April 9th

Colombo

Tuk Tuk Tuking Along

My favorite blogger, Roscoe, had described his interesting time in Sri Lanka on a tuk tuk tour. It sounded like a great way to spend the day sight seeing. Evana from Cruise Critic did some serious research, and found a company called Tuk Tuk Safari Sri Lanka. In no time she had contacted the owner (the “Wizard”), and had organized for a group of us to do the tour.

We decided to leave the ship as soon as we were able to as the internet was still down, and we were expecting delays with disembarking. As it turned out there was “partial” internet, which meant that they could use one machine to scan our cruise cards, so it was slower than usual, but nothing like Penang.

We were docked in the container port, so no cruise terminal, but there was a very talented group of musicians and dancers greeting the ship. I do so love it when we get a traditional welcome.

We took taxis to the Galle Face Hotel to await our transport. The hotel is one of those magnificent colonial era establishments which look as splendid today as it did in colonial times. Best of all, it was air conditioned and had free wifi, so we all sat with our phones out checking on what was going on with our families and the world.

Soon our tuk tuks arrived. The drivers were all very nattily dressed in smart white uniforms, very professional. Our driver’s name was Rex.

The ladies were welcomed with fragrant flower leis. We were all then given coconuts to drink through a straw. Very refreshing. They clearly wanted to take good care of us. Each tuk tuk had a cooler full of water and beers, and a supply of cashew nuts. With Sri Lankan music blasting from the speaker, we climbed in to our vehicle, and headed off on our safari.

Colombo does not seem to have any rules of the road. To say it is chaotic would not adequately describe the total lack of any organization. The vehicles were all jostling for a place on the overcrowded road, disregarding the lane markings, avoiding pedestrians in the middle of the road, changing lanes at random, cutting each other off, driving into oncoming traffic, driving too fast for the conditions, all while hooting madly at each other. However, somehow it works. We arrived at our destinations without incident, no crashes, no one was run over. It was actually quite good fun.

We drove by the Lotus Tower. This is a 350 meter communications tower that is still under construction. When completed it will have a restaurant and viewing deck at the top, and according to Rex, will be the highest structure in South Asia. I am not sure I believe him about it being the tallest structure, but it is certainly very interesting to look at with its green “stem” and purple lotus blossom at the top.

Our first stop was at the Sri Ponnambalam Vanesar Kovil Hindu temple. The temple is about 350 years old, and was built out of black granite. The building itself was very dark inside, but was populated by over 10,000 brightly colored statues of Hindu gods. All my favorite deities were there in all their glory. Unfortunately the sound of sanding machines, and the dust they created, interrupted the serenity of the scene. They are building a new temple next door. This will be completely different from the original one, and is already a riot of color. However, we could not linger as all of a sudden bells were ringing and the doors were closing in preparation for prayers.

We then risked life and limb driving to a spice store. Spices played a very important part in the history of Sri Lanka, so it was great to smell and look at those spices that had influenced so many lives. Next we went to a coffee shop and learned about the growing of coffee on the island. Now I knew all about Ceylon tea, but who knew they are famous for coffee as well. We were able to sample the coffee, and it was declared “strong” by all those who chose to give it a try. We got back into the tuk tuks and drove to the fruit and vegetable market.

The market was buzzing with people bringing in, and taking out produce. Everything was so fresh having been picked within the past 24 hours. It all looked wonderful, and smelled great too. I wish our farmers market had the same variety of produce, and degree of freshness. We were treated to some watermelon, which was a good thing seeing as it was getting hotter and more humid.

I didn’t think anything could be louder than the produce market. I was wrong. Our next adventure took us up a very crowded shopping street where there certainly wasn’t enough safe room for all of the vehicles and pedestrians who were vying for space on the road. The shops were overflowing with goods; I was especially taken with the fabric stores with their brightly colored bolts of sari material. The shop assistants were yelling, the shoppers were yelling more, the vehicles were hooting, and loud music was blasting everywhere. And there we were in our tuk tuk in the middle of it all. It was such fun. Then Rex said it was time for some peace and quiet, so we went and had a mango smoothie. It wasn’t cold, and it was very thick, like drinking pureed mango, but it was yet another new experience.

Our next stop was at the Navy Museum. This was like something out of the 50s, and would give any modern day museum curator a fit, but it depicted the history of the island through a series of model galleons. One couldn’t say it was well done, but it had a certain innocent charm to it. Rex was pleased that I liked it and bought us 2 postcards.

Clearly impressed about how pleased I was with the postcards, he then pulled over at a souvenir shop and bought me 2 Sri Lankan fridge magnets.

It was time for lunch, so we drove through heavy traffic to a waterfront restaurant called the Curry Pot. They had a wonderful buffet, I had mutton curry and a series of unidentifiable vegetables that were delicious, but the mutton was a wee bit too spicy.

To cool off we walked to a tea emporium down the road. We learned about tea in Sri Lanka, and were able to taste several different varieties of tea. It was just what I needed after the hot curry.

Then we went to what was the highlight of the day, the Gangaramaya Buddhist Temple. We have seen a multitude of temples over the past month, and I was feeling a little templed out, but this one was magnificent and well worth a visit. There was a sitting, a standing, and a lying down Buddha all in the same room. There were little Buddhas all over the place. There were stone Buddhas and wooden Buddhas. There was the most beautiful large white jade Buddha.

There was the famous bodi tree. And best of all there was not one, but 2 locks of Buddha’s hair. It was all too much for me. For some bizarre reason I get tearful when I see something of true beauty – like on entering St Peter’s in Rome, or seeing Victoria Falls. This temple had the same effect on me. It was, like everything else we had seen today, very chaotic and poorly organized, but it amazed me. Just as I was thinking that things couldn’t get any better, a monk gave me a blessing. The last time I had received a blessing from a monk was in a temple in Cambodia where my friend Bob started a small fire with his incense. This did not go down well. However now there was no fire, just a monk and a gold and jeweled case containing the relic. Quite an experience.

Our last stop of the day was at Independence Square, where they had friezes depicting battles in Sri Lankan history. I saw that they used to fight on elephants. I suppose we used to fight on horseback, but fighting on elephants took it up a notch or two.

Then it was time to return to the ship. The tuk tuks were not allowed into the port, so we bade Rex a fond farewell, and walked from the gate to the ship. It wasn’t a long walk, and closer to the ship there were several stalls selling souvenirs. We stopped by to check them out, but decided not to buy anything due to our financial crisis related to the fact that our debit card was eaten by the ATM in Malacca.

When we returned to the ship the card readers were working! Yay! We have internet again.

We got back just in time, soon after we returned to the cabin it went very dark and started pouring. I am so glad we didn’t have to be in the tuk tuk in that kind of weather.

It had been an exhausting but wonderful day. I agree with Roscoe, a tuk tuk tour is the way to go in Sri Lanka!