Troy Archie – Everybody Knows This is Nowhere

Well I’ve been in Sri Lanka for a couple of days, am starting get my travelling feet wet and have already gotten my legs covered in mosquito bites; I was told there’s no malaria in these parts by the travel clinic, so worries?   Thus far it’s been overall good with the people here coming across quite friendly and not pushy.  You can walk down a busy street, exchange smiles and not get accosted by taxi drivers or people selling things.  Yesterday, as I was walking down the street it started to rain and a couple huddled under two umbrellas passed me by and offered to give me on.  I had to refuse but was blown away by the courtesy.

People
I was a bit worried about not meeting many other tourists along the way, most other people seem to be couples or travelling in groups, but I met a nice Dutch couple who reassured me things are much different further south.  It seems odd that you’d want to travel all this way and see other travellers but at some point you want to talk to someone with a bit of cultural familiarity, can offer travel tips and someone to just shoot the shit with.  Actually, from all my travels meeting people has been the best parts; not just the locals but other travellers from different areas of the world and walks of life is bar none the best part.

I spent a day in the beach town of Negombo getting myself together.  I stayed in a nice family run guesthouse in Negombo and had a nice home cooked meal.  The owner couple there had worked in hospitality for a number of years abroad, spoke great English and provided good conversation and insight on the country.  From there I heading north via bus to Anuradhapura to see the ancient Buddhist temples there.  It was a fun bus ride, passing through some interesting country side, where I was the only foreigner on the bus and town that I had to transfer in.  It was pretty straight forward and people pointed me in the right direction.

Keeping your Wits
Albeit the people are super friendly and my experiences have been all around good, you do have to keep your wits about you, especially when you`re travelling alone.  On the bus ride up I met a great young guy and had a good conversation with him outside the usual hellos, what country you’re from and do you have a wife kind of stuff.  I noticed he had a dossier for a blood pressure medication and the nurse inquired and ends up he was a drug rep for a pharmaceutical company.  We continued talking and there were no red flags about him; well dressed, nice cell phone, educated and was going to Anuradhapura to visit an astrologist friend of his to who was going to help him with his headaches he`s been experiencing.  He even went so far as commenting it was hypocritical of him being a pharmaceutical rep and not using a headache medication.  All in all everything checked out.  He wanted to give me a ride with his friend from the bus station to my guesthouse.  This I where things get sticky; albeit I felt no red-flags about him, as a lone traveller you simply can`t get into that car with them.  I’m sure things would have worked out great and I may have missed a chance to meet a new friend but in the end I can’t take that chance.  It really kind of sucks because it’s then almost impossible to break that tourist bubble that you’re in and see Sri Lankan’s as they are without the object of money coming into play.  I got the guy’s name, number and email address but it’s pretty illegible …

Coffee ETOH
On January 23, 2013 I drank coffee.  It was the first time I’ve gone a day without coffee in around 4 years.  Up to this point in my travels I’ve gone to either good cafes in Hong Kong and McCafe or Starbucks in airports.  Albeit I am a slave to coffee, I must say I’ve faired quite well in the detoxification process; no headaches, no diaphoresis, no hallucinations or tremors.  I have tempered it with Sri Lankan tea, which only makes sense as it’s a prominent tea growing country and pretty tasty, even if they look at me like I’m insane when I say I drink it black without sugar.  I will say I do have a mid-day drowsy hump and I`m super early to bed.  I chalk that up to a combo of no coffee and bit of jet-lag I’m still experiencing.  Today is day two without tea ad all is well.  I’m tempted to keep on without coffee for my entire stay in Sri Lanka but think the odd cup when in more touristy and developed areas might be nice.

Tags: Australia

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