For the last day in Sri Lanka, we have until 4 PM, when this leg ends. Having done most of the little scavenges around the city of Colombo, we did not have enough remaining to do to fill the time if we stayed in Colombo.
The sticky thing is – the other scavenges are far out of town, many hours away. There is a hard stop at 4 PM and we cannot be late. The train schedules are iffy and the roads are crowded. We decided to go to Galle, a roughly 3 and a half hour trip away. Galle is pronounced like “gawl”. Since we are required to take a train one way and since the trains are less reliable than the roads, we decided to train down and get a taxi back. The earliest train we could take is 6:50 AM. We left the hotel at 6:10 and walked to the station. Unlike our previous train rides, this train does not offer first class, which means that you cannot buy tickets in advance. Gauging from the crush of humanity at the train station at 6AM two days ago, we were concerned about being able to push through in time to buy a ticket and get on the train. Mysteriously, the station was all but empty and we breezed through with plenty of time to spare.
We got seats, travelling with the Camels from Dubai again, and the four of us were able to get four seats together. Even though it was second class, it was just fine – padded comfortable seats and not too crowded. We had asked the hotel to pack us breakfast boxes, which we ate on the train in comfort.
The previous day, our second class train ride into Kandy was crowded, standing room only. I stood next to two young women dressed fully in black, with only slits for eyes. One of them even wore black gloves. It was about 95 degrees in the train. They both had beautiful eyes that were made up with cosmetics. The glove-wearer spent much of the train ride chatting on her hot pink cell phone. The other one took an interest in me, and at one point, I got the opportunity to sit down and we chatted. Her English is excellent. She wanted to know where we were going, and offered advice on how much further our trip would be. She tried to be helpful and informative, but was 100% dead wrong. She had her directions and timing mixed up, but we were confident of our navigation, so I just enjoyed the cultural exchange.
The train ride to Galle was interesting and very different than all the other rides we had taken up in the Hill Country. Today was ocean day.
Sri Lanka’s capital city of Colombo is on the Indian Ocean, on the west coast of the country. To travel to Galle, we rode the rails in a southerly direction down the coastline to the bottom of the country. Virtually the whole trip was ocean view. Although we hoped to, we did not get to see the stick fishermen. (Those are the men who hold fishing poles, while standing on stick stilts in the ocean). It was raining; and also we understood that generally, the stick fishermen are further south of Galle.
As we travelled south from Colombo, we got into Tsunami territory. A few times along the way, we saw blue signs posted on the tracks saying “Tsunami Zone. Go to higher ground or inland”. We saw much rubble and suggestions of remaining walls from brick and cement structures that had been demolished by the Tsunami. There was much “rebuilding” of little shacks dotting the coastline. We understood that the Tsunami hit and wiped an entire train off the tracks from the rail line we were riding on. Apparently, it was the worst rail disaster in history. Galle’s new town was severely hit by the Tsunami and many people were killed around the bus station area. But the old fort’s solid walls kept damage to a minimum.
Many people live on the narrow stretch of land between the train tracks and the ocean – often as slender as a football field in length. In other words, many people live steps from the beach. Many of the homes are wooden shacks with roofs made of leaves or corrugated metal. Much of life seems to take place out back of the house, i.e. on the train tracks. We often saw people sitting on the tracks, using them as a bench.
When we arrived in Galle it was teeming, pouring, buckets, big dumps, giant shower of messy, chaotic rain. Not the best of conditions to stroll around the fort area, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The fort was first built in the 1500s by the Portuguese as a military base against the kingdom of Kandy, and was later expanded in the 1600s by the Dutch for shipping, and was the main port in Sri Lanka for more than 200 years, as an important stop for ships travelling between Europe and Asia. Because of our crazy schedule, we had only 55 minutes to visit Galle, before we had to start back on our return trip to Colombo to meet the 4 PM deadline. We found the mandatory sites, photographed them, had a taxi take us back into Colombo and got back with 45 minutes to spare.
Just enough time to squeeze in the scavenge of finding snake charmers. I got a picture of me holding a snake, flanked by snake charmers. The snake started to turn its head back up toward my hand just as the picture was being snapped. I was NOT smiling at that moment.
Next stop: Amman, Jordan.