10 April 2013

We had an early start at 5:30am to witness the sunrise at Trinco. Unfortunately, our cameras fogged up when it was taken out of the air-conditioned room. So we don’t have great pictures. The sunrise here is truly striking. We left at 7:30am for a temple called Thirukoneswaram. This temple dates back 2500 years. It was patronised by the great South Indian kingdoms over the years. It is one of the pre-eminent Hindu shrine in Sri Lanka. The entire ancient temple was carved out of solid rock. Unfortunately, the Portuguese destroyed the original temple in 1624 during their rampage through the north. The rock from the temple was used to build a fort and the rest of the rock was shoved over the edge. In the 1960s, Arthur C Clarke found the ruins of the temple underwater and recovered some significant pieces.

In 1950, the local Municipal Council was digging for a well nearby in Trincomalee and found a stash of ancient statues buried in the ground. It was suggested that probably some concerned devotees buried these statues from the ancient temple before the Portuguese destroyed the temple. The statues were enshrined in the modern temple in 1952. The temple is located high above a rocky hill overlooking Trinco.

In the temple ground, I chanced upon a very friendly cow that seemed quite young. It came up to me to greet me.

Monkeys abound on the trees above and in other places.

One of the features of the temple is for women to tie tiny cradles made of wood onto trees in the hope that they will have a baby.

We needed a group shot here. So hell why not!

We got back to the hotel after that to have breakfast and hit the road to Habarana which is almost in the centre of the island. We stopped for some fresh coconut drink that Charles immensely enjoyed.

One of the things you will notice while driving on the roads here is that there are cows everywhere. The cows are let out of the farm and there is always a leader in the pack. All the cows follow the leader to a grazing ground and return later in the afternoon back to the owners house. We actually chanced upon a cow waiting at the front gate of a house to be let in.

Some of these cows actually lie down in the middle of the highway like as if they are playing ‘chicken’. You soon notice that the cows command a right of way. All vehicle traffic take pains to go past them in a safe manner. We stopped by at a guest house for some afternoon tea. The scenario at this place overlooking a huge ancient manmade lake is quite idyllic.

The road to Habarana passes through several national parks. While passing through one of these parks, we spotted a young elephant having a feed by the side of the road.

After a short drive, we reached Chaaya Lodge, which is a sister hotel to where we stayed at Trinco. Again, it had typically the same sort of open feel about it.

 9 April 2013

Trincomalee or Trinco as it is popularly known is on the north-east of the island. We left Jaffna today around 7:30am hoping to get to Trinco by 1pm. We had a consensus that we will take the coastal road through Mullaittivu. We came through Kilinochchi (which used to be a Tamil Tiger stronghold) before branching towards the coast.

Unfortunately, the coastal road through Mullaittivu is not the best. Mullaittivu is where the Tamil Tigers had their last stand and succumbed to superior numbers of the Sri Lankan Army. Most of the road here is dirt road or road that is rough and bumpy. It took us a while with a few handy hints from passersby before got to the road proper for Trinco. We were booked into a hotel called Chaaya blu. It is a beautiful hotel with a fantastic setting.

The hotel has a very open setting with view looking out to the ocean. There always seem to be a gentle breeze blowing in. The sea has a beautiful blue colour.

Our rooms are comfortable too.

We had a lazy day, by the pool or beach. Dinner was a buffet which had an incredible variety of food. I really ‘pigged out’. The others have refrained from calling me ‘porky’. Charles had a very healthy vege meal. He was very controlled with his meat intake at dinner. I checked, he is not running a fever.

 3 April 2013

Galle is the fourth largest city in Sri Lanka and is split between the old city within the walls of the old Dutch Fort and the new city. It is almost the southern most city on the island and about 125kms from Colombo. Again the drive there by the coastal road is about 3.5 hours (in blue on map above) although there is a new inland highway (in red on map above) which we used on our return trip. On the way we stopped at a turtle rescue refuge which was destroyed by the Boxing Day Tsunami in 2004. As a matter of fact, most of the south coastal towns bore the brunt of the Tsunami. They experienced 7m waves. Our guide tells us that about 50,000 people died in the Tsunami in Sri Lanka. Then we stopped at a moonstone mine, apparently the only place in the world! We bought some cinnamon oil (some diversification in the business model) which is produced on-site. Cinnamon oil has medicinal properties for toothaches and for soothing congested heads when down with the flu. We had lunch in Galle and then toured the city. I am a bit disappointed as the old structures are sometimes in a state of disrepair and renovations to old houses are somewhat piecemeal.  Galle has a huge Muslim population, about 90%.

We got a local SIM card today which was quite an experience. These were the steps:
1. Get a number at reception and wait for your turn. We waited 30 mins.
2. Show the rep your passport and he fills out a form and opens an account while you are there. He sends you off to pay for the SIM.
3. The person at the payment counter checks the forms and sends you off to the cashier.
4. The cashier accepts your payment.
5. Return to previous counter with receipt and collect paperwork left there.
6. Go back to first counter attended to finalise account.
7. Go to another counter to have SIM topped up but first you need to fill out a form.
8. Get SIM topped up on the spot by cashier here who presses a few buttons on her ageing Nokia.
9. Smile and get the hell out of there!

 2 April 2013

We had a great breakfast at the hotel. There was local and Western fair served. We had the local food; the only thing Western we had was orange juice and coffee. We had hoppers called appams, dosai (pancakes) and rice accompanied by mutton curry, sambols (coconut, mint, onion), sambar (soupy gravy with dhal) and other dishes. We really ate. All for Rs575 which is under $5.

We engaged a driver/guide and car for the rest of our trip in Sri Lanka from the Travel Desk at the hotel. The driver Jagath, had picked us up from the airport too when we arrived and will also take us and drop us off in Jaffna and come back to pick us up.  Jagath is a affable man of Sinhalese descent.  He is very polite and courteous.  We had lots of fun with him and learnt a lot from him.  

Then we drove to Kandy, which is only 120km away but took us 3 hours to get there. The traffic with trucks, tuk-tuks, cars and motor cycles was out of this world. They all have an understanding, an unwritten rule that you need to know. Foreign drivers will struggle because we have a different way of thinking.

On the way, Charles had the urge to taste the local coconut called king coconut.  They were yellow/orange in colour. So we stopped for a coconut drink.

Kandy was the home of the last kingdom of Sri Lanka. Many came and were not able to conquer it because it sits high in the highland. The British, somehow managed to banish the king in 1815 to Mauritius.

We visited the famous Tooth temple which holds the tooth of Buddha. We were in shorts which is not acceptable attire and so we had to hire for Rs200 ($1 = Rs135) sarongs to cover our hairy legs.

Entry to the temple was Rs1000; we bought flowers for offering and hired a guide. The temple dates back from about 1700 years ago. Behind the temple is the castle where the last King of Kandy lived and next to it is the royal court.

The inner temple is made of wood that is decorated by old paintings.

The inner temple was reasonably crowded with school children and pilgrims.  We came at the wrong time to see the Kandyan dancers and the elephants being paraded.  The performance takes place 3 times a day at specific times.