So, it was a few days of RnR in Negombo - I really didn’t do very much at all except give the Hotel Spa good business, a walk around and a short TukTuk tour of the main sights, while frequently inhabiting a lounge next to the pool and wading in ‘tepid’ water in the pool to watch the comings and goings of a resort style hotel foyer and poolside. There were a lot of European visitors who were daily pool goers - for the whole day! My you…I really couldnt talk at all because I was a daily visitor, though not for whole days.
The TukTuk tour was conducted by ‘Fernando’ who was very pleasant. He was a native of Negombo, spoke relatively good English. He told me he only did tours part time and was a fisherman at other times. We drove around the roads…relatively narrow but busy (however not by Indian standards). We crossed bridges over canals that the Dutch had built, and saw forts that they also built that were now prisons. The tour was average - St Marys Church (which had colourful statues, lots of gold and vibrant frescoes ); the Hindu Temple (also colourful) and the Buddhist Temple (also colourful).
It was the fish markets that stayed in my mind. They were a hive of activity with hundreds working in one way or another. Many were on the beach processing fish - beheading, gutting, splitting to then go into drums of salt and water for 48 hours. There were others who were emptying the drums and spreading the salted fish on Hession laid out on the hot sand. In the hot weather as it was, it would only take 48 hours for the fish to fully dry so it could be sold to locals, and some imported. Apparently Salted Fish is a staple of Sri Lankan diet - particularly for those who cannot easily get fresh fish as it lasts between 3 to 6 months. It was quite a mesmerising process - these people were working from 4 am ish and were covered head to toe in clothing, hats and even balaclavas to protect themselves even though the temperature was 36 Celsius!
Inside the market - a rough tin covered series of alleys with cloth strung in the not roofed areas to keep the sun off, were a variety of sized stalls. Each one offered their wares on plastic sheets with some stallholders doing some advertising by calling out….it seems every fresh food market has a similar process. On the sheets of plastic sat Tuna, Shark, Stingray, Snapper, barracuda, and something that looked like a large gar fish on the ‘big fish stalls’. On others there were layers of small tuna; sardines, squid and anchovy and sometimes prawns. Some stalls were purely prawns with four to five different types and sizes and yet others had a variety of crabs. It was a rather hectic place with the constant movement of people in the laneways, the constant watering of fish on the pallets and a heavy scent of fish….on a hot sunny day it was not the nasally sensitive! A quick shot of eucalyptus to the nose was a quick way to solve what could have been a ‘heaving’ exercise response!
The next tour group met for dinner at the hotel and then proceeded across the road to Lords Restaurant for a Sri Lankan dinner. It was another round of’get to know you’conversations with a completely different mix of people than the previous two tours, although the total remains at 7, it consists of one couple and 5 solos travellers. Gwyn and Peter from New Zealand, Caroline from Ireland, Jo from the UK, Rob from near Myrtleford in Victoria, Liarne from Canberra and me. Our Tour Leader is Arni - a Sri Lankan from the Kandy area.
Our bus is much more luxurious than Nepal - which I was very pleased about when I spotted it on the first morning….nice comfortable seats and individual AC outlets looks like it will be a much more comfortable ride for the next week or so. We departed at a civilised time for Kurunegala to visit Vihara Shrine - a cave Buddhist temple dating back to 2nd C BC! At one time there were up t 500 monks living at the site, today only half a dozen. Many visit to offer thanks and respect to Buddha, leaving floral offerings. There were beautiful wood and stone carvings and images of Buddha - both past and future.
After that visit, it was a curry and rice lunch at a restaurant - trying many different vegetable dishes, red rice, chicken curry and then a desert plate that had avocado with treacle, buffalo curd with treacle fresh fruit finished the lunch.
A few hours later were at our hotel at Anaya Lake at Dambulla. It was hot so a dip in the pool finished the afternoon. The hotel was once a retreat and is surrounded by by trees with monkeys and monitors, next to a lake and consists of individual hut style accommodation - all very comfortable. As i sit and write this morning, the sounds of nature permeated the environment and just call you outside to look. We have been told to keep windows and doors closed to keep ‘naughty monkeys’ out!
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