Dev and I took the opportunity to go on a tour in Sri Lanka when he was rostered to fly there with three off days in between flights from 26 – 30 October.
The best part of the whole holiday was the opportunity to strap myself in the jump seat of the cockpit for the take offs and landings - It was one of its kind experience!
Sri Lanka is a beautiful place. It would be a better place if not for the wars between the Tamils and the Sri Lankans. The beaches are beautiful, though the rough and thundering sounds of the waves were quite frightening, considering the fact that hardly a year ago Tsunami took place. It was also the monsoon season there then, but to our good luck, we had lots of sun and very little rain.
Upon arrival at 2AM Colombo time at the Galadari Hotel, Dev and I checked in and rested before getting ready for our tour at 8 that morning. Our tour guide Bandhu spoke perfect English. We went to Galle (pronounced as "goal"), where beaches are filled with debris from the Tsunami waves. Fishing boats were halved and left uncleared, houses washed away with only strong walls and pillars remained standing, and the fishing village was left just the way it was, damaged after the disaster last December. People are now living in tents given by the government, and according to Bandhu, it would have been a better choice for the people to be dead than living inside the tents, especially on hot days. He said it was like lying directly underneath the scorching sun with no breeze, and at the same time there was no power and water supply. It was a sad sight, indeed. Bandhu told us there may still be bodies floating in swamplands, which have yet to be claimed or cleared. Nonetheless, the beauty of the beaches was out of this world. Standing on an elevated land by the beach with strong winds blowing through our hair was priceless. It was hard to believe that the beach and its waves were once a disaster for the people in the fishing village. Though the tragedy killed many, the fishermen and their family are still adamant – they refuse to relocate -- even after the governmental warnings. To them, living by the sea reflected their lives at the beach where their daily income is based on the catch of the day.
Just moments before the Tsunami struck, the sea retracted several metres, and it was something unusual, not witnessed by many. Local radio stations broadcasted the spectacular moment, which made many people drop what they were doing and flock to the beach to see what was happening. Little did they know moments later, huge waves engulfed the area and killed many of them and derailed some trains. We caught a glimpse of a destroyed and abandoned train off its tracks. A restaurant by the sea, where Dev and I had our first Sri Lankan lunch, had a marking of the water level when the Tsunami struck, and it was a couple of inches above the main door on the entrance, and that was approximately six-feet high! We were told none of the wild animals was killed. Animals, like the elephants, vacated the area just days before the disaster struck.
Seafood was one of the main attractions in Sri Lanka. Dev and I feasted on many seafood meals, and we really enjoyed the taste of the fresh seafood and the spicy curries - of course Dev enjoyed the spicy curries more than I did!
Our hotel was a beachfront hotel, with a long stretch of beautiful beach. Dinner was at the hotel, seafood buffet at Rupees 1,200 (approximately USD12.00) per person. It was awesome, and we piled up lots of shrimps, cuttlefish and fish!
The next morning, we started out journey at 6:30. We went further into the hill country in the central highlands of Sri Lanka, Kandy, the capital of the last kingdom of Sri Lanka. This is where a long string of Singhalese kings exerted their imperial power and where Buddhism flourished. Kandy is still the capital of the hill country and still retains the distinctly Singhalese tradition. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, we couldn't drive upwards towards the tea plantations, because the journey from Colombo where we stayed to Kandy was about two and a half hours. Calculating the hours to travel back to Colombo, it was impossible to visit the plantations and also get back before dark.
Mawanella Elephant Orphanage
Dev and I went to the Elephant Orphanage where injured elephants were treated and cared. We both went on an elephant ride, which was indeed an awesome experience. We rode on a 49-year-old elephant, and elephants were said to live up to a hundred years, and they consume about 300 kilos of vegetation each day, and they discharge about 100 kilos of dung, and their dung are recycled to make writing papers.
Bandhu took us to visit a spice garden in Mawanella to see the different spices, which Sri Lanka is famous for. We were introduced to the different spices and shown how some of these spices were grown and processed. Dev and I treated ourselves to a full head and body massage, using traditional oils used for ayurveda treatments. It was truly refreshing and relaxing, and after the session ended, we were covered with oil from head to toe!
The third day was the last day of our tour. We had a half-day tour and decided to end it by lunchtime because Dev had to fly back that night, and he needed some time to rest. Our guide picked us up at 9AM for a city tour and shopping in Colombo. The traffic and the driving styles were frightening in Colombo! If you were driving in Colombo and your car didn’t have a honk, you would never stop cursing while trying to drive with tut-tuts (three-wheelers) swerving in and out of traffic and making way for their no-sense-of-etiquette styles.
Hindu Temple in Colombo
We visited several Buddhist and Hindu temples where we had to dress in a proper manner in order to enter. Thorough body checks were carried out for everyone who entered the temples. One of the monks spoke to us and told us he had been assigned to temples in Malaysia, particularly in Penang and Brickfields. The architecture and designs of the temples were amazingly beautiful and colourful.
We also made time for shopping. Odel was the famous mall in Colombo. One could shop for cotton t-shirts, shirts, jeans, household items, cushion and pillow covers, and fashionable shoes and clothes at reasonable prices. If only I had an extra bag, I would have shopped for more things. Dev and I ended up getting t-shirts as souvenirs. Apart from Odel, we went to some tea shops, and we bought lots of authentic and pure Ceylon tea. I also got myself tiny wooden elephants, postcards, key chains, and a beautiful Indian-design top.
We ended the tour with a beautiful Sri Lankan buffet lunch at "Raja Bajun", which meant "Meal for a King". Overlooking the ocean, the restaurant was built just right next to a railway track. The cosy Raja Bajun served many kinds of curries, Sri Lankan style.
It was nice visiting the land of my origin, and it had shown me a different perspective of live in Sri Lanka and how the affects of Tsunami is slowly wearing off as people have started rebuilding their lives and homes. Even with very little they own, friendly faces and smiles show how much they have to thank for to be alive.
No comments:
Post a Comment