Woolly says – Having spent the night trying not to sneeze any further and under threat from Jo that grave injury would occur to my trunk if I splatted anyone else with my germs I awoke with a mussy head but a high level of determination to enjoy the day. Having made arrangements yesterday to have our first tuk tuk ride I was ready at the gate a little bit early……..
Make that four hours early!
Woolly says – ……… after a lengthy wait my chariot hove into view, a cute green tuk tuk driven by our new friend Sham. Before I could get myself comfortable we shot down the road and into the streams of traffic, chaos, total chaos, as we sped past bikes and scooters and screeched into the smallest spaces I could feel Jo breathing in with the hope that we would squeeze past the vehicles, it was wonderful. Our tour was to take us round the town of Negombo which is approximately 35 km (22 miles) north of Colombo and is known for its centuries old fishing industry, it is also our current home for the next few weeks. First stop was to a Christian Church, very large and with some impressive golden statues depicting Jesus on the cross, before I had chance to ask the name of the church we were back in the vehicle and speeding off once more.
Once the fear of crashing into the thousands of other road users had subsided we all decided that the tuk tuk was the best way of seeing anything, as we sped round a bend and braked sharply to stop in front of a rather impressive Hindu Temple.
Woolly says – Kali Amman Temple was to be our very first Hindu experience, even for the retired teacher amongst us, who has been in many different places of worship over her years, couldn’t wait. The carvings above the entrance way showed many of the Hindu gods intricately carved and beautifully painted, my favourite for obvious reasons was Ganesh the elephant God, and was easily as big as Jo. As the women covered their shoulders and removed there shoes I hardly dared step over the threshold as a group of thirty or so were worshipping, our guide however paid no attention to them and summoned us forward. Many pillars led to a covered area with each pillar displaying a small Ganesh, he seemed to be everywhere. A curtain was open, and I peeked inside to see to two men adorning the silver statues that were on a table with pieces of cloth, I quietly moved away. The rest of the party had moved further into the temple and were looking at some smaller type temples, one housed the God Shiva and one Hanuman the monkey God, beautifully painted, I stood for a while breathing in the calm environment and smell of incense in the air.
I smiled to myself as he sat quietly and seemingly happy in quiet contemplation, maybe we should take him to more temples for some peace and quiet for all!
Woolly says – As I turned to return to the entrance I glanced above me and saw another incredible array of carving, lots of blues and greens with the Gods sporting some rather fetching moustaches, I wonder if I would suit a moustache! We moved quietly out of the temple and having risked our lives in crossing the busy thoroughfare we shot off once more. Our guide told us our next destination, but it would have been just as easy to guess from the smell of fish. Each day, fishermen take their oruvas (outrigger canoes) and go out in search of the fish for which Negombo is famous, fish auctions take place on the beach each morning and include a huge variety of catches including lobster, prawns and crabs which I know Jo has been eyeing up. Although to late for the sales it was interesting to watch the men laying out the tiny silver fish for drying on nets while another man came behind and collected them into piles ready to head to the local markets. The smell was strong but did seem to stop me sneezing for a few minutes which was a pleasant interlude from my trunks point of view.
Sadly most of the pictures have vanished into the ether for this blog
Our next stop was to a tunnel and what appeared to be a small tower, having my ears full of cold I had thought the guide had mentioned that it was a Jain Temple, Zoe burst out laughing and explained it was the old jail, slight difference in usage then!
Woolly says – Behind the old jail was the newer and now used version, a stern looking officer watched us with a beady eye, I waved and decided to climb back on board once more before he got ideas about incarcerating a mammoth. We hurtled back into the traffic once more, next up was the lagoon, a man-made waterway which merged with the sea, I sat watching a cormorant drying its wings in the sunshine as the guide led the women towards another man. I listened to our driver telling the women all about the lagoon and the monkeys on the island while the new man nodded at the end of every sentence, I waited for the next bit to reveal itself having a feeling that monkeys were going to equal lots of rupees and that Ms and Miss Miser weren’t going to be falling for it even with the image of baby chimps to cuddle.
We had already discussed a trip on the lagoon but hadn’t bargained on doing it on this outing neither had we bargained on paying the asking price, Zoe and I looked at each other both knowing that we were being robbed blind if we took it, Zoe went down the lack of cash pathway which was stopped when our guide offered to pay saying we could pay him when we got back to the accommodation. I headed into the conversation with a huge sneeze explaining that I felt ill and that I would prefer to wait until I was better, so I could enjoy it far more, success and although our guide didn’t appear to be overly happy the two men gave up and we got back into our transport.
Woolly says – She can be quite canny when she wants to be and for an added measure once we were seated she sneezed again and spent the next few minutes snorting into a tissue…… and she thinks I have a problem with my trunk! Off we set again, through the main town of Negombo and right into the market area, with our horn going and pedestrians scattering we drove past stalls selling fish vegetables and all manner of clothing, I felt sure we shouldn’t be driving there but who was I to stop the man in charge. As we catapulted out of the market area and back onto the road our man Sham told us that we were heading to a herbal garden, I looked at the women and we all knew that this was going to cost us money.
We were introduced to Michael who ran the gardens, he gave us a most interesting tour of all the plants that they use to make herbal remedies for everything from arthritis to diabetes, fascinating as was the price of the treatments we could buy. Having looked through the products we selected the one that we thought would at least be useful to us, which was also the cheapest and having sampled the citronella cream we handed over our money and headed off once more.
Woolly says – I had a peaceful doze as my companions were shown round and as we took off once more my ears pricked up as I heard our man mention the big Buddha. Five minutes later and we pulled into an large open area which as promised housed a large Buddha standing on top of what appeared to be a monkey, our guide wasn’t sure why and shrugged his shoulder without being able to give us more information. The Angurukaramulla Temple not only houses the six metre tall Buddha but a three hundred year old ruin of a historic library, having checked online on our return we realised that the monkey was in fact a dragon which was there to ward off evil spirits. We started to take pictures, the buildings weren’t open to visit which was a shame but I was happy with the first of the Buddha’s we will be seeing on our trip and having taken in my fill, waved to the huge statue that towered above me we headed back to our base and the chance of a cool down and a good long drink, maybe I could look into becoming a tuk tuk driver so I could whizz through all the streets at great speed, something to consider!