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Sri Lanka
Dates Traveled: March-April 2002
From Trivandrum I took a 40-minute flight across to Sri Lanka. My initial plan was to head towards the south, but I met an American couple and a Swiss couple that were trying to get others to pitch in for a taxi to Kandy - the second largest city, so I went with them. I ended up traveling with them for about 3 of my 4 weeks in Sri Lanka.
Kandy
Kandy is a great little town situated on a lake - very relaxing, with a fantastic fruit/veg market, a few good cafes, and several well-stocked stores. What more does a person need? One night we attended a Kandyan dance performance perfectly geared to western attention spans. It was only 1 hour, and there were several different dances and costume changes, a mask dance, as well as some walking on coals. Kandy also contains the ‘temple of the tooth’ which is where Buddha’s tooth is kept. It is taken out and paraded through the city on an elephant’s back once a year during a 10-day celebration that sounds like it would be quite a spectacle. We spent most mornings on our colonial balcony overlooking the lake talking and eating great fruits - rambutans, mangosteens, mangos, oranges, bananas, watermelon, etc. Tough life.
Dambulla
From Kandy it was on to Dambulla and 5 caves adorned with Buddha statues, frescoes, etc. A short bus ride then deposited me in Sigiriya. A 200-meter rock rises abruptly out of the lush surroundings, and at one time it was capped by a fortress/palace. It’s possible to climb to the top, admiring some frescoes on the way, and wander the ruins. The top also provides some spectacular views.
Nilaveli Beach
Next was the 3-hour bus trip to Trincomalee - Trinco, on the northeast coast. The trip took us into what was a war zone until quite recently, so we saw houses/buildings in various states of disrepair, decay, and destruction. Some of the vegetation was cleared back from the roadside to make an ambush more difficult, and there were many sandbagged bunkers along the route. Some were occupied by men and guns, but probably not as many as 3-4 months previously. We also passed two checkpoints, which is also fewer now that there is a cease-fire in the 19-year civil war. From Trinco we proceeded 18 kms north to Nilaveli beach, which was beautiful. We spent several days lounging on the beach or by a pool, swimming in the water, snorkeling, eating seafood on the beach cooked just for us by the locals, and relaxing.
Ruins of Polonnaruwa
Next were the extensive ruins of Polonnaruwa, one of the ancient cities. There were numerous stupas, buildings, statues, and a good museum, and all were easily navigated on an old bicycle.
Back in Kandy
Back in Kandy we resupplied and took care of some things before heading out again. While there, many shops were closed and no alcohol was being sold, as there was an election and the authorities were afraid of problems. I’d seen a ballot, and you basically voted for a picture - elephant, chair, bell, or table. We’d seen the same symbols painted on roads, walls, etc. - the campaigning. Each represented a particular party.
Haputale & World’s End
We took a 6-hour train through lush countryside to the hill country, and the town of Haputale, which sits at about 1500 m. During the train trip we noticed several rail cars that had left the track - some of them overturned. It confirmed what we’d read in the newspapers - Sri Lanka has averaged 115 derailments a year over the past 5 years…doh! Like Darjeeling in India, Haputale sits on a ridge amidst tea plantations, though it is considerably smaller.
From Haputale we got up early one morning to go to World’s End, where the cliffs of the hill country end in an abrupt 700-m cliff. It was a spectacular view, and then we watched the clouds rush in and carpet the area at our feet.
Another day we toured a tea plantation, which had been started by Sir Thomas Lipton back in 1890. It was interesting to see the various cuttings, sortings, etc. You fellow tea drinkers will also be pleased to know that your tea has been swept along a dirty cement floor by people in bare feet. Enjoy! The tea plantations had a Zen-like quality - fields of bright green tea bushes, interspersed with some rocky outcrops, with a dash of purple from an occasional Jacaranda tree for good measure. We saw many women picking tea leaves, generally picking 18 kgs. a day and earning about US$1.25.
Ella
Next was another hill town, Ella, where I simply hiked up a nearby mountain for some views of the surrounding hill country, and through the gap to the plains of the south.
Turtles of Tangalle
The next day I took a 3-hour bus trip through the gap and down to the southern coast town of Tangalle. I spent the day in a hammock reading and watching the waves, and then around 10 PM we caught a rickshaw for the beach 10 kms away where turtles come ashore to lay their eggs. When we arrived one had already deposited her eggs and was in the process of flippering sand back over the hole to cover them. We proceeded down the beach where we watched another turtle digging the hole, and then laying 118 warm, ping-pong sized/shaped eggs into the hole. The eggs were immediately collected by a park ranger, who would put them elsewhere where they could watch/protect them from poachers until they hatch. Last, we watched the 140 kg. turtles make their way back into the water. In all a good night - almost full moon on a beach, watching turtles lay their eggs…good stuff.
Mirissa
A short 2-hour bus trip along the coast brought us to the sleepy community of Mirissa, where we spent a few days walking the beach and lounging in the hammocks of the guesthouse garden.
Unawatuna Beach & Galle
Unawatuna was the next stop along the coast, and a great place. It sat along a beautiful curving beach lined with palm trees, and had a rocky headland on one end topped by a large white stupa. This hill was a great place from which to view sunset and the waves crashing into the shore. Like all good self-respecting beach communities serving travelers, Unawatuna had some good little places to drink and eat some fantastic food right on the beach. It was tough to tear ourselves away from there, though we did venture into the town of Galle one day to wander around the fort.
Hikkaduwa Beach
I next went along the coast to Hikkaduwa, which is more of a tourist-package resort. It just didn’t have as nice a feel as Unawatuna in my opinion, though it was the end of the season. Many come to Sri Lanka as part of a package - especially the Germans, and the country is well-suited for it. It’s small, so you can cover a lot in a short amount of time. It’s also varied, from beautiful beaches, to the hill country, to the ruins of the ancient cities. There are many white vans serving as taxis, so you wouldn’t have to take the public transportation if you didn’t want, but where’s the fun/challenge in that?!?
Colombo & Negombo
A 2-hour train trip up the west coast and I was in the chaotic capital - Colombo, and the only place in Sri Lanka that can really be called a city. Kandy, the second largest city had a relaxed feel to it, but Colombo was terrible. There were many streets blocked off in the fort area, as well as many soldiers with guns. A terrorist bomb was detonated here in ‘97, and you can still see much of the damage. I spent a day wandering around, checking out the museum, taking care of flights, etc. As I didn’t want Colombo to be my last image of Sri Lanka, I opted to spend my last two nights closer to the airport in the beach-town of Negombo. Those days were spent relaxing and reading by the water, and enjoying my last few days of peace.
Sri Lanka Is…
Sri Lanka is a small, clean country with a lot to offer. The people are a bit richer than Indians, and you see it in their cars and clothes. For me, Sri Lanka will be very friendly people with umbrellas to fend off the sun, local coconut drinks of arrack and toddy, and power outages. There was a shortage of water, which doesn’t bode well in a country that relies on hydroelectric plants for power, so every day there were scheduled 5 hours of outages - 2 1/2 hours during the day, and the remainder in the evening. One became accustomed to sitting around by candlelight. By leaving in early April I was just missing the start of the monsoon - it rained heavily on a few of my last evenings, so hopefully they’ll get the rain to maintain power for 24-hours.
It was great to witness the optimism and hope for a lasting peace to the 19-year civil war. As it stands, buses were going to begin plying the route to Jaffna - the peninsula where most of the trouble occurs, and they were talking about scheduling some internal flights. Many guesthouses were remodeling in hopes of more tourists. It was great to see many locals rediscovering their country. We talked to some on Nilaveli beach, and they said Sri Lankans didn’t dare come there for the last 10 or more years. It seems like exciting times in Sri Lanka, and I feel privileged to have seen a bit of it.
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