Wowed by our first impressions of Sri Lanka

3-1-1 Thursday 23rd Feb

We woke at 6am - we had slept unexpectedly long and well - and were woken by crows pecking at coconuts hanging from the tree outside our windows. When it was light enough we stood in awe gazing at the ocean from our wide deep balcony looking through the upper branches of a grove of coconut trees, which stood sentinel like at the edge of The JetWing Blue terrace marking the start of the sand. The beach was quiet and remained so during the day, we remarked that it was no busier than our Northumbrian  "local", on a normal weekday!

The view of the beach from our balcony at The JetWing Blue, Negombo, was spectacular - wide  long deep soft seemingly endless golden sand - the only activity a group of fisherman busy with their nets on the water's edge. Looking again we saw the catamarans used by the fishermen to cast their nets and hastened down to the beach, cameras at the ready.

We hurried back for breakfast, anxious not to miss the next installment of fishing process, and found a wonderful fruit selection followed by curried hoppers (bowl shaped nests of rice or eggs) cooked in front for you.We were soon reaching for sachets of granulated sugar and bottled water!

Back on the beach after breakfast we were assailed by waves of vendors - selling boat trips, batik sarongs,  miniature boats, conch shells with names engraved (ours tomorrow if we succumbed) but found a shy welcome from the smiling fisherman.

As the morning got warmer we decided to retreat to the shade of our balcony and take a break from the vendors whilst we watch the fishing from a distance - the elongated nets are cast from a catamaran during the night and net hauling commences about about 12 midday, a chain of men in two cooperative human ladders pull them into shore. After couple of hours of singing and net pulling a crowd gathered to witness the catch being unveiled.

The feeling of disappointment especially after the sense of community group cooperation was palpable. You could feel it in the air, emanating both from the fisherman and the watching bystanders supporting the fisherman, willing the catch to bigger and more signicant that it was.

It's clearly unrealistic to expect this catch of tiny fish to feed the families of the 30 or so fisherman involved in the daily complex process of casting the nets and pulling them out of the sea again. What is their means of support, was the unspoken conclusion on everyone's lips. Chastening. Also concerning is the non organic content of the nets. We saw before us why we need to take ownership of the issue and practice a world wide plastic bag ban.

After the singing and communal effort ceased we sensed a huge feeling of disappointment and sank away, finding it an opportune moment to examine the decorative piles of ropes and floats and the occasional beach shack.

Carrying with us a sense of disappointment we retreated to the "safety" of the terrace and almost into the arms of the street vendors who unceasingly work the lounging tourists. We even tried a little more curry - never thought of eating it before for breakfast, lunch  & dinner.

We finished our day with our first dip in the Indian Ocean - a warm warm soup like experience!

Clearly it's the ocean I've waiting for all my life! As the beach shelved steeply and the waves rushed in, and my holiday hat made the trip to the ocean's edge.

Worship & prayers at The Temple of Consumerism

2 Wednesaday 22nd February

As we walked around Dubai airport we were impressed by the examples of excessive consumerism that we saw before us, and all that it represents. Whilst this isn't a picture of the cathedral like pillars of the airport shopping cathedral, this is my favourite image from those that I took in Simon's temple of consumerism.

Rails of scarves by Salvatore Ferragamo

After our spot of worship we took our second plane of the day to Columbo, Sri Lanka's airport. Some four or five hours after leaving the Temple of Consumerism we found ourselves in the completely contrasting atmosphere of the Arrivals Hall at Columbo airport; here you get an opportunity to walk through Duty Free on your way out of the airport, I suppose you could declare anything you bought in the Customs Hall, which comes next! In Duty Free you are immediately transported into a street market and we were amused to see you can even buy a washing machine. We wondered if this could be included in your luggage allowance!

After passing through the busy Arrivals Hall, we found ourselves still staring some thirty minutes later at Baggage Belt no 6, and started praying that our bags might be disgorged soon. Never one to be distracted from chatting if there is someone on hand who might be willing to oblige I found a kind chap from Dublin who counselled me thus - "I count myself lucky when I come out East if I manage to collect off the baggage belt the same number of bags as I checked in, and even more so if they are intact".

At that point my nervousness started to rise, and I noticed the adjacent plaque to Baggage Belt no 6 which resembled rather ominously a wall mounted church tombstone, and started to consider what we might have in the bag that we could manage without. It seemed inevitable it was my bag that was missing, it always seems to be my luck. 

However our luck was in, both bags limped around the now empty belt, they were intact as were our spirits. We gathered up our things and strode outside into the steamy heat and found ourselves in the eastern melee of the Columbo night, waiting to meet our guide. 

Turning the pages on my holiday reading

Well although we started off with all good intentions finding Glasgow a great airport to spend time in, if you need to  "kill time", brilliant airport staff etc, despite excellent seats on the plane, we had a trying journey.

Thank heavens for the wonderful reception at the Marhaba Dragon Lounge in Dubai, where we recovered with a breakfast of hot coffee and scrambled eggs, and manage to rest our eyelids whilst loafing on their luxurious leather armchairs for four or five hours.

So here are some of the kindle books we bought anticipating reading on the long plane journey, and onwards. It will be onwards!

Outward bound to The Teardrop Isle

Just finishing our packing and whilst downloading ancient travel books to the kindle I'm worrying about the heat! Bit late for that as Simon says!

So I'm (we're) Gonna Be ... (at least) (500 miles) on our way to The Teardrop Isle where an incredibly exciting itinerary awaits us.

First stop Dubai

Packing....up my top hat!

Just made a new hat for our holidays - yea I know its not a top hat - but a straw trilby with a lovely vintage hatband.

I'm Gonna Be (500 miles) has always been one of my favourite Proclaimers hits - I thought I would set up this blog with the concept that I will post whilst we are away on our trail.

However in the cool light of a brilliant Northumberland morning with the garden awash with aconites, snowdrops and miniature tete a tete, we begin to wonder how we can leave, but as I put on my travelling trilby I need to be realistic, so there's going to be so much going on that I do not know if my stamina and enthusiasm for posting will manage to keep up! So here's hoping you enjoy reading as far as...I'm Gonna Be...