Quite possibly the friendliest place we've visited on this trip. We stayed in a place called Ambalangoda - not a tourist resort but a small town. We had booked a villa through Airbnb and it was perfect. The villa was situated in jungle gardens on the river. We had a balcony from where we watched the wildlife - there were around 6 water monitor lizards up to 6 feet in length. They mainly waddled about tasting the air with their tongue but we did see them fighting over a mongoose carcass and on another occasion two males were wrestling each other. The woodpeckers were very colourful and fun to watch hopping up the trees. Kasun, who was managing the place spotted an amazing spider (see photo) it looked to be disguising itself as a flower, pulling its legs together in twos to make a cross shape. The mongooses were a bit skittish, they mainly ran across the lawn to the cover of the mangroves. There were many crabs in the mangroves too up to 8 inches wide, they were constantly diving into their holes for cover. We had huge red ants on the balcony, but their tracks were away from us so we left them in peace. One night there was some heavy rainfall and a rival ant nest was swept down from the trees (see nest photo) onto the balcony - this meant war! Our peace loving giant ants were attacked by smaller vicious ones. We got up in the morning to view the battle field (see video). Dead ants everywhere and the invading troops were carrying the dead off to be consumed. After our breakfast we returned to find the battle had stepped up we had to run past them. Later we tried to leave the room but the balcony was fully covered with fighting ants. Vicious ants were climbing up our legs and biting us when we tried to brush them off. One reached my shoulder under my clothes and bit me - nightmarish. Our villa owner arrived on the scene with a brush and cleared a path for us. He was getting bitten to bits too. He soon gave up the brushing and sent out for some spray. Amazing to have the wildlife on your doorstep. Our villa was near the train tracks and we would say hello to the guy at the level crossing a few times a day. He lived in a tiny shack and worked the barriers throughout the day and night. Ambalangoda was great for its train and bus links and we were able to get out along the west coast up to Colombo and down to Galle (Dutch fortress town). Lots of people stopped to talk to us, (Where are you from? where are you going? How old are you? Where are you staying? Wolley's place, ah yes, he's my brother/cousin). The women wore either modern dresses or traditional saris - very beautiful. Saris with a frill at the waist mean they are from the higher caste. I was struggling to reconcile a Buddist nation maintaining the caste system when Buddha argued against it. The bus rides were fun! The buses date from the 50s and 60s. Sri Lankan music plays, but not too loud. No air-con, just open windows. Bus etiquette is a bit different from the UK too. People sit in the aisle seat and leave the window seat free (this keeps them away from the blazing sun and dusty breezes). People don't stand up to let you have the window seat, they just move their legs to one side. Front seats are reserved for clergy (we've seen middle aged ladies get up to let 18 year old Buddhist monks sit down - uuh?) Seats are also reserved for the disabled and pregnant women which seems to extend to women with young children. So you see adults standing while children sit down - not in my day, my Mum would often get me to stand up or sit on her knee so that someone could sit down. The only other rule is there is no such thing as a full bus. We were standing at the back of the bus on one occasion and about 10 school kids got one. At my height, I was breathing through a small gap under someone's armpit, when I felt the bus stop to let yet more on. At the next stop, more got on. I was shaking when I got off, I don't deal with space invasion too well. Another observation was that on the express buses where there are limited stops; the buses don't actually stop, they just slow down and people jump off - the experts do a parallel run with the bus.
we struggled on the first day to find anywhere to eat in Ambalangoda - the big restaurants in town White House and Severin appeared to be expensive. We decided to eat at the White House which had tables in a pretty courtyard. The food was about £3 per dish but we discovered that each dish was a double portion. We also had ice cold ginger beer which was lovely. The White House is unlicenced but allows people to bring their own drink in, whiskey was the drink of choice for most and we watch many a bottle being downed. That would explain the fact that most men you speak to have very bloodshot eyes - whiskey and the practice of chewing beetlenut leaves. We also ate at many 'small eats' bakeries (Sri Lankan Greggs). Small eats include rolls, pasties, rotis, fish cutlets (fish and veg deep fried in breadcrumbs). They serve you a plate filled with stuff and you pick what you like. There are two disadvantages to this approach 1. We watched as other people squeezed and fingered the food before choosing which ones they wanted 2. We often ate more than we needed to ...mmmm just one more veg pasty (patice). We later discovered a newly opened family restaurant called Kethumathi a three minute walk from the villa on the Galle Road south of Ambalangoda. Paul had their freshly caught fish (and chips) every day followed by banana fritters with ice cream. The weight was piling on us!
We spent one month in Sri Lanka and got out to see lots of stuff. Locally, we walked to the beach, to two local buddhist shrines and to the mask museum where we watched the masks being hand-carved and painted. We got the bus to the Tsunami photo museum and shrine in Telwatta. The Banda Aceh tsunami, Boxing Day 2004, hit the south coast of Sri Lanka killing 46,000 and displacing over half a million. The museum is in the former abandoned home of a Telwatta family, it houses many harrowing and graphic photos and contemporary children's drawings. The survivors received a small amount of compensation and the aid appears to have been spent on a now abandoned government museum and a large Buddha statue - not one single Tsunami tower or shelter.
We also took the train to Galle, on the south coast. We were in Sri Lanka in 2009, we were able to trace the date as we remember the taxi driver taking us to the airport told us "The greatest breakdancer in the world is dead!" He meant Michael Jackson. Anyway, Galle has changed quite a bit in 5 years, the heritage buildings within the fort ramparts have been restored and the place is now replete with boutiques hotels, cafes and craft shops. Sri Lanka was playing India that week in cricket and the stadium was close to the fort, so we were able to watch the players in training too.
We got the Elpitiya bus 7 kms from Ambalangoda station to a rarely visited Buddist monastery which houses the longest reclining Buddha in south east asia. The bus driver dropped us outside the steps and we climbed 208 steps to the grounds. The place was locked up, so we headed over to the monks who opened the place up for us 250 Rupees each (just over £1 each). The restoration project is a bit slow as they cannot get any funding, not surprising really as they must get about 2-4 visitors only every day. The place was worth the visit though.
We also headed up to Kalutara (we were at Mermaid hotel here in 2009) another chatty guy on the train mentioned he worked there. We visited the beach and the Buddhist shrine / stupa. Two Sri Lankan girls (10 and 13) took delight in chatting to me in English - they were really sweet. Lots of questions again, How old was I? Why did I cut my hair? Have I been to the beach? No? You must go you will have the best day ever there.
Our next adventure was to do a jeep safari in Yala national park, which boasted the highest concentration of leopards in the world. After lots of negotiations with Wolley our villa owner, we decided that the cheapest option was to do it all ourselves - travel there by bus and stay over. We found a hotel that did a B&B package with a half day safari. We took the bus to Tissamaharama (Tissa for short). This involved 3 buses, one to Galle, one to Tangalle and one to Tissa. We later discovered that the 132 bus to Kataragama, passing through Amabalangoda went directly there. Never mind the 6 hour journey was not so bad and we got to see the south coast beaches, which looked amazing with lots of little islands off shore. Paul was using his saved Google map to find out where we should get off. Instincively he stopped the bus right outside the Gangasiripura road and we walked the 1 km to the hotel. The hotel was on the river bank, beautiful gardens a Kiplingesque jungle setting. We enjoyed a lovely meal in the evening breeze, mosquito coils under the table keeping the ninja squitoes at bay. At dusk hundreds of fruitbats passed overhead - a stunning sight to get us in the mood for the safari. We rose at 04:30 for breakfast and to get the jeep to the park. We heard peacock calls in the distance. It was pretty dark still on arrival at the park, we had the jeep to ourselves, which was cool. There were around 50 other jeeps waiting to set off too. Oh dear, would we get a look in? We drove into the park and found some solitary paths, we saw a lizard on the road, a couple of silhouetted hornbills (smaller species that the Malaysian ones) and so many peacocks my favourite birds. One peacock was displaying but it was too dark to get any good shots. We saw lots of prey: deer, water buffalo and wild boar. Paul's shots of the deer in the light of the sunrise were lovely. We were in pursuit of the leopards though; the driver made and received lots of calls and texts from other drivers with the latest sightings. On the hunt we also saw some langurs in the trees. We eventually stopped at a watering hole; the driver told us that one young male leopard often drank here. There was still plenty to watch here, peacocks, a grey mongoose, wild boar and then we watched a poor lame water buffalo limp to the waterfront If the leopard showed up there could be a mess! After drinking the water buffalo had a bathe. The driver indicated that he had heard deer distress calls. Paul photographed some kingfishers and bee eaters too. We waited for an hour with about 6 other jeeps before the driver set off again. I'm not sure whether he had received a tip-off. We drove along the dusty rocky paths across plains and scrubland and saw a number of jeeps ahead. It was the leopards. Our driver squeezed in head on, we lifted the front viewing window and had a great view of two young male leopards sitting in the shade, one got up to scratch himself on a dead tree lying in a nearby pit. The other then joined him to bite and jostle with him. Then they casually walked off into the scrub. Paul got lots of shots but not in the best of light. We later learned that one of the jeeps had bumped into another in the scramble for a view. It was now mid-morning and the driver took us to the beach side in the park. Paul walked up to a nearby fishing village - a dangerous place to live really! After this short break we were back in the jeep, having seen lots of wildlife we were happy to head back. On the way we stopped at another watering hole where we saw water buffalo, wild boars and a lone male elephant scratching against a nearby tree. Around 5 jeeps jockeyed for position. The elephant's escape route was part blocked and it looked sad and distressed. The sound of jeeps revving was also spooking it. Finally, it made a charge to the other side of the road through the traffic, right in front of our jeep. We were a little sad about this encounter but when we looked at the GPS points on the map later, we realised that the safaris only skirt the edge of the national park and the vast majority of the park is undisturbed. We had really enjoyed our first jeep safari and not even the 5 hour bus journey back dampened our spirits.
The last part of our travels round the island involved hiring a car and driving to Kandy to explore the hill country. Paul needed to have his licence approved, so we had headed out to the AA in Colombo, only to be told that as Paul's licence was not international we would have to go to another department in a town south of Colombo. We set off and 2 buses and a 2km walk later in 30 degree heat and we arrived at the Department of motor traffic. The place was rammed. We asked for directions to the correct department as there were many different buildings and eventually found the right one. After queuing for a while in one queue, another westerner mentioned that he had been there for 2 hours so far -eek! Everyone in the queue had a medical certificate and the guy in front of Paul was now being directed to get one. We then headed for the medical department on another part of the site. Another queue, but Paul seemed to be being ushered ahead of others. Paul had his photo taken at one desk, then another queue to have some blood taken and tested there and then. Next was a queue to join 10 others to have his eyes tested. Paul was referred to as the white man "Stand over there behind the white man please?" Blood pressure, chest and heart next. Paul then had to stand on one leg whilst waggling his fingers in front. Finally another wait for the certificate to be done. Back to the first building and we discovered that no medical certificate was required for a temporary licence - annoying! Four different queues at different boothes and the approval form was issued - 2 hours it took! It must have been the British that gave them that admin system.
We got an upgrade on the car as the cheap one that we had booked was not available. Paul did well to negotiate the Sri Lankan traffic but the ride involved blind terror for me as he overtook buses, tractors and trucks. The ride from Colombo to Kandy was only 116km but it was painfully slow - 4 and a half hours. It was a single carriageway through busy towns and overtaking crawling vehicles. We had booked a place called Forest View Holiday home in Kandy and had mapped it for the journey. When we got there, there were no signs and the road name did not exist. After an hour of driving up and down a forested hill we finally phoned the owners. Thankfully their house was next door to another place that was signposted. We arrived a bit worse for wear and welcomed their offer of a cup of tea. The homestay overlooked the forest and we had a spacious room and bathroom. The owner was a doctor and he and his wife spoke perfect english. We headed into Kandy for the evening to get some food. We were up early next morning for a head start on the 4 hour journey to the ancient ruins of Polonnaruwa. Although the roads were fairly quiet, the journey was still a tiring one, the car hire was not working out too well as the roads were not good enough for long distances. We would only have around 3 hours at Polonnaruwa before heading back and the site of the ruins stretch over 6kms. The ancient ruins are of a Kingdom that existed between the 8th and 14th century, with palaces, shrines, statues of Buddha and stupas. Like Angkor Wat there is evidence of Hinduism and Buddhism. It was $25 each to enter the site and we were told that only Sri Lankan drivers could go round the site. We therefore had to hire a tuk tuk for 1000 rupees (£4.54). The guy raced us around the site and Paul got some great shots, as ever. Another gruelling journey back to Kandy and our hosts had prepared a meal for us - string hoppers (like Indian iddlies, they are made from rice flour separated into strings then moulded into little patties), chicken curry, veg curry and another veg dish followed by bananas.
The next day we had planned to travel to the cool tea plantations and English style country of Nuwara Eliya but it was 75 kms there and then 160 kms back to Colombo in time to hand the car in at 5pm. We set off the next morning after another Sri Lankan breakfast of milk rice and a honey/coconut paste. We decided that as the traffic was busy we would just head back into Colombo and our airport transit hotel. A bit of a disappointment really.
Sri Lanka had been a great experience, we made lots of little friends and had covered a lot of ground. Ambalangoda had allowed us to mix it with the locals and expand our waistlines with the tasty pasties and fish and chips.
South Korea is next after a brief stop in KL. Thanks for your messages, keep them coming!