Stuck here in Shangri-la *sigh*. It’s hell, but someone has to do it. Has its compensations I guess.
That looks like fun! Not for us though, just lazing around on this otherwise completely deserted beach. The wind has dropped in recent days, so the sea is clearer, and even less choppy, and with the gently-shelving sand, just lightly seasoned with coral fragments, it would be hard to imagine a nicer place to idle away an hour. No more, because despite our extensive base-layering, with sun this hot you still have to be very wary, lest you go full tomato.
Sheltering from the heat of the day after a lovely samosa & mango lunch, I suddenly remembered just-arrived Ines (rhymes with Guiness) leaving us both a bit nonplussed last night by asking what had been the highlight of our trip. In truth, nothing particularly sprang to mind. There’s been no Angkor Wat, no Golden Temple. By comparison with other places we’ve been, the tick-box trophies have been relatively unremarkable. St Anne’s Shrine, the local ‘highlight’ we visited yesterday was fairly typical – nice enough, but really no more than on a par with any old parish church in England, apart from columns made of dark wood rather than ancient stone. The Temple of The Tooth in Kandy was definitely worth a visit, as was Srinigar, Adam’s Rock, and a few other sights. But in truth, worth it rather than Wow!
But we’ve loved our time here. (Still a few days to go, so the past tense is a tad premature, but…) We agreed, it’s the totality of the place. The vibe. Above all, the people. They’ve not only been lovely to us, almost without exception; they also seem a contented bunch. Clearly no-one is rich, and a fair number are pretty poor. But very few seem out of sorts or unhappy, much less hostile or aggressive. Other than a few rare instances of half-hearted try-ons, we’ve seen/experienced no unpleasantness. None.
People smile when they see us. They’re genuinely happy to find out we’re English, which is nice. (They don’t like Russians or the Chinese, in passing.) People in local eateries watch for our recoil from the fiery food, and are genuinely delighted when we tell them it’s delicious. Kids we pass on the street say hi and smile; if we have a problem, we’re beseiged with offers of help. When our bike broke down yesterday, during the three minutes it took me to phone the guy, a tuk tuk driver pulled over to ask Virle if we’d run out of petrol – he had some in a bottle if we needed it – then the bloke whose gate we were blocking returned from somewhere, waved away all apologies at the inconvenience, and stressed that if there was anything he could do, he’d be in the house: just ask.
And as for the places, the sights are very much worth visiting, and the places almost without exception pleasant at worst. The beaches may not be Barbadian, but they’re very nice, and the water is clean and gently warm, the waves enough to be playful but never threatening; the countryside all waving palm trees and lagoons and mangroves; the towns often a bit tired and shabby and dusty, but bustling with life and good vibes. Sri Lanka feels like a happy place, and we’ve been very happy to be here. We feel privileged. Which of course we are.
Took a little trip after our siesta to the local windsurfing/kitesurfing beach, where the young doods and doodesses were displaying their really very impressive skills, then to our favourite beach for a last afternoon swim. We ended up staying to watch the sunset, with a fair number of locals who – unlike mad dogs and Englishmen – have the good sense to stay off the beach till the sun has lost its ferocity. Then back for a delicious chicken curry dinner before heading back, still buzzing slightly from the heat – climatic and culinary.
