Sri Lanka part 2 - the hills

12 - 14 November

Before describing my time in Ella, I want to make a bit more of a comment about the situation in Sri Lanka. It is a country only just developing it's tourism industry again, after a civil war of many many years between the Tamil Tigers and Government forces, which were generally Sinhalese. There are still many accusations underlying events during the war, in particular crimes against humanity, including some against the current President Mahinda Rajapaksa. This in fact led to some leaders' boycotts of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), which was hosted by Sri Lanka during my visit.

The event itself was quite controversial - some locals seemed unhappy about the amount of money spent on it and the resulting traffic jams around Colombo, while foreigners were unhappy that it resulted in Rajapaksa being appointed acting Chairman of CHOGM given some of the crimes he and his government are accused of. However for the general population, they seemed to be oblivious to it's existence, and life for them went on just as normal.

In many ways I think it is a fantastic country to visit - kind of imagine a bit like India, but not so crazy, and with more natural beauty and extremely friendly locals. Certainly ten days was not enough for me.

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I needed two busses to get to Ella - the first was a comfortable, A/C bus with spare seats to Matara, just an hour or so. The second, however, was one of the aged "government busses", which means no suspension, 40+ years old, no A/C, lots of people, terrible driving, and the rest...

A typical government bus (actually with destination in English on it!)
(photo courtesy: wikipedia.org)

For the first stop or two you might have a spare seat. Typically later, it looks something like this.
(photo courtesy: tripadvisor.com)

Matara bus station

However I got safely to Ella, only to find my pack covered in silver paint thanks to a loose spraycan in the baggage area... Thankfully two Quebecois helped me with the bag and we ended up at the same guesthouse, which was even owned by a Peter.

Peter, his tuk-tuk and his guesthouse in Ella

After watching NZ pull off an unlikely last-ball victory in the cricket - it would have been an exciting game to go to! - the next morning I headed off with the two Quebecois and also a group of three guys we met along the way for a walk in the countryside.

Small morning market in Ella

It is pretty normal to walk along the train tracks here - the trains go no faster than 30 km/h and are easy to hear from a long way off. Often it is the only way to walk to a village. We chose to walk up to Ella Rock, giving in to paying a local to guide us through the maze of paths once off the train tracks.

Crazy Quebecois on the walk to Ella Rock

Lookout across the hills by a waterfall

The local (who "conveniently" appeared just when we were getting lost) "guiding" us to Ella Rock

At the precipice of Ella Rock

After that I jumped on a train coming past for two stops - costing less than 10 cents - back past Ella to Demodara, and walked back to Ella from there. The scariest part about that was arriving at a bridge or a tunnel - not many places to escape to. Again, the trains are slow and often sounding their horn, but it is still a little unnerving.

As I arrived near one bridge, a local boy introduced himself as Chaminda and wanted to practice his English. It seemed his parents house was just beside the train tracks. He must have been no older than 7 and wanted to draw in my diary. He also (of course) wanted some money... I politely gave him some water and a banana.

He did however ask me the time and when I told him, he was insistent I didn't carry on yet as a train was coming soon. Sure enough, 15 minutes later (i.e. on time) one did:

The forewarned old-school train over the "Nine Arches Bridge" (I'm sure that's not it's official name) between Ella and Demodara

Passing through the rail tunnel adjacent to the bridge above

I wanted to move on to Kandy the next day, so even after a lot of walking already I continued through Ella down another road for 6 km to a well-known waterfall.

I saw some wild monkeys along the way! Turns out they're pretty common around the place, but they were the first I'd seen properly other than very fleetingly on the bus

Ravana Falls at dusk

I made it down to Ravana Falls just as dusk was setting. I clambered up a bit and had a look around, but quickly had to return to the road as one last taxi was waiting for me and walking 1.5 hours in the dark back up to Ella didn't seem such a good idea. I took dinner with the others I'd met earlier and the next morning headed to the train station for the ride to Kandy.

The very quaint ticket booth at Ella train station

Sri Lankan trains are pretty old-school, with big diesel locomotives winding around the hills at pretty slow speeds and primitive token systems still used for authorisation to enter each single track section. It is quite common for trains to be held up for half an hour or much longer while waiting for the track ahead to be cleared by another train as well.

This meant a 6.5 hour trip took over 8 hours, but the ride was definitely worth it. The train was generally relatively empty - unlike some of the overflowing ones coming the other way - so I was able to spend a lot of time switching between windows to enjoy the fabulous views of the stunning tea plantations over the rolling hills in every direction...

Workers in a tea plantation

Gorgeous multi-coloured terraces of tea

Going on as far as the eye can see...

The train is an experience in itself. I felt obliged to donate to the group of school-age buskers that passed through, and it's a necessity to buy some typical roti, samosa or fritter type concoctions from the touts, all deep fried to oblivion several hours earlier. Usually they have to show you a 20 rupee bill to show you how much it costs, and they serve it in a used stapled up piece of A4 paper as a form of recycling, usually with someone's homework exercises or something on the back!!

Street/train food is served in stapled up paper just like this
(photo courtesy: travelwithkat.com)

I loved just observing the life going on around me, as well as the views, thinking how amazingly worry-free many of these people are. Obviously they have worries - many are living near or below the poverty line - but they're not worried about jobs they have at work, or parent-teacher interviews, or local politics, etc. They live life day to day and this was something I really loved about being back in a lesser-developed country.

View to the front of the train (3rd class - I never knew that existed before) from the back

Waiting for the train to pass with the manually-controlled traffic barriers

And thus I arrived in Kandy early evening for the third and final part of my Sri Lanka soujourn - the famed "cultural triangle".

Sri Lanka part 1 - the coast

08 - 11 November

It was a long trip from the UK to Sri Lanka, which involved a long stopover in Bangkok Airport (where I got a shock at the local spicy food) before finally arriving in Colombo after 10pm local time. I was due to stay with Ashan and Isabelle, two friends I'd met in Peru, who now live there, and Isabelle picked me up from the airport and took me to a birthday party they were both at.

I must admit I was quite looking forward to Sri Lanka. After over five months in Westernised countries, the chance to see somewhere less developed, catch up with some friends, and enjoy some better weather than the UK was highly anticipated.

I certainly got warmer weather, although a typical tropical downpour also greeted me to Colombo. It was pretty neat to see some of Ashan's old friends, and quite interesting noting just how much the same young adults are around the world, regardless of the country! They all spoke English between each other too, which made socialising much easier. Sinhalese and Tamil are the native languages mainly spoken, but English is still well known and rooted from the days of Ceylon as a British colony.

So, what to start with? How about beer and a typical Sri Lankan curry for lunch by the beach in Mt Lavinia?

Not a bad welcome to the country...

Nice spot for a restaurant!

I ended up spending just two nights in Colombo, as once I got talking to Ashan and Isabelle I realised how many things it sounded like I wanted to do in the country. After another birthday party on the second night, I headed to the train station in the morning and got my first experience of the Sri Lankan railways - that a train that's half an hour late is really "early".

On the train from Colombo to Galle, where I happened to run into a fellow New Zealand backpacker, Alice

Arriving in Galle, I took a train out to the beach resort of Unawatuna, and found myself a cute little room in a guesthouse right on the beach. This was certainly different travelling to the "book a hostel before online" in Europe - only private rooms, bargaining for prices on the spot on arrival... Given that my host accepted the first price I suggested, I think I offered too much...

Dusk outside my guesthouse - the "Sea Song" - right on the beach, while enjoying a beer

Alice, a NZ student doctor I'd met on the train, who was doing a placement in Galle (!) came down to Unawatuna for the evening and while having dinner - dhal (lentil) curry - we watched the NZ cricket team, playing their first ODI on a short tour of Sri Lanka, be lucky to escape with a rained-out draw on TV.

The breakfast dining room - curry again (yup, even for breakfast)

Local shop - bananas, anyone?

It was a very lazy morning - reading, sunbathing, and several swims (why not with these surroundings). Despite the strong desire to stay there, I managed to head into Galle for the afternoon, a city famous for it's old Dutch fort, dating from original Portuguese construction in the 16th century.

On the Galle Fort, with as few buttons done up as possible against the sweltering humidity

A guest as I walked around the fort walls

I also took a walk around the streets of the city, enjoying just people watching and soaking in the busy atmosphere of the locals going about their business.

Streets of Galle

I had considered heading to the next cricket match in Hambantota, but with so many things to do and bad weather forecast, I decided to aim for another match in Dambulla several days later. Instead I reluctantly left the coast and took a bus up into the hills to Ella.

Very historical England - Oxford, Stratford-upon-Avon and back in London

01 - 07 November

I took an early train down to Oxford from Liverpool and met my old school friend Max, who I hadn't seen for some seven years. He showed me around town for a bit and then we had lunch at his college, Balliol, before he went off to class and I toured around Christ Church - of course where the city I lived in for six years is named after.

It must be said that the majesty of some of these places is quite incredible. I felt almost insufficient having "only" a Bachelor's degree...

The Radcliffe Camera

Oxford University's Bodleian Library

Some curious faces at the Bodlian Library

Christ Church

The grounds at Christ Church

Some of the interior of Christ Church is quite famous for several different reasons (apart from being an incredible college of Oxford in it's own right!)...

Stained glass in the dining hall that was part of the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland, whose author (Lewis Carroll) was living there when the book was written

Christ Church dining hall, the inspiration for filming of the "Great Hall" for Harry Potter scenes

The stairs where Harry Potter first meets Draco Malfoy in the first Harry Potter movie, which is actually the entrance to the dining hall

After enjoying dinner and some drinks with Max's girlfriend Julia and some of their friends, the next morning I headed for a day trip to Stratford-upon-Avon, famously known as the birthplace of William Shakespeare. Among other places, I visited the church where he is buried and his family's house where he is believed to have been born. It was hard to imagine this was where the world's most famous ever playwright was born and raised, but it did seem a very true-blue English town.

Shakespeare's grave in the Holy Trinity Church
1564-1616
"Good friend, for Jesus' sake forebeare
To digg the dust enclosed heare;
 Bleste be the man that spares thes stones,
And curst be he that moves my bones"

Boats on the River Avon in Stratford-upon-Avon, named after some of Shakespeare's most famous female characters:
Virgilia (Coriolanus), Maria (Twelfth Night), Cordelia (King Lear), Portia (The Merchant of Venice), Helena (A Midsummer Night's Dream), Viola (Twelfth Night), Ophelia (Hamlet)

Random very English-looking house

The house widely believed to be Shakespeare's birthplace

I spent several more nights in Oxford, thanks to the very good hospitality of Max and Julia, and managed to meet two other people from New Zealand life - Peter Clark, who I'd also been to school with, and James Horrocks, who was at College House with me. The true kiwi spirit was pretty evident at a New Zealanders dinner that Max and Julia took me along to - there's something about Kiwis on the other side of the world that is kind of refreshing to catch up with every now and then, and I must admit to feeling just a touch nostalgic!

However it was back to London for a couple more nights. I managed to fit in an excellent showing of A Midsummer Night's Dream on West End and snap a photo at the imaginary Platform 9¾ in Kings Cross in between the drizzling English November rain.

Kings Cross, where Harry and Ron fly the car in the second movie

The imaginary platform 9¾ in Kings Cross.
Funnily enough, the actual filming for the movie was taken between Platforms 4 and 5

And then it was off to Heathrow, after five months in Europe/Ireland/England, on the first leg back home - but only half way: I had six weeks in Sri Lanka, Thailand and Cambodia first...

Goodbye London...