On Safari

From Galle we deviated a little from Edward's route. At the suggestion of our host at the Galle Star Hotel we decided to visit Udawelawe National Park en route to pick up the end of the mountain railway at Ella.

Sri Lankan's are generally kind and helpful and plans they laid out for us, while sometimes seeming dubious, invariably worked out as promised. Our host suggested that he could arrange for us to catch a local long distance bus up to Udawelawe where a mate would meet us off the bus, take us to overnight accommodation, arrange for an early morning collection to go on safari through the Udawelawe National Park where we would see wild elephants and other wildlife and finally deliver us to another local bus that would take us up to Ella. So this is what we did.

If Bus Rallying ever becomes an international sport, Sri Lanka should have no problem fielding a successful team. There is no shortage of drivers skilled at hurling their machines through blind corners, squeezing smaller road users into the ditch and playing head to head chicken with other oncoming buses and trucks. Like the trains, long distance buses are cheap as chips but even more crowded (just when you think a bus is completely full, they stop and pick up five more passengers) and more frightening. The bus seats are sized for locals so two western bums find it quite squeezy on a double seat. They are very friendly places where passengers share their food around and on several occasions seat mates had no hesitation in falling asleep on our shoulders.

Our plan worked well. We were delivered to the originating bus station by tuk tuk, thus enabling us to embark on the bus at it's start and get a seat. At Udawelawe we were met off the bus (easily recognisable as the only Europeans) and delivered to our guesthouse. Then at 5.30am the next day, we were collected and taken on safari where our eagle eyed driver pointed out deer, buffalo, monitor lizards, fresh water crocodiles, jackals, peacocks and myriad other birds. The elephants while ostensibly wild, were easy to find and were clearly comfortable with the numerous visitors, walking right up to the vehicles. Edward would have undoubtedly enjoyed a safari like this but its probably fortunate that he wasn't offered one. Being a Victorian sporting gentleman, his reaction on meeting an elephant, would probably be to shoot it!

This adolescent, male elephant had no hesitation in wandering past our vehicle.

Then as promised at around mid day we were delivered to the bus stop for Ella. Our driver dropped us off, assuring us a bus would be along in the next 15 minutes which was true but this is where the one slip up occurred. When we arrived at the bus stop there was already one western couple waiting, each with a large bag. We made four and four bags. What no-one had factored in was that today was some kind of holiday so the buses were fuller and fewer and the first one to come past decided that four Europeans with big arses and big bags was too much so it rolled on past. Over the next hour three more Europeans with a bag each turned up making it increasingly unlikely that a bus was going to stop.

The safari vehicle that took us into Udawelawa National Park. An identical one later delivering us to Ella.

Eventually a driver of one of the Safari vehicles suggested that he could take all seven of us to Ella for 1000 rupees each. Bearing in mind that the bus fare would be about 200 rupees each although possibly require tickets for the bags as well we tried to negotiate him down a little but it was pretty clear we had no other option so he stayed firm and eventually we capitulated and were thus delivered safely to Ella. 

Sri Lankan Cuisine - An Oxymoron?

At the risk of offending any patriotic Sri Lankan that might read this, I need at this point to say a few words on Sri Lankan cuisine. While we did have some nice meals in Sri Lanka, it was largely only when paying sufficient to feed a small village for a week and they were mostly the cuisine of somewhere other than Sri Lanka - Indian, Thai or Italian for example. A number of tourist places offered courses in Sri Lankan cooking but I can sum up the apparent principles of local cooking in a few words.

Select your ingredients and shred as finely as possible. Then add a considerable amount of salt (ditto sugar if preparing a sweet dish). Next apply sufficient chili to kill any other flavours present. Then allow to stand for long enough for the food to become tepid and finally serve over a quantity of carbohydrate (rice, noodles, roti etc) as big as a newborn baby (thus disregarding that essential foodie maxim to "never eat anything bigger than your head").

Anyone who knows me would confirm that fussy is not a word that applies when it comes to food, and I am familiar with street food in hot, developing countries. However, I was very nervous about Sri Lankan street food. In other places, Indonesia for example, it is usually reassuring that street food comes to you straight from a red hot work, a brazier or some other current heat source, thus mitigating some of the more alarming aspects of local food handling. Sri Lankans for some reason prefer to let their food stand in a glass case or bain marie for long periods of time so that it comes to you unnervingly tepid, if not cold.

On the positive side, the Buddhist influence meant that there were many vegetarian options available and in dubious circumstances I always feel a little more secure with vegetables than flesh. Sri Lanka appears to have little red meat, fish and chicken being the more usual options, but in my mind the options more likely to result in ill effects. We did have chicken a couple of times but I applied Edward's advice vis a vis Bentotte oysters to all the fruits of the sea.

We didn't get sick at all although on a couple of occasions I came close, being too queasy to eat.
There is also some debate as to whether Sri Lankan tap water is safe to drink. The government is confident it is, as are many of the locals but others suggest it is not -perhaps those hoping to sell bottled water. As Sri Lanka, like so much of the world is drowning in a sea of plastic (perhaps literally as the ocean and waterways are afloat with plastic) we tried to avoid bottled water, drinking boiled where possible. I cleaned my teeth with tap water and occasionally refilled my water bottle from apparently clean taps and didn't suffer any negative consequences.

Galle Fort is well set up with tourist eating places and we had some good food there but outside the Fort is a different story. However, on our last evening in Galle, we turned right out of the Galle Star Hotel whereas previously we had always turned left, to head in towards the town centre. We were rewarded by discovering a little Japanese restaurant called Tokyo Ice, just a few doors down.
It was run by a vivacious Japanese lady who had been a fortune teller in Tokyo, and her equally vivacious Sri Lankan landlady. I asked our Japanese hostess what led her to opening a restaurant in suburban Galle. She said she believed she had lived in Galle in the nineteenth century and that it was therefore her destiny to return. I in turn explained my mission to follow Edward's nineteenth century visit and we agreed that it was thus our mutual destiny to meet in her restaurant. Being Japanese, her food standards were impeccable and we therefore had a delightful meal of Japanese curry.

Looking for Lorretts

Edward was so keen to go ashore in Galle that he didn't wait for the Madras to dock.Instead he hitched a ride on the canoe that brought the pilot out. His ride in was at night through vigorous surf and rain but Edward found something charmingly novel and wild in the whole adventure. Better him than me!

On land, just as today accommodation touts gather at bus and rail stations, Edward found a local guide. "Lorrett's" appeared to be my conductor's beau ideal of an hotel-so for Lorrett's we started. Edward describes the interior of Galle Fort as a perfect fairyland with magnificent trees, gorgeous flowers, old archways and gates and the whole lit by lamps in the trees. In many ways that is Galle Fort today. Because access to the Fort area is only via two low arches, large vehicles cannot enter and hence major redevelopment has been negligible. Today the Fort area is deservedly a UNESCO World Heritage Area little changed over the last few hundred years.

Some of the massive Galle Fort ramparts.

However, search as we might I was unable to find any reference to Lorrett's Hotel. We visited the Fort Heritage Office and two helpful young ladies (who were clearly receptionists rather than historians) did their best to find some reference to it in their limited documents but without success. I did find a reference to a Mr Eugine Lore's hotel in the British period, and I suspect this was it. Edward appears to have written up his diary from memory &/or notes, sometime after he travelled and as a result I've noticed the odd mistake and I suspect this to be one. Unfortunately though, I was unable to ascertain where Lore's Hotel was. His description of it fits many existing buildings and while it may well still be standing, I couldn't  find it.

Edward describes Lorrett's Hotel as a long low building, of which there are many in Galle Fort.

Edward was non-plussed on being shown his room and finding a bedstead furnished with mattress and pillows, but without bedclothes of any sort. Thinking this a mistake, I called my dusky attendants, who were puzzled to comprehend what I wanted. Eventually they brought a sheet to throw over me, but seemed much amused at my foreign eccentricities. Being a hot country, bedding still remains irrelevant today, leaving Trish equally non-plussed in several of our accommodations. Today most places do at least provide a bottom sheet, often of doubtful cleanliness, but it pays to have your own sarong to use as a top-sheet.

Galle Fort is perhaps the place least changed since Edward's time due to the limitations on redevelopment so it was easy to get a sense of what Edward must have experience. Galle outside the Fort, like everywhere else has spread and sprawled and now the entire area is just typical Sri Lankan congested sprawl.

Edward mentions visiting the Galle  lighthouse which stood here. In the background is the  current lighthouse which replaced the original when it burnt down.

We spent our time there wandering the narrow streets, walked the extensive ramparts and visited the Maritime Museum in the old Fort warehouse. Most of the buildings are now tourist accommodation, restaurants or shops, capitalising on the charm of the place.

South to Galle

While travel times for getting to Sri Lanka have reduced markedly in the last 160 years, internal travel times have not . Edward travelled from Galle to Colombo, a distance of about 100 kms in about 12 hours. Railways not having arrived in Sri Lanka, he travelled by horse drawn coach, changing horses about every 12kms. Edward felt the local horses looked to be well bred but seemed overworked and underfed by Australian standards.

We took the train but Sri Lankan trains travel slowly and the same distance took about 3 hours. The trains likewise seem overworked compared to Australian ones. Edward must have followed a similar route to what the train takes today because he mentions the road following the coast most of the way, as does the railway. One big change is the cost. Edward paid 50/- for a seat on the mail coach. That would equate to at least $200 today, while we paid just under $2.

Where Edward would've come ashore, looking back to Galle town.

He describes long stretches of rural area and passing through long stretches of coconut groves. Today there are still lots of coconut trees but it is built up for most of the route. Sri Lanka had a population of about 2 million in 1854 and now has about 22 million. Interestingly Australia had a population of around 650,000 and now has 24 million so the notion of Asian populations increasing like rabbits is not so accurate. He describes large numbers of people on the roads, mostly walking but some in ox carts. Today the roads are still crowded but by cars, buses and tuk tuks although there are still plenty of pedestrians.

The old Dutch gate into  Galle Fort, through which Edward would've passed.

His pace of travel allowed Edward to observe and comment on Sri Lankan lifestyle and industry and the appearance of the locals. He comments on the lustrous, long black hair on both men and women and that still prevails, particularly with women. Most women have long hair, often long enough to sit on, and the men clearly take pride in their hair with a high proportion of stylish cuts and colourings.

There are several reasonably large rivers along the way from Galle to Colombo. Whether Edward's coach crossed by bridges or ferries he doesn't mention. The halfway station in Edward's day was Bentotte (now Bentota). On his return trip, Edward sampled fried oysters there and suffered a cholera-like gastro as a result. The first question the doctor he consulted asked "Had I eaten oysters at Bentotte?"  My answer in the affirmative seemed to relieve the worthy medico of  all grave apprehension; and ordering me some simple remedies, he told me I had nothing to fear; and he was right , for soon after his departure I got rid of my pains and fell asleep. As a result Edward advised all future travellers not to be tempted by the oysters of Bentotte.

Today Bentota is home to a number of upmarket resorts and I still wouldn't eat the oysters. In fact in consequence of local food handling standards, I'd be reluctant to eat any seafood, anywhere in Sri Lanka,but more about that later.

We arrived in Galle mid afternoon and quickly located the Galle Star Hotel where we were staying. About 1.5km up the Wakwella Rd from Galle Fort, the Galle Star is more guesthouse than hotel. With only four rooms it is the 1940's open, Asian style house of the owner's grandmother, but it was comfortable and reasonably clean.

A Fisher of Men

For our final day in Colombo we took a train up to Negombo a beachfront fishing village and tourist hotspot, 30kms north of the city. The trains are one of Sri Lanka's best features. At a cost of around 1rupee (just under an Australian cent) per kilometre they are excellent value. Generally less crowded than the buses they also feel safer than the congested roads. Passengers are entertained by peddlers selling snacks, fruit or drinks and there are a succession of busker-beggars. Blind men playing flutes, a young man with missing limbs who gave a long and clearly well practised oration that appeared to be an appeal for crowd funding his next operation (that word appearing frequently in his speech) and a trio of young singer musicians. Many of the locals give to these acts, perhaps following Buddhist exhortations to be kind to others, and the going rate appeared to be 20rupees so we followed suit.

On exiting Negombo station a friendly local quickly fell in step with us. Alura had excellent English and asked the standard questions about where we were from, how long we were in Sri Lanka etc. I assumed from the start that he was probably a tourist tout but as he was a pleasant chap with a cheerful line of conversation I didn't send him away. He did a good job as a guide, showing us where to get a cup of tea, the beachfront, the fish markets, the old Dutch fort (now a prison), the old Dutch part of town and finally a place to have lunch and a beer. Along the way he told us he worked two weeks on and two off as a fisherman, told us about his family, enquired about ours, and discussed the finer points of Buddhist philosophy and the concept of karma.

Alura and his  Negombo catch of the day.

At 8.8% alcohol, the lunchtime pint of Anchor Strong Beer was clearly an essential part of his strategy. Once lunch was over came the anticipated request for a little help to feed his family. Lightened by my beer  and impressed by the job he had done I gave him 1000 rupees which I imagine would feed his family for a week or so. Emboldened by the Strong Beer I had bought him, Alura claimed this wasn't enough and painted a picture of children crying themselves to sleep that night through hunger so I gave him another 500 despite Trish pointing out that he'd already had plenty but then she had only drunk a ginger beer. Alura persisted for a while that really he needed more but when I finally suggested that if he wasn't happy he could just give me back what I'd already given and we could call it quits, he accepted that it was over.

Negombo canal.

I suppose the lesson to be learnt from all this was to negotiate a price for anything at the start but all in all I figure for just under $15 Australian, Alura gave us a good look at Negombo and an entertaining couple of hours and I hope his family enjoyed their dinner that night.

The Grandest Oriental Hotel

As Sri Lanka's international airport is at Colombo, we landed there and covered Edward's route in a different direction to him. He landed at Galle, travelled north to Colombo, inland to Kandy and then back by the same route to Galle whereas we went from Colombo to Galle, up through the mountains by bus and train to Kandy and then back on the train to Colombo.

In Colombo, Edward stayed at the Royal Hotel which as far as I can ascertain was replaced by the GPO in the 1890s. A photo showing the mail coach, by which Edward travelled up from Galle, can be found on a pinterest site called NILAN's Beautiful Sri Lanka. Thanks to my abysmal technical skills I failed to upload the photo but if you're interested you can google it yourself.

We had booked a room in the Grand Oriental Hotel which is also in Colombo Fort and claims to be the first European style hotel in Sri Lanka.The site was originally the Dutch Governors residence which was extended in 1837 to become barracks for the British military. In 1875 it was further rebuilt and opened as the Grand Oriental Hotel with 154 rooms. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries it was the place to stay in Colombo and claims a number of Asian leaders and other celebrities such as Anton Chekov, as former guests.Today other more modern hotels have taken the mantle of Colombo's finest but the Grand Oriental is still a nice place to stay with an air of the faded Raj and thus ideal for us to get a feel of Edward's experience.

The Grand Oriental Hotel 

In Edward's day it appears that Colombo was essentially Fort, based on the old Dutch fort and where all the Europeans lived, and the adjoining area of Pettah which was where the Sri Lankans lived. Once outside of those areas you were into the hinterlands, whereas today, Fort and Pettah are just the downtown centre of a huge, sprawling metropolis. Edward visited cinnamon gardens in Colombo which were presumably where the suburb of Cinnamon Gardens are today, a couple of kilometers from the centre of town. We took a tuk tuk, 3 wheeler down to the National Museum there which is located at the edge of Colombo's largest parklands, Viharamahadevi Park. The museum was well set out with a huge range of relics from all periods of Sri Lankan history and a good place to get an overview of that history.

We walked back from the Museum up along the coast and through Galle Face Green, built like an English beachfront promenade, in 1859, just after Edward was here. Colombo's appeal as a tourist destination is perhaps best illustrated by the fact that Galle Face Green consistently appears in lists of "Things to do in Colombo" but it is a barren, shadeless, windswept area where the grass is struggling to survive. It was too sad for me even to take a photo.

In the evening, like Edward we ventured into Pettah but unlike him we didn't stumble on any local entertainments. He came across a performance, which continued till midnight, consisted of a sort of morris dance with sticks, but not involving any great display of skill or activity. The dance was accompanied with songs and music produced from a violin and a Malay drum beaten with the fingers. Edward found the music pleasing and the novelty of the whole scene...interesting and agreeable. For our part we just found streets and alleys full of the usual bustling commerce of Asia. Endless shops and stalls selling all kinds of food, household items, clothes, tools, bags etc etc. Edward mentions tasting mangoes which he thought had a flavour of turpentine and anything but nice whereas we had mangoes on several occasions which while smaller than Australian mangoes, were just as nice and considerably cheaper.

High Jinks on the High Seas

After leaving Albany on the Madras, it took Edward nearly two weeks to reach his next destination, Galle on the south coast of Ceylon. For us, travelling by car to Perth, and then the following day by plane to Colombo it took just over two days.

After the storm mentioned in my last post, the trip became a languid cruise, the most exciting occurrence being the identifcation of a midnight rambler, who had been periodically invading the single ladies cabins and groping the residents after lights out, ever since the voyage began. The first suspect was a certain officer of the ship, who, poor wight, although a bit of a dandy and admirer of the sex, was not thought to be capable of such doings as these. However, after a determined effort to catch the offender, one of the ladies was able to observe that it was one of the Chinese cabin crew. Because these pigtailed gentry are all so much alike, she wasn't sure which Chinaman it was but eventually it was decided that it was a popular servant named Ai Youg.

Once he was pronounced guilty he was handcuffed and then attached by his pigtail to the mainmast! This was seen as the ultimate humiliation but according to Edward, preferable to any corporal punishment.This event, which one might have thought a major scandal in the puritanical Victorian times was described by Edward in terms of detached humour and almost as a case of "boys being boys".However, as the voyage was ending three of the passengers, a lawyer, a soldier and a priest who Edward later described as law, war and divinity circulated a letter casting much censure upon the officers, and calling in question the treatment of the crew, and general management of the ship, calling on other to sign it in support.

A man of authority himself, Edward clearly took a dim view of this do-goodery and clearly wasn't about to lend his signature to the letter. Finding little support the authors of the letter re-wrote it in milder terms but still got few signatures. When the Captain got wind of it, he demanded to see the letters and something of a scene took place.

Once ashore in Galle the authors of the letter, having got virtually no support for their general complaints, took up the specific cause of the mistreatment of Ai Youg and made application to the chief magistrate to institute proceedings for his redress.To Edward's undisguised delight, however, Ai Youg seeing which side his bread was buttered on and wanting to put the whole situation behind him declared  that he had no complaint to make against anybody-that he liked his captain and officers-that he did not like to be put in handcuffs, or tied by the tail, but would accuse no one of unjustly treating him; and, finally, that he came before the magistrate only because he was brought by a policeman, and had no other wish than to return to his ship and resume his duties. 
Ai Youg was, therefore, dismissed, and returned on board with all despatch; and our friends, looking extremely foolish, were left to explain their position to the magistrate as best they could. 

Our plane at Perth

Our trip was not attended by any such excitement, being wholly uneventful. Although a low cost carrier Malindo Air, a joint Malaysian-Indonesian venture, provided a good service in a fairly new looking aeroplane. Unlike most flights out of Australia there were few Europeans aboard and in fact on the first leg, from Perth to Kuala Lumpur the plane was pretty empty. From KL to Sri Lanka it filled a bit, primarily with some kind of Sri Lankan sporting team who had clearly enjoyed some success as they were carrying a huge trophy which only just fit in an overhead locker.