You know the moment you start planning a trip and you see tons of photos of your destination, and there are around 2 or 3 that you see and then tell yourself, “I have to see that”. Well the photo above, was exactly that for me. For almost a month, I spent my little spare time between work and life, researching what we should see in Sri Lanka; above all, I just had to see for myself Sinhalese men using their ancient fishing technique at the Indian ocean’s shore of Koggala. It was a must. And therefore, one afternoon, towards the end of our tour around Sri Lanka, we rented a scooter and skimmed the shoreline roads between Hikkaduwa and Koggala looking for my fisherman. And at just before sunset, we got to see them sitting on their sturdy sea-faring sticks, dipping their old cane poles and coming out with money in the form of little sardines. At this moment, I felt achievement, happiness, and curiosity for all the other sights we will soon see. It’s these moments that are the reward for pushing boundaries, for being a traveler, for being who I am.
Tag: sri lanka
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A kind soul named John
In total, we stayed in Sri Lanka for close to a month. Our days were filled with so much natural beauty. Just as important, if not more, we also experienced so much kindness. Though we met so many nice people with friendly faces and hearts along the way, the caretaker of Dinaka Rest in Kataragama, MR. JOHN (the man on the right) was for me the kindest soul I had met in Sri Lanka. On the night of our arrival in Kataragama, traveling and experiencing new food and a new diet got the best of me. For a total of 12 hours, I basically puked my guts up. But, I couldn’t have been in better hands. Not, only did I have my husband by my side, who is always helpful and caring, I also had Mr. John. Being in just s small village, knowing where and what medicines to get was not easy for Rob. And therefore, with a caring hand, John did his best to help me in every which way, from going to get me medicine, to serving simple foods and honestly just being thoughtful. After 2 days of rest, I was finally better. As if he hadn’t already been so kind, John took care of us in so many other ways. John was like our Sinhalese grandfather, offering stories, simplicities, lessons, and standing up for us when our Safari driver did us wrong. He gave us a free night stay, saying we must stay more days since I was sick and did not get to see what we intended; he made delicious meals to both mine and Rob’s needs; he took us to the bus station, making sure we got on the right bus to Unawatuna, and even paid for the tickets. At every chance, we tried to interrupt, saying, “John, please, it’s too much. You don’t need to do that.” But, he was insistent, and all we could do was smile and feel blessed. Though sometimes the language barrier was present, the understanding between the three of us was so dear and something I will never forget. Thank you John and we hope to see you again some day.
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Kandy, Sri Lanka
From Anuradhapura we traveled south to Habarana town (stayed 1 day) and then again south to Kandy. Along this trip, we saw the environment and scenery drift from small hills and jungle to mountainous terrain. Kandy, for us, was absolutely stunning.
While in Kandy, we imagined that we would have the chance to do some mountain biking, but unfortunately could not find any sources. So, instead, we made day adventures in the city, which definitely worked out in our favor. We stumbled upon a man who offered us tickets to a Sinhalese Dance performance, land monitors, yummy food and the above cemetery. Offically, it is the British Garrison of Kandy. If you can, please read the BBC article link below. From my side, the cemetary was a treasure and the caretaker, Charles, was an master at story telling, unfolding the dramatic endings of both British men, women and children who made their way to Kandy during the British Colonial Era.
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Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka
After a 2 day stay in Negombo and another 2 days stay in Kalpitiya, Anuradhapura was the next stop. Anuradhapura is one of the ancient capitals of Sri Lanka, famous for its well-preserved ruins of ancient Sri Lankan civilization the preservation and continuation of Theraveda Buddhism. The ancient city, considered sacred to the Buddhist world, is today surrounded by monasteries covering an area of over sixteen square miles (40 km²).
But again, being on a backpackers budget, we opted out for the UNESCO tickets and decided to find bird’s eyes views of the Dagobas inside the ancient city. So, with our backpack packed full of the tourist reg (water, camera, books and money) we headed to the watersheds (an impressive engineering feat themselves), which with their height above ground, we could use as a viewing point. From there, we traveled on to see the laying Buddha, Ruwanwelisseya Dagoba, the Rock Temple, and the sacred Bodhi Tree (where we recieved our first Buddhist Blessing of the trip). By this time, it was getting later in the day, but earlier, we had passed by a huge Buddha statue, which we thought would be worth a see. So, thinking it was our last stop, we headed for the statue, only to find ourselves in the middle of a monastery. And as we entered through the gates, we were waved over by a monk with a big smile, asking us to come into his classroom filled with his students. The kindness we experienced in the next two hours and again later in that evening is something we will never forget. We spent hours talkng about the English Language, Buddhism, the circle of life, finding faces whom you are sure you have met in another life, and visiting one of the monk’s temples late into the evening with a cup of soup, tea, and a big smile; feeling absolutely sure that at this moment in time our lives were blessed.
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Negombo, Sri Lanka
After around a 4 hour flight of so from Dubai, we reached Colombo at 3 am. Thankfully, I had arranged before hand with our hostel to pick us up. So, upon our sleepy arrival, a man named Ali was waiting for us to take us to our guest-house for the night. I had listened to all the advice colomns on Sri Lanka and decided that we would forgoe staying in Colombo, opting to move straight onto Negombo. By around 4 am, we had offically arrived at Fire Dragon Guest House, where the friendly owner Hassan kindly awoke from his sleep to welcome us and show us to our room and a few of the ammenities. After traveling for like 2 days (because of our cheap flights), we ended up sleeping pretty late. But, we did get up in time to still go see Negombo. With the excitement of our new adventure at shore, we rented bikes and headed out for a day tour- seeing for ourselves what Negombo was all about.
At first sight, we could tell how arresting Sri Lanka was going to be. By bike, we saw small street vendors, jungly canals, trash burning, art in forms of women’s fashion, sarongs for men, lottery tunes, fish markets, trading, coconut water for sale, stray dogs and cats in the masses, and seriously everyone we encountered saying a genuine hello.
Sri Lanka, I felt, was going to show us who she was, as long as we were ready to take the plunge.
Allison A Janssen 