Sometime last night around 12:30am, one of us was awakened by the sounding the ship's horn 4 times or more. Going outside on the veranda, he could see lots of small fishing boats with our ship's spotlights shining on the surrounding waters. Assuming a boat was in our path, it must have escaped a collision. We never heard anything about the incident, so all must have ended well. We do recall the Captain mentioning this fishing boat congestion in his talk, so they were on a special lookout last night.
Sri Lanka is our country of the day. A small island formerly known as Ceylon, it has a population of 22.2 million people that speak Sinhala, Tamil, and some English. The capital is Colombo and our port of call today. What best describes the country of Sari Lanka? Tea and cinnamon plantations, friendly but sometimes persistent locals, ancient ruins, beaches, trains, cheap prices, and most of all….. oodles of elephants come to mind. And a once-time safari we took in Yala National Park produced oodles of leopards. Fantastic.
Considered the teardrop of India, this country has had its share of civil war and tsunamis, not to mention frequent train accidents. However, tourism has made a comeback, and it is flourishing, especially with the visitors from Europe we understand.
Yala National Park, as we just mentioned, is a good place for leopard safaris. We did that independently several years ago out of Hambantota and found the experience to be like no other. Our "hotel" was a tent, spacious enough to have a large bedroom and a separate bathroom. And we happened to be there when the entire country was enduring a long heatwave. Long and hot enough to shut down businesses and schools for a few weeks. Even power and water was limited to certain times of the day. Lucky we were in a camp that was self-sufficient with generators and a water supply. Besides leopard sightings, we spotted buffalo, sambar deer, crocodiles, elephants, and birds in Bundala National Park.
On our way back to Colombo by road, we spent a night in Galle Fort, enjoying the colonial town as well as the cafes and shops. It was while we were at the safari camp that we were introduced to some of the local cuisine. We tasted sambal with hoppers, a type of rice flour pancake. Rice and curry came with every evening meal served with either meat or fish and plenty of fresh vegetables. Tea was abundant, and if we drank it like the locals, it would be served with several spoonsful of sugar and milk. Pani pol was another type of pancake with a sweet topping of cinnamon and cardamom. Add cinnamon to any dessert, and we are in heaven.
Here's a rundown of our day in Colombo. The ship arrived early and was docked portside by 7am. The dock area was full of the most buses we have seen yet for tours and shuttles to the gate. We watched from our veranda while 2 vans arrived with the local Sinhalese dancers and band . There were six lovely ladies and several Singhalese young men in costumes dancing their hearts out for well over an hour. You would be able to hear the four drummers for miles around the port. They seemed to get the best workout of the group. We continued watching the gangways set up and officers coming out to greet the tour groups. Many savvy guests were filtering through the souvenir tents, knowing that that bargaining would be better later in the day. There did not seem to be many folks buying things, saving that experience when they returned from their tours. We did see a drug sniffing police dog with his handler passing through each and every tented stall, leaving us to think more than souvenirs might be sold here.
There were some overland excursions leaving from here today. Three of them took folks to the Maldives, our next port, for two nights and three days starting from $2600 to $4100 per person. They flew from Colombo to the Maldives, then onto different island resorts. Then there was a longer overland that took folks to New Delhi by airplane from here for a tour of the Taj Mahal and other sights nearby. Then they would fly to Dubai for a few days to explore that vibrant city. The final flight will take them to the Seychelles we think. Depending on the type of hotels used, the prices ranged from $5600 to $7200 per person.
Tours in town today including panoramic Colombo, a beach day north of the city, or tea time and golf. These ranged from $60 to $250 from 2 to 6.5 hours. Going out of town was a fun tour to Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage which was 9 hours and $160. We have been there at least three times and loved it, except for the wild ride in awful traffic all of the way back to the pier. One of the ship's tours not listed in their booklet, was a city tour with a snack at the Galle Face Hotel. Actually, it was on one of these tours that we discovered this lovely colonial spot and made it a point to come back on our own.
We left the ship in the middle of another crew drill about 10am. By then, only a few of the free shuttles were left to take the guests to Gate No. 1A. It was a long ride through a mostly dug-up dock area. It seems that work has been ongoing for a long time, and not much has been accomplished. The first thing we noticed was that the buses were made for small people with short legs. It was a tight squeeze for most for the 20 minute ride to the gate. We did hear that we could walk out of this terminal, but no one in their right mind would do that.
There was a nightmarish scene at the gate drop-off point. It was like heading into a war zone with taxi and tuk-tuk drivers all fighting for your business. There were a hundred of them we guessed. When our driver opened the doors to let us out, more than half of the passengers stayed on the bus, and never got off. Yes, it was that intimidating and scared the older folks enough to go back to the ship. Can't say that we blame them. However, we have been here so many times, we knew how to handle these guys.
Now for sure, there were some of the guests that were looking for cheap rides, but for those of us that were not, we had to make the great escape. To be perfectly truthful, these guys lie. For instance, they will offer you a tour for one hour for $1. Yeah sure. Then another fellow says $2, and the next one says $5 for all day. Don't believe it. Once you climb into that tuk-tuk or taxi, the prices change , and so does your destination. Here's another example. Well-dressed businessmen will approach you and say there is a special event happening in a park a mile away with elephants, and he can get you there quick with one of his taxi guys. When you arrive to this so-called event, it is not happening, and they say you just missed it. No…..it never happened. We got "whiplash" saying no to the dozens of tuk-tuk drivers that stopped and offered cheap tours. Once we reached the Galle Face Greens, the road expanded, and the drivers were far from the walkway. Thank goodness, we escaped the melee once again. But don't worry, we would encounter it again on the way back, but not as bad.
From here, we had a pleasant walk along the length of the Galle Face Green, stretching from the Kingsbury Hotel to the Galle Face Hotel with the Indian Ocean on our side all of the way. At least we had a nice breeze here, because it was a very warm day like it always is. When we left the ship, it was already in the 80's. It climbed to about 85 degrees and remained that hot until we sailed later this evening. During the day, this area is popular for the locals who bring their kids to fly kites, blow bubbles, or play ball on the grass. Snack shacks were hidden from sight behind the seawall. They sold packaged chips, sodas, drinks, and other snacks made with corn among other treats. There were numerous signs along the walkway not to bath in this part of the Indian Ocean. No further explanation was given, so we can assume there is an undertow, unfriendly sea creatures, or polluted water. We will have to research this because inquiring minds have to know. There were some families walking in the surf, but no one was swimming. We read at night time, this place fills with people who come to enjoy the breeze and relax after enduring the heat of the day.
We have to add that we had another warning about personal safety while in the city. Besides taking extra care with your possessions like watches and jewelry, they advised about flashing money in high traffic areas. Never once while taking this walk, did we feel unsafe. And we know better than to wear expensive flashy jewelry or carry logo handbags. There were several benches along the way, where we did take advantage of them to sit and watch the locals wading in the waves of the ocean.
After a couple of more brief bench stops, we arrived around 11:45am to the Galle Face Hotel, where we were invited inside by a properly-dressed door man. First we had to put our things and ourselves through an xray check. Making our way to the garden area, we noticed that the tables and chairs were set up for a large snack or group lunch. There were no more tables on this side patio for us to have a lunch under the Casablanca fans. So the next best option was going to the hotel's pool area, where we had a better table with a great menu. First thing we saw was pizza. We were a little early for lunch, but they were quite happy to bring us two large Lion draft beers. Seated at a table under a canopy, we sipped beer until our order of Margherita pizza and two more beers arrived.
One important thing was the fact one of us remembered to bring the Kindle along to try an update. All but three games were blocked, and it needed updating. Our waiter kindly connected us to the hotel wifi, and it was successful. Wonderful.
There happened to be one other table under this canopy, and a nice couple sat there. Normally, we do not initiate a conversation, respecting other people's privacy, but today was an exception. The lady asked where we were from, then added they were vacationing here from London. Obviously, they had a decided English accent, but were of Indian descent. It's funny how many things we all had in common talking about work careers, grown kids and grandkids, and retirement. They were enjoying every minute of the freedom to escape the cold weather in Northern Europe and spend some time here in steamy Sri Lanka. And they were most interested learning about being on a world cruise and visiting numerous countries. All-in-all, we had the best pizza, several beers, and great company while watching the waves of the Indian Ocean.
We did begin seeing some of the HAL "sticky people" and also the group from our previous travel group. By the time we left the pool area, the HAL had finished their snack and drinks and had left the restaurant. The tables and chairs had been disassembled and back to normal. However, we were most happy to have discovered a better place for lunch with nice people and a killer view with a breeze.
All good things come to an end, and we had to move on. Walking back along the Galle Face Green was made more comfortable with a stronger breeze. By now there were more kite-flyers, and people with kids walking in the surf. Eventually we reached the government building at the roundabout, and the harassing tuk-tuk drivers went to work to get us to take a tour. They were still $1 to $5 for an hour. Yeah, right. We were not done yet, and we stopped at the elegant Kingsbury Hotel for a dessert and another Lion beer. It was still hot out, and we did need the extra liquids. Seated at a table poolside, we spent another hour relaxing in the shade. The waiter had suggested we try the apple donuts, but he returned to tell us they were not available. So we settled for what they called eclairs. They were very small chocolate-filled eclairs, and only cost the equivalent of $2 USD. We shared one plate which was just fine. Once again, the pricing in Sri Lanka was very good for us in both hotels.
Of course, we encountered more tuk-tuk guys still offering tours. Then one fellow tried to tell us that HAL had moved the shuttle bus to another gate, and we should follow him to the new spot. Lie - lie -lie, and we told him so. We could see the shuttle bus waiting for guests on the other side of the terminal gate. So what was he planning once he got us in an isolated area with no shuttle? We will never know, and hope no one else fell for it.
We were back to the ship by 4pm, strolling past the many souvenir tents before boarding. Truthfully, there was nothing that caught our eye, and we made it back treasure-less.
The rest of the day, we worked online and relaxed on the veranda watching the traffic down below. All aboard was 5:30pm, but we did not leave until closer to 6:30pm, because the pilot was late in boarding. The sun had disappeared into the gray abyss once again, but the lights of the city made up for it. We had a silent sailing out of the harbor in the dark. It was still 84 degrees at the time, proving it had been a very hot and humid day.
Dinner was good with a chicken appetizer, a lamb kebab, and salads. Mains were one chicken parmigiana, and one Salisbury steak, the comfort meal. Both were good served nice and hot. Dessert for one of us was a scoop of mint chip ice cream.
The clocks went back ½ hour to put us on the correct time for the Maldives, our next port in two days. Looking forward to a lazy day at sea.
Bill & Mary Ann
