We had a good sleep in this morning - we were going to need it. Our flight the next day was at 7:30 and that meant a 4:15am wake up time. Yikes. Everyone was in pretty good spirits, though Beth had a bit of premature Delhi Belly.
I'd met Vijay Perera (his name is the "John Smith" of Sri Lanka :-)) through a friend a couple of years ago. I was looking for a labourer for the construction season and our friends Carolyn and Josh recommended their cleaner named Perera - they said he was a great worker and always looking for extra work. So, a few confusing text and phone call exchanges later and "Perera" and I met.
They were right, he was a great worker - always showed up on time, worked hard and smart. The perfect labourer. I found out a couple of weeks later though, that he wasn't the same Perera that works for Carolyn - he was a different "Perera". Well, maybe my Perera was better than her Perera! Too funny.
He worked for me quite a bit that season and a little into the next year. Perera was about 45, and when he was younger I'd come to learn that he was a top level cricket player - even playing in Dubai for the national team against Sri Lanka. He was in Toronto on a partial work visa sponsored by the cricket club - a kind of "subject matter expert" visa that only gave him 10-15 hours of work a week while doing coaching and high level referee work. I'm not going to get into how frustrating our immigration system is and how backwards the tightening of immigration rules by the government have become, but suffice to say, eventually Perera had to go back to Sri Lanka.
Beth got her coffee, finally. McDonald's is kind of the Starbucks for countries that don't have Starbucks in Asia. It wasn't without a bit of humour though. She'd ordered a black coffee, as only she has the precise skill to add the proper amount of milk to the brew. When she got the coffee, she asked for whitener (they don't have milk), which led to a large conference of employees - some annoyed, some bewildered and some laughing. I guess there were two options for coffee - a black coffee or a milk coffee - you don't try and order a black coffee and convert it to a totally different menu item, the milk coffee. It reminded me of when my buddy Chad intentionally ordered a cheeseburger with no cheese at a Tokyo McDonald's - that also caused a crisis conference to try and solve the issue!
After a very late breakfast, I called Perera and we agreed to meet at the nearby Kolupitiya train station in a half hour. All we had to do was send a parcel home (here comes another one Gram and Banka!) at the nearby post office, so that shouldn't have taken too long. Little did we know we were about to get a primer for going to India.
I remember India as being a country of red tape. There are always very set processes that seem to make little sense - they have a knack for turning a simple procedure into a complicated, long, drawn out multi step procedure - all in the name of collecting lots and lots of paperwork and employing lots of people. In fact, it was during one of those long processes in Nepal 18 years ago, that I'd met the two girls (11 and 13 no less!) that were backpacking with their amazing, loving, generous, fortunate, worldly, brave parents for a year who would be the inspiration for this little trip we were doing.
The Sri Lankan postal system must have been inspired by India. We lined up with our things to ship, like we'd done in many other countries so far. Luckily, we'd only waited 5 minutes before getting to the counter where the woman working there tried to explain what we had to do. They didn't sell boxes or anything like that there. A nice guy waiting in line explained what we had to do more clearly as he did the Indian sidewards head nod: "you have to go to a stationary store, get a box that they will cut to size for you, then you need wrapping paper, tape and string, but don't wrap it up because they have to see what you will be sending here" he said with a "I know, it's pretty pathetic" smile.
Ok then. We went across the street to the stationary store and they were very helpful in doing exactly as the man had instructed. In ten minutes, we were back across the street to the post office. We had to line up for the same woman. When we got to the front, she inspected the contents and said we could begin the wrapping process. Box taped shut, paper wrapped and taped shut, strings tied a few times around.... Check, check, check. Now what? Now we had to wait while she dealt with some other customers. Eventually, she weighed the package, gave us a few forms and told us to fill them out and go line up at another line. Argh. I really can't go on - literally, I can't remember all the steps we took. Suffice to say, our ten minute task took one hour! I can't wait to get to India tomorrow morning! :-)
We were late to the station to meet him, but Perera was all smiles. It was really nice to see him. We really had no agenda in Colombo today - from everything we'd read, and even from talking to Perera, Colombo is a potential "pass" city on the itinerary. It's a nice looking city, and it's definitely undergoing a lot of change - probably more so than any city we've been to. There just isn't that much of interest to justify a stay here.
Perera took us to the old Dutch Hospital in the Fort part of the city, a one story building with a square in the middle that had been converted to a series of higher end restaurants and shops. To my chagrin, Abby ended up buying a Sri Lanka mug she just had to have.... I thought of the hour we wasted that morning to send unneeded stuff home.... D'oh! "I'll carry it Daddy" she said, which sounded a lot like "can we get a dog Daddy, I promise I will walk it every day!!".
We drove by the train station and I asked Abby if she remembered when she and I had gone wondering in search of food after just arriving from the airport. She could barely remember, but that's what packing a lot of memories into such a short period of time does. It makes things that happened two or three weeks ago seem like a distant memory.
We went to the "floating market" near the station for lunch, opting for kottu from one of the small restaurants. The kottu was good, but very garlicky. The little shopping area there was very cheesy and pretty dead. In fact, we hadn't seen many tourists at all in Colombo that could help support a little makeshift eating and shopping area like this.
Perera recommended we drive over to Independence square, the 1948 monument built to memorialize Ceylon gaining their independence from the Brits. The neighbourhood leading up to the monument area was really nice - very colonial and quite green with many huge banyan trees providing tons of shade. The square was nice, though it lacked energy as the whole square and surrounding area was devoid of people. We walked to the little renovated colonial arcade nearby, and it was also quiet, though it boasted a mix of high end Western shops and funky looking restaurants.
We decided to head back to the hotel by late afternoon. With the early flight, we wanted a chance to chill and get packed and showered. Perera drove us back through an area that was full of cricket pitches and other athletic fields - his enthusiasm for the sport is kind of infectious. I think if I'd planned it out better, it would have been nice to get the girls on the pitch to have a go at bowling and batting, or to see a game live. Next time.
It was really nice to see Perera, and we said our goodbyes when we got to the hotel. He asked us if we needed a ride to the airport in the morning, but I told him we were leaving at 4:45am and we were fine to hire a driver. He insisted he drive us. I felt bad, but at the same time, he seemed happy to do it, so, ok!
Did I mention that Colombo, for some reason unknown to me, is famous for its beautiful sunsets? Two for two so far....
Sri Lanka is a beautiful country. I have not seen a country with so much diversity packed into such a small place. It's actually kind of ideal for people wanting a taste of South Asian culture, but who may be intimidated by tackling a country like India. I don't think we've been anywhere in the world (excluding Japan and perhaps Thailand) that has such consistently delicious food, and for being on such a long trip and eating in restaurants so often, in Sri Lanka it often felt like we were eating home cooked meals, which was nice. The people - I've written this often enough - the people here are amazing - warm, friendly, able to communicate in English, helpful and resourceful.
Sri Lanka is booming right now - you really get the feeling that they are on the brink of exploding into one of the must see destinations for tourists. They will have to take care that their development doesn't lead to growth problems - that's a risk here. With that said, I'm going to put down a three week itinerary (two weeks is too short, four weeks is perfect) while it's still fresh in my mind. Feel free to skip if you're grounded for the next few years, as I'm sure this itinerary will change as Sri Lanka does.
Day 1 - Arrive and transfer directly to Kandy (arrange transport with hotel). Spend 3 nights in Kandy to acclimate, take in the Tooth Relic temple, botanical gardens and some nearby hiking.
Day 4 - Transfer to Anuradhapura. Stopping at the Hindu temple in Matale to stretch your legs, the cave temples at Dambulla to test your legs (there are also a couple of lesser known nice looking temples that we didn't explore that are on this drive). 2 nights in Anuradhapura to give you a day to check out the ancient ruins of the first capital of Ceylon
Day 6 - Transfer to Trincomalee to check out the beach there. 2 nights
Day 8 - Transfer to Polonnurawa. 3 nights. Check out the ruins one day. Do an afternoon safari to see the elephants in Minneriya or Kaudulla
Day 11 - Transfer to Nuwara Eliya, stopping in at Sigiriya early in the morning - lots of steps in the heat, so be first at the gates. 2 nights. Check out Horton Plains for sunrise, a relatively easy 9km loop walk or just go to a tea plantation or two.
Day 13 - Morning train from Nuwara Eliya to Ella. 2 nights in Ella to chill, hike, go to tea plantations, maybe spa.
Day 15 - Transfer to Yala to do a Leopard Safari. 2 nights
Day 17 - Transfer to Mirissa to cool off 3 nights.
Day 20 - Transfer to nearby Galle to stay in the Fort for a night and shop.
Day 21 - Directly back to the airport, skipping Colombo
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