Negombo

Tangalle spoiled me. Almost a week I did doing nothing except eating fresh sea food and rice with different curries, riding the bike along the coast and inland, reading, swimming and chatting with the manager, his family, the cook, the cook's brother and all the other lovely Sri Lankans who probaly because of some great karma in their past lives are living in this place now.

I visited Galle with its old Dutch fort, at night tried to spot turtles which supposedly come to lay eggs on full moon (not this time though) and explored some more beaches, caves and temples in the villages nearby.

Tangalle was so quiet and peaceful, it couldn't get any better than this. The way along the coast was pretty nice though. It was raining, but not heavily. There were those so-called "stilt fishermen" near Kogalla, sitting like sea birds on their sticks coming out of the water, then in Hikkaduwa there was a good Italian restaurant with capuccino and tagliatelle with prawns, and then as I was coming near the capital, I decided to skip the visit there, mainly because its suburbs started 20 kms before the city and looked like an infinite line of shops from two sides of the road congested with heavy traffic. It reminded me of Delhi, sort of, just smaller and cleaner. I didn't like it there. Shopping amidst exhaust fumes isn't for me. So I got back to this nice beach town, Negombo, spending my last few days here. Today I rented here a nice 250 cc bike and went north along the west coast, all the way to Puttalam and back. There weren't many attractions, it started raining heavily several times, but overall, it was a pleasant experience. There wasn't much traffic, the road was in great condition, so I drove from one coconut plantation to another (there is even something called "Coconut Research Institute"), stopped to pay respect to Shiva & Parvati in a beautiful Hindu temple and took a turn to some forgotten little Muslim village where the kids were pretty surprised to see me.

Sunday is work... ?

Tangalle

After leaving Kandy on a rented bike, I got to Dambulla, which is a site of Sri Lanka's historic heritage. It has 5 caves with many Buddha's statues and wall paintings. Although not as much impressive as Ajanta caves in India, it's a nice place. The rituals are alive, people come to put flowers in front of the sculpture of the Enlightened One and pray silently. Then I got to Sigirya, a Mazada-style royal palace on top of 200m rock. There are some beautiful frescoes on the wall, whose character suggest that the place was more for enjoyment rather than a military stronghold.

The bike had problems, and after returning it to Kandy, I got another one in Sigirya. I continued northeast, to Trincomalee, along a virtually empty road running through jungle-covered plains. There supposedly are some wild elephants and Tamil Tigers in the jungle, but I haven't seen neither of them. The soldiers stopped me a couple of times, probably wanted to practice English. Most of the times they just smiled as I went by. Trinco is a Tamil-dominated town, on the north of east coast. There are many South-India style Hindu temples, some Catholic churches. The people have view on the conflict from a different side. The military presence is quite heavy - there are many blockposts, some parts of the beach are off bounds, access to 1676 Dutch Fort is permitted only without camera. There are nice beaches north of town - Nilaveli and Uppaveli. Since the tsunami, the tourism hasn't recovered yet, so there are kilometers of sand in coconut with practically no one around. What a getaway. I liked it there. It struck me that this is the first time I see the sun actually appears from the sea... well, Dead Sea doesn't count.

The monsoon on the northeast coast was about to start, it was easy to notice the weather changed: afternoons became gloomy, with strong wind. I went south to Batticaloa, which involved a 200 km detour, because the coastal area is controlled by the Tigers. Then, south again along the coast, to Arugam Bay, known for its great surfing waves. It's actually another quiet fishing Muslim village that became one of these touristic spots, packed with guest houses and restaurants. The rainy season started all right, it poured and poured, and I'm not much of a surfer, so I got myself on the bike and got to the South Coast, finally, where the sky is still blue. I stayed in a town named Tangalle, right near the beach. Gonna get me another of those rice & curry... they're so good, and never taste the same.

Kandy

After Nuwara Elia I went by bus to Haputale, which is a lovely village south east. It's located on a ridge and has beautiful views from both its sides. The place is a mix of Christians, Hindus, Muslims and Buddhists, which is typical to Sri Lanka. They seem to get together just fine, although according to history, sometimes violence erupts. Haputale is in a short distance from some nice places to visit. There are waterfalls, tea factories, a Benedictine monastery, a national park called Horton Plains which is much over-praised in the guidebook, although it's still nice. It's easy to spot some deers, monkeys, lizards and birds. A nice 35 km trip with motorbike, the road goes up the mountain through tea plantations and beautiful forest. The people along the way are extremely friendly, smiling and greeting, not annoying at all. An hour by bus from Haputale is Ella, another little village, and the views there are indeed amazing. Ella Rock, a 1.5 hour climb from the village, feels like the top of the world. A cool breeze compensates for the steep walk up. Yep, back in Kandy now. By bus, although it's supposed to be a great train journey. The trains are striking today. Bummer...

Nuwara Elia

It's been a while, but better late than never, right? So here I am, in a beautiful little town named Nuwara Elia, in the hill region of Sri Lanka. I've been in the country for five days. Arrived by a direct flight from Jordan, spent one day in a beach town of Negombo, close to the airport, to get the taste of the place, the people and a little bit of the Indian Ocean. Then I continued by bus to the hills, a town named Kandy, which is second in size in Sri Lanka, but is not that big really. There is a nice lake in the middle of the city, with many fish (fishing is prohibited though), water birds and some strange lizards. Facing the lake, there is a big Buddhist temple, which supposedly preserves the tooth of Buddha. The Tamil Tigers tried to blast the temple several years ago. The second city's attraction is the traditional dancing show. I decided to pass them both. There are really nice botanical gardens a few kilometers from the the city, close to the Peradeniya university, with many types of tropical trees, some of them planted by celebrities like Moraji Desai, Lord Mountbatten and even the first Soviet cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin. In the middle of the park there is a huge fig tree which sprawls across 1600 sq. m, according to the guidebook. Also, there are collections of palms from all over the world, giant bamboo, cactii, fruit trees, few herbal gardens, and a beautiful orchid house, with some amazingly colored flowers. I never knew some of the trees actually exist, like a cannon ball tree, for example.

An hour ride from the town, there is an elephant orphanage, which became a really big attraction both for locals and for foreigners. There are dozens of elephants there, big and small. Their daily routine consists of feeding, bathing in the river and posing to the photographs. It's not really like a zoo, they are pretty much free to go wherever they want in a huge area. Very cute.

After Kandy, I went to Nuwara Elia, a former British hill station, elevated 1900 m above sea level. It's like a tea land around, plantations everywhere, the air is very clean and pleasant. The temperature is cooler than below. The weather is great, especially in morning, when the views from the hills are amazing. In afternoon, the hills get misty, but it doesn't become cold, at least not this time of year. The town still has an atmosphere of British presence, with wooden mansions, golf course and Victoria park. The president is supposed to visit the town next month, so the school children make repetitions for a welcome ceremony, including drums, flutes and marching.

My impression of the people is very good so far. They are very hospitable, kind and polite. They're not pushy, even if they're dependant on the tourists' money. Always smiling and greeting. Pretty much like India, but not spoiled yet, maybe because they don't see much tourism because of the war. The roads are in excellent condition, so it's comfortable to travel by bus, although they're still Tata and sometimes they get very crowded.

Sunrise above Tel Aviv

Back... ;)

Bangkok #2

I spent the rest of my stay in Myanmar in some places not too far away from the capital. First, I made a little Buddhist piligrimage to Kyaiktiyo (which is pronounced like Chai-ti-o, no idea where all the k'-s came from), also known as Golden Rock. The rock is miraculously balancing on the edge of precipice, some even say floating in the air. From the start it sounded like a lot of crap, but I did it just for the 4 hours mountain hike. I started from Kinpun, a village with cheap guest houses and souvenirs market. Beside the usual t-shirts and necklaces, the souvenirs that are popular with locals to bring back from the piligrimage include models of various shooting weapons, made of bamboo, but still looking very intimidating, especially when carried by fighters with thanaka-covered faces.

The numerous food and drink vendors on the way are not too agressive, and surprisingly there isn't as much garbage as in some other important religious sites. The way is steep but nice, some beautiful views of the valleys below the ridge are revealed after a while.















While approaching the rock itself, my first impression was that a bunch of people are trying to test its miraculous balance by pushing it off the mountain. Actually, all these people are male devotees that apply stickers of golden paint to the rock surface. The women aren't allowed to approach the rock (even the magic has its limits) and make the prayings and meditation from a safe distance. The area around consists of restaurants and resthouses for piligrims, monasteries, many small temples where one can see the strange combination of Buddhism and Myanmar's traditional beliefs in nats, the guardian spirits. There are 37 of them, and together with Buddha's, that makes a lot of statues in the temples. Instead of hiking the way down, I decided to take a truck, which is the only allowed mean of transportation to and from the rock. The trucks are packed with 40 people, and needless to say, the benches are not designed for foreigners with long feet. Luckily, it's only a half an hour ride down.

My last destination was Chaungtha beach, a strange place.















Beatiful and long strip of white sand and coconuts, few budget guest houses and many luxury hotels, and more under construction, but looks like all this variety of accomodation is empty most of the time. Locals seem to visit on weekends mostly, and spend the time getting inside the water fully dressed and floating on tubes near shore. There are some monks hanging around, some of them look also like on family vacation, with cameras and all, and some walking around the guest houses, probably only the ones with foreigners, collecting 'donations'. I have to admit, that the pagodas on the beach facing the ocean, make the monk's life look pretty attractive.

The shopping opportunities in this place include many kinds of dried sea food, jewelery made of shells and bamboo strips hats. North from the hotels area there's a rocky area, where poor locals break rocks to build roads, followed by another beach, where there's nothing but coconuts and white sand. Anyway, Chaungtha is definitely not the usual backpackers beach, but is a nice and quiet place after all, with good accommodation and food. There was nothing more to do, except buying souvenirs in Yangon markets, getting the last opportunities for cheap and good Indian food and saying good bye to Myanmar.
Now in Bangkok, spending the last days of this trip...

Yangon

I liked the Cambodian south coast. Stayed one night in Kep, a small once-beach-resort, which still has many badly damaged villas. From there I rode by boat to Koh Tonsay (Rabbit Island) which is a few kilometers from the coast, and spent 3 days there. There are some fishermen families on the island, which have basic bungalows for stay and cook fresh seafood. The prices are a bit high, but the portions are really generous. Most of the tourists come for a half-day boat trip from Kep, few stay for longer.














There was a circus band from Battambang staying on the island in tents for one night, they invited us, 3 tourists, to drink with them. The Cambodian drinking is unstoppable. It's impossible to have an empty can with them. Very funny people and very courteous also, even if drunk. The island was rather small, only a couple of hours to walk around the coast, but there's a mountain on the middle, covered with jungle, and it's unexplored and wild. There are also some islands in sight distance from Koh Tonsay, some have little houses, but the whole are is not developed yet. After getting back to mainland I headed to Sihanoukeville, which is a port town further west. Lots of tourists come there, because of great beaches in the town and nearby. The popular ones can get pretty busy and noisy, but still there are several kilometers of white sand with practically no one around. There are motorbikes for rent in town. I spent a nice time in Otres beach, 6km from town, just getting back to eat in the market, which is always cheaper.














My visa ran out on December 22, I took a fast boat, more like a rocket to Koh Kong, on Thai border, and got pretty lucky catching a 7 pm bus from Trat to Bangkok and arriving at midnight. It's good Kao San road is open till late.
My flight to Yangon was at Christmas. Arriving to Myanmar felt so different from Bangkok. With so many Indian faces around, the old English colonial buildings, chai and chapati stalls, men chewing and spitting betel, Yangon felt a lot like some Indian city. But still it was a different story. There were so many new and surprising things. Women and kids wearing a kind of sandalwood makeup, covering their cheeks and sometimes all the faces with a yellow paint, it looks funny on the young ones but reminds of Chinese horror movies in some cases. Most of men wear loungyi, kind of sheet they wrap around their waist and knot in front. There are many Buddhist pagodas, called paya in Burmese and look like huge golden bells. There're many Buddha statues inside, and their worshiping again reminded me of Indian devotees.














Most of the cars on the streets are very old. Unlike in India, in Yangon horn sounds are almost never heard, and there are no motorcycles or bicycles, but this only in Yangon.














The pavements of downtown are full of merchandise, most of it clothes, sunglasses, jewelery and food stuff. After 2 days in the capital I got some feeling of traveling the roads of Myanmar. My first destination was Kalaw, a hill station in Shan state, a 17 hours ride from Yangon. It was very early morning when I arrived there, very cold, and I was lucky to keep some warm stuff from the Himalaya trekking. The town is a starting point for several trekking routes, the most popular and easy to arrange is the one to Inle lake, which takes 2.5 days. Walking isn't strenuous, we were a group of four tourists, and two locals - a cook who fed us with delicious meals 3 times a day and a guide who knew just everything about the area and was willing to talk. The area is all hills covered with pines and bamboo forests, rice, wheat and condiments plantations, cherries and avocados, really beautiful and colorful scenery, especially when looking from above.














The people in the villages we walked through were mostly of Pa-O tribe, and we got a glimpse on their life, staying in one such village for a night.



















Seems like farming is their main source of income, although the poppy plantations are not far away, but these are off limit, unfortunately. The second night we spent in a monastery, where the oldest monk was about 20 years old, he was in charge of running a community of more than a hundred kids, who seemed very mature and independent, some of them only 5 years old but working and helping along with others. It's strange to see them, wearing just a piece of red cloth and walking barefoot in the chilly mornings, while we cover ourselves with socks and sweaters. Lots of boys become monks in Myanmar, usually the family sends every boy for a 7-days trial period, and it's completely up to him if he wants to stay or no. Some of them, even really small, make the decision to become a monk independently. We arrived to southwest end of Inle lake on noon of the 3rd day and took a boat to Nyaungshwe village, on the northeastern side, where all the guest houses are located. The lake is long and wide. The area around is inhabited mostly by Intha people who are very much dependent on the lake's natural resources and on tourism. That's why the main tourist attractions are the markets in the villages around. The ride on the lake is quite an experience, I especially liked the local fishermen with their unique work technique. They use their foot to row the oar, which leaves one hand free to handle the net. Others use some kind of conical baskets that they dip in the water, using their foot again. All these things are done by slow smooth motions and it's like watching some kind of ritual performance.














Nyaungshwe was a nice place to stay. We arrived on New Year's eve, and the locals made quite a party, for their standards, staying awake after midnight for singing with guitars and drinking large quantities of beer and whiskey with foreigners. The next day we went for a boat trip around the lake, most of it was quite commercial, but it's understandable that people, who are generally poor in the country, are eager to use the opportunity for getting some money from tourists. Except the markets and the shops, one stop we made was in Nga Phe Kyaung monastery, which is also known as the 'jumping cat' monastery. The monks living there taught some of the numerous cats that hang around to jump through a ring, and this way the place became a really hot attraction for foreigners. Seems like meanwhile the cats got really bored with this lifestyle and we witnessed only one of them jumping reluctantly, and only once, in spite of all the persuasions. After Inle a decided to get back to Kalaw, because I preferred the more quiet atmosphere there. The ride was a lot of fun on the roof of a pick up. In Kalaw, following an advice our trekking guide gave me, I went to get some traditional Pa-O massage, made by a 9-fingers master named Sok Thein. I asked him to make it strong... if he had 10 fingers I thought I wouldn't survive it. But it felt really good afterwards. He was surprised to see a foreigner getting it in the old Pa-O way. He said afterwards that he felt really weak and needed to eat 3 plates to refill the energy.
From Kalaw I got another terrible bus ride, this time to Mandalay. The city was a royal capital before the British rule, and the royal palace, surrounded by a long moat and a wall, is in the center. Foreigners are supposed to use only one entrance, from the east, and walk along only one road towards the palace compound, located in the center. The palace is rather boring, the buildings are empty and there's not much to see there. Going back, I got off the permitted road to take a look on the tomb of King Midon, but an old smiling soldier on a bicycle caught me there and politely but persistently showed me the way back to the road. Mandalay is a religious center for Myanmar Buddhism, the Mandalay Hill is a home to many pagodas with innumerable Buddha statues, and there's also a whole monk district, which is quite pleasant with its quietness after the traffic mess in downtown. There are also many pagodas all over Mandalay, most of them look pretty much the same, like all temples do after seeing quite a lot of them. I didn't really enjoy the time there, so I got back on road, to Bagan this time. Unlike Angkor in Cambodia, Bagan impresses with the quantity and not the quality of its temples, and it's much quieter than Angkor, even in high season. There are thousands of temples, and there are more under construction. Apparently, many of country ruling generals and wealthy people think that they will make a very good karma by ordering a new red-brick structure. The sunrises and sunsets are very nice, when all the plain, covered with forest of temple peaks can be seen under an amazing color show in the sky.














I didn't find much special to see in the interior of the temples, although I didn't see many of them. Some have murals, usually in poor condition. Almost all have big sitting Buddha statues, some have reclining and standing ones. The villagers of the area are of course very much dependent on visiting tourists, producing paintings in the style of the temples' murals, lacqueware and textiles. It doesn't look like there's much of farming, the land in the area seems to be very dry. A nice day to break the temples routine was to ride a pick-up to Mountain Popa, a very holy place for Myanmar Buddhists. Approaching the mountain gives an opportunity for quite a sight. Mt. Popa looks more like a cliff, covered with golden payas, coming out from a slope of a much larger mountain. The view from the top is nice, but the pick-up stays there only for until 1 pm before coming back to Bagan, so I couldn't really appreciate the sunset, when all the Bagan plain is supposed to be seen on the west side. One more day exploring the surrounding area on bicycle, and after getting enough temples (again) I came back to Yangon.