Sri Lanka

After leaving Thailand, we sailed west across the Andaman Sea and then the Bay of Bengal towards Sri Lanka. Seeing a pod of Spinner Dolphins put on a show for us was a real treat. And the Bay of Bengal was so calm and clear we wanted to jump in and swim along. But since there’s a policy of “don’t throw anything overboard”, we abstained.

3/25/2023 – Colombo
Our ship docked at 8 am and shortly after we boarded a bus for our adventure. After an hour or so of driving, we stopped to visit another beautiful Buddhist temple somewhere south of Colombo. Today we learned that every Buddhist temple has a Ficus religiosa, or Bodhi, tree next to it. That is because Gautama Buddha attained enlightenment (bodhi) while meditating underneath this type of tree. And so, depending on the age of the temple, some trees are hundreds of years old and are quite tall. The tree provides lots of shade and makes a beautiful rustling sound. Luckily, we arrived on a day when there was a huge ceremony taking place. Young men

and women were presenting their final dances before being “certified” as Sri Lankan interpretive dancers (or at least that was our understanding). So, in addition to touring the temple grounds, parts of which were over 2,000 years old, we were able to meet many of the locals. Since many of them speak English, we enjoyed our short visit and conversations. On our way to our next stop, we saw some water buffalo being herded. Some of them broke free and ran across the road, at which point their herders had to round them up. Frustrating for them; great entertainment for us. And then the big sighting of the

day – a water monitor (giant lizard). We had seen one earlier as road kill and honestly thought it was an alligator – that’s how big they are. Our guide told us that water monitors are poisonous, but land monitors are not. We arrived in a small village and then boarded our tuk tuks for a ride out to the Agro Park Millaniya. Three generations have farmed this land, primarily growing rubber trees, but for the past 23 years they have been all organic and have expanded their product line. Their products are sold in the all-organic market in Colombo. In addition to a tour of the farm, where they grow everything from bananas and pineapples to cloves and cinnamon, they also still have a large number of rubber trees. Much of their work is still done by hand. Lots of demonstrations followed – tapping the rubber tree to seeing how it is processed; husking a coconut and seeing all its various uses; seeing how coconut palm fronds are woven into pieces of thatch for the roofing; watching the process of making coconut oil. Lunch was an amazing variety of Sri Lankan food, most of which we really liked. My new favorite is red rice, where part of the husk remains in with the rice. It is a good source of additional fiber and other healthy things. Our final adventure of the day occurred during our bus ride back to Colombo. In a small town we passed through, a procession of small children and their parents were bringing a

symbolic offering to the local temple. Other townspeople were providing drinks to keep everyone hydrated; the police were keeping watch for everyone’s safety; and our bus driver pulled over so we could watch. The children were all dressed up – some as peacocks; some in hand-woven grass skirts; and all sorts of beautiful costumes. We were excited to watch them and they were excited to see us (mostly) white people. Lots of waves and smiles were exchanged. A great day, but boy, oh boy, was it ever hot. Whew.

3/26/2023 – Kandy
Up at 4:30 am to meet our driver/tour guide, Kalika, who we engaged through Viator. The port shuttle bus took us to Gate 1A, but then we had to walk over to/find Gate 1. The Port Authority and military personnel could not have been more helpful, and even telephoned Kalika to make sure he knew where to pick us up. After hopping into

the car, we stopped at a downtown hotel to pick up our additional tourist, Aadil, a 37-yo businessman who is originally from Mumbai, but lives in Lisbon. Then we were off to the hills north of Colombo, home of the last Kingdom of Sri Lanka. Each of the colonial power, in turn, had conquered & held the, but the Kingdom of Kandy remained intact until the British finally took over all of SL in 1815. SL was part of the British Empire until 1948. We were excited to visit Kandy because a) it was in the hills and we hoped a bit cooler and b) it was the home of the last king, ending the line that had ruled since the 6th century BCE. About an hour into our trip, we stopped for breakfast at the Ceylon Hotel. The food was interesting and we mostly liked it, especially my egg in a coconut milk “basket”. It was fun to watch it being prepared. Then we continued our journey, winding our way northward. Kalika pulled off to the side of the road twice along the way – once to show us the huge bats that were flying in and out of the trees and were very restless for mid-morning; and again, to see a large group of monkeys. As we approached Kandy, we stopped at the New Girigama Tea factory for a tour of how tea is picked and processed. It was fascinating, and we aren’t even tea drinkers. Finally, we made it to Kandy where our first stop was the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic/Sri Dalada Maligawa, the most important Buddhist temple in Sri Lanka. Located in the Palace complex, its main entrance was constructed to accommodate an elephant. Speaking of which, an elephant is paraded through the compound every so often, and we happened to be there for the procession. Two things really affected us during this part of the visit. First, we learned that whoever is in possession of the Buddha tooth relic is in possession of the country, and so when the last king handed over the relic to the British, it was an extremely difficult time emotionally for the kingdom and the temple. And it was a very special day when the British returned the relic years later, kind of returning their dignity to the people of the country. Also, the palace and temple compound are large and very

old and wasn’t it just like the British to build an Anglican church smack dab in front of? Such arrogance, even though it occurred in the 1800s, offended us immediately when we saw it. After our temple visit, and yes, we had to remove our shoes and walk everywhere barefooted, which literally pained Mike, we put our shoes back on and headed up to the forest beyond the Palace. Called Udawattakele or Royal Forest of Kandy, it was a beautiful walk with really tall trees, really giant lianas, beautiful views of the city and mountains, as well as monkeys, and deer. Next, we drove up the visit the Buddha statue, Sri Maha Bodhi Maha Viharaya, located on a hilltop. Quite a large Buddha, and again, great views of the surrounding area. Finally, it was time to begin heading back to Colombo, but on our way out of town we stopped at The Island Spice Grove to take a little tour and learn about their medicinal uses. I even got a free neck and arm massage to prove how effective the oils (and other items for sale) were. Yes, I bought some sandalwood oil. We’ll see if it really heals

cracked heels, etc. A quick stop at a fruit stand for bananas and we headed back down to Colombo – While only 75 miles in distance, it was a 3-hour drive on a two lane twisty road, so we were very glad to be able to relax while Kalika did the driving.

– Colombo
Today we took a Tuk Tuk ride around the city. First, we had a bus tour and our guide described all of the buildings & sights. Then we got into our tuk tuks, about 47 of them, and took a great ride around the city. While our tuk tuk drivers were employed by a private company, we had read about independent drivers & frequent (?) altercations among them. Boy, were we surprised to witness one as we “tuk tuked” past them. After seeing the sights, we stopped at Victoria Park and Independence Memorial Hall. The Park was named to honor the 60th Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897, but the locals call it Nuwara Eliya. The Hall is a national monument built to commemorate Sri Lanka’s independence from British rule in 1948, and was built at the location where the formal ceremony took place on 2/4/1948. Its design is based on the Magul Maduwa/Celebration Hall, which is part of the Kingdom of Kandy Palace complex, and where the Kandyan Convention was signed on 3/5/1815, ending the Kingdom of Kandy

and establishing British rule. A short walking tour of a local market ended today’s adventure. And after we spent the rest of our SL money at the little pop-up market across from the ship, we called it a day & headed into to air conditioning.

Final thoughts on the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka fka Ceylon — with railroads to ride, mountains to hike, & beaches to explore, we would come back if our travels ever brought us to this part of the world again. Such kind & peaceful people with such a grounded approach to life. The colonial powers gave much & took more. The Sinhalese majority , along with the Tamil & Muslim minority got their country back in 1948 & are moving forward. These Buddhists & Hindus are on to something.