Being fanatical runners, Rob and I went for another run this morning. Just for a change we didn't go over the dam but turned right out of the gate. This gave us a very pleasant jog along a minor road with Sri Lanka waking up around us.
After a relaxed breakfast packing was finished and Frances and I headed off towards the lobby to await the appearance of the van. Even though the wheels of our cases made a loud rumbling, (which I thought of as the mating call of a porter) no bag-grabber appeared until we were within about 20m of the meeting point, so we had won. However, the staff at these resorts are very aware of who is who so worked out that Rob and Carol would be along soon and moved in for the 100R bill!
Before we headed off on the serious trip to Colombo Rob wanted to buy a couple of flags so was taken to a Buddhist shop in the main street of Dambulla.
While he was engaged in that Frances and I ignored the small shop next door
and went spice hunting in the nearby Cargill's Supermarket (the ground floor of Beer Central).
and went spice hunting in the nearby Cargill's Supermarket (the ground floor of Beer Central).
I noticed a series of bright red posters with yellow hammer and sickle emblems (plus a lot of Sinhala script). This drew our attention to it being May Day and Rob and Carol remembered hearing a lot of info on the TV about where the various unions were rallying in Colombo. As we set off various buses passed us decorated with banners about politicians and with blue tape out the windows: they were carrying folk down to the rallys and the occupants seemed to be having a good time, judging by the amount of drumming coming from a bus that passed while we were stopped at a rest room.
We didn't stop much on the way down, other than to scope out some ploughing, both modern ...
... and ancient, with buffalo.
Also a bunch of people de-husking a huge pile of coconuts.
The husks are used to make coir as well as the flesh of the nuts going in to copra.
Once at the city we swung into the Tamarind Tree Hotel where we had arranged to be day guests. This meant we could have a swim and in the evening a meal in far nicer circumstances than would be available at the airport. This was a very pleasant spot and being close to the airport would make a good first night spot if heading North (although it would not be as good as Villa Talangama).
In the afternoon Hettie turned up at the Hotel to say farewell. He said that he was now fine, but I suspect had been far from fine for a day or two. He said he did panic initially but realised he had to get back to the village so calmed down and organised himself. He had realised on the brisk walk back that Rob and I had positioned ourselves to catch him if things went awkward. This made us think of our late friend Milton who would probably have reacted in the same way (but definitely have had a dead snake to show the doctors).
Then we headed off to the Marshes. As we got close we found a bunch of Catholic Youth putting up banners and a festive gate structure for their festival the following day. Shortly after this it became apparent we were lost but after a few phone calls to Hetti and others (and enquiring of some puzzled locals) we got to our boat.
The boat trip was great as the volunteer guide and the boatman worked very well together and were experts in their jobs. A number of good birds were seen with excellent views of Yellow Bittern
Little Egret
Brahminy Kite; and
A rather spiffy Water Monitor was also seen.
The canal went under a bridge, apparently built by the British about 100 years ago. It was rather reassuring to note the modern concrete version on the far side of it. I probably should, but cannot, resist titling this image "Trouble Bridge over waters".
Back at the Tamarind Tree Hotel there was also wildlife around. A rat snake was keeping things under control in the garden
At 10pm Nanda and Bundulu loaded us into the van - another great effort in hanging around all evening while we ate and sat around in the hotel - and delivered us to the airport. We battled through the check in queue and outwards emigration and settled down to wait until our flight took off at 1am. There were a couple of interesting sights:
- the "dump your old currency here" box appeared to be funding housing for the security forces (but, optimistically, may have been a deal building houses for people displaced by the fighting); and
- the Sri Lankan Netball team heading off to Singapore. They were mainly remarkable for the good looks of all the players but the stand-out was their captain who was very attractive and also 2.09m tall (ie 6'10"). Since many Sinhalese struggle to attain 5' she was very unusual looking. I hope they won!
Other vertebrate of the Day: Buffalo ploughing
Pattern of the Day: Wooden fringes to fascias
Bad taste of the day: no nominations.
Read on
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