Sri Lanka day 13 – Kandy

Posted on Monday, 25 Apr 2011 by Hattie

Today is our first opportunity to try a traditional Sri Lankan breakfast;  most guest houses don’t offer it, serving instead the ubiquitous standard fare of stale, lightly toasted bread, jam, eggs – usually fried – tea or coffee and fruit.  A Sri Lankan breakfast consists of coconut milk rice served with either a sweet syrup or juggery which is a very sweet fudge and/or chilli sambal and fish curry.  We draw the line at the fish curry, not being able to face it for breakfast, but try the rest.  Rice and chilli sambal works for me but Andy prefers the rice and juggery;  perhaps not the best combination for a diabetic.

Kandy is probably the most picturesque town visited so far.  The town centre is the usual unprepossessing array of small, open-fronted shops with a jumble of signage and streets teaming with people.  But the setting around the serpentine lake with the steeply rising jungle-covered hills all around is really quite lovely. The lake was created in 1807 by Sri Wickrama Rajasinha, the last ruler of Kandy.

A walk along the south side of the lake reveals a huge amount of wildlife including pelicans, heron, 4-foot water monitors, hundreds of birds, bats hanging in the trees, and an amazing number of fish.  The only thing that marrs a lakeside walk is the pollution from the heavy traffic that crawls along belching out thick black fumes.  Sri Lanka has a long way to go in terms of emissions control. 

After spending some time in one of the markets and having a look round the centre of town we finally locate the train station and purchase tickets to Nuwara Eliya (pronounced Nureliya) for the 28th.  We walk up the hill to the Raya Wasala Park also known as Wace Park and are pleasantly surprised to find a beautifully tended formal garden quite at odds with the surrounding down-at-heel city centre.  It’s another place frequented by young courting couples who seem to occupy almost every bench in the park.  In fact apart from us, there are only  young couples and we feel rather like intruders.

In the late afternoon we go to the Kandyan Art Association and Cultural Centre of the north side of the lake for a performance of traditional Kanyan and Sri Lankan low country dances.  There are nine dances performed by a troupe of men and women accompanied by a drum ensemble.  The performance finale is a very impressive display of walking over hot coals.  The costumes are wonderful and whilst it’s interesting from a cultural perspective, much of it is poorly rehearsed and choreographed.

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Sri Lanka day 12 – Sigiriya to Kandy

Posted on Sunday, 24 Apr 2011 by Hattie

We decide to take a pragmatic approach over the travel arrangements and agree with Mustalif that he will take us as far as Dambulla today where the  we will catch the bus to Kandy. He is also going to arrange accommodation for us.  The latter we agree to reluctantly only because we can’t get a mobile signal here and there is no internet either so we can’t arrange our own accommodation.

Sigiriya or Lion Rock is an awesome sight; its sheer walls rising high above the surrounding jungle, the magma plug of a long-since eroded volcano.  Historically the summit has been the site of both a palace and a monastery.  Legend has it that King Kasyapa 477-493 built his palace here, choising it as safe bolt hole after murdering his father.  More recent archaeological evidence suggests that it was a long-standing Buddhist monastery and perhaps there is some truth in both. 

The base of the rock is approached through the landscaped Royal Gardens which consist of the lovely symmetrical water gardens, boulder gardens and terraced gardens. Here there are the foundations of buildings, bathing pools, caves once used as shrines with seating carved from the rock, evidence of walls and paintings and boulders that once formed the basis of buildings. 

The climb to the top starts with a series of granite steps through the boulders.  Half way up the rock there are two modern spiral staircases leading to a sheltered gallery in the sheer rock face.  In this overhang there are a series of amazingly well preserved and vibrantly colourful paintings of buxom women with slender waists which date back hundreds of years, perhaps to the time of King Kasyapa, although noone seems know exactly how long ago they were painted. 

Beyond the frescos a path clings to the sheer rock face protected on the outside by the 3m high Mirror Wall, so called because of the glaze that gives a sheen to the surface.  The wall is inscribed with a 1000 years of graffiti much of it commenting on beauty of the frescos.  At the end of the path more steps lead up to a large platform which is full of colourful dragonflies.  From here the final ascent is throgh a pair of enormous lion’s paws, all that remain of a colossal crouching brick lion whose mouth in earlier times was the gateway to the summit.  From here a series of metal steps have been erecting that appear to cling precariously to the side of the rock.  The climb which looks daunting from ground level, is actually not so difficult, despite the fact that some visitors, the younger ones particularly, seem to be struggling and have to be cajoled by their guides to continue to the top.

The summit is 1.6 hectares and was once covered in buildings.  Now all that remains are the foundations and a large tank hewn in the rock and which looks remarkably like a swimming pool but was probably a reservoir.

After lunch we head for Dambulla to the Royal Rock Temple, probably one of the most famous of all Sri Lanka’s sites.  The Temple is actually five caves, the earliest dating from the first century BC and the most recent from the 19th century, containing a spectacular collection of 150 painted statues of the Buddha carved from the rock.

Whilst we’ve been looking at the rock temples Mustalif has found a driver he knows who is willing to take  us to Kandy at no extra cost to us.  This seems a much better arrangement than going by bus.  On the way we stop at a Hindu devale its towering roof ornately decorated with numerous statues of gods, including a dead ringer for Freddy Mercury!

Muthalif has booked us into Hillway Tour Guest House near the eastern end of Kandy Lake.  The first room we are shown is pretty grim so we upgrade to a much larger room with a balcony and good views from a huge picture window.  It’s not exactly clean though, but then none of the guest houses so far have been spotless. The whole place has a air of decrepitude about it.  A shame, because with a bit of TLC is could be very nice indeed.

By this time it’s mid afternoon and we take a stroll along the north side of the lake into Kandy town.  Kandy Lake is the focal point of the town which spreads up into the surrounding lush green hills.  It’s about 20 minutes walk from the guest house to the centre at the western end of the lake.  By the time we get there it is threatening rain and anticipating a downpour we hop into a tut tut.  The driver has no idea where our guest house is and completely ignores our attempts to direct him preferring to stop several times to ask for directions.  We could have quite easily walked in the time it takes him to find it.

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Sri Lanka day 11 – Polonnaruwa to Sigiriya

Posted on Saturday, 23 Apr 2011 by Hattie

We stayed overnight at The Summer Village, which isn’t a village at all, but a small countryside guest house, just outside Polonnaruwa.  It proves to be a pleasant enough stopover and it has internet which, as we are beginning to discover, is something of a rarity for guest houses in Sri Lanka.  We thought we had negotiated a good rate for the room when we arrived last night, but we have been caught out by the service and internet charges which have bumped the bill back up.  The breakfast is good though, served on the covered terrace just outside our room. 

Polonnaruwa is one of Sri Lanka’s ancient cities and one of the nine former capitals.  There are extensive ruins, both monastic and royal, spread across four sites:  the Royal Palace group, the Quadrangle and the Northern and Southern groups. There is also an excellent small archaeological museum which contains artifacts and stone carvings that have been romoved from the site during restoration. Of particular interest are the scale model reconstructions of some of the main buildings giving an useful insight into what they may have originally looked like.

The first stop is the Southern Group to see Potgul Vihara and a fine 4m high rock carving of King Parakramabahu (1153 – 1186) – or possibly Sage Palasti – holding a manuscript or is it a yoke? – there seems to be some uncertainty about who this might be and what he is holding.  And beautiful and life-like as it is, the presence of a corrugated tin canopy goes some way to compromise its artistic integrity. Potgul Vihara is a a library dagoba, unusual in that it is a hollow structure (most dagobas are almost entirely solid) with four smaller solid dagobas arranged around the central dome to form a rectangle. 

At the Royal Palace Group we meet up with a guide, this time arranged by Mustalif, although, as it turns out, we could have easily managed without him as the site, unlike Anuradhapura, is well signed. 

Polonnaruwa is as spread out as Anuradhapura and some form of transport is definitely required to get between the groups of ruins.  It is more varied than Anaradhapura in terms of the types of buildings and also more intact.

Notable buildings in the Royal Palace group are the Royal Palace itself, a massive structure that once comprised seven floors, the audience hall with its freize of elephants and carved, Chinese-influenced lions at the top of the stairs, and the bathing pool (Kumara Pokuna) which was fed by two stone crocodiles and flowed out into the rice paddies beyond.  All date from the reign of KIng Parakramabahu I.

The Quadrangle group is a compact group comprising the vatadage with four entrances onto its surrounding terrace with fine guardstones and moonstones; the Thuparama Gedige – a hollow Buddhist temple, and unlike many in the ancient cities was built  entirely of stone and has its roof intact. It is strongly influenced by Hinduism and contains a number of Buddha statues; the Gal Pota, a colossal stone book weighing 25 tonnes, which was dragged from Mihintale 100km away;  the Hatadage tooth relic temple which was said to have been built in 60 days;  the Latha-Mandapaya – a small dagoba encircled by stone pillars shaped like lotus stalks and topped with unopened buds; the Satmahal Prasada – an Angkor Wat-styple pyramid consisting of six diminishing  storeys;  and the Atadage.

Close to the Quadrangle are two Hindu temples the Shiva Devale No 1 and No 2.  The former has been recontructed and is notable for the precision of the stone work.  Also in this area is Pabula Vihara, a typical dagoba from the period of Parakramabahu, probably used as a library and containing a statue of Buddha.

The highlight of Polonnaruwa though is the Gal Vihara, a group of four superb Buddha images carved from a single long slab of granite which are probably the most famous group of Buddha images in Sri Lanka.  The standing Buddha is 7m tall, the reclining image entering parinirvana is 14m long.  The other two images are both of seated Buddhas, one in a niche in rock face.

It had been our intention to go onto to climb the rock at Sigirya in the afternoon, but after lunch there is a downpour and we are slightly relieved to have to postpone Sigirya until tomorrow;  I don’t think we could have found the energy for the climb after this mornings activity!

So by 4pm we are at our hotel just outside Sigirya taking it easy.  Our room faces onto a terrace with views of the lush gardens.  Very pleasant.

Mustalif is trying to wriggle out of taking us all the way to Kandy as we had arranged.  He is trying to suggest that we had originally agreed to go only as far as Dambulla, which is definitely not the case.  But once again we are caught out, because we didn’t write down what we had agreed with him.  The actual arrangement was that he would take us as far as Kandy unless we decided to stop over in Dambulla, in which case we would make our own way to Kandy and he would return to Anaradhapura. This has become an issue now only because the rain has put us half a day behind schedule and means he will not be able to get back to Kandy tomorrow.  In a way, we can see where he is coming from, but instead of explaining the real reason, he is trying to make out that this was the plan all along.  Eventually, he offers to pay for the bus from Dambullah to Kandy.  We decide to sleep on it and let him sweat a little.

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Sri Lanka day 10 – Anuradhapura to Polonnaruwa

Posted on Friday, 22 Apr 2011 by Hattie

We have arranged for Mustalif to drive us to Polonnaruwa and on to Sigiriya, Dambulla and Kandy taking in the main sights along the way;  a 2-night, 3-day trip for 100 pounds plus accommodation.

Sri Lanka is peppered with ancient man-made tanks (as well as innumerable lakes and ponds) which serve to irrigate the paddy fields.  Today we drive along the earth embankment that dams one such tank,the Kala Wewa, where a line of colourful traditional narrow-hulled fishing boats with crude wooden stabilisers lashed to one side are beached at the water’s edge. 

It’s Good Friday and several villages are holding events to mark this national holiday.  One is in the midst of a cycle race, whilst another is holding a ladies marathon.  We stop to watch the latter as a number of young women run by each with their supporters in attendance, some with motor cycle outriders, all drenched in water to keep cool in the stifling early morning heat.  Some are young girls in their early teens;  all are running barefoot, which is a feat in itself (pun unintended) given the scorching heat of the tarmac.

Further along our route there is a fete in full swing and we stop to mingle with the crowds and watch some of the events:  teams climbing the greasy pole to retrieve the flag at the top – no one makes it while we were – one-handed pillow fighting whilst sitting on a raised log, children’s races, and a competition to be the fastest to weave a palm leaf which generates considerable excitement amongst the onlookers.  All the events have monetary prizes attached which are funded from donations made by local businesses.

Our first scheduled stop is at Aukana to see the magnificent, 12m high standing Buddha finely carved from the rock face and dating back to the 12th/13th century. The Buddha stands in the ashiva mudra pose signifying blessing with a burst of fire above the head to mark the achievement of englightenment.  It is also embellished with an enormous colony of bees hanging from one elbow!

Ritigala, on the other hand, is rather less impressive.  These partly restored ruins and caves are the remains of a once extensive monastic complex spread over a hill deep inside the Ritigala Strict Nature Reserve. On arriveal we are immediately pounced on by one of the Department of Archaeology employees who follows us round insisting on acting as a guide.  He is so persistent that eventually we agree to let him take us round the site for 400 rupees.  But after the umpteenth time of being asked which country we are from we realise that his English is more or less none existent and we are in for a pretty perfunctory tour of what amounts to a not particularly impressive set of ruins.  We scramble through the ungrowth of the hillside looking at the monastic caves and end up at a pair of wattle and daub houses, where the guide makes a clumsy attempt to kiss me while Andy is outside taking photographs.  Needless to say he did not get his 400 rupees and was lucky not to get a thump for his trouble!

After lunch we take a jeep safari into the Kaudulla National Park to see some of the 150 wild elephants that live there.  We have a bit of trouble tracking them down to begin with and then getting up close enough to get a good view.  The best spot is a rocky lookout where at least a dozen or so other jeeps are congregated where one group of elephants is gradually making their way closer to us until they come right up to the edge of the rock where we are standing, seemingly quite oblivious to what by now was a quite large group of chattering onlookers. 

Luckily the rain holds off until we get back to our car and then the heavens open as transfer from the jeep.  There is a rather nasty accident on the road to Polonnaruwa involving a van that has come off the road and become wrapped round a pole. Several drivers have parked up to offer assistance and Mustalif stops to do the same. He reports that the driver of the van and his son both escaped without a scratch.

We are not too further along the road when our van cuts out  we find ourselves on the side of the road once more with Mustalif muttering to himself as he tries to find the problem.  Eventually he decides a fuse has gone.  By this time it’s pitch black and we sit in the dark with buses thundering passed feeling uncomforably vulnerable and wondering whether we might be stuck for the night.  Meanwhile Mustalif stands in the road with his head in the driver’s footwell going through all the fuses to identify which one has shorted. Half-an-hour later  we are back on the road and arrive in Polonnaruwa in time for dinner.

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Sri Lanka Day 9 – Anuradhapura

Posted on Thursday, 21 Apr 2011 by Hattie

Today we take a trip to Mihintale, a small town 11 kilometers from Anuradhapura.  The plan is to take the bus from Anuradhapura, but we get chatting to a man in the local pastry shop who,it turns out, has a tut-tut and a taxi and runs tours mainly for German tourists.  To cut a long story short, we allow ourselves to be talked into taking a tut-tut instead.  He also arranges a very good guide to take us round the ruins on Minhintale Hill. 

A series of 1840 granite steps lead up to the top of this shady hill, but we take the easy option and start from the car park half way up. Our guide turns out to be very knowledgable and imparts a lot of information about the history and background to the site, the ruins and dagobas. Particularly useful as none of the sites we have visited so far either here or in Anuradhapura have any signage and the information provided in the Lonely Planet can be a bit patchy and in some cases unreliable.
 

The first two dagobas here are in varying states of disrepair (Kantaka Cheiya, 12m high c 247-207 and  Mahaseya Dagoba), which are decorated with stone carvings unlike those in Anuradhapura which are quite plain.  There are a number of other ruins which are little more than the foundations of monastary buildings including the hospital, refectory and assembly hall. 

Few ancient buildings in Sri Lanka were built of stone;  most were constructed of brick foundations, stone pillars and wooden beams with tiled roofs, which means little remains of what were once grand and imposing buildings.  But two carved stone slabs provide detailed information about the regulations of the monastary and details of daily life even down to the token system used in the refectory.  There are remnants of water channels, pit valves (invented by the Sri Lankans), stone troughs which were used as bain maries to keep food hot in the refectory and a water tank that fed a stream of water through the mouth of a stone lion for showering.  All evidence an orderly and sophisticated society.

It is said that Mihintale is where Buddhism was first introduced to Sri Lanka. Here Mahinda, son of the Buddhist emperor Ashoka, met the Sri Lankan king Devenampiya Tissa by a mango tree and, after testing him with a riddle, considered him a worthy disciple and converted him to Buddhism.  Where the mango tree once stood now stands the small but rather lovely Ambasthale Dagoba, one of the oldest in Sri Lanka. Entry to this sacred site is not included in our Cultural Triangle round ticket, as with most sites run by monks, so there is an additional 1000 rupees to pay.  As with all sacred sites shoes and hats have to be removed, but although we have remembered our socks today it is quite a shady spot and the ground is relatively cool.

From this point it is possible to scramble up the rock to a lookout at the summit with the help of roughly hewn foot holes and a handrail.  The handrail is so hot that the hands need more protection than the feet and so the socks come in useful after all.  The views from the top are quite spectacular.

We return to Adhadradhapura in time for a late lunch before taking a gentle stroll to the Isurumunya Vihara rock temple about 1.5km from the guest house.  This temple, as it’s name suggests, is hewn into the rock alongside the Tissa Wewa man-made tank.  Anaradhapura has three great tanks, Nuwara Wewa (1600 hectares, 20BC), Tissa Wewa (160 hectares) and Basawakkulama (120 hectares, 4th century BC) which feed the surrounding rice paddies.

There is a huge reclining Buddha in the temple, which is also home to a colony of swifts which fly in out at remarkable speed.  There is also a fine carving in the rock alongside the small stone pool full of fish.  It’s also possible to climb up to the top of this small outcrop of rocks for a view of the surrounding countryside and a closer  look at the stupas which sit on the top. 

We stop to chat to a policeman on the way out who is very interested in our travels, but the skies are looking very threatening and there are distant rumbles of thunder,so we make our apologies and hurry off, not sure if we will find a tut tut before the heavens open.  And we don’t!  Fortunately we have our capes with us and we manage to find shelter in a police hut just as the torrential downpour takes hold. The policeman tries to flag down a tut tut for us, but none are inclined to stop;  they are either set on getting home or reluctant to be pulled over.  Eventually Andy managedto stop one with his piercing whistle and we jump in.  There are no side curtains so the rain pours in, but at least we are on our way.  When we get back we find the garden is awash with rivers of water but at least there is electricity!

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Sri Lanka day 8 – Anuradhapura

Posted on Wednesday, 20 Apr 2011 by Hattie

Back to the Sacred City taking a slightly different route this time in order to see the remaining sites. 

Cycling through this gorgeous countryside overloaded with lush vegetation, palms and trees with enormous canopies is just as enjoyable as the ruins and dagobas. This area is not simply an historical site either; the bungalows of local Sri Lankans nestle in the jungle vegetation and several of the dagoabas remain holy places of pilgrimage for many.  In fact the vast majority of visitors to the Sacred City are Sri Lankans with only a small proportion of westerners, mostly in tour groups. 

The grounds in the immediate vicinity of the temples have been cleared and are now mostly shady park land which appears to be maintained by the army.  There are numerous details of soldiers cutting the grass with bill hooks and clearing dead wood.  There is clearly such a surfeit of, presumeably, conscripted soldiers that they can be spared from their military duties to act as gardeners.

By the end of the two days we have covered most of this extensive city including the The BraZen Palace,so called because it was once thought to have a bronze roof, now all that remains are are a few of the 1600 stone columns;  the beautiful cloud white Ruvanvelisaya Dagoba with its frieze of elephants a few of which date back to 140BC;  the Thurparama Dagoba the oldest in Sri Lanka dating from the 3rd century) BC, which unusually is surrounded by four concentric circles of stone pillars which probably once supported a conical roof;  The huge Abhayagiri Dagoba (1st or 2nd century BC; the Jetavanarama Dagoba, the third tallest monument in the world after the Egyptian pyraminds which is is currently being restored and is completely encased in wooden scaffolding – an amazing sight in itself.  As well as Mahasena’s Palace of which little remains except for a glorious carved moonstone; the ruins of the Royal Palace and Kuttam Pokuna, two incredibly preserved stone ponds with a clever filtration system.

Foolishly we forgot to bring socks again, and that has prevented us from being able to get onto the terraces around the dagobas for an up close look around.  I also forgot to sun cream my feet and have spend half the day with my feet in plastic bags to minimise the sunburn. 

This time round we are stopped by a ticket inspector at a ticket booth and finally are able to buy our Cultural Triangle round ticket for $30 each will allow us access to this and a number of other sites between here and Kandy.  There seems to be only two or three ticket boothes in the whole of this enormouse site and none are particularly well signed, but we knew that eventually we would get to pay, either here or at one of the other sites on our tour.

About two thirds of the way round the ancient city cycling seems to be getting significantly harder even down hill which I put down to sheer exhaustion, but it turns out I have a flat tyre.  We are still several kilometers from the guest house and I have visions of having to push the bike all the way back.  But as luck would have it we amazingly come across a man repairing bicycles in a small hut on the roadside and he kindly cleans my valve and pumps up the tyre and we are able to continue on our way.

By the end of two days cycling in the sweltering heat we are exhausted and crash out after dinner.  There is stil is no electricity and there’s been another torrential downpour accompanied by a dramatic electrical storm lasting a couple of hours.

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Sri Lanka day 7 – Anuradhapura

Posted on Tuesday, 19 Apr 2011 by Hattie

We are staying at the Lake View Tourist Guest House which is in a quiet no through road a short walk from Main Street and the centre of town.  This small complex has at least 10 rooms in two separate buildings alongside the owner’s house and our room is on the second floor up two flights of a spiral staircase with some rather narrow steps, which is fine until it comes to the virtiginous descendent which of necessity is painfully slow.  The food is good, the family friendly and there is internet, so it fulfils all our basic requirements.

We hire bikes and set out on an orientation ride.  We need to find somewhere to purchase a round ticket for the ‘Cultural Triangle’ which takes in all the ancient cities and sites that fall within the area between Anuradhapura, Pollonaruwa and Kandy.  This ticket for foreign tourists costs $50 pounds and covers  most, but not all the major sights, which would otherwise cost $25 each.  So although expensive by Sri Lankan standards is something of a no-brainer if you plan to visit more than one sight. And according to Lonely Planet it doesn’t allow multiple entry so you are limited to a day per sight. 

In Anuradhapura there are two main sights:  the Sri Maha Bodhi, grown from a cutting brought from India by the sister of Mahinda who introduced Buddhism to Sri Lanka and is of sacred significance to the Sinhalese religion;  and the Sacred City, a sprawling complex of enormous dagobas (stupas) and the ruins of monastic and royal buildings built during the 1000 years as capital from 380 BC to around 800 AD.

Our first stop is the Sri Maha Bodhi which is the centre of a collection of buildings and which is enormously popular with pilgrims who converge on this site for puja (offerings and prayers) particularly in April.  At some 2000 years old, this is the oldest living Bodhi tree in the world and it is showing its age with many of the branches needing support from decorative props. The walls around this and the other bodhi trees that grow here are decked with prayer flags and offerings of jasmine, lotus and frangipanji flowers purchased from stallholders outside.  

From here we cycle the large loop that takes in most of the sites in the sacred city, but it isn’t until we get to the Samhedi Buddha that we find a ticket office.  The cost of two round tickets is 12,000 rupees – more than we have on us, so we will come back tomorrow to cover the sites we haven’t seen today and to pay for our ticket which will also cover us for entry into a number of other ancient monuments including Pollonaruwa and Sigirya.

The sacred city is very spread out and comprises a number of enormous dagobas some still plastered and whitewashed and others in various states of disrepair, denuded of plaster to expose the underlying brick work; and the ruins of a vast number of monastic and royal buildings.  Most of the dagobas are still in use as sacred sites which means that to approach them requires the removal of hats and shoes.  All are surrounded by stone platforms which in the heat of the sun are hot enough to fry an egg on and are painfully hot to our delicate western feet.  Not so for the Sri Lankans who seem to have feet so hardened that they can walk on the hot stones without seemingly experiencing any discomfort, whilst we hop from one patch of shade to another trying to avoid looking completely ridiculous and failing badly.  Unfortunately it limits our circumambulations of the dagobas and in the end we give up the struggle and have to admire them from afar.  We shall bring socks next time.

There is the most almighty storm in the late afternoon which starts while we are in the supermarket.  Thunder, lighning, winds and torrential rain make it impossible to make it back to the guest house and we are forced to take refuge in the coffe shop there until the rain abates.  Half-an-hour later we don our rain capes and venture out.  It is still lightning every few minutes and the torrent of water in the streets as well as the lack of street lighting make cycling impossible so we push the bikes back the last kilometer or so, our way lit only by frequent flashes of lightning, 

Dinner is by candlelight and we are without power for the rest of the evening.

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Sri Lanka day 6 – Colombo to Anuradhapura

Posted on Monday, 18 Apr 2011 by Hattie

As everyone who has even a smidgin of knowledge about cricket knows, the Sri Lankans are absolutely mad about the sport.  Their passion manifests itself on any spare patch of ground and corner of beach.  On the beach several games take place cheek by jowl and it’s not uncommon, in Colombo at least, to come across a group of young men playing barefoot cricket on a scrubby patch of land with nothing more than a tennis ball, some improvised stumps and a piece of wood for a bat.

Sri Lanka is also a country where tourists are blantantly over-charged either officially or unofficially.  Entry prices are all artifically inflated, by up to 400 per cent in some cases, and prices for other goods and services seem to be far to high to be supported by the local economy.  We are also beginning to suspect that information imparted here is frequently ‘adjusted’ to suit the giver’s purpose.  Such as the trains that don’t take reservations are always full, that there are no direct buses to certain places making them hideously difficult to get to.  All designed to manipulate  the unsuspecting to taking a certain, more profitable, course of action.  We were even quote two different prices for our train tickets by the government train information office and when it became clear we didn’t want to book a tour package were sent round to the normal ticket window where the price was actually considerably lower.

This is our last day in Colombo.  This afternoon we are taking the train to Anuradhapura, one of Sri Lanka’s ancient cities and one of nine former capitals.  To while away an hour or too before leavng for the station we take a walk around the back streets of Mount Lavinia and discover a pretty suburb of mostly single story bungalows, guest houses and hotels with lush, green gardens overflowing with flowering trees and palms.  It’s a surprising oasis of peace and calm only a few minutes from the manic traffic on Galle Road. 

We find our way to the local train station which is only a stone’s throw from the beach.  The trains from here to Colombo take as long as the bus and are the same price, but don’t run as frequently.  As we walk away we are approached by old man who wants to show us a local temple, so we trundle off with him, knowing that there is going to be a cost attached one way or another.  The temple is hidden away off a back street and has some beautiful if crumbling murals, ceiling mandalas and several buddha statues including an enormous recliningg buddha with lotus flowers painted on the soles of his feet.  The reclining figure signifing buddha’s approaching death and achievement of nirvana.

As we should have anticipated, there is the usual visitors donation book, in which almost everyone before us seems to have given 2000 rupees, which seems an enormous amount when entry fees to other temples are around 100-200 rupees.  But we fall for the psychological blackmail and give 1500.  That, plus the 500 for the old man, make it a rather expensive diversion.

We have a quick bite to eat at the Casserole, which is part of a chain and seems to be quite popular with the locals despite the fact that it serves rather pale imitations of Chinese and European dishes and the Sri Lankan menu is off.  It is also relatively expensive compared to local Sri Lankan restaurants.

We arrive at the Fort railway station in good time but discover that our reservation has been doubled booked by the ticket office. The Sri Lankans who have our seats very graciously make way for us and fortunately are readily able to find alternatives in this far from full 2nd class compartment. 

The journey to Anuradhapura is uneventful and we arrive more or less on time, pick up a taxi for a modest cost arrive at Lake View Tourist Guest House around 9pm.

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Sri Lanka day 5 – Colombo

Posted on Sunday, 17 Apr 2011 by Hattie

On closer acquaintance Colombo is, in parts, a quite attractive city.  A jumble of the ultra-modern high rise epitomised by the twin towers of its Trade Centre, faded colonial architecture and ramshackled low-rise chophouses cluttered with cheap signage and moulding concrete facades.  Much of the centre, though, has a pleasantly open aspect and not many capital cities can boast the wonderful seafront promenade that is Galle Face Green. Stretching from the old colonial Galle Face Hotel at it’s southern end to the Old Parliament building to the north, this wide strech of lawn and esplanade along the seafront is a favourite with the locals who come to frolic in the waves as they pound onto the beach or to stroll along the front, fly a kite or just indulge in an ice-cream.

Our prime, immediate focus today is to organise our onward travel. We are going to Anuradhapura tomorrow;  Sri Lanka’s ancient capital dating back over 2,500 years and the starting point for our tour of the ‘Buddhist Cultural Triangle’.  We purchase a couple of train tickets at the station for a mere 4.22 pounds for the four hour journey.

We had hoped today to experience the hustle and bustle of the central market, but only a handful of stalls are open for business and there is a complete dearth of customers,and head for an all-you-can eat establishment near the docks.  This cafe occuplies old colonial premises with high ceilings and elegant windows which suggest a former life as an tearoom frequented by an altogether different type of clientele. Today its clean and spacious interior is delightfully airy and a row of at least a dozen tureens sits on the counter promising all manner of delights.  A vegetarian meal here is 150 rupees or a mere 84p!

We head back to Mount Lavinia to research and book our accommodation and then once more down to the beach for a light dinner in one of the cafes.  We have to settle for a lime soda to wash it down;  alcohol is off the menu as it is on every full moon day.

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Sri Lanka day 4 – Colombo

Posted on Sunday, 17 Apr 2011 by Hattie

A good lie-in to shake off the last of the jet lag, a bit of breakfast and then into
central Colombo on the local bus.  Buses here are definitely a cut above the rust buckets of India and reasonably comfortable.  Each has a conductor who not only takes the fares collecting, with a certain amount of flair and dexterity, all the rupee notes in a single fan round his middle finger, but also touts tenaciously for business at the main stops along the way, even to the extent of alighting from the bus to cajole passersby.  We can only speculate that the driver and conductor are paid a percentage of takings, so keen are they to maximise passenger numbers.  That the bus merely slows down at stops to let passengers jump on and off as it rolls by only goes to support our theory.  The buses steam through the traffic commandeering the road and hurtling straight through roundabouts and heaven help anyone or thing that gets in the way.

Sri Lanka is in the midst of an extended holiday for the New Year which started on Thursday and lasts at least until Monday, probably longer as people take extended holidays which will also encompass another bank holiday next week as well as Easter.  As a result the vast majority of shops are closed and shuttered and the streets in the centre are almost completely devoid of traffic.  It makes for relaxing, stress-free sightseeing but something of its vibrancy is lacking and unfortunately it won’t be returning before we leave on Monday. 

We has planned to look round the central bazaar, but today there are only a few stalls open and no customers.  So, having visited the station to buy our rail tickets for Anuradhapura tomorrow, we decide to head straight for the harbour and a restaurant that is recommended by Lonely Planet. But that too is a casulty of the holiday and we settle instead for another local restaurant, this time with cutlery and some seriously spicy food. 

The harbour is actually a working dock and there is little to see even if it was a working day, so we head instead head for Jami-Ul-Alfar Mosque, an imposing red-and-white striped edifice in a side street of the Pettah district.  Unfortunately, the interior is not so impressive.

A stroll along Galle Face Green is a pleasant way to while-away some time on route to Vidharamahadevi Park further south off Galle Road. The sea is too treacherous here for swimming, but there are still plenty of people careening in waves as the break onto the small patches of sand that are just visible at high tide. 

Our route to Vidharamahadevi Park takes round South Beira Lake where we sit a while enjoying the view.    Vidharamahadevi Park, known as Victoria Park until the 1950s when it was renamed in honour of King Dutugemunu mother, is a well-tended,lush green tropical garden with delightful formal fountains and ponds, many flowering trees, a childrens play area and an amusement park.  Today it is full of families relaxing.  And some of the trees are full of enormous fruit bats hanging like black hankerchieves from the branches. 

We round off the day with a drink in the Lion Bar in Mount Lavinia. This bar’s two notable features are a live three piece group playing music vaguely reminiscent of a south sea island and who move from table to table to serenade the, almost exclusively male, clientele; and an rather novel entrance in the style of a lion’s mouth.

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