Kandy 1

Breakfast at Richmond Inn was disappointing. It was just toast, sunny side up egg (which the waiter misnamed omelette), tea and some fruit. The tuk-tuk I hired yesterday came as promised, a trifle late; shrewd of him to book me for the return trip. There was plenty of time for the train anyway so I walked to the main street of nearby Nanu Oya and bought a kind of sweet bun.

I guess if the dog has survived this long it knows that the track isn't in use that day or that it can scoot off in time. And anyway if it doesn't panic the carriage will just pass over it.

Third Class differed from Second only in that the seats were straight-backed and less comfy. The altitude being lower, the scenery wasn't as impressive as the stretch between Ella and Nanu Oya. Again, tea plantations dominated.

In the train I chatted with a Malaysian girl who was travelling with friends. We shared observations about travel.

Approaching Kandy, which is a city of moderate size, about 125,000 inhabitants, Wikipedia informs me.

I was able to replenish my cash at a Commercial Bank ATM just outside the station. As for the train to Colombo I was undecided if I would try to get an unreserved seat, or take an aircon bus, in two days' time.

By this time I was thoroughly sick of Sri Lankan curries and hankered for a western meal. Spotting the smart-looking City Hotel with its set tables I seated myself. Alas, the waiter informed me that the western items on the menu were not available. So it was rice and a selection of curries again. Sigh.

At least afterwards I was able to find a gelateria in Kandy Centre where I tried the spicy kochchi, and coconut with jaggery flavours. The waiter watched as I tasted the kochchi, expecting me to wince at the piquancy but really it was similar to the chilli in Aztec chocolate drink. Jaggery is a bit too sweet for my palate though.

I took a couple of pictures at the head of Kandy Lake before hailing a tuk-tuk to my homestay. Through insufficient foresight I had not realised that my accommodation required a tuk-tuk to reach as it was in a rural area a few km out. The cost wasn't the issue, but I would have to do my sightseeing all in one session as it would be inconvenient to return in the middle of the day. Due to fatigue, I decided to postpone sightseeing until the next day.

The owner of the house served me with a refreshing passionfruit and lime drink with a pinch of salt. He was a amicable retired manager. He and his wife had a lovely, tastefully furnished bungalow. They rented out the spare room, which was immaculate and had an ensuite bathroom. She was currently in Colombo resting after a medical procedure. So I missed out on her home cooked meals, mentioned in reviews, and had to get some small eats for dinner at a shop on the main road. Their daughter was a flight attendant with Emirates.

Nuwara Eliya

The 5 minute walk that the concierge claimed turned out to be more like 15 (why are locals optimistic?), however Nuwara Eliya is in hill country and cooler so I didn't mind. First order of business was to find lunch. I prowled the main street, noting choices. I sat myself down at one restaurant, nobody came to take my order, flies buzzed around, so I walked out.

Eventually I settled on a pop-up diner inside a trailer parked in a lay-by that had tables outside, and had the chicken biranyi (sic) which was passable.

I wrote pop-up but it looked semi-permanent to serve workers. Billboards seemed to indicate that well-to-do Sri Lankans buy homes off the plan in gated communities in hill country.

I strolled through a market, a small line of stalls, selling mostly provisions and household goods. Nothing intriguing.

Then I went to Victoria Park. It was full of schoolgirls in white uniforms and some adults who were probably the carers. Not sure if it was the beginning of holidays or a Friday excursion.

Victoria Park is not a botanical park so there are no labels on the plants but it was pleasant to stroll around. I got myself a choc top ice cream and enjoyed the fresh air and respite from the traffic noise outside.

There are trees, and some seem to be of great age. But no ducks in the duck pond.

The rotunda.

Daisies are always pretty.

Maybe I shouldn't go around photographing flowers I can't identify. Ok, I've been told they are snapdragons.

Yes, ma'am!

Then it was back to the Richmond Inn to nap the rest of the afternoon away. At some point the staff came to tell me that there had been a mix up and I had been given the wrong room, I seemed to recall I had booked a bigger one. But I said I was fine where I was. The bathroom had been renovated recently but the hot water was erratic.

In the evening I tried to get to the Queenswood for dinner but it was closed for the season. I settled for the Underwood next door and had the seer fish (mackerel, apparently) with vegies and chips. The chips were a bit overcooked but otherwise the meal was passable. Sri Lankan kitchens seem have only basic implements. Reminded me of the under equipped kitchens of Cuba.

Ella to Nuwara Eliya

Breakfast was sumptuous again, comprising rolls with sambol, roti, toast with butter and jam, plus banana, papaya and pineapple. I declined the offered omelette.

I shared a tuk-tuk to the station with the Dutch ladies. They had sponsored kids in Sri Lanka many years ago, and were going to visit one of them, now grown up, in Kandy.

The platform filled as the train approached. The tourists were mostly in the first and second class carriages. There were a few Germans in my carriage. Sri Lanka is popular with Europeans as the time zone difference is manageable at 4-½ hours. The ride was enjoyable though it was hard to obtain scenic shots as vistas were distant. Tea plantations were everywhere.

The train was a blue Chinese made one and adequate. The difference between first and second class consisted merely in the comfort of the seats. For once in my trip I didn't sweat on public transport. I tracked our progress on my GPS and the line was tortuous.

Besides plantations there were also villages. Now and then I spotted villagers clutching mobile phones. Wireless technology has leapfrogged the need for provisioning landlines.

The line doesn't run into Nuwara Eliya, but stops at Nanu Oya station. Before engaging a tuk-tuk for the 8 km ride, I found that I could only get a third class ticket for the next leg to Kandy as other classes were sold out. The following leg on the service I wanted to Colombo could not be reserved. I would have to chance it on the day.

Richmond Inn was probably a colonial guesthouse from the look of it. Sri Lankans run it now of course. The post office also has the colonial look. I wondered what the British expats did after independence in 1948. Would some of them have had difficulties adjusting to a cold England they had never lived in before? I had read that some settled in Australia. In those days the world was far less connected and it was a great leap of faith to settle in a country one knew little about.

The rest of the day will be in the next post.

Ella

Felt again that sadness just before waking. No single cause, just the annoyances of travelling in Sri Lanka, recent events, and unfinished business back home. This was the midpoint and high point of the trip; and I would be losing altitude from here on.

The guesthouse faced Ella Rock and I watched as the sunrise lit it up.

Kitelella Road outside the guesthouse was, despite its narrow width, a secondary road to Bandarawela so there was traffic noise from it.

Ella Rock is a major attraction, but I was undecided if I wanted to scale it.

Breakfast was hoppers and bread, with butter and jam, some fruit, and tea.

I walked down to town. The road ran through a verdant tea plantation. Later I was told that, while still important economically, tea has been displaced by tourism as the top export.

Pretty good looking dogs and chickens.

I was glad that I started early. Even up in hill country, it was hot in the sun.

My first stop was the train station where I bought a ticket for the next day. Backpackers were waiting for the same service that I would be taking. The line runs from Colombo to Badulla, a bit further uphill. The train trip into hill country is one of the main attractions for visitors.

I decided to tackle Little Adam's Peak. The trailhead is about 2 km outside town. The path ran through a tea plantation. Next time you have a cup of tea, spare a thought for the workers in all tea producing countries, mostly women, who have picked the leaves you are imbibing. It's hard and poorly paid work on steep terrain.

From a vantage point I could see the winding road I had ascended the previous afternoon.

Bright green tea bushes.

Will one get tea flavoured milk perhaps?

The final stretch consisted of steps on the hillside. This part took about as long as the walk up the trail, some 20 minutes. At the top fellow travellers were cooling themselves in the shade, enjoying the vistas.

There were views towards the south coast through Ella Gap.

Ella Gap road, looking even smaller from the height.

Ella Rock, with a deep gash on its flank.

I chatted a bit with a German couple and a Belgian couple and even made a call on their behalf to a tea plantation to check tour times. Mobile service in Sri Lanka was far better than one might suspect for a developing country and I had mobile connectivity nearly everywhere.

At the fork to the steps a sign indicated that I could divert to the 98 Acres Resort. Why not? I could use a beer and maybe even get lunch.

This turned out to be an upmarket resort, the kind privileged tourists head straight to by chauffeured car from the airport.

The views through the Gap were excellent but the haze limited the clarity. I didn't lunch outside though, it was too warm.

Instead I took a table in the main hall, which had a pleasant cool breeze.

The food and drink prices were higher than the norm but quite affordable compared to Australia. I even treated myself to a dessert fruit platter with marshmallows and chocolate sauce.

Flowers on the resort grounds.

I bought a bottle of water from a rather sparsely stocked supermarket in town before taking a tuk-tuk back to the guesthouse. I had the idea to stay on until dinner before returning but this was clearly impractical; I was too tired. So I would have to dine at the guesthouse.

I never found any bottles of sugar-free drink in Sri Lanka. I guess the hard working locals need the sugar.

As it turned out dinner was much better than the night before, comprising 7 curries with rice. The curries were: jackfruit seed, potato, ladies fingers (okra), banana flowers, beans, possibly dhal, and chicken. Dessert was yogurt. The owner gave us some Sri Lankan honey to try.

The Dutch ladies were leaving by the by same train so we agreed to share the tuk-tuk down the hill.

Unawatuna to Ella

Before we leave the coast and the vicinity of Unawatuna and Galle I should mention a bit of interesting Sri Lanka history I discovered from the Internet, prompted by reading the Galle guesthouse's information file. The colonisation of Sri Lanka gave rise to Eurasian descendants of the Portuguese, Dutch, English and other Europeans. Burghers have retained many customs and influenced the history of the island. Some have achieved world fame. Here is a small selection from the list that may be familiar: Michael Ondaatje, writer; Michelle de Kretser, novelist; Charmaine Solomon, cookbook author; Guy Sebastian, singer.

This was going to be a long day because of the changes I would have to make to reach Ella. It wasn't a long distance but public transport is slow in Sri Lanka. I didn't take any pictures until I reached Ella so till then this will be text.

Bedspace serves a different breakfast every day of the week. For Wednesday it was shakshouka, a Middle Eastern egg dish. After checking out of Bedspace, I met the tuk-tuk driver who had agreed to take me to Matara. So I traversed the stretch between Unawatuna and Matara for the third time. In retrospect, I should have planned better.

At Matara I waited for the 31 bus for Wellawaya, at the gateway to Ella Gap. After some waiting and some investigation (thank goodness for mobile Internet) I found it only ran a few times a day, but I could take a 35 bus instead. Then followed a 4 hour ride via Hambantota. There was a lot of new construction around Hambantota. The government seems to be trying to develop it as a secondary centre.

At Wellawaya, I engaged a tuk-tuk to take me the 27 km up Ella Pass. The terrain was flat at first, but soon snaked into the hills. It had drizzled recently. The petrichor made me happy for no particular reason. Ella town was just a small affair with one main street. I had made sure that the driver agreed to take me up to the Lucky Star guesthouse because I knew it was a couple of km up the hill above the town.

The guesthouse had a couple of rooms, but more were in construction above. My room was clean and neat. A couple of Dutch ladies were in the next room.

I took dinner in the guesthouse, the mother made some rice noodles with chicken curry. Afterwards, I walked downhill, using my phone as a torch. It wasn't a long walk, perhaps 10 minutes but going back up would be harder.

The town consisted of the usual lineup of restaurants and something new, tea shops, because we were now in tea country.

I looked around for a bit and finally ordered an iced tea in the Jade Tea Centre. Lots of travellers were enjoying a meal there; it was well-regarded. It was humid and only cool, not cold, despite the elevation. I had come prepared with a jacket and a scarf for hill country but never had to use them. I was very tired after the long day of travel, so I paid a tuk-tuk to take me back up the hill. And thence to bed.

Imperfect subjunctive

It was during one of the early mornings in a guesthouse listing to music on my tablet, specifically Besame Mucho from Boleros Inolvidables (Unforgettable Boleros) by Chucho Valdés and Irakere, that I thought to investigate the line:

Como si fuera esta noche la ultima vez

Why did the verb resemble the preterite? As it turned out, that's no accident, that's how the imperfect subjunctive tense is formed. You take the preterite in the third person plural, which is fueron, remove the ron and substitute either ra, ras, ra, ramos, rais, ran, or se, ses, se, semos, seis, sen for the 6 person and number combinations.

So the translation is:

As though tonight would be the last time

What a rich set of tenses Spanish has. I communicated the joy of my discovery with a Peruvian friend and he rewarded me with this amusing YouTube video of the Red Army Choir accompanying Besame Mucho. It seems that the 1980 film Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears was responsible for popularising the song, though it had arrived from Mexico back in 1957.

The other wonderful thing I discovered is that the female voice on the album is that of Mayra Caridad Valdés, sister of Chucho. Though relatively unknown as she lives in Cuba, she has a versatile voice that dwarfs more famous singers. As I've mentioned before, the Cuban bolero is not related to the Spanish musical form.

Unawatuna 2

I decided to take it easy for the day. There wasn't any sight that I had to see in Unawatuna, it was just a place to relax. I came down to a Sri Lankan breakfast: pancake containing caramelised grated coconut, roti, dhal, hardboiled egg, bread, butter, jam, and plunger coffee. All included in the lodging.

The shirts I washed in the bathroom the night before were satisfactorily dry so I washed the underwear too and hung them out.

The dining area of Bedspace.

Local resident.

I moseyed down to the beach. It was blazing hot out and the pictures I took had hard shadows unlike the previous evening's.

I retreated to the Kingfisher hotel and restaurant ordered a caipirinha and a bottle of water.

When I felt sufficiently hydrated I ordered a lunch of prawns with salad and chips.

After digesting some of my lunch, I wandered over to Sunil Garden Coffee and had a coconut tart with the iced coffee. The lime was a nice touch.

Then it was back to Bedspace to listen to music and nap.

In the evening I hailed a tuk-tuk to visit the Japanese Peace Pagoda.

It's on a headland with views of Galle bay. The air wasn't totally clear so the view could have been better.

There is a small monument to the victims of the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami. Sri Lanka suffered severely despite the distance from Sumatra because of a large population living near the coast and degradation of the environment. The east coast was badly hit but the southwestern coast which has most of the tourist beaches also suffered. Even on the west coast, a train on the line between Colombo and Galle, the same line I used, was swept away by the waves and some 1700 passengers died. This is currently the largest toll for a rail disaster.

A cempedak tree with fruit in the vicinity, not sure if it was wild or on someone's land.

Back at Bedspace, after another shower, I came down to dinner. The restaurant was buzzing with guests, from other lodgings also, since it's the best place to eat in Unawatuna. I had the crackling pork belly with mash.

And finished off with a chocolate brownie topped with ice cream.