Colombo

23rd March 2014: Today we awoke to find us in the commercial port at Colombo, the largest city of Sri Lanka.

Today’s P&O fact, Sri Lanka is similar in size to Tasmania. I hope that helps, anyway it is also the world’s fourth largest producer of Tea. Bet you don’t know who number three is? Well look it up! Anyway, despite a civil war which only ended in 2009 and a tsunami in 2004 which killed over 30,000 people, Sri Lanka is now getting back on its feet and is bustling.

We had been warned before we arrived, not to expect too much in the way of transportation, but were pleasantly surprised by the quality of mini coach that was awaiting us and so set off into the interior in air conditioned splendour.

In fact, it later transpired, that we got busses that were originally destined to the huge new Costa ship also in port. However P&O pay for their buses in advance and Costa pay theirs on the day of arrival in port, so we got the better busses.

Back to our trip. Of course, being Sri Lanka, where elephants work for a living, we found that we had to overtake a small blockage in the road before we drove by the new parliament buildings built with financial aid from the Japanese, and then set off south on the new motorway built with financial aid from the Chinese.

It seems that wherever we have been for the last few weeks, financial aid / relief from certain countries has come much more as tangible assets that help in the future development of countries for which the population of those countries are proud of and grateful for. To my mind this is a much better way of spending government money, as opposed to spending money just on relief where a large percentage of the money gets siphoned off into various individuals’ bank accounts etc. and where which country that gives the aid is totally forgotten about by governments of the countries given aid to. Its just my opinion and sounds cold hearted, but do we spend our foreign aid wisely. End of thought for the day.

Of course, everyone in Sri Lanka, like India, travels around in tuk-tuks which seem to outnumber all other forms of transport by a large factor and are ideally suited for the local roads. They swerve in and out of the traffic, suddenly brake, ignore traffic lights and show amazing acceleration and for some reason, have to be driven barefoot by a half asleep driver.

Anyway, after a lovely drive through the country, past water buffalo, rice fields, markets, etc. we climbed up into the low hills and the Tea Plantations.

Now, it’s difficult for me to explain, or even show in the picture above, but the colour of the fields of tea was such a beautiful shade of spring green that I have never seen or come across before. This, together with an elusive fresh aroma that just wafted in the air like the most delicate perfume, despite the heat of the day, made it all quite dreamlike and took me by surprise.

The showpiece Rayigam Tea factory that we were taken to was built in 1930 and has received ISO 9001 (according to the sign) and we were shown around inside but no photographs were allowed.

All I can say is, that time has stood still in the mountains of Sri Lanka since 1930 and that ISO 9001 is to measure consistency, not quality. However it’s good to see the old machines still working, and let’s face it the way tea is processed has changed little over the years.

I will say however that the end product was quite drinkable, which we drank in the garden of the bungalow which once belonged to the tea plantation owner himself on a hill overlooking the plantation. Bliss.

We both have decided to retire here, in the hills of Sri Lanka, but only if the bungalow comes with the seven “boys” who maintain it and without the mouse swimming in the toilet.

Returning back we were reminded that even here change is starting to happen, new roads are going in so changing the old for ever. Even on Sunday, highly trained and skilled road technicians operating to the highest standards of Health and Safety were working to bring about the changes.

 

Joking aside, Sri Lanka was another country that came as a bit of a pleasant surprise. There is in the background a wariness left over from the war in the evidence of armed guards etc. But yet again, the country has decided to move on and look to the future with new buildings, new roads, new industries.