One one things

Leg 3: Ampara - Arugam Bay - Colombo

We left Ampara on an inauspicious note. At the exit of the town we were stopped at the Police checkpoint. This was expected since Ampara is in that zone of uncertainty in terms of security. Nonetheless the coppers decided to make a nuisance of themselves and made us open ALL our bags and went to the extent of looking inside my medicine case and inside the bottles of medicines. I have no idea what he expected to find there but after almost 15 mins we were allowed to go on our way. We took the road from Ampara back towards Siyambalanduwa and from Siyambalanduwa to Pottuvil. The drive wasn’t particularly exciting as we just passed through a few villages and arid landscape. We did run into a couple of STF check points, one of which consisted of just 3 guys in camo on the road hailing is down, we had to squint to make sure they were our boys! Despite being a branch of the police the STF guys are a hell of a lot nicer than policemen, they were polite, friendly and didn’t go out of their way to pester us unlike the cops. After approximately 2 hours we got into Pottuvil town and a short drive along the town and gets you to the large reconstructed bridge beyond which lies stunning blue ocean and a breathtaking beach. We snooped around a couple of guest houses and hotels and settled on Stardust which had been recommended earlier.

After a quick chat with the Danish Madam who runs the show we unpacked in the cabana and hit the beach along with our solitary body board. The beach was fantastic. I’ve never experienced anything like it, the waves are very strong but somehow you feel safe despite going 50/60m into the sea. My first attempt at body boarding was a miserable failure. I kept swimming deeper and deeper but could never quite catch a wave. I hadn’t as yet mastered the technique of catching the wave just as it breaks and swimming to keep up with it in the first few moments. It’s tiring work trying to battle the waves and swim deep enough to catch one and I gave up quite soon and decided to chill a bit closer to shore. My doc friend however was more persevering and after many attempts he caught a beauty which he rode for close to 75m and beached beautifully on the shore. The sea in Arugam Bay is totally different to Unawatuna, the waves are massive and very powerful so you can’t chill and swim in the sea, the fun is in surfing and playing in the waves. As the sun set we headed back indoors to wash and get ready for dinner and a nice relaxed evening by the beach.

Watching the sunset at Arugam Bay

The menu at stardust looked good but a bit beyond budget with most meals costing close to 500 per head. So the three of us ventured on to the road and after looking at a few places decided that a Kottu feast Arugam Bay style was the order of the day. The place, Ali’s, we’d remember it for the rest of our lives. Ali’s was well patronized with all 20 or so of its chairs being taken up by locals and a few surfers who had stayed back after the end of the season. A well patronized place is always a good sign if you’re looking for a place to eat in unknown territory. We ordered 3 chicken kottus, 3 ginger beers and a cup of tea for me. The food was supreme and Ali’s little kids were very efficient with the service. Thoroughly satisfied we lumbered back to our Cabana, dragged the deck chairs under the stars, rolled up and discussed happiness, girls, religion and several other chattable things. It was a great night.

Ali working his Kottu magic

Despite sleeping around midnight and being quite tired from the previous day all three of us awoke almost simultaneously at 6 in the morning, just in time for a magnificent East Coast sunrise. We decided to explore the beach a bit before taking a morning dip so we walked Southwards towards Surf Point which is where the seasoned surfers test their skills. The sea looked marvellous early morning and despite it being off season there were quite a few foreign surfers riding the waves. I had never imagined that Sri Lanka is host to such a marvellous surfing spot. We walked back past the improvised fish market which is made up of the morning’s catch being placed on a couple of boats on the beach and ppl buying and selling whilst the fish are still gasping for breath. The sea felt gorgeous in the morning and we bathed for an hour or so when the stomachs decided that it was time for breakfast. Ali’s breakfast menu looked scrumptous, reading roti, fresh fish and parippu. Again Ali failed to dissappoint, the roti was hot-hot and the seer fish was divine. After breakfast the temperature rose to such an extent it was too hot to hit the beach so we stayed within the Cabana relaxing despite a multitude of flies. Three of our friends from Colombo were due to join us later that day and we all had to move into rooms in the main hotel and give up the family cabana for some others who had pre-booked it. The cabana is wonderful and affordable. It’s made up entirely of thatched coconut branches and wood, there’s no A/C but has a strong fan, 2 beds, double bed and a fairly posh bathroom. Most importantly it keeps the heat of the day out, and at 3800 for 4 ppl, it’s a solid deal.

East coast sunrise

Our friends joined us in the afternoon and we opened some chilled beer and had a few cigars until it was cool enough to play some tap rugger. The game was quite intense and at half time we were 2-0 down due to a combination of poor defence and good play by the opposition. We fought hard in the second half and had the majority of possession but only managed one try (courtesy your’s truly!) so we lost 2-1. Our quantity of body boards had tripled by this time since our friends brought one from Colombo and we hired one from a nearby surf shop. Nonetheless I failed to catch a wave of any real significance so I spent the evening jumping into waves, playing catch and wallowing on the beach. The rugby and beach time left us quite tired and hungry so we went to a Thai sea food restaurant some way up the road. Unfortunately the food was poor and the service quite useless, we ended up waiting for almost 2 hours for the meal whilst the waiter mixed up orders and brought incorrect dishes. But it’s easy to fix a puk mood in Arugam Bay, we were back at Stardust for another incredibly chill night aided by some Buddha Bar, cigars and a baila session under the stars. I also managed to conjure up a few Ghost stories to spice up the evening for the newcomers. Part of the story was that dogs start barking for no reason and right on cue about 5 dogs woke up and started barking like mad, and soon a torch flashed in the distance and disappeared, it was perfect!

The next morning I was up earlier than most of the others and hit the beach with one other early riser. And the early bird certainly caught the worm, or should I say wave. After swimming about 60m into the sea I spotted a potential wave and decided this was the one, I turned my back to it and started to paddle furiously, with each moment the wave drew nearer and I could feel it rush onto my legs and lift me up, swim swim swim! and before I knew it I was off, being swept along at a million miles per hour, screaming my head off and hoping it would last forever. The adrenaline buzz is amazing and I had this very satisfying feeling of achievement, I had caught my first wave! A new experience I had was to see and feel a wave from behind, as soon as it passes you get showered by a rain like sea spray and there’s a peaceful sizzling sound, and then calmness again.

Jumping into the waves

After a fantastic start to the morning we went to the Pottuvil market to do some shopping for our planned evening BBQ. I love fish markets and I was in my element trying to negotiate a good deal. I managed to procure a small hammerhead shark and an interesting looking small fish which would be superb for frying. That along with lots of seer and some gam kukul mas and we were set. We gave the fish and meat to Ali and asked him to marinate it for us while we went to Kumana for the afternoon. Kumana was very agreeable, saw an elephant on the way whilst passing through Yala East and Kumana itself had several birds including the evergreen Painted Stork, the rarer Purple Coot and some wonderful Eagles. Just as we were leaving the park two magnificent Brahmini Kites saw that they had some admirers and put on a wonderful airshow displaying their gorgeous brown wings and one of them even caught a fish. At the edge of the Yala East park there was a lone tusker who looked very young and yet quite majestic. We were outside park boundaries so we did a bit of off roading and got quite close to the animal without scaring him off. I’d love to see him 20 years down the line, he’ll be a magnificent specimen. I was hoping to see the famous Crossed Tusker of Yala East but we didn’t get the chance, apparently he had been spotted the day before that.

Young tusker in Yala East

That night’s BBQ didn’t quite go according to plan since the coals we got from Colombo were quite old and took ages to burn so we had to take our food back to the ever-reliable Ali and watched him conjure up his best performance yet. We ate almost 700g of flesh each and were quite ready to burst when we headed back to Stardust. We spent the rest of the night playing the guitar, singing and chatting till 4 in the morning. We slept with the sounds of the ocean in the background, covered by a blanket of stars.

I woke up with a start the next morning to the sound of shooting. I was quite relieved to discover that the gun shots did not originate in an AK-47 but from an air gun belonging to a German tourist. He was shooting a tissue box. Europeans, I tell you. Our last breakfast at Arugam Bay was again spent at Ali’s, eating parathas with parippu, pol sambol and the fresh morning catch. We decided to spend the day chilling on the beach bc it wasn’t at all hot. I caught another wave but it was less impressive than the first. The sea was as lovely as ever and I didn’t even feel the day going by. Being the last night of our journey we decided to end it as we had begun, so two of us went off to find a source of MJ. We found a dodgy looking chap who seemed quite stoned himself at best of times. Nonetheless the goods were good, and they most certainly did their job, more so than any of the other nights.

Our dealer

Our journey was over. We set off for Colombo early the next morning driving through the Lahugala National Park in the crisp fresh air. We had accomplished almost everything we had set out to do. We were unable to do rounds in Gal Oya and Lahugala National Parks due to vehicle issues and it was too hot to climb Elephant Rock in Panama, besides that everything had gone according to plan. The drive back was long and tiring, there was lots of traffic beyond Ratnapura and even more speed cops! I felt strange when I came back to Colombo, I looked at myself properly in a mirror for the first time in 9 days and looked very different. I had become dark, unshaven and according to my mother, thin. I didn’t care too much, I went to sleep early, but not before reliving in my mind all the great moments of an unforgettable journey from Coast to Coast of our splendid Island.

Leg 2: Tissamaharama - Ampara

We began the fourth morning of our journey with a jog around the Tissa Weva at the crack of dawn. It was a gorgeous setting and I got a few photos of the early morning fisherfolk, kids going to school and ppl beginning the day. What struck me was how all of the villagers seemed to know one another, whenever two ppl cross paths they would nod and smile and give a warm greeting by name. It seemed to be rather idealic but with a quick glance over the shoulder you see the tiny cracked mud huts which these guys call home. At one point a 3 wheeler swept past carrying 7 kids to school, 3 seated, 3 standing and one on the driver’s lap. Made me appreciate what I have been blessed with. We left Tissa around 9 in the morning after a refreshing shower and made our way along the new Kataragama road towards Ampara via Sella Kataragama, through Yala block III, Buttala, Monaragala and Siyambalanduwa.

The drive was absolutely brilliant. There was no traffic and the road was relatively new and therefore of decent quality. There are a few times in life when you wouldn’t want to exchange places with anyone in the world, that drive was one of them. We stopped just outside Yala Block III to pick up some corn for breakfast. Each cob was 10 bucks, I have no idea how those guys make enough money bc very few ppl use the Kataragama road at this time of year. We gave them something extra and continued on our way. At Buttala we finally came across an urban area and the daily pola was in full swing. I took over the wheel and unfortunately 5 minutes down the road I get flagged down by a cop. I got down and crossed the road with my ID and licence. The cop says “mahaththayage wegaya 72″ I thought he was being bloody anal since the limit is 70 and I made a fuss but apparently this was still within the urban limit of 50kmph! The cop was surprisingly nice, he said that I probably didn’t even notice the speed bc its a nice straight road and that he’s only doing his job. He didn’t even take my licence and allowed me to pay the fine in Colombo and post the receipt to the Buttala police. With a bit of my faith in Sri Lankan coppers restored we hit the road again. The road from Buttala declined in quality but was still good enough and there was no traffic upto Monaragala. The town of Monaragala itself is spread over a wide area but there is very little development within it. There are a few scattered shops and government offices but not much else.

The next town was Siyambalanduwa where another daily pola was the highlight, I had to slow down to walking pace to avoid knocking ppl down. Siyambalanduwa is an important junction in the Uva province where three roads to Ampara, Pottuvil and Monaragala meet. We took the Northern road to Ampara. After an hour or so of wonderful countryside scenery we got to a tiny village called Wadinagala and as soon as I took the turn to Ampara I ran into a road bump that had no markings on it, I saw it just in time and managed to slow down but the impact was still quite strong. After passing the bump I tried to accelerate but I felt no feedback from the engine, shit. I told my friend that the engine isn’t responding and I parked on the side of the road. There wasn’t a cat in sight, the sun was baking down, our car had died and there was no phone signal. As I mentioned in a previous post, I can’t make head or tail of vehicle mechanics. Apparently my friend was the same, bad bad news. The two of us blindly poked around the engine looking for anything looking suspicious and we guessed that there would have been a lose connection due to the jerking of the car when hitting the bump. So all we had to do was find a mechanic, get the engine sorted and get back on the road, should have been a one hour job at most. A couple of friendly chaps aimlessly walked towards us and we asked them if they knew any mechanics, apparently there are no mechanics until Ampara which is 20km away. The ppl in Wadinagala were extremely friendly and nice and several of them had a look at the engine and gave their own diagnosis. Mahesh, one of the first guys we met, allowed us to keep the jeep just outside his house and promised to keep an eye on it whilst my friend and I took a bus to Ampara. The bus came within 10 mins and had a dodgy clutch of its own. After an hour long bumpy ride we got to Ampara town and managed to call our friend who works in the hospital there. He convinced his boss to give him the afternoon off and he came to the bus stand to pick us up. We then went to find a mechanic who accompanied us back to Wadinagala in my friend’s pickup to examine the jeep. After a few minutes of poking around he looked up at us and frowned. He had no clue as to what was wrong. He suggested we tow the jeep back to Ampara and show it to Nimal Aiya, who apparently is the man when it comes to car trouble in Ampara. After a two hour trudge upto Ampara we got to Nimal’s garage. Nimal seemed to be a man of sunny optimism, he said he doesn’t quite know what’s wrong but that he can fix anything. Sure. We figured the best plan of action would be to keep the car with Nimal overnight, let him figure out what’s wrong and fix it over the weekend while the we’re in Arugam Bay and hopefully we can pick it up on the way back home.

The whole ordeal left us with little energy and many worries so we headed upto the rest house where we were to stay overnight called Monty’s guest house. The place had rooms priced from 450 a night to 10,000 bucks a night and it seemed to be the favourite haunt of the large NGO community that operates in the area. The car park was full of Prados, Land Cruisers, RAV 4s and other fancy 10 million buck vehicles flying the flags of their respective NGOs. It seemed a tad ironic that such expensive vehicles are used by agencies who claim that every Rupee can contribute towards uplifting the state of poor ppl. It’s a shame bc so many NGOs do a lot of brilliant work to help those in need of it but so much more could be done if the money is managed in a better manner instead of spending millions on flash cars and the fat salaries of consultants. Anyway, enough of that. Our planned evening excursion to the Gal Oya National Park to see Elephants had been effectively scuttled so the three of us cleaned up and went to a dodge looking Chinese place for dinner. We hammered some fried rice along with devilled chicken and beef washed down with a bottle of suspicious looking mineral water. The food wasn’t very tasty but we’d have eaten anything after 24 hours with only a corn cob each in our stomachs. That night we finished the last of the Unawatuna MJ and being really tired I got quite affected by it all!

I woke up early the next morning hoping to capture some of the sights and sounds of early morning Ampara but the town was still quite dead. A couple of hours later we wandered off to Nimal’s only to discover that he hadn’t yet started work so we grabbed some Malu pang and Egg roti and had breakfast on the Ampara Weva bund. The town has very little to offer beyond one street called D.S. Senanayake Road which is lined by all the shops. With little scope of amusement I went to watch One Shot at the Ampara Regal Cinema with my friend until our other friend finished his morning ward round. The next 2 or so hours was an experience in itself. For a weekday morning the Cinema was surprisingly full with several young and middle aged ppl who seemed to have taken an early lunch break. There were three power cuts that interrupted the show each of which was greeted by much hooting and jeering and the odd comment like “Aney apita show eka pennanna ko!” One Shot itself was a simply unique film. At the end of it we were trying to figure out whether Mr. Ramanayake had made a comedy or a serious attempt at cinema, or if he was exceedingly clever and made what would be a comedy for some and a serious movie for others, thereby appealing to a very wide audience. Either way it left me thoroughly entertained.

That afternoon we left Ampara after savouring most of what little it had to offer and headed for the greener pastures of Arugam Bay for the last leg of our journey. We were hoping for a change of fortune after what was a difficult but very educational trip to Ampara. On hindsight I guess it’s part of the whole experience of travel that you run into obstacles and try to make your way around them without compromising the enjoyment of the journey. I think we managed to do that quite well.

Music is like alcohol, it can make two complete strangers sit together and have a most intimate experience. This evening I understood why phrases like “music is the common language”, “music transcends all borders” are not just cliches to be thrown about willy nilly. This evening I was thrilled to be alive, and any evening like that is worth remembering.

It’s my mother’s 50th B’day and we had planned a quiet evening out with family and 3 close friends starting at the Barefoot WOMAD concert followed by a hopper feed at Green Cabin. We got to Barefoot a bit early for a change, it was a warm, slightly sticky evening. I was expecting the music to comprise of drum beats from a few countries so I was fairly surprised to see the familiar hat of Glen Terry. The show kicked off with some superb Terry Jazz and Blues numbers, accompanied by the excellent Bass Guitarist and a couple of solid sax players who I hadn’t seen before. The stage was then stolen by the guy who plays the rabana like drum along with some fascinating vocal backup. I remember this guy from the last Glen Terry show I went to, and he was rocking even then. The number of musicians on the stage gradually increased and each of them brought their own distinct flavour both in music and fashion. It was a colourful and vibrant melange in every sense of the word. At one point I counted 12 artists on stage. The next act that caught my attention was the African dude who sang a brilliant song where the word “aiyo” kept coming up. He did some superb dances as well and the crowd really got going just before the first break. Glen Terry and Co had given another fabulous performance, and it was now the turn for the Cuban boys to show their stuff, and they certainly did show it. There’s just something about Latino music that is so sexy, rhythmic and infectious. By this time I felt it best to get a front seat view so I sat myself down on the steps just near the stage. A reasonably large part of the crowd were unable to resist the temptaion to dance and most of the impromptu dance area was taken up. Unfortunately by the end of the Cuban set we had to make a move bc our Green Cabin reservation was for 9.30.

The best thing about that show was the way all the musicians seemed to be having the time of their lives, enjoying one another’s performance and expertise and working together to create some amazing sounds despite being from several different parts of the globe. There seemed to be something about music that linked them all, a common thread that runs through their blood. It was such an entertaining and brilliant performance overall, I wish I could have stayed for more sets but we had to move on. To me the Green Cabin has always been a place to get nice Chocolate Cake (to eat with vanilla ice cream on a sunday afternoon) and Lamprais. I never expected it to be a place where you can get superb Sri Lankan food at very reasonable prices. The little Garden Cafe has a nice quiet outdoor atmosphere which is ideal for a small group like ours. Try it out sometime.

We finished our meal around midnight and nobody was in the mood to go home so we decided to go to Baristas for some coffee. I was feeling slightly tired so I had two espressos which woke me up instantly. TNL had some event next door to Bari’s and there were a bunch of kids outside and a few inside. One of the boys inside was fiddling with a guitar and uncle B who was in a mildly tipsy state suggested that we should borrow the guitar and play a couple of songs. The guy was nice enough to part with his guitar and ammi’s other friend began playing a few classics like House of the Rising Sun. Within a few minutes the boy and his friend joined us and we were singing and drumming on the tables to timeless songs including Lemmon Tree, Obla Di Obla Da, Swing Low Sweet Chariot, Knock three times. I was really surprised that the guitarist knew these songs bc he seemed to be about 17 years old, had spiked up hair and wore 3 quarter shorts, I’d have expected him to be jamming to Linkin’ Park, Slipknot etc. Looks can be deceptive I guess. Around 1am the boys’ parents also joined us and we sang even more and added some superb Sinhalese songs into the mix. It was such a Motley crew, a group of 11 ppl, half of whose names we didn’t even know and had never met before in our lives. And yet we got along so well and had such a great time, singing, laughing and almost dancing! Finally around 1.45 the Baristas’ folk began to close up so we had to make a move.

We stopped at uncle B’s place for some Baileys before heading home. Whilst driving back I marvelled at how easily all of us could have sat at different tables at Baristas without even exchanging a glance, and how throwing one guitar in brought everyone together to enjoy a marvellous evening. In today’s world it’s easy to feel despondent about human nature and the way we treat one another, but days like today make me realise that it’s not all bad.

Happy birthday ammi

After a couple of lazy days of recovery and catching up with friends the time has come to pen down some details of my 8 day trip from Colombo to Arugam Bay. There’s lots to say so it’s probably best to break it up into different legs of the journey.

Leg 1: Colombo - Unawatuna - Tissamaharama

On Sunday the 4th of September my alarm went off around 5.30am. After convincing myself that the alarm was not part of a dream I scraped myself out of bed to discover that it was drizzling outside. Bugger. Rain wasn’t part of the plan at all. We set off at 6, stopped for some cash and petrol and we were on our way. The drizzle was on and off but the gray skies continued all the way to the horizon, it looked ominous. We made it to Galle town in good time and within 2.45 hours we turned into Welle Devalaya road in Unawatuna to look for a place to spend the next 2 nights. The places on the beach itself looked nice but were a bit out of budget at 3500/4000 bucks a night for a twin room. It was to be just 2 of us for the first leg of the journey so each time we asked “uncle double room ekak keeyada?” we’d get an suspicious look. We eventually returned to a place we spotted a bit earlier called Zimmer Rest. Quaint looking place with about 7 rooms spread over a reasonably large area run by a genial and very enterprising character called Tilakasiri. We got an upstair double room for 1500 a night, the room was comfortable and well located. The only problem was the rain that had actually increased. So left with no alternatives we decided we would have to be introduced to Ms. Mary Jane a bit earlier than planned. After much clumsy rolling (and much encouragement from my Bob Dylan CD) we managed to get going. Topped up with a few Tequila shots (finally found a drink that I enjoy!) we waddled along to towards the beach to find a place to have lunch. There are LOADS of little restaurants and guest houses with exotic names like Shangri-La (yes, the right to copy law back in action), Hard Rock Cafe, Hot Rock Cafe etc. We decided that Hot Rock was the place to be so we ordered some devilled Calamari, prawns and rice and it was fabulous stuff, fresh, spicy and it really hit the spot.

That evening the rain had intensified and it was disheartening bc we had planned on several hours of sun drenched Unawatuna beach time. After much pondering decided that rain or no rain a beach is a beach so off we went. The water was cold, the rain drops piercing, the winds strong and the waves stronger. And yet for some reason it was quite fun. Unawatuna is a very safe bay, and you need to do something fairly silly to get yourself in trouble there, and somehow I got the feeling that we were asking for and eating dhal. There was quite a storm brewing and all of a sudden it rained so hard that it was impossible to see 20 yards away and the two of us were the only two idiots in the sea. It was an amazing experience, it felt incredibly peaceful and calm despite being in the middle of a thunder storm in the sea. The storm died down and we decided to make a move.

Headed back to Zimmer and chilled in the night splitting a bottle of wine and some cigars before heading off for dinner. Ate at Hard Rock Cafe and made friends with some of the staff whilst enjoying more fresh sea food. The two of us seemed to be the only Sri Lankan tourists, so we stood out quite a bit. Unawatuna has loads of character. The beauty of it is that it hasn’t been spoiled by large scale hotels and it caters more to younger tourists who don’t have loads of money to throw around. As a result it is a very chilled out place, and I walked around most of the time in Sarong and in the day time without a shirt. After dinner we finished the MJ and spent the latter part of the night chilling on the balcony arm chairs chatting and enjoying the mellow feeling that results.

The next morning was sunny and the beach had to be hit. Unawatuna has one of the best beaches in Sri Lanka bc the water is so calm and you can just relax in it for hours on end. Spent the whole morning in the sea and beach before going back to Hard Rock for lunch and to try renew our supplies. It turned out easier than expected as a guy selling those ethnic looking bead things you wear around your neck and wrist pretty much offered us the stuff. Bargained on the price a bit and managed to get a decent offer. In the afternoon we got beer and tonic along with some books to relax on the beach till sundown. In the evening we walked to a place called Jungle Beach and discovered 3 lovely little unspoilt beaches after a bit of trekking. Unfortunately the tide was rising so we couldn’t spend much time enjoying the place. Finally dropped into Welle Devalaya bc I had read some intersting stories about the place including something about a trapped sea serpent, but the place was not much to write home about. We’d been spending too much on food so that night we had a kottu and tea at a small place just near Zimmer. The Kottu was top notch and even the suddas seemed quite taken up by it. Tilakasiri gave us some fantastic fried fish on the house when we got back to Zimmer and we joined him in a game of Carrom and got duely thrashed. Our coordination wasn’t tops so we’re excused!

Woke up early the next morning to leave for Tissa. It was sad to leave Unawatuna and Zimmer in particular. Said bye to Tilakasiri but not before he gave us some useful information on Arugam Bay to help us out for the rest out our journey. The drive was very pleasant, shutters down, sea breeze flowing through and not too many bus fumes. I took over the wheel at Hambantota and the road to Tissa was lovely bc it’s brand new, massive and almost empty at the time. Got to Tissa in time for lunch which was marvellous. 9 curries and rice along with top of the range curd and treacle for 350 bucks, can’t really get much better than that. Had a nap and drove up to Yala at 4. I wasn’t expecting to see a lot of wildlife bc it’s the height of the dry season and we only had one round in the park, nonetheless I was very excited bc Yala is Yala. Picked up the tracker and we were off at 4.30. Saw about 4 Jackals shortly after entering the park which is rare bc Jackals are usually solitary or in pairs. We then headed up to Patanangala to see the bungalow destroyed by the Tsunami. It was quite emotional bc I had stayed in that bungalow on the 14th of December and one of the bungalow keepers called Jayatissa had died. Found out that the cook, Nishantha, had received a call on the 25th and had gone home narrowly escaping a similar fate. We saw 4 elephants in Rukvila including two calves and watched them for a few minutes. We then proceeded to Thalgasmankada hoping to see the male leopard who frequents that area, and after a few minutes of driving the tracker gave a muffled yelp of “kotiya kotiya kotiya!” There was a magnificent male making his way towards the thicket. Unfortunately the sighting wasn’t prolonged but it was awesome nonetheless. One of the interesting things about Yala is the trackers, and if you’re lucky you come across some real gems. Our guy was quite interesting and I loved the way he spoke in very old fashioned Sinhalese. We drove off and came across a lone Tusker feeding on some of the scarce greenery. This was my first tusker sighting in Yala and it’s supposed to be fairly rare. We then drove towards the Rakinawala watering hole and promptly heard the alarm call of a Deer. The frequency increased and we killed the engine and waited in anticipation. Our ears were peeled for each rustle or the give away saw-like call of a leopard. But we were to be disappointed. Dusk was fast approaching so we drove up to Buttuwa weva to try and spot some bear and as we came close there were several vehicles parked just near a clearing. Apparently a pair of Sloth Bears had emerged from the bushes but retreated shortly afterwards. We watched and waited a few more minutes and did another round but we didn’t see them.

Thoroughly satisfied at the evening’s haul we left the park and returned to Tissa in the dark. Stopped at an Aappa kadey and had a lovely meal of hot-hot hoppers with killer lunu miris and some fresh Kelwalla. Got back to Tissa rest house and talked for hours about this and that before calling it a night around 1am. The next morning we would head for Ampara, a long drive that proved to be a lot more arduous and challenging than expected.

I just did something I thought i’d never do. Was listening to YES FM and they had their routine trivia, asking which countries have their Independence Day today. There are 5 of them and they named three and said to name the other two countries which begin with the letters H and N and are in South America. Being a sucker for such trivia I took a guess and sent a text saying Honduras and Nicaragua and didn’t put my name. A minute later I get a call from an unknown landline number ending with 895. Shit shit. But then I thought I might get a prize so I picked up. Some bugger says hello in a very chirpy voice. Shit..it’s them. He asked my name and some basic questions like what I do and that they’ll put me on air and not to use any profanity! I said noooo!! I had more than half a mind to cut the line but that would have been chicken so i hung on getting very nervous in the process. I’m very very bad at talking in public and had I any time to think about this I would never have done it. Just the thought of several ppl hearing me gives me the shivers.

I put the radio off so that it won’t create that horrible feedback noise and sound like an idiot. After a minute or so the song finished and I heard those two buggers talking on air and then I heard my name and a “hello? can you hear me?” I barely could, but said hello in a voice that was much too squeaky for my liking. They asked me a couple of questions on air again about what I do for a living and which university I’m planning on going to. They heard LSE as LSD which was quite funny. I was probably very incoherent bc well I’m incoherent at the best of times. In the end I think I said good night! But overall it was fun enough and I’m glad I didn’t hang up. Another thing to tell the grandkids

P.s.
I didn’t get a prize!! The girl who called in afterwards got to request her own song and chose Lonely by Akon! Gulp. I would have requested Jerk it out by the Caesers..so there.

I’m back in town after 8 days in what felt like another world. It’s been one of the best experiences of my life in so many different ways. I got back home yesterday evening after almost 11 hours on the road, and I felt tired for the first time for a week. I love Colombo with all my heart, I was born in St. Michael’s hosptital here and lived here for almost all my life. Yesterday for the first time in my life I wasn’t too keen on coming back home. The idea of waking up and looking outside to see loads of concrete buildings wasn’t quite as charming as waking up to the sights and sounds of the ocean. Having breakfast over ESPN wasn’t quite as nice and gingerly lumbering upto Ali’s and having hot hot roti in a sarong. Rarely if ever do I not feel content whilst watching cricket, but this morning watching Sri Lanka bully Bangladesh just didn’t cut it for me. I wanted to be in Arugam Bay jumping into waves, or in Unawatuna sipping a Tonic while watching the waves tickle my toes every other minute. And yet something draws me back to Colombo to re-join the rat race that is life.

Beach Boys in Unawatuna spend the day bumming around, playing beach football, surfing, listening to Reggae, chatting with travellers, seems quite idealic, non? They won’t have a fancy house, car, job etc. but they don’t spend their day in an AC building, stressing about something quite mundane in the grand scheme of things, only to come home late in the evening exhausted with only enough energy to eat, shower sleep and do the same thing again tomorrow. But I can’t see myself swapping places with a beach boy. You might say that beach boys don’t have so great a life, what with drugs, sex and rock n’ roll (all horrible things of course) being such problems. Then what about the life of a guy who runs a small beach guest house? I still don’t think I could do that, I’d get bored. As opposed to the excitement of office life..woohoo.

It makes me wonder how screwed up our ideals are. Work, money etc. used to be a means to an end, they are now an end in themselves. Anyone read Silas Marner? It’s a similar story. I came back to Colombo yesterday to run into issues, problems and unhappiness. Sort out your VISA, pay the phone bill, sign these forms, attend to a flooded inbox. I catch up with friends’ problems and I’m back down to earth with a bang. I felt like saying screw that shit and just buggering off. But I can’t. It has been drilled into me that THIS is the good life, and somehow I can’t get that out of my head and can’t imagine any other for any prolonged period of time.

I hate packing. I always forget things and curse myself all along afterwards. It’s doubley difficult when you have no idea what sort of facilities to expect on your journey. The plan is to leave tomorrow morning for Unawatuna, spend 2 or 3 nights there at one of the little rest houses that line the beach. From last weekend I remember Upul’s Rest looking reasonably attractive, offering fresh Lobster and Calamari. We will be in a serious mess if all those places are full, but then it isn’t tourist season till November so we ought to be safe. From Unawatuna we go to Tissa for 2 nights to spend some time in Yala and Bundala. I’m trying not to have too high hopes for Yala bc we won’t get much more than 2 rounds in the park so the chances of seeing Leopard and Bear are fairly remote. But these days there have been loads and loads of sightings, particularly on Akasa Chaitya Para, or so I’ve heard. Friend of mine had seen 3 cubs and a Leopard with a kill on a tree! A total of something like 15 sightings in 4 days. Oh well, fingers crossed. From Tissa we go to Ampara, spend one day there and then slip down to Pottuvil and Arugam Bay where we spend another couple of nights hoping to see some of the ruins in the area, Lahugala and maybe squeeze in Kumana if we’re lucky.

Just had a lucky break, we stepped out to meet ammi’s old prof before I go back to uni and on the way back realised that i hadn’t taken malaria tablets! Apparently the East is teeming with Malaria these days. Pretty much done with packing, got my CD set packed and ready. We will be in the distinguished company of Messers Hendrix, Dylan, Guns n’ Roses, Pink Floyd, Nirvana and a bit of Buddha Bar, Cafe Del Mar thrown in. Just the thought of chilling on the beach, star gazing and enjoying the smooth sounds of the ocean sends a few chills down the spine. Hope I’m not expecting too much.

Only a couple of things stand in the way of a fantastic 7 or so days. Rain, security concerns and car trouble. We’ll be in the East of the country for some time so one can never be too sure about the security situation. It’s just started raining in Colombo so I’m a bit concerned about it raining down South too, that would be quite a spoiler. Car trouble, well i’m hoping my friend’s jeep doesn’t have too many ailments besides its alleged affinity towards petrol consumption. I for one would be lost if something were to happen bc i’m one of those ppl who gets into a car and expects it to go from A to B, and if it doesn’t do so i usually am a tad helpless.

Right I’m done, 5 hours sleep and off in the morning. Here’s to a week of bliss.