Greetings from Sri Lanka in 2003,

We finally left for our long-awaited holiday on the 15th May, across to Sri Lanka. Why is there always last-minute hassles, as my Australian passport needed to be renewed and even though I started this over a month in advance, due to one thing and another it only arrived back in Chennai on the Tuesday evening, for the Thursday flight! It had my Chennai visa in, so the New Zealand passport could not be used for this. Most other things were completed in time, the traveller cheques by Saturday, also after some last-minute running around, but the driver’s license completion had to be left until our return. Anyway, across to Sri Lanka to spend three weeks having a look around the island, plus also getting some well-earned rest. Marg and I are not group travellers, preferring to do things in our own time and to go where we want to go, instead of where we are told to go, so we had a car and driver arranged, the stops all worked out with the hotels booked and after three days looking around Colombo we were away. We had been once before to Sri Lanka, but apart from Colombo and Kandi, and Marg was also not well, we had not seen much. This time we went up the west coast to Puttalam and then straight across to Anuradhapura where we spent a couple of days looking around the first capital city from the time of the Romans and Christ. A massive place with large man-made lakes scattered around and apparently supporting a population of around 25 million in those times, plus were also self-sufficient! More of each of the places will be written about when we get the Sri Lanka web pages posted. Next, across the old front line between the Tamils and the Government on a very broken road to Trincomalee on the east coast, but the scenery was superb and well worth the trip across. Trincomalee has one of the best natural harbours in the world, miles of beaches, two hotels, still some incidents with the Tamils and not much else. The potential here is great if you are prepared to wait. Had a couple of dives here, but really nothing to talk about. Down to Polonnaruwa next for the second ancient city, not as big as Anuradhapura but more complete, as it was not abandoned quite so long ago. Why all this moving around? Because the people (Cholas) from South India used to keep invading and each time the Singhalese (north India/ Aryan people) got too brassed off with this, they up and moved their capital! There were also a couple of smaller capital sites, but they were not lived in for long and have no great value about them. It is also just as well that India got out of the habit of invading other countries!

We also went through Sigiriya, a fortress on top of a 220-meter rock that was very impressive, and of course I have to get to the top of it. Mind you, even I was shaky on some parts of it, especially when you are up 180 meters in the air and appear to be balancing on a 12-inch length of iron drilled into the wall with a shear drop down beside you! Some great photos from all these parts, plus it also has the murals on the wall of which one is shown on the upper right. More will be shown on the Sri Lankan pages. Polonnaruwa was next and this was the second major ancient Capital city of the Singhalese people, with the ruins here much more intact but not so extensive as Anaradhapura. Around this area is also some of the national parks, so while we did not see herds of wild elephants, this is a major tourist attraction in this area to do safari trips into the jungle. We did see plenty of birds and other wildlife though and some tremendous scenery was all around us. After a couple of days here staying in the worst hotel of the trip we ventured forth down to Kandi, the capital of the last King of Sri Lanka before the British deposed him in 1815. It was this King that created the lake here and afterwards the British who came here and built their retreat houses from the heat of Colombo. The Temple of the Tooth is also located here, the most important relic of the island, which is brought out once a year on a major procession and celebration. We actually saw the casket of the Tooth when it visited Burma about 8 years ago and so had a lot closer look at it than you can now in the actual temple. Now it is enclosed within caskets within caskets within rooms etc, so no viewing is possible. After three days here it was down to the tea country at Nuwara Eliya for quick night’s stay before heading back to Colombo for a few days business. Very productive and caught up with a lost friend there.

We cannot go on a trip like this for three weeks without at last a few days rest on the beach. If left to my own devices, I would troupe around at full steam for the whole three weeks and end up at the end of the holiday probably more tired than when I started, so Marg is the brake here and the voice of reason to take a few days’ rest. We ventured down to Unawatuna and had a few days here, taking in a trip further along the coast and seeing Galle and the Dutch fort here. Very nice and relaxing, but no diving as the sea was too rough, even though the weather was quite fine. Back to Colombo to the famous Mount Lavina hotel and then back to Chennai, where as soon as we were out of the terminal, getting hit by a wave of 42-degree heat! Over all a very pleasant trip and well worth taking, we saw a good part of the island plus had eight hours or more sleep a night! Now that we are back it is taking the body time to acclimatize once more to the pollution levels here (sore throats etc) plus also getting re-used to the heat! Funny how just three weeks away can make your body forget! This is really a quick trip summary and more details will be filled in on the Sri Lanka pages that I am starting to develop. I will not bore you with the whole 420 photographs we took, but hope to have a good selection for viewing. If you want a recommendation to visit Sri Lanka, both Marg and I would certainly encourage you to go there and have a look around. It is a great place!

Until next month from me…..