Day One 19/10: The joys of travel - arriving at a new destination

 After making final decisions about packing we departed Melbourne at the very civilised time of 5.30pm.

The only decision to be made was the number of bottles of duty free gin we would need for five of us for three weeks: it took some careful calculations along the lines of How many mls in a shot? Multiplied by How many daily G&Ts we needed for 3 weeks multiplied by five? etc etc. The answer was three bottles!

Our party of six was sadly diminished by one at the last moment when Helen was hospitalised the day before we left. Such bad timing.....

The five of us have travelled together many times over the last few years so we were looking forward to spending three weeks together in Sri Lanka. We had all visited Sri Lanka in 2014 as part of a larger group of women, and Jenny has been numerous times. We are now more 'mature' travellers which may have an impact on the trip!!

Some of the facts and figures had changed: the population is now 23.3million, roughly 80% reside in rural areas, and 11.2% are Tamil.

But it is still about the size of Tasmania and exports a lot of tea and cinnamon!

This time it was a direct 10 1/2 hour flight from Melbourne to Colombo on Srilankan Airlines. After a meal we attempted to sleep as Sri Lanka is 5 1/2 hours behind Melbourne time. The challenge of sleeping in a cramped seat on a flight was exacerbated by the cold temperature in the plane. I'm sure they usually warm up planes a bit to encourage people to sleep. But we were freezing! I had cold air blowing directly on to my face which I couldn't turn off. When I looked around everyone seemed to be huddled under their blanket, many covering their face with their blanket and, of course, once they turn the lights down no airline steward to be seen! I waited until one actually appeared and I requested an extra blanket and told her that it seemed very cold. She said she would investigate as she looked around at all of the huddled figures with a puzzled expression on her face. The blanket arrived and the plane eventually seemed to warm up a bit: thank heavens!

We were picked up at the Airport and deposited at the Galle Face Hotel: a very British hotel with all the colonial trimmings. Lots of dark furniture, huge wooden fans and landscape paintings! Situated on the coastline it looks out over the sea so the bars, restaurants and pools (not so colonial!) are very pleasant places to sit.

Catching the sea breeze helped with the heat and humidity!

Jan and I have created a travel pattern where we head off for a walk early each morning regardless of location to get acquainted with the location and usually a few locals. So we took a brisk walk along the waterfront and Galle Face Green before returning for one of many fabulous buffet breakfasts in the restaurant overlooking the seafront.

As we had no specific plans for the morning we all decided to walk along the main road to orientate ourselves. Whilst we hesitated about crossing a very busy main road safely a young local man dressed in office attire held out his hand to the traffic to ensure we didn't get run over by any tuk tuks. When we all safely arrived on the other side of the road he introduced himself and we chatted. I think he took pity on us as he commented that we were probably the same age as his mother!

He suggested we visit a nearby temple as it was a Holy Day so this specific Temple would be a good place to be. And a gemstore because on Holy days there were huge discounts. He summoned some tuk tuks and we all piled in. We thanked him and he went off to his job as an engineer in a nearby office building. We had been warned about people persuading us to go places ......and then expecting a commission, but this guy was just happy to help.

This was the first tuk tuk trip of many and three of us squeezed into one which was tricky. 

The Gangaramaya Temple was a busy place with many white clad devotees giving offerings, lighting incense and praying to statues of Buddha ranging from small ornate statues to an enormous white marble Buddha framed by white tusks.

There was no simplicity or theme at this temple: lots of statues and displays all crammed together in a relatively small space. 

 

A small glassed-in stupa apparently housed one of Buddha's hairs. Every temple seems to have some part of Buddha, or his footprint, or a plastic replica of some part of his body but you never see them of course. The buildings that encase them are usually very ornate and the stupas are always covered in gold. Whilst we might be a little sceptical about the authenticity of the object they hold, they are often beautifully crafted stupas.

Surprisingly there was a lot of identical beautiful stone buddhas arranged in rows on steps leading towards a huge carved shining building, reminiscent of Borobudur. 

There were some other odd statues : a skeletal-looking buddha and a baby Buddha whose genitals had been touched so many times for good luck they shone!!

For us the most interesting feature was space allocated to donations including two cars, and huge cupboards and shelves full of precious jewellery, statues of Buddha and old books. The jewellery had been tossed into some glass-fronted cupboards and some of it appeared to have been there for some years! When I asked someone about whether the donations were used to pay for maintenance or the running of the Temple he looked at me and said "No! They're donations!"

It seemed odd to me that there was a fund-raising campaign for development of the Bodhi Courtyard at the Temple and yet they were sitting on considerable wealth in those Donations cupboards.

We eventually left this rather strange but fascinating Temple and went off to the Gem store. Sri Lanka is famous for its precious gems so we were happy to have a look. They're not really my thing but I was impressed to learn that there are 17 kinds of pink sapphires and some of them were beautiful.

Apparently the tuk tuk drivers are supposed to get two litres of petrol when they bring customers to the store but our tuk tuk driver was disgusted when they were only given one litre!

When the tuk tuks deposited us at the Hotel we were happy to have a chance to cool off in the pool: it takes some adjusting to the heat and humidity when you first arrive.

At 3pm we met with Shenelle at the Dutch Hospital in town. She was taking us on a walking tour of central Colombo so we could familiarise ourselves with the location and it's history.

Because of its natural port and location on important trade routes Colombo has been a much coveted city for many centuries. The Portuguese were the first to colonise it in the early 1500s, then they were usurped by the Dutch in the early 1600s until the British took over in 1815. 

Sri Lanka became a republic in 1948.

Thus the buildings represent a mix of the architecture from all of these times.

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Many of the colonial buildings are huge stone edifices. The old British Post Office is in the process of being renovated and still has the original rounded wooden counters with metal grilles used to serve customers, as well as some lovely ornate doorways and windows.

 The old Dutch buildings are all simple in style and made from ochre stucco and red tiled roofs. Many of them are well-maintained so they have lasted for centuries. 

The most famous of the buildings is actually the pink Cargills building built by a Scotsman who left his ship and set up a huge store. Being a canny scotsman he realised that the many  travellers stopping in Colombo would require supplies and there was an opportunity to become very wealthy! To finish our meander through the streets we had a gin and tonic at the old colonial Hotel right at the entrance of the port. It's been greeting sailors and travellers for many years. 

As we watched the busy port in action Shenelle told us about the latest investments. The Chinese have paid many millions of dollars to the Sri Lankan government to 'own 'a large section of the Port. Apparently you need a passport to enter their section. Another example of the Chinese using their considerable wealth to 'assist' countries in need of development and financial help. All of the Asian countries we have visited over many years have been fearful and concerned about Chinese investment but money talks I guess.

Later that evening we re-visited one of the highlights of the last trip: the Ministry of Crab, which is a one-off dining experience. There is actually a new Ministry of Crab restaurant in Melbourne which opened recently, but it's not the same as the original.

The place buzzes with music, bright young things as waiters, and a vibrant orange and black decor. The choice of crabs varies from small to extra large to jumbo and they are all fresh, not frozen. 

We eventually decided to order two large crabs - one with garlic and chilli and the other with garlic and spices - and some huge slabs of toasted bread to sop up the juices.

We were provided with huge black bibs with 'Keep calm and crab on' emblazoned on them and lots of finger bowls. There's huge sinks with taps to wash your hands any time you fancy, but either way it's a messy business.

With special tools provided to crack the tougher claws and legs, and a long narrow pick to slide the meat out, we began. Delicious, tender flesh and what a mess!!

Such a great experience!

Off to bed after a satisfying first day

Your contented correspondent

Dianne

 Two of the aesthetic highlights of the day.......