Sri Lanka  2018

Sri Lanka- March, 2018

Before this trip, we knew little about Sri Lanka, other than it being a small country below India that didn’t have much Western tourism.  We were planning a three-week trip to South India, and decided we’d add Sri Lanka, a country we had never visited.    Another reason was our interest in elephants, knowing that Sri Lanka has the highest density of elephants in Asia.

The island is beautiful, the people were friendly, the food and hotels were good, it was fun seeing the elephant herds, it was inexpensive and only recently is it being discovered by tourists.  Most are British, European or Chinese; very few Americans visit Sri Lanka, probably because of the long flights from the US.  The distance from San Francisco to Colombo is 9,000 miles; Beijing is only 3,000 miles and London is 5,000 miles from Colombo.

Sri Lanka is a small island located southeast of India, surrounded by the Indian Ocean on the east and the Arabian Sea to the west.  Its name was changed from Ceylon to Sri Lanka in 1972, when it became a republic.  It gained its independence from Great Britain in 1948, a year after India.  Sri Lanka was closed to tourism for thirty years because of internal warfare (the Tamils or LTTE against the government).  In 2004, the most powerful tsunami in recorded history hit the southern coast of Sri Lanka, claiming 40,000 lives and devastating much of the southern coast.

We used both Lonely Planet and the Internet to plan our itinerary, setting aside ten days to visit the sights we felt would be most worthwhile, including Colombo, Ella, Kandy, Kaudulla National Park, known for its elephant herds, and Anuradhapura. 

Despite its proximity to India, much about Sri Lanka is very different.  Its population is only 22 million, compared to India’s 1.3 billion (there are sixty times as many Indians as Sri Lankans).  Its religion is primarily Buddhist, whereas India is mostly Hindi, its not nearly as crowded and chaotic as India and is cleaner.  Its southern location gives it a lush, tropical flavor.  Most tourists visit Sri Lanka for its beautiful and uncrowded beaches and its elephants.

As we did in India, we hired a car and driver, who picked us up at our hotel in Colombo, took us to each of our destinations and finally dropped us off at the airport for our flight home.  Our driver, Ravi, a young man in his 30’s, was fantastic in every way and we recommend him highly to anyone who might be planning a trip to Sri Lanka.  Having a private car and driver is far and away the best way to visit Sri Lanka.  Driving would be insanity, it would be near impossible to find your way around, and a car is inexpensive, about seventy dollars a day for an SUV or van, which includes the driver.

After a short one-hour flight from Kochi, India, we arrived Colombo, Sri Lanka’s capital and largest city, with a metro population of about six million. Its name derives from the Sinhalese “Kolon Thota”, meaning “port on the river Kelani”.   For centuries, Colombo has been a principal Indian Ocean port, ruled successively by the Portuguese, Dutch and British, and this is reflected in the country’s architecture.

We stayed first at the Shangri La Hotel, in the heart of the city, a well-regarded Chinese chain that had opened three months earlier.  With several excellent restaurants, a pool and large rooms with views, it was a nice welcome to Sri Lanka.  A three-day, 2018 Ironman triathlon, with 800 entrants, was headquartered at the hotel, and it was fun watching them scurry about preparing for the event.  Passing entrants in the elevator, we joked that we were there for the "tin man" triathlon.

Sri Lanka is a land of “small money”.  Everything is very inexpensive, compared to the US, about a third to half cheaper.  The exchange rate was 155 rupees to one dollar, and the largest bill is 5,000 rupees, about thirty US dollars.  It was easy to calculate conversion to dollars by multiplying by six, 1000 rupees was about six dollars.  Because everything is so cheap, a hundred dollars can last several days. It was nice to have a restaurant meal in a good restaurant and leave a three-dollar tip, actually not required, because they always add a ten percent service charge.

After two days in Colombo, we drove (actually the driver drove) to Ella, located in the hill country, at an altitude of 2500 feet, which meant it was cooler than the coast.  While the distance was less than a hundred miles, because of the mountains, curvy roads and traffic in some of the towns, it was a five-hour drive.  We got a late start from Colombo, which meant two hours of driving at night, very scary.  The highlight of the drive was seeing several wild elephants along the road as well as scores of monkeys, several carrying their babies.

The first morning in Ella, Misti came down with severe diarrhea.  We didn’t know how or where she got the bug, but it was a nasty one.  Knowing one of us might get sick, either in India or Sri Lanka, we were prepared with a supply of azithromycin, a strong antibiotic.  I called Kaiser and was told the most effective treatment was for Misti to take a “blast” of 1000 mg, four 250 mg pills.  She did, and the next day began to feel better.

Because Misti was too weak for sightseeing, I offered two Danes we had met in the hotel a ride to town, and suggested we sightsee together using our car and driver.  Most interesting was a Buddhist temple dating back two thousand years that was carved into the mountain.

After two nights in Ella, we left for a three-hour drive, over a curvy two- lane road, to our next destination, Kandy.  Kandy is located in the central highlands, set on a plateau and surrounded by mountains.  Its claim to fame is the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, reputed to contain the tooth of Buddha, which was taken from his body after he was cremated. It’s a large city, with a population of about half a million, a man-made lake in the center, and lots of activity.  We stayed at the Richmond Hill Hotel, an excellent large suite with views overlooking the city.

The day we visited the temple was a school holiday, and there were mobs of students on the temple grounds.  Misti still wasn't fully recovered from her bout with diarrhea, was feeling weak and wouldn’t be able to climb the many entry steps.  Our driver told us we could use a back entrance that had an elevator, thus avoiding the stairs and the crowds. 

The temple was quite impressive, with many marble statues of the Buddha and thousands of people praying; prayers are done three times a day, at dawn, noon and in the evening.  We were there on a Wednesday, which is the day of special prayers and the washing of the relic (Buddha's tooth). Seeing all this was colorful and fascinating, but it also made me appreciate my atheistic beliefs.

In the afternoon, we visited a Tea Museum, where a guide spent half an hour taking us through three floors of exhibits, mostly machinery from the mid 1800’s used for processing the tea leaves, and explaining the process at each step.  Tea plants were introduced to Sri Lanka in the 1800’s, in an effort to create a lucrative export industry.  The terroir and climate in the highlands are perfect for tea leaf cultivation, and the Ceylon tea industry flourished.  While the name Ceylon was erased from the rest of the country, the tea industry is one of the few instances where the name Ceylon is still used.  Ceylon tea is regarded as one of the best teas in the world and is crucial to the country’s economy.

One of our reasons for coming to Sri Lanka was to see elephants.  There are twenty-six national parks, but only a few provide good opportunities for seeing elephants in the wild.  Our driver learned that the most sightings that day were in Kaudulla Park, so that’s where we went.  We chose the town of Habarana as our base, and the Cinnamon Lodge for our two- night stay, a good choice since it was luxurious and not expensive.

Our driver, Ravi, was familiar with the elephant safari routine and knew an excellent safari jeep driver.  He told us the best time to view elephants was in the late afternoon, when they come down to the tank (see tank explanation below) to cool off.  We set out at 2 pm for a bumpy ride into the park, joined a procession of more than one hundred safari jeeps, and stayed until the 6:00 closing.  The driver knew the park well, and positioned us at location close to a herd of about twenty elephants, including several babies, where we stayed for half an hour observing and taking photos.  Close-up and sustained viewing of the elephant herd, and watching them feed, was a satisfying experience.

Total cost for our safari was sixty dollars, which included the park entrance fee, jeep and driver.  I gave the driver a one-thousand rupee tip (six dollars) which he probably thought was extravagant. 

It’s estimated there are now approximately 5,000 elephants in Sri Lanka, a decline of more than fifty percent in the past seventy years.  In the early 19th century there were roughly 14,000, but during British colonial rule many were killed with trophy hunting and clearing land for tea plantations. The elephant population has been slowly increasing, partly due to government designation of protected park areas.

While elephants are generally docile animals, Ravi, our driver, told us that as more land is being cleared for housing, the elephants are losing their jungle feeding grounds, getting confused, and some are coming into residential areas to forage for food.  They sometimes come into cultivated rice fields and eat the rice.  Farmers erect tree houses in rice fields, where men will stay overnight and chase away elephants using torches.

Sri Lankan tanks:  Tanks are reservoirs that are part of an extensive irrigation system, built throughout Sri Lanka, dating from 300 BC.  They consist of underground canals as well as artificial reservoirs and are some of the most complex irrigation systems of the ancient world.  They’ve been upgraded over the years, and are important for providing water during Sri Lanka’s long dry periods, when no rain falls.

We returned hot and tired from our jeep safari and, after a shower, decided we needed a cocktail or glass of wine in the outdoor bar by the pool.  When we looked at the bar menu, the bartender told us no alcoholic beverages were being served that night, because it was a full moon holiday.  What!  He said if we wanted an alcoholic beverage there was some in the mini-bar in our room.  So, using my Yankee ingenuity, I went to the room, found a bottle of Sri Lankan coconut whiskey, brought it out to the bar, ordered two glasses of soda water, and Misti and I enjoyed our drinks overlooking the pool and watching the full moon. 

While Sri Lanka is primarily a Buddhist country, with 70% of the population practicing Buddhists, we were surprised at the large number of Hindus and Muslims, 13% and 10% respectively, not surprising since Sri Lanka is geographically close to both India and several Arabic countries.  Driving through towns, we saw many Hindu temples, and in one, a ceremony celebrating the full moon was underway.  We often heard prayers in towns over loudspeakers and at first thought they were Muslim, but our driver, Ravi, told us we were hearing Buddhist prayers that are broadcast three times a day.

There are dogs everywhere in the country, along the side of the road and often lying right on the road.  Cars speed by and honk and the dogs lazily move or the car veers around them. The dogs seem to understand that cars won’t hit them and we never did see a dead dog anywhere (maybe dogs have good karma)..  We were told the dogs are “wild” and just roam, but they seemed well fed and taken care of and none seemed sick or mangy.

There were often monkeys all around our hotels, with signs advising guests not to leave doors or windows open, as the monkeys would enter and run off with whatever they found.  Security people had slingshots to warn the monkeys off.

We entered Sri Lanka after three weeks in India, so were accustomed to eating primarily vegetarian meals.  Sri Lanka’s food leans toward vegetarian, with an emphasis on rice and curry, also fish and chicken and some meat.  Our biggest, and often best, meal of the day was breakfast, always served buffet style in our hotels.  Many hotels had amazing breakfast selections, catering to Asian, Muslim and Western tastes, and always a large selection of fresh tropical fruit.

Misti discovered hoppers, a crisp shell resembling a bowl, accompanied by various ingredients, which are put into the bowl.  She also discovered buffalo curd, which is like ricotta cheese but with larger curds.  There are buffalo herds throughout Sri Lanka and a large round of curd sells for about two dollars.

We had many excellent meals, but were eating less because of the heat and humidity; toward the end of our trip the temperature went up to 35 degrees celsius, about 95 Fahrenheit.  We decided we would continue eating vegetarian after returning home, since we feel that, as we age, it’s a healthier diet.  We’ll occasionally include fish and chicken, but will avoid other types of meat.

We spent our last two days in Anuradhapura, a world heritage site with a vast collection of ancient ruins dating back to 380 BC, when the city was the capital of Sri Lanka.  The ruins, temples and other archeological sights are sprawled over a large area.  Given the mid-day heat and humidity, and our practice of usually having a relaxed morning over coffee and breakfast, Ravi suggested he drive us through the area so we could see it from the comfort of the air-conditioned van. 

We spent the day visiting several ancient ruins, going back more than 2,000 years, and saw where the monks meditated, and over the centuries, actually wore down the rocks where they sat.  We went to one temple that had life size statues of five hundred Buddhist monks, in a continuous circular line, most impressive. 

Ravi lives in Anuradhapura and he invited us to have dinner with his family.  So very nice to meet his family and get a better insight into Sri Lankan life; it was a highlight of our trip.  While his parents didn’t speak any English, and we didn’t speak any Sri Lankan (Sinhalese and Tamil), we all smiled a lot and managed non-verbal communication.  His sister did speak some English and had just returned home from Colombo.

On our last day in Sri Lanka, Ravi drove us from Anuradhapura to the airport near Colombo, a four-hour drive, where we took a two and a half hour flight to Mumbai. 

We overnighted in Mumbai before the long flights home the next day by way of London. 

Art Faibisch, March 4, 2018