October 9th – Kataragama

We went into Tissa in the morning so that Tim could arrange a driver for tomorrow to the coast and surfing town of Arugam Bay. In the afternoon, we went by tuk-tuk to the town of Kataragama (½ hour drive) so that we could go to evening devotions at the temple complex, which is one of the 3 most venerated religious sites in Sri Lanka.

Hindu Temlpe

Stupa and Offerings of Candles

Throngs of worshipers of all ages arrived to present offerings , either lotus blossoms or food to the god Kataramagan .

The Stupa (burial monument) at the site is pretty impressive

October 8 Tissa – Yala National Park

Mongoose

Baby Elephant

Spotter Deer

Eagle

We had a day long safari in Yala National Park. It was a 5 AM start with a retired F1 driver! The roads in Sri Lanka are quite good and the drive to the park was on paved roads. The “jeep” we were in was high and narrow and Iwas nervous of some of the tight corners. As we neared the park we joined the convoy of safari jeeps and we were not out of place. After we entered the park the roads were sand/ gravel, but there was a speed bump every 500 meters. They don't fool around with speed bumps here – we crawled over every bump at 5kph. This is why there was no road kill in the park. Our driver, Jagath. had promised we would see all the animals in the park. We didn't see the leopards but we did see the rest. I was surprised by the variety and the accessibility. We were not allowed out of the truck, but the animals seemed quite comfortable being watched by a truckload of tourists. Some were shyer than others but we saw plenty of animals. When we stopped for lunch the driver served us rice and curry followed by a siesta in the heat of the day. We napped for about 2 hours and than back on the road again. Riding along bumpy roads hanging on for dear life was more tiring that I expected and by 3 pm both Joan and I were tired, so we did one last sweep for the leopard and headed home. Just before the gates we came across a water hole with over 30 animals of various kinds having their afternoon water break. It was an impressive goodbye.

October 7 Matara to Tissa

We rented a car (which turned out to be a van) with driver to take us to our next destination. We drove along the coast for the first half and stopped at a major town to visit the harbour.

Hambantota Harbour

Iguana in Bird Sanctuary

The second half was inland. but when we asked the driver he detoured through a bird sanctuary. Although it was midday the birds were plentiful and the stops were often. The road was bad, but the driver must have enjoyed it because he was taking pictures on his iPad. When we arrived at the hotel we jumped into the pool. The weather in Sri Lanka is hot and humid, 30 C and 85% every day.

October 6 Blow Hole and Mulkirigala Rock Temple

Joan on the way up

Reclining Buddha Cave

Today we visited 2 attractions in the area. The blow hole was nice but not impressive. The ocean waves are crashing all along the coast and the blow hole just didn't have the volume. Then we drove to the Rock temple. The temple consists of several caves with reclining Buddha's in them The walls and ceilings are decorated with paintings but the rooms look all the same after the third cave. But the temple is ascended by multiple staircases. In some cases the stairs are carved out of the rock itself. We went up 654 steps and at the top we received a blessing from the resident monk. Then he showed us the path to the lookout. The view was incredible, It was made more impressive due to the lack of signage or safety features and a strong wind. The closer you got to the edge the more you saw. We enjoyed the view from a safe distance.

At the top of the Rock Temple

October 5 Matara

Buddha

We had engaged a Tuk-Tuk for the whole day. We did some shopping in the morning and then visited our first temple. The temple had the history of Buddha's 550 previous lives in paintings on the walls of several tunnels. Our guide was smart enough to condense his narrative down to 3 lives, the last one being the one we know. The temple is famous for it's 34 meter high Buddha.

Matara beach and temple

The area we are in is a hot surfing spot during November to March. In October it is empty because the waves are too choppy. After lunch we walked the beach in Matara and then took a small bridge to an island temple. The waves were fierce and the sound of the surf is like airplanes going over all day long. I took a lot of wave pictures. We wanted to watch the sunset from the most southerly point in Sri Lanka so we got there at five and climbed the 220 steps of the lighthouse to the top. We could walk all around the lighthouse on the outside. The sun set at 5:58 but the clouds were too thick for good pictures. The climb down was an experience. The lighthouse wasn't closed but there were no lights on the stairs. I just happened to have 2 flashlights in my photo kit.

October 4

We took the train from Columbo to Matara. The train runs along the Indian ocean coast the whole way. It is a 4 hour journey that started off with us standing in the aisle for the first hour. It was a old train with no air-conditioning so the windows were wide open. But I couldn't take pictures while I was bouncing around. Then the commuters started getting off and we could sit down. Unfortunately I fell asleep immediately,

2nd and 3rd October 2015 

  

Having arrived at our hotel room about 6 a.m and having gone straight to bed., we only woke up at 3 in the afternoon. We walked into the town of Negumbo and went to the ocean beach. That is where we first saw the type of fishing boat in the above picture.We were told about a fish market nearby where we might see a lot of these boats, So, the next morning we got up at 5a,m, to go to the market to see the boats and the market in action. The market was really busy with half of it for big fish (marlin,tuna etc.) and the other for prawns ,squid and countless others unknown to us. It was very interesting. We later saw many of the unique fishing boats coming in with their catch.

We also watched the fish processing later that day. Some of the smaller fish are unloaded and cleaned on the beach where they land. Then they are packed in brine for 2 – 4 days. Then they are washed and laid out to dry in the sun for three days. After that they can be kept unrefrigerated for up to 6 months.

2 October, 2015

Day 1 and we have survived multiple crises already.  We flew from Montreal on September 30^th and arrived in Doha Oct 1^st at 5:00 PM. As we prepared to leave the plane Joan discovered her wallet was missing. She had used it in Montreal airport to buy a newspaper. Sure enough it was not in either of our bags or her purse. Before we left the plane we waited till everyone had left and did a thorough search of the area. Joan found it wedged between the seat and airplane sidewall – thank goodness. One disaster averted! The second leg was from Doha to Columbo – the capital of Sri Lanka, We got off the plane in Columbo after traveling for 20 hours. We needed to get Sri Lankan rupees, so I left Joan with the luggage and found an ATM machine. I got my money and then we arranged a taxi ride to our lodging. I should have know that I was experiencing jet lag when the taxi driver told me I had negotiated a 30 dollar taxi ride up to 100 dollars (not 10 like I was thinking) I got the ride for $20 in the end, but when we arrived at our hotel I was missing my packsack witch had all my camera gear in it, We checked the car twice over and the driver phoned back to the airport - but no trace of my bag. The driver drove me back to the airport and I found my backpack sitting on the chair where I had left it.

Thank God Sri Lankans are honest!

I had the window seat when we flew over the Sinai Peninsula, Gaza and Saudi Arabia. I was amazed by the vastness of desert we flew over – hours and hours of flying, seeing no trees,no water, no towns.

It was fascinating .

Joan