After paying an extortionate amount of money to our driver we managed to leave Kandy at 7.30 and head to the Pinnewala Elephant orphanage. There are hundreds of elephants, some who are blind due to being shot, one with 3 legs after standing on a mine, an earless one caught in a mine etc. lots of cute little baby ones being fed milk from a bottle too. Seemed a little weird that we were just wandering in amongst them and hoping they didnt decide to trample on us when tourists were taking pictures of their babies but appears not. They did kill a couple of rangers the week before though!!
Next stop- white water rafting in Kitugala. Fantastic Grade 3/4 rapids on the River that they filmed Bridge over the River Kwai on (yes, you read that right, not Thailand!!) Managed to just about stay in before being tossed out for 'Body drifting' (alive not dead fortunately!) Tried not to think too much about what else was swimming in the river with us, but obviously we weren't tasty enough that day.
After a brief shower, we headed off to our third destination of the day (will need a holiday soon!) Dalhousie, at the foot of Adams Peak. Lotty was in the land of nod so didn't see all the check points and guns being pointed at her, but she seemed quite happy. Arrived in Dalhousie to discover it had closed a few weeks earlier when the season ended and there was really no one there. A mad man in a grey fleece was sent by the Mafia Don to greet us as Kandy Mafia had pre-booked us into the Green House. It was certainly 5 star at 1.25 pound each a night, and that even included your very own cockroach and lizard. We were then summoned to sit before Mafia Don 2 who pretends to be blind and wears very dodgey Stevie Wonder sunglasses. He insisted that we needed a guide up the mountain which he would arrange from one of his men, "just in case we needed a witness if anything happened" Not sure if that was in case he needed a 'witness' in case we were bumped off on the mountain or in case we needed a witness for something!
Dinner with a mad newly released from a Pakastani jail Dutchman, who shared with us his personal experiences of getting Hep B from sleeping with prostitutes who insist on keeping the light off and getting sexual favours from senior foreign ministers in return for drugs.....but apparently he was most definitely not gay. Still working that one out!
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Sharon Inn and the Mafia
Shron Inn people proved to be very helpful although when we said he was well connected, we didn't quite realise how well connected!
Seems there is a controlled tourist market in Sri Lanka and once you are sucked into it, it is very hard to escape. Our helpful man made phone calls to all his friends in various places in relation to anything we wanted to do, arranged drivers to take us only to his friend's places and once there, if we tried to arrange our own drivers, he would be notified by his subjects and then call to talk to us. Seems the way to spot a Sri Lankan mafia Don is as follows:
Not skinny like many Sri Lankan men
Wearing Stevie Wonder sunglasses and pretending to be blind
Having a lot of men running around after you in your house
At least 7 telephones in the house....possibly more
Regularly summoning tourists (via the associated staff) to sit before them
Being extremely helpful, as long as you agree with whatever they say
We have now managed to escape by befriending a driver, who had a rather large soft spot for Jen (possibly because he worked for the same company as she does!!) We refused to tell Mafia man 2 which driver we had booked, escaped early and hid in the town for collection although mafia men had worked it out and already called him. Fortunately he refused to tell them where we are staying and a whole series of lies was concocted.
Hopefully we are now off the radar and lying low in Bentota!!!
Seems there is a controlled tourist market in Sri Lanka and once you are sucked into it, it is very hard to escape. Our helpful man made phone calls to all his friends in various places in relation to anything we wanted to do, arranged drivers to take us only to his friend's places and once there, if we tried to arrange our own drivers, he would be notified by his subjects and then call to talk to us. Seems the way to spot a Sri Lankan mafia Don is as follows:
Not skinny like many Sri Lankan men
Wearing Stevie Wonder sunglasses and pretending to be blind
Having a lot of men running around after you in your house
At least 7 telephones in the house....possibly more
Regularly summoning tourists (via the associated staff) to sit before them
Being extremely helpful, as long as you agree with whatever they say
We have now managed to escape by befriending a driver, who had a rather large soft spot for Jen (possibly because he worked for the same company as she does!!) We refused to tell Mafia man 2 which driver we had booked, escaped early and hid in the town for collection although mafia men had worked it out and already called him. Fortunately he refused to tell them where we are staying and a whole series of lies was concocted.
Hopefully we are now off the radar and lying low in Bentota!!!
Ancient city and cake
Found a lovely little guest house with fantastic local food, finally! Owners were very helpful and suggested an ancient city tour on 22/05/08.
Sigriya ancient city was situated on a massive rock which we had to climb up in 30 degree heat. Not such a good idea! Very beautiful with amazing views. One advantage of a being foreign is that we were allowed to see some of the preserved paintings inside the caves - 20Rs. :)
Next we went to see Dambula, which was a series of 5 ancient caves on the top of another big hill which were full of Buddahs. Not sure if I could be Buddhist as you would need to be very fit to walk to all the temples!!
We rewarded ourselves with a late night excursion to the local Bake House. We were told off by an old lady who informed us that Sri Lankan women shouldn't be out after 6pm!!!
Sigriya ancient city was situated on a massive rock which we had to climb up in 30 degree heat. Not such a good idea! Very beautiful with amazing views. One advantage of a being foreign is that we were allowed to see some of the preserved paintings inside the caves - 20Rs. :)
Next we went to see Dambula, which was a series of 5 ancient caves on the top of another big hill which were full of Buddahs. Not sure if I could be Buddhist as you would need to be very fit to walk to all the temples!!
We rewarded ourselves with a late night excursion to the local Bake House. We were told off by an old lady who informed us that Sri Lankan women shouldn't be out after 6pm!!!
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Bomb in Kandy
In case anyone has been diligent enough to read the paper, yes there has been another bomb in Kandy this morning BUT WE ARE FINE!!!
Seems a bomb was placed on a railway line to catch a train full of school kids and commuters. This has reinforced our no buses/trains approach and perfected our driver hiring negotiation skills. As a result of all this tension, we are literally the only tourists in Sri Lanka it seems. Spotting 'foreigners' is our new past time, although yet to succeed.
Seems a bomb was placed on a railway line to catch a train full of school kids and commuters. This has reinforced our no buses/trains approach and perfected our driver hiring negotiation skills. As a result of all this tension, we are literally the only tourists in Sri Lanka it seems. Spotting 'foreigners' is our new past time, although yet to succeed.
Mr Jacks
Never speak to a man called Mr Jacks! We were warned against the crazy tuktuk driver but ended up bumping into him anyway on our mission to get to the Botanical Gardens. After refusing to pay 200 rupees more than the suggested rate, he then proceeded to jump out of his tuktuk and chase us down the street shouting at any other tuktuks that stopped for us, and then when one finally did, he jumped back in his tuktuk and tried to run us over!! What a lovely man.
Botanical gardens promised a cup of tea but sadly we were denied (due to closure not misbehaviour!) Otherwise lots of pretty flowers and couples doing PDAs in trees with the monkeys.
Then headed up a very steep hill to visit the big buddha to wish him a belated birthday. I am sure he was grateful, or maybe just the guy in the gift shop that managed to sell us a couple of books on 'The Nitty Gritty of Buddhism'.
After such religious exploits, miracles did indeed happen as we managed to find 'The Pub' selling....wait for it....Alcohol!!!! Sadly we had to wait 15 minutes for our Gin and tonics due to licencing laws or soemthing by which time, we were pretty much gagging.
Abstinence broken, we returned to our friendly and cheaper, B&B, a whole 7 pounds per night after our retreat experience! We finally managed to find our first Sri Lankan curry, and was certainly worth waiting for!
Botanical gardens promised a cup of tea but sadly we were denied (due to closure not misbehaviour!) Otherwise lots of pretty flowers and couples doing PDAs in trees with the monkeys.
Then headed up a very steep hill to visit the big buddha to wish him a belated birthday. I am sure he was grateful, or maybe just the guy in the gift shop that managed to sell us a couple of books on 'The Nitty Gritty of Buddhism'.
After such religious exploits, miracles did indeed happen as we managed to find 'The Pub' selling....wait for it....Alcohol!!!! Sadly we had to wait 15 minutes for our Gin and tonics due to licencing laws or soemthing by which time, we were pretty much gagging.
Abstinence broken, we returned to our friendly and cheaper, B&B, a whole 7 pounds per night after our retreat experience! We finally managed to find our first Sri Lankan curry, and was certainly worth waiting for!
The best mosquito repellant
If you want the best mosquito repellant, then take Jen on holiday with you. They LOVE her :)
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