South Asia – Page 2 – Where is Phil now?

Pushkar Camel Fair

Monday 07 November 2016 – Pushkar, India.

Fortunately last night was much quieter than the one before and I seemed to manage a bit of sleep before the alarm went off at 6:00. Trev and I had agreed to meet at 6:30 and get to the camel fair before the sun popped over the horizon. The alleys and streets between the hotel and the fairground were pretty deserted, fortunately one shop was open and we managed to pick up a small packet of biscuits each to munch on in lieu of breakfast.

I enjoyed the walk to the fair this morning, with all of the tourist shops closed and very few people on the street there was no pushing and shoving, very few motorbikes whizzing past and no-one asking you to come into their shop, or for food or money. The best part of it was the people who were out were very friendly, saying hello or Namaste from their doorways and windows as we walked past. It was so much nicer than the sell, sell, sell mentality during the day. I can see why Pushkar is so popular outside of the festival. A friendly town!

With so many animals arriving in the past few days, and it was noticeable that a lot had arrived overnight, as well as smoke from the wood and dung fires the herders and small stall holders had for cooking and warmth the air was pretty thick, and this would be noticeable as a fine haze in some of the photos. In the fairground itself there were three hot air balloons being gassed up which attracted a large number of people who came along to have a look.I loved this business opportunity, I didn’t buy any, not sure if camel dung paper would be allowed into New Zealand or Australia.

There were quite a few other photographers around when we arrived and the numbers picked up noticeably as the morning progressed, so there was a bit of competition for angles and shots, some were quite aggressive as well. At times it was quite shameful watching their interactions with the local people. Why are some people so rude?

It was breakfast time, for both the animals and the people as we started to wander around. Some of the herders had their families with them, huddled together near their stock for warmth.

Not many had tents or camel trailers that were used as a shelter which surprised me. I guess the air is dry most of the time so sleeping in a bed roll under the stars is practical; though probably not comfortable and definitely not a life I would choose. These must be hardy folk.

More and more herds arrived throughout the early morning. Pushkar is on the edge of the Thar Desert, it is very sandy, and there is scattered scrub around. I am assuming the area we are in is a small farm holding during the rest of the year?

I think I have been snapped while snapping.

There are a number of small buildings and fenced areas as well as a number of large water troughs. You can lead a camel to water, but you cannot make it drink!

I really liked the camels, they have amazing faces, and can pull the most wonderful expressions, most of the time they look a bit stupid, but sometimes you can see a smart knowing look in their eye.

I was still after a classic silhouette photo, though did not manage to get one while I was there, always so much happening in the background. This was as close as I got.

I suspect these three in the alley to the hotel were part of the mass dog brawl the other nights. There are an awful lot of dogs on the streets, but so far none have seemed intimidating or dangerous, though they do bark a lot at night.

I spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon in the hotel, it was a lot warmer today, and the town is so busy. There was no need to go outside; plus I had photos to edit and blogs to write. At 4:30 Trev and I met up again and ventured back up to the market. I found this rotting old scooter on the way.

We decided to approach from a different angle this time and went to a field that was less crowded with tourists. We passed through the fairground on the way, it looks like it is starting up now, it has been quiet the past couple days. I think it is the first time I have seen pigs rooting around in the ground at the foot of a ferris wheel.

The horse section of the fair is next to the fairground, and there was a lot of horse trading happening today.

This field seemed to be more focused on farmers with one or two camels, compared to where we went yesterday where there seemed to be larger herds.

With less tourists around we became a magnet for the kids looking for food or money, some demanding to have their photo taken. We were approached by a lovely looking gypsy girl and as Trev is into portraits rather than landscapes he agreed to take her picture for a few rupees. This triggered off all her friends/family members and within a flash there was five or six girls wanting in on the action. I really don’t photograph people, I am not comfortable doing it, and I am even less comfortable asking someone and then paying them. I hung on the perimeter and watched.

One girl turned up to the impromptu photo shoot quite late and missed out, she followed us around for ages asking for her photo to be taken – and for the small amount of rupees that come with it. In the end I relented and took a couple of pictures of Lila, she was a nice kid, determined to have her picture taken, she was also the only one who was prepared to do more than just stand there, and a did a dance pose for me. I would have liked to have been able to separate her more fully from the background, but over all I was happy with the photo I took.

As soon as I pointed my camera at her another one of the girls popped into the frame. She was a bit older and far more cynical and bored about the whole thing, as long as she got her rupees. Maybe it is me who is old and cynical and it rubs off ?

We got a bit weary of the demands in the end and took a slow walk through some of the fields back to where we were yesterday. So many camels, so many tourists!

By the end of the day I was feeling like this.

There are not many trees – but I had to take at least one photo as I do like a tree.

Trev and I met up for dinner again and went back to the place we went to last night. It was not far from the lake so we took tripods along with the aim of doing some night shots. There are no bathers at night, and after 9:00 there were very few other people out.

The photography was a bit of a wash out though. The lake, back dropped by the lights of the town were boring when shooting with the wide angle lens, and the big zoom was too heavy for the lightweight tripod. I tried to zoom in tight on some of the buildings as the shapes and shadows were quite interesting, but I could not get then camera still enough to get anything remotely sharp so we gave up and went back to the hotel. I took this one from the restaurant.

I had a really good day! Though I think I am eating too much of this great Indian food.

I am not sure that Indian drivers really need the encouragement!

‘No drugs, alcohol or non-veg food’. Pushkar.

Sunday 06 November 2016 – Pushkar, India.

I have come to Pushkar for the camel fair, the fair takes place over the first week or so of the annual Hindu Kartika festival. The camels and their herders arrive over the first few days and the bulk of the buying and selling happens four or five days after the fair starts. There is an expectation that up to 50,000 camels will come this year, along with numerous horses, goats, pigs and cows. My plan was to do the town based activities in the morning and then venture out to the fair in the late afternoon as the day cools down. I am also hoping to get some of the classic, camel silhouette against the setting sun shot, no originality here!

It was a really bad night last night, the music stopped pretty much dead on midnight which was great, but the honking of motorbikes in the alleyways and from trucks, and buses delivering pilgrims to town, on the main roads went on for quite a lot longer. Once that had settled the dogs started howling and barking and there was a dog fight right outside the hotel at 2:30. Finally to cap it off; at 4:30 the mosque started up. I am so glad I had a full sleep the night before.

After breakfast I loaded up my camera bag and sauntered down the hill into town, I am getting a little familiar with the various alleyways and paths, and am reasonably confident I can find my way back to the hotel from most parts of the town. I was planning on walking around the lake today, the far side seems to attract a lot less people and I was hoping to be able to spend some time sat on the lake side enjoying some piece and semi-tranquillity.

I made it about a quarter of the way around before running out of road. I could have walked around on the lake side; barefoot, of course, but was unsure if I was allowed to. So I didn’t. I spent a bit of time looking around town, the main streets are really crowded, loads of pilgrims are arriving for the religious part of the festival and loads of tourists are here to take photos. Hopefully obeying the cultural rules (as if!).

Back at the hotel I met up with Trev, who I briefly met yesterday. We chatted for a while, he is English, a couple of years younger than me and into portrait photography. He has been to India numerous times, including the camel fair and speaks a little Hindi, which is very useful if you are doing portraits and want to communicate with your subjects! It was great to meet up with someone to go exploring with, it makes things so much easier having someone to talk to and watch your back as it were. It also meant that going out of the hotel at night to eat somewhere else was much safer, not that I ever felt unsafe at all, Pushkar is quite a friendly town.

Trev and I met up at 3:30 and started off with a visit to the lake. The lake is very busy in the morning, and quietens down in the late afternoon. As Trev has been here before and was more familiar with customs I found it is perfectly acceptable to walk around the lake front, so we did. Being careful to not to take photos of the bathers that were on the shore, as per the rules!

When the light dropped and started to get a bit more interesting we went to the fair to look for some camel photography action. There were far more camels than yesterday, and I was surprised at A) how docile they were, walking around them was quite safe, and B) there was no smell. I had though being in proximity to a large number of animals would be a bit stinky. Not at all; maybe the fumes of Delhi and Jaipur had dulled my sense of smell.

By my standards I took a lot of photos, almost 100. There were a lot of other people taking photos, and it times it was a bit of challenge to get shots with no photographers in them, or without one jumping in front of you. There was no such thing as manners here. The herders, in the main take it all in good, if rather bewildered, spirits.

I loved this chap, you cannot just attend camel fair, you have to attend camel fair in style!

By accident Trev and I found a good spot where the camels were coming round a corner of a field and the sun was dropping almost over head. We set ourselves up and ten minutes later we had been spotted and a whole bunch more people came over, almost crowding us out. We stayed there for a while as small groups and individual camels and herders passed by.

Along with the ever present camel tour. I was offered one by the hotel before I met Trev and am glad I did not take it, they do not look to be as interesting or as much fun as getting in amongst it all.

Trev grabbed these two guys and had them pose for him, he got right down on his belly to get the post shots, and I snuck a quickie in while he was shooting. It was like watching a master at work.

Once the sun had gone below the horizon we abandoned our spot and headed back to the area while the herds were going to camp.

There was a little bit of trading gone this evening, a good study of a camels teeth is obviously crucial.

It was a good session, and we left as the sun had almost gone. Back at the hotel it was a quick rush uploading images from the camera to the computer to see what I had got. I was pretty happy with my first day effort. It is quite tough shooting, lowish light, hazy conditions, a lot of movement in all directions and loads of others competing for the same shot. Fun in other words…

Trev and I went out for dinner, the food in our place is great, but Trev had found another restaurant that quietly sold beer, which is very rare in Pushkar. We met up with Greg, another photographer and England resident for food, a couple of cans of lager and lots of travel and photography talk.

It was a really good day, I very much enjoyed hanging out with those guys, seeing Pushkar and a hell of a lot of camels! Roll on tomorrow.

PS, yes I do love lens flare. It was deliberate, honest! 🙂

Pushkar.

Saturday 05 November 2016 – Pushkar, India.

The big mission today was to get from Jaipur to Pushkar. By Indian standards they are virtually neighbours and the journey will only take three hours. However, for a middle aged westerner who has not travelled for a while and is out of the ‘zone’ this still seemed like enough of a challenge for one day. Though, in the end it was all too easy. Thankfully.

As I only have a short time in India and no room for faffing I have fully planned ahead. Train tickets and accommodation has been booked in all the towns I am staying in. This allows for no flexibility, but it does mean when I get up in the morning on a travelling day I know what I am doing, where I am staying and mostly, how I am going to get there. This does remove all of the stress of travelling when it has not been done for a while.

Not having to worry about the logistics of the morning, and having been awake for 30+ hours I surprised myself by sleeping for well over 8 hours last night. I was groggy when I woke, but felt damn fine for all that sleep. My first Indian breakfast of lassi and paratha was really nice and set me up well for my travels. The hotel had a roof top eating area and I found an old fort (maybe?) out the back, cool!

I took a tuk tuk to the station which was about 1.5 kms from the hotel, the traffic around the station was pretty intense, but I was left alone as I made my way into the main hall. The sign providing information about the train was helpful.

There was a version in English too I realised after watching for a while. English is spoken to some degree everywhere here, all the people I have met so far have had some English which does make travelling less complicated. The train was late, but not by a huge amount, I was a little nervous standing on the platform, I had no idea what to expect and had visions of very crowded trains.

Even though I had booked the more expensive air conditioned carriage; it was still very cheap by UK standards. I expected there to be more westerners waiting for the train, I am going to Pushkar for the annual camel fair, which attracts a lot of tourists, so I was surprised to find there were only four other westerners on the platform, a group from Germany and they were heading somewhere else. This did ramp up my nerves a bit.

Which was all unfounded of course… I found a birth just fine, I was facing backwards which is not my preference, but it was entirely comfortable, quiet and ultimately enjoyable. I even had lunch on the train, a vege biryani that was very nice too. I took a few photos out of the window over the course of the 2 ½ hour journey. There was not a lot to see, flat, semi-arid farmland, all the way to Ajmer where I disembarked.

I had heard stories of tourists being ‘pounced’ on by touts when they get off trains and was expecting this as I walked through the crowded ticket hall. Nothing. Outside only one bloke came up to me to ask if I wanted a taxi to Pushkar, which I did, he offered me a price less than I expected, so I said ‘yes’ to that and jumped into the back of his very small Suzuki mini-van. The ride took about 40 minutes, there was a lot of traffic on the road, so it was nice and slow, I didn’t need to hang on once, even as we snaked up and down through the small hills.

Pushkar is a small town, with about 14,000 residents normally. During the festival this swells to over 300,000. It was very busy when I arrived. I am staying in the Everest Hotel, up the hill from the main drag and with a great view over the town. If it were not for the numerous signs pointing in its general direction it would be impossible to find through the myriad of alleys and pathways in the upper town. It is a real warren, with the hidden dangers of speeding motorbikes to add to the fun, plus the dogs and cows and their little land mines…

Pushkar is a small Hindu town wrapped around a very small lake on the edge of the large Thar desert. The lake was supposedly formed when the god Brahma dropped a lotus flower onto the earth. It is a very important Hindu pilgrimage town and all Hindus aim to make at least one pilgrimage here in their lifetime. The main pilgrimage time is now, in the month of Kartika, the eight month of the Hindu calendar. The desert tribesman come to the town for the pilgrimage and for the annual camel fair, up to 50,000 camels are caravaned across the desert to be traded. This is what attracts the tourists. The main camel fair takes place in the first week of the festival, with the main religious day being on the full moon later in the two week celebration period. I will not be here for that long sadly, but I do have three nights, so will see plenty of camel fair action I hope.

I met an English guy, Trev, as I checked in, he has been here before and promised to give me some camel fair tips, which was cool. Once I checked in and dumped my gear in my room, I grabbed my camera bag and headed out the door. I like my room, it is large and airy and reasonably comfy, and blessing of all blessings the shower is hot, something I will appreciate once the layers of dust start to make my hair feel like a nest.

Unlike Jaipur I was not given a map of the streets, I doubt one exists, I was led down the hill a short way to a main intersection and left to it. I expected to get immediately lost. Which is fine by me, I am sure there is a lot to see.

Deciding to check out the camel fair first I sauntered off in the direction I was pointed in, once out on the main road it was pretty easy to spot. I am assuming these two ferris wheels are not here all year round.

It is still early days in the fair, and there are not many camels around. I did see some though, but these are dressed up to give rides to tourists. I am sure I will find plenty more during my stay.

Horse trading is also part of the fair and there are a number of horses here, all tied into position which I thought was harsh on the horses, however I am not in England anymore and what is unacceptable there is not the case here. The horses from Rajasthan are unique in that their ears stick straight up from the top of their heads.

It was about here that I discovered the recently repaired 24-105mm lens does not work. It worked when I last went to Epping Forest, but now it does not focus at all. I have been forced to use the heavier and longer 70-200. It is a lovely lens, but hopeless for close up work.

I found this snake charmer who I paid about £1.20 to take some photos while he charmed the obviously stupored cobra, which I also got to touch. When in India. A bunch of Chinese tourists also took photos and when they did not pay they were followed down the road while he yelled at them. I wanted to go and tell them to not be so bloody rude!

Knowing I would be back tomorrow I left the fair and walked down to the lake in the middle of the town. The lake is surrounded by 52 bathing gnats. These are not temples as such, but places to go and relax, meditate, pray and bathe in the holy lake.

A couple of these are commercial operations aimed pretty much (being blunt) at scamming tourists. I got scammed. Not by much, but still more than I would have ‘donated’ to their charity. It did leave a sour taste, and sadly I did not read about it being a scam until later in the day. Fore-warned is for armed as they say. I also discovered that you should not take photos on the lake, as a number of the women bathe bare breasted, that was after I had taken photos…

I was a bit disgruntled from being ripped off so went back up to the hotel, where I took a few photos over the town from the really nice roof top restaurant/relaxing area. It is a bit hazy today, but that has kept the temperature down to a decent level, which I appreciated.

And of course the neighbourhood rhesus macaques!

I spent the evening in the hotel, I am not yet confident enough to walk the streets at night on my own, getting lost in the dark would possibly not be a good idea, though I am sure it is a very safe place. It was a Saturday night and I ended up reading till midnight when the music finally stopped. And the dogs started…

This post has taken two hours to assemble from the already uploaded text and pictures, the internet it diabolically slow here.

The Pink City of Jaipur

Friday 04 November 2016 – Jaipur, India.

The real culture shock hit once I got out on to the street. The hotel owner gave me directions to the ‘Pink City’ the main tourist area of Jaipur after the Amber Fort. It seemed to be a fairly straightforward walk along a main road. This is not a main city thoroughfare like you would find in any western city. There are no footpaths, and if there were they would still be used by cars and motorbikes, it was chaos out there. Though it does all appear to be reasonably safe, keep your line and everyone works around you, cars and motorbikes included. Not sure if I would mess with a bus though. Where there was a raised footpath it covered the sewer and in so many places the path was broken and the stench of the sewers mingled with the fumes of the vehicles. It was pretty unpleasant.

I walked for quite a while and saw no sign of the ‘Pink City’ gates. I started to wonder if I was going in the right direction, and soon gave up in confusion and despair. Eventually I did what I should have done back at the start. I took a tuk tuk, one of the three wheeled motorbike taxis. I asked the driver to take me to the Pink City gates, discovering that I was heading in the right direction all along; it was just a hell of a lot further than I thought.

Jaipur is the capital city of the state of Rajasthan. It is named after its founder Jai Singh II who built his capital here in the late 17^th century, the Amber Fort. As the population expanded the capital was moved down to the flat land below the fort and was named Jaipur. In 1876 the maharajah had the entire old city painted pink, the colour of friendship, to welcome the Prince of Wales. The city palace sits within the Pink City, and was my objective for today. I had about 30 minutes to get there before they stop allowing visitors in at 5:00pm.

Once through the city gates I was confronted with the bazaars, each section dealing with a different kind of product, spices, cloth, metals, leather, all have their sections. It was very crowded and a little disorientating to begin with, it wasn’t helped by the main thoroughfare being packed solid with noisy, smelly traffic. At least there was some sort of footpath along the shop fronts. I did not take a load of photos here. I am very reluctant to aim my camera at people I do not know. If you have followed my blog at all, you would probably have guessed this by now. Some people are good with people and others are not. I sit very much on the ‘not’ side of the equation. I suspect this will continue to be an issue through the rest of my India journey.

I did take some photos of the buildings though. By law all buildings have to be painted pink. I would love to have the paint supply contract!

Reluctant to offend, I did not take any photos of shops, or people near shops, or anything that tried to capture the busyness and colour of the bazaar, though I did see a few things that caught my attention. Like these dolls for instance.

And a small shrine on the side of a building.

Eventually I found my way to where the City Palace was located, I saw a bus full of westerners and decided to follow it!

Passing through a small square, full of parked tourist buses, I finally found a place that I felt comfortable taking photos in. Goats, monkeys and bikes abounded, my sort of thing.

I paid the entrance fee to the City Palace just before the office closed. There were still a lot of people inside and I had an hour before everyone was booted out.

Wondering around listlessly I didn’t really pay a lot of attention to what was going on, nor to the history of the place. In the past I tried to get a bit of background before I enter a castle or a palace or temple so I can get an idea of what I am seeing. I had not done so here and it impacted on my enjoyment, plus I had been awake for 27 hours and was knackered. I took a couple of photos and left without seeing much at all.

Though I did appreciate the silence.

I headed off round the back of the palace, down some streets that I suspect tourists do not generally go, I like back streets.

They are quieter and often more interesting – and on the other side of the gates there was a lot less pink!

I eventually found my way back to one of the main streets and as it was approaching evening I decided to grab a tuk tuk back to the hotel. Alcohol is almost frowned upon in Rajasthan, though cannabis is, I believe, legal. My tuk tuk driver was smoking a joint and offered to sell me some, which I politely declined. I am not sure if it impaired his driving or not, hard to tell on these streets.

Back at the hotel and verging on darkness I asked the hotel owner if I could buy a can of beer, he pointed me in the direction of a beer shop not far away, but on the other side of the main road. It was a challenge getting across that road, all for the sake of beer! As I walked back up the smaller, one way street the hotel was on, I discovered that having lights on your vehicle appears to not be mandatory, driving a car down a one way street the wrong way, seems to be OK as well. You really need to keep your wits about you. I drank a can of beer in my room before dinner as it is not allowed in the hotel restaurant, it was very nice!

Dinner in the hotel was good, cheap and delicious, though sleep was even better…

Welcome to India

Friday 04 November 2016 – Jaipur, India.

Warning – culture shock! They should put that underneath the sign at the airport that says Welcome to India. I am pretty sure that no matter how much you prepare to come to India for the first time, no matter how much research you do, how many Youtube clips you watch or friends you speak to; when you get onto the streets you will find it is all overwhelming. I did anyway.

As usual I left home early and took two tube trains to Heathrow Airport. I was glad it was post rush hour as lugging a back pack and camera bag on the tube is no fun at all. I have decided to take the DSLR backpack travelling for the first time, with three lenses, it is big and heavy and awkward. Hopefully it will be worth it. I am also taking the pocket camera, just in case. My carry on camera bag weighs significantly more than my pack.

I was taking three flights, the first, to Abu Dhabi, was just over six hours. It was a really nice flight, good service and the meal was actually excellent! I watched some really terrible films (Star Trek, Central Intelligence, and on my neighbours screen – The Shallows. I did not need the sound for The Shallows.) I also started watching the BBC series The Night Manager, which was great. Sadly they did not have it on the next leg.

It was a quick turn round before I was on my next flight, a three hour trip to Delhi. It was not too bad either, though the chap next to me started snoring about 5 minutes after we took off, so it was headphones all the way. I watched the new Ghostbusters film. It deserved the terrible reviews it got.

The landing in Delhi was through a dense layer of low cloud, though once off the plane I discovered it was not low cloud. Just stinking, eye burning smog. Gross.

The journey through immigration and baggage was slow, luckily I had 4 hours until the connecting flight to Jaipur. I picked up a sim card for my mobile and some Indian Rupees. It took eight attempts on the ATM, they work differently to UK ones, and I had to use my UK card which was annoying as I was planning on spending NZ money as right now it is worth more !

I was pleasantly surprised by the domestic terminal at Delhi, really nice. Clean, comfy and not a rip off compared to other airports. Well done Delhi Airport. The flight to Jaipur seemed to take about 10 minutes, up and down, it was well under the scheduled hour. Being a smaller prop-jet it was the bumpiest of the three flights and there was not a lot to see out of the window as it was very hazy below.

I had arranged a pick up from my hotel, which I was not charged for. Given my hotel was £13 a night I was surprised! The journey was my culture shock moment. I am so glad I did not try and get a bus, it would have been just too much. Jaipur is the capital of the state of Rajasthan – more on it in my next post. It is the biggest city in Rajasthan, but not huge. But it was rammed, cars, bikes, motorbikes, people walking, dogs, cows, buses, trucks. Everything. Makes Hoe St in rush hour look like an early Sunday morning. Everybody honks all the time, it is not so much an aggressive, retaliatory act here – more a warning of ‘I am coming, look out’. There are lane markers on some of the roads, pointless. No one drives in lanes. Indicators – pah, don’t need one, There is a horn. I didn’t take any photos out of the cab as I was just trying to absorb it. Plus, the pollution was really bad there as well.

I settled into my hotel and had a bit of an early afternoon lie down. I had been awake for over 24 hours. After a few, very short, minutes I got changed, grabbed a map and left the building. At least I got to wear my ‘travelling in hot, dirty countries where I do not know anyone’ clothes. It has been too long since these saw the light of day. Some may say this is a good thing.

It has been too long since these saw the light of day. Some may say this is a good thing.

Exploring time!

This may be the last post for a couple of days. I want to post more of Jaipur, but the internet is quite slow where I am now and I have a few photos to go along with the text.

Farewell to Sri Lanka

Thursday/Friday 04/05 April 2013- Colombo.

Again I was in no real rush this morning, all I have to do is make it the few kilometres to the train station in Galle for the 1:15pm train to Colombo. I wasn’t planning on doing anything else with the day so did not get down to the restaurant for breakie until almost 8:30 and then I took over an hour to consume it. While I was eating the sky just opened up and poured with rain for quite a while. I was hoping it would clear the skies and the air and we would have a clear day with much reduced humidity – it was a forlorn hope. It seemed even worse!

The roof in my room leaked while I was at breakfast, fortunately not onto, or into my open pack, but near enough for me to organise everything into a pile on my bed while I lazed about for an hour or so before checking out at the last possible minute.

I took a tuk-tuk to Galle train station just after checking out at 11:00 and was surprised to find there was no 1:15 train, there was a 2:45 train. This meant over three hours in Galle station, oh well. I bought my ticket and settled down on a step to do emails to kill some time. I was, of course, an immediate target for a variety of touts and beggars and finally got sick of it and threw my pack on back and walked off to find somewhere less public to sit.

I found an unlikely home for a couple of hours – Galle KFC. I have not been into a KFC in decades- McDonalds and BK, yes – but not KFC! I ordered a coffee and a vege burger and took a seat in quiet and uninterrupted air conditioned luxury. It was a good choice!

I sent a text to Benne to say farewell and it turned out he was already on the train I was catching Having got on at an earlier stop in Matara. Small world, I found him when I got in but we did not get to sit together on the journey as the train was quite full

I hung out a door for a while before the rain started to come down Once the conductor came round checking tickets and kicked the non class 2 passengers out I managed to get a seat for the rest of the three hour ride. Sadly it was on the wrong side of the train and I did not have a window seat.

The train track from Galle to Colombo runs pretty much directly up the coast, often times only metres away from the beach, so the views were great, though with rain and other passengers there was little opportunity to take photos.

We arrived in Colombo Fort station just before 6:00, I said a farewell to Benne and we agreed to try and catch in England or Germany at some stage. I enjoyed travelling with him, thanks Benne !

Before I got a tuk-tuk to Trudi’s place I picked up a couple of rotis to eat on the way, my last ones in Sri Lanka. Most of the time the take-away food comes wrapped in newspaper or whatever paper comes to hand, often it is stapled together to make bag. This was the first time I have had some school book, maths or accounting I guess. I am not sure on the hygiene of it all, but what the heck – it is what it is!

Trudi was away back in Australia but had a friend, Colleen, staying in the apartment and minding her daughter, so I had someone to let me in when I arrived. It was great to have a good hot shower and even better to have a glass of red or two. I spent a very pleasant evening chatting to Colleen before making my 11:00pm Skype appointment with El. Maybe the last one for a while as I am not sure what internet access I will have on the boat. As always, lovely to see her again.

Friday morning was not too much of an early start and I got to eat toast and Vegemite for breakfast which was just absolute magic – sometimes it is the little things that are missed the most. I got all my washing done and dried, even my month old sleeping bag liner, which was a relief – probably to all. I was going to post a box of stuff back to NZ and asked Colleen about getting to the post office. She volunteered to take it and post it to my mum as she was off to Auckland next week, that was very cool and I off loaded a bunch of stuff I was not going to need on the boat.

We went for lunch to the Barefoot Cafe, a very popular local hang out, the food was great as were the couple of bottles of Shiraz we made disappear as well. I had a great afternoon, and then it was time to pack up and head off to the airport for the flight to Singapore.

I really liked Sri Lanka, if I ever chose to come back to a country again I would put it on the list, the Sri Lankans are very friendly and hospitable and with the exception of some tuk-tuk drivers and guest house operators are honest as trustworthy as well. The country is mostly beautiful and clean and has a great mix of things to do from the spiritual to the profane, from the active to the restful. The best thing is the food is delicious, plentiful and cheap.

A couple of dives in Sri Lanka

Wednesday 03 April – Unawatuna.

I was up at the crack of dawn this morning, by 7:00 anyway and was down in the restaurant before they started serving breakfast at 7:30! I wanted to make sure I had a reasonable feed to make up for my lack of dinner last night. I had had a very late lunch! Today was diving day and I wanted breakfast fully digested before I hit the water.

I walked round to the dive shop and arrived on time to the usual dive shop scene of vaguely organised chaos. There were a lot of divers going out today, more than I have seen anywhere else on my travels, and it I think more than the dive shop staff could really cope with. Fortunately we split into three groups and even more fortunately I ended up with a group who were primarily English speakers rather than Russian. Usually I am not so lucky! We had a very hurried dive plan brief, were split into buddy pairs and then got our gear sorted. You can see how close the buildings are to the sea…

Our first dive was a thirty metre deep wreck dive on the Rangoon. I don’t know anything about the wreck and disappointingly we were not told anything either. I guess I could google it! The dive was OK at best, visibility was rubbish and the dive master was too quick to move round the skeletal remains of the ships infrastructure, we really did not have time to look at much as we were constantly lost. My dive buddy ran low of air early so it was a short dive – though to the dive plan time I guess.

We started making our way back to the shop to get a second set of tanks when the outboard on the boat stopped dead in the water. It took a while to get started, though there was no need to worry as we were only a kilometre or so from shore and well within cell range. Finally the engine took and we were off again. There were five customers on board and a pretty good group to chat with which was really nice for a change, I have had way to many silent rides on dive boats.

Once we had loaded up with fresh tanks we were off again, I thought we would change boats due to the engine failure but no, same boat and same problem on the way back from this dive. I think it summed up the dive shop for me, shonky!

The second dive was a shallow reef dive. Though there was not a lot of coral or anything much else to see, a few fish and that was about it. Visibility was poor even at ten metres and there was a reasonable wash that made buoyancy awkward and looking into all the small overhangs almost impossible. I was pretty unhappy with it, possibly the worst diving I have had yet, though I was OK, buoyancy and air use were both good, a shame about the dive site.

I was not impressed with the dive shop, as always I don’t name names, it is not their fault the visibility sucked, but I thought our dive master was very average. Having said that, there was a minor incident underwater with one of the other divers and the dive master reacted with utmost professionalism to ensure that diver safety was not compromised. That was at least a good sign.

The other thing I didn’t like was that the staff all smoked in the shop, it is reasonable normal in SE Asia, but I didn’t sit around for a coffee and chat after because the air was thick with stinky smoke. Bad customer service… On the subject of smoking the boat boy threw his cigarette butt into the sea, something I have never seen before, they always put them in a bin on the boat. I think it summed up the shop and probably Unawatuna; little or no respect for the environment that has given them the opportunity to make money.

I walked back along the beach to my hotel at the far end. I had extended my stay here by a night, and just like the place in Tangalle, I had to change room, so my stuff was all moved while I was out diving. The room is nowhere near as good as the last one and I have the noisiest bed I have ever had the misfortune to sleep on, it didn’t just squeak at every movement, it yowled and screamed, a shame as it was quite comfy.

I had a much needed shower and then went down to the restaurant for a late lunch of pizza and beer. It was the best pizza I have had in Sri Lanka by a million miles, very nice – chilli chicken. It was the first chicken I have eaten as well, I have been sticking to a mainly vegetarian diet with the occasional egg, fish or sea food meal. The food has all been good though, I have not had a bad meal in Sri Lanka and have eaten a lot of the ‘short eat’ snacks, curry roles, curry wrapped in roti etc. I will miss them.

I hung out in the restaurant for a bit after the pizza, got a blog post completed and a few emails done, making the most of the wifi while I have it. I went for a short walk in the afternoon before heading back to the beach bar for another G and T or two on the beach while reading my book. Once it was dark I headed back towards my hotel. It was depressing walking past all the deserted and semi-deserted restaurants. I was not particularly hungry, but if I had found a restaurant with the right atmosphere I would have gone in and found a snack to go with a final, or two, G and T. There just was not one, the thought of being alone or joining the other sad lonely bastard sitting there with his or her book was too much. So I went back to my hotel and became the sad lonely bastard there; sitting over a laptop with a G and T.

Though I was not sad or lonely – just alone.

Galle Fort

Tuesday 02 April 2013 – Unawatuna.

I was in no rush to do anything much today so I mooched in bed till 8:30. I had been trying to avoid using the air con all night but the room is so vast the fan just did not create enough cool air so in the end I had to turn it on to try and bring the humidity down to a sleepable level, it barely worked. I had a western breakfast in the hotel, part of the room charge so I wasn’t going to go hunt down a Sri Lankan one, much as I would have enjoyed string hoppers and dhal again.

Late morning I Skyped my mum and youngest son back in NZ, I wanted to update them on my plans and it is always so nice to see them. I had the added bonus of being able to see one of my sisters as well and I have not seen her in ages ! I will update a bit more on my plans in the next couple of days.

In the early afternoon I wandered through Unawatuna and out to the main road to catch a bus into Galle, which is a few kilometres up the road. As I was standing in the bus stop a tuk-tuk came past after dropping people off and gave me a price for a ride into Galle that I could not turn down – win / win for both, so I took the ride into town.

Galle Fort was first built by the Portugese in the 16th century and then added to by the Dutch in the 17th and finally by the British in the 18th. Galle, as a significant port has been on world maps since the 2nd century, so it has a fair amount of history. Like a lot of places on the Sri Lankan south coast it was badly damaged during the 2004 tsunami. Though the old sea walls were largely undamaged, there was damage to many of the historic buildings inside the walled area. The fort section of Galle is a UNESCO protected site and is quite cool, sort of. Like a cross between Hoi An in Vietnam and Stone Town on Zanzibar.

My tuk-tuk dropped me off outside the main gate into the old forted part of town, the walls were mightily impressive even seen through these fairly jaded ‘been impressed by walls in the past’ eyes. I started walking up into the town, mainly in search of a cool drink and a wee lunch time snack, however I got latched onto fairly quickly by an old guy who assured me he was not a guide and then proceeded to guide me. I gave him five minutes, a couple of bucks and told him I did not want a guide. He left in a huff, but only after I got him to take a photo of me…

I walked around the walls for a while in the sun, a habit I started in the Angkor temples, walking around the outside of a site first – look at the walls, look inside the walls, look for some of the interesting things to see outside of the centre.

Like all the major tourist places I have been to in Sri Lanka there was a large school group visiting Galle Fort, I think it is very cool that the young people of this country visit some of the historically important sites, and in this case bring a drum and have a sing and dance as well.

There are a number of large signboards around the town showing where the major highlights are, a couple of them, like the Black Fort are out of bounds to tourists. I fail to understand why a place as cool sounding as the Black Fort has to be the office of the deputy police commissioner.

Which brings me to briefly comment on people in uniforms carrying automatic weapons…. They are everywhere in Sri Lanka, every major tourist town seems to have a military base of some description, Galle has navy. I have no idea what was in Tangalle, but the whole town seemed to be covered in serious faced young men with guns. I know there was a long and ugly civil war here, but, come on, guns suck ! Remove them from the streets, especially in places like Galle. I want to see the Black Fort, I want to know why it is called the Black Fort, I probably would take a photo. Why does it have to be some deputy friggin cop’s office…. grrrrrrr

I spent the next couple of hours (calmly, I will add) wandering around the inside of the fort area, me being late in the tourist season it was quite deserted which was really nice, though it did make me an easy target for tuk-tuk drivers and others with things to sell.

I loved this sign.

I did eventually stop for a cold drink and a snack, but found it difficult to find much that was open and not selling western food, a bit like Hoi An, pizza and lattes seemed to be the choices of the day.

I took a walk out of the fort area and back to the high street area, I walked around for a while looking for a pair of board shorts but didn’t find anything that appealed.

I ended up grabbing a tuk-tuk back to Unawatuna. I got the driver to drop me on the highway so I could walk back up the street and enjoy the much nicer atmosphere than that on the beach.

As I was walking I heard the music from a New Zealand ice cream van coming up behind me, but it turned out to be a small truck selling local foods, so grabbed a couple of egg and vege rolls – lovely 🙂

I had a cool down shower in my room then read by the pool for a while before heading to one of the beach bars for a G and T and to read some more. I had been put off by the whole beach bar thing, not that I am opposed to them, I love them, just don’t like the way it seems so rapacious here, but I did enjoy a drink until it was too dark to read anymore.

I had dinner at my hotel and went to bed early and read some more. I am reading Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn and it is beyond addictive, it was a late night.

Paradise Lost.

Monday 01 April 2013 – Unawatuna.

I had another one of those terrible sleepless nights with the inevitable dropping off into a doze around 6:00 and getting an hour of sleep before waking and getting up ready to leave Tangalle. I kinda liked Tangalle, it had a good mix of plush – and not so plush tourism as well as dusty old daily Sri Lankan life. I cannot say the same about my next stop though…

I had breakfast and coffee at the guest house before leaving, a very radical concept given I was about to catch a bus, though in theory it was only a short journey of seventy ish kilometres to my next stop of Unawatuna. I took a tuk-tuk back into town to the main bus stop and got on a bus heading towards Colombo. It was very hot and humid under cloudy skies in the bus station so I spent most of the time standing outside with the wise locals as we waited for departure. I feel entirely secure here in Sri Lanka, there are not many places where I would leave my pack under a seat and my day bag with laptop and camera in it on the seat, while I stood outside. Admittedly I could see my day bag, but in some countries that means nothing at all. In the main the Sri Lankans are an honest people – no one will steal your stuff anyway.

The ride to Unawatuna was the wildest yet, man – we were going so fast, the horn blaring loudly all the way, the bus was absolutely packed and I was stupidly on the inland side so missed seeing all the famous beaches as we screamed through village and town, screeching to a halt to pick up and drop off passengers at seemingly random points. The conductor gave me a couple of minutes notice so I could untangle myself and my possessions from all the people around me and get off the bus without delaying it too long at the stop. This will be my last bus ride in Sri Lanka. I am not sure if I will miss them or not.

I am going to stay in Unawatuna for three nights and then catch a train from nearby Galle to Colombo for my final night in Sri Lanka. I am staying in a hotel, which is by my standards very expensive, at 60NZD a night. I have a massive room, air con, a TV and mini bar. But the wifi sucks – it is always the way. Wifi works great everywhere except my room!

The first thing I did once I had gotten to my room was to flick the air con on and then take a shower to remove the deep sweat from a solid humid day. My room is quite well covered and I thoroughly enjoyed walking around in the cool air in um, not many clothes, as it were – luxury !

I have come to Unawatuna to do two things, to dive in Sri Lanka and to visit the historical fort section of nearby Galle city. Unawatuna is a tourist town on the side of a bay that allows for reasonably safe swimming – unlike other parts of the coast. I took a walk through the single main street of Unawatuna back towards the highway where the main dive shops are. I had a short feeling of good will towards the town, it reminded me a bit of El Nido in the Philippines – a town I have fond (rose tinted maybe ?) memories of. Unawatuna too, is dusty and beach side and touristy and a bit jaded and faded and I kind of liked that.

Though I would not stay here – ever.

This all changed when I had found the dive shop I wanted and booked myself a dive and then headed back up the beach rather than the road. They have completely ruined what would be a nice beach, guesthouses and restaurants and bars litter the narrow beach, in some cases, past the below tide line. It is a scene of unrelenting destruction and I decided there and then I didn’t like Unawatuna anymore. OK, I will admit unrelenting ugliness is a massive exaggeration, but it could be so much more than what it has become and I am sad for Unawatuna.

I walked dejectedly back to my hotel and had a cooling swim in the pool, not being able to face the thought of swimming in the sea. I had another great Skype call with El, maybe the last for a while before I head out on the yacht in a few days time – I will miss her smile and her sort of East London accented voice. I went to bed early feeling a wee bit melancholy.

Unawatuna is definitely the best sounding town name I have been to, so much easier to say than Anuradhapura!

The last Buddhist temple visit for a while, I guess.

Sunday 31 March 2012 – Tangalle.

Another month gone, this year is disappearing so quickly!

I was awake way far too early for comfort, 4:30 or so, so I was up and ready for breakfast when the restaurant opened at 7:00. A large pot of coffee to start the day. My room comes with free breakfast, normally it is standard guest house fair of toast, eggs and fruit, but today was Sri Lankan breakfast day and finally, after three weeks in Sri Lanka I got to try string hoppers and dhal. I will say it was mighty fine…

I had originally planned on staying here for two nights but decided on doing three as I was enjoying the atmosphere. The catch was I had to move rooms this morning, which was not such a hassle. After breakfast I packed my stuff up and left it in my room before heading out to the road to meet the tuk-tuk driver I had booked yesterday – and he even turned up on time.

He was taking me out see the cave temple at Mulkirigala which were built approximately fifteen hundred years ago and started by King Saddhatissa. The temple is built on three layers up a rock bluff that stands out from the surrounding countryside. We got a wee bit lost on the way and ended up doing a bit of three wheel driving – well sort of, at one point I thought we were going to tip over, it was fun 🙂

The temples are accessed through a school for monks and as usual there is little signage. I sort of wandered through in what appeared to be the right direction and hoped I was right – and this time I was! After a short stair way I found the ticket office and the first layer of rock temples.

As well as the ubiquitous troop of monkeys – eating all the offered food and flowers.

The reclining Buddha figures in the caves were all behind glass, but I guess most of you who read my blog have probably seen enough of them, I think I finally have as well. I admired the lovely old stupa inside one of the caves as well as the murals on the walls and ceilings.

I decided to walk to the top and then work my way back down through the levels, get the climbing done once and as early as possible. So I started up the stairs.

Followed by some more.

And then some more.

Man, the Sri Lankans loved to put things up high.

Wahoo, the top.

Well almost, but finally there. 530+ steps later.

Frustratingly there was no view from the top ! Too many trees, and only a small stupa as well, oh well. I enjoyed the climb and there was a reasonably cool breeze at the top so I relaxed for a short while before heading back down again to the second level of cave temples.

I could kick myself sometimes, instead of relaxing and taking time to cool down – even at 9:00 am I was pouring sweat, I was worried that I was holding up my tuk-tuk driver – even though I was paying him.

I do wonder about myself…. I did peruse the caves at my leisure, but I could have taken more time. I do not know much about the paintings, but most of them are dated from the 18th century.

And there was a view from here too.

Back at the base I took a shot back up the bluff and then we left.

We did not get lost on the way back to my guest house and I only paid the agreed price. I have heard tales of people getting lost and then being charged an additional fee to cover petrol. Some tuk-tuk drivers cannot be trusted – a surprise I know!

I was back at the guest house by mid-morning and found I had been moved to my new room, equally as nice but the wifi was not as good. After a bit of washing I lazed for a while, had a swim, lazed some more before a nice long Skype with El over a glass of wine in the sun.

I had pizza again for dinner, it was mighty fine, especially as it had a good covering of delicious cheese – I do miss cheese so much 🙂 Dinner was over by 8:00 and the place was just about shut down when I left the restaurant. With not much else to do I retired to my room, finished this post and started watching the classic rock move “This is Spinal Tap”, though I did not make it very far in to the movie – too tired, so I elected to read for a short while instead.

I am reasonably sure this will be my last opportunity to visit temples for a while, there are only a few more days left in Sri Lanka and I hope to get a scuba dive in on one of those days. Never say never though!