We had a nice sunrise to welcome us today to Sri Lanka. Having never been to Sri Lanka, we had no expectations. It turns out it is a 3rd world country and is hot and humid pretty much all of the time. They have beautiful beaches, with good diving and snorkeling. The religion is primarily Hindu and today we will visit a Temple, as well as spend some time at one of the local hotel resorts.
Click here for the detailed Trimcomalee Photo Gallery.
Historically over 181 kings have ruled Sri Lanka. More recently, the Portuguese, Dutch and British have had control here. After 1815 the nation was under British colonial rule and armed uprisings against the British took place in 1818 and 1848. Independence was finally granted in 1948 but the country remained a Dominion of the British Empire.
In 1972 Sri Lanka assumed the status of a Republic. The Sri Lankan Civil War began in 1983, including an armed youth uprising from 1987–1989 by the terrorist group called the Tamil Tigers. The 25-year civil war finally ended in 2009.
The tour guide let us know that they haven’t had a bus bombing in over 3 whole years! That made us feel a lot better as we drove through the poverty filled town in a bus…
Our first stop was at the Koṇēsvaram Hindu temple. It was built in the 3rd century and attracts pilgrims from all parts of India. A major feature of the temple area is a large golden Shiva statue. Shiva is a major Hindu deity.
The guide let us know when he dropped us off that there was a fairly long walk, uphill, to get to the temple. He wasn’t kidding! The walk wouldn’t have been so bad if it was cooler, but even at 9 o’clock in the morning it was hot and humid. We did get to see some sights along the walk including an old Dutch Fort, a deer conservatory and some local vendors.
In order to enter the temple area we needed to remove our shoes and make sure our shoulders and knees were covered. We had dressed appropriately so we just had to take off our shoes…unfortunately the area outside the temple was dirt and there were rocks and pebbles all around that made walking barefoot painful!
After going through the temple areas, including a steep path that led down to some shrines on a cliff overlooking the Indian Ocean, we found our shoes and made our way back down the hill to the bus. Along the way I lost track of Dale as he was taking photos of the scenery and the local people. At one point about 1,000 locals came walking up the road towards us. We had visited the temple at just the right time as it was going to be very crowded once those people got there!
As I got closer to the bus I was a little concerned that I couldn’t see Dale behind me. It was getting late and just as I was about to turn back to look for him he came by in one of the little motorized putt-putt vehicles!
Next, we were taken to the Chaaya Blu Resort where we had a few hours to relax at the beach/pool area and were fed a buffet lunch. We got some lounge chairs set up in the shade of a large tree with our new friends Paul and Kathy.
Dale then went to check out some of the local fishermen on the beach. Here is his take on that:
When we first got to the resort I decided to go take some pictures of the fishing boats on the beach but got a bonus. A group of about 15 fishermen were sorting their nets out for the next day. I went down, took some stills and movies and talked to them about what they do. They were, for the most part friendly and fine with my picture taking. They said, although I still have a hard time believing it, that they take 20 guys out in this smallish boat, 15 jump in the water and help spread the net out while 5 stay in the boat. They put the net in a big circle, leave it for a bit, then tighten it up. The 15 guys climb back in. Today they didn’t catch any fish. That is a LOT of work to do for no fish. One man was sewing up the holes in the net.
After relaxing with some local “Lion” beer (we were told not to drink the water or ice cubes), Dale and Paul decided to take a putt-putt into the market area in town. Kathy and I, being a tad less adventurous, opted to stay with the group and take the busses back to the ship.
Dale’s take on the trip into town:
The putt putt ride into town was fun. We got out at the local’s marketplace amongst some heat and interesting smells. It seems that there is sewers covered with rates running down both sides of the narrow street. The produce market was in a large covered building with concrete floors and no lights. There were still plenty of sellers showing their excellent vegetables and fruits and most people were more than willing to talk to us and let us take their pictures. We then walked down the street exploring the merchandise and talking to the locals. When it came time to leave it was a challenge because no one spoke English and understood what the “port”, “ship”, “cruise ship”, “Toot toot” or whatever was. Finally, we found someone that spoke English and it turned out that three of the workers from the ship were there visiting the ship. Before long we were on a Mr. Toad’s wild ride down back roads to the port. Lots of fun until you hit something and we had several near misses while the driver turned around and smiled at us.
On the docks there were many locals checking out the Voyager…seemed that they were family members of crew saying goodbye. They were even having a cricket game in the parking lot! I took some pictures of a few people but then EVERYONE wanted us to take a picture of all of them and each of us. There ended up being 30 people in the picture. Lots of fun!
Photography Comments:
A beautiful day from start to finish and reasonably clear here in Trincomalee. I got the sunrise just in time although my lens kept covering with condensation…didn’t set the camera out prior to get it acclimated. But, got some decent shots while furiously wiping it off. The bus windows were quite dirty and by the time we left the sun was high enough to create a glare problem. Still, you’ll be able to see what the city looked like. I found out later in the day that somehow my Auto White Balance setting had been set to 6 clicks of blue. Since I shoot Raw this can be corrected in Lightroom later but the previews were looking strange on the camera as I shot. I was also having some exposure issues in the glare…managed to still get usable shots. The marketplace was VERY dark so I set the camera to ISO 1600-3200 and it is amazing how well the D700 shots came out. It is annoying to use a flash in situations like this where you are asking people to take their pictures in the dark and then you zap them with a bright flash. Not a good idea. Paul and I had a great time driving the putt putt taxi back to the port but Margaret had the S95 with her so didn’t get to memorialize our wild ride back.
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Cheryl - The minute I started reading this portion of the blog, I knew it was Margarets kind of place and outing! Mention the word jewelry and I hear Margaret saying “Oh Yeah”! 🙂
Trip Summary » Travel with Dale & Margaret - […] Colombo, Sri Lanka […]