Wasswold Sri Lankan Adventure Day 6

Wasswold's Sri Lankan Adventure - Day 6

This morning we checked out of our beautiful hotel - the best one yet - and headed down the road to visit a wood carving shop. The tour began with the explanation of the different types of wood that they use and that are native to Sri Lanka. Many I hadn't heard of but I have heard of teak wood which we had seen a lot of already, especially in temples. He also explained how they create the natural colors to paint by using wood shavings, hot water, and different minerals to make different colors. Our tour guide also explained the different Sri Lankan masks and what they mean. 

There were wood workers in different stages of projects in the shop. Two of them were working on a magnificent wooden elephant. Of course there was a huge showroom with beautifully carved furniture, wall hangings, and all kinds of wooden sculptures. We even saw some American Indian figures which they call “red indians” in Sri Lanka. There were several elephants in all sizes and Don and I fell in love with a small one that they will ship to us. His name will be Raja in honor of the famous temple tusker. I really had my eye on a beautifully carved  chess table  but the price was too high for someone who has only played chess maybe twice in her life!   

Meet Raja..they wouldn't let me adopt a real one!

Our next stop was to a shop to buy t- shirts but we were intrigued with the elephant pants we kept seeing at other markets. They are very light cottony pants with all kinds of pretty elephant prints ( can you tell we're on an elephant theme!?). They also are a bargain so we snapped them up! Clothes are typically inexpensive here and if you look in your closet, you will probably find that many came from Sri Lanka. Dave tells me that Victoria Secret has a factory here and it seems that shipping would be pretty cheap! 

My next quilt?

Kandy is in the middle of the country and considered hill country with an altitude of 500 meters (1600 feet). Sri Lanka is known for its tea which is called Ceylon tea. Before the British arrived, coffee was grown in Sri Lanka but a leaf virus wiped out most of the crops in the 1870’s. An enterprising Scottish planter established the first tea plantation in 1867. Now Sri Lanka is one of the top 3 tea exporters along with Kenya and India. We stopped at the Geragama tea factory where we were shown the tea process. Harvesting is still done by hand and is done year round,  mostly by women. We were shown how the leaves are dried, sorted, crushed and fired in an oven. We learned all about the types of teas and of course…surprise…there was a gift shop at the end. However, they did serve us tea before we shopped. Tea is served with a bowl of jaggery (big pieces of brown sugar) that you bite and then sip the tea instead of adding it directly into the tea. I read later that the first Lipton Tea Factory was in Sri Lanka, founded by another Scot- Sir Thomas Lipton- and was the first to sell pre-packaged cartons. Now you know….

First step - drying out the tea leaves. There is a big fan blowing underneath all of these leaves.

The crushing room.

This machine can actually "see" the leaves and sort by color.

Tea time! Kate, Alex, Paige and Thilini!

Next we headed south and we stopped for lunch near the Pinnewala Elephant Orphanage. We did not include this tour on our itinerary because we were concerned with the conflicting reviews on their treatment of the animals. Hopefully the situation has improved there. After lunch we settled in for the long 4 hour trek to Beruwala on the southwest coast. Sri Lanka is not a big island but it takes a long time to get anywhere because of its two lane roads that go through every village. Today however, we worked our way towards the new expressway that was built by the Chinese and opened in 2011 and runs from Colombo to Galle. We saw some rubber tree  plantations and more tea plantations with their harvesters hard at work. 

Our favorite Sri Lankan beer!

The expressway! Now we're rolling!

The Hotel Cinnamon Bay Beruwala is right on the coast but this time of year the waves are strong and choppy so swimming is not allowed. However, they had a very nice pool! For some reason there were a few cats that showed up and hung out with us during dinner at the buffet. Because of the climate, all the hotels are very open but when it rains they pull down plastic walls to protect the dining rooms and lobby. Obviously those plastic walls do not prevent the feline guests!

End of another wonderful Lankan day!

Wasswold Sri Lankan Adventure Day 5

Wasswold’s Sri Lankan Adventure Day 5

This morning we drove into Kandy to visit the Temple of the Tooth relic. This is Sri Lanka's most sacred shrine (Dalada Maligawa)  and houses the legendary Buddha’s Tooth which was brought here in the 16th century. The main shrine was built in the 17th century. There is security here because the entrance was bombed in 1998 by the LTTE during the long running civil war here which ended just a few years ago. We were there in time for the Puja ceremony that is done 3 times a day. You know it is beginning because drummers play during the entire 1 hour ceremony which is primarily done behind closed doors but visitors are alllowed to see the drumming and file past the entrance to where the golden casket is that contains the Tooth. The door is only open during the Puja ceremony. There were many people there praying with their families so I felt a little intrusive as a tourist although we did bring flowers which is a customary offering. There is such parallelism between religions especially as seen with my catholic background. In most catholic cathedrals there are shrines with relics of saints,  Catholics  light candles, Buddhists light incense and in one shrine there were paintings of all of the significant events of Buddha’s life which reminded me a lot of the stations of the cross. I think that is one of the main reasons I like to travel, our friends around the globe are a lot more similar than we realize. 

Purchasing flowers outside of the Temple

Walking to the Temple. The Tooth relic is under the gold roof.

Sister in law Sani entering the Temple 

Many people tie coins to this fence around a Stupa as an offering for a special prayer to be granted. Stupas house relics and can be found in many areas in Sri Lanka.

The best shot I have of the casket of the Tooth which is through the doors in front of the people.

There is a small museum that shows the history of the most famous Maligawa Tusker, Raja, which is the elephant which has the honor of carrying the Tooth shrine in the annual parade during the Esala Perahera festival. Only special elephants are selected and they must be Sathdantha elephants which mean seven parts of their body must touch the ground when standing- 4 legs, trunk, tail and a male appendage…also tusks must have the right curve. Raja fit the bill and had the honor for 50 years. Our nieces have an aqaintance whose father  owns one of the elephants used today and walks the elephant from where they live in order to participate, which takes a few days. It is such an honor to own such an elephant that it is hard on the daughter because only men of a certain caliber will be allowed to marry her.

One highlight was when I saw a group of little girls on their field trip - they were super cute in their white dresses and red ties- so I took a picture of them. The teacher saw what I was doing so bad them all stop and smile and then the whole group kept waving and saying hello! Beautiful!

Speaking of beautiful, our next stop was to a gem museum where we were shown how gems are mined in Sri Lanka. It is still very primitive where a hole is dug by hand, reinforced with bamboo poles and lined with leaves to prevent the dirt from falling into the hole. Water is pumped in and the miners lift baskets of silt out and then sift it in baskets like we do gold panning. Sri Lanka is known for its gems especially sapphires and rubies as well as garnets and  Cat’s Eyes. The moonstone is a Sri Lankan speciality as well. Believe or not there was a gift shop attached to the museum but it actually was a large showroom challenging one of Tom Shane's finest. I was not going to seriously look at anything …until I heard the prices…what? I found that gems from the source are much more affordable but I didn't buy one of the largest sapphires - that is in the Queen’s crown in England!

During our travels we stopped at a small produce stand to purchase a fruit that we were curious about and that Salani wanted us to try. It is called a rambutan that has soft red spikes on the outside and you peel it like an orange and eat the white fruit inside. It tastes like a plum but looks like a Tribble (Star Trek reference for old people).

After relaxing at the hotel a bit, we attended a cultural show at a small theatre near the Temple of the Tooth. This involved a lot of drumming and a high pitched horn, beautiful female and male dancers, fire eating and fire walking. Maleen, our tour guide, told me that anyone can try  firewalking at festivals but it requires much prayer and meditation weeks before in order to be successful. I'm sure praying during comes in handy also! 

As we enjoyed a walk around the nearby lake, Maleen pulled a fast one on us. I saw him talk to a Tuk Tuk driver and then before we knew it,  a whole posse of them came screeching in to take us on a high speed chase through the streets of Kandy! Although they have a roof, Tuk Tuks are just glorified  motorcycles with daredevils at the helm! It was fun and you can't come to Sri Lanka without experiencing their most common form of transportation!

Wasswold's Sri Lanka Adventure Day 4

We woke up to a vey nice breakfast buffet but I decided to switch to tea instead of my usual coffee. Sri Lanka has terrific home grown tea and it is brewed before before they serve it to you - no tea bags. The coffee however is usually instant Nescafé. 

A hopper is a traditional breakfast which is made in a rounded pan with a thin pancake type 

batter so when it is done you have a bowl which they then cook an egg in the bottom. Yum! The bananas here are smaller than ours but are very good because they are fresher and don't have to be picked so green since they were probably picked next door! 

We wanted to get an early start today because we were going to climb up the Sigiriya Rock. Sigiriya Rock is the ancient rock fortress that King Kasyapa built in the 5th century and some say is the eighth wonder of the world. Along the way to the rock we stopped along side the road to buy kings coconut which are a bright orange color and are good to eat. Sri Lankans cook with the green coconuts. In addition to eating the meat of the coconut, drinking the “milk” is very healthy for you and contains natural electrolytes. The girl at the fruit stand chopped off the top of the coconut and then poked a hole in the top and presented it to each of us with a straw. We pay good money for this coconut water in the states! When you are finished, the girl chopped it in half and cut a sliver out of the side to use as a spoon to scoop the meat out. The texture and flavor is not the same as our sweetened, flaky coconut in a bag so I would need to acquire a taste for it.

  

 

 

By the time we arrived at Sigiriya, it was 89 degrees- perfect climbing weather! This kingdom would have been something to see in its heyday. It had moats, gardens and fountains surrounding the base of the rock. They are still excavating the site but have restored most of it. Climbing the rock entails walking up many steps. You start with stone steps and then transition to metal stairs that have been installed for tourists. There are winding staircases at one point which were enclosed in a cage to keep us from falling and was probably the only reason that I would have attempted it! I was a little worried that our two octogenarians should attempt this but they had climbed it 11 years ago when the steps were not as sturdy and were determined to climb it again. There are local men who hang out at the beginning of the climb trying to help you out for a tip at the end and who I shooed off first thing! At some points it is slow going because there are many people making the climb. Also there are wasp nests in several places so they ask that you do not make loud noises which may stir them up. Being a primarily Buddhist country, they will not remove them or the dogs and monkeys that inhabit the area as well. 

 A big rock to climb!

  

Almost at the top!

It was sure a sight to see when we got to the top! Since Sigiriya Rock stands alone, you can see everywhere. During the rainy season, the ancient  pools are all full on the top but there is one pool that is always full and they don't know why. Archeologists do not want to risk destroying the pool to figure out what fills it. When we finally made it down, it was no surprise that there were booths of souvenirs waiting for us. My adage, "all rides end at the gift shop" holds true even at the eight wonder of the world! It is common that foreigners are charged more for things in Sri Lanka so when I had my eye on a book about the history of Sigiriya that was 1500 rupees,  Salani had me wait in the bus and bought it for 1,000! Nice!

 View from the top!

 

Jo's second time to the top and this time in her 80's!

 Where is the water coming from?

Yep... that's us...there are separate bathrooms too...what year is it?

Enjoying the air conditioning of our bus, we headed down the rode to a batik factory. I was excited to go here because as a beginner quilter I find myself always heading towards the batik fabrics in the fabric store. Batik fabric is usually very colorful and the design is on the front and the back of the fabric and on our tour we found out how this is done. After a design is drawn, it is traced using carbon paper onto white fabric. The women working there showed us how they then use hot wax to trace a portion of the design on the fabric. The fabric is then put into a chemical bath and then into the color of that day. The next day they trace another portion of the design onto the fabric which is now pink and then dye them into another color. 

  

After about a week, the entire fabric is finished and then rinsed in boiling water which removes all of the wax and results in a multicolored design. 

 The batiks done at this factory are all pictures instead of just designs and they have a large store which we were ushered into at the end of our tour. It was overwhelming and pretty pricey. I don't like to haggle but I do it by accident because I'm so indecisive and flitter from one display to the next, the sales people try to keep up and start making deals! I finally decided on a beautiful batik of an elephant. If the store had been air conditioned, I probably could have spent a lot more time and money in there!

 

We were all pretty hungry by this time so we made our way to a spice garden for lunch and afterwards we had a tour of the garden which was interesting, especially to see what the different plants look like where our spices come from. The hokey part of the tour was when our guide sat us down and showed us all of the products we could buy. I felt like I was at an Amway party! However, Don and I volunteered for a cinnamon shoulder rub which was awesome! Of course we ended up in the gift shop.....

Nephew Gray has many talents!

  

Alex being a good sport and having a cinnamon face massage!

To end the day on a truly cinnamon note, we arrived at our hotel which was another in the cinnamon chain, was handed my much needed cinnamon wash cloth and then promptly drank some cinnamon tea. I was truly a spice girl!

Wasswold's Sri Lankan Adventure Day 3

Temples, Villages and Elephants...Whew!

We were at the bus at 6 am because we had a busy day ahead of us. After a quick picture of all of us sporting our reunion shirts, compliments of Jo and Don, we were on our way. We are so fortunate to have our bus driver Samon! Driving in Sri Lanka is crazy! There are no highways in this area, just two lane roads which drivers pretend are 3 lanes! When drivers pass, they just pull out and squeeze between the cars. It's kind of a  continuous game of chicken! There are plenty of things to look at along the way. The scenery is beautiful with green hills and lush flora and fauna. We passed through many towns along the way so it was interesting to view the shops, homes, and people. 

 

 

Our first stop was a city called Dambulla where we visited the golden temple. This is the largest and best preserved cave temple complex in Sri Lanka. There are 5 caves that have statues and paintings primarily of Buddha. When visiting a Buddhist temple, people are required to wear long pants or skirts which cover the knees and shoulders must be covered and no shoes. We didn't count but there were a total of 153 Buddha statues, 3 statues of Sri Lankan kings, and 4 statues of gods and goddesses. During this experience, we were introduced to our first Sri Lanka monkeys who ran around everywhere like squirrels do at home. There was a wire fence surrounding the temple to try to keep them out but I spotted a daredevil who did some slack lining across hanging flags to get in! 

 

Sami placing flowers by a Buddha which is tradition.

 

Our next stop was to the village life experience. This is a fairly new tour put together by the locals which our tour guide Maleen highly recommended. We were greeted by a local and promptly taken down a dirt road to board a wooden cart pulled by oxen. It was a bumpy ride which made me thankful for the invention of rubber tires and it involved a lot of loud commands from the driver to the oxen who seem to not follow directions the first time they're asked! Along the route we passed many rice paddies being tended to. It looked to be very hard and muddy work. After disembarking from the cart, we loaded up into canoe-like boats and were paddled through a section of a man made reservoir to a little village home. The first structure we saw was a tree house and we had noticed other simple platforms in the trees on our short journey to this point. These are not for kids, as my American brain first thought, but are necessary to have above rice paddies for the workers to rest during the hottest part of the day and to stay in during the night to keep watch and prevent elephants and other animals from entering the fields. Fireworks are used to scare them away. It was fun to channel our inner child and climb up in one although I don't think I would ever sleep - I would be too afraid of falling out!

The simple village house has half walls made of mud and a thatched roof made from palm tree leaves. The floor is hardened mud and oxen dung. It was a hot day and the house was surprisingly cool. This was very significant for us to experience because my sister in law, Sani, raised her girls in a home similar to this until the oldest was six years old. I think the girls, now in their 20's, enjoyed sharing this part of their past with us and we enjoyed being able to experience it first hand. A village woman demonstrated how to shave coconut meat and prepare a bread called roti. All of the cooking is done over a wood fire in the back of the house. She also used a flat stone and stone rolling pin to crush the ingredients for a coconut relish called pol sambol ( coconut, onion, chilis, lime juice). They served this to us on a basket lined with a lotus leaf and herbal tea in a coconut shell. Delicious!

 

Working in a rice paddy is muddy work.

 

  

 

Thilini watching the roti demonstration.

 

 

 Into the boat we went again and rowed into a larger part of the reservoir where there were lily pads everywhere. The boat rower ( captain?) stopped and made hats out of the lotus leaves. Back on shore we walked to another village house where the women there demonstrated making pumpkin curry and then fed us a wonderful lunch with different native dishes. Again we ate on lotus leaves...no need for a dishwasher! 

 

 

But the day was not over...oh no! Back on the bus we went but just down the road to our Jeep safari into Minneriya National Park. By this time it was about 4pm which was a perfect time to see "the gathering." During the dry season in this area, which is now, herds of elephants gather to eat the lush grass and drink the water in the man made reservoir. We were expecting to see a few elephants but ended up seeing about 100...up close and personal! Our jeep driver, along with several other jeeps, brought us right up next to these magnificent creatures! These were open jeeps so we could stand up and get a great view. There were a couple of times that a jeep would get a little too close to a baby, so the matriarch would posture herself as if to charge until the jeep backed away. There were quite a few babies and the littlest ones would walk underneath the mama and then the other elephants would surround the mom to protect the baby even more. The grass was the big attraction and they were very busy grazing. We noticed that they would pull up the grass with their trunk and then swish back and forth and back and forth before they put it in their mouths. They do this to dust off the dirt. Paige noticed that the babies were not very good at the swishing part and just tap their trunks a couple times on the ground to try to emulate their elders. Elephants have always been special to me, I guess because the females are the boss, they have awesome memories, and are admired for being big and wrinkly! This was definitely a wonderful, bucket list check off experience!

 

 

 By now we are definitely very hot, tired and dusty so when we arrived at our hotel, we welcomed the traditional cool, cinnamon infused washcloths that were presented to us as we walked into the lobby. This was the Hotel Habarena Village which was part of the Cinnamon chain of hotels in Sri Lanka. Similar to a cruise ship, we had our own reserved table in the restaurant for the Oswell family (close enough) where they offered a delicious buffet of traditional Sri Lankan dishes, Asian dishes and a pasta bar(!) A perfect way to end a fabulous day! Needless to say, we were all exhausted!