrived we had a few reservations about the place. One concern was the political unrest. Sri Lanka had only just emerged from a 30 year civil war where thousands of lives have been lost and the entire nation has been subjected to suicide bombers, riots, land mines and curfews, completely limiting their freedom and leaving people living in fear. There is still a very heavy army presence here but there is also a wonderful sense of liberation now and locals and travelers alike are now able to explore Sri Lanka freely. Our other concern was that we were worried that it was going to be so much like India and after 6 months there we were definitely ready for a change. Well, Sri Lanka didn't let us down one bit, we instantly felt the difference. There was hardly as much staring, no spitting, much less litter and no public urinating, all very civilised indeedy. There were even supermarkets; we had a lovely time wandering the aisles oohing and ahhhing at the sights of familiar brands, its funny the things you miss.

After spending a couple of days in the nations capital we started our journey by heading south down the west coast to a place called Bentota which is where there are a number of turtle hatcheries all trying hard to save turtles from poachers and release them into the sea. Locals like to eat the eggs as a delicacy so the hatcheries buy the eggs from the poachers at a higher rate than they sell for at market and look after them until they hatch and then free them into the ocean back where they belong. We were really excited about witnessing this conservation project, so much so that we completely missed our stop on the train!! Thankfully there are many do-gooders trying to save the turtles so we were able to see their good work a few days later further down the coast.

Having missed our planned stop we got off the train at the town of Galle which is a charmingly, lovely Dutch colonial fortified town. One of the great things about Sri Lanka is that it's pretty small, especially for us coming from the goliath of India. So 10 minutes down the road and we were at the gorgeous beach of Unawatuna. This lovely little cove was everything we could have wished for and more, soft white sand, crystal blue water and looming palm trees, we were hooked... until 2pm when the clouds rolled in and it rained and rained and rained until bedtime and into our dreams. We realised we were on the wrong side of the island for the weather and needed to get a wriggle on. The second great thing about this country, when the weather is showing it's gloomy side on the east you can be fairly certain it's bloody tropical sunshine on the west and vice versa. The next day we hired a motorbike and explored the south coast which is hugged by beautiful, wild, natural beaches and fishing villages. The fishermen here do their trade by climbing onto timber stilts that are fixed into the sea bed and rise out of the ocean several meters out to sea. From here they perch and spend hours angling the waters enduring the rough seas and saddle sore, no boats and nets here, they’re for pussies!! Each stilt is owned by a specific family and passed down through the generations. We got caught in another downpour towards the end of the day which peed all over our idea of staying on one of the lovely isolated beaches we had seen that day. So we headed inland to the Hill Country.

First stop after a day of four bumpy, cramped buses was Ella. Ella is a tiny little one street village but it is surrounded by oodles of tea plantations, waterfalls and hills. We slipped on our hiking boots that we’ve been lugging around for the previous 7 months and put them to good use. It was so refreshing to be somewhere that bit cooler after we had managed to pretty much deep fry ourselves by being on the coast. We were lucky enough to be in Ella, staying with a wonderful family for the Sri Lankan New Year. The family we were staying with were incredibly welcoming and on New Years Eve the father came home a little worse for wear and invited us to join him in finishing his bottle of brandy. By the end he was in such a disheveled state that he was letting his kids set off fireworks in the lounge. We were panicking over the flammable soft furnishings whilst they were all in hysterics and having a great old time. The next morning we were invited to breakfast with the family at 9.07am and not a moment sooner, this is because it is traditional to start celebrating at a specific time predicted by the Buddhist astrological chart. It is also tradition for the father of the house to initiate the New Year by hand feeding his family and guests. We weren’t quite sure on the correct etiquette and before we knew it a handful of sweet rice was heading straight to my mouth with everyone watching. Without realising, the saucy Nigela Lawson in me ended up nibbling seductively and looking deep into his eyes…He was never quite the same with me after that.

From Ella we headed to Adams Peak which is the Holiest Mountain for Sri Lankan Buddhists as Buddha left his foot print up there en-route to paradise. It’s called Adams Peak because apparently it’s also the first place Adam set his foot after he was cast out of heaven. It’s a pretty important place to a whole lot of people and attracts hundreds of pilgrims, some young and some very, very old. We had met a nice bunch of people the day before and started our climb of 5200 steps at 2.30am together, to make sure we reached the peak for sunrise. The walk itself is pretty easy and is lined with a row of lights to guide you with plenty of temples, tea shacks and brew stops along the way. We thought it would be an almost serene experience; going up to a holy place with all the pilgrims but due to all the families and groups of friends taking part it was more like a carnival atmosphere which was lovely to see. We got to the top in a couple of hours, paid our respects to Buddha and Adam and found ourselves a nice little spot on a monasteries ledge, ready for sunrise, there was a bit of a whiff going on but we chose to ignore that and focus on the gorgeous sky in front…The clouds were really low amongst the valley & the sun was creeping up between the lush green mountains, it felt pretty special being up there…But next we started to hear someone coughing up phlegm which is not an unusual sound in Asia by any means but then we heard a flush and some more manly morning noises…then we felt a trickle of water on our heads- we shouted out but seconds later the whole lot came down around us!! Yes! That’s right, Monk phlegm and pee all over us!! Oh the irony was just too much to bear and so was the smell-we were mortified!
That same day after we scrubbed ourselves raw, we travelled for the afternoon to reach Kandy, Sri Lankas second largest city, for a few days visiting temples and monasteries. The main site being the Sacred Tooth Relic Temple which holds an actual tooth from Buddha himself. It’s had a huge history this tooth of his as it was snatched from the flames as he was cremated back in 483BC, then smuggled into Sri Lanka, taken by the Portuguese to Goa, then back again. It later survived a Tamil Tiger terrorist attack on the temple back in 1998 and now it’s safe and sound locked away in a casket for all to see. Even if it was for only a fleeting-rubber-necking glimpse, thanks to all the pilgrims pushing a shoving and elbowing their way to the front. We thought it was just India but queuing is really not that big in this part of the world at all, seems it’s just us Brits.
Next stop was the Ancient Cities which is a number of crumbling palaces, forgotten cities and sacred sites spread around the center of Sri Lanka. They were all very different and equally impressive. There is something very charming about cycling around crumbling temples and dagobas and exploring the remains of a once thriving place. One of the sights which really impressed us was Sigira Rock. The approach to this rock is really quite something as the surrounding land is completely flat and then all of a sudden there is this bloody great big looming rock that was once the plug in a volcano. Over the years this plugs natural nooks and crannies have been put to good use and it’s apparently been inhabited since pre-historic times. We climbed up this rock, snaking along the ridges and to see perfectly preserved fresco’s of saucy buxom ladies along with ancient graffiti and carvings. When we got to the top there were the remains of an ancient palace and gardens proving the Sri Lankan people really know how to make the most of a good thing.
Once we had finished seeing the ancient cities we were culture vultured out and wanted to try and explore the very north of the island but it proved too tricky due to restrictions still in place and the need of permits to enter the area so we headed down the east coast instead. Our first beach was Uppuveli which is meant to be an idealistic stretch of beach but it seemed the war has changed that leaving the shells of buildings scattered around and litter sprawled along the beach. It was a far cry from the proudly, well groomed beaches we had seen elsewhere. The surrounding town was really interesting for us as there was a huge army presence there- tanks included. The locals were so curious about us that it was a stark reminder of the isolation some of the Sri Lankan people have been subjected to in contrast to the other areas of the country.
We wanted to find a little haven for our last few days and had heard good things about Aragum Bay so we started our journey there. Although only about 70km away there is no infrastructure over this side of the island due to the civil war.....so, seven buses, three rickshaws and one train later we arrived! We checked into our beach hut and chilled the hell out. We met a really nice bunch of people here and happily spent a few days talking nonsense, lounging in hammocks and getting beaten up by the waves, having BBQ’s and midnight swims….good times.
We only had two days left and we started to get a little despondent at lack of wildlife that we’d seen. We mustered up the energy to go to Yala National Park, Sri Lankas largest national park which is apparently highly populated by leopards and elephants. We seemed to arrive 5 minutes too late for every sighting at the park and missed out on the money shot of the leopard lounging on a rock before it slid into a cave. After driving around the park all morning we were lucky enough to spot a couple of lone male elephants, crocodiles lounging in the sun and some pretty, colourful tropical birds. I guess we were pretty lucky to see anything at all as the Tamil Tigers poached all animals very heavily in the park during the civil war with no control what so ever. The park, which is really pretty, was also severely damaged by the tsunami. What’s really fascinating is that the animals sensed the danger and ran away from the coast and headed as far inland as they could to survive.
So that brings us to the end of our Sri Lankan adventure and what a wonderful place it’s been to spend a month. The country is so easy to get around and the people are so welcoming which is very humbling, especially after the hardship they have been through which was ever present in people’s thoughts and conversations as the evidence was ever present in so many places. There is so much variety to keep you on your toes…or you can just kick back and feel the sand between them instead.

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