Colombo to Habarana.......the joys of roadworks Sri Lankan style

Monday 20th October

Another stunning day welcomed us as we climbed aboard the bus and headed for the very centre of SL: Habarana, in what's known as 'the dry north'.

As we drove past the Singalese Sports Club cricket ground on our way out of town I was reminded that I should mention for the cricket lovers that we passed the Galle Cricket Ground frequently whilst in Galle too. It was completely washed away in the tsunami, but apparently was rebuilt with the help of international cricketers, including Shane Warne. (later in the day we also passed the Dambulla Cricket Ground which appeared to be built in the middle of the jungle - it had a huge shiny silver sign to proclaim that it was an international cricket stadium, but looked very incongruous stuck in the middle of lush jungle. Anyway that's the sport report!).

We weren't sure how long the trip would take as there was a lot of road building going on, resulting in many delays. We detoured a number of times along some very rough dirt roads, bumping along in our full size bus, through lots of small towns and villages. It's fascinating to see people going about their usual business, walking children to school, sitting in shops waiting for business, buying all sorts of items at roadside stalls and shops (including Australian Roll-a- Doors!)  and just sitting. The school children waved happily at us in their white uniforms.
The bus driver did a great job of squeezing the bus through some very tight spaces and over very narrow bridges as we all held our breath.
In the end it took twice as long as planned: but who cares ? We're operating on Sri Lankan time now.

We did have one stop at a textiles shop which caused the usual shopping chaos that follows the arrival of our bus. It was a small business so we had the chance to watch the women engaged in the process of winding the cotton and weaving the fabric, which is always fascinating. Very hard repetitive work though.

Finally we arrived at a hotel where we re-energised with lunch and cold drinks.

Then it was Sigiriya, one of the most sacred and famous places in SL. We had been discussing climbing 'The Rock' as it is known, but I certainly hadn't anticipated the beauty of the place which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It was a truly remarkable set of royal gardens and a palace built on top of a huge rock for protection. A few fit members of the group climbed the precarious trail to the top of the rock which took two hours return and 1202 steps! Clearly as a protected fortress it was a great choice!

The rest of us enjoyed wandering around the Water Gardens, the Boulder gardens and the caves that had been inhabited by monks centuries ago. The engineering and building skill that were needed to transport water around this dry area were  remarkable and apparently it's still not clear as to how they did it. 

The entire site was totally overgrown until the Brits arrived and started excavating.  Some beautiful colored frescoes of very well endowed ladies were uncovered too.

If I  was to become a monk this would be the place to meditate: brick walls built of small flat bricks covered in moss mixed with some huge rocks and boulders with lovely greys and pinks and of course lush jungle and vines. Stunning!

Everyone chose the level of challenge they could cope with and we slowly made our way back to the bus to witness an intense sunset on the way to the Cinnamon Lodge, where we will be for two nights.
It is a huge hotel consisting of white bungalows spread over many acres. The pool is magnificent and we all plunged in gratefully.

Yet another lavish meal was consumed featuring roast pork and ginger pudding with custard amongst hundreds of choices

Your tired but happy correspondent

Dianne

PS YOU MAY HAVE NOTICED THAT WE HAVE LOST A DAY SO I WILL TRY AND POST THE MISSING BLOG: JUST REMEMBER IT WAS WRITTEN ON A JOLTING BUS! !!!!

Habarana: not an exotic cocktail but the centre of Sri Lanka

Tuesday 21st October

We were rather horrified to discover as we emerged from our rooms for breakfast that there were hundreds of other people staying there.  As there is about 25 of us we expect to outnumber all of the  other tourists. This time there were so many buses  it was difficult to work, out which might be ours: fortunately no one ended up on a bus of Spaniards.

First stop was a visit to a tiny village primary school with only 14 students. To get there we had to decant into some jeeps as village roads don't cope well with large buses.

When we arrived all 14 of the students,  dressed in their best white school uniforms, their parents and their teachers were there  to greet us. They had never had a tour group visit and it had taken our Tour Company some time to work out with the local guides which school was in need of some support.

We had a wonderful time chatting to the children, being shown their school library ( three bookcases) of which they were very proud, and presenting them with some laptops and sports equipment. They were very excited and soon there were frisbees flying, skipping ropes swinging  and shuttlecocks disappearing! We were exhausted but they were very happy.

Then, drinking coconut juice straight from the coconut, we sat in the shade of a large tree and watched them perform some of their songs and dances. Everyone participated although some were a little overawed by all of us! We reciprocated by singing 'Kookaburra sits on the old gum tree' in a round. It actually sounded a lot better than we thought it would as we had not done any practice, as opposed to the children who had obviously been rehearsing for ages. Heaven knows what they thought of it!

Finally the mothers of the children,  all dressed in their best, answered our questions using Thushara, one of our guides, as an interpreter. It was fascinating to hear how they value exactly the same goals for their children: education is prized highly ( 91.8% literacy rate in SL),  the availability of health services even in their isolated village seemed good, and all of us agreed we worked too hard whether it be with our brains or physical work! They work in the fields every day producing  vegetables and 'big onions'. They were concerned about the lack of a standard price for their produce and at times the cost of production outweighs the income gained.
We asked them to describe their favourite local dish which is a sweet pudding consisting of a pancake wrapped in a large green leaf and steamed. We've yet to try it. It was a lovely experience for all of us and we hope they get plenty of use for the gifts and cash we gave them. Apparently access to the Internet is a challenge but some of the local guides are working on it.

As the heat was building we spent a few very hot hours at Polonnaruva: another UNESCO world heritage site . It was created with the renaissance of Buddhism in the 11th Century but buildings and gardens had been added to it over the centuries as three kings lived there, including the addition of some Hindu monuments as well.

The complex consisted of a number of buildings in a state of ruin and extensive gardens and dams that again had been uncovered by the British after they took over SL in the early 1800's.

 The buildings included a beautiful roofless Citadel with 4 serene Buddhas and extensive carvings of elephants lions and foxes on semicircular moonstones leading up the steps to the Buddhas. Again the workmanship in the walls of the dams and in the remains of the buildings was remarkable. 
The next stop was to see a simple stone buddha standing 6.5 metres tall and a beautiful stone reclining buddha. We had to cover ourselves to visit all of these sites and were provided with  white sarongs to cover our legs or shoulders and white socks so that we could stand the heat of the rocks. Quite a fashion statement especially with our sandals over the top of the socks! (Sue I. commented that she has calabresi blood so it's expected that she wears socks with her sandals!)

To recuperate from the heat we set off for the Lake Hotel  for a swim and lunch. It looks out over the Habarana Lake which is 12 kms long, and on the opposite bank we had our first sighting of a few elephants!

Finally the big event of the day was upon us: an elephant jeep safari.

From the extreme heat and humidity of the morning the weather changed completely to a monsoonal downpour whilst we were in the bus.  It wasn't looking good for any open jeep trips but just as we reached the jeeps the rain stopped so we all piled in determined to go. When it does rain it's not cold so we were quite glad of a few drops.

We bumped mercilessly along some muddy slippery dirt roads through the jungle, spying a couple of peacock along the way.

 Then the open space on the banks of the river appeared and we saw a group of more than 60 elephants quietly grazing. It was a family group of mothers and some very small babies led by one giant matriach. She started to get a bit edgy and flapped her ears and made some trumpeting noises and came towards us , so we moved away. At one point one of the elephants actually chased a jeep away when it came too close. You can see the smiles on those who escaped below.......!

  There was much bouncing around as the driver skilfully negotiated the increasingly slippery tracks and the ruts and potholes. At one point our jeep ran into one of the others as we were overtaking, but there were smiles all round and no one seemed very upset.

The sight of the sunset over the lake was beautiful as we drove towards another group of animals including a male 'tusker'. They are very rare apparently and it's huge white tusks were very impressive. The asian elephants are much smaller than their african counterparts but just as fascinating.

Feeling very happy despite speckles of mud everywhere, we piled back into the bus and after dinner and a swim piled contentedly into bed.

your impressed correspondent

Dianne

Colombo.....we did it our way!

Firstly I have to apologise for the lack of photos: seems to be a problem with downloading them . It could be user error ( in other words my total incompetence despite training from my husband).

Anyway we became more oriented to the sights and history of Colombo following a walking tour with Mark and Ruby, his wife. As a keen photojournalist and archivist, his passion for the history and architecture of Colombo was evident as we wandered around the  Fort area and then mingled with the locals in the market area of Pettah. Colombo was a hugely successful port as it was the regular stop en route from Europe. The Portuguese who built the port both here and in Galle in the early 1500s were ousted by the enterprising Dutch a century later. Others followed to make their fortunes including Mr Cargill from Scotland who built a delightful department store which we visited. 

Lots of superb solid colonial buildings  from the last few centuries are currently being rebuilt and refurbished by the SL Army and Navy: and the quality of their restoration is fabulous.  (Maybe some our ever increasing defense forces could be put to work! ?).
We stopped at the Grand Oriental Hotel which had been the place to stay in years past . It's faded glory was sad but we enjoyed the tea and the view over the docks, just as many sailors and traders would have done for many years as they passed through Colombo.
Mark introduced us to the joys of the local herbal juices truck. The owner picks herbs in the morning  and creates  soups and juices that he sells from the  back of his van. Delicious and part of ayurvedic medicine.

The rest of the day included many of the activities below:

- buying metres of heavy cotton fabric from Barefoot: a gorgeous shop which sells jewellery, homewares,  toys and textiles made locally.
- enjoying the ambience artwork and food at the Garden cafe built by Geoffrey Bawa
- perusing the fashions at Ode[ department store. Manufacturing garments  for overseas fashions is a huge business here so all of these garments were locally made
- purchasing EMBARK t-shirts to support the local dog refuges.
- wallowing in the pool
- enjoying an exhilarating ride in a tuktuk weaving in and out of the ( much larger!) vehicles.
- having a nap
.....and lots more
We regrouped in the Sky bar on the 10th floor for cocktails and to enjoy the lights if  the  city below.

Then we walked- or staggered depending on the number of cocktails imbibed - to the Dutch hospital to have a truly amazing dinner at The Ministry of Crab. Equipped with bibs we crunched and sucked our way through eating the largest prawns I have ever seen and huge mud crabs cooked in herbs or Chilli or curry or pepper sauce. We also had rice and veggies but everyone's attention was on extracting every last bit of the tender sweet meat.  By the end we were covered in juice and had to queue up at a couple of sinks in the restaurant to wash ourselves thoroughly before touching anything! 

Very enjoyable and very messy! !!!

Home to bed to face another day

Your slightly fishy smelling correspondent
Dianne

We return to Colombo .....and the monsoon returns to south Sri Lanka!

We awoke to the sound of turbulent seas and pouring monsoonal rain. Having carefully planned this trip between the NorthEast monsoons and the South West monsoons we seem to have disrupted the climate completely!

One of the best features of the Jetwings Lighthouse Hotel is it's close proximity to the sea, so any changes in the weather are immediate.This is the view from our room. Every night we went to sleep with the sounds of the waves, only metres away, crashing on to the rocks. These rocks saved the hotel from complete demolition when the second wave of the tsunami hit, althought the entire ground floor was flooded and everything inside destroyed.

The hotel had a number of idosyncracies which we found fascinating.

The staff were very helpful and friendly but there were so many of them it was a bit overwhelming: 3 people to open a door for you, the minute your plate was empty it was whisked away ( no chance for seconds!), and more staff than us at the BBQ by the pool. Jenny had been assigned a 'butler' as her personal assistant and he was very helpful and eager but spent most of his time outside her door waiting to be summoned, which was a bit disconcerting. The problem was that she ran out of tasks for him to do early on and then was desperate to find  some way of keeping him occupied. The only task he refused to do was ironing! We did our best to find something useful but it was difficult!

In yoga one morning Eva, the instructor,  was standing in front of a large window and she was difficult to see because of the light flooding in behind her so I suggested the blinds should be pulled down. Unfortunately there were none on that window. So Zoe, our guide, went to see what could be done and before we knew what was going on we had a number of the staff standing on ladders to cover the window with sheets from the outside. With the wind blowing and sheets flapping it was quite a performance and our giggling totally destroyed our meditation. But so helpful!

We were also intrigued about the bathrooms in our rooms: very nicely tiled with a lovely big bath, but with glass doors on the shower and the toilet: not great when you are sharing!! Just to top it off the glass doors had locks on them : we've yet to work out why?!

But by far the one feature of the hotel we all enjoyed was the towel animals. We were all astonished to discover an elephant made from towels when we returned to our rooms. Then each day one of an array appeared -  a monkey hanging from a coat hanger, a swan, a peacock and our favorite - a dog wearing any sunglasses left in the room!

After our last lavish breakfast we packed our bags and set off. The original plan was for a group of us to visit Geoffrey Bawa's garden. He was a famous architect and gardener, and the Lighthouse Hotel was one of his achievements. The prospect of spending 3 hours in monsoonal rain wandering around the garden was losing it's attraction when we were told the trip was off as the garden was completely flooded. When we eventually reached Colombo we also saw one  of his largest projects: the new Parliament house. Very impressive!

But first we went to visit Joy who is a dynamo in the shape of an English woman who has spent the last few years setting up an orphanage and 'Social Care Centre' which survives on donations. We arrived to find the junior class all dressed in their best with posies of flowers to give us. They were very cute and sang us a song before handing over the flowers. The whole enterprise is impressive as it provides school, training and health services for disadvantaged locals. They make soaps for many hotels ( including the Lighthouse Hotel) and there is a sewing room which produces bunting, rag dolls, soft toys and lots of items, many of which will be making their way back to Australia. The whole enterprise needs some business planning and marketing,  but has been remarkably successful to date.

After some hours on the road we made it through the traffic of Colombia and to the Kingsbury Hotel, a huge multistorey hotel on the water. The views of the Harbour are great and there seems to be a lot of development along the foreshore.

The famous Galle Face Green is not far away. It's a stretch of green lawn along the foreshore where the colonial families gathered and promenaded.  Although today there was more mud than grass!

Some of us went to a fabulous restaurant for lunch, some went shopping and others who had been given packed lunches to go to the gardens enjoyed them in their hotel room and had some rest and relaxation.

A few of us headed off to the Dutch hospital: a collection of old low slung ochre buildings with tiled roofs built by the Dutch for use as a hospital,  as the name suggests. Now converted into cafes, bars, restaurants and some lovely shops which we wandered through. An unfortunate incident when Sue and I were fooling around resulted in me breaking a horrendous sparkly peacock ashtray - I insisted on paying for it ($6.50) but the sales girls (who shadow your every step) were horrified when I didn't want it repaired to take home. I do draw the line at kitsch sometimes!

At dinner we were serenaded by a saxophonist who seemed to be playing music of our era (ie.old). Harry Belafonte Neil Diamond, the Beatles to name a few! We weren't sure whether to be insulted or not!

Back at the hotel we farewelled Angeletta,  Elaine, Anne and Jenny as they headed home.

Then it was off to bed, but sleep took some time because of the thumping beat of the music issuing forth from one of the wedding receptions being held in the hotel!

Your more relaxed correspondent

Dianne

The last days of the Conference and Galle

Thurdsay 16th October

Meditation and yoga started the day for some brave souls.
It was back to business and more conference presentations. Thelma discussed the thick and thin of life whilst Elaine was focused on risk taking - will we or won't we? Sue I. hit a few chords with the challenges of micromanagement and stories of survival.  Anne and Sue H. talked us through some topics we all find challenging -  wills, protecting our assets and advance care planning. All very thought provoking, and the discussion made much richer by the personal stories shared.

We lunched at Fortaleza: pate, mezze platter and coconut panacotta for me. Not exactly traditional fare but delicious.  And the ginger lime fizzes cooled us down beautifully.

Next was the cool white buildings of the Galle fort spa. Following a talk by Juliet  about the medicinal properties of cinnamon  and lots of other herbs chaos ensued. Some of us checked out the wares of the Ozzie Swim shop manufactured in Sri Lanka but sold in Noosa. Then we all had the pleasure of a foot massage or some reflexology. With smiles on our faces and our feet smelling sweet we descended upon the Fort jewelery shops. There was much advice given about selection from an endless array of options...and much justification about the money spent! Including that we were generously investing in the future of Sri Lanka!

As we wandered around there was no chance of getting lost as the Fort only has five streets and lots of lanes.

One of the magnificent old colonial buildings was our location for dinner: Amangalla.
Huge rooms with high ceilings and heavy wooden furniture reminded us of the history of the area. Another beautiful dinner including twice backed cheese souffle, beetroot and feta salad and chocolate flan.
Home to bed to collapse!

Friday 17th October

Sadly the last day of the Conference had finally rolled around. Deb got us started discussing back pain in all it's glory.  The mind body dichotomy seemed to feature in many stories.
Then Kerryn and I collaborated to present a session on - wait for it!  - collaboration. As there had been minimal creative arts involved in the conference we thought we would test everyone's capacity for creativity and collaboration by getting each small group to build towers using only marshmallows and skewers - all I can say about that is VERY interesting!!

There had been a lot of interest expressed in social media including blogs, twitter, Facebook and more so we spent an hour trying to get our heads aroundso many options. Then, following a discussion about the future of the conference, Jenny officially closed it. Mind you, she did feel that she had to ask whether we wanted another one!  How silly!

After lunch a group set off to learn more about the joys of the famous Ceylon tea - here's a report from Sue H.:

Handungoda Tea Estate is where we met Herman .He showed us the tea estates  - tea is from a form of camellias , introduced by the British
The estate is well known for the white virgin tea which is picked by girls in latex gloves, face masks, hats and lab coats. They never touch it with bare hands, and small embroidery type scissors are used to cut the tea bush leaves. Why ?  Was inspired by an old legend and the fact that leaves and flowers
We had oolong tea on the verandah of Hermans house , then black tea sweetened with cinnamon. Beautiful tropical gardens, flowers, birds etc. Then down to the tea processing area  at original machines, some over 145 years old . We saw cinnamon being harvested from the cinnamon branches . elderly men carefully peeled layers of bark . We then went to the retail shop. There were about 20 teas to taste..meanwhile it rained and rained and has continued since!

 Some had been picked using tiny scissors so the tea wouldn't take on the smell of the person who picked it.

The rest of us, who will be seeing endless tea plantations later in the trip, chose to do a bit more pampering: facials, manicures and  pedicures were the order of the day. We experienced the silkiness of cocoa beans paste being spread over our faces: smelt delicious and made our skin shine!

For the final Conference dinner everyone put on their gladrags,  including those with superb saris. There were apparently some challenges in remembering how to drape the 7 metres of fabric so they didn't look like a mummy. Thanks to Prashani, one of our local guides, they all looked very glamorous.

It seems that every night the restaurants are more fabulous than the night before.  Despite the continuous monsoonal rain we sat on huge verandahs at an even larger and more stunning colonial dwelling called the Sun House. The rain poured down into deep blue tiled drains that ran through a lovely garden with lights in the trees. Stunning SL food was provided with the usual endless array of curries: pineapple, pork, beef, chicken, beetroot, dhal, spinach and even a curry made entirely of garlic! It was very sweet and delicious, although we thought everyone needed to eat it to avoid anyone being overwhelmed by garlic breath.

With a bit of dashing through the rain we headed for home on the bus to pack our bags to leave Galle in the morning.

your slightly damp correspondents,

Dianne ( and Sue H.)

More adventures: cookery school (Sri Lankan style) and looking good in a sari...

Wednesday 15th October

No conference today so some rest and relaxation we all thought.... but instead we managed to fit in all sorts of exciting adventures.

Off to yoga for those of us trying to be fit and healthy....in order to counter the effects of the irresistible food. (Maybe that's why when the yoga instructor Eva says : "Breathe in and find some space for your breath" there appears to be none!)

Breakfast tastes are becoming more adventurous I notice: more interesting combinations  of rice, egg hoppers, sambals and local food whilst still being tempted by the fresh pastries. The avocado smoothies are a big hit with me, whilst others head for chilli-laden curries.

The usual drama of getting us all on the two large buses and making sure we haven't left anyone behind ensued, and off we headed to the Paddy Island to learn the art of cooking authentic Si Lankan food at the Yatagala Cookery School.  No boring commercial kitchens for us though! The kitchen was outdoors in the midst of rice paddies and a beautiful garden full of ponds filled with water lilies, endless palms and plenty of beautifully coloured plants that none of us could identify. This was the home of David and Danielle who have moved here from the UK to SL 12 years ago.

For some hours we chopped, peeled, grated, stirred, sliced, ground ( with a HUGE cylindrical stone on a large stone slab -see the photo below!) and finally fried, steamed and cooked. The dishes included fish balls, lentil dhal, beetroot curry, red rice, marinated fresh tuna, pineapple curry, snake beans with peanuts, and eggplant brinjal.

If your mouth is watering the good news is that we were all presented with a recipe book on departure. So when we return you have every right to expect a repeat performance. Although bear in mind that we won't have the Sri Lankan ladies to assist. Despite having no English or Sri Lankan on each side we managed to follow their instructions without any failures.

Unfortunately one group of cooks felt the need to sing Simon and Garfunkel songs loudly and badly which may have helped their teamwork but was not enjoyed by the rest of us!

It's a joy to see the transformation of familiar ingredients into gourmet food and to see the gay abandon with which they add chili to everything without making the food burning hot. Every dish had lots of spices: apparently the average number in any SL curry is 13!

To enjoy the products of our labour, we sat in a beautiful outdoor pavilion and enjoyed the breeze and the view of the garden. Blissful - what more could you ask for? - great food, superb environment and interesting people to share it with.

But wait there's more!!! A chance to try on bejewelled saris and wander around as if we had transformed into Raj princesses.

A few kilometres down the road we arrived at expat Henrietta's boutique hotel called the Why House (so-named because one of the workmen building the impressive colonial-style buildings endlessly asked "why?"every time a new plan was made).

Our eyes lit up as we spied the pool as it was sunny, hot and very humid. After wallowing for some time - an activity we seem to have perfected - we emerged from the pool and headed for a large lounge room to transform ourselves. Saris of every colour were displayed across the walls and tables; every colour from intense purples to pale pinks to bright yellow, and were embellished with 'diamonds', pearls, beads of every colour, gold embroidery and every imaginable design.
Alison started with a sari of intense purple, pink  and gold. The rest of us followed suit choosing colours that 'spoke to us' and submitted ourselves to the process of being wrapped, and draped and pinned.

There was some laughing about the amount of flesh some of us were prepared to show to the world. Resulting in some rearranging of fabric to cover some of our less flattering bits.
After the excitement, and the heat generated by being swathed in 7 metres of fabric it was time to enjoy the sunset, sipping ginger lime sodas or gin and tonics or ice cold beers on the verandah.  Heaven!

Before I describe the next exciting experience let me reassure you that no-one was hurt alhtough some of us were rather worried I can tell you! We were seated by the pool to enjoy a cultural show. Oh well I thought - a bit of dancing and singing - how nice.... But no!!!!!!!!!!

In the dark appeared two drummers and 3 young athletic men dressed in white pleated skirts,  leggings and turbans, with lots of bells to keep time with the drums.

Then a dancer arrived with a gruesome face mask and a wig of long fibrous hair. Then two large fire torches  were lit and placed in his hands, which was truly horrifying as all of us immediately anticipated the hair catching fire.

However our concern about that was overlooked as the 3 young men danced into the space with multiple lit flares and proceeded to throw them, run them along their skin, juggle and finally swallow them! Finally they ended the show by swallowing some kerosene and emitting huge bursts of flames from their mouths!

For those of us in close proximity it was even more terrifying, and I was forced to work out the most direct route to the pool! And completely forgot to take any photos!

Then a number of expat friends of Henrietta joined us for a delicious seafood BBQ whilst we plied them with questions about their life in SL.

Finally we piled into the buses and had a hilarious time without any raucous singing ( banned by Sally! ). Topics included Empire Day, Catholic girls education, Communion dresses and heaven knows what else!!

It was a relief to finally flop into bed after another great day,

Your exhausted correspondent,

Dianne