Subject: Report # 78 Sailing Towards Hambantota, Sri Lanka March 18, 2016 Friday Partly cloudy & 91 degrees
Well, we are now on our way, crossing the Andaman Sea, sailing in a westerly direction to the island of Sri Lanka. Even though the predicted temperature was 91 degrees, we feel that with a strong breeze, it is not that hot. Much better than yesterday for sure.
We have noticed that the La Fontaine Dining Room has been uncomfortably warm, especially at night during the meal service. Apparently, after we left Hong Kong, something went wrong with the air-conditioning. We learned from Pandi that 30 workers have been brought onboard for repairs around the ship. Things being fixed in places that we don't necessarily see. Repairing the air-conditioning would be a good start. Never seems to fail, when we enter hot and humid areas, there are always problems keeping the ship evenly cool. When questioned, the answer is……we are working on it. We can deal with it, except for tonight, when the dress code is Gala. Jackets for the fellows will be way too warm. At least the ladies have some options, such as sleeveless, or removable shawls.
We ran into a buddy, Jack, who was removed from his room on deck one for a few nights. They needed to cut a hole in his floor, where a support column was put through it down to the A deck. While this work is being done, he moved temporarily to a vacant veranda room on deck six. He admits it is pretty nice to sit outside in privacy, instead of relaxing on the promenade deck. He may not want to move too soon, but he is sure that once the work is completed and the carpet is re-laid, they will move him back down. It should be worth some shipboard credit for the inconvenience, since all of his stuff is still in the Dolphin deck room. In the meantime, he intends to relax on the veranda, and not answer his phone. Maybe they might forget about him…..
This is probably as good a time as any to talk about the island of Sri Lanka. The capital is Colombo, a port we will visit again soon. The population is 21,324,791 people, and the area is 25,326 square miles. The official language is Sinhalese, Tamil, and some English. Hard to believe that this is such a Buddhist island, but has been involved with political turmoil with the Tamil Tigers being in the news many times over the past years.
In sharp contrast, Sri Lanka is a country of sand and cinnamon. It is a tear-drop of an island off the southern tip of India. It is known for its beaches, steamy tropical air, tea and cinnamon plantations, and historic cities. You can sip fresh coconut milk, scour the jungle for leopards, or see the monumental statues of Buddha everywhere.
The best time to visit is from December to March to avoid the southwest monsoons. Having been to many villages up high in the central part of the country, we can see why these monsoons can cause so much damage. And if you remember the tsunami of 2004, many areas had been devastated with a huge loss of life.
The top things to see are the dozens of museums and monuments in colonial Colombo, the frenetic capital of the country. See the ruined palaces, and experience the Dutch colonial past in historic Galle. We intend to do just that. See the elaborate gardens and fortresses, as well as kick back on the sparkling sands of Sri Lanka's southern beaches. Searching for leopards and elephants will be right up our alley since we will be going to the most concentrated leopard populations in the world at Yala National Park. Taking a pilgrimage to the Temple of the Tooth in UNESCO's World Heritage Site in Kandy. We have been there and done that many years ago. It was heck of a long train ride and bus trip to Kandy, but well worth it. However, we were expecting to at least see the famous tooth of the Buddha, but it was "on tour", and not in the temple where it should have been. The best memory from that tour was seeing the elephants at the sanctuary at Pinnawela. And the most exciting part of the tour was the bus ride back, going full speed ahead, down the center of the two lane road in the dark with lightning and thunder followed by driving rain all the way back. A miracle that we made it back in one piece, although we were really, really late, missing dinner that night. We were met with a row of waiters, holding umbrellas to keep us dry as we walked the long way from the buses to the gangway. Some things you never forget. This was one of them.
So, what is there to eat? Ever heard of Hoppers (appa), which are delicious pancakes made from fermented rice and coconut milk. And the local drink? Toddy, a local wine made from fermented palm sap, or arrack, the same drink, but distilled and bottled into a powerful elixir.
The trademark slogan: May you live long. Hmmm, seems we have heard that before, like on Star Trek?
Random fact: Sri Lanka gave the world cinnamon, trading the spice since 2000BC. Impressive and we so thank you for that favorite spice we have come to love. And Ceylon tea also comes to mind, as this country was formerly named Ceylon. Much more seductive name we think.
Here is a rundown of today's activities. Talks continued starting with Barbara H, who discussed Hambantota (a first stop for the Amsterdam, we believe), and Colombo. The guest speakers continued their series about the Mughal rule and the Taj Mahal. Going there back in 2007 was a wonderful experience also. Some folks will be going there, leaving from Colombo, on an overland tour, even though we have no other stops in India this year. The other speech was about the British competing with the Dutch, and finally the English in many parts of the world.
We spent some of the morning gathering our supplies and clothing for our overland. Don't want to forget anything, as there will be no place to buy anything. Seemed like a good day to have lunch in the dining room, because if it was anywhere near as hot today as yesterday, going to the aft pool was not a good idea.
So lunch it was, and it was good. Both Barb and Maureen showed up after trivia, and we ordered mini hamburgers and one sweet and sour pork dish. All was perfect. So was the conversation as always. Maureen told us about an incident involving elephants on one of the tours yesterday in Phuket. Seems that a trainer was attempting to help a baby elephant, when one of the adult males attacked him. He reportedly held onto another elephant's leg so as not to get trampled. Scary, but these things do happen.
Around 5pm, we went to deck five to listen to the band in the Ocean Bar. When they left, we could hear music coming from the Queens Lounge. It sounded good, so we peeked inside, and listened for quite a while as the group, Graffiti Classics, practiced for their performance this evening. They were a group of two young ladies, who played violins, and two fellows playing other string instruments. They were advertised as 16 strings (each one must play four different instruments), 8 dancing feet, and 4 voices. Glad we stopped by, because now we don't need to go to the real show tonight. We will miss the costumes, but we sure liked the music and singing.
At 7pm, we were invited to a cocktail party in the Explorer's Lounge, hosted by our travel hosts. It was their second party of the evening, with the first one beginning at 4:30pm for the early seating guests in our group. Long night for the hosts, although they are pros at it by now. Since the majority of us already know each other, their job is easy. We had drinks of our choice within minutes of arriving and appetizers too. Bill and Leta joined us for a fun hour before the dinner bell was rung at 8pm.
Gala night brought a good menu with many nice choices. We both ordered the veal chop dinner and they were done to perfection. To end a good meal, we had the cappuchino bombe, chocolate-coated ice cream, floated in a raspberry sauce.
Most everyone was still feeling the exhaustion from yesterday's port, so we think most everyone was turning in early tonight. One more day at sea, and we will be in Sri Lanka.
Oh yeah, good news….the clocks went back ½ hour tonight. One of those odd places in the world that we do the ½ hour thing.
Bill & Mary Ann
