‘If you can keep your head when all about are loosing theirs and blaming it on you….’

A line from ‘If’ by Rudyard Kipling

Mr Kipling wrote the above as an ode to being a man. Little did he know too that it’s the most perfect analogy of finding peace whilst cycling through the streets of Colombo.  Deep breath, remain calm and have faith.  He also does make exceedingly good cakes, a busy man.

Since arriving we’ve adorned our busiest streets to date, trekked through rainforest, surfed the Indian Ocean, seen a blue whale and eaten half our weight in rice and curry.  And that’s without going into the excitement of our 24 hr transit to reach Sri Lanka, to be revealed shortly.  3 weeks in we’ve wound the beat of our drums down to the pace of Island life.  Although the traffic is as mad as a monkey with a peanut brittle it feeds into the paradox between the hustle and bustle of Sri Lanka and the peace, kindness and serenity of the people and day to day life.  Having travelled around India I expected the same sensory cacophony but this land of peach sunsets and fishermen on stilts has a calmer rythm all of its own.

Cheeky monkies abound in Sri Lanka

Rainforest chique. The sarong is a versatile and airy piece of kit 😉

The calmness we’ve found unfortunately wasn’t eminated on our transit here.  Post the royal treatment of our friend to the first airport in Kayseri we were put on our toes in Istanbul. As a requisite of the visa conditions, we weren’t allowed to board the flight without an onward ticket out of Sri Lanka. After an hours debate we managed to convince them to let us ‘hold’ a ticket and we were onto our next stop in Jedda.  We’d obviously, and perhaps naively, picked up a obiligatory bottle on Laphroag in Istanbul that was greeted with a face of horror at the transit security gate in Saudi. Paper work and Brian being taken off for an hour to have his carry on bag packed in with fuselage luggage, diffused the panic.  By the time he got back to a shaken Tommy, still at the transit gate running out of patience for an explanation as to where my compadre had gone, we realised his iphone had been stolen whilst going through the security scanner an hour earlier.  The airport police sat us down with CCTV footage and we luckily saw the cheeky chap do the dirty, upon which we were sent into the airport to make a citizen’s arrest!  On literally bumping into the fella as we entered the main hall followed by a very tense security scan of his jacket to reveal a secret pocket with our phone in, owner and phone were re-united.  We were asked to make a statement but as we weren’t sure what the punishment for theft was in Saudi we left the police to deal with it and went and had some well-earned Ben and Jerrys, PHEW!

Fortunately, the fun wasn’t over yet and on our arrival to Sri Lanka, I took a funny turn as we were waiting for our pick up.  A short ride later we were in the hostel and I hit my favourite yoga position, the foetus, on the bathroom floor.  We’d like to thank Saudi Air for making it a memorable trip and serving a delicious grey omelette which I was too hungry to say no to.  In fairness it gave us 24 hours to re-build our bikes and bed down from the journey before we took to the road again.

Our first stop was to be Mount Lavinia, a suburb 10km South of Colombo. The roads in and around the capital have truly been a baptism from the mountains of Turkey.  Cars, trucks, motorbikes and tuk tuks share the road but it’s the bus drivers who take the crown.  These badgers don’t stop for anyone and their tactic in built up areas over slowing down is to simply beep their horns more vigorously.  It was a hairy first day back in the saddle though our guest house and its proprietor, Patrick, were both a welcome delight.  Patrick helped us find our bearings, the best spots to eat as well as giving us a place to store our luggage whilst we cycled around the island.

The fishing ships are a beautiful sight on every inch of coast

Most of the weight on our bikes is made up from cooking and sleeping equipment, all of which has now been left behind.  Although the bikes are built to ride best fully loaded it’s a saving grace in the temperature and with the bombastic traffic that we could shave down the KGs.  With accomodation easy to find at 7 pounds per night and delicious meals at 75p a go, it is a mecca for the budget traveller/Donkey and Horse 🙂  This 75p gets you a cycle touring worthy pile of rice with 3 different veg curries and dhal. Hallelujah is the word and ‘give it to me hot 3 times a day’ is the rhyme, not to be mis-interpreted.

Eye eye sailor

Our original plan was to cycle from Colombo to the mountainous centre of the island before descending to the South coast to meet my sister on the 23rd.  Though post the omelette a la Saudi Air, we decided to take an easier route down the coast.  With only a couple of hundred km to cover, as well as to avoid the Galle road that joins the coastal villages and towns, we cycled in land everyday.  This kept our daily mileage higher and let us see rural Sri Lankan life off the beaten track.  Paddy fields, coconut groves, tea plantations, wildlife and smiles greeted us at every turn. As soon as you step back from the coast, roads are kept incredibly well and with a lot of people deciding not to wear shoes, everything is kept amazingly clean underfoot/tyre.  It gave us a taste of what’s to come when we venture off on our bikes again towards the end of our stay here.

Paddy field magic

Super clean and smooth country roads

Each night bought a new coastal pit-stop as we rejoined the tourist highway.  The Unesco Heritage town of Gaulle, a fort settlement from the Dutch and Portuguese colonial days, was a great window into the multicoloured past of this small island.  Their past feels much more entwined and comfortable with the Sri Lankas of today compared to other post colonial territories and is undoubtedly a sign of the peaceful nature of these people.

The colonial architecture in Gaulle

A few nights before my sister arrived we took our furthest trip East to meet a friend staying at a retreat in Tallala.  We were absolutely spoilt rotten and had a great time catching up, showing Soulla the art of body surfing and sampling the local rum, thanks guys. Then it was back to Mirissa for my sister Frankie and her partner Jacks arrival.  They came prepared with the maximum customs allowance of red wine and in true Sri Lankan spirit, big smiles!  Brian and I relish every minute of this trip and are lucky to be able to spend hours, days, weeks and months just us but what a treat it always is to see familiar happy faces.

These facial expressions are for body surfing only!

Since arriving on the 10th of December the weather has been unseasonably bad.  It started with tropical storms everyday, cycle friendly, then decided to get progressively wetter until on Christmas day we were on a 24 hour blitz.  Come wind or rain we still bathed in the sea and soothed our festive spirits with some festive spirit. As goes the cliché, the biggest present was being together and by boxing day the sun was peeping her pretty head through again.  We split up for some activities and Brians parents kindly bought us a whale watching trip for Chrimbo. Utterly amazing to see the biggest animal the planet has ever seen, bowing her back and spraying water before she dives with her forked tail waving goodbye, magic! We’re now heading back up the coast for NYE, a goodbye to my sister and Jack and the arrival of the fantasmigorical Shruti!

A Christmas selfie for mama Thompson

Donkey, horse and the whale

With the 10 year anniversary of the Tsunami here on boxing day we went to see a museum of photos and reports from the disaster in a family home today.  It wasn’t a flash place but honest and true, made up of photos from tourist and the global press as well as stories and pictures from children and families affected.  It not only bought home the extent of the impact on such a small island but drove home the view that we never know what’s around the corner, or beyond the horizon.  As we go in 2015 we are remembering what a blessing everyday is and the people we have to fill it.

Hold tight, tell whoever you love that you love them…..and don’t stop!!

Happy New Year from a mostly sunny Sri Lanka

ONE LOVE!

Tommy and Brian

xxxxxx

P.S. My iPhone is on the blink so happy new year to all my buddies in advance and a big up birthday one to Jen 🙂