From Horton Plains. 

Train from Ella. 

Rambutan. Ideal snack food. 

Baker’s 

Falls Horton Plains. 

World’s End. 

Horton

 Plains. 

Snack on banana leaf plate. 

Painted stork

Roadworks 

Floating flowers

Submerged water buffalo

Sri Lanka 6

The mountains of Sri Lanka are covered by cloud forests and tea plantations. We walked on Horton Plains to the aptly named World’s End, where the earth falls away in a straight drop of 4000 feet. It’s a glorious walk on a high plateau, not strenuous in any way, except for finding your footing. Much of it is over boulders, through eroded hard packed sand paths, over tree roots and on sliding stones. We were lucky to be there when the sky was blue and clear and we had a view all the way down the valley. 

We white folks have not created such a stir in Sri Lanka as we did in India. People here are more restrained and perhaps more accustomed to Western tourists. However, sometimes we draw a reaction. Near the end of our 4 hour walk a large extended family was approaching us and upon seeing us, the 6-8 children erupted in happy laughter and exclamations. No where else but in Asia will our mere appearance provoke a response of unexpected delight! 

We visited a tea plantation and this was the largest and best of the 3 I’ve seen. The tea pickers are Tamil women who labour in all weather for about $6 CAD per day - if they make their required quota of 18 kgs. Over and over they pick “three leaves and a bud” from the end of each branch, using only their fingertips, not fingernails. The leaves are emptied into long troughs in the withering room to dry until a certain percentage of moisture has evaporated, rolled to bruise the leaves and promote oxidization, moved on to be heated in a large bin, and sorted by leaf size. Then they are packed into enormous gunnysacks for transportation to the auction houses where buyers snap them up and transform them into the tea we buy - loose leaf, bags, Earl Grey etc. or the plain orange pekoe this factory produces. All this is done within 24 hours. 

We continued next day on the nauseating winding mountain roads to Ella for the train ride down the mountain. Ella is a charming mountain town with restaurants playing funky music for their primarily hiking and trekking clientele. The train station is, like many things here, a quaint English throwback. Our journey was short and took in some seriously spectacular scenery. Deep valleys, jungle forest, tea plantations, small villages, and tropical flowers everywhere. At level crossings, a man stands to lower the barrier and raise it once we’ve passed. The train engineer carries a large key (called a tablet here) used to throw switches on the tracks. It is exchanged for a new key at every station so the train can continue on its journey. A flag man carries a green flag, signaling the engineer by hand. People sit at the open doors, feet dangling over the tracks, or at the windows leaning out to watch the train curve around bends. It’s a joyous, gentle journey. 

A luxury hotel awaited us in Katharagama, with a large swimming pool, where they apparently play underwater music, spacious rooms with 2 double beds, enormous dining rooms and fantastic food. The road here was, again, winding and mountainous. I’ve suffered much more from motion sickness in Sri Lanka than in India. Oddly enough, I think the bus is too smooth - it moves up and down like a boat on the water. The driver is one of those gas and coast drivers. The roads undulate like snakes.  All of it means I just want to be there yesterday. 

On our way to Katharagama, we stopped for a photo op of Ella Gap - a long, deep, picturesque valley separating two mountains, and at a water fall where road workers were dismantling an old bridge... by hand. Roadworks have been fascinating here. Often there will be two or three men working to repair a hole by mixing cement in a hod by hand, or filling it with dirt, shoveling from a small pile nearby. Rarely do you see the large equipment we use at home but once there was a steam roller. A man walked backwards in front of it and, as it moved forward towards him, he used a paint roller to roll water, from a pail held in his other hand, onto the roller. Health and safety standards are a little different here. As the men were dismantling the huge bridge pylons today, they used a large mallet to crack the stones then a crowbar to pry apart the pieces. These were then smashed into smaller stones, presumably for recycling into another project.

This afternoon we hopped into jeeps for one more jungle safari. And I saw a leopard! Twice! I didn’t get a picture because it was moving through the grasses away from us, then almost parallel to us, quickly. But it was pretty exciting. Its coat was darker than I’d expected. There were lots of birds to add to the list of birds spotted this trip. There  were  of course, peahens and peacocks every few metres, painted storks, bee catchers galore, including a small flock sand bathing on the road as dusk fell, Indian pond birds, kingfishers and more. We saw spotted deer, easily spooked; Indian rabbits; land monitors; small lizards; elephants; and water buffaloes wallowing in water and mud, presumably to escape the tiny bugs swarming around them. 

To Hill Club Hotel

Kandy Buddha 

Village suspension bridge. 

Kandy 

Bed of hot coals

Botanical Gardens

Polonnaruwara. 

Temple of the Tooth.

Sri Lanka 5

The last few days have been pretty interesting. We went to Polonnaruwa - an ancient (2nd most ancient) capital of Sri Lanka. We started at a small museum with the history of the area then moved on to the actual sites that include a monolith carved with 4 Buddha statues, and then several ancient palace and temple complexes of beautiful proportion and detail, set in among lush greenery. From there we drove to an Ayurvedic spice garden where saw the trees and plants the spices grow on (I’m starting to recognize some of them) and we learned how they are used in the ancient Ayurvedic practice of medicine. Apparently, herbs and massage can cure just about everything that ails you.

The next day in Kandy, a small town high in the hills, we attended morning puja, or the prayer ceremony, at the Temple of the Tooth which was different from any I’ve seen yet. This one was Buddhist and involved drums and a horn as the casket containing the tooth relic - a tooth retrieved from Buddha’s funeral pyre - was opened for believers to see. Hundreds of pilgrims come each day to the temple and we saw residents stopping on the streets on their way to and from work, to pause for a short prayer as they passed it. It’s a beautifully done up building with a library in the complex, a small room with Buddha statues, and a room with paintings telling the story of Buddha’s life and the story of the tooth itself. There were other wonderful old paintings as well. 

After picking up pastry for a picnic lunch, we went to the Botanical Gardens which were truly stunning in layout, size and variety, ranging from orchids to ebony trees. A few of us lingered there when the others returned to Kandy and we caught the local bus back later, for 15 Sri Lankan rupees - less than 10 cents. We met the group at the Queen’s Hotel and walked to a display of cultural dance and fire walking. Actual fire walking, preceded by the men lighting small torches and caressing their arms and chest with the flames.

The next day was a free day in Kandy and a small group of us climbed one of the surrounding hills to the lookout point where you can see the city, its lake and the giant white Buddha statue that sits on a hills on the other side of the city. Then we climbed that hill and climbed the statue as well; you ascend stairs behind the statue where small platforms and small rooms housing small statues are. There was another gorgeous view of the city and hills. That night we ate at a funky restaurant called Hipsters Hideout. 

Today we left Kandy and drove hours through hilly jungle on a terrifyingly winding road. Paula had warned me about this road so I’d taken Gravol and was very grateful to have done so.  The valleys are steep and covered with either trees or tea plantations.   The roads are lined with calla lilies and trumpet flowers. We stopped twice, once for tea and chocolate cake; once for a village walk that ended with us traversing a river running in a deep ravine, on a suspension bridge. My fear of heights is certainly getting a work out! Then we had lunch at Kitugala, in a distinctly colonial restaurant overlooking the river, which is where they filmed Bridge Over the River Kwai.

Then to our hotel, the Hill Club, which is very British Empire, very old and very posh. In the dining room, the waiter wears white gloves. All staff are dressed formally in suits and ties. There is a bar room with cushy chairs and couches. The dining room has a real wood burning fire and live music. Just outside our room is a sitting room, compete with escritoire. When we returned to our room for the night, the curtains had been drawn, the heater turned on, decorative throws and pillows removed from our beds, bedcovers turned down, and covered hot water bottles placed in our beds. This is the life! 

Dambulla temple Caves. 

Dambulla. 

Entrance to the cave painting s at fort. 

View from the fortress, Sigiriya 

V

Village

Ganesha

Stove top

Luncheon spread

Monitor 

Dambulla Temple Caves, Sigiriya, Minneriya Park

Dambulla Temple Caves

 Minneriya Park 

Sigiriya Fort pool

Dambulla Temple Caves 

Sri Lanka 4

My tour is well underway and it’s been marvellous so far. All Brits, including one Scot, except for me.  It’s a truly lovely group, congenial and friendly. I’m sharing a room with a woman who is easygoing, Sandra. The hotels have been quite beautiful, a definite upgrade from the ones in India and even the one I stayed in, in Negombo. 

The first evening, Sandra and I decided to walk before the group met for dinner. We turned down a beautiful country lane and found ourselves in a lovely rural neighbourhood, with a curving narrow road and homes on either side. The yards were filled with beautiful flowers such as Cana lilies, and tall trees- bananas, mango, jack fruit, papaya etc. Many yards had a conical pile of sand in the yard - for future additions to the house. People buy what materials they can, as they can afford them, tiles, cement etc. and then build when it’s all assembled. There were wooden light poles with an upside cup-shaped metal bit and a single incandescent bulb hanging from it. At person height, a switch to turn it on at night. I tried it just to be sure. We got lost, of course, but asking locals for directions we made it back without having to retrace our steps.

Next day we went to Dambulla Buddhist Caves, with their paintings dating back to the first century. They are really very beautiful and the 100+ statues of Buddha are interesting in their colour, poses and variety of facial features as well. It’s a sacred site for Buddhists, atop a hill, and there is a modern temple as well.

Then we drove to Hotel Sigiriya and wow! It’s a gorgeous resort with pools large and small, covered outdoor bar and restaurant set around it and really fabulous food. Sitting by the pool, the trees have been trimmed to frame the perfect shot of the Lions Rock, a 5th century fortress. Next day we made our way there in the morning, early enough to miss the crowds when we climbed the gazillion steps to the top. My phone called it as 46 floors. We started with solid quartz rock steps but then mounted the iron steps fastened to the rock with screws, a hope, and a prayer.  Then we moved on to the narrow spiral staircase going up the face of the rock to the cave drawings and then another set down. At this point, we were at the level to begin the final ascent to the top of the rock fortress and it was a magnificent ruin with a western palace, a southern palace, a throne, and even a pool. The pool had steps cut into the rock leading to the deep end and one side was a colourful, striated rock face left in its original form. It looked out over the surrounding countryside, so the king could spot any enemy advances, which he had reason to fear since he had murdered his father and attempted to murder his brother. 

Feeling triumphant, we returned to our hotels for a break before heading out on a jungle safari in Minneriya Park. We saw wild elephants by the dozens there but the best was a tiny 2 month old baby, which we didn’t spot at all until the elephants moved and he appeared close to his mother’s legs, never straying more than a step from her protection. The rest of the herd formed a protective shield on the other side of him. He was so small and hairy and well-hidden.  

Today we took a tuktuk to a village, on narrow dirt roads alongside a stream with hand built wooden foot bridges every so often, and the occasional cement bridge for vehicular traffic.  It’s so green and fertile with rice fields, banana, papaya and mango trees, etc. Our driver stopped and picked fruit for us to eat - guava, tamarind (which I didn’t know you could eat off the tree), and wood apple which has seeds set in a little fleshy pulp. When you bite into the seeds a strong taste, almost of dehydrated apple, is released. We saw a monitor lizard, an iguana, monkeys, peacocks in trees and flying, and a bright blue kingfisher.  We ended up at a village home for our lunch, cooked on the outdoor oven, served under the trees in the yard. Our tour leader cooked dal with fresh coconut milk, freshly shredded and mixed with water before our eyes, and the family had made a magnificent meal of spicy chicken, fried fish (small crunchy fish), breadfruit, mango curry, jackfruit, white and red rice, papadam and more. 

Now I’m sitting on the pool deck of our hotel, looking at the lake as I watch an elephant on the other side of the electric 
fence (wild elephants are an issue in Sri Lanka - we’ve been told not to walk certain places after dark), as Christmas music plays softly in the background. I’ve seen eagles and kites, egrets and pelicans, kingfisher and bee catchers, cormorant flocks larger than I’ve ever seen, herons, including a purple heron, and a hornbill. As the light faded, firebugs came out, flashing in the night. The frogs croaked, the lights from the fishing boats winked in the distance. It was a scene of perfect peace. 

Negombo Beach Park

Sri Lanka 3

Well, just 2 more days before I join the tour. I’m looking forward to it but thoroughly enjoying the relaxed days here. 

Yesterday and today I walked to the tourist beach area - Negombo Beach Park.  It’s a lovely, long, clean stretch of sand. Set well back, there are fancy hotels and I sat in the beachside restaurant of one, listening to Christmas music as I enjoyed my view of the palm trees, the beach, and the sea. The fishermen near my hotel play cards in their off hours; I watched as the ones on this beach played cricket. 

Today I got to see these fishermen working on shore, hauling in their huge net just before sunset. I’ve googled it and found “beach seining” which looks like a miniature
version of it. This net is like a big U-shaped lasso set in the water. It required 20 some men to haul it in, 10 on each end of the U, and a boat in the water to, well, I’m not sure what he was doing. Maybe he set the net.

It was a huge effort and drew an increasing crowd as they strained mightily for over half an hour. Some bystanders even joined in to help. The fishermen had sashes wrapped around their waists, clipped to the net as they hauled it, and when one removed his I realized that they were made of that type of cloth/plastic bag in which you buy huge quantities of rice. 

When they got the net to shore, it sounded like a large deck of cards being shuffled as the fish flapped and flopped against each other. Once that settled a bit, they brought in baskets, opened the net, and started sorting the fish. This might get a little technical, but bear with me for a bit. There were spotted flat fish, plain flat fish, a few good-sized trouty looking things, some long slender fish with blue backs and pointy noses, and many small fish of the kind you see drying in the sun. (Dried fish, large and small, is used in
a lot of cooking here.)They carried most of the still flopping fish away quickly - to restaurants I’m guessing - and weighed and sold some right there on the sand. In the picture you can see the fishermen flecked with the silver scales of the fish. You could not buy fresher than this. 

Once the excitement was done, I sat and watched as the sun set, purple light staining the off shore bank of cumulonimbus. I’ve learned to ignore the perpetual thunder storm warning on my weather app - it’s rained lightly twice and thundered once, literally, one crack of thunder - but I kept a close eye since I had a half hour walk back to the hotel.  No worries; I bet against the weather app and it lost again. 

Video post

Star White Hotel, Negombo