SRI LANKA & IMPRESSIONS OF SRI LANKA (POEM)
Our first stop we request is an ATM for local currency, but somehow we end up at Douglas´, a well-known jeweller here - lucky me with a 40th wedding anniversary coming up. Phil and Robbie are already here. The drivers are obviously given a commission here. Sri Lanka exports gem stones, and is particularly famous for their sapphires and moonstones.
On the way to dinner we drop our frozen and cryovac packed food to be stored in fridges and freezers at Mike´s Yacht Service Centre because we leave at 7.30am the following morning for a 4 night, 5 day tour of Sri Lanka. This is a wonderful service as we have no shore power to run our fridges. We also call by Padmini´s house with a stronger twine to mend the sail. We so enjoy visiting the locals homes and talking with the people.
We arrive very late to dinner back at the Dossinburg hotel organized by a few other yachties tied up at the same jetty. It is always interesting and fun to exchange ideas and stories. One couple, the now husband, asked his now wife to sail with him for 1 month. They are still sailing 10 years later, and this is their 2nd circumnavigation. On a more serious note we get the latest up-date on fuel availability in different countries, e.g. fuel is now available in the Maldives. This makes a big difference to how far we can plan to travel for our next leg, and therefore making more fuel available for the long leg to Oman.
It is also an opportunity to find other yachts which may be planning to travel up to the Red Sea at the same time as us. Doing that part of the trip with 2 or 3 other boats is advised for safety in numbers.
We are also warned about the mine blasts that will go off during the night in the harbour near our boats to deter the Tamil divers entering the harbour with bombs - and they do!
IMPRESSIONS OF SRI LANKA
We discovered a proud gentle people
Who have been dealt an unlucky hand
For the Tamil war and tsunami
May be too much for them to withstand
The army walks around with machine guns
There are check points along the road
Depth charges go off in Galle harbour
But the Tamils are hardly slowed
The elephants come to the river to drink
And to roll in the mud on the edge
We feed them bananas and bottles of milk
They strip the palm fronds like a wedge
At Kandy we stayed at the Suisse Hotel
The school children walk by the lake
We eat at the Ram but drink beer next door
The market sells branded and fake
If you want to propose a marriage
Place an ad in the Kandy press
You will have to disclose your prospects and caste
And otherwise try to impress
The plantations colour the highlands green
As far as the eye can see
Generations of Tamil women
Have brought us our Ceylonese tea
They claim it´s the eighth man made wonder
To have tamed this gigantic rock
A thousand plus steps must be climbed to arrive
At Siguriya perched on the block
The buses and vans and trishaws
Use up every square inch of the road
Good drivers need judgment and nerves of steel
As our guide Mahinda showed
If you want to propose a marriage
Place an add in the Kandy press
You will have to disclose your prospects and caste
And otherwise try to impress.
The plantations colour the highlands green
As far as the eye can see
Generations of Tamil women
Have brought us our Ceylon tea
They claim it's the eighth man wonder
To have tamed this gigantic block
A thousand plus steps must be climbed to arrive
At Sigiriya perched on the rock
The buses and vans and trishaws
Use up every square inch of the road
Good drivers need judgement and nerves of steel
As our guide Mainda showed
The fruit vendors wait on the edge of the road
The shop fronts extend for miles
The cashew nut ladies will wave you down
With their colourful saris and smiles
There is cricket on verdant Test ovals
There's a game in the dry dusty park
There's a pick up game on the edge of the road
(Murali has passed Shane Warne's mark)
March 2008
