Wow, it is hard work keeping this site up to date when there is so much relaxing, surfing and partying to do here!
So, I made it into Sri Lanka meeting up with another Aussie dude Andrew at the airport who would become my on/off travel buddy for most of my stay. Not knowing a thing about Colombo and both devoid of a guidebook, we end up at possibly the dirtiest hotel in Colombo in the busy area of Pettah (however conviently located next to the train station). Again, knowing little about the place we bounce around all night looking for a suitable bar, only to go from one "Karaoke Bar/Casino" to the next, all complete with many young females vying for your attention - and wallet. After I refused one of them who offered me "services", she even set the bouncers after me for not fixing up my bill for said services... not really the start I was hoping for.
However, unperterbed we persevered the next night and found ourselves in with a cool crew at a quiz night (which was to become a regular). Paul and Navin are fantastic hosts to the city and showed us some of the better places to frequent. After a few drinks I even showed them some sites after commandeering a rickshaw from a surprisingly unworried driver and driving it ludicrously around the streets to another bar.
Around Colombo the main citizenry is 1:1 ratio with army, and therefore many men with big guns. On one night walking home from another big session (thanks again to Paul & Navin) one such guard commanded me to come to his side with a gruff and authoritarian voice. I did so immediately. Wondering what was wrong, I was pleasantly surprised when all he wanted to do was find out where I was travelling and offering his brothers place for accommodation when I got further south. This kind of generous welcome was to become fairly frequent in this beautiful country.
The next day I was interested to see a big protest near my hotel and hung around to see what was happening. After a few minutes I did look around at all those men with big guns again and realised that hanging around a protest in a country where there is civil unrest in the form of militia, is not the wisest idea, and went on my way. Later that night I had the navy bust into my room at midnight demanding identification (demanding nicely though).
So next day it was time to get out of Colombo and explore the country. I took a train to Kandy. When I said South India was green, it was only because I'd never seen Sri Lanka. Outside the train windows was rolling dense jungle from mountain to mountain that was just so stunningly beautiful. I stopped on the way to Kandy at an Elephant Orphange and watched as 82 elephants walked down to the river bathing and frolicking in the waters. Quite a pleasant way to spend the day, only downer being that as I was helping one lady with bags onto the train, another lady accidentally knocked my sunglasses into the gap between the platform and the train as we started rolling away...
Arriving in Kandy I immediately made plans to head to Sigiriya the next day which I had been told about from other travellers. The transport in Sri Lanka is much to be desired as the stop/go lurching busses take probably an hour for every 20km. Finally making it to Sigirya something happened which I haven't experienced for a long time - it started raining. This was refreshing, and felt rather good until it didn't stop for a couple of days, and standing by the open road with all your bags waiting for a bus is not so much fun in the rain.
However Sigirya was beautiful. It has a massive big rock in the centre with a sheer cliff face hundreds of metres up. The climb up was brutal, made even more so by the request to also carry a bag of sand with you to help repair a wall at the top. It was satisfying to reach the top, but alas, with the misty rain the views were quite limited to peeks in between the clouds once in a while, which was well worth it when they came.
Coming back into Kandy I met up with a couple of English girls (Jessie and Libby) and proceeded to have quite a night, culminating with us dancing on the street at midnight to the sound of Bob Marley, coming out of a rickshaw stereo (all establishments close very early in Kandy).
Met up with Andrew again the next day and took in some cultural shows such as firewalking and traditional dancing etc. Of course all a prelude to another night in the pub!
Plans were then made to visit Adam's Peak. A mountain in the middle of Sri Lanka which supposedly has the imprint of Buddha's foot at the top. The train ride there was amusing with all the locals teaching us Sinhalese, which has come in quite handy, as much seemed to stick and it is well appreciated everwhere ("Oya Hari Lassi Nei" - You are very beautiful!).
True to the cultural pilgramige, we started the climb of Adam's Peak at 2:30am, in time for sunrise at the top. Now this climb was brutal! Lulling you into a false sense of security at the start, it quickly goes vertical in the form of 5,000 steps! I think my sense of accomplishment from having climbed a mountain in the dark, straight up, should fairly well last me a few years. The top was quite nice (worth the 2:30 start?? hmm) with a nice sunrise, but even more worthwhile was the hovering shadow the mountain causes on the opposite side. A hovering pyramid shadow that does not even reflect the shape of the mountain - wow, mystical...
Getting back down the mountain, we sped straight towards Colombo to make it back in time for Quiz night, and another big night. Exhausted, I dragged myself up the next day to do what I had been looking forward to all this time - hitting the beach!
Jumping a train, I found myself a few hours later in the town of Unawatuna. On the first night I met Antonia, a really cool English chick who, having been here for 6 months, introduced me to the locals, the beaches, and milo milkshakes! I soon got into the rythym of surfing during the day (who knew I could? The skills certainly weren't there back home!) and hitting the bars at night with the close social network here. As Sarah, another foregner here said - it is like Saturday every night, and Sunday every day.
I was soon joined here by Andrew, Jessie and Libby. The nights were always entertaining - stripping at 4:30 in the morning to swim and try hijacking a boat was always going to be a bit ambitious though, as we nearly capsized it.
It came time for Antonia to go back to Good Ol Blighty, so dashing back up to Colombo, we hit the quiz night yet again and proceed to have a great night. Stayed the night at one of Antonia's friends houses (enthusiastic heavy metal dude) who happens to be getting married in May, so good excuse to come back I think!
Next night I was off to the Austalian Embassy for drinks. Good to see my taxes pay for something useful. There was a nice display pool there also, however, as is becoming the fashion, Andrew and myself decided it was not for display purposes only and jumped in for a bit of a laugh. This apparently is not the done thing, and luckily I did not spot the deputy commissioners face in the crowd of those watching on.
Next day it was back to Unawatuna and lying on the beach.
Andrew has now gone to meditate in India (and detox I presume), but the rest of the crew remain, the beach remains, and my lack of motivation to leave it also remains. I expect the next week to be a pleasant rythm of sand, surf and drinks - before I get to Thailand!
Til next time...
