Thursday 4 Feb 2016

We are having a late start today from Batticaloa.  It was a late finish last night.  Therefore the morning was more relaxed.  Charles needed to see a doctor as he had swollen feet.  He was taken to see one after breakfast.  The rest of us just lazed around until about 11:30am.  We all had a big breakfast and therefore decided to drive straight to Arugam Bay and skip lunch.

Batticaloa hosts the Eastern University.  The town is made up mainly Tamil speaking people of Hindu and Muslim background.  The Sinhalese were here at some stage but they left probably during the war years.  Batticaloa is set back from the sea by a lagoon.  I would not say the town is pretty.  It has plenty of small shops.

Batticaloa to Arugam Bay is about a 2 hour drive along the coastal.  It should be picturesque.  We got to our hotel  at Arugam Bay about 3pm.  The view from our hotel was spectacular.  We all had ground floor rooms.  The rooms were smaller but adequate.

Arugam Bay was badly affected by the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami.  It almost in a direct line of sight to Aceh in Indonesia where the Tsunami orginated.  15 to 20m waves hit the coast and reportedly travelled up to 3km inland.  Apparently, at first the waters receded towards the ocean and then the waves hit.  This happened multiple times.  The 3rd instalment was the biggest and most damaging.  The owner of the hotel next door said he ran for his life after the sea receded the first time.  He felt it was eerily unusual and that he should not hang around.  The sad part is that none of the aid money or government money filtered here.  The owner of the hotel next door had to take out a bank loan to repair his hotel.

That evening we went to a ‘speakeasy’ to have a few beers. Today is Sri Lanka’s National Day.  Shops are not meant to serve alcohol.  We then went down the road to a restaurant by the road.  It was a basic restaurant and floor was just beach sand.  Logan took control and ordered items that were not listed on the menu.  The owner aimed to please us and put on quite a good spread.

 

Wednesday 3 Feb 2016

Today we are making our way to Sigiriya Rock and Polannaruwa.  Sigiriya Rock used to be a palace and I visited this place the last time I was in Sri Lanka in 2013. Polannaruwa is an ancient capital city that was abandoned in the 13th century.  It was variously ruled by Sinhalese dynasty and also by the Colas from South India who invaded much of the northern part of Sri Lanka.

We arrived at Sigiriya Rock at 9am.  There were already plenty of tourists there.  It is a public holiday in Sri Lanka today (Sri Lankan National Day) and also with Chinese New Year around the corner, there were plenty of Chinese tourists.  The crowds here unfortunately does not allow you to fully appreciate this place.  When I came here 3 years ago, there were hardly any tourists and therefore Charles and I had an enjoyable and leisurely experience.  We took great pictures (Visit to Sigiriya Rock in 2013).

Only 4 of us were doing the climb today, Vasantha, Shantini, Susie and myself. I am acting as the proxy guide. Being a hot and humid day, we all carried our water bottles.  Climbing up the rock was a tricky affair.  There was pushing and shoving with Chinese tourists which does not make the experience pleasurable.  We made plenty of stops to take in the site.  The path to the middle section was a slow journey.  At the fresco wall, no photography was allowed.  I suppose it is because of the crowd.  I managed to get some non-flash pictures the last time.

We reached the top in about 90 minutes.  We examined the area on top, which was the winter palace area. The summer palace area was at the foot of the rock.

We made it down from the top in 30 minutes.  We were feeling the heat and humidity by now.  We were picked up again by the rest of the group and headed for lunch.

After lunch we made our way to the ancient city of Polannaruwa.  It is the second most ancient city and was an ancient capital (1070AD).  This site is quite extensive and sits besides a huge man-made reservoir.  The reservoir resembles a lake and there are several of them in central Sri Lanka.  The ancient kings valued agriculture and therefore made sure the country’s farmland is sufficiently irrigated.  The amazing thing is that these ancient reservoirs and irrigation channels are still being used today.

We visited the site museum to fully appreciate this ancient site.  We were then taken to a place called the Citadel.  This is where the palace and central administration area of the kingdom was.

Our final stopover was a Boy’s Home in Batticaloa.  Most of the boys have lost their parents for various reasons.  There are about 30 boys ranging from 6 to 19.  The town of Batticaloa had some bad luck ranging from the war to tsunami.  Most of the boys are the casualties of some more recent calamity.  There is a sad story in every corner of this town.

Tuesday 2 Feb 2016

It’s going to be a long day on the road today.  We were picked up at 7:30am so that we could miss the traffic.  Not sure if it helped.  It is mayhem here with tuk-tuks, buses, trucks and cars moving around.  We got to an eating place out of town for breakfast.  It was a surprisingly good place with a good selection of food.

Our first stop was the spice gardens.  Various spices and herbs are grown at this place.  Sri Lanka is well known for their spices and it is one of the reasons why over several hundred years there was a procession of European powers who invaded the country.  The main business at the Spice Garden is to produce Ayuvedic medicinal products.  We were shown the vanilla creeper and how they produce vanilla essence, cinnamon tree (apparently the lighter coloured cinnamon bark is the good stuff), nutmeg tree (intake of a reasonable quantity could prove fatal), cocoa tree and others I fail to remember now.

I bought some Ayuvedic products.  Some tablets that are meant to reduce cholesterol for myself and an oil product for arthritis which Dianne might find helpful.  They are not cheap but they are all natural products.

Next stop is the Minneriya Elephant Sanctuary.  We picked up our 4WD and driver just outside the park. Four of us were in one vehicle and 3 in the other.  Off we went on our elephant safari.

Elephants Feeding

Most elephants were feeding in family groups.  They are noisy eaters.  They seem to move from area to area on an eating spree.  Occasionally we saw some baby elephants including one that was 5 days old.  It was well protected by the family and hence we did not get a good view.

The sanctuary is made up of 3 connecting parks. The elephants often cross the main highway to go from one park to the other.  We were taken to another park.

Driver and guide intently looking at the elephant herd.  Some judgement and decision making is required here not to spook or disturb the elephants.

We came across a female elephant called Kanahila who was not pleased with our presence. Truth be told, there were a lot of noisy 4WDs in their domain with tourists.  It must be annoying for them.  This elephant came charging straight for us but seemed like she singled me out to take the fall.

The guide made noises and threw water at it to calm it down.  Kanihila in the local language means ‘torn ear’.  All the guides and rangers knew her and her behaviour well.

Later Kanahila charged our other 4WD and had it pinned against a tree.  There was no way for the 4WD to move.  It finally relented and an escape was capitalised.

The herd moved and blocked our exit from the park.  There were several 4WDs.  A park ranger came onto our vehicle and managed to clear a path for us to leave the park.  He was very experienced and knew how to handle the elephants.  He later told us that Kanahila lost her alf in a vehicle accident about 10 years ago.  This accounted for her aggressive behaviour.  Apparently the females are the more aggressive ones.  I could have told them that without visiting an elephant sanctuary.

Our standoff with the elephant herd took a while.  It was getting dark.  One of the other 4WD vehicles had a flat tyre.  Apparently the custom is that all 4WDs must stop and help and make sure that no one is left behind.  It is good to see them work together even though they come from different companies.

We checked into a motel type accomodation called Asnara Hotel.  It is a comfortable place with a very green setting. The food was good.