271
km
10th
– 23rd December 2016
Ella
- Matara
There
are some odd local customs that even the locals can’t explain. One of these is
the loud Bollywood music on long distance coaches. It seems to be modern technology
to have TV on the buses which makes the passengers busy with music videos, but
if you happen to sit above the rear wheel and the loudspeaker is right above
your head, you got no luck.
Buddhist
temple on an island. Locals don’t use swimwear in the water, they swim in
regular cloths.
After
6-hour-long-trip, I got off exhausted and irritated. I was fed up with
traveling, of developing countries and I missed the European comfort. Additionally,
we weren’t in the hill country anymore, we were at the beach, where sunbeams
were strong and from the heat we sought shelter in an air conditioned building
to cool our nerves down. The Couchsurfing accommodation was splendid where we
tried new meals as coconut rice for breakfast and the tea was gorgeous too. We
had interesting conversations about Buddhism with the host’s dad: in his
opinion, worshiping Buddha and praying to him is worthless. Furthermore, these
are against Buddha’s will. The philosophy should be learned and understood, thus
one can get closer to the state of Nirvana.
Open
market in the evening
Mosques
look very different from those in Iran
We
made a one-day trip to Galle that is famous for it’s perfect iconic beaches and
for the fort built by the Hollanders. Indeed, Galle is a beautiful and
interesting city and its old town is way more fascinating than Colombo’s as
they kept more of the historical buildings. Judit, a Hungarian blogger, was our
guide in Galle, thus, we discovered the city better and faster than if we had did
it on our own.
Red
rice? White? Sambal? Wild? Yellow lentils? Red?
Japanese
built Peace pagoda
Perfect
beach
Light
house in the Dutch fort
Another
mosque in the old quarter. 10% of the locals are Muslim.
Matara – Colombo – Kandy
The
calendar of Sri Lanka is fully marked with holidays, and one of these is Poya,
the monthly full-moon. The December’s Poya came just right next to some
religious holiday, so there was a 4-day-long weekend and on the last day we
found ourselves sitting on the train to Colombo. That was totally a bad idea!
The coaches to Colombo were packed with people, some guys were holding firmly
the grips above the entrance stairs just to make sure that they will be gone
with the train. This was hard to withstand even though we had seats. These
trips on third class were really exhausting and bad experiences, thus, we
couldn’t wait to pedal and be free again.
Third
class train experience
Kandy – Dambulla
We
received the Indian visas in Kandy, therefore we got back on the saddles in
good mood. The roads were curvy to Dambulla. This town is famous for the Buddhist
cave temples on top of a hill which are free to visit and indeed have a special
atmosphere. Especially the first bigger cave with many paintings, dozens of
Buddha statues were interesting. The second large room was less exciting as it
was very similar to the first. It’s interesting, how important the quantity for
Buddhist is. They like to decorate temples with vast amount of Buddha statues.
The other thing is the size: Buddhists always like to create large standing,
sitting, lying Buddhas. Asia is packed of these, plus every one of them has a
rank and they’re always the biggest (or 2nd biggest) in a given
region.
The
biggest sitting Buddha statue in…
“I
would like to have more pancakes, please!”
How many monkeys do
you see in the photo?
Inside
the cave
Magnificent
view from the hill temple
Dambulla – Anuradhapura
On
the way to Dambulla, we met a group of Thai cyclists who suggested us to ask
for a camping slot in the garden of guest houses and hotels. They’ve been doing
this as it’s a cheap option for low budget travellers. Arriving in
Anuradhapura, we were planning to use this strategy when a car stopped next to
us and the driver, a member of the local cycling club wanted to help us. He let
us stay in his home for free so there was no need for setting up the tent. This
city is the most important historical and sacred city in Sri Lanka, but the
entrance fee for foreigners to the ruins of the ancient kingdoms was so high
(25$) that we decided to skip it.
Anuradhapura – Panwewa Wee Bissa Resort
After
knowing where we were heading to, our host asked us to pass by and stay one
night in a resort not too far away, in about 40 km, a little quiet heaven. They
also wanted to take some photos of us to use in promotional materials later.
Counting the number of remaining days in the country we figured out, that we
can do it! We got free lodging, magnificent lodging! This was the paradise
itself! Our room was in a bungalow above a lake that gives home to hundreds of
species. We watched many birds, buffalo, fish and even crocodile, when we were
rowing around. The best meals were prepared for us by the chef and the
difference between street food and luxurious kitchen was noticeable.
Relaxing
on the balcony, watching the beautiful nature
Flowers
grow on the water
Rice
and palms
Traditional
Sri Lankan bungalow made of mud – another option for the night
Panwewa Wee Bissa Resort – Puttalam
We
arrived again slowly to the beach where there was more traffic but the road was
flat. Interestingly, the locals prefer not to eat much fish and sea food so
when we tried their fish curry, it always tasted muddy. For the night we stayed
in a Buddhist Temple.
Helping the monks to clean up
Puttalam – Negombo
The
airport is in Negombo, therefore that city was our last destination in Sri
Lanka. The host (Couchsurfing) was gorgeous, he helped us with everything he
could. We had actually a little trouble finding the proper boxes for our
bicycles for the flight to India. Earlier, we could find proper bicycle boxes
for the flight from Greece to Iran, but this time only smaller size boxes were
available in the bike shops. It took us one day to take the train to Colombo
again and get somewhat larger boxes which were still smaller than what we could
get in Iran. A touring bicycle has longer frame than the regular one, thus
every cm of the box counts.
Arriving
to the airport, we had to face another problem, when we were weighing our
luggage at a free scale before the check-in: we were in total 10 kg over the
limit. We started to put the heavy things in our hand luggage, put on our
jackets and filled their pockets with small, but heavy items. We were still
about 6 kg heavier. “Perhaps the staff will be easy-going, and less strict,
let’s try to check in!”
We
were asked to weigh one of our oversize box with one bicycle and some tools in
it, and we knew that it weighs about 22 kg. I put the box on the belt next to
the check-in desk, and I had to push it a little forward, not to let it fall.
The scale was only the first short belt, but our box reached the second belt
too, and the weight was split between the two. The result of the scaling: 11
kg! “Alright, does the other bicycle box have the same weight?”. “Sure! They’re
twin!” :)
This
is how we travelled without overweight luggage to India. Sri Lanka was an
exciting country with beautiful landscape, spicy food, life everywhere, and we
enjoyed that. But as we met less locals, our relationship with the island did
not deepen. There’s still a lot to discover though, it worth a comeback once!
Those heavy boxes
Péter
No comments:
Post a Comment