Travels by Bus
See the world on bus, ON foot & on my own.
HIK-KA-DU-WA DU!
1997
Sri Lanka, the teardrop island, a Surfers' Paradise in the Indian Ocean and tea country
COLOMBO, HIKKADUWA, GALLE, KANDY, NUR ELIYA
When I told my friends I was going to Sri Lanka, the first thing they asked was, "Why? What is there to see?" Well, I don't know, that's why I am going to check it out!
Truth was, I chose it because it was only S$460 on Singapore Airlines. I got upgraded to Business Class and because it was Christmas eve, they gave me a Braun Buffel CD case. I really can't complain with the first class treatment I got. Besides, I had my own TV screen and a seat that can be laid out flat. It was truly a memorable Christmas eve!
Sri Lanka, the country shaped like a teardrop, is the Singapore of the 70s because it used to be a strategic trading port like Singapore until the war started.
The war between Tamil Tigers & Sri Lanka is still ongoing when I was there but very much kept in the north - Jaffna & the east.
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Because of suicide bombers, it is common to see this type of sentry in and around Colombo. Random body search is common, like that night when I went out with my Singaporean Indian friend and her Australian boyfriend, we were told to disembark from our tuk-tuk & surrender our passports for security check. My Indian friend was asked a number of questions while Ben & I were not questioned.
Another friend who worked as a journalist in the north told of stories of people being blown up because they gave water to someone who came to their house asking for it.
It's a pity, the war. I heard from fellow backpackers who went to Trimcolee (NE) who said the surfs are great and the waters, beautiful. For the rest of us, it's only Hikkaduwa and the south which is amazing actually.
HIKKADUWA
My colleague Copywriter Sridha has a friend, Ben who was working in Sri Lanka at that time so he set me up to meet Ben in Colombo. Ben has a nice colonial house and a company driver. On the eerily quiet Christmas Day in Colombo, we paid the driver some money to take us to Hikkaduwa. Despite the fact that there is only one road through Sri Lanka: one lane up, one lane down, it only took us about 4 hours to get to Hikkaduwa.
I got a room with 2 beds, attached bath, fan & mosquito nets for $3 a night AND it comes with seaview. This is a luxury considering most guesthouses in Hikkaduwa are built in such a way that they do not face the sea.
Pronounced HIK!kaduwa, I didn't realised that it is a favourite destination for surfers until I got here. Waves can be as high as 6-8 ft. Unfortunately, I only witness 4-5 ft high waves when I was there.
So naturally I found myself surrounded by trim-bodied surfers in their 20s like Nathan (Welsh), Herb (Kiwi), Steven & Marc (Aussies), Christophe (French). I was never short of (male) company and most like Nathan stay for a long time here, almost a resident who is handy because if I needed a money changer, Nathan will take me everythere. On the return, we had dinner on the beach, without roof, completely under the stars.
Herb is the youngest of the lot but always seem to be in a daze - maybe too much weed - while the sweetest was Stevo whom I spent New Year's eve with besides Nathan.
Hikkaduwa is a pretty small town. The guesthouses in Hikkaduwa are on either side of the road. Little shops plied the sides too, ranging from tailors who copy QuikSilver surfing shorts, dresses etc. or custom made your design and add a label of your choice. All for a very good price! And needless to say, money changers, travel agents and restaurants/cafes. Most restaurants are right on the beach.
There were many restaurants but only one pub/disco called WHY NOT. We were there for the first part of New Year's eve but left within minutes because the place was full of drunken locals (because they cannot hold their drinks) and were harassing the (mostly women) foreigners! I was glad to be in the company of Stevo and Nathan. We had so much laugh that that New Year's eve was the most memorable one in my life: we kept buying fireworks and shooting them off the beach and we didn't get to bed until 6 in the morning, just constantly talking to different set of travellers. There was also Rebecca and her mum from Australia. Her mum is really cool. She's 40 and had been in India on her own for 3 months before meeting Rebecca in Sri Lanka. They invited me to join them for a walk to the temple one day.
The Temple was awfully quiet. We were the only visitors and a smiling young monk showed us around.
We had to walk through town and cross over the railway to get to the other side of town to where "normal" Sri Lankans live. We were approached by children asking for sweets. One tourist gave a child a pen instead and that brat actually threw it away!
Nathan went to the "village" before and was "kidnapped" into a family's house where they kept spiders and snakes as pets. Yes, Sri Lankans are rather friendly people: they would invite you to their house for tea and talk about crickets for hours, just like the guy at the bank when all I wanted to do was change money and he spent an hour talking about cricket with Nathan.
There are also travelling "bands" like these guys who came to our guesthouse one day to play. They just ask for some money at the end.
GALLE
From Hikkaduwa, we rented a motorbike to explore the coast south east - Unuwatuna, Weligama and Tangalla. Part of the coast along the way was very rocky, like this one at Waligama. The fishermen are used to spend the whole day out at sea fishing on stilts, called stilt fishing by using a small bait. Something unique to Sri Lanka.
The waters got clearer the farther south we went. The nicest was Galle. We stopped here for a while to rest our bums, and walked around the beach and the lighthouse.
The beach was super clear and fine white sand unlike anywhere in Sri Lanka that we've been.
The port of Galle is said to be the Biblical city of Tarshish. It had Dutch influence as shown by the 36-hectare (89 acre) Dutch Fort built in 1663. This rather historical and quiet town also have Dutch style houses, museums and churches.
LET'S TAKE THE TRAIN TO KANDY
After spending like eternity on the beach, we decided to take a train from Hikkaduwa to Kandy. It took forever because we kept getting the wrong information from the people at the guesthouse and the train station. In the end, we ended up in a non-direct train to go via Colombo then change train to Kandy. By the time we reached Kandy, it was nightfall.
The trains were packed to the brim with people & their produce. We didn't have any seat reservation so we ended up sitting on the panel in between carriages.
While travelling, we couldn't help but notice that a screw used to keep the panels together has come off its place from the vibration and train movement. We were lucky nothing happened to us but a few days later, we read in the papers that a train had derailed. We wondered if that was the same train we were on.
I would recommend to avoid Colombo train station if you can because it was chaotic! We were happy to board the train again from Colombo to take us out of the madness. It was peace again all the way to Kandy. The train had a full glass front panel so you can see the marvelous panoramic view as soon as it left Colombo into the hill country which was very nice and the temperature dipped the further up we went.
KANDY-land
Kandy is about 100km (62mi) north east of Colombo and is the "capital" of the hill country - centre of the Sinhalese culture and home to the sacred tooth of Buddha - Temple of the Sacred Tooth.
The octagonal Dalada Maligawa Temple of the Sacred Tooth houses the sacred tooth of Buddha. There are daily ceremonies of homage to the Tooth Relic, each attracting white-clad pilgrims carrying lotus blossoms and frangipani. During the frenetic Kandy Esala Perahera celebrations, a replica of the shrine is carried through the city on an elephant.
That was exactly what happened the day we decided to visit the temple. The procession resulted in a long queue at the entrance. We were too lazy to remove our shoes & giving money to the shoe attendant to look after so we, as nonbelievers, didn't want to risk losing our shoes, we skipped the visit to the temple.
Instead, we bought some sandwiches & ate at the bank of the peaceful lake next to the temple. Whatever we couldn't finish, we fed to the fish but the crows were so quick, they grabbed the food literally from the fishes lips! Not seen such aggression before.
The guidebook said we could find cheap accommodation in abundance on the hill but obviously it's not been updated. We only found one that suit our budget. It was at the TOP of the hill alright.
To reach our guesthouse from the centre of town, we have to pass by the temple, the lake & a monastery then climb a 20-minute steep slope! Alternatively, you may hire a tuk-tuk up. Well, if it was after dinner, we could do with the extra exercise but not when we had to carry our backpacks. On the way down once, we met a tuk-tuk driver asking if we needed a ride. I wasn't going to pay for a ride downhill so I asked if it's for free just for fun. Guess what?! He was so nice, he said yes! Weee...
Kandy has a distinctive architectural character thanks to its gently sloping tiled roofs and the town centre of old shops, markets, noise, buses and hotels.
Other sights include the National Museum, the Peradeniya Botanic Gardens and the Udawattakelle Sanctuary - a peaceful haven for birdlife. There are plenty of lovely scenic walks around Kandy, one of which leads to the Mahaweli, where you may see elephants being bathed.
Actually we came to Kandy to climb Adam's Peak, supposedly where the view from the peak at dawn is "enough to shock the most cynical agnostic into a state of reverie". And there is supposed to be a huge footprint on top of the 2224m peak which was said to be the place where Adam first set foot on earth after being cast out of heaven while the Buddhists believe it to be the mark of Buddha and the Hindus believe it to be made by Lord Shiva.
It takes about four hours to climb to the top from the town of Dalhousie.
To reach the base of Adam's Peak is simple. If you are making a night ascent to see the sunrise, you have to start at 2am. Buses run to Dalhousie from Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, and Colombo in the pilgrimage season. We were told it's easier to climb it from Nur Eliya so we decided to visit Nur Eliya first.
We took the bus from Kandy to Nur Eliya. This is how the bus station in Kandy looks like - quite confusing!
Kandy to Nur Eliya is 80km apart & an ascent of nearly 1400m. The road zig-zags through tea plantation with lovely scenery like this.
We took a local bus which of course was packed with locals. Whenever the bus called at a stop, the food and drink vendors climbed on board the bus and displayed their merchandise. At one stop, a man came up with his tambourine and he started singing. It was more like a recital of poems. At each phrase, he interrupted it with a tap on his tambourine. He sang behind the tambourine creating a very nice acoustic. After his performance, which lasted about 5 min, he went around & collected money from the bus passengers but not from us tourists. I wondered if he was reciting a song or was he telling his life story.
Snapped these shots on the bus. That picture of the 2 old men sitting by the road, chatting apparently reminded me of the song Iko Iko "My grandma and your grandma sitting by the fire (road side)".
When the bus pulled up by this road side stall selling flowers and fruits, we thought it would be the best photo-opportunity of me. Ha!
NUR ELIYA / NUWARA ELIYA, the City of Light
"Once the favourite hill stations of the British, Nuwara Eliya, still retains the vestiges of Empire: a blend of Tudor and Georgian architecture, gabled roofs, immaculate lawns with rose bushes and moss-covered gravestones."
We stayed in a big colonial house which was converted to a guest house. It felt like it was haunted but fancy at the same. We were curious about the rooms so we asked the receptionist to show us the cheapest room but he showed us a huge room with 2 king size beds instead which of course, wasn't cheap.
When we told him we'll go elsewhere for a cheaper room, he stopped us & told us he's got a cheaper room but smaller. Well, it wasn't small at all. We took it even though we wondered if we'll hear ghostly noises.
There was a golf course, tennis courts, botanic gardens and tea plantations in the surrounding hills.
After 2 days of true relaxation and cool crisp air, we didn't want to wake up at 2 a.m. for a climb to see a sunrise. Besides, we heard from fellow travelers who were "handicapped" for a few days after the climb especially for the unfit like us. The real reason though was, it was going to be New Year's eve the next day and we want to be back with our friends. Yeah, we are softies and we are beach-bums!
In a way, I have not really completed Sri Lanka. There are many religious and historical sites like Sigiriya, the spectacular impregnable rock fortress which is also a monastic retreat, and a rock art gallery. Built in the 5th century AD to fend of a feared invasion, it is situated atop a 200m (656ft) high rock, and at the height of its glory must have been akin to a European chateau plonked on top of Ayers Rock. There are water gardens, 5th century rock paintings of well endowed damsels, a 1000-year-old graffiti wall recording visitors impressions of the pin-ups, a couple of enormous stone lion paws and tremendous views. I guess I'll come back again when the war is over and if I am in the region again.