Sri Lanka 1. On the Road Again !

 

Finally, here we are on another trip nearly two years since we got back from our last foreign jaunt to Mexico.  That was just before the Coronavirus era when because we were travelling full time, we were homeless until an hour before the first lockdown.  However that’s a different story (available by request) and now here we are in Sri Lanka.

This one started with a bit of a hiccup.  After a fine pre-flight hotel stay at our friends Jan and Clive’s place we turned up at our long term parking site to find it closed.  A note on the gate gave us a different address but there was no internet signal.  So we had to drive until we got a signal and that was that.  Nothing on the company website, no email warning but at least we had time to spare.

  

two shots of the fishing boats in the lagoon at Negombo

Sri Lanka has been on our mental list of destinations for quite a while and everybody we know who has been here says it’s wonderful.  Some of you will remember it as Ceylon and some of you will know that before that it was called Serendip (or dib).  Odd that despite that name change the tea is still called Ceylon Tea.  Similarly, Bombay potatoes haven’t had their name changed to Mumbai Potatoes in Indian restaurants in Britain and we refer to Bollywood rather than Mumblywood which I think you’ll agree is sensible.  Mind you, Mumblywood has a sort of homely charm about it.

 

We’re here for six weeks and because of that damned Coronavirus felt we should be a bit more prudent than our usual travelling style.  As far as we can tell the Sri Lankan government are taking what precautions they can, hotels and similar establishments are supposed to be checked for Covid compliance and given a stamp of approval or not and reported case rates for infection are currently considerably lower than the reported UK’s infection rate, which doesn’t even include re-infections in the figures.  So, we’re being prudent in our own way.  Our attitude can be summed up as “If we don’t die out there, everything else is solvable”.  Unfortunate then that our first hotel is in Cemetery Road in Negombo.

 

Our trip really started after we‘d had a few days recovery time in Negombo and our guide and driver, Niroshan turned up to collect us and drive to Kandy.  We have two fortnight tours with Niroshan arranged for us by Tikalanka Travel based in Cumbria, home of England’s Lake District and Kandy.  These days the go-to word for ‘arranged’ or ‘chosen’ seems to be ‘curated’, a usage of the word which I despise.  You regular readers will of course expect the odd rant, otherwise you might think my laptop has been stolen, or is that curated ?  If this trip had been like our normal ones we would have arrived in Colombo, had a couple of days to get our body times in sync with local time and set off in public transport to wherever we decided to go first.  None of that this time, this is organised.

 

Niroshan had set off very early from Kandy to collect us and found the main road very busy.  Coincidentally we have hit a three day weekend because of a full moon public holiday and we drive as far as we can on a secondary road with lightish traffic until we’re forced to join the nose to tail crawl to Kandy.  It takes five rather than the usual bit over three hours.  However, we gain two firsts on the way, seeing rice being harvested by what looks like a miniature combine harvester and a Buddhist temple with a line of statues of monks lined up behind The Buddha.  Here in Sri Lanka it’s fine to photograph statues of Buddha but not to pose for a photo with your back towards him.  This is the first Buddhist country we’ve been where to our knowledge this behaviour is unacceptable.   Maybe we’ve just got it wrong before.  That’ll be a bit of a debit on the karma account.

 

We’re immediately comfortable with Niroshan’s driving.  Driving here is of the no prisoners taken variety and the general rule of the road is always that priority goes to the biggest vehicle.  That may not be the official line but it is the practical one.  I haven’t seen it yet but I hope one day to see a tandem force it’s way in front of a standard bicycle.  Any gap is just asking for something to fill it, even if other vehicles get blocked.  It is really much more relaxing to be a passenger.  That said, driving appears to be much better than in India where it is fair to describe the general driving style as unhinged.  Niroshan’s is assertive and if it wasn’t we wouldn’t get anywhere.

 

The Knuckles Range floating above the mist over a pre-dawn Kandy

Kandy is in the hills and the temperature is moderated a bit even though we’re only a little over 1500 feet above sea level.  Our hotel is in the hills above Kandy with wonderful views to the north and The Knuckles range of hills.  This hotel is owned by the Sri Lankan partner of Tikalanka, Pathi and his wife Suba.  We see more of Pathi and he is very helpful, friendly and welcoming.  The food is excellent, four of five different dishes plus rice and our own beer.  We found out very quickly that most hotels don’t have alcohol licences so we brought our own, the ubiquitous Lion brand.  It’s a lovely hotel with an older and a newer building which we’re in and has been built to a very high standard with polished cement floors and tables, granite in the bathrooms, big rooms, a balcony with a view over the valley and a comfortable bed.  A tremendous start.

 

We enjoy plant zoos which to be fair are usually called botanical gardens, they have lots of plants and trees which we like and attract a good variety of birds.  They’re also a calm part of a city away from much of the noise.  Kandy has a very good one which is more of an arboretum with some smaller plants but is well worth a visit.  The River Mahaweli, the longest in Sri Lanka runs along one side and is about the same length as The Thames.  There are lots of courting couples paying scant attention to the magnificent trees around them.  One particular oddity is the walking tree (Walking Screwpine) which does just what it says on the non-existent tin.  It stands on a collection of aerial roots which will die off on one side with more growing on the other side and will eventually appear to move to a different position.  Not quite as lively as an Ent.

Ladies queue for the Temple of The Tooth 

Kandy is home to the Temple of the Tooth, one of Buddha’s of course and one of the holiest sites in the country.  We arrive early in the morning and find to our dismay that there are two huge queues already waiting to get in.  One men’s
queue and one much bigger women’s queue and this where a local guide comes into his own.  Niroshan leaps into action, goes to the front of the queue to ‘make enquiries’ and then we set off to the other end of the complex where there is another entrance which tourists can use and there’s no queue at all.  Result !

covers 11 Jan 22 - 17 Jan 22