And onward to Sri Lanka

Nov 10

Before leaving for the airport, I got a haircut first thing this morning and met Ron for coffee afterwards.  We had a dosa at an Indian veggie restaurant. And strangely, they understood "Khanna Achi Hai which is Gujarati for Delicious.. I then went for a pedicure while Ron got a foot massage. We went back to Leslie’s apartment o collect our luggage and took the Sky Train to a connecting railway to the airport. It was way cool. Bangkok is a city of 14 million and the traffic can be awful. Because we only had one suitcase it was easiest to take the trains. We got there in 30 minutes instead of the minimum of an hour it would most likely take in a cab.

While waiting for our plane we ran into Francene Grewe and her three traveling companions. We agreed this summer to meet up with them for a week in Colombo. Our flight was about 3.5 hours to Colombo arriving a little after mid-night local time. We are all staying at Lake Lodge so they invited us to share the van they had hired for an airport pickup. It took a long time for us to get our luggage; they all had carry-on luggage only. They were very kind to wait. I offered twice for them to go ahead but they waited. We were astounded at the new road to town. It used to take an hour to get to Colombo from the airport on a horrid road. Now there is an expressway/toll road and it took about 25-30 minutes with very little traffic and NO cows, trishaws, pedestrians or dogs to dodge which used to be the case.

Nov 11

In the morning Ron and I found Mr. Kularathna, the trishaw driver we used when we lived here and have used every visit since we left. I had written to let him know when we would arrive. We went to the Asia Foundation to surprise Geetha whose 65th birthday is today. Geetha was our housekeeper when we lived here. She and I developed a sweet friendship that we have managed to keep active via email. A coworker who speaks fluent English sends emails for Geetha to us on a regular basis. I sent emails to Geetha through this man, Herath. When we lived here, the Asia Foundation had a play day for staff one weekend. They bussed us down to a resort and had activities and a lovely lunch. It happened to be on Nov 11^th Geetha’s birthday so I arranged for there to be a birthday cake at the luncheon. Ron and I had to leave early before the cake was served because we were packing to move out of the house. Geetha told me the next day that is was the first time she had a birthday cake in her 57 years. Needless to say I was sad to hear that story. As a result I managed to arrange for her to have a cake at work each year since. I send a check to a coworker about two months in advance. This year we decided to time our trip to surprise her. The staff gathered around a table of food and lit the candles. While we waited for Geetha to enter they handed me the cake. I walked into the room as we all sang happy birthday. Geetha looked at me then realized who it was. The photo says it all. She and I embraced with tears in our eyes. It was a very special time for both of us.

After the party we went to see Ajith, the jeweler I use here. I always have him make a few pendants with semi precious Sri Lankan gems. They are relatively inexpensive and make great gifts. His shop is very small and housed in a portion of a converted shipping container.  

Next we met Francene, Jeff and their friends at Barefoot for lunch then proceeded to do some serious shopping. Barefoot is a family run business that is noted for their cotton fabrics: table wear, bedspreads, clothes, wall hangings, hand painted ceramics, outdoor garden décor, cloth stuffed toys, teas and coffee. They also have an art gallery, café, and bookstore. This is my favorite store inColombo. I was thrilled that my favorite ceramic painter had a great choice of small plates to choose from. Sometimes there is nothing in stock but this time there was an abundance of items. I have wanted some plates for appetizers and was thrilled to get these. I also got blouses for Ae and Linn ( who clean, do laundry and sometimes cook for us as they live in the big house on the property) and pants for a friend in Oregon.

We went back to the lodge and rested. Then we walked up to the small shopping mall nearby to do some DVD shopping. We were able to get a good selection of TV series and movies to keep ourselves entertained at home. The selection was much better here. Our group went to dinner at Paradise Road Gallery Café, another favorite place of ours. This space was formerly the offices of Geoffrey Bawa, Sri Lanka’s famous architect. It was pouring rain but it didn’t dampen our spirits. Francene and her friends were leaving in the morning for Kandy. We all went to bed early.

  

Nov 12

Our group of six ordered Sri Lankan breakfast and it was a feast: string hoppers (a rice noodle), roti (Indian fried bread) fish curry, egg curry and chicken curry, potato curry, seeni sambol (darkly caramelized onions with chilies and palm sugar) and coconut sambol (freshly grated coconut with chilies). It was hard to stop eating! After breakfast Ron and I headed out for more touring, wanting to see some more of the changes in Colombo.

  

Colombo has changed greatly in the two years since we were last here. The civil war of 26 years ended in 2009 and the country is now borrowing money for development. In 2013 Lonely Planet named Sri Lanka as its top tourist destination. Roads have been improved, new sidewalks with pavers have been installed all over town, buildings have been painted, updated and restored. We were amazed.

As we were leaving the lodge we spied a couple having wedding photos

made in traditional dress. Ron asked if he could take their photos and they were happy to oblige.

We started in a city park that was much improved since we were here last. As we were walking a park employee approached us and just took over pointing out various trees, flowers, etc. Ron didn’t engage him as he knew the fellow would ask for money at the end. We knew this from previous experience here. The man was wearing a park employee badge and told us he had worked there for 20 years. Sure enough as we got to the end of the park where we were meeting Mr. Kularathna he asked for money. I flatly refused telling him I didn’t ask for the tour and we had not agreed to paying him beforehand not to mention the fact he was on the payroll of the city. As we drove off I realized he was the SAME guy who had done this in 2005 when we lived here! Small world…or park as it may be. 

See the photo of the ants that nest in the trees using leaves as the nest. They do this because the heavy rains would drown them if they nested on the ground. I am fascinated by ants.

Next we went to the Dutch Hospital, a new development of an old area. Now there are high end shops

and restaurants. We visited a new development called a ‘floating market’ which didn’t float but rather was a series of shops facing a water front, a canal I think.

We were meeting friends from the Asia Foundation for lunch that worked for Ron when he did his project here.. Mr. Kularathna took us on Marine Drive which is right next to the Indian Ocean, even it looked cleaner. When we lived here Colombo was the only city in the country that had a sewage collection system and it was dumped into the ocean untreated. The water always looked dirty but now it is blue green and beautiful. Because we were early Mr K stopped and bought us a fresh coconut with two straws so we shared the coconut water which is a refreshing drink. We also visited a Hindu temple that was nearby before going to Shanmugas, a vegetarian Indian restaurant, and met five of Ron’s former coworkers from the Asia Foundation. All of us ordered the same thing: a Spicy Masala Dosa, a very large, crispy crepe with potatoes, onions and chilies inside. YUM!

Afterwards we went shopping for baby clothes as one of our friend’s wife just gave birth to their third child and first daughter. Next we went looking for bottle caps to fit our five gallon water bottles in Thailand. Ours have worn out from eight years use. We found a distributor and got four of these needed items for free. We went back to the lodge to relax and cool off and walked up to the internet café before having a simple salad supper at the lodge. With our generous breakfast and filling lunch neither of us felt like another big meal.