2011 Sri Lanka

"I just love our peace,"

 our chubby little innkeeper exclaimed throwing his arms wide and radiating joy. We are at dinner our last night in Sri Lanka and once more it underscores that this trip is colored by the war.  In 2009 the currant government wiped out the last of the Tamil Tiger fighters.  An action that earned the censure of the international community and the approval of the vast majority of the local population.  Time and time again Tamils had negotiated a peace only to use the time to regroup and come out more vicious than before.  So they eliminated them .  In general rebels had lost the support of the Tamil population as they were also tired of war.  Now a country that was extremely prosperous in the 70's,  almost reaching the goal of being the first country in Asia to eliminate malaria,  is on a fast track to try to rebuild and one place they are starting is tourism.  The south coast is the beach area and mega resorts are being built there.  We did not see that part of the country but went to the highlands to visit the World Heritage sites.

For all these years Sri Lanka was on the "Dangerous Do not go List" for most Western governments.
We arrive late at night and drive downtown to our hotel.  Suddenly in this very dark city the driver turns on the van overhead lights and we sit there, 4 startled tourists in a lighted fishbowl in the dark city.  It is the first of three military checkpoints.  The troops at the airport were expected but this is a surprise.  Hopefully it is over.  They have president for life that controls the newspaper so even the morning paper at the hotel was interesting as it is a pure propaganda rag.  The article on tourism was exhorting the population to stop trying to cheat the tourists and stop the harassing by vendors.  They are also very concerned about the tourists who come to exploit the Sinhalese but that is another long story. 
                                                        We are off.    Views from the road.

      Roadside stand.  These are geared to locals not tourists.  Most of this is temple offerings.

Offerings of flowers and rice are common.  This appears to be an offering to protect this van.  Heaven knows they will need it.  If we could have found one we would have put it on the van.

The family Chevrolet in Sri Lanka.  3 million tuk tuks on the road and all are new and shiny.  No old rusted modified wrecks like we have seen other places.

      Our rocket       

Lots and lots of school children and every afternoon they would be walking home along the roadside.  Made me nervous as they walked within inches of speeding buses and trucks.

                                                               Walking to work

roasting corn stand

The journey becomes our window into Sri Lanka.  Well, the window of our van with our driver barreling down the highway.  Highly recommended not to try to drive due to the unoffical rules of the road.  That is the understatement of the year.  The plan is that on the winding mountain crowded two lane roads both lanes are passing everything that moves at the fastest possible speed.  So we constantly lurch from side to side.  We pass about 60% of the time we are driving, we come to a screetching stop about every 10 to 15 minutes at least to avoid impaling the van on a bus or truck.  Other vans and tuk tuks and motorbikes get less consideration.  Those can be faced down and forced to move out the way.  As we leave the posh Colombo Hilton and head up to Dambulla and the Lodge it soon beomes apparent that this is one of those things that neither words nor pictures can explain.  It is just something that has to be experienced. The crowded shops hugging the roads slowly give way to glimpses of startlingly green rice paddies.  I had forgotten the green of freshly gowing rice is almost sharp in its clarity. Wonderful tropical mountain views and lots of surprises.
Due to a lack of tourist infrastructure in the area we are going we stay at the one super great lodge and then drive to the various sites so everyday is in the van for 4-5 hours.

Had to sneak this shot as not good practice to photograph military.  Guard at Hotel in Colombo.

                                                       Susan and Kent
    http://www.heritancehotels.com/kandalama/

This is our base and from here we head out everyday.  Lovely Lodge, great food and rooms with walls of windows looking out into the jungle and to the lake beyond.  Resident troop of monkeys can be a real nuisance.

Our bathroom

Tried to fly the flag but had to fight the monkey king for possession.  I saved the flag and routed the monkey.

                                      Two views from the window in the room

 Ruins and palaces and temples

                                            The cave temples at Dambulla

                                                           Stupa are everywhere

 
Up a long stairway and on stone ramps to the way top of the hill are the cave temples.  It is 90 degrees and raining so getting there is like a stairmaster set in a sauna.  It is also slippery then when we get here we are required to take off our shoes and walk barefoot the rest of the way.  We passed on all the climbing temples after this one.  So that shows we are trainable.

The old Buddhas inside

   The temple monkeys are part of the scene.  They are everywhere.


He needs a new barber. 

                    The Kings swimming pool.  It is good to be King.

This was a massive palace 7 stories high made of brick and stuccoed white.

                                                                     Hmmm?

Jon and our driver at the tea room outside the temple.  There are sugar cubes with ginger to suck on while drinking tea.  Pretty tasty and no he didn't get sick

                                 
                                                            Offerings

This is the long walk barefoot contemplating avoiding great gobs of dog and monkey doo.

Typical offerings are rice, flowers, usually lotus flowers.  Around all the temples are planted frangipani  trees and the locals call them temple trees.  The fragipani and the flower stalls perfume the air. 

                      Time for a break of Sri Lankan Curry in a local restaurant.

          
     Beautiful lake in Kandy is the setting of  the Temple of the Tooth of Buddha

 

The Temple of the Tooth one of the most revered in Buddhism.  Front gate has been rebuilt because was destroyed by a suicide bomber.

Elephants

                                                   No comment needed

                                                         Monitor lizards

                  These big boys were just along the side of the road.

Kandy and the Mansion hotel

Gandhi and Gregory Peck stayed in this bedroom (at different times) as well as lord Mountbatten during WW 2.

           My kind of hotel.  They decorated the bed with flowers but
              forgot blankets.  I think that is priorities in order.

House was built by a lord with connections to the Temple of the tooth and this symbol is an old classic symbol in Buddhism. It was to find infamy much later in a slightly altered form.
 

Odds and Ends

 Essential travel kit.  Actually the WC situation was not too bad as they always had one or two for people with bad knees.  The tray and pan is preferred by locals along with the hose.  No paper.  they don't think it is sanitary. 
We keep stumbling on weddings and this one was at the cultural center right on the street.  There are few older people and from all the weddings there will be a large generation coming. 

Massage and ayurvedic spas 

After all the walking barefoot on stone tiles and rocks we all needed a foot massage so we did that one afternoon.  Then we stopped at a spice farm and they gave a chair massage. 

foot $15 and chair $3

We also got a 90 minute massage for $35.  Laying on a board with a single sheet on top.  A bit hard but very good massage. Everybody is into massage and natural medicine.

In fact when I sat down to rest at one of the museums the soldier guarding that room offered to give me a foot massage.  I am not sure what to make of that.

Interesting memories

Since they have had few western tourists in the last years everyone who speaks English speaks a language we can not understand.  It is the offical language of the government and all signs are in English.  Made getting guides almost impossible as we could not understand what they are saying.  I am sure more exposure to English speaking tourists will change that.

Also one of the few places in world where they did not react to us being American.  They were not sure where that was.  Most thought we were English.

Getting patted down at Colombo airport would have driven the ACLU right up the wall.  Right out in front of everyone. I could have carried a 20 pound bomb in my underwear because the hands never went below the belt.  However everything was thoroughly and I do mean thoroughly patted above the belt.  Both Jon and I got selected.  I think it was profiling.