Sri Lanka, Days 4-7

Note: This is the second blog post I’m putting up right now, so make sure you’ve read my first three days!

Day 4: Masks and Wandering

After a delicious and large breakfast of various toasts, marmalades, fruit juices and fresh mango and papaya, it was time to wander around Ambalangoda. My first order of interest was to see the mask museum, which turned out to be a dark little place with some really interesting stories to go with the masks on display. A young woman took us through the various alcoves and told some stories, a bit perfunctorily. Afterwards we wandered around by ourselves, just taking in the variety of masks and stories. Then, of course, we had to head to their showroom upstairs and take a glance at their workshop. They told me they had fifteen workers, most of whom are carvers and others who are painters.

We crossed the street to look at another mask shop, then began ambling down some smaller lanes. Most people we passed said “Hello!” It was either tentative, as in the case of most older women; or exuberant, when it came from the children; or questioning, from the men. We weren’t in the usual touristy area, I guess, because we were asked a few times where we were going, as if we needed help. But when we replied that we were just wandering, they seemed content, for the most part. We came up on a small shrine, which we were waved into, and later a larger temple complex with many Buddha statues lining each of four walls surrounding a reclining Buddha. In front of each standing Buddha was a supplicant, mostly human but not always. Pretty different!

Then my eyes caught a shimmer and we headed towards it: the Indian Ocean! We walked along the beach as the waves washed up, deceptively calm. Eventually, of course, we were soaked up to our thighs! It was really pretty, though, so we climbed up onto some rocks and dangled our legs over the edge as the Indian Ocean crashed against our boulder about ten feet below. We sang “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” being silly, and eyeballed a balcony, empty, a short distance away. Hunger eventually overtook us and we actually ended up on that very same balcony awhile later, eating our noodles or rice and vegetables.

It was hot enough out, still, that we went back to our room and showered, luxuriated in the AC a bit, then headed out to catch sunset on the beach. Beny found a place where we could climb up on some rocks and lean against what seemed to be an old flagpole. We watched the crabs scuttle along the large rock next to use, chatted, watched the sun set and in general just really enjoyed the evening. We finished off the day with a dinner back at the guest house.

Day 5: Southward Bound!

After another lovely breakfast, it was off to catch a bus to Galle. We had the plan to really bargain hard with the Galle guest houses, but once we got there it was too hot to wander around much and nobody seemed into bargaining for their empty rooms. So, we headed over to Unawatuna, just about ten kilometers away or so, via a cheap local bus, and  after asking at a few places, we employed our new plan: one of us (in this case, me) stay with the bags somewhere shady while the other goes and haggles with guest houses. Beny came back discouraged, however, so we went back to a place we’d gotten down a bit in price and stayed there.

After resting up and cooling off (a theme with us!) we headed back to Galle for a walk around the old Dutch Fort’s walls, sunset and, eventually, dinner. We met a Belgian girl named Sophie, who joined us for dinner and conversation, which was a lot of fun. We met her at a spot on the walls where local guys tell tourists they’ll run and jump off the wall into the ocean – at least a twenty or thirty foot drop – for 1,000 rupees (~$8 USD). So, we got to watch it happen a few times, which was gut-wrenching and amusing. After dinner, we headed back to our place in Unawatuna.

Day 6: Beach Day

It was hard getting up on this particular morning, though I’m not sure why. Every times my eyes would slit open I would catch sight of the beautiful blue sky with palm trees and jungly green leaves, just outside my window. And yet my eyes would then slip back shut! Eventually I pulled myself out of bed and after a slow morning, we got into our swimming gear and headed out for a day at the beach! Unawatuna is a neat little beachy tourist village on the sea and it’s cute to walk through it. For breakfast we went to a vegetarian restaurant. It was good, but we decided we need to try to cut down on costs, as both of our pockets have been feeling a bit light already.

The beach was just a beautiful, gorgeous blue, with the variations in shade that make the water so breathtaking. Palm trees, nice sand, and guys selling coconuts and hacking through them with machetes just completed the picture. We spent a couple hours swimming and sunning and reading and snoozing on the beach: my favorite kind of day! We meandered down the beach a bit later on and came across a strange party of drunk Sri Lankans, all of whom wanted to take pictures with us. It was sort of fun at first but then just felt strange, especially because one guy kept grabbing my wrist and trying to get me to kiss his cheek. Ugh. We beat it out of there and went to a little rotti shop. A rotti is like a small, thin pancake, usually with something wrapped in it. I had tomato, cheese and olive. Mmmmm! And a mixed fruit juice, of course. Fruit juice with every meal!

While we were sitting at the rotti shop, who should happen by but Sophie! We invited her to our room to enjoy the AC and chatted a bit more with her before she headed back to Galle. We went out for dinner and drink on the beach. The rest of the evening was spent planning for the days to come.

Day 7: Friday

We actually managed to get up early today, packing and showering and getting a tuk-tuk to Galle’s bus station by 8:15am, which is pretty impressive given our sleeping-late track record. We caught a bus to Akuressa, then caught a different bus to Kotapola, where we visited a rock temple and some waterfalls. The rock temple was way less than impressive, especially given the extreme humidity and long, steep climb. The waterfalls were pretty nice, though. Then we caught another bus up to Deniyaya, where we put our accommodation-finding tactic into play, this time with me going forth to hunt and bargain. As it turned out, I found a Lonely Planet recommendation and got a decent price for a fan-only room.

Deniyaya is neat, there are rice paddies, which I love, and everyone seems pretty happy to wave and say hello to us. As with the rest of the south part of Sri Lanka, there don’t seem to be many tourists here. We’ve made a plan with the guest house owner, Bandula, to go see Sinharaja National Forest tomorrow. It is the only rain forest in Sri Lanka and we should see lots of birds and interesting fauna.

I don’t think I mentioned it earlier, but Beny is a vegetarian, and since I’ve wanted to try going vegetarian for awhile but never had the will power, I’ve decided now’s the time. So far, things are going pretty well! I haven’t been too sorely tempted by anything… yet. It’s only been about five days though.

Anyway, the trip is going well: I’m having fun despite the heat and humidity, Beny is a great travel partner, and Sri Lanka proves more interesting as we move along.