Here's a list of some of the funnier moments or idiosyncrasies of travelling in Sri Lanka........
-- Desperate for some ice to deal with her stubbed toe , Marianne rang room service and asked for some. A man with an ironing board arrived instead! When he eventually returned with the ice he wrapped it in a shower cap for easy application on to her foot: very clever.
- Veronica was sitting and chatting to Thushura whilst he was standing in the bus, when the bus jolted due to a pothole in the road and he ended up sitting in Veronica's lap! No injuries were sustained. However there was some suggestion that actually Veronica was flashing her elbows at him (considered very sexy in SL)
- Despite having an array of adaptors suitable for every country, including Botswana, Turkey and possibly Antarctica, Kerryn and I could not find one to fit the powerpoint at the Grand Hotel. We rang for assistance feeling rather sheepish. The man came in smiling, stuck a pencil in one of the three holes in the powerpoint and inserted the plug into the other two holes. We were horrified given the years of nagging from our mothers about NEVER inserting anything strange into a powerpoint. However it seemed to work and no one was electrocuted in the process!
Whilst shopping for spices in the Kandy market I cleverly bartered and got the price down from12 to 9 , then I got totally confused with the noughts and tried to pay him 900 rupiah ($90) instead of 90 rupiahs ($9.00). He thought was it was very funny but said he would be happy to accept it!
- As we get older and more infirm, sad to say, we seem to have more accidents. Here's the score to date:
One badly-stubbed toe
One grazed shin
Two falls on wet surfaces
One sore back due to the twisting turning and bouncing
One fall, which no one witnessed, of a person going 'a over t' due to the muddy ground in the tea plantation
Two cases of entanglement by unwinding sarong, resulting in the wearers being bound to a number of tea bushes and imprisoned until help arrived
A number of tummy upsets due to bad food, rich food, too much food, different food and possibly general over indulgence
One badly-stubbed toe
One grazed shin
Two falls on wet surfaces
One sore back due to the twisting turning and bouncing
One fall, which no one witnessed, of a person going 'a over t' due to the muddy ground in the tea plantation
Two cases of entanglement by unwinding sarong, resulting in the wearers being bound to a number of tea bushes and imprisoned until help arrived
A number of tummy upsets due to bad food, rich food, too much food, different food and possibly general over indulgence
It appeared that everyone had adopted the scout motto of 'Be prepared' ( Sue H. would be proud of us!) as we appeared to have enough medication between the lot of us to treat a large army. Alison's session alerted us to the practicalities of treating ourselves, but it seemed that the presence of a number of GPs was too tempting and various pop-up clinics sprang into action when needed: in the pool, on the bus etc. Many thanks to the GPs who really ended up on a 'busman's holiday'!
- Cricket is everywhere in SL: three international cricket grounds that we passed, boys in traditional cricket whites in the streets, students standing in monsoonal rain in school sports grounds playing cricket, street games in any open spaces etc etc. And the national sport of SL is.......VOLLEYBALL!
- Sometimes the funniest moments are based on something totally unexpected which could go terribly wrong. When the young male elephant decided to take an exception to the Jeep containing Marianne, Ursula and others it may well have been a frightening experience. The elephant started to flap its ears and trumpet as a warning to them to get away and then began to actually chase the jeep! Shrieks and screams were heard issuing from the occupants, but rather than horror they were screams of excitement. We are still pondering on Marianne's comment that "It was the most exciting moment of my life since marriage"!
- Scarecrows exist the world over but the ones in SL are not scaring birds away from crops: they are perched on buildings during the building phase. Apparently they prevent jealousy and envy and bad thoughts from others.
- Sri Lankan names tend to be long and difficult for us to pronounce, including a rolling of the rrrr's which is nigh on impossible. At the school we had difficulty saying their very long names in response to our question "what's your name?". Marianne (sorry Marianne - you again!) got one back when one of the young boys asked her about her name and she replied with "Marianne Theresa.....followed by her maiden name, married name and several other names, which stunned the poor boy!
- Spontaneous singing became a feature of the trip, probably due to the incredibly corny songs played everywhere based on the music of the 70's and 80's, and at times even earlier. Live music was played at many meals, although we're still trying to work out why, at the roadside lunchstop, the musicians appeared to have mexican sombreros on?! Apart from John Denver, Simon and Garfunkel was a frequent source of creative inspiration, although half of our group singing Cecilia loudly whilst at cooking class drove a couple of members to change groups immediately. It's still hard to say whether the musicians appreciated our accompaniment - they probably just put it down to Australians being rather strange!
- It took a while for our guides to work out whether we were crazy or what, but the trip was very much enhanced by their sense of humour, patient answering of questions they must hear all of the time, and the care they showed in looking after some of the less mobile members of the group. We have all decided that Zoe should emigrate to Australia so we all provided counselling to ensure that happens. Thushara's singing of traditional SL songs , and his less successful attempts to teach us, added much to the trip. The funniest moment was when we all descended upon him to farewell him: he was somewhat aghast. Maybe we were slightly more enthusiastic than other groups??!!
- One of the most noticeable and lovely aspects of travelling in Sri Lanka is the way the local people respond all of the time - with wide smiles, a nod of the head or an "Ayu bowan" ( from my heart to yours) with palms together. Tourism is not big here, and I guess within the hospitality industry you expect these responses, but they seemed much more genuine in SL than elsewhere. On the streets peoples faces lit up when I said " Ayu bowan " to them and then they would usually say 'Hello" at which we both laughed. When I went for a walk one morning I came across three stern looking older ladies in sarongs waiting for a bus to transport them to work. When I said hello to them, they smiled broadly so I pointed at my camera, they nodded, and I took a photo and showed them, which they all found very amusing, and then they kept waving to me as they got in the van..
It would be fair to say that we loved the parts of Sri Lanka that we were able to see in such a short time. Given the history of civil war which decimated the country particularly in the north, we may have expected some evidence of that in the south and centrally. Whilst the 30 years of brutal civil war has no doubt taken its toll on all Sri Lankans, we had a truly wonderful and safe time, and I would urge others to visit. There is much to see and enjoy!
Of course travelling with 25 of your friends is always a great way to go - and many thanks to all of you! - but just going is the important thing! I'm happy for the blog address to be given to anyone going to SL to read and enjoy the adventures we had there,
your signing - off - correspondent,
Dianne
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