Sri Lanka

Gorgeous hill country, loads of ancient ruins, idyllic beaches, lovely people, few tourists—wow!

Care for a Kik Cola, or some Munchee biscuits? Or Smak brand water? Maybe skip a visit to the “Quasi Court” and the “Neo Pharmacy”? [above, Cam with a Kik; Ben with buffalo curds with fruit and honey]

T notices a place of business for a “Justice of the Peace and unofficial magistrate”. (Perhaps he works at the Quasi Court)

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The plan was for T and K to arrive on December 22, and the boys the 25th.

T and I arrive at 5 am the 22nd, and make our way from the airport to a shuttle bus and then to a city bus to Colombo train station. Two hours! Finally, a train south to Galle, walled city on the coast. We have to stand for a couple of hours on the crowded train. Drooping energy. Finally a man offers me his seat--Ahhhh.

An entrance through the city walls in Galle fort:

In Galle we see Portuguese and Dutch churches, and a couple of museums. That's about it. We stay at Mrs. Khaled’s guesthouse, where we are locked in (or out) at night and signs on the bedroom door ask us to refrain from consuming alcohol or other intoxicants.

Returning the 24 to Colombo by train, K shows no mercy battling through passengers trying to get off, in order to secure seats. She is successful, and only very slightly bruised.

Colombo sprawls and holds little appeal, but we wait there for the boys to arrive from NY. And wait. And wait. There unfolds an unbelievable story of Kuwait Airlines’ ineptitude and appalling customer service. A saga UNRELATED to the weather. Instead of arriving Christmas morning at 5 am, Kuwait Air did not hold the Colombo plane for them for 20 minutes, but put them up in a hotel Christmas Eve., kept them all Christmas Day before deciding there was no room on the evening flight to Colombo and sent them instead to southern India, where there was no ongoing flight and they were kept in an immigration holding area without food, water or communication for 8 hours, then sent on to Dubai. In Dubai, airport staff (not Kuwait Air) are shocked at the treatment they have received at the hands of Kuwait Air and plead with Kuwait Air to do the right thing and get them on another airline or bump them to Business Class to get them to Colombo. But no, it is back to Kuwait. There had been four other people stranded with them, trying to get to Colombo. One bailed at an early point and spent $600 to take a Business Class flight. Another was due to be married on the 26^th and had to postpone his wedding! All this time we waited anxiously in Colombo, with no idea where they were or when they would arrive. We had to change hotel reservations and rework trip plans. Finally, on the 27^th they arrived, four days after leaving NY. It took a further two days for their bags to catch up with them.

T and I spent the limbo time seeking out internet cafes to check whether there had been any word from the boys, and trying in vain to call Kuwait Air. We were in a very nice hotel, the Galle Face, which helped distract us, and staff were very helpful with our predicament.

We witness from a distance a gala Christmas program for children at the hotel. In a distracted daze we catch a few wildly inappropriate tunes they are playing on the canned music reel, such as “Will You Still Love me Tomorrow?” and “Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head”. Everything is just a little bit bizarre.

The hotel is expensive; we have Christmas dinner in a shopping mall food court—depressing!

At last we learn B and C have landed, then several hours pass and they still don’t arrive. I decide they have been kidnapped, or in a dreadful accident. Thankfully not, it’s just that the driver has mistakenly driven toward Galle in the south instead of the Galle Face Hotel in Colombo. They do arrive, in one (well, two) piece and it is a joyous reunion indeed.

We take a train to Kandy later that day, in reserved seats--Yay. We visit the cave temples at Dambulla and the amazing Lion Rock at Sigiriya. The “rock” is actually an ancient magma plug of an old volcano, which has worn away. Just juts up 1200 feet from the flat plain around it.

We sleep in a very basic guesthouse under pink and green mosquito nets, and breakfast on an elevated platform with a stunning view of the rock.

On the way back to Kandy we visit an Ayurvedic herb and spice garden, and see how cinnamon, pepper, cardamom and vanilla grow—neat!

At Kandy we visit Temple of the Tooth. Our guesthouse is on a hill overlooking Kandy’s lovely lake. The city is wedged between the lake and surrounding hills.

On a third class train to Ella, in hill country, a six hour journey, we have been unable to get reserved seats. A kind man puts his young son on his lap so that I can sit. T, B and C stand… A six hour journey that takes seven, but we all get to sit after about four. Fabulous views of hills, tea plantations on the way.

The next day, New Year’s Eve, we hike to a tea factory.

January 1^st, the guesthouse serves us delicious squares of milk rice, rice cooked in coconut milk—a New Year’s must. He tells us it is good fortune on this day to meet a beggar, a child or a mentally ill person, for their heats are pure and free from anger. Hs son with the beaming smile will do nicely.

We head south from Ella to the beach and our last two days together, sniff sniff. In a bus along the coast, we are grateful that we had managed to find a taxi for the bulk of the journey from hill country. By the first stop on the bus there are no seats left and about five people standing. The small luggage rack holds four large speakers, each nearly 2 feet long, belting out music. The driver zips through curves in the road so fast I am sure it is only our over-packed bulk that keeps us from tipping. But we have made it to the coast and we are together and that is good.

Rice fields, palm trees, tuktuks, stands selling coconuts and papayas. 44,000 people were swept away by the tsunami six years ago. There are many graveyards—are they only markers, I wonder?

We swim, snorkel and walk barefoot along the beach to dine at the Antarctic View Café. We are served bottled water with the label: “American Water-- Just Drink It”

There is a fairly large police presence in Sri Lanka, and orderly traffic, unlike Lebanon which has police but no order.

Hard to leave Ben and Cam, who have a few more days here to dive and drink Lion Lager on the beach before they head to Los Angeles and Paris, respectively.