Sri Lanka Part 2

Fair warning, I am quite behind on my blog posts, so I will be posting 3 at once.

The best place to stay in Kandy is the old colonial hotel and it is exactly that. This almost antique building has rooms for $10 that open on to a big verandah and every day the manager replaces the bouquets of flowers with new arrangements. As twilight broke, Dave and I enjoyed a lovely night of bread, wine and cheese (a luxury) with a game of scrabble and cards with another couple staying there. These relaxing moments are one of my favourite aspects of travelling. In Kandy we also visited the first tea factory ever built in Sri Lanka and learnt all about the process of making tea in the 1800's, we climbed a massive hill and discovered the joy of getting lost in back streets and we visited Kandy's massive botanical garden (not worth the trip nor the price).

From Kandy we went to the ancient cities of Anduraphura (4hrs travel for about $2). On the way we stopped in at Dambulla, a cavernous temple famous for the many Buddha images. Both this stop and Andurahpura were not worth it for both the price and the sights. We had organised a tuk tuk driver to take us around the multitude of stupas and temples of the ancient city, but after 3 stops and about 2 hrs we cut this short and decided instead to take a 3hr bus ride to the next town on the coast. 

Trincomalee also turned out to be a sort of nothing place – if it wasn't for the beach it would have been a total loss. We stayed at the French Gardens. Right on the beach, we got to enjoy seeing the sun rise over the ocean and made friends with the cows that wandered along the beach freely. Many of the locals took every opportunity to engage us in conversation and they are certainly curious. I have found that most Sri Lankan men are not shy about their lude comments, the way western men (usually) are. These guys will whistle, leer and comment even when I am walking with Dave. This doesn't just apply to me as a female, this is also a comment on the fact that we are the only white tourists in Sri Lanka (as that's how it feels) and we are apparently most interesting. Most of the time it's harmless, but eventually you will get sick of it and just wish that they'd find a new sideshow. Ladies, if you are after an ego boost, head to Sri Lanka (and based on my previous travels; Egypt and South America).

After enjoying 2 days on the grey sandy beaches in Trinco and after deciding against going to any more crappy towns on the east coast, we took a bus back to Kandy ($1.50 for 6hrs) to continue enjoying the wonderful hill country. So more fresh bread and cheese and a chance to get on the internet, we were ready to take our next intrepid journey into the hills by train.

I should mention that the reason I am so excited about eating cheese is because it is comparatively quite expensive at $4 when we have been having massive meals of rice and curry for $1.50. The food in Sri Lanka varies very little. They eat copious amounts of pastries (sweet breads, rolls, buns, cakes and samosas) for breakfast and lunch and the standard fare for dinner is a huge plate of rice and a buffet of curried potatos, curried beans, dahl and curried pieces of chicken. Nothing else. No salads, no steamed or boiled veges, nothing roasted only fried and definitely no red meat. We did get a surprise when served with curried beetroot the other day – but alas still a variation on the same theme. I am going to murder one of their cows and BBQ it on a spit if I can't get something other than curried chicken and rice soon.