![\"Sri](\"http:\/\/blog.gribdagen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Sri-lanka-gallery-2-6-of-90.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nBack in the car, the conversation turns once again to the tsunami. Our driver tells us that here the wave travelled four kilometres inland, and that it came back twice. \u201cStupid Sinhalese,\u201d our driver says, explaining that when the water receded, people ran out to collect the fish left gasping on the sand. His sister\u2019s husband had a car with room for lots of people, and he drove non-stop between the coast and inland areas, transporting people.<\/p>\n
The railway runs very close to the coast, and when the first wave came in it tore the train off the tracks and hurled the carriages far inland.<\/p>\n
Along the coast, the number of gravestones bears witness to the enormous losses suffered by so many families.<\/p>\n
We found our next \u201chome\u201d through Airbnb. The local Sinhalese think it\u2019s a bit of \u201crisky business\u201d to book somewhere for an entire month without having seen it first. But sometimes you just have to jump off the five-metre diving board and hope for the best. Of course, the thought \u2014 and the worry \u2014 had crossed our minds. Photos on the internet can be misleading.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s a very lovely house, \u201cThe Mansion\u201d, overlooking a meadow and the surrounding countryside. The whole family was ready to welcome us. Mama and Papa and their two grown sons, aged 23 and 21, live on the ground floor. We have the entire upper floor, with three bedrooms, a dining room, a terrace and a balcony. The family living here understands very little English. It\u2019s their son-in-law who manages the rental, and his English is excellent. But he doesn\u2019t live here. So day-to-day communication consists of short English sentences and sign language. And if we ask too many questions, they phone the son-in-law so he can answer them all.<\/p>\n
The son-in-law drives us around the area and points out all the important places: \u201cThis is where you buy water\u201d, \u201cThis is where you find the best fish\u201d, \u201cThis is where you buy fresh fruit and vegetables\u201d, and \u201cThis is where you can party on the beach \u2014 and where there are lots of tourists.\u201d Once again we have to thank our good friend at Villa 63. He advised us to stay in Weligama rather than Mirissa, which was our original plan.<\/p>\n Mirissa is a small town a little farther south, made up almost entirely of hotels, restaurants, tourist shops and nightlife. As it turns out, it also has our favourite beach and beach bar, \u201cThe Surf Shack\u201d. But we\u2019re delighted to be living among the locals in Weligama.<\/p>\n Weligama, which means \u201cSandy Village\u201d, is a fishing town and a surfer\u2019s paradise. The waves are manageable and there\u2019s plenty of fresh fish. This is the place to learn to surf if you don\u2019t already know how. At one end of the very wide beach there are lots of surf schools promising that you\u2019ll be standing on a surfboard after an hour and a half of lessons. Sarah is determined to learn before we leave.<\/p>\n In town there are plenty of local shops selling everything from chewing gum and little sachets of washing powder to fruit, vegetables and anything else you might need. But there are also three large supermarkets. The railway station and bus stops are down in the town centre. Along the coastal road, stalls are piled high with freshly caught fish. You can find red snapper, large prawns, tuna, squid, barracuda \u2014 and whatever else the fishermen have caught that day. You point to the fish you\u2019d like for dinner, then head down to the beach, where they serve it freshly grilled.<\/p>\n The best place in town for fresh fish is definitely \u201cFish Point\u201d, at the beginning of the coastal road. You eat well and cheaply here. We had a dinner costing 150 Danish kroner, consisting of a whole grilled red snapper, large prawns and squid, two large beers and soft drinks. You can also eat at a local family restaurant \u2014 which they call a \u201chotel\u201d \u2014 and enjoy rice and curry. It tastes fantastic, although after a while you can get a little tired of rice and curry.<\/p>\n In general, it\u2019s easy to live and eat cheaply in Sri Lanka if you stay and eat locally. Tinned tuna costs a fortune, but fresh tuna is cheap. Pasta costs a fortune, but rice is cheap. We pay 3,000 Danish kroner a month to rent the upper floor of a Sri Lankan family\u2019s home. So far, our budget is holding up nicely.<\/p>\n Christian has found a particularly useful budgeting app, \u201cTrail Wallet\u201d, which I can definitely recommend if you want to keep track of your travel budget \u2014 or your household budget \u2014 as you go.<\/p>\n We\u2019re living locally and following the everyday life around us. It\u2019s very early in the morning, and the sun hasn\u2019t quite risen yet. The family has already been up and about for the past hour. People get up early here to make the most of the morning before it becomes too hot.<\/p>\n I\u2019m sitting on our balcony looking out over the green meadow, which is full of birdlife. By now we must have a thousand photos of the blue kingfisher and the colourful bee-eater, so I\u2019ve stopped running for the camera every time I see one. You can hear the male monkeys calling from the surrounding trees. They\u2019re toque macaques, which are found only in Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n But it’s time for our morning walk or run. Christian sets off ahead with his camera to catch the first rays of sunlight. We go our separate ways, enjoying a slow start to the morning. It’s a special time of day, when we both feel privileged to watch the locals beginning their daily routines.<\/p>\n The girls are wearing pretty dresses, their very long black hair braided into plaits. The boys are smartly dressed too. Schoolbags are packed, and everyone is ready for a day of learning. The younger children are taken to school by their fathers on bicycles, while the older boys pedal off at speed. A tuk-tuk whizzes past, and a chorus of children crammed inside calls out, \u201cHello!\u201d<\/p>\n People are busy sweeping leaves from their driveways or preparing breakfast; others simply stand by the road watching life go by. But everyone smiles, waves and calls out \u201cGood morning!\u201d, \u201cHello!\u201d or \u201cHow are you?\u201d The little children just shout \u201cGoodbye!\u201d Sometimes the few English words they’ve learnt don’t quite fit the situation.<\/p>\n \u201cNature is wonderful in the morning,\u201d Christian tells me. With great enthusiasm, he describes what he’s seen on today’s walk. \u201cThere were two rice fields side by side, and they looked exactly alike. But one of them was full of male frogs singing their mating songs. Funny that they were only in one of the fields.\u201d<\/p>\n It’s fascinating to live among local people. We follow the everyday life of the family we’re staying with. We’ve seen photographs from their daughter’s beautiful wedding, watched Mama and Papa getting ready for a party, and heard Mama telling the boys and Papa off. She’s clearly the one who runs the household and keeps the family firmly in line.<\/p>\n Some of the locals we’ve become friends with tell us that we’re not tourists but travellers. And that’s exactly what we want: to learn about and understand the local culture and nature, rather than simply rush through. Yesterday I saw this quotation at a good local friend’s caf\u00e9. It sums up our purpose:<\/p>\n \u201cThe traveler sees what he sees, The son-in-law tells us that three religions are represented here: Buddhism, Christianity and Islam. The family themselves are Buddhist, and we can see their local temple from our balcony. In the afternoons, Buddhists and Muslims both sing the sun down, almost in chorus.<\/p>\n We have learned so much from both the family and our local friends, and we are trying things out in the spirit of \u2018give it a go\u2019. We have learned that dogs are not necessarily kept as pets here. The family has a large black dog that stays in a cage during the day and is let out in the evening to guard the house. He is certainly not a pet, but has been trained to react if strangers enter the property. Sarah learned that the hard way at first. The family wanted to show her the dog, but he jumped up at her and split her upper lip. Everything is fine now. With Dad’s 3.5-kilogram travelling pharmacy, there’s always a remedy to be found.<\/p>\n We also see a great many street dogs, some in worse condition than others, and some that are clearly unpredictable. There are certainly a few you need to treat with respect. On my morning walks I always carry a stick in one hand so I can wave it if they get too close. But some of them are absolutely adorable.<\/p>\n For several days we had been passing a little puppy who was, to put it mildly, lying in her own filth. She was always happy to see us, but she was terribly scruffy and frail. Sarah simply couldn’t bear it, and immediately launched Operation \u2018Rescue a Street Dog\u2019. Mama was not particularly pleased when Sarah came home with the little puppy, who was covered in mites, fleas, ticks and other pests. But the son helped Sarah take Puppy to the vet for a rabies vaccination. Armed with flea treatment, vitamins and other remedies, Sarah took her up to the family’s other home on the hill, where \u2018Elly\u2019, as Puppy was christened, could recover. A young couple aged 21 and 19 live there. Sarah visits Elly every day, sometimes several times a day. We’re rather hoping the young couple will adopt her, but otherwise Sarah has contacted the local dog-rescue organisation Embark, which does a great deal for street dogs.<\/p>\n Street food \u2014 prepared food and snacks sold on the street \u2014 is something special. We’ve tried hoppers, little bowl-shaped pancakes, and patties or pies filled with spicy vegetables or meat. Just two years ago we probably would never have eaten fish cooked on the beach or food sold by street vendors. We used to have our own particular precautions to avoid an upset stomach. So far, though, none of us has had stomach trouble or any other illness, apart from a bit of a cold.<\/p>\n Bread is sold from the local bread van, which loudly plays its tune. It’s a little like the ice-cream van in Denmark, except that here it plays \u2018F\u00fcr Elise\u2019 all the time. The bread, however, is fresh and tastes wonderful.<\/p>\n Christian is learning how to shop at the local market. You have to get up early if you want fresh food. At six in the morning, Christian sets off with Papa and the son-in-law to buy ingredients for dinner. Mama gives Christian strict instructions on how to season the food, which herbs and spices can be picked from the garden, which curry spices go with which dishes, how the rice must be rinsed several times before cooking, and how to cut the cucumber to remove its sour taste. There is a very particular way of preparing Sri Lankan food, but Christian is learning \u2014 and it tastes fantastic.<\/p>\n We’re also learning about snakes in Sri Lanka. There are 96 different species of snake here, more than half of which are found nowhere else. Thirty-two are venomous, and 20 of those can be deadly. The cobra is the most common snake. We visit the local \u2018snake catcher\u2019 here in Weligama, and Christian is like a little boy in a toy shop. This is the person people call if they find a cobra in their back garden. He collects snakes, uses them to help produce antivenom, and teaches local schoolchildren and tourists about these dangerous animals. The snake catcher will call Christian the next time he has to remove and catch a snake in someone’s garden. That’s definitely an experience Christian is looking forward to.<\/p>\n We’ve discovered a very special place that feels rather like a southern European town: Galle, or more precisely the old part of town inside Galle Fort. As so often happens, though, it’s the people we meet who make the greatest impression. In Galle Fort we’ve met jewellery dealers and designers Yusri and Amjed, who run a little shop called Crestar. Christian has helped them make a video for their Facebook page. We’ve each designed jewellery using local Sri Lankan stones, and Sarah has had a little introduction to jewellery design. Our friendship developed quickly, and now we’ve been invited to a local wedding this evening.<\/p>\n In Galle Fort we also met a passionate young man who works hard to preserve the local culture. Much of the area is now driven more by commercial interests than by a desire to tell the stories of Galle Fort and the people who live there. He owns Serendipity Art Caf\u00e9. Sarah soon got talking to him about decorating the caf\u00e9’s first floor with art, and before long she’d been given a project. The caf\u00e9 owner’s English wife has written a book called Around The Fort in 80 Lives<\/em>, about the lives lived in Galle Fort.<\/p>\n It’s easy to make friends with local people when we tell them our story and explain that we have plenty of time. The other day we got chatting to the shopkeeper from whom we buy our drinking water. He invited us to lunch at his home, not far from where we’re staying.<\/p>\n In Hikkaduwa we visited our good friends from Str\u00f8by Egede. Every year they pack their bags and travel to Sri Lanka, staying at the same hotel, Coral Sand Hotel. They enjoy a whole month relaxing in this lovely place and meeting other guests who return year after year. These regulars have a special status: photographs of each year’s returning guests hang on the wall. We had a wonderful day together. Our friends showed us the sea turtles that come into the shallows to be fed, and the shoals of fish gathering close to shore. It’s easy to understand why they keep coming back to this little piece of paradise.<\/p>\n We’ve now been travelling for more than a month. Some days fly by, and at other times we have to pinch ourselves to realise that we still have 13 months of adventures ahead. When we travel, we often talk about our shared experiences and reflect on them over dinner. Here are a few of our thoughts about Sri Lanka so far:<\/p>\n Our favourite food in Sri Lanka<\/strong> The best fish we’ve had was served on the beach at Fish Point in Weligama. But the Thai food at Thai Heritage in Galle Fort is wonderful too. Sarah also reckons that Dad’s rice and curry was one of the best meals we’ve had in Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n What has surprised us most about Sri Lanka<\/strong> There are lots of tourists on the west coast, and people regularly ask whether we want to buy something or need a tuk-tuk. But they quickly accept a friendly ‘No, thank you’ and aren’t particularly pushy. Sarah is surprised by how much Buddhism is part of everyday life. We’re all amazed by the diversity of the landscape: one moment you can be driving through highlands with fir trees, and just a couple of hours later you’re out on the plains or sailing through mangroves.<\/p>\n Our best experiences in Sri Lanka<\/strong> For me, one of the greatest experiences has been meeting the local communities and the wonderful people we’ve encountered. We all agree, though, that climbing Adam’s Peak was something truly special. The experience has continued to grow in spiritual significance for each of us.<\/p>\n Our most disappointing experiences in Sri Lanka<\/strong> All three of us have been surprised by how expensive it is to visit attractions. National parks can cost a fortune once you’ve paid for entry, a jeep and a guide. A whale-watching trip in Mirissa costs almost as much as one in Australia.<\/p>\n Our strangest or funniest experience in Sri Lanka<\/strong> Local people have a distinctive way of communicating: they wobble their heads in a way that looks to us like ‘no’, but actually means ‘yes’, ‘okay’, or simply acknowledges what you’ve said. The funny thing is that all three of us have almost adopted this little ‘head wobble’ ourselves and can’t help doing it when we talk to one another. Sarah also finds it very odd that there are aquariums at all the railway stations. They seem rather out of place and have far too many fish for their size.<\/p>\n Every day brings new experiences, and every day I tell myself I must finish and upload the newsletter. But more experiences and reflections keep coming, so it’s taken a little longer this time.<\/p>\n There’s one more piece of very good news: Christian’s younger brother has sold our car. Hooray! And thank you so much for your help.<\/p>\n Now it’s time to get ready for the local Muslim wedding. Sarah and I have had a bit of trouble working out what to wear. We need to be fairly covered up, although we don’t need veils, so we’ve dug out our long trousers and tops. We’ve been told that Sarah and I will go into the women’s reception room, while Christian will be in the men’s. We’re excited. It should be a very special experience.<\/p>\n I hope the weather has improved a little in Denmark and that spring is beginning to show itself.<\/p>\n No, another couple of days have slipped by after all! So I must tell you about the wedding and lunch with a local family before I finish.<\/p>\n As I mentioned, we’d tried to find out what the wedding would be like. Our friend had said, ‘It’s only a small wedding.’ ‘This is NOT a small wedding!’ exclaimed our local tuk-tuk driver, laughing. We arrived at the town hall, an enormous building, decorated with lights everywhere, and there were SO many people: more than 600 invited guests. Many of the women were covered to varying degrees. I was very glad I’d brought a scarf, which was warmly appreciated when I wrapped it around my head.<\/p>\n The women were in one room and the men in another. The bride and groom were also seated in the women’s room, on display for everyone \u2014 and goodness, they were beautiful.<\/p>\n There was a special room for guests from outside the community, where we were even allowed to eat with a spoon and fork. Otherwise, people ate with their fingers from large shared platters. The food was fantastic, though a little hotter than typical Sri Lankan food. Even Christian broke into a sweat.<\/p>\n Sarah and I were allowed into the women’s room, and the women pulled their veils aside as they introduced themselves. It’s such a different culture, and at times it can be difficult to understand. But we’re doing our best.<\/p>\n It was an enormous experience, and we feel incredibly privileged to have been invited to this wedding of around 600 people.<\/p>\n The very next day brought another local experience. Our neighbourhood shopkeeper had invited us to lunch at his home. The extended family lived in separate houses on the same property. Every generation had gathered to greet us. They’d prepared the most wonderful food, including dishes we’d never tried before. It’s rather funny: when you’re invited to lunch, the table is set for just the three of us. The rest of the family stand around watching us eat. They’ve already eaten, but they’re very interested in what we think of the food: ‘Too hot?’ ‘You like?’ Yes \u2014 we love the food here in Sri Lanka. Afterwards they showed us around and told us about their dreams for the future, including expanding the shop and adding to the house.<\/p>\n Exhausted, we collapsed into bed that evening. It had been an eventful weekend.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
the tourist sees what he has come to see.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n