Sri Lanka, in Search of Serendipity

We arrived in Colombo, Sri Lanka, after a relatively short hop from Bangalore. We had a few tense moments at the check-in counter when they tried to deny us boarding passes because we did not have onward travel plans, but Liz managed to bull our way through this technicality. (Basically we agreed to lie if we were asked any questions!) The Sri Lanka Airline staff had impressed us by their appearance and conduct, with little of the loosey-goosiness that characterizes Indian life. It was only a week before Christmas and the airport was decked with fake trees and empty gift boxes to make all the foreign (read: British and Russian) tourists feel at home. This was the first indication we had seen that Christmas was indeed happening soon.

We took the late-night taxi ride that had been organized by our hotel to Negombo. The Colombo airport is not located near Colombo, or anywhere else in particular, so this little burg was our first stop. We stayed at the faded Silver Sands Hotel, which is located right on the beach. We never got much opportunity to enjoy the beach as the weather was overcast with showers. We did tour the town a bit, and caught some of the sights on the beach, below.

The Monkey and Cobra Show is, we came to learn, a common feature around Sri Lanka. This monkey was trained to take money out of your pocket.

Bowen demonstrates the evolution of the species on the left. Hollis demonstrates that all the talk about the "python in the pants" is bravado.

As beautiful as these are when at rest, we learned to fear them on the roads. Not even the buses tangle with these guys!

We decided to move ourselves south in search of better weather and a livelier beach scene. We had heard that Hikkaduwa fit this bill, so we got ourselves to the train station and bought the incredibly cheap (less than $4)  tickets for the trip. We piled on board with a whole bunch of tourists and even more locals, gaining prime spots for the whole family and our luggage in the passageway at one end of the ancient  train car. The Sri Lankan rolling stock has not been upgraded, or probably even repaired, since the Brits left after WWII, so it was like traveling through time. The rail line follows the coast the whole way, so the view was terrific if the seating was not.

The Colombo Train Station, a steampunk delight. This was the best part of the train trip.

Unfortunately, Hikkaduwa oversold itself, and the weather continued to be rainy and the town itself is a bit bleak. A lot of the beach has been eroded away and unregulated development has created a blight of resorts all along the coast in this area. We were treated to the sight of hotel staff wearing Santa hats and sarongs as the holiday theme was tortured for the tourists. We came to the realization that Sri Lankan cuisine is nowhere near as rich as the Indian. We were not in Goa anymore, Toto!

A local entrepreneur applies aloe vera to Hollis' "sun burn" before demanding an outrageous sum for this unsolicited service.

Hikkaduwa has the dubious distinction of being the site of the single greatest rail disaster in history. On 26 December, 2004, the day the tsunami hit, a commuter train much like the one we had taken was rolling in to Hikkaduwa when the first wave hit. The train stopped as the water swept across the tracks. People watched as the water withdrew and wondered at what they had just witnessed. A few minutes later, a much greater wall of water swept in, driving villagers from the beach before it and pushing the train off the tracks. 1600 people on the train and another 400 locals died in the flood, a significant proportion of the 40,000 total that perished in Sri Lanka. Everyone that we spoke with in Hikkaduwa had a tsunami story and had lost relatives in the disaster. We were happy to have rooms on the second floor of our guesthouse.

A photo display from the heart-wrenching tsunami memorial.

The procession that accompanied us out of town along the beautiful main street of Hikkaduwa.

With beach time in Hikkaduwa being a bust, we continued south along the coast to Unawatuna. Any place whose name is that much fun just to say must be great! We continued via train, which mode of travel only improves the further one gets from Colombo, so we actually had seats for this trip. We found a great little hotel, reminiscent of Fawlty Towers in the way it is run, across the road from the beach at the quiet end of town. This was where we were going to be spending Christmas! But first a side trip to the town of Galle, an old walled city from which the Portuguese, then the Dutch, bled this part of Sri Lanka dry under the old mercantile system. The "gold" in this part of the world was cinnamon.

A woman creating some of the lacework for which Galle is famous. 

We could not figure out who wears the pants in this family.

The "beach" in Unawatuna, where uncooperative currents have eroded much of the sand.

The weather on our arrival a few days before Christmas was not bad, but on Christmas Eve it began to rain, and continued to pour in torrents all through Christmas Day. We all slept in and then sat around the "tree", a wooden sculpture decked with flowers and items combed from the beach, to open our stockings. Phone calls were Skyped home, where it was still Christmas Eve, and we went out for a special Christmas dinner at a local restaurant, where we paid a high price for large quantities of mediocre seafood. Definitely a memorable Christmas for the family!

Our Christmas morning family photo. The crinkle of wrapping paper was matched by the dripping of water.

Our two elves delivering part of Liz' Christmas gift, a foot massage.

A view of the beach from  Buddhist temple on the point.

Part of the tsunami anniversary memorialization. Many tourists in Unawatuna lost their lives.

One of the crazy scenes of the tsunami aftermath.

One of the cooler Christmas decorations on the beach!

After all that holiday celebration, we were ready to move on. That, and we were evicted from our hotel which was pre-booked over the New Year. The weather improved, and on the hottest day in Sri Lanka so far we piled in to a minivan with no air conditioning and a dodgy transmission, and Liz with a dodgy tummy, to go to Tissa. This was our first foray inland. Tissa is an old royal city and is well-supplied with Buddhist temples and dagobah (as they are known in Sri Lanka). We paid out the big money to do a jeep safari in the neighbouring national park, for which we were rewarded with the long distance sight of a lone wild elephant, a lot of water buffalo and deer, and many species of birds. The most prolific species, however, was that of the safari jeep.

A typical Sri Lankan thali. All this in one meal! For about $2!

And this is what Liz got for about three times the price. Her belly was not up to eating much.

The dagobah in Kataragama

Remy chowing down on hoppers after an exhausting temple tour.

Forget about flying pigs - the fruit bats are numerous and enormous!

Where the buffalo in this part of the world roam.

We surprised this herd of safari jeeps.

Elephant Rock in background.

Traffic jam in the park. It is hard to sneak up on elephants this way.

Sunset on the safari. Look 1cm to the left of the big  tree trunk to see the elephant!

Learning to play "Carom" with the guesthouse family. They were sharks!

After an enjoyable stay at the Elephant Camp Guesthouse in Tissa, the homeowner drove us into the mountains to the town of Ella, where he introduced us to the proprietor of a mountaintop guesthouse that he knew. The rains that had assailed us in Unawatuna had caused havoc in the interior of Sri Lanka, causing landslides that blocked highways and railways and in one case, washed away a village. We heard news stories of several lives lost.  There was ample evidence of this as we climbed up to Ella, with blockages only recently cleared away and often only a single lane of the highway open. The train station in Ella was eerily quiet, but the station manager was still on duty and informed us that the rail line to Kandy would be open in "two, maybe three days". We would be told the same thing for the next three or four days. Our stay in Ella was very active, as everything required hiking either uphill or downhill, and we climbed some beautiful mountains. We ate amazing food prepared by our guesthouse host, and had a special New Year's day breakfast while we watched the ball drop in Times Square on cable TV.

And to think we worry about moose and deer crossing...

A Sri Lankan bus. Believe it or not, this is more technically advanced that the trains.

On the road to Ella. A close call for this hotel!

A roadside vendor weighing out his wares.

The quaint but eerily deserted Ella train station.

Soldiers tasked with clearing the rail line.

In a tea plantation on the way into the clouds on Little Adam's Peak.

New Year's Day breakfast - delicious!

Street scene from Badulla, the regional capital.

We had to get a photo of this - a bus with room to sit!

There is, or was, a house in there somewhere.

Landslides by the dozens!

Why did the dog climb the mountain? We don't know.

The vista from Little Adam's Peak.

The driver of the truck at the top of the slide was equally dumb and lucky.

Three different ways to spell "Ella".

Home-made Sri Lankan trucknutz.

The main road of Ella, just downhill from our guesthouse.

Art shot of the approach to Ella Train Station.

The tunnel under the tracks, just down the hill from our place. Every vehicle that went through sounded its horn.

This is the morning commute for many people in Ella.

Namaste from Ella Peak!

Our host, on the left, and a housemate at dinner.

After all the fresh air and exercise, we were ready to head back to the city. The rail line was still closed, depriving us of what is apparently the nicest segment of train travel in Sri Lanka, so we were forced to submit to two particularly hellish rides on crazily over-packed buses along particularly winding roads. We were able to do the second half of the train ride from a point further down the line, to arrive in Kandy in style. We got two of the worst rooms we have had on this entire trip in a guesthouse and settled in to see the sights. These included a day trip to an elephant camp that rehabilitates injured and abused or neglected elephants, and we had a great time bathing  and being bathed by these gigantic beasts!

On the way to the camp, we passed - elephants! What the......

There are two pachyderms in this photo. Remy is the smaller one.

Wonder what he's thinking?

Our turn for a shower.

Bowen wants an elephant for his birthday.

Sri Lankan food can be quite spicy...

Art shot by the lake in Kandy.

There was a presidential election impending in Sri Lanka while we were there, and we had unwisely booked our outbound plane tickets for the day after. We received advice that it would be better not to leave our trip from Kandy to the airport until this day as there was a possibility of civil unrest regardless of the way the election went, which could result in road blockades and some degree of martial law. We took the train to a town on the way to Colombo, near the airport, and took a cab to find a wonderful hotel at the end of the runway, so that we could walk to the airport if we had to. The hotel was newly built and modern, and we were the only guests, with sumptuous soft beds and amazing bathrooms in each of our rooms. The staff treated us very well, having us eat with them, and there was cable TV, so the boys could watch reality TV between periods of monitoring the election. The locals were all on edge, and everything closed early that night. As it turned out, the president was soundly defeated, and graciously accepted the defeat, so there was a peaceable transition of power. We made it to the airport that evening, where we planned to spend the night as we had to check in at about 4:30 AM. We found a deserted alcove in the airport where we spread yoga mats and cardboard on the ground to make a hobo camp for ourselves. We all had an awful sleep before checking in for our flight to Bangkok.

Remy and Hollis rocking the lungis.

Family resemblance.

The morning after the election, we are escorted out of our house to get supplies.

Our gracious hosts, who treated us like family.

Homeless at the airport.

Sri Lanka was a challenge for us, overall. After the colour and vibrancy of India, not to mention the favourable exchange rate, Sri Lanka seemed to pale. It is our first experience in a country recently emerging from a war and a natural disaster that is wanting to claim its share of the tourist dollar, so there are still a lot of rough edges that need to be smoothed off. That being said, we had many memorable experiences and met many nice people.

Next stop.... Bangkok, Thailand! again


~ Remy