Exotic Sri Lanka

Two sea days crossing the Bay of Bengal brought the Silver Wind to Sri Lanka.  Sri Lanka, which means "resplendent island", is a large island off the Southern coast of India.  when I was a child it used to be called Ceylon. After the island obtained independence from Britain the country chose a new name in 1972. Sri Lanka is anther majority Buddhist country. The stupas we had seen in Myanmar were in the elaborate Thai style; Sri Lanka stupas were simpler and not painted gold. The population is mostly Indian with strong influences from East Africa and Southeast Asia as Sri Lanka has been a stop on trade routes from Africa to China for thousands of years. We docked at the capital, Colombo which looked much like the modern Asian cities we had been seeing.

Stupa in the Center of Colombo, Sri Lanka

Michael and I took an all day tour to the Pinnewala Elephant Orphanage.  This included a two and a half hour train ride on a venerable tourist train, the Viceroy Service, during which we were served tea in air-conditioned splendor.  The train was more than an hour late arriving at the Colombo station.  As a result we witnessed crowds of people arriving in Colombo from the suburbs or outlying villages.  Michael said the scene of streaming humanity was similar to that at any train station in India only more mellow.  It looked hectic to me. The commuter trains were very old and basic, somewhat like subway cars inside.  Intercity trains had more comfortable seating and were somewhat newer. Our train was a specially chartered luxury train once used by Lord Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of India, during and after WW II when he had his military headquarters in Ceylon. The train has been lovingly restored and the tea service was elegant even if our china cups held hot water and tea bags. The tea was an excellent local Ceylon tea and was served with English style cake.

Colorfully Clad Commuters Arrive in Colombo

Hundreds of Sri Lankans
Stream out of Rail Cars

Michael and Me on the Viceroy

A Hindu Temple Seen from the Train

Tea is Served

Workers in Rice Paddy Seen from the Train

We Pass a Small Town Shopping Area

The elephant orphanage in the mountains of central Sri Lanka, proved to be primarily a tourist attraction.  Indian Elephants in Sri Lanka and India are an endangered species. Elephants used to be employed in the lumber industry and for other kinds of heavy lifting.  Nowadays the Pinnewala Orphanage takes in baby elephants that have been abandoned  or acquires young elephants orphaned by poaching and loss of habitat.  They cannot be reintroduced to the wild as they are accustomed to human contact and do not know how to survive on their own. The orphanage gets a large portion of its revenues from tourist admissions.  The main attractions are watching the elephants bathe in the nearby river or seeing the babies being fed milk (for an additional fee tourists can hold the bottle), or adults and babies can be fed fruit by the tourists for yet another additional charge. The animals are well cared for and not abused yet it is sad that they must live in essentially a zoo as there is no longer any place for them in the wild.

The Elephants With their Mahouts (Handlers)

Crowd Watching the Elephants Bathe

The Elephants Fill the Street as They are Herded back to the Orphanage

Tourist Feeding Milk to a Baby Elephant
The Milk is Gone in Seconds

Small Child Feeding Fruit to an Elephant

Elephants Lounging

Making Paper From elephant Dung

We had a spectacular lunch of Sri Lankan specialties accompanied by local beer in a restaurant overlooking the river where the elephants were bathing.  On all organized tours, local restaurants offer western style food sometimes with a few local dishes.  Michael and I always opt for the local fare.  How else to appreciate the experience?  However, most of our fellow tourists seem to prefer something familiar to trying something “different”.  We enjoyed several mildly spicy Indian style dishes.

After lunch, our group spent a few hours admiring the elephants.  We took a motor coach back to Colombo and our ship.  We saw a lot of countryside including small towns in various stages of development.  Sections of some towns were extremely poor, where people lived in what looked like tar paper shacks and there were also substantial homes of wealthy people.  Most, however live in simple one story houses with electricity and satellite dishes. For a country whose main income is from agriculture and tourism, Sri Lanka seems to be developing a substantial middle class.

Near Colombo, the bus took what looked like an interstate highway to save some time.  Our tour guide said that the highway had been financed by and built by China.  He said that the Sri Lankan government wasn't happy with the quality of the work or the terms of the loan and would not be financing any more projects with Chinese money. I don't know if the change is because of China or because a new government was just elected in January.

We returned to the ship for a late afternoon departure. Next port: Kochi (Cochin) India.