I cannot say enough splendid things about Sri Lanka. Honestly. It’s this amazing, lush, beautiful island paradise. The people are amazing and friendly (wayyy friendlier than India, and the women don’t have to cover up as much and don’t appear to be as oppressed), the food is super good and the tropical fruit tastes better than any other fruit I’ve ever eaten. Scouts honor.
The pineapple is so sweet it tastes like it’s been infused with coconut. The old coconuts (pol) have tons of fluffy pulp inside to be scraped out and turned into spicy pol sanbol (it’s like a dry chutney served with all meals, it’s shredded coconut, chili, onion and lime; wow!). The young coconuts (tambili) are orange (not green) and are filled with at least 16 oz of coconut water (juice, whatever) each. AND the fruit was cheaper than it is in India.
Pretty much, I’m in love. I could live there. I’d just have to get a job that paid in USD or Euros, as the positions for pay available in Sri Lanka aren’t as lucrative as they are elsewhere…
Getting there was an adventure all it's own: holy hell on wheels! We took so many forms of transit in each direction I can't even count them on two hands. Taxi to bus stand to bus stop to train station to took took to airplane to taxi. And that's just the way there! Traveling is pretty fun and always makes for a good story even if it isn't funny at the time.
The cab driver who dropped us off at the bus-stand in Pondy was standing with us, making sure we got on the bus and when it pulled up, people were scrambling to jump on it, WHILE IT WAS STILL MOVING! Probably 15-20 people were on it before it stopped. Then Kate the Cripple (she's got an ankle injury) pushed to the front of the line to get a seat, but unfortunately I did not. So I spent the three- hour journey sitting on her backpack, in the aisle on the bus, sleeping on her lap. HA! At the time it was annoying but as soon as we got off the bus it was wayyy funny. I'm actually laughing now...
And we had a 7am flight from Chennai, so we actually left Sadhana Forest at midnight, did our whole planes, trains and automobiles schtick and landed in Sri Lanka at 9am on NO sleep. We were all sorts of wild giddy delirious. It felt like the longest, but funniest day ever, and we came up with about 9000 inside jokes, hhahahaha.
So yeah, Kate and I split our time over the two weeks between two places: her friend Tash’s grandmother’s place (a totally kick-ass family compound just outside Colombo in Dehiwala) and down on the beach in Unawatuna (staying with Tash’s friends for a few night, then staying in a guest house with a view of the ocean the other nights). Tash is pretty much super awesome! So glad to have had a chance to meet and hangout with her (she's Kate's bestie); at the end of two weeks I felt like I knew her forever!
To get down the west coast from Tash’s place, we caught a train, the COASTAL train. It literally runs down the whole west coast, next to the water, all the way from the north in the mountains, to the most southern tip in Matara. So of course for a 3 hour train ride we had enough snacks to last us the whole week. And ate most of them before we got there, hahahahha. The scenery was so beautiful and sad too.
Sri Lanka was hit pretty hard by the tsunami seven years ago, and most people aren’t likely to let you forget it. Locals that you meet all have stories about what they were doing when the tsunami hit, or loved ones that they lost, or how they managed to survive. It wiped out entire villages and each village has these seaside grave markers to denote those lost (sometimes there’s 3 or 4, sometimes there’s more than 30) that remind you each time the train goes through a new village. I’m sure we saw hundreds…
Sri Lankans seem to be fairly spiritual folk, and the few I talked to made reference to their faith helping them get through the aftermath of the tsunami (and 30 years of a civil war). The three dominant religions are Buddhism, Christianity and Hinduism. I had never seen a Buddhist temple before, and I saw sooo many! They come in all shapes and sizes, from little roadside boxes with a little Buddha inside to giant statues and huge temples. I really liked seeing them sprinkled all over the place because I would really feel a sense of calm each time I looked at one; Buddha’s face is so calm and serene, getting his meditation on.
WOW, wow wow! The beach was pretty awesome. There wasn’t any trash or fishermen pooping on the beaches, the water was clear, it wasn’t too hot, we saw lots of sea turtles: ahh, INCREDIBLE!!! I mean, I’ve lived in coastal cities before (Charleston, Jacksonville) but the beaches just weren’t the same. Also, it’s “low season” right now, so this tiny little town wasn’t totally crawling with tourists everywhere… You pretty much see the same 10 people wandering around all the time or at one of the 6 restaurants, haha. There was this couple from Hungary that we would see at least 5 times a day and usually ended up eating at the same restaurant at least once a day; as soon as we saw one another we’d just start laughing and wave and say “Hi, AGAIN!” lol.
Since the beach is such a small community and we were a bit bored with it by day 3, we decided to take a bus into Galle (an old Dutch fort town, established during colonization, blah blah blah) just to get lunch and see a change of scenery, NOT to visit the fort (like most everyone else, haha). Once again, I’ve lived in Charleston and was dragged to several forts over the years: you’ve seen one, you’ve seen ‘em all (in my humble opinion, I’m not much of a physical history buff).
Getting there turned out to be the ultimate journey: bus drivers in Sri Lanka are CRAZZZY! Literally. They drive incredibly fast and slam on the brakes at each bus stop to pick up the people waiting there, that is if they don’t make road kill out of them first. Geez Louise. Though we were quite pleased with ourselves for figuring out the transit system. It’s definitely easier than in India because 1. There are some buses that are marked in Singhala (local language of the Singhalese) AND English (unlike most buses marked in Tamil and Hindi in India) and 2. The locals speak pretty good English and can usually point you in the right direction. What can I say, I’m got a bit of an English bias…
The next day, we took a day trip down the coast to Mirissa, an even more secluded, little, jungle-beach paradise. Totally beautiful. Aside from the bus driver on the way back that was caught up in some power struggle and decided to drag-race another bus on the road into oncoming traffic: people, you haven’t lived until you’ve taken public transit in a developing country, but especially Sri Lanka. It makes the CTA drivers look like driving instructors.
Aside from the transport to get there, we decided that is where they “cool kids” are and that next time we come to Sri Lanka (as opposed to that day, which would have involved moving our stuff from Unawatuna and another bus ride, yikes!) we will stay there and be “cool kids,” haha. Even though we seemed to attract plenty of attention on our own and were constantly complimented on our “super hair” (Kate) and “nice tattoos” (me). It got to the point where we started calling each other Hair Nelson and Tattoos Harkins. Oi vey.
Speaking of cool, it seemed a lot cooler in Sri Lanka than India. Ha, I just realized this whole post is mostly about how Sri Lanka is more awesome than India. Oh well, they’re the only two countries I’ve traveled to outside of the U.S. besides Canada, haha. Jet –SETTER! Anyway, the weather was awesome, high 80’s and sunny every day, with a rain shower every afternoon, only to clear up for a perfect sunset.
It actually rained all day on our last day, which worked out perfectly as a sit-around-and-read-and-drink-hot-beverages day. I love days like that and it never happens at Sadhana Forest: if it’s raining on a weekday (rare is the occasion for rain anyway), you still have to get out of bed and do work. Sigh. There’s not really any “chukin’ a sickie” (Australian slang for faking being sick) going on here; people would be able to tell if you’re lying. Especially if no one else gets out of bed because it’s raining, haha.
Overall, Sri Lanka is the cra-mazing (crazy amazing) vacation destination of the future. Or of now. The war ended a few years ago, so it’s pretty safe and awesome to travel all over the place: west coast, east coast, northern mountains and tea country and the central jungles. Being with the perfect travel companion can’t hurt. Kate and I laughed so hard so many times I actually thought stop breathing. Or throw up, lol. I could definitely spend more time with her traveling, living, hanging out, etc. in the future. Sri Lanka + Kate = funktasticnomenal! I can’t wait to do it all over again!
Check out the bus creepers: they were definitely drunk and drooling. Next to and on Kate. It's good to have a buddy system. Kind of glad I was on the floor...
Money money money: MON-ey! (This adds up to about 4 bucks USD)
Put the lime in the coconut...
Ah, sweet, sweet tropical fruits.
Not a pineapple: a cocoyumapple.
Tash may or may not have crashed into a staircase and a row of motorcycles
in a parking lot that boasted this slogan...
Fun with Macrame.
Snacks snacks snacks snacks snacks! For the trains: 100% vegan, complete with Marmite sandwiches, thanks Nan! Now I'm addicted to Marmite (many are disgusted by the fact, I revel in it!)
Bronze Buddha. Bronze is a very common color to find Buddha wearing.
Monsoon Mongoose (Kate's new nickname is Mongoose, with any M word attached...)
It was raining this day, thus Monsoon.
Definitely knocked back a few cocktails whilst there:
this stuff IS a pretty happy lady drink.
Buddha is even there to greet you upon arrival at the airport! Thanks Buddha, I DID enjoy my trip!
These are just some of the greatest hits. Check out the rest of the pics on Facebook: Picture Lanka http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.813429518946.2266419.38508937
