Sri Lanka – The Lucky Country – Part 1

OUR TRAVELS TO DATE

SRI LANKA

 

written by ed; photos by jayne

So, our Aussie friends may take umbrage that I have deemed Sri Lanka (SL), the lucky country, rather than their beloved country, which has had that moniker since the mid-1960s.  It was an intentional title to a) grab the attention of our dear Australian friends and b) have the reader understand that Sri Lanka was a lucky country for us.  Moreover, as I did some research into the origin of this phrase which so many Australians hold close to their hearts, the author who coined it intended that it not be complimentary at all.  OK, enough on the title of the blog!

Although Sri Lanka was on our list of countries we might be interested in visiting, we never thought it would be the place where we would spend the most amount of time. By the time we depart SL, we will have spent two glorious months in this beautiful, and, oh so friendly, country. We will leave with lifelong memories, and at least one lifelong friend. We have been very “lucky”.

After arriving in Colombo, the capital of SL, we had arranged a pickup with our first hotel to transport us to Negombo. With no itinerary to speak of, and only places we had heard worth visiting from articles we had read and friends who had traveled there, we began to put a plan together. It took but a few minutes into our drive to the hotel, that we knew there was no way we were going to rent a car (or tuk-tuk, for that matter) during our time here. Flashbacks of the organized chaos on roads in India and Indonesia reinforced that view. So, after speaking with the manager of the hotel, he recommended we hire a friend of his, who worked for a small company that provided drivers.

The next day our driver, Dasun (pronounced Da – soon), showed up ready to go, but we weren’t quite ready.  There had been some miscommunication as to when our journey would begin, but we shared our proposed itinerary with Dasun who thought it all doable and we agreed on the price and day of departure (the following day).  We decided to leave some clothes behind so we could travel more lightly, and we would pick up those clothes upon our departure from SL.

Our experience over the years in developing countries we’ve visited is that business is often conducted without written contracts, but instead with a handshake agreement.  Although one might think my Bronx upbringing would be suspicious and skeptical of handling business in such a trusting manner, I’ve come to rely on my instincts and have never been disappointed or ripped off. And if I was, the amount of money involved would not have been worth the stress – it just wouldn’t serve me well.  So, we never did have a written contract with Dasun about what was to be included in the fee, nor did we receive a receipt for the 50% deposit we gave him the first day of our journey, and as hoped and expected, it all worked out just fine.

As we began our journey, we relayed to Dasun our experience with Dansun, our driver and tour guide on our Kenyan safari and how he taught us the words to Hakuna Matata and how it would be our theme song during the hours spent on safari.  We asked Dasun if he could think of a song befitting our travels and, without hesitation, he quickly played, Manike Mage Hithe,  the hit song that seemingly everyone knows in SL. Little did we know that this song, sung in Sinhalese, the language of Sri Lanka, has been a global viral sensation over the past several months.  Dasun told us of a 13-year-old violinist in the US who has popularized the song, while playing it on Third Street in Santa Monica,  California.

Over the next few weeks, with the help of a transliteration of the song’s lyrics, provided by Dasun, we learned many of the words, with the exception of the rap portion, which would have been a real stretch for us.  Learning just the beginning of the song, proved to be a great ice-breaker with Sri Lankans.  In every instance when I “sang” the phrase  Manike Mage Hithe, people would break out into a smile.  It is not dissimilar when visiting a country where English is not the primary language to, at the minimum, learn a few basic phrases and not assume that everyone or anyone speaks English.  In this particular instance, demonstrating that you are familiar with a popular song, went a long way in connecting with locals.  It also proved, once again, that music is a global language that can serve as a bridge across cultures.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xzVDMgn8Ugc

As Jayne is susceptible to motion sickness,  she’s always happy to be in the front seat and so with me in the back seat this was our seating assignment for the 23 days we would spend on the road. As an experienced driver, although just 27 years of age, Dasun was sensitive to our need about driving somewhat cautiously (by SL standards, even though we never told him to do so.  The only feedback we gave was when he was going a bit too fast around curves and emulating Fast and Furious, one of his favorite movies.

On our way to our first stop, Sigiriya or Lion’s Rock. an ancient rock fortress located in the Central Province near the town of Dambulla, we saw an elephant on the side of the road.  Dasun said we were quite “lucky” to see this as he had never encountered this before in this area.

Sigiriya is a site of historical and archaeological significance that is dominated by a massive column of rock around 180 meters (590 ft) high. The 1200 step climb to the top of the rock affords you panoramic views as well as the ruins of the ancient palace.  Dasun, as he would do on all of our stops accompanied us, and was always checking in to see how we were doing, (tired, happy, etc) and it became a way of bonding further with him.  Although he was not a tour guide, per se, he had experience visiting most of the places on our list.

King Kashyapa (477 – 495 AD) built his palace on top of this rock and decorated its sides with colorful frescoes. On a small plateau about halfway up the side of this rock, he built a gateway in the form of an enormous lion. The name of this place is derived from this structure — Sīnhāgiri, the Lion Rock. The capital and the royal palace were abandoned after the king’s death. It was used as a Buddhist monastery until the 14th century. Sigiriya today is a UNESCO-listed World Heritage Site. It is one of the best-preserved examples of ancient urban planning.

The following day we climbed Pidurangala Rock, located adjacent to Sigiriya. As is the case at many tourist sites, guides will happily accompany you for a small fee. Dasun always left the decision to hire a guide up to us, and in the majority of instances, we did hir one.  Not only were we happy to have a guide, we were also “lucky” to have one that was young and spry.  Although the climb was not as rigorous as Sigiriya, there was a bit of rock scrambling at the end that without the guide would have been a bit more of a struggle, especially for the elder in the group – me.  Dasun made a point of letting the guide know that I was 71 years old, which had impressed Dasun when I first told him and surprised the guide as well. Dasun had said that most men in Sri Lanka past the age of 55-60 would not have been able to climb either rock, which made me feel good about myself, but I also recognized how physically hard life can be in Sri Lanka for men and women alike. When you combine the hard physical labor with a relatively poor diet and limited access to good healthcare you begin to understand why it would be rare for an older person to be able to do the things I was doing. So, while I was flattered I was also feeling quite fortunate.

Once I made it through the final opening in the rocks to reach the peak, I was greeted by some polite applause and smiles from the guide and Dasun.  At the peak, we were given some epic views of the surrounding area, a historic cave complex, and an incredible view of the Sigiriya rock.

Nearby was the Dambulla Cave Temple a living Buddhist site that is focused on a series of five cave shrines. It’s been continuously inhabited by Buddhists since the 3rd century BC. The natural caves have a total of 153 Buddha statues, three statues of Sri Lankan kings, and four statues of gods and goddesses, including the Hindu gods Vishnu and Ganesha as well as some remarkable mural paintings. The present interiors of the shrines had undergone renovation and refurbishing as is the tradition of living Buddhist shrines in the 18th century.

Our next stop was the ancient city of Polonnaruwa, a World Heritage Site, which is one of the best planned archaeological relic cities in the country, standing testimony to the discipline and greatness of the Kingdom’s first rulers. A potential guide approached us to take us through the ruins. Dasun said at the end of our few hours with the guide, how “lucky” we were to have someone so knowledgeable about the history of Polonnaruwa.

For three centuries Polonnaruwa was a royal capital of both the Chola and Sinhalese kingdoms. The archaeological park is a delight to explore, with hundreds of ancient structures – tombs and temples, statues, and stupas – in a sprawling forested area.

The hotel where we stayed in Polonnaruwa had a view of a lake and we were told that if we were “lucky”, we might get to see some elephants that frequent the hotel.  Sure enough, that evening we received a phone call in our room from the front desk, that an elephant was just outside if we wanted a view.  We grabbed our cameras and snapped some photos of the elephant as it grazed and scratched its backside on a tree. Very cool!

The next morning, as we went to the dining area of the hotel for breakfast, a few Sri Lankan families were finishing their meal, and, almost in unison, 15 sets of eyes turned our way.  Jayne whispered to me, “nothing like being stared at by a bunch of people”, to which I responded by smiling at the group and saying, “hello!” in a voice they all could hear.  Within a few minutes, the grandfather approached our table, and in very good English said “good morning” and asked where we were from.  When we answered, the United States, he relayed this to the rest of the family, and soon all 15 were gathered around our table.  Many of them spoke English, but one girl in particular who was both interested in us and quite engaging told us that America was her favorite country, and did we know Karolina, the 13-year-old violinist who played Manike Mage Hithe on Third Street in Santa Monica.  How impressed she was when we told her we were from California and just the day before our driver had told us about Karolina and so we were familiar with the song.  She broke out into a broad smile along with the rest of the family. Further conversation ensued, photos were taken, they went on their way and we completed breakfast.  What started as an awkward moment turned out to be one of the highlights of the day.

We made our way east to the beach towns of Pasikuda and Kalkudah, where we chilled for a couple of days, staying in a small guest house. The owners of the house were a retired pilot and his wife, who presently live in Colombo, but spent many years living in Malaysia and Singapore. They were delightful hosts with many interesting stories of years living outside Sri Lanka.

Our next stop was a few hours away, the city of Kandy, best known for its royal palace, which houses in one of its temples, Buddha’s Tooth Relic, another World Heritage Site. The Tooth Relic, sent to Sri Lanka in the 4th century from India, is venerated by Buddhists worldwide.

Only monks are allowed into the relic chamber, but visitors are able to see the tooth relic from the public viewing area when the temple was open.  We were “lucky”, as our tour guide told us, to arrive at the temple when we did as it would be closing for several hours in 15 minutes. The guide hurried us along so we wouldn’t miss seeing this famous temple shrine.

While in Kandy, we strolled around the town’s lake, its beautiful botanical gardens and stayed in, for us, a rather upscale hotel, positioned just across the street from a nice pizzeria! I wouldn’t say at this point in our travels we had grown bored with the traditional fare of SL, all I’ll say is it was nice to have some variety. The bonus was that the pizza was pretty good! Pizza is definitely a universal food, obviously, some places do it better than others and you should not have very high expectations.  We have found, though, that when tired of a country’s food, pizza can be a good option.

Kandy would also be the starting point for our train ride through the center of SL. We had heard that this also was one of those must-do’s, and when we read an article that this is one of the world’s most scenic railway journeys, well, we had Dasun assist us in booking the voyage.

Stay tuned!

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