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A temple elephant in Kandy
It was wonderful to see this elephant at work as he seemed to have a pretty free reign and just put his load down to cool off in the nearby fountain. As you do! I have decided that the picture I painted of India was too negative. I love the place. Hence this is going to be a positive description of how we started our honeymoon.
Day 1:
We arrived at the
stunningly beautiful Trichy airport at 5am where the
extemely helpful security guards asked us to line up to get
in to the airport itself. Then, the extremely efficient staff had to X-ray all of our bags
before we could go to the check-in counter. We were thoughtfully informed that no radioactive materials could be taken onto the plane and then, in the interests of our own safety, our bags were all searched after being X-rayed. The batteries of our two torches were duly removed. But, of course, devices such as cameras, mobile phones and MP3 players had their batteries left in them (devices far more likely to trigger a bomb then a pen torch) and they thoughtfully let me take on a tube of tooth paste which could have had plastic explosive in it.
Then, the lovely lady behind the counter
hand-wrote our check-in. We had 52 kilos of luggage which they let us take thank God. I wanted to leave
the airport to say goodbye to Babu, but the gentle, armed security guards would not let me leave as I had my boarding pass, an obvious
security risk. So I left my boarding pass on the floor and ran past the armed guards (which if I was Brazilian and in London would have resulted in me being shot). But I survived to proceed to immigration. Unfortunately, the wonderfully armed security guard declined to have his photo taken, so please use your imagination. Then we had to present our passport, boarding pass and immigration card to immigration and he took great care in scrutinising all the paper work (by staring hard at it of course). Then we had to line up at the lovely customs desk where one person ticked our name off a list (with great alacrity) and then
another person stamped our boarding pass (the thought that one person, possibly the immigration staring person, could do all of this would blow their minds). And a third person (obviously supervising for maximum efficiency) just sat there.
Then we had to be searched and our hand luggage screened. To screen our hand luggage we needed to have tagged it at
The Colombo Swimming Club
See what I mean? Only the elephants could tempt us away the check in counter which the lovely lady must have forgotten to tell us in her haste to get us quickly to our destination. I got our bags tagged which were then duly stamped
before the bags were X-rayed. Finally, our plane was delayed by an hour, just to give some time to sleep in the airport.
Arriving in the clean and super efficient Colombo airport (really it was, they had too many immigration officials that we walked right through in 30 seconds, with a better visa than we asked for because the man thought that we should have the option to spend more time in his beautiful country on our honeymoon). Despite a kerfuffle at the place we were staying, we got to spend the first afternoon and evening of our honeymoon lounging by a pool, eating and drinking good food and listening to the ocean. LUXURY!
Day 2:
Slept in; the miracle of air-conditioning cannot be over-emphasised. For some reason, Chas and Ana decided to go to India and Sri Lanka in the two worst months of the year. However, monsoon in Sri Lanka has decided to delay itself for one week just for our honeymoon so
Another beautiful temple in Beria lake
We did not go inside this one (were feeling a bit templed out). But as we were walknig around the lake at sunset with all the other couples it prolonged our sense of peace, security and love we are extremely grateful for the extreme humidity and heat. After spending most of the day by the pool being waited on we decided we should see some of Colombo as we could lounge by a pool anywhere. Sunday is a great time to walk around Colombo as there is almost no traffic and we got to explore the colonial parts of town and the beautiful Buddhist temples. We went to the museum (whose entrance price had gone up 7 times but only for tourists) and then to the art gallery. The art out on the street was far more interesting. Walking through the park and seeing families and courting couples made us feel so liberated after India. Ana could wear skirts, we could hold hands and kiss in public. Wonderful. Some of the couples around the lake made us feel like competing; after all, we are honeymooners!
In the first temple we went to, Gangaramaya, I was blown away and profoundly touched by the serenity of the place. It was a deeply spiritual place to walk around and I am so pleased we went. I feel that Buddhism has a lot to do with why Sri Lanka is
The art work outside the main park
The park full of couples and family. With the art work that was far more interesting than what we saw in the Art Gallery. Good value too. If only we did not have 52 kilos of luggage so different from India (although not too much, perhaps we only notice the differences after living in India for two months). Bureaucracy is more helpful, the towns quieter, cleaner and more peaceful. I don't know, it may just be that Sri Lanka is smaller and hence easier to run. We finished our lovely stroll back at the club, swimming and eating and being air-conditioned to our hearts content.
Day 3:
Got up reasonably early to go to the zoo before it was too hot. The zoo was lovely but once again the price had gone up five times in the last two years and just for tourists. We were paying western prices for a shoddier product and it got on my nerves a lot. Unfortunately more to follow. The Sri Lankan government has followed the Indian path of endorsing the ripping off of foreigners which the locals follow with glee. I felt proud that in Australia everyone is charged the same price, at least based on race/nationality and we only discriminate based on age, disability or student status.
We then went to the most expensive but loveliest cafe in town, the Gallery Cafe. It was lovely and the food
The gallery cafe
Hence the expense people was well worth the cost. I think I heard Ana moan when she had the passionfruit mousse. The food was so good and the ambience incredibly relaxing. It was also an interesting exhibition centre and the bathrooms had elegant photos of nudes in them, another refreshing example of liberated sexuality in Sri Lanka. After that went shopping (real Armani and Boss suits for AU$100 as they are from over manufactoring or have slight defaults); we didn't buy anything (need I remind you of the 52 kilos) but it was fun to have a look around. Then, once again, retired to G&Ts by the pool and watched the sunset.
Day 4:
The
best day of the honeymoon! Got up early and caught the train to Kandy. We decided to do Kandy over Galle and some of the best beaches in the world because we have planned Rio later in our trip and Kandy has the Pinnewala Elephant Orphanage. The train was fantastic, only a 3 hour trip and we sat in a car that faced backwards with windows all around. It is such a beautiful country, a lot like Kerala.
Anyway, arrived and found our hotel and a taxi to
take us around. Went to an interesting tea factory and spice garden which made ayuvedic medicines (extremely fascinating but what a rip-off!) But all of this was foreplay.
I (Ana) could have spent the entire day there. The best moment was when it started raining, so all the tourists and guides ran off for cover, and Chas and I remained sitting on a bench as the herd of elephants plodded along up the hill towards us. We then had the herd all around us whilst we sat in warm rain.
Standing amongst a herd of 70 well-looked after elephants was AMAZING. Indescribable almost. They are such majestic yet beguiling creatures. The youngest one was just 3 months old. We got to reach out and feel them, even the little ones!
We also got see some orphans fed. These elephants drink like a litre of milk in under 2 seconds! And the second best part was watching them bathe in the river! Twice a day, the herd gets taken across the road, out of the sanctuary to the nearby river. And they have such a ball! We even saw a couple mating in the river! Kinky.
When
The two cutest baby elephants
They are very communicative creatures, these two loved to hang out, touch each other and play we got back to Kandy we decided to see some Kandyan dancing. We met one of our hotel bellboys outside who happened to be a Kandyan fire walker himself. He took us to the local daily show which was really nice. While talking he heard about us getting ripped off by the spice garden and took us to the local Buddhist market where all the prices are fixed. It was so refreshing to meet someone who did not avidly support the ripping-off of tourists. Unfortunately, despite claims that he was doing this for karma, he then pressured us into buying something from a friend's shop and then asked for beer money (which I didn't pay). By the time we got back to the show we had missed half of it. I was starving which did not help and I was livid at being taken for a ride. The dancing was beautiful visually but they were so woefully out of time that you had to wonder whether it was designed that way. The drumming was exquisite though as was the firewalking.
Just as we felt that our best day of honeymoon was going to be soured by a Kandyan firewalker
(what are the odds?) we checked our email and found out that Ana's tax return had come in! It took away our anger and frustration and allowed us to mellow out and enjoy dinner and more air-conditioning.
Day 5:
Technically our last day. Sob! We have loved Sri Lanka so much that it is the next holiday we take after visiting Sof and Zac in Beijing (two of our best friends, check our their blog on this site by searching 'Zac and Sof'). We explored Kandy and the Buddhist Temple of the Tooth which allegedly houses the tooth of Buddha. It was beautiful but the tourist nature of it (being charged to enter a place of worship sickens me but Salisbury Cathedral has 'mandatory donations') did not allow to find that peace that I discovered in the Colombo temple. We are now writing this blog while waiting for our train back to Colombo to spend one last night by the pool, drinking, eating and enjoying the air-conditioning. A more perfect way to spend our spare 6 days I could not imagine.
Looking forward to seeing a lot of you in Europe and, as for the rest, all of our
On the way to the river
Shops shut up to protect themselves from curious trunks that were busy going through trees and gardens on the way love...
Chas and Ana
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AaronBourke
Aaron Bourke
Good Times
It seems like you guys are having a magical time in Sri Lanka. Good for you. As promised, I've followed in your footsteps and started a blog. Here's the link: http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/AaronBourke/ Short Link: www.mytb.org/AaronBourke Everything has gone to doo-doo (this is a G-rated blog site) since you left.