Sri Lankans greet each other with hands pressed together in front of the heart in a prayer-like manner and by saying, “Ayubowan” (ah-you-BOH-anh). This roughly translates as “I wish you good health and a long life,” and it’s used as a greeting and a farewell.
We weren’t really sure what to expect from our two days here. Viking’s excursions staff forewarned us that Sri Lanka is a poor country, and conditions might not be as good as we had in India. We found the opposite to be the case.
Colombo
Development is booming in Sri Lanka, particularly in its financial capital, Colombo. The Chinese are pouring money into the country. They’re financing the Lotus Tower, which at 1,150 feet will be the tallest self-supporting structure in south Asia.
The not-so-secret goal of the Chinese is to gain a foothold in the Indian Ocean and keep India in check. This comes at a price for Sri Lanka, though. The country wasn’t able to make its initial debt servicing payment to China, so the terms of the loan meant that China gets a 99-year lease on the new port being constructed. And all the revenues from the toll road that China built now go directly to China. It’s a very complicated situation. Average Sri Lankans are very leery about what this means for them. But in the meanwhile, they are also happy for the end of the civil war with the Tamil Tigers in 2009, and the return of peace and tourism to the island.
Our first day’s excursion was a tour of Colombo via tuk-tuk.
These tricycle conveyances are primarily made in India, and they’re extremely popular ways of getting around in the crowded and chaotic city streets.
Viking chartered 20 tuk-tuks to take our group around Colombo on Wednesday. It was a blast to see a caravan of these vehicles, each one sporting balloons, Sri Lankan flags, Viking placards, and smiling tourists.
Our trip took us through the Pettah Market area near the port, a colorful and busy shopping district that was much less intense than the market areas we visited in Mumbai.
We passed by an eclectic mix of Buddhist and Hindu temples as well as mosques and churches. Sri Lanka, particularly in this area, is predominantly Buddhist.
We stopped at Viharamahadevi Park (alas for us Westerners, once known simply as Victoria Park) and enjoyed a brief walk through this verdant area of banyan and bodhi trees in the middle of the city.
We also stopped at the large open-air pavilion at Independence Square, built to celebrate the end of foreign rule.
Back at the ship, we did a quick change of clothing and watched a splendid sunset. Then we were back out on the town again, for a dinner cruise on Lake Beira on a barge departing from the Cinnamon Lakeside Hotel.
We cruised around the small manmade lake and enjoyed a massive buffet of Sri Lankan curries while we listened to the song stylings of a three-piece Sri Lankan “Portuguese calypso” band.
Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage
The next day, we took a modern and quite comfortable (Chinese-made) bus from the port to the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage.
Our drive took us along the toll road from Colombo to the A1, the main road connecting Colombo to Kandy in the middle of the island nation. As with the excursion to the Goan spice plantation a few days ago, it was refreshing to get out of the city and see life in the towns and villages of the countryside — places where shoe shops and dental surgeries can coexist peacefully.
In between the villages, the countryside had rice fields with cows and water buffalos. Buddhist temples dotted the landscape, and we also saw mosques and churches in some of the towns.
We arrived at Pinnawala about 3 hours after we left the ship. We walked a few hundred feet to the ‘elephant river street,’ and as soon as we rounded the corner, our guide told us, “Stand in the shop or get over to the side right away!”
We were confused at first, and then we saw an elephant striding up the street at a healthy speed. He was on his way back from his morning bath.
The orphanage has the largest captive herd of elephants in the world—more than 80 elephants. The Sri Lankan government established the sanctuary in 1975 to care for orphaned baby elephants. There are now four generations of elephants in the orphanage.
The big spectacle for the day is the morning bath. The elephants are led down from the sanctuary to the river and then given plenty of time to frolic in the water. Male elephants have light chains primarily for the protection of the tourists and to keep the bulls from running too far afield.
The elephants have a great time in the water. They lie on their sides, and the handlers splash them with water and rub them down by hand.
It was endlessly fascinating and delightful to stand there and watch so many elephants having so much fun! Two luxury hotels adjoin the river, and visitors can also witness the bath ritual whilst having a cold beverage or lunch. Our group had lunch in the Hotel Elephant Bay’s open-air restaurant.
After our lunch, it was time to see the next part of the elephants’ day: their feeding time. The reserve has a large area for the elephants to graze. We watched from an area behind a railing, and were admonished not to approach the elephants.
However, one juvenile elephant found a technicality loophole in the rules: he apparently hadn’t been told that HE couldn’t approach ME. I stood sheepishly in one spot, not sure what was going to happen. After he scratched his belly on a large boulder, he came over to me and touched my hands with the end of his trunk. I guess he thought my camera looked like it might be food. We shared a brief moment, and then he moved off.
There is one juvenile elephant in the herd (five years old) who is still being bottle fed. One lucky tourist give the youngster a bottle of milk, which he drained in a matter of seconds.
Too soon, it was time to head back to Colombo. on the way back, our guide Michael told us about home life and traditions for a typical Sri Lankan Buddhist family. Horoscopes play a major part in life—one is cast as soon as a child is born, and the horoscope drives everything from career planning to marriage matchmaking.
Two hours into the return trip, we stopped at a surprisingly posh hotel (the Covanro) for a restroom break. We noticed that the entryway was brightly decorated. Michael asked around and then told us that a wedding was underway. And the good news for us was that the astrologer had told the couple that they needed to leave the wedding for their car at 3:38 pm – only five minutes from now! We were told we could stand off to the side of the entryway and take photos so long as we did not get in the way. Michael told us some phrases that we might offer in congratulations to the couple.
At precisely 3:38, the couple emerged from the reception hall. They looked impossibly young! — although we found out afterward that he was 24 and she was 22. They seemed surprised to see all these Western tourists there to greet them. They waved and their wedding photographer even took a few photos of us.
As we returned to the bus and the wedding reception broke up, we greeted the wedding guests with “Ayubowan,” which they seemed delighted to hear from us. What a special moment that was for us—how fortunate that we stopped there when we did, and that we had a guide who was so conscientious about having us experience the richness of the country’s culture.
Another spectacular sunset closed out our day in Colombo. We set sail at 6:30.
We very much enjoyed our brief time on this gorgeous island. The people were extraordinarily friendly and welcoming, the food was great, the landscape was idyllic. I’m glad we had the opportunity to experience this beautiful place.
We’re at sea for three days now. Next stop: George Town on the Penang Peninsula of Malaysia.