Post 12 October 11

We had a lovely breakfast on the covered terrace which worked well because it was raining.  It’s not a drizzle when it rains here.  The rain is either on — a full deluge — or off — an atmospheric river with a switch.  There doesn’t seem to be any in between when it comes to rain.  It’s the start of monsoon season here so we have to deal with a bit of rain which usually falls in the early afternoon.  But because we’re in tropical climates, the rain is warm and a the sound is soothing.  I’m still very comfortable wearing shorts and a t-shirt.

  

The real benefit to this season is that there are very few tourists travelling around.  Judith generally books smaller, private hotels so we’re close to being the only hotel guests in some of these places.  In some cases such as the first night in Mohoora Camp, we were the only guests.  On the breakfast menu was shakshuka,  a Middle Eastern/North African dish of simmering tomatoes and seasonings with a poached egg.  My son Cameron makes this dish and I always enjoy some because he always makes enough to share.  I don’t normally post food dishes but can’t resist how tasty this one was.

Best breakfast so far!  Shakshuka.

Today we’re headed for Colombo. This where our Sri Lanka trip would have ended in Colombo and where we would have boarded a plane to Kerala, India.  But the diplomatic spat meant we couldn’t get an Indian visa so we are staying a few more days in Sri Lanka and then flying home.  Our trip is being cut shorter but we do get to see more of Sri Lanka which is alright by me.

The drive to Colombo will take about 2.5 hours. We are on the southwest coast of the island making our way north along the coast towards Columbo.  On the way we drove though Hikkaduwa, an area hard hit by the Boxing Day 2004 Tsunami.  Our driver Sura said that up until then, the Sinhalese language did not have a word for tsunami.  It was only when this tragic event happened that this word became part of their vocabulary.  The eastern shore of the country received the hardest blow and the waves refracted around to southwestern shores where we are driving, killing as many that died in the eastern hit.  The southwestern area was a popular tourist and fishing destination and the surge here was recorded at 15 feet in height.  We pass by many buildings that continue to show the scars of that day and have been abandoned.  It’s a sobering sight to pass so much devastation that hasn’t been rebuilt in the 9 years that has passed.

Roadside memorial

One of many many abandoned buildings.

We’re on the road for about an hour and a half.  Sura had suggested we take a boat safari ride on the Maduganga (Madu River) as it forms an inland waterway that is an important wetland that flows into the Indian Ocean.  The estuary and islands form an ecosystem that is home to hundreds of plants and animals and there is a large number of mangrove islets scattered throughout.  When we get to the Madu River it had stopped raining.  But as soon as we get in the boat, it’s pouring and we need to put the cover up so that we can stay a little dry.  

On the boat with the rain cover up.  We originally sat in the front row of seats, but as we got under way, the spray started to drench us.  We moved to the 2nd row of seats as shown here.  The rain water pooled above Judith’s head and it needed to be released periodically.  Of course, that caused much of that water to splash Judith pants.  By the end of the boat ride she looked as if she had gone for a dip in them.  

Our view going up the river.

Cinnamon is grown and harvested in this area.  Branches such as the one this farmer is holding are cut for processing.  The outer bark is scraped off and two deep cuts are made around the outside of the branch to establish the length of the cinnamon stick.  Then the inner bark is hammered repeatedly to help separate the bark from the inner heartwood and next the bark is carefully peeled off using a knife to help pry it from the heartwood.  You end up with a small sheet of cinnamon.  When drying, the peeled bark curls naturally.  They don’t put it in the sun to dry because it apparently looses some of its intensity, but takes longer to dry.  

They fed us cinnamon tea during the demo and it’s tasty.  

We had the opportunity to get a fish pedicure and pull up to a dock with many holding pens of fish.  These are Red Garra fish which will feed on your dead skin cells.  You sit on the side of the pen and dip your feet into these waters and the fish will come and remove (eat) all your callouses leaving your skin smooth and silky.  Well that’s the story.  We did experience some of these fish on an earlier trip (Borneo?) where they lived in the wild and not penned up in a holding tank.  My experience is that it mostly tickles.  But neither Judith and I are keen to have a pedicure experience here so we move on, but not before I get a picture of the fish in a holding pond.  

This island is where the Buddhist temple Kothduwa is located.  The main temple is on the subject island.  Not sure if you’re allowed to dock here or not.  We just come up to take pictures because we weren’t planning to go and visits it.  

Our ride through the mangrove forest.  The driver made sure my phone captured a picture with him in it.   

I think if you zoom in, you can see just how wet Judith’s pants are.

Back to the car and I ask Sura to find a towel for Judith to sit on so that she won’t get her seat wet.  Sura cleans the car every day for us and so it’s best not to make extra work.

We proceed onto our next stop.  Sura has invited us to his house for lunch.  He says that it’s not something he’s supposed to do so we shouldn’t tell our contact at the travel agency that we’re doing this.  He lives in a city just outside of Columbo and it’s on our way.  

We have heard a lot about Sura and his life and family over the many days we have travelled together.  I’m honoured that he has invited us to his home to see where and how he lives.  I find out that his wife, Indu and son Bahgil will be there.  When we get there we have introductions and we sit down at the table for our lunch meal.  It’s a traditional Sri Lankan meal, curries and rice.  Judith is struggling to find something she can eat, but everything on the table has a good helping of heat.  The family is eating Sri Lankan style—with their fingers, so I put down my knife and fork to give it a try.  It feels a bit awkward at first and still awkward throughout the rest of the meal.  I’m not used to picking up rice mixed with curry and then bringing it to my mouth—the only way is to pick up less of the sauces that the curries are cooked with and more of the rice.  Eventually I finish the meal.  It’s really good, but really spicy.  I know Judith will pay an upset stomach price for this meal.  We have dessert of buffalo curd with treacle.  It’s like plain yogurt with honey only better.  We had an enjoyable time at Sura’s and I took a family photo for the record.

Left to right:

Bahgil, Indu and Sara.  We said goodby to Indu and Bahgil (who is studying to become a commercial airline pilot.

We get back into the car to complete the rest of our trip (about an hour) to Columbo.  We’ll be leaving tomorrow to start the 2nd part of our trip to replace the Kerala portion that we can’t go on without an Indian visa.  We’re heading to the north part of Sri Lanka and checking out that area of the country.  We’re staying at the same hotel that we had when we first came to Columbo, the Galle Face Hotel.  When we check in, the hotel even gives us the same room we had from before.  We say goodbye to Sura.  The train ride to Jaffna is about 7 hours but the drive is much longer.  Sura has to leave tonight and drive part way there to be able to meet us on the train platform when we arrive.  He takes our large bags so that we don’t have to carry them on board the train and we keep our smaller carryon for our overnighter in Columbo.  Another driver from the tour company will meet us early tomorrow morning to catch the train.

Tonight we’re going on a foodie street food tour that we were supposed to take the last time in Columbo, but was delayed until we returned.  We met up with Aaron at 5:00.  He brought along his friend with him and we all left the hotel together towards the large park, Galle Face Green.  This place is famous for evening strollers and fast food dinner enthusiasts.  

The foodie gang on Galle Face Green.  Aaron is the one in black.

We start with Isso Vadei, a deep fried lentil patty with shrimp on top.

And Ulundu Vadei, a deep fried lentil fritter.

After our Galle Face Green snacks, we walk down to the main road to look at Sambodi Chaithrya a tall stupa.  It stands on two arches which allows it to be seen from the ocean.  It’s 261 meters tall.

  

Then we proceed to the Dutch Hospital building, a colonial relic, now converted into tourist restaurants and shops.  We eat some more snacks at one of the restaurants popular with a younger crowd.  There’s a stage and a band setting up.  We have hot buttered calamari, which is actually cuttlefish (not squid) and Poi Roti Kottu, deep fried roti chunks with curry and vegetables.  I wash mine down with ginger beer.  Both were very yummy and it didn’t take long to finish them.  Our final stop was to get ice cream in a cup.  The ice cream store was in the lobby of a local inexpensive hotel and one of the hotel clerks got up to serve the ice cream.  I thought it was just odd to sell ice cream from your hotel lobby.  

Hotel lobby ice cream freezer.

We came back to the hotel via Tuktuk and said our goodbyes to our guides.  It will be an early start tomorrow, so we’re off to bed.