A New Adventure: Sri Lanka

Note: At some point I will make a picture album titled “Sri Lanka: Week 1,” for pictures from my first week in Sri Lanka. I’m not sure when I’ll get to it though!

It took me almost three days to get to Sri Lanka, but I made it just a few hours late to meet Beny, my Israeli friend, who met me at the airport in Colombo. A forty-five minute taxi ride later, we were at Subodha and Talini’s home. Subodha is the brother of Dhanushka, a graduate student at the University of Minnesota – Duluth, where my uncle works. Long story short, I visited my uncle Paul a few months ago and he introduced me to Dhanushka and her husband Keravi, also a graduate student. They in turn contacted their family back in Sri Lanka, and thus Beny and I had a place to stay in Colombo on our arrival!

Subodha and his wife Talini were so kind and hospitable, and their two year old son Akita is lively and fun, calling me auntie and Beny, uncle. On my first day, predictably, we didn’t do much. Beny and I walked around the area a bit, allowing me to soak in the heat. Literally… my clothes were soaked with sweat after just ten minutes of walking.

Day 0: Arrival Day

It turns out that we arrived just in time for the monthly poya, or holiday, that coincides with the full moon. This month is extra special because it’s the once a year festival of vesak, which is the celebration of Buddha’s birth, death and enlightenment. It started on Saturday, and Beny and I experience dansal, which are booths that give away free refreshments as part of the celebration: drinks, ice cream, snacks, etc. The lines at these booths were often many blocks long, though when we pulled up in a tuk-tuk we were served immediately (along with having our picture taken by many young Sri Lankans). We also visited a local temple, which was a complex packed with people milling around, praying, watching an elephant, or looking at the story-boards posted around. We also walked around and tried what we thought was “local food” and turned out to be something akin to cigarettes: an addictive treat of a betel leaf that turns your mouth red filled with coconut and spices, I think. The sellers had a pretty display, anyway, but it tasted AWFUL!

Day 1: A Long Day of Elephants, Family and Vesak

On Sunday, we took the two-and-a-half hour drive to Pinewalla, an elephant orphanage, and walked around in the heat of the day. We’d planned to leave early, but a tap burst while Subodha was showering and the morning was spent stemming that flood! At the orphanage we saw baby elephants and grown elephants, both chained and unchained. I’m not altogether sure how great a project it is as it doesn’t do anything to reintroduce the elephants into the wild. On the other hand, it accepts all orphaned elephants… hm. Also, this was our first experience of the tourist-price jack-up. For locals, the price is something like 100 or 200 rupees (about $1 USD). For Beny and I, the price was 2,000 rupees (~$17 USD). That’s quite a markup… a fairly common occurrence, apparently.

After lunch, during which we watched the elephants bathe in the nearby river, we were off to a relative of Talini’s, who was once a player on the national Srin Lankan cricket team. He had a beautiful home on the top of a hill, and it was a bit of a reunion with lots of family visiting. After a few hours of chatting, walking, and taking in the tea fields nearby, we got back on the road to Colombo. Because it was the night of Vesak, it ended up taking us over four hours.

Day 3: And We’re Off!

Beny and I slept in on Monday. It turned out to be the birthday of either Subodha or Talini’s mother, who stays at their home too, so we had a yummy breakfast of rice cooked in coconut milk. Beny and I decided it was time to take off on our adventures, so we packed up and got on our way a bit later than we’d anticipated. However, we managed to get all our chores done before finding and boarding an AC bus to Ambalangoda. Our chores included buying new sandals for Beny, getting me a sim card and a Dongle (for internet), getting cash and eating lunch. We managed to navigate the confusing mass of the Colombo Fort bus station and get on a bus to Ambalangoda.

Don’t be fooled by the fact that it was AC… it was still pretty uncomfortable and hot. The buses are tiny, with seats for two that barely fit Beny, let alone both of us. And we usually have to pay for a third seat for our packs. Also, the drivers here are a bit crazy. Lanes are a concept that are generally recognized but not always followed, so swerving, honking and hard braking are all part of the norm. With one butt cheek half on and half off the seat, and my knee giving me problems when sitting in one position too long, it was a long three and a half hours before we made it to Ambalangoda.

This was a destination I’d picked because it’s well known for mask carvings for Sri Lankan dances and customary rituals. It was getting dark when we arrived, though, so we picked a place out of the Lonely Planet guidebook, Sunumu Guest House, and paid a bit extra for an AC room with half board. We were pretty wiped from the long, cramped bus ride, so we just stayed in, showered,relaxed, ate and cooled off in general.

Some general observations/impressions of Sri Lanka:

• People are nice, in general. If you need directions, people on the street are glad to help, if they can. This being said, foreigners are definitely gouged for all the money possible and everything must be bargained for. It’s the off season in the south and we’re having to argue down prices from twice the high-season norms, which is a bit ridiculous.
• There’s a different pace here. Meals take forever to arrive once ordered. Distances aren’t very great here, but it takes a really long time to get places. It’s hard to get used to!
• Sri Lanka is technically a developing country, but it’s at this weird halfway point in my mind. There are nice buildings, cars and shops selling electronics and other “modern” things. But there are also tons of tuk-tuks, buses are dirty and old, there’s trash on the ground in most places, and while there are Western toilets, the flush capability is not generally there.