Sri Lanka: Week 3

Saturday, 19 May

Today we took the train to Nuwara Eliya. Well, really the station name is Nanu Oya, which is nearby, so we took a taxi with some Germans to Victoria Inn, which Beny had called up earlier. Our room there was ok, a small square box with a nice window looking out over Victoria Gardens, for 1,300 rps per night. We decided to rent bicycles and ride around town. Originally we took some scary paths, but eventually got onto roads and patchwork roads, eventually getting up to a Buddhist dagoba with a very pretty and city view; we soared back down (the gears and brakes were a bit sketchy on these bikes)  and visited the bazaar. After mosying around a bit, my bum had had enough, so we zoomed back to Victoria Inn. I rested while Beny cycled a bit more. When he returned, we walked into town for dinner. For whatever reason, I was grumpy/headache-y. Nevertheless, an egg sandwich and veggie soup cured me. Not as helpful were the cupcake and choco ball for dessert, which were both disgusting!

Sunday, 20 May

We took a morning wander around Nuwara Eliya and split ways this morning; I went to Victoria Park, Beny walked around town. We met up back at Victoria Inn, packed up and caught a bus to the train station. Quick aside: at the train station there was a large billboard advertising a National Women’s Day earlier in the month. The funny part of the sign was the sponsor: Minister of Agriculture. Beny couldn’t stop giggling for at least ten minutes. Anyway, we got to the train station early, so we bought tickets to Peradiniya (where we’d heard we had to go instead of Kandy) for 110 rps each for 2nd class, and waited. It was a four hour train trip that was packed full of people, so we had no seats. We hung out at the end of the train car, by the doors, taking in the countryside as it whizzed by. We met an Australian/Spanish couple and ended up taking a taxi with them to Green Woods guest house (2800 rps/night for two rooms, one for us and one for Jutta), which turned out to be very nice – lots of monkeys! Later we all went out for dinner at a place they’d had recommended to them, Muslim Hotel, and I had kotthu string hoppers rotti, yum! Afterwards, we bought some arrack and ginger beer (and I got tooth paste for me), went back to Green Woods and had a few drinks before bed.

Monday, 21 May

We woke up and decided almost immediately that we needed to do laundry. First, we had a quick visit to a nearby bakery for breakfast, and then we wandered around town. I was a bit grumpy, due to a tiff with Beny in the morning, but eventually shook it off. We found a post office and checked out Olde Empire, another guest house option, but it wasn’t as good as Green Woods. When we got back to the guest house, we followed the owner’s wife with our stinky stuff to an outdoor area where we learned to do our laundry: we filled one tub with laundry powder and water and tossed our clothes in, soaking them. Then we took a piece out and threw it violently down onto a stone/cement slab, squeezing it and pounding it and brushing it. Then it was pound and squeeze again before dunking it in another tub of plain water. Needless to say, we went through several tubs of both soapy and rinse water.

Our Finnish friend Jutta arrived to the airport near Colombo and ended up taking a taxi to Kandy to meet us. We met her at around noon at the guest house and after she got settled in her room, we went to lunch at the same Muslim Hotel place. After, we walked around Kandy City Center, visited an ATM for Jutta, went to small market where Jutta and I dealt with an angry shoe store guy, and finally to the mall with Beny so he could buy some sandals. We sat by the lake for awhile, wondering about strange fireworks that would go off now and then; it sounded like gunshots and startled us every time. Eventually, we took a tuk-tuk to Dhanushka’s parent’s house for dinner. They stuffed us with rice and potato curry and string hoppers plus chicken and fish balls for Jutta, along with a dessert of fresh fruit (absolutely divine mangoes, pineapple, bananas and honey). They showed us around their home and talked to us about Sri Lanka in general. They explained that the fireworks were because a Sri Lankan general who had been imprisoned for two years had been released that day. There was a bit of a language barrier but we did all right. They have a nice view from their roof and showed us places we could walk to and visit. Later, back at the guest house, all of us felt stuffed and went to bed by 10pm.

Tuesday, 22 May

We liked it so much we went back to the Muslim Hotel for breakfast. Then the three of us took a bus to Peradeniya Gardens (1,100 rps each) and spent a few hours roaming around. We’d bought food with us, so we picnicked and climbed trees, enjoyed flowers and serene park atmosphere, and watched the locals around us. We bumped into the Australian couple Beny and I had met back in Ella and chatted with them for a bit. We hopped on a bus back to Kandy and visited the Temple of the Tooth (1,000 rps each) and had an ok guide (500 rps). After that, we saw a Kandyan dance show, which was interesting but I ended up more curious about the history of it, as some of the dance seemed rather influenced by modern-day dance in other countries, perhaps. There were firewalkers at the end! After a quick shower and cooling off at the guest house, we walked to Slightly Chilled pub and had dinner there. Beny was moody; personally, I think he maybe has some travel burn-out. He said he was fine, though, so Jutta and I let him be.

Wednesday, 23 May

We all slept in late today. I had breakfast with Jutta at a different nearby bakery. I brought back sweet buns and bananas for Beny while Jutta shopped at Kandy City Center. After making plans for the day with Beny, I went to meet Jutta downtown. She introduced me to Rory and Mark, Irish and English buys, and we all walked around a bit. We visited banana square, dubbed as such by Jutta and I, and bought some munchies before heading to a temple in the woods. It was a simple Buddhist temple but had one fairly interesting feature: a wall painting showing the decomposition of the Buddha’s body. It was pretty graphic and disturbing, not to mention confusing. There was no one there able to explain it to us. We went to visit a forest park up the hill, but were told it cost 650 rps apiece. So, we walked down the hill, back to city center. Rory and Mark went off their own way and Jutta and I met Beny for a late lunch, after which we visited the tourist center to get info on going to Jaffna.

Later, Jutta and I went back to Dhanushka’s parent’s house for dinner. Beny opted to go out with Sophie, the Belgian girl we met in Galle, instead, and missed out on a fabulous dinner of dosi and curry and sambol, plus a three-dessert finish of pitthu (rice/coconut mix with honey and coconut milk poured on), a fruit pudding kind of thing that was to die for, and fresh fruit. I again ate way, way too much and felt about to burst! Afterwards, Jutta and I took a tuk-tuk to Slightly Chilled again and meet Mark and Rory for drinks; Beny and Sophie joined us a bit later and we all gabbed and joked. At 10:30pm, I went back to the guest house because they lock their doors at that time. I loaded up on bottled water, arranged a tuk-tuk for the next morning, packed, and went to bed. 

Thursday, 24 May

We were up at the ungodly hour of 3:30am to finish packing and meet the tuk-tuk at 4am. Even so early in the morning, Beny was able to bargain down the price to the bus station! We ended up finding a bus to Vavuniya, which left at 5am and arrived there at 9:30am. Beny and Jutta sat together and I sat in the aisle seat next to a young-ish Sri Lankan man who seemed to feel a bit awkward at first. He eventually fell asleep and I also snoozed on and off, even through the bus becoming over-crowded and having bags put on my lap, hands on my shoulder, and the other usual crowding symptoms. We caught a quick snack in Vavuniya, which seemed at quick look a bare town at a junction of many roads. The next bus took us to Jaffna and took about six or seven hours.

Let me tell you about Sri Lanka buses. The ones we took are the same that the locals take. Each bus usually has a driver and at least one helper, usually two on long-distance buses. In the case of our trip to Jaffna, it was two. These helpers act as ticket-takers, destination callers and human blinkers. By this last, I mean that when the bus passes another vehicle, the helper will lean out the door (which is always open) and wave frantically at the vehicle we’re passing, indicating that we’re passing and will pull in front of that other vehicle. Without fail, when the bus passed someone we’d see on-coming traffic in the form of other busses, tractors, trucks, tuk-tuks and people on bicycles. It always seems as though it’s a near miss, too, when we don’t kill anyone or crash.

On our way up to Jaffna, we had to go through a military checkpoint, supposedly for security. As the only three foreigners on the bus, we had to get off, show our passports and provide some information. The “checkpoint” was an open-air hut with a table behind a low wall, with two soldiers sitting at it. We were waved to some plastic chairs to wait while two other men showed their papers. When it came to our turns we all handed over our passports, with Beny handing over a copy of his since his was at the Australian embassy for a visa. This last part confused the soldiers, so they went over and knocked on a nearby door. A moment later, a tall and filled-out officer came out, strolled over to the table, sat, and beckoned to us indolently. Beny went over while the senior officer eyeballed the photocopy, then asked with a bit of a superior air why he didn’t have his actual passport. Beny explained, answered a few other questions, and then we all had to fill out our occupations and local phone numbers. After twenty minutes of this paper-pushing and showing off, we were waved away.

Anyway, we arrived in Jaffna around 4pm. After hunting around for guest houses, we settled on Kandy Hotel, where we got a triple with AC for 2,500 rps per night. After showering and changing and settling in a bit, we walked around town without much direction, ending up at a local’s recommendation at Cosy’s for dinner, after which we walked back to Kandy Hotel. Before crashing for the night, I sent a couch request to the only Jaffna couch surfer.

It’s a very different vibe here! Never mind the construction going on here and there, or the bombed out buildings with trees and flowers growing in them; ignore the rubble fields and general disarray and mid-reconstruction feel of things; it’s just a different feel. It’s not touristic at all. People are friendly but not overly so, for the most part, although I think the men really notice Jutta for her blond hair. It’s just… quieter, simpler, almost even nicer here. It’s not something I can put my finger on directly, because it’s a mix of sad and depressed and determined and moving-forward-ness. Sri Lankan military is everywhere, too.

Friday, 25 May

All three of us slept in, no surprise. Once up and showered, we booked a tuk-tuk driver for the day. We went first for a rotti breakfast, then headed to Kayts, which took awhile. We passed Sri Lankan Navy signs, like “first line of defence” and so on. At Kayts, we boarded a strange platform with an outboard motor attached on the side, a 40-horse power thing like off a boat, and motored across the bay to another part of the peninsula. Our tuk-tuk, a couple of bikes and pedestrians motored across to Karaitivu. Then we headed to Casuarina Beach, but on the way we stopped at a Hindu celebration of a new temple, or statue, or something, that was inside a tin-roofed shed; people were putting tikka on their heads and offering fruits and rices, it was quite the party atmosphere. After taking this in, we went to and swam at Casuarina Beach. It was warm water, and too windy to really sit on the beach – instead we got a bit sandblasted. It was also incredibly hot out! Our next stop was Kantarodai, which is the site of some strange dome-like structures, supposedly dagobas, apparently 3,000 years old. The reason for their construction is completely uknown. It’s not much of a “site,” with no explanations or signs around, just an old man who eagerly pointed to some of the structure bases and said, “Original! Original” But it’s strangely appealing anyway. The tuk-tuk then took us to Tellippalai, where we saw a Hindu temple being rebuilt and talked to a young man who we later found out to be the son of the high priest. He told us the story of the temple (a horse-faced woman who wanted to be beautiful followed god-sent orders to come to Sri Lanka and build a temple).

Back in Jaffna, I got a call from the one couchsurfer in Jaffna, who offered to host us that night. So, we went back to Kandy Hotel, showered, and headed out to Maria’s.  She and her husband are a German/Albanian couple doing aid work with the World Food Foundation. They have a cute 16 month old, shockingly blond and pale, named Marek. We had dinner with them and went out for drinks with other volunteers/expats. They have to single beds, so I ended up sleeping on the floor on a bunch of yoga mats.