Troy Archie – Everybody Knows This is Nowhere

I’m sitting at the airport retrospectively thinking about this trip.  My time in Sri Lanka and Singapore has come and gone along with this trip in general.  I feel and don’t feel ready to go back home but those are the breaks.

Sri Lanka
After a week in Singapore I had a lot of time to look back and put into context and comparison my trip in Sri Lanka.  Everything I type and feel at this point is in retrospect of Sri Lanka and after my time in Singapore so things will obviously be very slanted and construed.
Overall I had a good time in Sri Lanka but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed with the country in general.  I wouldn’t recommend anyone going to Sri Lanka nor would I want to go back myself.  That’s pretty harsh sounding but that’s sort of the way it is. I`d go back to Thailand and Laos and recommend them anyone.  Sri Lanka is a beautiful country with a lot of diversity and friendly people but it’s lacking in a lot of other ways that other Asian centers don’t.  It’s hard not to compare Sri Lanka with other places but I’m human and it’s what we do; comparison brings context to everything we experience.

Food: Easily the most disappointing thing about Sri Lanka was the food.  It was ok to good in general but there was nothing I ate that I will be waking up in the middle of the night craving or anything that I’ll be pining over   The curries were good but not great and the complete lack of variety in general didn’t help.  In all honesty I never ate so many omelets in my life; they were easy, quick, cheap, and safe and were without surprise.  The same could not be said for food in general in Sri Lanka.

Other Travellers: Albeit I met some great people while travelling Sri Lanka, I did find it was hard to meet other travellers in general; there wasn’t an abundant of other “backpackers” travelling the country.  Instead most of the other travellers that seemed to be frequenting Sri Lanka were older vacationing Europeans and middle-aged Europeans travelling with their children; lots of grey hair, families and small children in the country.

Getting Around: Getting around was a bit of a challenge at times but overall taking public transit was cheap, easy and except for the trains, were pretty fast, except for the last bus ride I took to the airport.  That was the most ridiculous and insane bus ride yet.  What was to be a relatively quick trip from Colombo to the airport 30km away turned into a 2 hour long painful journey with the bus driving 30km/h, which meant no breeze or wind into the bus, and then proceeding to stop at EVERY bus stop, regardless if the bus was flagged down or not.  This added another hour to the trip.  On top of all this, the ticket guy on the bus would get off at each station and call out “aipit-aipit-aipit-aipit-airport!” in an annoying Corky the Pig fashion (ask me to do an impression of this sometime).  After about the fifth time of him doing this I was ready to knock the guy’s teeth in but refrained, regardless of the call continuing on for the next 2 hours.  Fortunately I left to the airport with 9 hours before my flight due to boredom in the capital Colombo.

As painful as some of the buses and trains were, travel in general was part of the highlights of Sri Lanka.

Costs: I hate to make it about this but the costs in Sri Lanka were way too high for what you got.  From the accommodations to food to activities it just wasn’t worth the bill.  When I sat down and tallied my day-to-day costs covering transit, food, accommodations and activities it came out to about $38/day.  For what I got, where I slept and what I ate I don’t feel that was a worthwhile price-tag.  I didn’t “spurge” on any meals or accommodations, I skipped out on a number of activities that held higher price tags and there were days I kept my meal expenses pretty low (omelets, omelets, omelets!).  I think if you did spend a bit more, which I’m sure the European vacationers were doing, you’d get a bit more of bang for your dollar but for the budget backpacker it was more a fizzle.  I figure with a bit of conscious thought and budgeting one could easily spend the same amount per day in Singapore as in Sri Lanka, while sleeping in better places, eating amazing meals and seeing some pretty nice sites.  Even public transit was cheaper in Singapore.  This is all hard to come to grips and terms with comparing one is a developing nation and the other is a first world country.  All in hindsight and by comparison I suppose.

Lackings
Of some of the minor things that I felt Sri Lanka lacked was the simple things like renting a bike and riding around the country side.  I did a lot of this in Thailand and Laos but it was rather dangerous and sketchy to do in Sri Lanka as most of the towns were built around the main road with few or no smaller roads leading out to the country side.  Riding along these main roads with the buses, cars and motorbikes flying along them was a death wish.  Even the towns were pretty sparse and didn’t offer much wander and exploring like other cities and towns I’ve been to in Asia.  There was a large absence of foreign ownership, for good and bad; often these foreigners open nice restaurants and cafes that help break the curry and rice routine.  Overall I feel the country was a bit one dimensional and lacked a deeper level.

I don’t regret going to Sri Lanka, in fact I had a good time regardless of all the smack talk.  Just simply getting out back on the road was great for me.  Going at it alone was really good too.  I gained a lot personally and feel I`m a fuller person than when I left.  That probably sounds a bit hippy-dippy but I feel a greater appreciation for what I have, the life I live and the world I live.

Towards the last couple of weeks in Sri Lanka I couldn`t help but keep my eye on my calendar, counting down the days I had left in the country.  Looking back, that`s obviously a bad sign.  At the time my thoughts were that I was probably done with this type of travelling, that I just didn`t have it in me anymore and would probably stick to Canada and Europe from here on in.  I figured I wouldn’t travel alone again and would probably travel with a partner from here on out; it’s not that I was lonely but that I was a bit bored.  Then I went to Singapore and like a wave rushing over me I was reenergized.  So much to see, so much to do, places to aimlessly wander, markets to check out, great food and other travellers to hang out with.  This is the feeling that I wanted and didn’t really experience while in Sri Lanka.  Yeah it’s hard to compare the two places but compare I shall.

Singapore
What a place.  What a town.  I had an amazing time there and wish I could have stayed longer.  I originally was supposed to stay only 4 days but shorted Sri Lanka time and extended time in Singapore and I probably could have added another week onto it and not been bored.  Did a fair bit of touristy stuff (museums, zoo, gardens) but also did a lot of market wandering and a tonne of wandering around through the cities many cool neighbourhoods.  I spent a good amount of time and kilometers wandering around checking out different cafes too.  I figured I walked over 12km a day there and that was with using the buses a fair amount.  A great city to do one of my favorites; wander and explore.  The food markets were amazing too.  I had some of the most amazing curries and dished I ever had in those places and al for a few dollars a serving, it was awesome.  I kept going back to this one place in the Indian market that made the most amazing butter chicken and mutton masala.  What we have for butter chicken in Canada is nothing compared to what they were serving there and the mutton dishes were amazing.  You don`t get mutton or sheep like that back home.  Those were dishes that I`m already pining for and make up for the poor food in Sri Lanka

Overall Singapore was great and from what I could see and feel, it would be a great city to live in.  I have half a mind to seek out a nursing job there but that`s a bit of a crack-pot idea and scheme; then again maybe not…  Leaving was tough but I felt the same way when leaving Montreal a few years ago or Oslo last summer.  It`s hard leaving cities you could see yourself living in.

Hungry
I’ve left Singapore with a bit of regret that I wasn’t still going on, that I wasn’t heading into Malaysia and Indonesia for another month in each respective country; the travel bug has bitten me again and my fire to see more as been rekindled. I was thinking that I would probably sit tight for here on in and not go on a major trip again until I’m done with getting my degree but nuts to that; life’s just too short and you need to make things like that a priority or another 6 years will pass by again before you realize you haven’t left home.  All things considered I’m heading back out there next winter but longer this time.  8-10 weeks in Malaysia and Indonesia is the loose itinerary.  Again, all things considered.

So that`s the end of this little trip.  It was a good 5 weeks.  When I left home I was very hesitant to leave and was tempted to cancel it all; I`m glad I didn`t.  I feel that I gained a lot out of it this trip and it has me hungry and excited for more.  I learned what I would do differently, what I`ll take with me and leave behind for next time.

I like having this blog kicking around for future travels and rambles.  It would be cool to be 60 years old and still be contributing to it after x-many years.

Until then, safe travels.

Beaches, Beaches and more Beaches
Decided that I’m spending the rest of my time here in Sri Lanka on the beach but am going to cut my time here short a couple days in favor of Singapore.  I know I’m insane for changing my itinerary but 10 days of doing nothing, even in a beach-side town and especially when you’re travelling alone is too much for me and there’s not too much else I want to see in the country.  That and I’m not much of a beach person.  Plus I need some amenities that I thoroughly miss such as:
Laundry service: the going rate here in $2-3 per piece of clothing.  PER PIECE OF CLOTHING!  $15 to do your underwear and a pair of socks?  I’ll wash them in the sink like I have been thank you very much.
A novel to read: I could just sit on the beach reading and chilling out but there is a complete void of English books in the this country, which is kind of odd for two reasons; 1) there’s English signage everywhere and the majority of people seem to be English literate. 2) Everywhere you go in Southeast Asia from Thailand to Indonesia to India you can buy photocopied and knocked off books in the streets for a few dollars.  You can find just about any book you wish, new or old, meanwhile here such a market/system does not exist so I am stuck reading a Star Wars fan fiction novel I found in a guesthouse.
Coffee: enough said.
Green vegetables: chopped up, in a bowl with salt, pepper, oil and some hardboiled eggs or chicken.
A stable internet connection: I’m a slave to the interweb

Mosquitoes
One downside to the beaches are the mosquitoes and evidently they like me.  I assume (and hope) it was mosquitoes that got inside my mosquito net and completely my neck, shoulder and upper back.  They are covered in red welt bug bites at this point and needless to say I’m very itchy.  Bug spray before bed I suppose…

But enough ranting…

Turtles
Near Tengalla is a beach where large sea turtles come ashore to lay their eggs.  I had a local guy take me out at around 8:30 at night to a distant, protected beach to potentially get a glimpse of this if I was lucky.  It’s a long piece of beach stretching about 4 km.  We had to march quite away along the beach looking for the guys running the show; my driver called 3 times before we could see their signal light off in the distance to where they were.  The beach itself was amazing at nighttime, far away from any lights and there was no moon or clouds making the stars look amazing; the Milky Way was clearly visible.  We went walking along a good 2-3 km before we came up to where a number of other people were settled down on the beach with the turtle project-manager guy telling us we had to remain there until they started laying their eggs; they`ll leave if they sense danger but once they start laying they don`t stop or move away.  Laying their eggs is also the only time they come ashore.

I guess I was pretty fortunate this night as there were two different turtles ashore laying their eggs.  The first a Olive Riddle that we watched lay it`s eggs, bury them and then pat down the sand, quite violently mind you, before crawling off and disappearing back into the sea.  The second was a huge green turtle that was probably about a meter long.  It too laid it`s eggs and buried them but didn`t smack down the earth like the other – probably too big.  I took off before I could see the green turtle go back to the sea; the animal was exhausted and I`m sure it was going to take it another hour to get back to the water.  On the way back to the tuk tuk we stumbled upon another green turtle crawling up onto the beach getting ready to lay it`s eggs.  This one hadn`t started digging yet and quickly hid in its shell so we left it as be to do its business.  All in all this was an amazing experience, everything from the complexity of the stars above me to the simplicity of these amazing animals coming ashore to fulfil their part in the cycle of life.  Definitely the highlight thus far here in Sri Lanka.

Whales
I also went whale watching while in Mirissa, which was still good but not as amazing as seeing the turtles.  I saw a couple blue whales and a pod of dolphins but they’re really elusive animals and you can only get brief views of them.  I think I enjoyed just riding around in the boat, seeing the Sri Lankan fishing boats and just being on the ocean as much as I liked seeing the whales and dolphins.

More Buses and Highways
Another thing that adds to the craziness of busses in Sri Lanka is the highways or lack thereof.  All the major roads go through the small towns and villages along the way but the busses still treat these road ways like they are highways, flying through town at +80km/h, blaring on the horn.  It makes these nice little villages and towns along the beach and countryside noisy death traps.  Today I think I had the worse driver yet; I swear the guy couldn’t see more than 20 meters in front of him.  He’d floor the peddle for about 5 seconds before realizing that there was oncoming traffic or there was a bus stop 30 meters away and then slam on the breaks coming to a stop.  Insane.

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It’s been nearly two weeks in Sri Lanka, I’ve been busy busy and have neglected to do much writing.  I spent a couple days in a beach town called Negombo before taking off north to an area filled with ancient ... [Continue reading this entry]