Underwater Buddhist Meditation is to be recommended!

Sorry for the dearth of blogs over the last couple of weeks. Sri Lanka pretty much shut down for a week and a half this month due to the Parliamentary Elections and the Singhalese and Tamil New Year celebrations so I and my fellow VSO volunteers used the opportunity to explore the south of this amazing Island.

On the 8th April the elections passed with surprisingly limited trouble. The Sri Lankans are incredibly politically motivated and the Presidential Election in January got a 75% turnout. These Parliamentary elections had a much lower turnout at 55% (Brown and Cameron, eat your heart out!) probably due to the fact that the opposition where campaigning not to win but rather to stop the ruling party, the Sri Lankan Freedom Party (SLFP) from getting a two-thirds majority. Unfortunately that wasn't to be the case which means President Rajapakse now has a mandate to change the Constitution and, most likely, remove the limit on presidential terms he can hold. His family now hold key seats including his 2 brothers, his cousin and his son (who studied in the UK and got a 3rd!).

Because of trouble during previous elections, VSO required that we "hibernate" on the afternoon of the election and the day after. This required us to stay in one place and keep safe. My compadres and I decided that the safest place to be was on the beach at Unawatuna, about 5 km south of Galle. It's so tough to hibernate!! Unawatuna, Una for short, is a beautiful bay that has become a backpacker magnet in Sri Lanka. Sri Lankans interpret this to mean that we want Bob Marley played permanently in all bars. I don't mind a bit of Mr Marley, but come on!

Close to Una is the number one spot for whale watching in Sri Lanka. Only recently did Zoologists realise that Sri Lanka is perfectly placed to see both Blue and Sperm whales. About 8kms off the coast the continental shelf on which Sri Lanka sits is at it's narrowest with ocean depths of 1km - perfect whale country. They head west between the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea in April and return in the opposite direction in Dec/Jan. We were lucky enough to see between 6 and 10 Sperm whales up very close and 1 Blue whale at a distance as well as a pod of dolphins. The Sperm whales were mainly logging which, as the name suggests, means they are doing log impressions on the surface - not the most photogenic position to be in!

After a couple of nights chilling, Sam, a new VSO volunteer to Sri Lanka, and I headed east to go diving at the Great Basses, an outcrop of rocks about 16km off the coast of Sri Lanka. It had been heralded by many people as "the best diving in Sri Lanka". We arrived at Kirinda harbour at 6am in the morning and were loaded into 2 fishing boats - just 4m long wooden boats with a small outboard motor and nothing else. The fishermen who had come in from their night time fishing to sell their catch clearly don't see many foreigners so, by the time we were ready to leave, we had an audience of about 75 people gawping at us. After we left the harbour we headed to the horizon seemingly heading no where. Fortunately the Great Basses is marked by a lighthouse which, though knocked down by the Tsunami, has now been rebuilt. After the long and rather uncomfortable boat ride, the expectations for the first dive were extremely high. The look on Sam's face when we surfaced after the first day matched exactly what I was thinking, though - what's the fuss about?! I suppose I've been spoilt with some incredible diving around the world but it was a real anti-climax - very little coral and quite a few fish but poor visibility. After 3 dives on the first day, we were ready to pack it in.

The second day was better, though, probably because we'd reset our expectations. I decided to practise some Buddhist meditation underwater to pass the time. Buddhist say that you control your own feelings and it's not others making you feel like that. One meditation is to focus on 3 different people: 1 you like, 1 you dislike and 1 your ambivalent towards. The aim is to think about the 1 you dislike and to find out ways to like them. At 20m below sea level it was relatively easy to do! The last dive was on a wreck at only 7m of depth. My Buddhist meditation swapped instead to making up conversations between the fish I was watching!! Clearly madness was setting in by that point.

Where we'd based ourselves for the diving was fortunately also next to Sri Lanka's most visited wildlife reserve, Yala, so we decided to continue our animal odyssey with a safari the next day. Yala apparently has the greatest concentration of leopards of anywhere in the world and we were fortunate enough to see two on top of a rocky outcrop. My favourite siting was of mother elephant which I saw at a distance across a lake filled with storks and cormorants. After a few minutes looking at her, a baby elephant came into view. After about another 5 mins, a third tiny baby elephant could be seen under her. It stayed almost glued to her side all the time. It reminded me of Russian dolls where you open one and you get another smaller one - very cute. Yala abounds with crocodiles, elephants, jackal, peacocks, spotted deer, monkeys, mongooses and loads of birdlife, the most beautiful of which were the bee-catchers (see photo).

After so many days of animal-watching both on land and in the sea, we decided to do a bit of "temple-bashing" and so headed to Kataragama, one of the 3 most venerated religious sites in Sri Lanka held sacred by Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims alike. People pray to Kataragama throughout the year but most especially in July when pilgrims express their devotion in ways ranging from walking the length of the country to gruesome acts of self-mutilation such as piercing their tongues and cheeks with skewers! I think I'll give that a miss. The main devotion we saw was pilgrims setting fire to coconuts, holding them aloft whilst saying a prayer, before smashing them on 2 stones within the temple complex. I didn't understand why there was such intensity in the act of coconut smashing until I found out it is highly inauspicious if the coconut doesn't break. One poor man we watched didn't have any luck and his coconut remained resolutely intact. He was followed by a very slight young girl who hurled her coconut down and it smashed to smithereens. The look of horror on his face and glee on hers was a sight to be seen!

After all these days of travelling and seeing the sites, we decided a couple of days chilling on the beach was called for so we headed to Tangalla to catch up with some of the other volunteers. Tangalla has one of the most beautiful stretches of beach but, because the currents are extremely strong and there are very few places that you can swim safely, it hasn't developed. This didn't matter to me as a hammock had my name on it and that's where I remained bar a trip turtle-watching one night and a kayak around the lagoon behind the hotel (well - you can't just do nothing!).

I picked probably the busiest day to travel in Sri Lanka to get back to Galle - the Sunday after New Year when everyone was heading back from their families to their homes / places of work. How so many people could get onto a bus, I just don't know. Just when you thought it was full to bursting, they'd get another 10 people on. I made it home in one piece and it really did feel like coming home, which is a great feeling. The only downside was it meant back to work - but more of that in the next installment!

Until then, practise your Buddhist meditation (underwater if you can!).

Temple of the Tooth

Happy Easter one and all! This weekend me and 8 of my fellow volunteers escaped our placements and went up to to the hill country to visit Kandy, or Nuwera as it's really known, for the Easter weekend. Kandy came about as a name as the Brits misunderstood the word for "hills" in Singhala and the name has stuck ever since!

Kandy is home to many famous sites but none more so than "The Temple of the Tooth", the Buddhist equivalent of the Vatican. Legend has it that when the Buddha was cremated in 543 BC in Northern India, various parts of his remains were rescued from the fire including one of his teeth. In the fourth century AD, as Buddhism was declining in India, the Tooth was smuggled into Sri Lanka hidden (according to legend) in the hair of a princess. Over the years there has been much tussling over the tooth. The worst offenders where the Portuguese who apparently stole the tooth and took it to Goa and pounded it to dust, burnt it and sprinkled it in the sea. Buddhists claim that they either destroyed a replica or that the tooth magically reassembled itself and flew back to Sri Lanka. The tooth is now only shown once or twice every decade and the rest of the time it's encased in a Russian-doll-like set of 6 caskets in the shape of dagobas (the bell shaped Buddhist shrines that are endemic across the island). Some, who have seen it, claim it looks like a buffalo's tooth. Whatever it is, it clearly has a huge significance to Buddhists all across the world. I went to the 6am puja (ceremony) and the place was packed with people all with an offering of flowers or food waiting patiently to see the tooth dagoba from a distance.

Within the temple grounds was the Raja Tusker Museum. Raja was an elephant who became a national treasurer after serving as the lead Elephant in the annual Esala Perahera, the largest Perahera (see my first blog) in Sri Lanka which lasts a week. Raja was the elephant who carried the tooth relic for 50 years during this festival. The perfect elephant for the job has to have 7 things that touch the ground: his 4 feet, his trunk, his tail and his penis! When he died, he was so much loved by Sri Lankans that a national day of mourning was called. He know stands proud (and stuffed) in the museum surrounded by photos of both him in his prime and during his last hours which are very sad.

As well as visiting the temple, we went to visit the Botanical Gardens, the largest in Sri Lanka and a treasure trove of plants that I've never seen before. The highlights for me were the Canon-Ball Tree, aptly named after it's fruits; the talipot palm, which has the most enormous leaves and flowers just once in about fifty to seventy years and then dies; and a fern whose proper name I didn't get, but has been renamed in our minds as the feces fern - I won't explain why!

We got to and from Kandy in style by taking the Observation car of the train from Colombo. The Observation car did what it said on the tin by providing incredible views of the hill country and the train line which is quite a feat of engineering. What they didn't say was that you needed a sports bra to enjoy the journey - the jiggling up and down and left and right resembled being in a washing machine at times!

We are not done with holidays as we'll go into "hibernation" (a VSO term when you're supposed to be at home or in a safe place during a period of instability) during the election which is this Thursday and the day after. A group of us are choosing to hibernate at the beach in Unawatuna which is just down the road from me here in Galle. The following week is then the Singhala and Tamil New Year so the Chamber closes for the week. It's as big here as Christmas and New Year is for us and so very little work is getting done right now. I'm looking forward to really trying to get things going once the festivities are over.

So as they say here "Suba alut arudde" or Happy New Year!

Sri Lankans on Tour

This weekend has been hectic with travel in all modes of transport being the name of the game. On Thursday evening I needed to head back to Colombo for a VSO meeting and chose to go by train which was definitely the right move. There are 2 classes - 2nd and 3rd (not sure what has happened to 1st!) and 2nd class is a really expensive 180 Rupees or about £1 for a 3.5 hour journey! The distance is only about 130km so it's slow but the views are incredible. I arrived in Colombo as the sun was setting over the Indian Ocean - magical.

I came back on Saturday morning in a van hired by some fellow VSO-ers. The drive takes the same time as the train but is significantly less relaxing with the constant use of the horn, overtaking on blind bends, lots of emergency stops and generally pretty dodgy driving. The speed limits are 73km out of town and 52km in towns - why the random amounts, I don't know! Needless to say, no one sticks to them.

We made it back to Galle in one piece and I had to ready myself for my first Galle District Chamber of Commerce Board Meeting which started at 7.30pm that night. Firstly formality is a HUGE thing here. All 30 Directors had a place at the Board Room table in a position that reflected their seniority. I didn't have a place at all and was expected to sit at the edge of the room but, in true Jules-style, spotted a wee gap at the table and asked if I could sit there, which worked much better. The board is made up of 1 Tamil representative, 2 Muslim and the rest are Sinhalese. The meeting was conducted almost entirely in Sinhala (with a bit of English for me) so they're really only nodding to the cultural diversity that is reflected in the Galle District. Needless to say, there are no women on the board. The meeting started with a silent prayer to Buddha and then a minute's silence. Then the pontification started. Meeting etiquette doesn't seem to exist in Sri Lanka. Firstly all the mobile phones remain on and, even if someone is in the middle of speaking, if he receives a call he'll stop his speech and take the call - incredible! Secondly, everyone is talking over each other all the time. There were a couple of "debates" on a few subjects but, even with my level of Singhalese, I realised that, despite the verbosity of the statements, they were all agreeing with each other. The agenda covered pretty random topics and didn't, I thought, get to the meaty issues e.g. the fact that the Chamber isn't breaking even. It has reinforced to me how difficult it will be to get changes made. Aligning 30 people who are always managing their own businesses to new ideas is going to be a tough job.

After the meeting (10.30pm) everyone adjourned to one of the Director's restaurants. Immediately the Arrack (the local spirit made from Palm syrup) came out. I had a beer and a small bite to eat and then made my excuses to leave at 11.15pm (a) because of the potential sexual harassment (see my last blog) and (b) because I didn't want to have to be driven home by any of them in their inebriated states. Apparently it all went on till 2am!

The next day was an early start at 6am for a trip with the "Richmond Hill Welfare Association". Richmond Hill is the area I'm living in - nothing to do with Richmond, London! The Association was set up by neighbours to create a small social club and donate to local needs. Each year they have a trip for members and their families and this year I was invited by the Chamber's Chairman, Mr Lakshman, and his wife. They had decided that they wanted to visit Hambantota which is in the South East of Sri Lanka, about 4 hours from Galle. A standard Sri Lankan bus was hired complete with hard seats, no a/c, and bald tyres (see the pictures attached). I was sat next to Mr Lakshman's wife, Rohini, who unfortunately is the largest Sri Lankan lady I know so, coupled with my not insignificant arse, meant a fun day for all!

I was amazed at the party spirit of the 40 or so people on board who ranged in age from an 8 month old baby to a Granny of maybe 80 (I find it very difficult to age people here as they all look so young). The singing started at 6am and carried on for the duration of the trip till 11.30pm. Unfortunately no one could hold a tune amongst them but they carried on with gusto accompanied only by a makeshift set of drums.

The first stop was to view the empty hole in the ground that will become the new Hambantota Port. It's being built by the Chinese as part of their "string of pearls" strategy which aims at getting ports across Asia in strategic places. I asked what was in it for the Chinese and the answer was "nothing - we just have to pay back the loan". I don't believe that but Rohini did confide that she is disgusted that the country is saddling itself with a huge debt to pay back when there are so many people below the poverty line who need more basic amenities than a port. Hambantota is at the edge of the "dry zone" of Sri Lanka, and it was amazing to see the difference versus the lushness that I'm used to around Galle and Colombo.

After a hot visit to the port, the trip included a Chinese School, a model farm, a patch of grass that is to become an International Cricket ground, and some hot water springs - a rather random set of sights. In total we were on the bus driving for at least 11 hours of the 16 hour day. Part of this was due to the fact that we got a puncture and, later, got stuck trying to navigate some very tight corners around paddy fields. I have to say I did get slightly grumpy at the end of it all, especially as I felt I was being ordered all day: "sit", "eat", "get on the bus", "go to the toilet", "look", "come here", "don't go there". Singhala uses definitive verbs all the time and it's a sign of caring to constantly make sure the guest has what they need but it translates into very forced orders which I began to want to rebel against, especially as the day wore on and the singing got worse! All in all, though, the day was an adventure to see more of the beautiful south of the Island and, more importantly, observe Sri Lankans letting their hair down.

The more I see of this amazing Island and it's friendly people, the more I want others to see it too so do think about when you're going to come and visit and book those flights!!

The Men that think they're God's gift to women!

I'm reading the most wonderful book at the moment by Michael Ondaatje - Running in the Family (the guy that wrote The English Patient). He is a Burgher which is what they call families of Dutch origin that live in Sri Lanka. The book is about his return to Sri Lanka and the characters in his family. There is a section in the book which seems to epitomise what I'm going through right now. It describes his Grandmother Lalla and one of her more memorable bus journeys:

"When the bus arrived she herded herself in with the rest and, after ten minutes of standing in the aisle, found a seat where three could sit side by side. Eventually the man next to her put his arm behind her shoulder to give them all more room.

Gradually she began to notice the shocked faces of the passengers facing her across the aisle. At first they looked disapprovingly and soon began whispering to each other. Lalla looked at the man next to her who had a smug smile on his face. He seemed to be enjoying himself. Then she looked down and saw that his hand had come over her left shoulder and was squeezing her breast. She smiled to herself.

She had not felt a thing. Her left breast had been removed five years earlier and he was ardently fondling the sponge beneath her gown."

Unfortunately Sri Lankan men, on the whole, think that they're God's gift to women and therefore are quite happy to blatantly be lecherous! Our first experience was at our guest house in Colombo on the second morning there. Padmini, the owner, occasionally allows a guy to do casual labour around her house. The morning, he didn't seem to be working but was quite happy to sit in a gap behind the house and the garden wall watching us eat breakfast. I, not realising the "done thing" in Sri Lanka, tried to stare him out when he continued to gawp at us. That was clearly the wrong thing to do as he then proceeded to stick his tongue out and wiggle it around in the most odd way. Becky, being more with it, shooed him away. We weren't quite sure what was implied by "tongue man" as he has become known, but, when we checked with our language teachers later that day, they confirmed our worst suspicions. I'd expected such attention would only be directed at white women (or suddu noona as we're known as in Singalese!) but apparently Sri Lankan women get it just as badly. Apparently I'd done exactly the wrong thing by staring at him!

"Tongue Man" came back only one more time during our breakfasts at Padmini's. When he tried it on again, we spoke to Padmini who, I guess, will have words with him. I hope we've not lost him his work there, however casual it was, but equally, I'd hate for Padmini to get a bad reputation on travel blogs etc. Why he'd even think it was attractive and get him some "action" is beyond me!

Slightly more concerning is that I think my boss may think he can have a bit more than just a professional relationship with me. He has been so kind to me sorting out my accommodation etc. I've started to realise, though, that there are an awful lot of references to "just the two of us for dinner" and "what do you like to drink? I could bring some round to your flat." This week we've been planning a trip with the "Harmony Development Council" aimed at developing closer ties between business people in the North and East - the Tamil LTTE affected areas - and so a trip has been organised for May where 30 people from the Southern Chambers will visit the East on a 4 day trip. I've been invited and it wasn't until he stared waxing lyrical about going to the "warm (spelt worm on the itinerary!) water pools and seeing me in my bikini" did I really start to worry. I'm going to have to nip this in the bud very quickly but in a way that doesn't cause too much offence. He's probably in his early 60s and is happily married with two kids so why he thinks he's even in with a chance, I've no idea.

The attached picture was taken this week when the Canadian High Commissioner and his wife had a lunch meeting with the Chamber's great and good (and me!). Left to right - Darshika (the Administration Manager); me; Ingrid, the High Commissioner's wife; Mr Lakshman, the Chairman (and my boss!); Bruce, the High Commissioner; Suri, the Director General of the Chamber; and Dhammika, the Secretary of the Board. Next week there is the Chamber's Board meeting which starts at 7pm on Saturday night (!). It sounds like it turns into a bit of a drinking shop so, as the only woman there, I'll make my excuses once the business part of the night is over, and head home!

It may sound awful, but the attention I get is continuous but not threatening in the least. I think it will just be on days when I'm low anyway that it will get to me. I'm looking forward to being able to deliver a really good retort fluently in Sinhala should anything happen like it did to poor Lalla on the bus! These Sri Lankan blokes ain't seen nothing yet!

Galle First Impressions

On Monday I left what had become the familiar of Colombo to start my new life in Galle (pronounced Gaul by the Brits and Galla (like the Bingo company!) by the locals). I've got a flat on the 2nd floor of my landlord's house which was only built a couple of years ago. I'm the first person to rent it (for the grand sum of 25,000 Rupees or ~£140 per month!) which meant that the kitchen was still being finished for the first couple of days after I arrived. This was a tad frustrating as I couldn't unpack everything and clean all the nooks and crannies. I think cleaning is going to become a major task here as the dust seems to collect instantaneously and the ants quickly follow. Fortunately I haven't encountered anything much worse than that at the moment.

The flat has really high ceilings and so is very cool (by Sri Lankan standards, that is!). It has 3 bedrooms, a large kitchen and a sitting area. It's been built well but the finish is a bit slap dash. I've been provided with some furniture but it does feel a little spartan at the moment. If you come and stay I'll be able to offer you "convent cell 1" or "2". Make sure you bring your hair shirt for the full experience! I plan to get curtains made and cushions etc. so hopefully, over time, it will feel a little more homely. I'm in a very residential area about 3km from work and so I'll be buying a bike this week and will run the gauntlet of the roads here. Driving acumen isn't something the Sri Lankans are famous for!

My first day at the Galle District Chamber of Commerce was greeted with a powercut for the entire day so the room where my desk is was stifling. They haven't had a volunteer before so clearly don't have any idea what to do with me so I was left to my own devices. Since then I've plonkled myself in front of everyone and tried to get as much information out of the staff as possible. Some of the guys speak English quite well. The rest have limited English and their confidence to speak it is even less. I've started to get a bit of a clue as to what to focus on but I think it will take a few more weeks to become truly clear.

The Chamber is situated in a building just off "Main Street" in the centre of the Galle New Town. They're renting out half of the building to a bank and some sort of commercial property agency. The rest of the building could do with a great deal of TLC (as you can probably see from the photo). There are 15 permanent members of staff at the chamber and then 30 Directors who volunteer their time alongside running their own businesses. This means that getting time with them is difficult. I'll meet them all at the Board meeting on the last Saturday of this month. It starts at 7pm and sounds like it turns into a bit of a drinking shop ending at about 1am - can't wait - not! We did have a staff meeting on Thursday and, even though there were numerous important issues to discuss, the provision of tea at 10am and 3.30pm for all staff got the most air time! I was really looking forward to wonderful tea here but the most common way for it to be served is with tonnes of milk and sugar. When I say tonnes, I mean it looks like you're actually pouring milk into your cup and not tea! I've learnt to ask for no sugar and milk on the side in Singhala. This week I was asked if I was a diabetic because I didn't want sugar in my tea or coffee!

Yesterday Sarah, one of my fellow VSO-ers who is based in Colombo, came to stay and we visited Galle's famous fort which was built by the Dutch, expanded by the Portuguese, and then taken over by the Brits. It is a stunning olde worlde area which oozes history. The ramparts ensured that the tsunami caused limited damage to the houses inside. Unfortunately the same can't be said for Galle new town which still has the scars of devastated homes and businesses all along the sea front. People don't really like talking about it at all.

Talking of water, the heavens have just opened so the expected Monsoon season must be upon us. Fortunately I just need to head downstairs tonight for dinner with my landlord and his family which is nice of them. Poor Sarah will be soaked as she heads back to catch the bus or train to Colombo.

Do keep in touch and send me your Skype ID if you have one.

Colombo First Impressions

"Oh, you're sweating!" - [no s$*t Sherlock!]

This wasn't quite the welcome that I'd been expecting from what I'd had been told was one of the most friendly nations on earth. In fact, the Sri Lankans are just saying this to show their concern but it's going to take some getting used too, as is the 32C - 35C heat. In fact, stating the obvious is the key approach we've been taught in our language lessons so far. If you meet a man fishing you don't ask "Have you caught anything?" as this will bring him bad luck. Instead you ask "Are you fishing?". How this will start a conversation, I haven't quite fathomed yet but I'll try it out next time I meet a fisherman and test the theory.

The only time the obvious isn't stated so overtly is around how your dressed. The Sri Lankan's are EXTREMELY fastidious when it comes to dress. You see the children en route to school (which starts at 0730 here) in beautifully white, pressed school uniforms. One of the first things we've been told to buy is an iron. This will ensure that we don't get asked: "Were you in a rush this morning?" [translated as "Why are your clothes not ironed"]. "Don't you like jewellery?" equals "Why are you not rich enough to possess more of it?" The two comments I have received so far are: "You look very beautiful today" [Translation = "You should dress like that more often"] and "What a wonderful blouse!" [Translation = "So much nicer than the kind of thing you usually wear"]. And I thought I only had to learn the language...!

7 of us landed in Colombo on 16th February and, since then, we've had an intensive 3 week training course comprising of 6 days a week of language training in the mornings and briefings in the afternoons. Sinhala is grammatically a fairly straight forward language although difficult to retain given it bears no relation to latin-based languages. Fortunately they use a lot of English words e.g. "telephone", "voicemail", "post office". Our teachers have been brilliant and with a concerted effort from here on in I hope to get by. The afternoon briefings have been extremely helpful to help us get under the skin of what's going on here, especially politically. The elections are coming up soon - more of that in future updates.

Colombo hasn't got a huge amount going for it. We were fortunate enough, though, to be here for the annual Navam Perahera festival. Every month the Buddhists celebrate the full moon which they call a Poya Day. The February Poya day has become a big event in Colombo marked by this festival which features anywhere between 50 and 80 elephants dressed to the nines. They're accompanied with dancers from all over the country and it goes on for hours. This particular Perahera was marked by one of the elephants breaking loose which created a huge crowd panic. We couldn't quite see what was happening so were quite perturbed when the locals started running and diving over surrounding walls. Suzanne's (a fellow VSO Volunteer) first assumption was that it was a Tamil Tiger (LTTE) bomb. What we found out later was that there had been lanterns of burning coconut husks laid out along the path of the procession; one of these lanterns had fallen over and the poor elephant had stood on the burning embers. I was surprised how unprepared the police where to handle the situation. No health and safety here! Anyway - it all made for an eventful evening and the elephant is fine as is the crowd.

We all head to our different placements on Monday. I'm going to be the only one based in Galle but I'm not worried about that. It's a place that the others all want to visit so I won't have any lack of people around me. I'm looking forward to making my flat feel like home and am especially keen to get into my job.