That's what work called the trip they organised for me through Austria and Germany exposing me to a new side of Europe (new for me at least) - visiting former Nazi Concentration Camps and Soviet Special Camps, alongside various memorials and peace centres. This took place over the past two weeks after my trip home for Mum's 60th which, as you can see from the photos on Flicr, was a fantastic day (http://www.flickr.com/photos/fayenightingale/). The UK was full of stunning autumn fair - juicy red and crispy golden leaves dropping like flies in the wind and rain (though there were some sunny days too!). I squeezed in a trip to London renewing my love of the city and having some well overdue catch ups with folk, also some nice country pubs and walks with Mum and a decent time with Dad who was over from Canada. Loved meeting my little niece Millie sleeping like her father at 3 months old, and Oscar is growing fast and cheekier than ever! Sadly work pressures took precious time away from them all too.
During my usual flying visit home where I continued to struggle with work, paperwork and trying to get to see people, there was a lot of criticism that I'd not written anything on the blog for a while. So here it is, rushed on my first day back in SL before I head into work mania.
After leaving the UK with the usual teary farewell my first port of call was Austria, and as I arrived in Vienna I realised it had been quite some time since I had experienced winter. The cold went through all my layers of clothing and I was pleased to arrive at midnight in my cosy warm hotel room, deposited there by a stereotypical old European taxi driver in his jumper and trousers, less typically listening to a neon blue stereo in his old Merc. Perhaps he wasn't a cabbie at all just enjoyed taking foreigners to their destination?
Vienna was what I expected - elegant old buildings with culture and gold brocade, schnitzel and wine. The first of my 'exposure's was to a castle about 1.5 hours out of Vienna - a well known centre for Peace Studies and also a Peace Museum which I didn't actually find that impressive. The journey put the UK autumn to shame as the hilly horizon was completely dappled with colour in the trees. This on the way back however, with an elderly version of Schumacher behind the wheel, was more like a speeding kaleidoscope of landscape - somewhat nauseating on twisty roads! This short trip ended with the sleeper train to WeimarGermany, via Dresden at 6.30am on a head screamingly cold morning. Weimar - a very interesting town of arts and culture, celebrating Goethe and Schiller, music and architecture, history and beauty, and also Hitler.
On arrival in Weimar, after a hearty German breakfast it was off to the local Concentration Camp - quite a way to be introduced to Germany! This part of Germany has fascinating and frightening history and is so complex I don't know how they have managed to deal with it, but I think they've done a good job. The camp was one of the most well known of the Nazi regime - a camp where the prisoners were worked to death. Buchenwald shamed me due to my serious lack of knowledge about WWII history and the atrocities Europe suffered under the Nazi regime. Only recently through BBC, Channel 4 and cinema have I learnt about the early years and last days of Hitler, the Wannsee Conference, and the division of Berlin with the allies and Soviets (even more ashamedly this was through a George Clooney movie!!). Film and TV rather than UK education gave me glimpses of the history but the reality is quite shocking.
I fittingly arrived at Buchenwald on a FREEZING cold day, you could smell the fallen leaves before your nose froze and became a constant drip - so it was like this with shoulders hunched and hands in pockets that I was guided through some of Europe's darkest history with a very knowledgeable and helpful colleague, Stephanie. I looked through the familiar entrance of the camp from all those WWII films - the rectangle with the small arch in its centre and metal gates that led to a bleak empty space open to all the elements - severe cold winds on open land where the prisoners had to stand still for hours for punishing 'roll call'. The camp (built by inmates) was calculatingly cruel set on a mountainside with stunning scenery in the distance but severe weather in both winter and summer with all the trees cut to prevent any form of shelter. A peaceful place for the locals for a Sunday walk, and a place of horror for those that had to endure the conditions living outdoors in freezing or soaring temperatures. It was a living nightmare for Jews, Roma, Sinti, political prisoners, men, women, and children who were brought to the camp to work to death. Too many atrocities to write about and a place not only used by the Nazis but then used to house prisoners by the Soviets in their 'special camps' which also housed political prisoners as well as those that used to be part of the Nazi regime. A terrible complication and contradiction of horrors. The Nazi's were so calculating that they documented every minute detail so there are photos, stories, documents, and footage of the camp and what went on there. Many of these are put together in a museum on the site - you need to visit to really understand.
Weimar is a beautiful town with nice bars and restaurants and an arty student culture so if you're prepared for an extreme contradiction of experiences then I'd recommend the trip. After that a brief stop off in Frankfurt - a lovely city with the river running through it where you find good museums and restaurants, and where I found my Sri Lankan colleague Sulochana. The two of us then travelled to Berlin - a great, complex, and buzzing city!
Arrived in the over budgeted, enormously impressive glass train station. It may have cost a little more than it should be it's certainly a good way to arrive in Berlin. We were privileged to be escorted through the city by a Professor of Political History, who also had a very interesting East / West history of his own and has just received a medal of honour but for now we'll stick with Berlin's past. It has an immense history. For us though we were there to concentrate on the history of the city in conjunction with Hitler, evacuation and murder of Jews, Roma, Sinti, anyone sick, disabled or not having an appearance that the Nazis favoured.
Then after the history of the war we turned to the Soviets, then the GDR (those that ruled East Germany to you and I), East and West Berlin, and the Wall. The Wall prominent in history and a thing I remember well from my childhood watching escape attempts on TV and watching the euphoria as the wall came down in November 1989. The Wall is dominant still by it's constant presence either in the form of double-cobbled lines (similar to double-yellow lines, but made of cobbled stone - like a long equals sign winding through the city streets), or still standing in places, and if not standing fixed on walls for memorial such as at Check Point Charlie - a place depicting a history of desperation and escape attempts to get from East to West.
The city is full of memorials of all shapes and sizes for victims of many faceted conflicts - it's confusing, fascinating, saddening and buzzing. Not only are people clearly interested in their history and how to come to terms with their pasts they are also making the most of the unified and vibrant city of Berlin. East seems to be the coolest, with a lot of history and many restored old buildings - it’s a dynamic mix of old and new. You drive through this huge city taking in buildings that survived the war, alongside prefab buildings built in GDR times, and many places of culture such as opera houses, concert halls, museums - all are full of life. It is a city with two centres both of which I went to, though from what I saw East was best. I enjoyed Indian, German, Turkish and Egyptian food, many a glass of warming red wine plus some very decent cups of coffee.
Accommodation is pretty cheap too, though book in advance as the city is so popular hotels are getting booked out. I stayed in a cool apartment hotel in East Berlin. If I had had the one bed apartment to myself it would have been luxury - huge room, huge bed, little kitchen, big bathroom with bathtub long enough for tallies and an excellent shower, and to top all that there was a balcony with comfy chairs which was enclosed so no need to endure the cold. In the end, I had to share my hotel room of luxury with my colleague as her trip had been last minute and there were no other rooms in the hotel or 2 bedroom apartments. It was great that she could join me on such a useful trip, but for my fiercely independent self needing all the space in the world I found it hard to have to share a room. It was like going back to school! It also meant a week of heavy snoring, followed by 5.00am phone calls to Sri Lanka - and a v tired and irritable Faye. One night I even resorted to sleeping on the balcony for at least some kip. Sadly she had to endure with my intolerance but I think at the end of the day we had a good trip!
Berlin was a place where I felt safe, relaxed and inquisitive and where the people were friendly and interested. Everything and everyone seemed to tell a story - from professors, to buildings, to memorials, to double-cobbled stones, and to the techno DJ who drove us to the airport on a crisp Sunday morning. We headed back to Sri Lanka full of Europe's history and German food. Berlin is certainly a place I would like to return to.
Europe Exposure
A Week Back in Chaos and Unpredictability!
OK so it was only a 3 week trip away but there are things you simply forget about living in the third world tropics after a luxury trip to the gourmet world of Oz. To top that when we arrived in Singapore on our return home we discovered our flight to SL had been cancelled - due to the antics of the LTTE and SL government the airport in Colombo now only operates in day light. So we were put up in one of the stunning Shangri-La hotels – big comfy firm bed with soft white sheets and duvet, and an endless buffet of foods from everywhere including a chocolate fountain to have on your ice cream. So we weren’t complaining about an extra night in somewhere still nice and hot but oh so organised and different! Then it was back to swollen feet, sweatiness and heat, and living in the 1950s!
Wednesday
Board our flight to Colombo, a packed plane full of smiling Sri Lankan faces (I suspect they had also all been put up in luxury hotels for the night). Endure a not so great plane meal, and a fast and furious landing at Colombo airport. I think they were probably more scared of the sporadic anti aircraft fire from the less well trained trigger-happy SL army as much as any attack from the LTTE.
After a strangely efficient journey through immigration and customs we were greeted by the grinning face of our driver Udara, looking well and wearing one of his navy blue England tops. As we packed our bags into the van we agreed we had obviously got used to the cold in Oz as we were sweating away in the ever so humid air, lungs finding it hard to breath. Our journey home was easier than usual as today was a SL holiday so very little traffic on the road and a lovely sunny day to appreciate the beauty and chaos of the island – rough blue sea, groups of people dotting the road enjoying their rare day off.
The holiday is Vesak Poya – 2 days off work and drink to mark the birth, enlightenment and passing away of Buddha (though the SL government had gone a little too far this time and ordered the hotels, bars and wine shops (off licences or bottle shops to you and I) to serve no booze for a whole week!). Vesak Poya is celebrated as a festival of light with beautiful lanterns suspended from porches, trees, telegraph poles, tuktuk mirrors, and the like, plus lovely simple strings of bulbs lining streets and houses. There are also other odd contraptions of light, strange shapes like synthetic tumbleweeds on sticks - lights with white stems and red tips lining the road of one village we zoomed through.
Back at the ranch with no idea what to expect (we’d had visions of squirrels multiplying and fighting the spiders, ants, cockroaches and frogs for best position in the house) we peeked through the door opening it a crack, getting prepared for shock, but all seemed fine. Our landlord had been in and given the place a sweep; sadly he’d also removed the knicker-clad squirrel nest to reveal a half eaten Buddha statue – oops! The only addition to the wildlife seemed to be lots of black baby frogs hopping around the front and back doors no bigger than a baby’s shoe lace knot. After a 2 hour clean, an early dinner at the spaghetti place, and bumping into a lot of people we knew we felt back at home.
Thursday
3.14am and I awake to flashes of lightening outside the window and dash next door to unplug our recharging laptops, it’s amazing the things you forget – living in the tropics you should never leave anything plugged in that is likely to get zapped. The storm continues for the rest of the night rumbling on until I give in and get up at 7am to work on my (battery powered) laptop and finish writing my CV. As I sit the sky gets darker and darker as though someone is pulling a blackout curtain over the house, and the rain increases so heavily that we have little streams and waterfalls running through the garden. In true monsoon style the lightening is most spectacular continually flashing in the sky and the deafening claps of thunder send me scurrying back to the safety of the bed. Imagine a car driving through an empty underground car park and the noise of it driving over rattling grids and manholes, multiply this noise by about 1000 and that’s how the thunder sounds – incredible crashes which shake the house and shake my nerves.
By 9am the garden is so flooded it’s not possible to walk across, the bank at the back is having mini mud slides, and the paddy field we overlook has become a lake – suddenly we have luxury accommodation overlooking a lake! However, not so luxurious is the drive, now a river which we have to wade through to get out – it comes up over our ankles as we paddle through trying to avoid any floating snakes on our way. There was no point trying to swim to work so this was a good day for unpacking and getting sorted. A lot of the day was spent marvelling at our 8 bottles of Aussie wine all safely brought back wrapped in skirts, jeans and jackets in our luggage, now taking top spot in the fridge. This is all pretty much done in the dark as we have no power until 3.30pm and the storm continues ALL DAY!
At night we get our friendly local tuktuk driver – Kosala – to take us to Asanka’s family’s house in a beautiful little village called Berutuduwa 4km inland from Seenigama, not that we could see much travelling through villages in total blackness as all the power had gone. Asanka’s house is lit with candles and we are the first to arrive – quite a few people are lost due to the lack of lights anywhere, the Aussie volunteers are awaiting a flat tyre repair with their tuktuk, and others can’t get here because there is no power at the petrol station for them to get fuel. Sri Lanka!! We had a lovely evening with delicious food and a chance to catch up on work and life in Seenigama/Hikkaduwa.
The biggest bombshell is that I discover I’ve written myself out of my job – oops! Last December I wrote 4 proposals for volunteer assignments to the Foundation one of them covering most of my job. This was to give myself a push to move on. The aussies that applied found my job one of the most interesting so we have a new girl starting here in July to do sports. Now I need a job, preferably in an NGO in SL but I’m open to ideas and options!
Friday
3am I awake to a huge bang and forks of lightening filling the sky, another spectacular and scary storm outside and another sleepless night! I get up at 7 to complete darkness and flooding in the garden again. As I sit on the loo I look to the left of me and there is our resident frog in his spot on the loo-brush looking up at me. The bathroom is his territory and he wasn’t terribly fazed when I cleaned the room on Wednesday, just hopped out of the way of the mop. I wonder what he thinks of us coming and going, he’s had 3 weeks of not having the door opened for him and I guess now we are back there will be plenty more insects for him to munch as we seem to attract the mossies to the house.
At 9.30 Priyantha arrives to take me to work, his tuktuk in tact after almost floating us back to the house last night. The road outside work is completely flooded and there is no power. Everyone is a little disheartened about everything from the work they are being made to do to the weather and I wonder what I’m doing back and also how I can help them move out of it all. Depressed by my lack of ability to offer them fruit picking jobs in the UK I decide to leave early and head home at 3 to get some writing done and chat to Bron about my lack of job after July and what we should do. No conclusions made.
The rain stops to allow us to head to Harmony for dinner, we decide we will cook at home tomorrow night! Hikkaduwa out of season can be a little dead; there are apparently 10 tourists in town and only a few of us whities still working as volunteers. We head home for an early night, wade through the drive and flop into bed still on Australia time hoping for no storms and a good night’s sleep.
Saturday
I awake at 7am, no storms, no rain, and sunshine! The birds are happy, back in the garden making a racket and picking at all the things brought about by the rain. This includes endless mangoes - our trees are raining mangoes as steady thumps land on the ground ready for a delicious mango smoothy in a few days time. Bron is happy as he’s back to photographing all the birds (ones with wings) and is pleased with the electric blue kingfisher posing outside the window for endless shots to be taken of it. We discover our squirrel has returned – at night it had obviously been checking out the now vacant space where its nest once was feeling miffed with our landlord and wondering if it could build again. The floor below the Buddha shrine was scattered with statue debris - small white bits of plaster, and the drying sheet (draped over the chair by the book case leading up to the statue) had tell tale little squirrel footprints on it.
Clearly a day of wildlife, and not all nice – getting back into my toy washing machine routine I take the powder box down from the kitchen shelf and as I pull the bag of powder out of the box a weighty black spider emerges, crawls across my hand and over the table cloth which is bright yellow further highlighting the ugliness of the creature. My screams bring Bron running with the broom and the landlord running to the house looking very pale and concerned. Sri Lankans rightfully will never understand the western phobia of spiders, he walks away head in hands wondering just who he lets his house to!! He thought I’d electrocuted myself!
The day improved after that, we went to our luxury retreat of the Lighthouse Hotel to start our fitness campaign which is basically to get fit again and stop walking around like old people. Feeling energised after 2½ hours there we braved a trek around Galle town to get food for the house and a blind tuktuk driver to take us home. We had a text from Bron’s friend Colin, currently in Thailand but lives in Scotland, to say he’s arriving tomorrow morning. So after organising Udara to pick him up at 5am we tucked into a delicious meal and one of our sacred bottles of aussie red wine – a delicious Pikes Eastern Shiraz. Wonderful….
Sunday
I get up at 7am to get the house a little more ship-shape for Colin’s arrival including cleaning his room, ridding it of the dead cockroach we killed last night, and making up the beds. The squirrel has been using the room as its main route into the house climbing through the bitten mesh in the top left corner of the window, so there was yet more squirrel debris to deal with. Bron emerged about 5 minutes before Colin arrived, clearly suffering from that extra glass of wine. Colin thought Udara was a mad driver (although he’s the safest we know!) so was a little shocked after his drive down – and this was a Sunday at 6am with no traffic, he’d have had his eyes closed all the way if it had been a week day!
After filling Colin in on the wildlife and scaring him about snakes, spiders and squirrels we headed off to trusty Buddes - the best spot on the beach for breakfast, before having a quiet afternoon in the house, and later an overly expensive dinner. This was due to the fact that all the places we eat in have closed for the season and only a few restaurants are open, the one we chose was the Moon Beam Hotel that thinks it’s in the heart of Colombo with its pricing – we won’t be back.
When we returned there was an enormous spider taking prime spot on the bathroom sink, as if there to prove to Colin that such horrors exist in our little jungle house. The boys bravely tackled it with a broom and a bottle of Baygon, leaving the bathroom door closed for the spider to shrivel and die while they could have a much deserved Bacardi and Coke. Colin did the honourable and flushed the monster down the loo. However, when Bron went in next it was déjà vu and another dead spider’s body had replaced the first, even bigger and uglier – we’ obviously killed a copulating couple, or killed the male before the female managed to eat it. Nice habit some of these monsters have?!
Monday
Back to work, and boy was it back to work with a bang! One of the aussie volunteers, Zac, has decided he’s had enough or working at FOG mainly due to the organisational structure being so far removed from how he believes an NGO should function. He cannot cope with the top down structure and thinks that the Foundation will be very hard to sustain without total inclusion and backing of the community. He has many valid points and is brave to head off to somewhere new. He’s done some fantastic work here and wherever he moves on will be lucky to have him. We also had some UK trainers pull out – they were going to do some much needed team building workshops for the staff but after meeting with the head of the NGO, who basically told them the staff would forget the training in a week so it was a waste of time, they justifiably rang me to explain they were not prepared to go ahead with it. BBC Leadership programme coordinators would tremble in their boots at the way the Foundation is managed – top down without the understanding of the huge benefits of training. Hey ho! I also discover my guys are thoroughly pissed off as they been having to do menial work while I’ve been away (this always seems to happen when I go away) so sport needs a kick up the arse again to get them back doing what they should be doing – coaching the kids and organising competitions rather than buying food and drinks and serving at FOG functions.
We all went out for dinner with Zac to support him – a difficult day with staff crying, people threatening to leave, and Zac having to hold it together for them all. Again most of Hikkaduwa was closed, probably giving Zac a further reason to move to Colombo and escape a dead town!
Tuesday
Back to buses. Time to stop the luxury of getting tuktuks to work so back to standing in 35 degree heat waiting for the bus with everyone else. Always something I dread, but once on the bus it’s a lovely trip to work through the town then along the coast and then always someone asking me questions as I walk with them from the Seenigama stop down to work: “Are you married? how long will you be here? how many family members do you have? what is your country? Sri Lanka good country.. good people.” - pretty much the same every day. Work is bloody hot and like a building site with builders everywhere, scaffold platforms moving constantly and you have to be careful not to walk into a plank or a SL builder’s crotch as Ynys nearly did when she walked out of my office (which since she walked in had been blocked off by said mini scaffold platform and one of the plasterers). They are frantically trying to finish the centre before 1st June – the dust gathers on my computer and I’m sitting hoping I’m not going to be coming down with something asbestos related! I get a lot done and then come home on the bus again after an encounter with a very happy village dog that usually follows me to the bus stop and is clearly very pleased to have me back to continue this routine. Back to total darkness in the house, no power for no reason so it’s out with the candles and off to the fridge to grab a Bacardi and coke as there’s not much else I can get done in the dark! Bron and Colin have been touring the coast in a tuktuk travelling to the stunning coastal villages of Weligama, Marissa and Unawatuna.
A wedding invite arrived from a good friend in the UK today tempting me back in June and back to a world so far removed from this one. 2 very different lands that I love for very different reasons. Well if I can find a cheap flight I’ll be back, if not it’ll be end of September.
The above is my first week back and as you can see no day is the same and these are just some of the things I can remember, a lot has been missed out! Off for a cold shower and a night out in Hikkaduwa town – it can’t get more exciting than that!!!
The Wonderful Wines of Oz
Life in Sri Lanka is somewhat intense and without a real break for almost a year it was time to escape the chaos and have a rest, lose the wrinkles and enjoy somewhere a little less hectic by heading to my great aunt’s place in Adelaide. The journey took us through Singapore for a 16 hour stopover. 6 hours kip at the airport hotel in a bed which was long enough to fit my legs in was the start of 3 weeks of luxury. We’d only just managed to leave SL as the staff in the airport didn’t understand e-tickets and were mightily confused, we wondered if we’d be carted off by the ever growing military presence to be questioned about these 21st century means of travel, but one member of staff saved the day and we happily boarded our flight. When we arrived in Singapore we found out SL hadn’t actually activated our tickets (effectively we were still in Colombo) but a v friendly and helpful efficient Chinese lady sorted us out.
What a different world we had landed in – there were no toilet attendants trying to get money off us, the roads were bliss after the madness of SL drivers, and everywhere was so bloody efficient from checking in at the airport hotel, to getting the bus into town, to being offered genuine and useful help in the shops and cafes. All-in-all it was clean, safe, no touts or beggars treating us as walking wallets, shops had wearable clothes in them, cafes had drinkable coffee and wonderful chocolate brownies – the waft of chocolate reaching my deprived nose as the server lifted the lid off the brownie container was heavenly. We even saw a sign by one of the slip roads in the street reading “Beware, Vehicles Crossing” which we thought hilarious, though I’m sure no-one understood what we were laughing at and probably many crossed the street to avoid us!
We landed in Oz on Easter Monday delighted to arrive on a sunny autumn day, collected by Sue, greeted by 2 happy dogs at the house and spoilt by a wonderful meal of roast lamb to start us off on food we had badly missed. The first week was spent catching up on sleep and chilling out. Sue’s place is on the beach, a stunning setting and all the more as they were having an unusual hot spell. The water was clear powder blue with dolphins nosing along as they cut through the water - what luxury to be able to watch all this from Sue’s deck either with early (?) morning coffee in hand or sunset glass of wine. It was also fantastic to be able to cook again and many evenings were spent preparing some lovely meals with some even more lovely wines to accompany them. We also managed to make it up to the farm in Willunga for a night where Bron got his first sighting of Kangaroos and aussie snakes and the beautiful landscape of gum trees and scrub. Although it was all looking grey with lack of water – there has been a drought for months threatening farming and wineries amongst other things, a terrible time for the aussies.
One thing about living in 1950s third world SL is that you really are out of touch with most things that go on in the world and this may not always be such a bad thing. Watching the news again we discover that George Bush is being even more of a twat than usual, Tony Blair has lost his marbles and his party, the middle east is getting worse, and the Russians are so pissed off with the US that it could be back to the Cold War again. Aside from the news we wondered whether we had arrived in the 1980s due to the awful, ill-fitting, stupid looking clothes people seem to be wearing again. Sorry if this offends you fashion conscious types out there, and I’m sure I’d be puffball clad if I were still living in London, but really has the fashion world not just had the biggest joke on the general public for the second time?! Everywhere there were puffball hems, waistcoat top designs, stripes, polka dots, ill-fitting ¾ length trousers, unattractive plunge tops straight out of Dynasty, and pixi boots. Pixi boots?! Even jeans seemed to be edging back to waists rather than the more flattering hipsters we have adopted in recent years. And what are people wearing on their feet – the joke of Ugg boots has moved on to ‘Crocs’, bright coloured clog like shoes with holes in them. Please people what are you all excepting in the modern world??
Sydney Adventures
After a week of R&R and shock at being transferred back to the 80s it was time to head East for a few days. We flew to Sydney and caught the train straight to the Blue Mountains. I wasn’t too sure what to expect – it was school holidays in Oz so the place could have been crawling with noisy kids, also it was autumn not really a time of year to expect good weather. However we were very lucky and the day we arrived we could see clearly for miles, with no screaming kids in sight. The Blue Mountains are a wonderful range of mountains covered in blue gum trees giving off a blue haze in the sunlight, hence their name. It’s a 2 hour train ride from Sydney to the main town of Katoomba, first through some of Sydney’s less pleasant suburbs then winding through the breathtaking scenery of the mountains. The bonus for us was that it was autumn and the tress were stunningly colourful – reds, oranges, purples, leaves part turning both green and yellow gently falling to the ground. There are some easy and some tougher walks. Our first was easy, walking along the cliff top accompanied by the loud squawks of the King Parrot – a magnificent large black parrot swooping through the air making a terrible racket. Our second walk took 6 hours first walking down about 1,000 steps then along the forest floor losing all the ‘10m minute only’ tourist walkers to have the tall trees, screeching parrots, waterfalls, and sunlight beams all to ourselves. The problem was getting out – 1km upwards of steep steps, tough work for our 2 unfit bodies, but we made it and collapsed in a heap at the top of one of the lookout points on a rickety old bench that could hardly take our weight.
The following day we took our aching legs back on the train to Sydney where Bron was in for his birthday surprise. We stored our luggage in Central Train Station and I took him through the back streets avoiding all the great views of the harbour and opera house until we arrived at the Bridge Climb Centre. I had thought the best way for him to experience his first view of Sydney was from the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. I hadn’t appreciated that this of course might completely terrify him, but I had been subtly checking that he wasn’t scared of heights. Once through all the initiations, including wearing a terrible suit and harness, we got out onto the bridge starting at the bottom which is 60m above the harbour waters. Bron describes it as a fairly terrifying experience walking out under the bridge along a narrow catwalk with rush hour traffic and trains rattling overhead and fears of having to walk up a narrow little ladder to the top. I had already climbed the bridge and knew there were no rickety narrow ladders at the top so I wasn’t scared and was pointing out all the best spots in Sydney - where we would be staying, where the zoo was, what direction Bondi was in, and commenting on how small the harbour ferries looked as they cut across the water leaving little white trails below us. I’m not sure how much Bron appreciated his tour guide at this point! We were on the new Harbour Bridge Climb which takes you through the middle of the bridge and up the inner arch (the original climb takes you up the outer arch). This was a more interesting climb, and when we crossed the bridge at the top we walked across a narrow gangway looking down at the traffic below – the most historic part of the bridge as it’s where the 2 arches eventually joined, but sadly a part of the climb they were taking out the following week as they’d built a safer route down. The bridge is a magnificent feat of engineering and skill and seems quite an honour to be able to climb, it is painted grey (not the black you would imagine) and deserves the awe and wonder Sydneysiders attach to it. I think once we were back on the ground and Bron was getting over his shock in the nearest pub, he finally was able to feel he’d enjoyed his birthday surprise!
The rest of the tour of Sydney was on foot and boat and we squeezed in the last of the fantastic weather to do it. The obligatory brunch at Bronte Beach and the walk along the cliff tops to Bondi was as beautiful as ever, looking down from the jagged brown rock at clear blue sea dotted with surfers and lined with the white of the big Sydney waves. After this a stroll on the Woolloomooloo Wharf along the wooden slatted walkway past huge expensive motor boats, and back through the interior of the wharf which had kept some of the old machinery beautifully in tact. Leaving the luxury to those that could afford it we wandered through the Botanical Gardens to arrive at the classic view of the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge for sunset. A great way to see a great city. That night we ate at Darling Harbour with its mixture of tourist tack, smart restaurants and wharf walks.
Our boat trip was the following day with Jen and Tracy who we were staying with. Jen and Tracy do incredibly well putting up with many visitors to Sydney – both family and friends from Oz and abroad regularly descend upon them and they are the most wonderful hosts. We arrived at their apartment on Sydney Harbour (the most tranquil of spots) on Friday evening after our Bridge Climb to find Peg and Fish already there supping on some v welcome champagne, Adam and Britt to arrive later. I cannot justifiably describe what a treat we had that night but try to compare a plate of rice and curry (which we eat EVERY DAY) to the below:
a welcome shot….
* not entirely sure what was in this shot but it was a shot glass with an oyster in it, I’m sure quite a lot of vodka, tomato juice, Worcester sauce, etc. – like a very upmarket Bloody Mary.
a nibble to start….
* champagne
* Maggie Beer's pate (the aussies amongst you will know what a thrill to the taste buds this is)
* giant fresh prawns
main course….
* red wine (endless glasses with Fish at the helm)
* roast pork with perfect crackling
* roast veggies
to finish….
* more red wine
* home made hazelnut and strawberry torte with King Island cream
…well my mouth is still watering thinking about it. A great welcome back to Sydney and a true taste of gourmet food that we’d forgotten exists! Suffice to say we also are not used to drinking that amount of wine and our hangovers the next day were horrendous and justly deserved!
Back to the boat trip…. Tracy has a motorboat kept in a beautiful little place outside Sydney called Pitt Water. We had a lazy Sunday morning with an egg and bacon breakfast overlooking Sydney Harbour before travelling to the boat about an hour’s drive away. Worryingly driving through rain but reaching sun the other side. Adam and Britt joined us and by lunch time we were slowly motoring out towards one of their favourite bays to stop for lunch. Being on the water in Sydney is always a treat, beautiful scenery and very busy with motor boats, sailing boats and little dinghies all dancing through the water, the sailing boats most definitely winning the elegance competition as they effortlessly sliced through the waves – a pleasure for all to see. We had pate and wine and steak and salad using the BBQ on the back of the boat which we enjoyed as we gently bobbed up and down with the waves. The skies started to get heavier so we made our way back with dramatic dark clouds chasing us. As we docked a huge rain storm descended upon us, this was to continue throughout the night. When we got back to the apartment Bron and I got totally drenched wading our way through rivers of water on the roads, dodging thunder and lightening to get a take away pizza – essential for watching a Sunday night film.
Wine Time
Our Sydney trip was short but memorable and it was back to Adelaide and off to the wine regions next. We hired a car (a tad unhappy with it being an automatic, after so many months away from driving, they could have at least given us a manual!) and headed off to the rolling hills of the Clare Valley. A really quite beautiful area of small hillocks, green / grey landscape covered in gum trees with fallen down braches and trunks scattered in the fields due to some of the trees not surviving the draught. The vines climbed the little hills in precise rows, spilling over the horizon, gleaming a lovely golden colour in the autumn sun. A wonderful area to explore as you drive from one small winery to the next along pale dirt roads, winding through the tress and scrub, and often in the middle of nowhere you come a across a the smart brown stone or red brick of a winery enticing you in to sample their wares. One of the smallest and most spectacular in Clare is Skillogalee – a little winery set on a small hill with vines running down into a tiny valley overlooked from the wooden balcony of the old farm cottage they use for tastings and a very tasty restaurant. This is where we had Bron’s birthday lunch on a day not quite so magnificent as the first where we huddled outside wrapped in the thoughtfully provided blankets, staring through the branches of their centre piece olive tree enjoying the food and wine and wishing the rain would stop so we could enjoy the view. In fact Bron was enjoying the wine, I was elected as driver and which was bad timing because we got 2 glasses free due to a mistake they had made with our table. The night before we got a glass of wine free too due to the mistake a waiter had made with our order – clearly they give the stuff away here wherever you go!
It was on our second day in Clare that the skies decided to open. After months of allowing the sun to dominate it was high time the rains had their chance to take over and, as it did a few days earlier in Sydney, it absolutely chucked it down. A good sort of weather for sampling wine! In Clare we visited Pikes, Tim Adams, Knappstein (who have the most delicious Sparkling Shiraz and not a bad port either), Skillogalee and Annies Lane. Next stop was the Barossa which we floated to in our rain storm arriving in Tanunda to try to find somewhere to stay. The pubs that used to be lovely quaint country pubs, like The Rising Sun which we stayed in in Clare with it’s dark wooden floor boards and cold tiled bathroom floor, had become monstrosities of neon lights, snooker tables and pokie games. In despair we tried the very helpful tourist info place who found us a small cottage for $60 a night – a lovely little converted garage, very cosy and perfect for us.
I was saddened that the Barossa had become so commercialised and, well, simply naff. I have great memories of bombing around there in clapped out cars and Utes when I was 19 going to wine festivals and getting free beer from the friendly pub landlord. Times change, but fortunately the wine doesn’t. I thought Bron should sample some of what I think is the nicest wine in the Barossa (though how can I possibly say when I’ve only been to a few places). We headed out to Henschke when the rain had stopped and it was another beautiful drive away from the new horrors surrounding the Barossa towns and back through lovely gum countryside, farms and cattle, horses and vines. Henschke do some delicious stuff, most of it out of price range but very nice to taste. I wouldn’t have hesitated at buying every single wine we tried there, they were quite superb and also supreme. This was where the flaw in my trip to Henschke came in as after tasting their wines everything else came second best. Hey ho! We still tried other wineries. some for their produce and some for their location such as Rockfords set in a lovely old wooden farmhouse with old style farm buildings and equipment and red autumn leaves crawling up the walls of the tasting room. Other places we went to were Saltram, Peter Lehmans, the awful Yalumba commercial tasting room although a lovely country estate setting, and on our way back to Adelaide we popped into Two Hands. This had been recommended by Henschke as one of the newer wineries to try out. It was fantastic. A very contemporary tasting room with trendy wine bottles and a modern twist to drinking wine. Again I couldn’t fault any of their wines - they were stunning. We bought a low alcohol part sparkling wine which they suggested we try with Gin and Pink Grapefruit Juice as a wee cocktail. We nearly walked away with their scrumptious port too which can also be drunk with ice in it completely changing the flavour making it taste like a cooling Sangria. The rain was so heavy outside it was very tempting to stay there all day but we had to get the paddles out and get the car back to the hire place in Adelaide.
…and a few days later it was back to our place in SL after a lovely trip to Oz which hasn’t changed a whole lot except for the Barossa and the cost as Australia is now as expensive as home, or were the high prices quite normal and just part of the westernised culture shock? A thought to ponder as I tuck into a cheap bowl of Pringles and a strong V&T in the jungle house!
A Sri Lankan Farewell to our friend Ravi
Though perhaps a little morbid to write about a friend’s funeral, the way they treat death here is significantly different to what most of us experience and something I felt I should share. It’s about 7 weeks now since Ravi died, so a little easier to write about his death but also hard to acknowledge that distance has already started to kick in as life moves on.
Funerals in Sri Lanka last 7 days and nights. After the death of a family member the house they lived in becomes a ‘funeral house’ where family, friends and the local community spend the next 7 days awake at the funeral house paying respects to those they lost. I can imagine that in many cases as someone older passes away this is quite a celebration of life, however in Ravi’s case the loss of a 24 year old was much harder to face.
day 1 – the night Ravi died his mother, father, brother and sister were immediately surrounded by family and friends; plastic chairs were delivered, temporary huts were put up in the garden, white banners of sympathy started to arrive and be placed on the fences and trees around the house, money and food were donated to pay for the funeral costs and feed the helpers for the next 7 days.
day 2 – we arrived from Colombo having come back the morning after we heard the terrible news of Ravi’s accident. The house which I had known as such a happy place was engulfed in an eerie sadness, everyone was numb and it was hard to contemplate that Ravi had really gone. His father was angry and would not allow Ravi’s closest friends to the funeral house needing someone to blame for such a pointless death. Very difficult for them as they too needed to grieve and say goodbye, so they hid in the background keeping out of his way. At 11pm that night Ravi’s body was brought to the house dramatically as a huge thunder storm brewed up (the first we’d had for months).
Ravi – the eldest son – was returned to the main room of the house (the room had been emptied except for a few flowers and an enclosure with chairs around one side), he arrived in a huge shiny coffin which opened up a little like a giant tool box, and above it 2 large elephant tusks on stands were crossed to hover over and protect the body. Inside the coffin Ravi’s body was lying on white padding dressed in a smart black tie suit looking peaceful and smarter than I had ever seen him! Everyone stood around the body looking at Ravi and marking their respect – this was to be the custom for the next few days. That night there was a strange sense of calm mixed with the melancholy, and Ravi’s brother Udara explained to me that this calm was because Ravi was back home amongst them, even if only for a few days.
day 3 – the funeral house became a place to drop by for 10 minutes or so during the day, before everyone arrived at night to show their respect and sit with the family all night. Returning the following day was much easier, it seemed apt to go in and see Ravi - standing with silent thoughts watching him peacefully oblivious to the grief that surrounded him. Beautiful little purple petals had been placed around his body and the room had the scent of the Sri Lankan temple flower – slightly vanilla sweet but pleasant and soothing. Ravi’s father had calmed down and his anger subsided enough to allow Ravi’s friends to spend time at the house and help out with all the funeral arrangements (a positive side to the long funeral house as there is time to adjust and take stock as happened here).
Day 3 was a Friday and in SL on a Friday you cannot do any work for a funeral until after midnight. More and more people arrived to be at the funeral house - friends from Colombo, family from far away and those of us from the local area. Everyone sat quite peacefully talking about Ravi. Small cousins brought biscuits in cardboard box trays and sweet tea or coffee in tea cups to thank everyone for being there. At midnight they started work. Ravi’s father wanted him to be near to the house so they chose a spot opposite to bury him - family land where his father could walk out of the house each morning and look across the road to be close to him. Within 4 hours a JCB had arrived and cleared the land of the small building and trees upon it plus taken away the debris, and the boys had dug the grave for Ravi to be buried in.
day 4 – a lovely photo of Ravi that Bron had taken last September had become a poster detailing the funeral arrangements placed around the village, also it had been used alongside a beautiful poem written by one of his Seenigama friends, and it was to be used on Ravi’s grave. Upsetting that a photo we took at a happy time could be used for something so sad, but good that the family had a memory of him in this way. By the evening a big concrete cover had already been set over the grave with a hole at the end for the body to go in; the concrete was being expertly tiled with white tiles at a speed we rarely see Sri Lankans operate. Everyone was helping out. Bizarrely a lot of the money donated to the funeral had to go to the helpers to pay for their booze, weed and cigarettes to get them through the nights.
We left at 2am by which time Ravi’s friends were preparing the street for the funeral to be held the next day – natural streamers made out of vines and leaves would be made to criss-cross the street above us, posters and flowers would line the street up from the main road to the house, thoranas (decorated arches) were built by his best friends garlanded with red and green flowers and placed at the top of the main road and at the entrance to the grave. As they said, they all put in as much work as they could to give their friend the send off he deserved. They wrote a lovely piece to Ravi asking him to be amongst them when he comes back in his next life.
day 5 – this was the day of the funeral. We arrived at 1.30pm shortly before the whole of Seenigama School came to pay their respects. As we stood by Ravi’s body school kids dressed in their perfect white uniforms filed in the door and walked around Ravi’s body from young kids to the older students quietly shuffling through before taking a seat outside. Next arrived about 5 of the local temple’s monks all dressed in their orange robes. They chanted and comforted the family for about half an hour as hundreds of us stood around the garden exhausted from lack of sleep and grief gently soothed by the monotony of the chanting. When the monks left, Ravi’s coffin was closed up and led by his friends up and down the street accompanied by the local papare band playing trumpets and drums. Those carrying the coffin are not supposed to touch the ground so 2 boys worked relentlessly using 2 sheets laying one for the coffin bearers to walk on whilst throwing the previous sheet forward to lay on the road as the group moved on. This was fast and frenetic and the procession moved up and down both ends of the street before returning to the grave. Once more the coffin was opened for everyone to say a final goodbye. Close friends and family circled the grave about 10 times while the rest of us looked on, then the coffin was pushed from the side into the grave and it was concreted shut. As this was being finished again the skies opened up to rain and a thunder storm.
day 7 – having been totally exhausted from lack of sleep and an emotional time we kept to ourselves the day after the funeral, catching up on work and sleep. On day 7 we went back to the house at 7pm for the final chanting in the family main room. This was one monk chanting for an hour with us all packed onto the floor in the room and people spilling out of the door. In true Sri Lankan style the monk arrived in a big builder's lorry picked up by a friend of the family. I don’t know what he chanted but it was very beautiful and I’m sure helped put the family at peace. Once the monk left we piled outside to sit on chairs eating chocolate Munchee biscuits and drinking sweet coffee. This was when the biggest storm descended upon us – almighty cracks of lightening spiked the ground all around the house and of course there was a complete blackout. The sky was lit by forked lightening and the rain angrily sheeted down (I’m not a believer in any which way but the timing of the storms, and the crescendo of their ferocity through the days of the funeral house were really quite incredible). The roads were flooded and we had to wade our way out of the village before getting a lift home from the same builder’s lorry who had delivered the monk.
The following morning the family gave alms to the monks at the local temple (taking them food and drink in the morning). 3 months after Ravi’s death on June 28th they will have a big alms giving at their house providing family and friends with food, which will then happen every year on the anniversary of Ravi’s death. A lovely way to keep remembering someone so vibrant, and in general it’s a less upsetting way of keeping those that have left us in our thoughts.
Bombs and Cold Showers: one year on
I wrote the below a few days ago, since then very sadly one of my friends was killed in a bike accident. Ravi was a vibrant and fun 24 year old with his whole life ahead of him, tragically that was taken away from him yesterday afternoon. We will miss him very much.
Live life to the full – you only have one chance.
Ayubowan
I can't quite believe it's been almost a year since I last wrote anything of worth in terms of my travels and life in Sri Lanka. Apologies for being hopeless at keeping in touch. A big thanks to those of you who have been in contact over the year to check to see if I was still alive whilst residing in a country at war. War seems very far away this morning as I sit on the bench outside the house coffee in hand, sun shining, birds tweeting and some strange old man gathering piles of wood from the jungle delivering them to the landlord's house next door.
Where to start?! A year being a long time there's a lot that's happened, and no day is the same in mad third world Asia! So, I'll do small chapters of what I've been up to - read what you like, skip what you like, and I hope you at least enjoy some of it....
Leaving Civilisation
Before heading back to Sri Lanka for year I sent myself off on a short travel writing and photography course in remotest Cornwall last April to gather knowledge from the great and the good learning how to get articles written and published. In true Faye style I ended up drinking until 3 every morning with a small hard core group (usually consisting of me, 2 others and the course tutors). I learnt that I'm a good writer and should just get on with it, took away some valuable photography tips, and also came away with Bron who I managed to persuade to come and live with me in Sri Lanka! Bron is the same age as me, has the same drinking capacity, has been travelling on and off for 10 years, and is the perfect partner for me. He's also a very good photographer and is enjoying capturing the beauty of this small island.
Due to the somewhat short notice of having to pack up his life, Bron didn't return with me for my first month back in SL. June was a little tough - tourist season over, bars and restaurants all closed, and endless rain weren't a great start. Plus the building I came back to manage (a new sports centre) wasn't even remotely on its way to being built (the land hadn't even been bought). However, this was all soon put behind me and I was back into enjoying Sri Lankan life - local kids round at the house every night playing Ludo, practicing English and making me dance Sri Lankan style. Then the boys would be around later in the evening playing chess and putting on all the bad music from my Ipod. So after getting established again, realising it was all going to be OK, I headed back to the UK for a wedding and to make sure Bron really was going to come back with me.
Leaving Civilisation (again and again and again!)
Bron returned with me in July, and a quick trip to the dodgy guy in Immigration ensured a 3-month visa for the 2 of us. So we thought 'no problem' this is how we can stay here by extending our visas every time we fly in. (This was due to the lack of foresight by the charity I work for in looking to get me a work permit and resident visa for my year back here.) However, soon we were to discover that foreigners were no longer welcome in SL (particularly NGO staff) and the government banned the likes of us from extending our visas. Suffice to say there were a few months of fire-fighting emails at work, some fairly unpleasant and unnecessary words were said, and we had no idea as to whether we could stay in the country or not. Very unsettling, and this still goes on! We returned to the UK in September (another wedding) and came back to discover the charity had been refused my work permit as I didn't have my degree certificates - so back to the UK again in October to find them. Thinking this would shut up the Immigration lot and give me my year's working visa I was wrong - eventually I got a 6 month visa in December but they backdated it therefore ready to throw me out again in February. The reason?? This time they wanted me to get a police check done in the UK. Cunning though they thought they were in thinking that would get rid of me, I have had a police check done for the last 6 years for my job at the BBC and had recently had it renewed. So they have now allowed me to stay until end of August this year - what a struggle!! Bron has to keep coming and going as we can't get him a resident visa because we're not married. "It's all pissu" (crazy) as they say in SL! Why are we so unwelcome here?
War and Politics
There's not much I can write for fear of being thrown out of the country or thrown into a little white van never to be seen again. The political situation here is very sad with the Tamil Tigers and the government bombing the hell out of each other and civilians being caught in the middle. Colombo has become a military city with army blocks on every corner interrogating you for travelling anywhere by tuktuk, bus or car - this is due to the odd tuktuk and bus bombs we've been having here. NGO staff are not welcome as they are seen as either siding with the Tamils, or re-colonising SL taking it back into Europe's hold! Journalists are also v unwelcome and mostly unable to get to the right places to report anything accurate. For example, there was a bomb on a bus just close to our village - 15 people were killed and the stories in the press were entirely exaggerated and in the main totally untrue. There was also a suicide boat bomb in Galle (20km away) which woke me up one morning, and the reports spoke of an attack on a tourist port when in reality the attack was entirely military - the Tigers bombing the SL Navy base, not affecting tourists or civilians at all.
The SL cabinet has 54 members making it quite ineffectual and peace talks seem very far away. However, all this seems very far away living on the southwest coast, and we are lucky that it doesn't really affect us. Not so for the poor people living north and east where the situation is really quite dire.
House Hunting
Looking for a house to live in, in monsoon season, involved travelling down tiny roads enclosed in a tuktuk floating its way through mud and water to help us find somewhere to park ourselves for a year. What is wonderful here is that everyone is willing to help, providing you ask, so many a night were spent looking around mostly entirely inappropriate houses with the local lawyer, an eccentric chap from India, tuktuk drivers - who all seemed to have a house to rent, and the local lads. Huge houses, pokey houses, knackered old houses, and new palaces were perused and we ended up with a small 2-bedroom house in the jungle, overlooking paddy fields, with a garden full of exotic trees and birds. It was the only one we managed to negotiate down to £50 a month and in hindsight was most definitely the best of the bunch.
Jungle House
A bit of work was needed on the house - we got it painted throughout including the floor, plus got a new mattress and second hand 1970s fridge all for £40. We also had to buy a sofa and a washing machine. The washing machine is more like a toy - you fill one side with water and soap powder, throw in your clothes, turn the machine on to churn clothes around a bit, drain the water. Fill up the thing again to rinse stuff, by which time all items are completely tangled. Drain again, untangle, then put in the spinning side of the machine. Spin and hang out to dry if sunny or hang around the house in monsoon season hoping not to grow too much mould on your favourite top.
Aside from washing clothes there's also the issue of washing yourself. The water system in the house is actually v advanced for the world we live in here. There is a well outside, an electric water pump pumps the water from the well into a concrete water tank which holds about 2 days worth of water, and this is the source of water for the house. Quality of the water would be likely to shock most UK water inspectors - sometimes it's a little off colour and doesn't smell that great and other times it's lovely and clear. Anyway, at least there is an abundance of the stuff as we are in one of the wettest parts of Sri Lanka. However, I am still not used to cold showers every day - particularly in the morning before the sun has warmed up the water in the tank.
Aside from braving the cold showers, the house is really nice. We are slightly up on a bank so there's a breeze coming through and the house is surrounded by Mango trees, Coconut Trees, Beli fruit and Wood Apple trees, Cinnamon, Bamboo and Ferns - all in all making it a cool and tranquil spot. That is of course apart from the wildlife...
Jungle Wildlife
From day one we have had to battle with the wildlife for ownership of the house, the early days were somewhat timid and many a night was spent hiding under the mosquito net. However, those days are gone and it is essential to be ruthless to preserve your spot (i.e. the house). When you walk into the house you walk into the main room and as with all SL houses there is a little Buddha statue ahead of you - ours is in a small alcove at the top of the opposite wall. On our first day here the Buddha's head was covered by a giant spider wrapped around the statue and ready to pounce on anyone after its territory. Naturally we hid in the bedroom so as not to look at the monster, and by doing so hoped it would go away. It didn't. Returning from dinner that night we looked up at the statue and the monster spider had gone - excellent, but where to? There it was in the middle of the floor (so large it was almost comical) where it was busy stalking one of the biggest cockroaches I have ever seen. So I hid around the corner whilst Bron did the needful and chased the spider out with a broom - all I could see was this huge thing with wobbly legs running off into the distance. Then it was my turn - out with the Baygon bottle to kill the giant cockroach, half the bottle later and it was lying upside down with its little (?) legs in the air. We seem to get all the freaks too - the spiders tend to be dish-plate size and often have less than 8 legs. Bron chased one the other day which only had 5 legs and all it could do was run around in circles - apparently they are harmless, so that's alright then?!
The other battle we have is with the ants. One day we discovered a small ring of dust under the bed in the spare room, the room hadn't been used for a while and I had only been in there to give it the odd sweep. So we cautiously removed the mattress, put that and everything else outside then armed ourselves with Baygon and Citronella. Slowly we lifted the wooden board which sits on top of wooden planks, and to our horror there was a huge ants' nest in between the two. Hundreds of big ants, huge white eggs and flying ants all of which had been happily residing under the mattress - it was like a scene from an Indiana Jones film. Chaos and screaming, Baygon and Citronella spraying, plus us slamming the door and scarpering brought the landlord over to see what was happening. He saved the day by braving the room and clearing out the nest, bewildered by our fear and disgust - apparently they are harmless. So that's alright then??!! Needless to say we now clean and scrub the spare room on a regular basis even when it's not in use. The spiders, cockroaches and ants are the only nasties we have to deal with - fortunately the scorpions don't seem to come into the house, and we've only had one snake saunter through so far!
Aside from the creepies we have a garden full of wonderfully exotic birds - a bird watcher's paradise. Bright red Woodpeckers, with grey speckled fronts looking much like Professor Yaffle of Bagpuss fame; green papaya birds with orange eyes; metallic blue humming birds; majestic Kingfishers; Asian Paradise Flycatchers - an elegant bird with tufty black head, rustic brown body and long sweeping tail. There are many other birds I don't know the names of including those I call 'tweety birds' who hop around the garden in gangs of 7 or more making a huge tweeting racket... and of course we also have the more common birds such as the Magpie Robin (a neat little black & white bird), even the Pigeons are exotic with green bodies and orange chests. Along with the birds the garden has the odd snake or two, mongoose, monitor lizard (4 foot long and prehistoric), and the occasional monkey passing through the trees.
Inside the house we have palm cats living in the roof. These are nocturnal creatures and many a sundowner is spent watching them come out for the night - they are a cross between a possum, a mongoose and a fox. As we sit on our bench a shaggy head and inquisitive snout will look down at us from the hole in the roof, checking us out before climbing onto the roof and crossing the electricity wire to reach the trees. We also have palm squirrels living in the house (chipmunks to you) - there is a nest above one of the windows and a nest in the Buddha statue which is a welcome change from the monster spider. The Buddha statue squirrel built its nest when we were away for a week. We came back to find a scruffy nest in the statue, debris everywhere, and a pair of my knickers taking up centre piece of the nest - the cheeky squirrel had stolen them when we left the washing out to dry!! So far there have been 4 baby squirrels born since we moved in - v cute. We also have a family of geckos, one particularly noisy one in the kitchen which protests with loud clucking noises if it gets disturbed, it is also quite partial to cake and ice-cream. Frogs are a common feature in the house, small ones that hop around the rooms and stand upright on their tip toes to squeeze through any small gaps, they are quite at home here and have got so used to us that when we came home the other night two of them were waiting on the front door step to be let in!
No day or night is the same. Full moon or monsoon bring about the most extreme jungle behaviour, often with a deafening noise from the insects, birds and frogs but most annoyingly from the landlord's dog who joins in the chorus of strays keeping us awake for nights on end barking at nothing. The monks wake us up at 5am with their Poya day chanting, oblivious to the idea of privacy and clearly - sleep! Visitors have all been pleasantly surprised with the place though, and some even profess to miss their time at the jungle house.
Visitors
When you go away for a year or so everyone plans to come out and visit you, plotting a time of year they can come, checking out what to see and looking forward to discovering a different side to a country. Of course most of the time people are never able to come when they say they can, and I'm just as guilty as the next person of doing that. However, we have been lucky and have had a string of visitors since we settled in here which has been excellent. First to check us out was Nick - the other trouble maker / late night drinker in our party of 3 from the Cornwall course. He was writing an article in India so popped to Sri Lanka for 4 days to see us, experience a ride with 7 in a tuktuk and brave hiring a moped on the very crazy SL roads. In November a BBC visitor - Shauna with her boyfriend Nick tackled the late monsoonal rains to tour around Sri Lanka and catch up with us half way round on Hikkaduwa beach. They got some good deals and upgrades in some of the nicest boutique hotels due to the quiet time of year.
Next to visit were my Mum and my step-dad (Tony) for 5 weeks, joined for 3 weeks by my great aunt Sue from Oz. They came for a mixture of seeing where we live; finding out more about my work and seeing just what did drag me all the way over here after quitting the BBC; spending time chilling in the jungle house and on Hikkaduwa beach; seeing some of Sri Lanka (more of which in 'trips around sri lanka') and spending a couple of days on the tea estate mum grew up on - Hapugastenne.
Hapugastenne
Mum grew up in Sri Lanka in a house so remote that she had to be taught her first 6 or 7 years of schooling by my grandmother at home before being packed off to boarding school in the Hill Country with all the other estate kids, then finally being sent off to boarding school in the UK as that was the way things were done back then. How she coped with such a different upbringing, particularly the getting to the UK part, is amazing. Hapugastenne tea estate is in the middle of the southern part of Sri Lanka, just north of a town called Ratnapura. From Ratnapura you pretty much drive up hill for 20km before you reach the house mum grew up in. The house is a stunning bungalow literally on top of the world, all you see for miles are mountains of tea - misty cloud below with shadowy peaks pushing their way through. These days the journey from Colombo is about 3 hours, in those days it was more like 5 or 6 hours on a good day. Therefore, mum's childhood was on top of a tea mountain with my grandparents and all the cooks, gardeners, drivers, etc. that came with the house. Isolated in tranquillity she absolutely loved every minute of it. Meanwhile back in the UK my great aunt Sue was getting on with her studies and career and unable to make such a long trip to Sri Lanka which in those day was quite an ordeal. This trip was Sue's first ever visit to the island and seeing Hapugastenne finally brought all the familiar names and descriptions to life, making them a reality and putting a lot into perspective. For Sue I think a missing part of the jigsaw was found, for Mum it was back to being 'little missy' for a couple of days - fondly remembering a happy childhood and feeling ever closer to those she shared it with. An emotional time for all.
Visitors (cont.)
Slight detour there up tea mountains... back to the visit. Poor Mum and Tony probably had the worst Christmas ever! It started well with a great Christmas Eve party at the jungle house with friends from Hikkaduwa, guys from work and some of the other volunteers coming to celebrate. After that, a big meal out in Hikkaduwa and then the younger lot partying until 5am in Mambos Beach Bar. Although great for Bron and I in terms of a good night out, when it came to opening presents and having champagne for breakfast the next day there was no sign of us. We eventually struggled out for a late breakfast before crawling back to bed and then awakening at 4pm to Mum and Tony opening the champagne and having Christmas by themselves for fear it would be over before we acknowledged it. Oh dear! I think they'll opt for the traditional this year.
All in all I think they had a good time here. Tony found a substitute for wine in Arrack - an initiation we put all our visitors through, and most of them take a liking to it (very nice with coke and ice), he also found some good opportunities to be artistic and captured some lovely parts of Sri Lanka with his paintings. Mum enjoyed the jungle house - the tranquillity and the birds, plus she had the rare opportunity of being mum and doing all our washing, very spoilt we were! Sue sensibly stayed in a v pleasant family run B&B up the road, and wandered down to the jungle house for morning coffee and bird watching with mum. All this whilst I was busy at work!! We also saw a lot of the island with them - more of that later.
Next visit was a cunningly planned surprise trip. I was contacted at the end of January by one of Bron's best mates - Simon, who thought it would be a laugh to come out to visit completely surprising Bron who would never believe Simon would a) have the time to get away, and b) come to Asia. So lots of secret planning was done - booking a van to pick up Simon, booking a B&B, making plans and just getting Bron to the right place at the right time was all a bit of a struggle. However we pulled it off and Bron was completely surprised and very pleased to have a chum to hang around with for a couple of weeks. It was Simon's first trip to Asia so a bit of a shock particularly the roads, the intense heat, the poverty, and our water system which so shocked him that he was going to take a sample back to the UK, fortunately he didn't as I don't think we'd have wanted to know the results!
A couple of weeks after Simon left, arrived my friend Cameron on a month long holiday after working way too hard (and v successfully) in TV land. Cameron had come from India where he had travelled to a friend's wedding which sounded like a spectacular affair and v traditional - lasting 4 days. He'd been in India for a few weeks so was already in Asia time - very laid back, chilled and keen to see some of the best spots in SL. His visit reminded us how lucky we are here with fantastic beaches, heaps to see, and wonderful restaurants in Galle and Colombo though sadly Hikkaduwa is still somewhat lacking. It was sad to say our goodbyes to Cam - our last visitor for a while.
Trips Around Sri Lanka
One of the great things about having visitors is that they force you to get out and see some of the island. We have been on safari, stalked elephants, glimpsed bears, seen an abundance of birds, stayed in luxurious hotels, stayed in complete dumps, had great food, had inedible tourist tack, been eaten by insects and eyeballed by monkeys. Here are a few of the places we went to:-
Yala National Park - famous for its elusive leopard of which there are only about 35 in the park (which is HUGE). This is on the southeast coast of Sri Lanka, a stunning 5 hour coastal drive from Hikkaduwa. The park took us away from our jungle home into more flat/dry land, with 100s of species of birds, many an elephant, cunningly submerged water buffalo, crocodiles, wild boar, and monkeys. We stayed in the fairly up market Yala Village just outside the park where we slept in log cabins on stilts overlooking the sand dunes and the rugged southeastern coast line. Quite a beautiful setting. We were in the path of the elephants who often wandered past the cabin after a stroll up the beach. The beach had large elephant footprints in the sand and elephant bum marks where they had slid down the sand dunes! One night we awoke to tree branches being snapped off just outside the cabin and saw a big tusker elephant merrily munching away on the leaves. Like star stuck teenagers we watched this spectacle for over an hour until he got bored with the scrutiny, came up to the balcony, checked us out with his trunk and then wandered off into the night. I think we saw more wildlife from our balcony then in the park! We must have been the only group not to have spotted a leopard - even though we tried twice on separate safari trips, one at 5.30am and one early evening. However, the park itself was amazing to see and we did get a good view of 3 sloth bears - big black shaggy creatures of which there are only 25 in the park so we couldn't complain.
Uda Walawe National Park - this park is an elephant haven. A huge national park, much like the terrain of Yala but with the mountains of Sri Lanka's hill country in the distance. It is more central although still about 5 hours away from us, nowhere is easy to get to here! This is where we got our elephant fix - we must have seen about 80 elephants in our one safari trip including little babies with their strange wooden walks trying to catch up with all the adults, looking very cheeky in true dumbo style. This should arguably be one of Sri Lanka's best tourist attractions however they seem oblivious to this because the accommodation options near the park were diabolical. For the first night we stayed in a horrendous cockroach/mozzie infested pit too scared to sleep for fear of creatures sneaking their way in under the mozzie net! The second night we decided against all odds we would have to stay in the only expensive hotel in the area - very 1970s and highly over priced. However, we got them to drop their price by more than half and I think a lot of cash in hands went on so our visit was probably never recorded. At least we got a good sleep and even a swim in a surprisingly decent pool.
Kandy Perahera - sticking with the elephant theme here, the perahera (which is a cultural / religious procession) boasts hundreds of elephants all dressed up in spectacular garments with masks lit up on their faces. This is Sri Lanka's biggest festival and lasts for 2 weeks finishing on the August Poya Day (full moon). Many tourists flock to Kandy for this festival all staying in the city and paying crazy prices for balcony seats to watch the festival go by their particular hotel. When we discovered that one ticket cost the same as our house rent for a month we thought it best to hang out with the locals and catch whatever glimpses we could of the festival. When we were there the processions were at night ending around midnight (this was towards the end of the festival - at the beginning they have day time processions). Despite our lack of luxury seating we somehow managed to walk through a fair few barriers and get ourselves to the start of the procession - we still don't quite know how we did this particularly with security being so tight (foreigners are suspected of being terrorists thereby often sent in the opposite direction to the action). We spent a few hours taking some great photos, meeting people in the procession from old men to young kids and soaking up the atmosphere from a very privileged position. Even on the last night, when they had closed off access to the procession, we managed to use my old BBC pass to blag our way in. We were able to witness the highlight of the Kandy Perahera and watch the sacred elephant walk out from the temple grounds, white cloth rolled before its huge soft padded feet so as not to touch the dirty ground. Dancers paraded in front bowing to the elephant, other elephants followed dancing to the drums, then processions of people in different regalia followed for hours. Not easy to describe but it was a huge event full of celebration, colour, and a carnival atmosphere.
Cultural Triangle - so called as there are 3 areas of Sri Lankan history all within close-ish proximity to each other in the middle of the country. We only managed to get to one corner of the triangle which hosts the ancient sites around Dambulla. Dambulla Caves - the 5 temple caves set under a huge rock overhang (with a steep sweaty climb to get there) are absolutely incredible. They are over 2000 years old and house some spectacular Buddhist statues and murals. Close by is the equally impressive Sigiriya Rock - sticking out from the surrounding flat land some 200m high, the rock has the remains of a cleverly built palace some 1500 years ago, built by one of Sri Lanka's maddest kings who killed his father and was protecting himself against invasion by his brother. A hot and sticky but interesting climb to the top with great views to reward you - however ours was more of a mad dash as we wanted to get back to the hotel before breakfast finished! The hotel was the luxurious Kandalama which is one of Bawa's best works (Sri Lanka's famous architect that was) - a hotel built into a mountain of rock surrounded by greenery and monkeys, all overhanging the Kandalama lake. Mum had been more than generous in not only persuading us to join them there but in cunningly getting us all an upgrade into very fancy suites with huge baths and showers. Endless HOT water - bliss!! On our return we took a gamble on the new Rough Guide and discovered a wonderfully tranquil non-tourist spot, Arankele - a 6th century monks' retreat set in the forest. The site is of ancient ruins which you discover after walking through a very peaceful monastery, the most magical of places with a 500m meditation walk which descends gradually through a series of steps taking you deeper into the forest. Even the most non-spiritual of people would be impressed.
Lion King Territory - Sinharaja Rain Forest is full of endemic species of plants, birds and wildlife and would be much appreciated by any visiting botanist. It's supposed to be one of the places to check out on the island so we took Simon along to see it after our trip to Uda Walawe. The drive there was incredible - driving through mountains of tea with views for miles and miles on a cloudless day. It was huge amount to take in and to top that it was a Tamil religious day and we passed a colourful festival with women in saris carrying all sorts of flowers, fruits and vegetables as temple offerings. However, this may have been the best part of the trip. We arrived exhausted at our Sinharaja guide's guest house and were soon whisked off in his creaky old 4WD to the rain forest which took an hour to get to. The rain forest was as to be expected with tall trees, insect noises and high humidity. Our guide was full of knowledge and intent on taking us through the thickest parts of the forest. However what he was refusing to acknowledge was the problem with the LEECHES!!! The forest was FULL of leeches - they back-flip across the forest floor towards you, wiggle their way up your sock and into your leg faster than you can blink, then they bury their way in until they're so fat and full of your blood that they drop off. Sinharaja was riddled with them, and to those of us not used to them it wasn't exactly an afternoon stroll. I don't think our guide has been marched out of the forest so fast before in his life!
Work
Well apart from all the trips around Sri Lanka there is still always work to tell you about. Afterall that's what brought me back here in the first place so it must have a mention! As some of you may remember I came back here to continue working on the sports project I set up in 2005 plus to set up and run a new sports centre being built. I also returned on the basis of getting USD$1,000 a month for expenses. Well in true Sri Lankan style that wasn't quite how it worked out. The sport centre is still yet to be built and the $1k was a figure plucked out of someone's imagination to get me back here - it turns out it was not an amount they could remotely afford to pay me. So after working yet another 3 months for free I have been getting £250 a month since last September which is just about manageable. What I've managed to do is build on the sports project I set up with Asanka and Thushara and we've turned it into something much bigger benefiting young people from across this region of Sri Lanka. For example in our sea swimming competition we used to have about 10 competitors if we were lucky - last month 72 people took part including 2 sisters aged 7 and 9 swimming almost 2km and still coming out smiling. We've also introduced football to the project (it had to be done!) so we play beach footy once a quarter as well as cricket, volleyball, beach volleyball, x-country, athletics, badminton and swimming. Nearly 2 years on the project is still making a big difference to the lives of the really poor kids here, so whatever false promises I came back on I am still able to make a difference which is what it's all about at the end of the day.
I've also taken over looking after all the volunteers who come here - that way they at least get the truth told to them so they know what to expect when they get here! On top of that I'm organising cricket matches for teams travelling here from the UK - in February we opened a new cricket ground which is now the best in this part of Sri Lanka (quite bizarre for a poor rural village) and this has sparked interest within the tourist industry. So we are hosting UK school teams in April and also Barmy Army teams later in the year when the England team travels here to play SL. The UK teams will play cricket against our village lads, donate kit and get to see a part of Sri Lanka that would normally be hidden from them as they usually play against Sri Lanka's rich kids in the colleges and clubs around the island. This is good exposure for us and gives tourists a view of the poorer side of Sri Lanka without having poverty thrown in their faces.
Work, although good, is also full of politics some of which shouldn't be part of a small NGO including things I don't quite approve of. So for me, the year I've promised them is nearly up and it's time to seek out a new job and earn money again. Ideally I'm looking for work in an NGO here, not quite ready to return to the UK yet but time will tell!
Living in Sri Lanka
Aside from work, life here is one big rollercoaster. It's really quite difficult to describe though visitors here wonder how Bron and I get on in the daily struggle of just getting things done. In the house we battle over control with the insects; on the beach we battle with the human parasites determined to rip you off; going to work it's push and shove on the local buses after standing in 36 degree heat waiting for 3 to turn up at once; and it can also be a struggle just to get anything done - it usually takes at least 6 phone calls! However, on the other side of that the people here are great, the scenery is spectacular - we are a 5 minute walk from a huge and beautiful beach, the climate is wonderful (never a jumper need be worn) and if we get fed up we have gym and pool membership at one of Sri Lanka's top hotels in a gorgeous setting, 20 minutes down the road from us. Not bad!
So that's a brief overview of my news for almost a year now! Future plans are:-
* a trip to Oz for 3 weeks in April for roast lamb, wine, movies, relaxing and visiting family
* to stay here a little longer depending on job opportunities
* to return to the UK in June (tickets prices depending) to soak up some western culture and catch up on lives in blighty
* to welcome anyone that wants to come and visit this fantastic and complex little island
Take a look at some of my Sri Lanka photos by clicking on the link below:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7342053@N02/
Would love to hear any news from you guys in return. Hope life is treating you all well.
Buddu Saranai
