Sri Lanka “Finding Serendipity on the Island of Serendib” VegVoyages Inaugural Trip – 2019
Sri Lanka “Finding Serendipity on the Island of Serendib” VegVoyages Inaugural Trip – 2019
Ayubowan and Vanakkam
Vanakkam is the greeting used in Tamil, the language spoken by Sri Lankan Tamils who typically live in the Northeastern part of the country.
When you greet people in Sri Lanka, you don’t say hello in the way that we do in the West. With your hands placed near your heart in prayer position you say Ayubowan or Vanakkam. How do you pronounce them? Here’s my best “sound-out”.
Vanakkam - this one reminds me of willkommen in German, probably due to the alliteration in both of them. So it’s Va-Na-Kam (the va like in va va va voom, the Na is like in the lyrics na na na na na na na na hey hey hey goodbye, and then it’s not a hard kam like the “cam” in camera, but almost like how you pronounce calm in American English without any hint of the “l”). And that’s pretty much my best explanation for you.
I would now like to apologize to anyone who speaks Sinhalese or Tamil who is reading this, feel free to laugh at my attempt to tell people how to say both greetings. I tried, I really did. At least I got “maru” correct.
Both Ayubowan and Vanakkam are used to say hello and goodbye, but it’s really a greeting to wish a person a long and happy life. So instead of hello and goodbye, you wish so much more. Much nicer and more heartfelt in my opinion than the typical greeting of hello, hi, hey, yo’, whasup’, etc.
And if you are wondering why VegVoyages used “Serendib” in the title of their trip? It’s because of the many names Sri Lanka has been called throughout its long history, Serendib was one of them.
It's been a month now since I returned from Sri Lanka and yes, it has taken me this long to write this mini-novel!
Okay, so I have a really important disclaimer…
I have usually done a write after most of my trips and it’s maybe 20-30 paragraphs. But for some reason I am still trying to wrap my head around, this one has turned out to be much more. It’s not just a post trip write up, it’s a story. A very long story. It’s about the trip, but also about the story that is unique to me from my experiences in Sri Lanka. It’s personal, it’s my story. My story isn’t going to match anyone else’s story who was on the trip. No one would write it the same way or have experienced it in the exact way I did. It’s also odd for me because I started writing this and I just couldn’t stop (obviously). I wanted to share, I wanted to talk about it, I want people to know how much this trip meant to me and how it changed me. This experience is now part of me and has made me see life a little bit differently. So, I’m going to warn you now, this is really, really long.
Knowing it’s so long, I’m guessing most people won’t read it. And you know what, that’s okay. I hope you do read it; I hope that if you have reached this point that you read it all. I don’t know what your “take away” from it will be if any. I don’t know if it will even make an impact on your or make you think, but I hope it does. I guess my greatest hope is that you read this and realize that while we may come from different places, we are all together on this one planet in this crazy thing called life. I hope that you read, learn and discover that while we may differ in our skin tone, our ethnicity, our customs, our religion, that we are all very similar. I hope that this leaves you with the realization that hate has no place in our lives, that the differences between people are to be celebrated, to be cherished. How sad would the world be if we were all the same? Same culture, same look, same customs? To me that would be extremely boring. It would make travel unnecessary, you wouldn’t experience different cultures if we were all the same. For me, that would make life very dull.
First off, I now realize that I wrote it for me. I wrote it to put pen to paper (actually fingers to keyboard, but that doesn’t sound as poetic) to let my experience and feelings flow out of me. And flow it did! It’s been a long process to write this, early morning writing sessions and weekends to take time to put down my thoughts, my experiences and my ramblings.
Survival and adaptation - nature’s driving force
So grab your favorite beverage, a light meal and sit down and relax. Grab a cup of coffee or tea and a piece of jaggery. You may decide midway through that it doesn’t interest you and that’s okay. You may find you just want to know about the trip, read about what we did, where we went and that’s it. And you will get that, but you will also get more. That “more” may interest you and it may not. It might challenge you to think, it may make you annoyed with my personal views. Hopefully it doesn’t upset anyone. Annoying anyone or upsetting anyone is certainly not my intent. But the “more” is what makes this story personal to me alone and no one else.
Maybe this is where you stop, this is where you don’t care and don’t want to read something so long. That’s fine. I’m okay with that. I don’t expect a lot of people to read this whole story. I’m not a writer by any stretch of the imagination. I’m left-brained all the way, analytical, methodical, long winded (duh!), and a science nerd. I can be creative when solving issues, thinking outside the box, etc. But when it comes to creativity in an artsy sense, photography skills (I occasionally get a great shot) or writing, I’m no Hemingway. Humor is one of my favorite things, I love to laugh. So in this story, you’ll catch some of my sarcastic, “tongue in cheek” nature. A long good belly aching laugh is so good for the soul. How good do you feel when you get that laugh and you just can’t stop, tears rolling down your face with laughter, abdominal muscles tightened up so much that you ache. I LOVE that feeling of having to try to catch your breath and you finally stop laughing, but it comes right back again.
I know, at this point it’s early, but soon I know you will be saying “Karen, why? Why would you have so much to say about a trip and why are you expecting us to read this, why is there so much of your own thoughts and ramblings in the story?” This is my way to share my passion for travel and how important it is in opening your eyes to so many different things. I also want to share for a few other reasons.
“Travel opens your heart, broadens your mind and fills
your life with stories to tell” – Paula Bendfeldt
Reason number one why it’s so long? I want to yet again show everyone that VegVoyages Vegan Adventure Tours are AMAZING. I also want people to realize how important seeking out new experiences through travel is to the mind, heart and soul. So if you are willing to read through it all, thank you. I hope that you enjoy it and that things in this story make you think and make you question some of your own ideas or preconceived notions. I hope that it makes you realize that the experiences we have in life, whether through travel or not, are so much more important that material things. Experiences make you happy and create lifelong memories, material items give you limited pleasure.
Another reason for this long story? I really want to share this amazing country and experience I had with others. Maybe, just maybe, sharing this will give someone the desire to travel, to go out and explore this amazing world. As much as I love travel, I never really got into the late Anthony Bourdain’s show “Parts Unknown”. I’m not sure why, I just never really watched it. But this quote on travel from him explains it for me.
“Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind.” Anthony Bourdain
I truly believe travel changes you, it opens you up and makes you see the world in a different way. It creates a permanent memory that you carry with you forever. And hopefully, you do some good that you leave behind. Travel should not just be about you and what you get to see and do, it should also give back. VegVoyages trips always give back with donations to the groups we visit, whether it’s an orphanage, an animal sanctuary, a social activism group, a school; we give back. Giving back, even if it’s in helping out and not monetarily makes a difference. Cleaning up the school grounds with students, doing a beach clean-up, serving meals at a children’s home; just give back and make an impact. Being kind doesn’t cost anything, I really wish more people understood that.
Tea plantation in the hills outside of Kandy and my true fears revealed!
I never post travel stuff as a “look at me, look what I get to do, look how cool my life is”. That is never my intent, and if anyone takes it that way, please know I’m simply not like that. It’s also probably why I rarely post pictures of myself during my travel unless it’s a group photo. It’s not about me. I want it to inspire people to travel, near or far, just travel! I want you to see the beauty, the people, the architecture, the scenery. Pushing yourself out of your comfort zone makes you grow. It opens your eyes to different ideas and cultures. It broadens your knowledge of this planet we call home. It also makes you realize that as different as cultures are, as different as people can be due to their customs, language or religious views - deep down we are all the same. We all want peace, love, friendship and to live a long, happy life. We are all equal and should all be treated as equals.
During orientation on day 1 of every VegVoyages trip, we are reminded to have an open heart and an open mind. Seems like simple advice, right? Have an open heart and an open mind. But it is so vitally important when you travel. You will be faced with sights, sounds, smells and languages that you may have never experienced before. You can’t compare it to back home, if you do, you may end up miserable. You just have to let it wash in and let it go. If you compare everything to back home, as Zac says “your brain will get stuck like a computer trying to load and you’ll miss out on the experiences going forward”. You may see something that you can’t wrap your mind around, it’ll try to put it in a place but there’s no place to put it. Your brain tries to categorize that experience, but it can’t, instead of just moving on, you shut down, you get stuck. Don’t get stuck, just let go and let the experience happen. File it away for later, realize this doesn’t fit what you are used to and move on.
“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone” – Neale Donald Walsch
My first trip with VV was in 2012 to Thailand. At the time, it was only my 4th time out of the US. The others were Canada (work), Mexico (vacation) and Switzerland (former employer work trips). Pretty innocuous, no real major culture shock and no overly long multi day travel. Prior to Thailand, I had never seen a squat toilet in person, they simply don’t exist here in the US. I knew about them and I knew we would experience them but didn’t have any preconceived notions about them. And yes, I did a lot of squat exercises leading up to that trip so that I wouldn’t fall in! I also knew that a large majority of people in SE Asia and South Asia don’t use toilet paper but rather a water spray and their hand to “clean” after using the bathroom. This is why you don’t pass things with your left hand (Tip #1, you are welcome!)
I know if you haven’t been to areas where this is the norm, it may seem odd or even gross to you because it doesn’t match anything at home. But remember, just file it away. Don’t let that freak you out. It’s their way, not yours. You have to realize customs vary across countries and cultures. Toilet paper isn’t really a huge thing in these countries. This freaked some people out, but why? Why should we judge others because they do things differently? They likely think we are weird for destroying millions of trees just to create paper to wipe ourselves. (Tip #2, in the US and some other countries, you can buy sustainable bamboo toilet paper, instead of TP made from trees, check out www.whogivesacrap.com or www.reelpaper.com). There were several people on my Thailand trip and trips I’ve done since that freaked out a bit about different bathroom habits. I heard over and over from people who thought it was gross that they should “evolve” to be like us. Seriously? Don’t be that person. I heard it said once on one of my trips, “the people that can afford TP should just use it”. But really, why do you get to be the judge of others? TP hasn’t been around for centuries, nope it was invented in 1857. It was a bit frustrating to hear people being so condescending about other people’s norms. No one has a right to criticize any one’s culture unless it’s doing harm. Okay, I’ll get off that subject, but you get my point. Don’t compare things to back home.
“If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary”
Jim Rohn
Jim Rohn
So, back to why this is so long…I’m truly pondering this again. Suffice it to say, something really got to me on this trip, in a good way. This trip touched me in a way even more so than any other trip. Was it Sri Lanka? Yes, that’s a huge part of it. But was that it, just the country? No, not just the country, it was several things; it was the story of Sri Lanka, the wonderful Sri Lankan people, the sights, the experience. I do know what did get to me in a bad way was the gnats that would not leave me alone. Seriously, they seemed to love me more than anyone else on the trip and kept clustering around my bangs, trying to find a forest to hide out in all while their little gnat friends settled on my arm. Yes, I am a Sri Lankan gnat magnet, they call them flies, but they are tiny little annoying gnats. I was constantly fanning myself to dislodge them and to disturb the air to keep them off me. They also seemed to want to get into my eyes and “become one” with my contact lenses. Truth be told, I’d rather deal with the occasional mozzie.
Post lunch at the Dutch Burgher Union
Okay back to the point, why did Sri Lanka touch me so deeply? I’m actually okay with the fact that I may never know all the reasons why. Sometimes we don’t know what inspires us, sometimes we don’t know exactly what touches us so deeply that we feel this compelling desire to share it. It parallels my sharing of my veganism, why I’m vegan, why I think everyone should be. I’m passionate about animals, the environment and health and because of that I’m vegan. And as most people who know me came to realize; I will take every chance I get to tell people why they should go vegan. And if that’s something you want to do, please hit me up!
I don’t know exactly what “changed” in me but I came back a slightly different person. I can come up with some guesses and I think probably all of them contribute to my desire to share so much of my story of Sri Lanka with anyone who will read it. And while I do know many of the reasons why this trip changed me, some aren’t even related to the trip itself. It was almost a mind shift, a refreshed spirit. Perhaps some of it is the change that I was coming back to at work. I’m not completely sure. I know part of it was seeing the majestic Asian Elephants in the wild. That was something that I had been so looking forward to on this trip. I think it also may be because I developed a little harmless crush on the trip and believe me, that hasn’t happened for quite some time (well, except for my decades long crush on Chris Isaak😍). And nope, I’m not saying anything else about that. However, because of that happening, it got me thinking. Hmmm, maybe I should start dating again. But yikes, dating is now like going on job interview after job interview. That’s what dating has become in this day and age. I don’t work in an office so dating becomes either hanging out in a bar (not really the best place to meet a guy), joining some co-ed meetup groups that do things I like or online dating. And let me tell you online dating can be brutal. Last time I did that several years ago it wasn’t the greatest experience, just so you know online dating sucks! I know some people swear by it, but I didn’t have the best time with it. So if I’m going to do that, if I’m going to put myself out there I think I’m going to have to get into the mindset of “there’s going to be some bad dates, but maybe a few good ones”. And maybe if I approach it like an experience and have some laughs about horrible dates because of it, it won’t be as bad. Maybe…
Asian elephant foraging in Kaudulla National Park, such a magnificent being
Part of the reason I know why this trip impacted me so much is because of Sri Lanka’s past. Granted, everywhere in the world has had some sort of tumultuous past, some are completely horrific and rock you to the core of your being. Each place has a history, sometimes that history includes occupation by outsiders, war, natural disasters and troubled times. But with Sri Lanka, because of the more recent circumstances, their strength and kindness inspired me. The people of Sri Lanka had been through so much during their 26-year civil war which ended in 2009. They are still healing from the war. Part of the story I am sharing will show how they are trying to help with the healing and the process of healing is a long one. The war ended just over 10 years ago, it’s still fresh for them. And then this year, the Easter Sunday bombings happened and it devastated them. When you go through something like that you come out one of two ways; either more resilient and determined or shut down and angry. It was the former for the people I met, they were strong and determined to not let this recent tragedy push them off their path to unity. I could feel that in many of the people that I met while on the trip. I felt their desire to live together peacefully, to help each other heal and to share their country and customs with us.
I can’t compare my own experiences to living with war. I’ve never lived with a war in my own country, I can’t even begin to imagine what that is like. But if you know me, you know I have experienced great losses in my life from a relatively early age. But that made me who I am today. It made me strong, independent, resilient and determined. It created the Karen you know today. It made me very flexible in knowing that things don’t always go the way you expect them to and you have to move with the punches that life throws at you.
“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people just exist.” – Oscar Wilde
My life experiences also made me realize that life can be ever so short and fleeting. The quote “Life is Short” is so true. You may find that you don’t get the time later in life to do the things that you keep putting off. No one knows their own future, so make the most of what you have today and live- just truly live and enjoy the little things in life. And you know what? That’s what I do. Even with my life and the people I have lost, I love my life. I love my adventures, I love my job, I love my friends and fur family. I truly love my life. Is it always puppies and rainbows? No, of course not. But I do know that we only get one go around on at this thing called life; so do what you love, see what you want to see, travel, explore, live. Hate your job? Find something you love to do. Stuck in a relationship that isn’t making you happy?
Move on. Dislike where you live? Find a place you love and move. Granted none of that is easy, but we only have so much time to live and if you aren’t happy, life can be miserable. Push yourself out of your comfort zone it will make you grow as a person.
“And then there is the most dangerous risk of all — the risk of spending your life not doing what you want on the bet you can buy yourself the freedom to do it later.” – Randy Komisar
Open yourself up to the possibility of being completely amazed and blown away by something. Get out there and go! Live life to its fullest because you don’t know how much time you have to do what you want to do. I know a lot of people put off travel until they retire. That’s definitely not me, I want to go while I am fully able, while I’m still relatively young so I can enjoy it. I want to be able-bodied so I can hike to the top of Sigiriya Rock in Sri Lanka, snorkel in Malaysia, climb 3,000 steps to a temple in India, take a bike ride in the heat and humidity of Bali, climb to the top of Mt. Ijen volcano in Java, hike to see Orangutans in Sumatra, kayak in Laos, simply enjoy. “Don’t put off to tomorrow what you can do today” that’s ever so true when it comes to travel. Don’t wait for retirement. Go. See. Do.
Sigiriya, ancient rock fortress and palace 5th century
I have people ask me all the time why I keep going to “that part of the world”. Why would you go to India? Why would you go to Laos? Why Thailand, Bali, Sumatra, Dubai, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka?” Sometimes they ask it in a very curious, cool way of “wow, how come Sumatra”? I love it when they ask this because I get to share my love of travel with them. They are genuinely interested. They ask questions, they want to know why I chose a certain place because they are intrigued. But several times I’ve also gotten people asking me “Why would you go to India, I’ve seen pictures it’s dirty, yuck”. To which I reply, “well you don’t have to worry, you aren’t going, I am”. This is my life, my choice and my desire. I want, no, I need to see the world. Thankfully we aren’t all the same person with the exact same ideas and desires. We each have our own ambitions, dreams and wants. We each view the world differently.
Reason #1, as mentioned, hands down why I travel to “that part of the world” is VegVoyages. Heads up I’m going to use VegVoyages and VV interchangeably. VV specializes in SE Asia and South Asia. If they have a trip there, you can place your bets that I will do it. VV trips compare to no other, it’s hard to describe until you experience it for yourself, but they are the best. I will keep doing VV trips until I have done them all.
Reason #2, other cultures fascinate me. The United States is so new compared to the rest of the world. We don’t have structures from thousands of years ago and our history is relatively new compared to other countries. The history of a place truly inspires and excites me. From the ancient places I’ve seen, the amazing people I’ve met on these trips, who I now call friends, to the gracious, kind people who live in those countries who welcome us into their lives, if only for a little while. That is why I go to “this part of the world”. They take us into their homes to feed us, house us and spend time with us. The care that they take in making us feel comfortable, the knowledge that they share with us to learn about their country, it’s phenomenal. The personalized touch of VV trips, is like no other. And the below quote is so true. That is what I did with my first trip to Thailand and again to Sumatra. No one can go with you, that’s okay, just go!
“If you want to go somewhere you like but no one else wants to, go by yourself. You’ll meet people with similar interests as you.” – Unknown
Reason #3 this trip got to me because I fully immersed myself in it since I knew I was coming back to a bit of change and uncertainty in my work life, a bit of excitement of a new temporary role that may either become permanent or not. Hopefully it will become permanent, but whatever happens with that part of my life, Sri Lanka touched me in a way that I don’t think any other trip has in the past. Whenever I travel, it opens my eyes, it broadens my life and heart and brings me so much joy.
All, right. Enough with the “why?” Let’s get to the story…
So, where does the story start? And now I hear you saying, “But Karen, the story? What story? Wasn’t that your story above?” No, grasshopper, I have so much more to tell you.
Now I know what you’re thinking, “are you kidding me? The ‘pre-story’ was pages long. Why?” Keep reading, I’ll make it worth the effort! I can’t help it if after you read this you start planning your trip to Sri Lanka (you are welcome). Just make sure to let me know and I’ll hook you up with VV or our local tour guide, driver and assistant who helped make our trip complete.
I can hear you, I know you may be saying “So what’s up with this thing about a ‘story’? What is she talking about?” Let me explain.
At the start of every VegVoyages trip during our orientation session, Zac tells us that each VegVoyages trip has a story. He also tells us he can’t tell us the story of the trip. He lets us know that the story of a trip has a beginning, a middle and an end. Make no mistake, on these trips we get TONS of information in our guide/itinerary book and we get info on every place we are going to, the history, religion, culture, customs, politics, etc., but that’s not the story. And by story, no he doesn’t mean the trip starts on day 1, the middle is day 7 and the end is day 14. He means everyone will form a story about their experience. He lets us know that as with a movie or a book, he can’t tell us what the story of the trip is. VV plans these trips with a story, not just an itinerary, but a story. He can’t tell us what the story is because each person will form their own story.
Well doesn't that quote just explain this whole long story? What we do, where we go, what we experience is part of what makes up the story, but we have to form the story on our own. He can’t give us the answers to what happens in each act. He can’t tell us how to interpret the story, we have to live it so that we can form our own personal story. A story has to be formed by the person who experiences it. The story is individual to each person. No two people will have the same story even if they are on the same trip and see all the same things. We are all different and we experience things in our own way which makes our story of the trip unique. It’s the same with books and movies, you make your own mind up of what something means based on how you experience it and how you interpret it. That’s also why some people love a certain movie while others may hate it. I’ve loved some movies and books that friends hated, and vice versa, that because I experienced it differently. So my story of the trip forms based on my own experience.
I can hear you, I know you may be saying “So what’s up with this thing about a ‘story’? What is she talking about?” Let me explain.
At the start of every VegVoyages trip during our orientation session, Zac tells us that each VegVoyages trip has a story. He also tells us he can’t tell us the story of the trip. He lets us know that the story of a trip has a beginning, a middle and an end. Make no mistake, on these trips we get TONS of information in our guide/itinerary book and we get info on every place we are going to, the history, religion, culture, customs, politics, etc., but that’s not the story. And by story, no he doesn’t mean the trip starts on day 1, the middle is day 7 and the end is day 14. He means everyone will form a story about their experience. He lets us know that as with a movie or a book, he can’t tell us what the story of the trip is. VV plans these trips with a story, not just an itinerary, but a story. He can’t tell us what the story is because each person will form their own story.
“Traveling – it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller” – Ibn Battuta
Well doesn't that quote just explain this whole long story? What we do, where we go, what we experience is part of what makes up the story, but we have to form the story on our own. He can’t give us the answers to what happens in each act. He can’t tell us how to interpret the story, we have to live it so that we can form our own personal story. A story has to be formed by the person who experiences it. The story is individual to each person. No two people will have the same story even if they are on the same trip and see all the same things. We are all different and we experience things in our own way which makes our story of the trip unique. It’s the same with books and movies, you make your own mind up of what something means based on how you experience it and how you interpret it. That’s also why some people love a certain movie while others may hate it. I’ve loved some movies and books that friends hated, and vice versa, that because I experienced it differently. So my story of the trip forms based on my own experience.
Reading my “homework” and enjoying a cup of Stumptown coffee on my balcony. Sand message (tradition for me on these trips if there is a beach!)
The Pre-story (Oh my dog, she’s never going to get to the actual story). Just hang in there with me this does add to my story.
I signed up for Sri Lanka in the middle of December last year. I had actually told myself and friends after Malaysia in August 2018, that I’d skip a big vacation in 2019. I need to do some house stuff, paint inside and out, landscape, etc. But then when I stared at the calendar in the middle of December last year, reality hit that my next big trip was going to be in November 2020, I freaked! That was a long 23 months away. The horror. How would I cope, and how was I expected to survive with no “reset”?
I need this type of vacation, this type of reset. You can have your one or two weeks here or there where you visit somewhere not too far from where you live. That’s great; travel anywhere, just travel. But that’s not for me, that isn’t what I crave. Give me a faraway place where I can immerse myself in a culture that is different than mine, where the people are different, but yet so similar once you meet them. I want to see a place with centuries of history where customs, religion and culture make that place far different from my life and home. I want to experience things, I want an adventure, I want to be pushed out of my comfort zone, just don’t push me out of a plane, I draw the line with skydiving. Not. Gonna. Happen.
So I hopped on to the VV website (www.vegvoyages.com) perused the trips and then checked out flights available to Sri Lanka with my Alaska Air miles…I found flights that worked and knew that I could do it! I immediately emailed Yusi at VV and she said there was space on the Sri Lanka trip. I sent in my booking form and made my deposit for the trip. Little did I know at the time my manager would quit and his last day would be a few days before I returned from the trip. Another amazing vacation to look forward to for 2019. Sri Lanka would be my 7th VegVoyages trip.
Sri Lanka was on my bucket list. I don’t remember when I put it on my bucket list, but it was there, waiting to be checked off the list, just like a lot of other places. I had never known anyone who had been there, it just intrigued me. I had seen photos, read about the country, read some travel bloggers posts and realized, I needed to see it for myself. And if VegVoyages has a trip, I’m obviously going to add it to my list. Yes, I know, VV Trips are my addiction.
I was so excited that it was the first ever VegVoyages trip to this island country. A chance to visit somewhere amazing, eat delicious vegan food and have adventures like no other. By the time April came around, I was SO ready and counting down the days until the trip. I was planning, figuring out what I was going to pack and reading more about my next adventure.
Then on Easter Sunday, April 21, 2019, I woke up and read about the tragedy that had struck Sri Lanka. Multiple terrorist attacks occurred almost simultaneously. Sri Lankans were dealt a blow of death and destruction. Three churches in Colombo, Negombo and Kotte were hit during the height of worship services. Two were catholic churches and one was protestant. At the same time during this coordinated attack, two hotels on the beachfront in Colombo were attacked, the third attack came a few hours later near yet another hotel. The attacks, carried out by Islamist radical groups, ISIS claimed responsibility for the bombings. These bombings were aimed at Easter Sunday worshipers and foreign tourists. I was shocked and devastated at the horror and loss of life. Over 250 people were killed and over 500 were injured. Tragedy had struck again, 10 years after their 26-year civil war had ended, the people of Sri Lanka were left to deal with the horrific events of terrorism. It was heartbreaking to see the reports, see the footage of the chaos, the destruction, the loss of life, families destroyed by the despicable acts of violence.
For those that didn’t really know of Sri Lanka and their civil war, I’m not surprised. If you are a Westerner, why would you? It was barely covered by Western news. Sri Lanka had been involved in a civil war for almost 26 years from July 1983 to May 2009. The Liberation Tamil Tigers of Tamil Elam (known as the LTTE, Tamil Tigers or simply Tigers) were fighting to create their own independent homeland for Hindu Tamils in NE Sri Lanka. After an almost 26-year military campaign, the Sri Lankan Army, made up of the majority Sinhalese, defeated the LTTE bringing an end to the civil war.
I signed up for Sri Lanka in the middle of December last year. I had actually told myself and friends after Malaysia in August 2018, that I’d skip a big vacation in 2019. I need to do some house stuff, paint inside and out, landscape, etc. But then when I stared at the calendar in the middle of December last year, reality hit that my next big trip was going to be in November 2020, I freaked! That was a long 23 months away. The horror. How would I cope, and how was I expected to survive with no “reset”?
I need this type of vacation, this type of reset. You can have your one or two weeks here or there where you visit somewhere not too far from where you live. That’s great; travel anywhere, just travel. But that’s not for me, that isn’t what I crave. Give me a faraway place where I can immerse myself in a culture that is different than mine, where the people are different, but yet so similar once you meet them. I want to see a place with centuries of history where customs, religion and culture make that place far different from my life and home. I want to experience things, I want an adventure, I want to be pushed out of my comfort zone, just don’t push me out of a plane, I draw the line with skydiving. Not. Gonna. Happen.
“I can’t think of anything that excites a greater sense of childlike wonder than to be in a country where you are ignorant of almost everything. Suddenly you are five years old again. You can’t read anything, you have only the most rudimentary sense of how things work, you can’t reliably cross a street without endangering your life. Your whole existence becomes a series of interesting guesses.” – Bill Bryson
Sri Lanka was on my bucket list. I don’t remember when I put it on my bucket list, but it was there, waiting to be checked off the list, just like a lot of other places. I had never known anyone who had been there, it just intrigued me. I had seen photos, read about the country, read some travel bloggers posts and realized, I needed to see it for myself. And if VegVoyages has a trip, I’m obviously going to add it to my list. Yes, I know, VV Trips are my addiction.
I was so excited that it was the first ever VegVoyages trip to this island country. A chance to visit somewhere amazing, eat delicious vegan food and have adventures like no other. By the time April came around, I was SO ready and counting down the days until the trip. I was planning, figuring out what I was going to pack and reading more about my next adventure.
Then on Easter Sunday, April 21, 2019, I woke up and read about the tragedy that had struck Sri Lanka. Multiple terrorist attacks occurred almost simultaneously. Sri Lankans were dealt a blow of death and destruction. Three churches in Colombo, Negombo and Kotte were hit during the height of worship services. Two were catholic churches and one was protestant. At the same time during this coordinated attack, two hotels on the beachfront in Colombo were attacked, the third attack came a few hours later near yet another hotel. The attacks, carried out by Islamist radical groups, ISIS claimed responsibility for the bombings. These bombings were aimed at Easter Sunday worshipers and foreign tourists. I was shocked and devastated at the horror and loss of life. Over 250 people were killed and over 500 were injured. Tragedy had struck again, 10 years after their 26-year civil war had ended, the people of Sri Lanka were left to deal with the horrific events of terrorism. It was heartbreaking to see the reports, see the footage of the chaos, the destruction, the loss of life, families destroyed by the despicable acts of violence.
For those that didn’t really know of Sri Lanka and their civil war, I’m not surprised. If you are a Westerner, why would you? It was barely covered by Western news. Sri Lanka had been involved in a civil war for almost 26 years from July 1983 to May 2009. The Liberation Tamil Tigers of Tamil Elam (known as the LTTE, Tamil Tigers or simply Tigers) were fighting to create their own independent homeland for Hindu Tamils in NE Sri Lanka. After an almost 26-year military campaign, the Sri Lankan Army, made up of the majority Sinhalese, defeated the LTTE bringing an end to the civil war.
Depending on which statistic you go with, during this civil war around 150,000 people died. The death toll from the war is heavily debated, some say it’s higher some say it’s lower. The majority of the casualties were civilian. Houses were bombed and destroyed, business shuttered, people went off to war and never came back. People fled the country. Many people had to flee their homes more than once and it was only years after the war ended that they were allowed to return.
When it comes to war, there are both sides to a story and I’m not going to go into details about the war, you can read more about it on your own. Suffice it to say it was a war propelled by politicians pushing propaganda and creating hate mongering between different ethnic and religious groups. As we have seen throughout history, this is often what pushes people to fight. Lies and propaganda run high in war. Pitting people against each other has been done since the start of time and still continues today. It’s going on now right in my own county and so many others.
During the war and for some time after, trying to get to areas heavily occupied by opposing forces was either prohibited or extremely difficult unless jumping through a lot of red tape to get there. There were armed guard stations set up when going north, some of which are back in use today due to the Easter bombings. Jaffna which is up near the northern most tip of Sri Lanka (and where we stayed for 3 nights) was the hot spot for the Tamil Tigers. It was off limit to tourism until 2016, a long 7 years after the end of the civil war. It’s also only 50km across the ocean from India. If you wanted to go to Jaffna before 2016, the paperwork was intense and likely you’d be denied, especially if just trying to travel as a tourist. And they really couldn’t support tourism, it’s only been within the last 3 years that they have started to welcome tourism and have put resources into it to support visitors.
After the war ended in 2009 and for the past 10 years, the people of Sri Lanka, no matter their ethnic or religious group have been recovering from the war, they have been striving for peace and unity. And it was working. “The relatively recently coined “Sri Lankan – Our Identity, Diversity – Our Strength” says a lot. Sri Lanka is made up of not only the majority Sinhalese, but also Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamils of recent Indian Origin, Dutch Burghers, Portuguese Burghers, Muslim Moors, Malay, Javanese, Colombo Chetties, Veddas and Coastal Veddas, Parsis, Sindhis, Chinese, Bohras, Memons, Bharata people and many more who have called Sri Lanka home for generations, if not centuries and in some cases, millennia.” (a lot of this comes from our 46-page guide and itinerary for the trip that Zac and Yusi wrote. Not trying to plagiarize anything here, just authentic love for how much info you give us for these trips!). In other words, Sri Lanka is very diverse.
The literacy rate in Sri Lanka is the highest in South Asia and one of the highest in all of Asia. Depending on the statistic and year you look at, it ranges from 93-98%. Education has always played a major part in the life and culture of the country and dates back to 543 BC. School is free and so is undergraduate education in state universities. The undergrad education is very competitive and fewer than 16% of those who qualify get admission and only half of those graduate. Going abroad to Australia, Europe, Canada and the US is quite common for students that can afford to do so. We say several banners for info sessions on getting an international education abroad all over Sri Lanka.
As difficult as the aftermath of war was, their physical and emotional wounds were healing. People were going on with their lives. The diversity of this island nation makes Sri Lanka what it was and what it is now. The Easter Sunday bombings caused pain, suffering and death. The loss of family and friends in such a manner is horrific and senseless.
“Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind” John F. Kennedy
Right after the Easter bombings, I’m not going to lie, I was a bit scared. They targeted 3 hotels that are typically occupied by foreign tourists, would I be safe? What if it happened again? I was concerned about going somewhere where terrorists recently struck. So, yep I freaked out a bit, I backed out of the trip, I switched to one of the India trips. I hated doing that, but I was concerned for my own safety. If something happened to me who would take care of my fur kids? What would happen to them if something happened to me? That was actually my greatest worry. I’d have to rely on friends to deal with my pets and take care of my home, belongings, etc. It did worry me.
There were a lot of emails back and forth with VegVoyages and lots of back and forth with fellow travelers who were signed up for the trip. We talked about it on our group FB page. After the attack, there was no way to get travel insurance to go to Sri Lanka due to the threat level set by the US government and others. And with these types of trips so far away, you don’t forgo getting travel insurance. But then Yusi let us know that Zac was going to Sri Lanka to do some trip scouting and firm up the itinerary. Yusi gave us info about how things were going, how the country was recovering and how much the country needed the support of tourism. Local businesses, tour companies, hotels, restaurants – all these places saw their income crash as people cancelled their plans to go to Sri Lanka. But Yusi assured us that the trip would carry on. Now I had to decide what to do. I had already rebooked to do the Camels, Cows, Canines India trip, but in my gut, I wasn’t as excited about it. I had been to India in 2017 and while I definitely have plans to go back, my heart was set on Sri Lanka. I watched and waited for the threat level to drop. I realized, I didn’t want to back out. I wanted to go, I wanted to stick to my original plan. I wanted to support Sri Lanka which had lost so much.
But then it went back to the issue of trying to get travel insurance was going to be impossible with the threat level set by the US government. Luckily, that threat warning was lowered in late June to match that of India, many places in Europe and other places so in June I emailed Yusi and said “please put me back in the Sri Lanka trip and I’m SO glad I did”!
Seven days before my trip was starting, I got the news that my manager was leaving. No one else on our team knew yet, that would not be announced until I was actually on the trip. The fact that he was leaving while I was on my trip made it even more concerning. I wanted to be there for my team, I wanted to be there to support them when it was announced he was leaving and to support them through this change.
I actually changed my flights coming back because I wanted to be there for my colleagues. It didn’t matter to me if I was simply still the lead or if I was going to be the interim manager, I didn’t want our team to go through this solo. So I decided to forgo spending 2 days in Singapore after the end of the trip and came back Monday night. That left everyone without a manager and a lead for just a day and I knew they would be okay, but I wanted to make sure I was there for whatever they needed. Looking back, starting work 10 hours after you get home when you have been accustomed to being 12.5 hours ahead of your own time zone may not have been the best decision because let me tell you, the jet lag was intense! I felt “loopy”, like my body was floating at times. My brain definitely wasn’t functioning at 100%. I had to write every single thing down or I knew I’d forget it. Yowza.
Because of this work change, this trip was even more important and more impactful for me. I needed the break before things changed totally. As I’ve learned in my life, things happen for a reason, reasons we may not really understand. On my first night in Sri Lanka after coming back into the hotel from going down to the beach and seeing the sun set over the Indian ocean listening to the waves crash over rocks and onto the sandy beach, I grabbed a glass of wine at the hotel bar and sat with Chris and Justine. While looking over photos from the day, I got a text from my “now” manager, offering me the interim manager position. I immediately responded with a YES. This happening in this way, no matter what happens going forward with the permanent position, helped to make me truly immerse myself in this trip. I felt good knowing that I would be able to help lead my team back home and that at least I would be able to help keep the continuity going for our team.
These type of vacations act as my “reset” button. I needed to reset and not think of other things. Trips like this let me detach, de-stress and get re-energized. Any type of travel is a positive thing. But for me, I have to get away, experience things I’ve never experienced before. I need to see new things, try new cuisines and immerse myself in another culture. And it needs to be active. And let me tell you, you aren’t going to sit around on a VV trip, which is one of the reasons why I love these trips so much. The idea of doing the same vacation every year and going to the same place doesn’t appeal to me at all. I’m just not built that way. I crave the new, the different and I have so much on my bucket list left to see, I can’t waste vacation time or money on doing the same thing every year. My idea of vacation isn’t sitting on a beach sipping Mai-Tai’s. There’s nothing wrong with that and a few days of that is nice. But I burn, I don’t tan (surprised aren’t you? It’s my over 55% British/Scottish/Irish mixed heritage) and I get bored just sitting around. I want activity and ever-changing scenery. That’s just how I’m made. And that’s exactly what you get on a VV trip.
“I travel because it makes me realize how much I haven’t seen, how much I’m not going to see, and how much I still need to see.” – Carew Papritz
To know the story, my story of the trip, you have to have a little history lesson.
Sorry, my story is still in the pre-story phase. I know, I know I can hear you thinking “Why? Get to the story woman!” Not quite yet, part of how you form your story is based on your experience, and the history of a country plays into the story you form. It affects how the country grew, how it evolved and therefore it influences how you form your story about the country you are visiting. So kiddos, it’s time for a little Sri Lanka history lesson. I have stolen this from not only our beloved VV guide and itinerary, but also from Zac, Wikipedia, Professor Google, and from listening intently to Jeewa as he told us about his country (yes, Jeewa, I was listening!)
So it’s time for Professor Karen to drone on, because kids...it’s Sri Lanka History lesson time!
So here’s some history. Like I said and I’ll say again, mainly so I don’t get sued for plagiarism, much of this comes from our 46 page VegVoyages guide and itinerary of our trip. It also comes from listening to Zac, who instills in us, with every trip, info on history, politics, religion and culture. I don’t know how he keeps the thousands years of history, politics, religion, etc. of so many different countries straight in his brain, it goes along with his ability to speak 50 languages (okay, it’s not 50, but it’s upwards of 12-15 or so). I can’t keep count and he’s too humble to claim a number. This history lesson also comes from the wealth of knowledge that our “maru” guide Jeewa, shared with us about his country. He gave us so much information on Sri Lanka, history, religion, customs, culture, etc. I know it’s his job to know this, but I’ve been on many trips and his knowledge of “everything” Sri Lanka was phenomenal. If you need a tour guide for Sri Lanka, let me know, because he should be your first choice.
Some of the history I won’t repeat here when it comes to customs. One that he told to us on one of our longer bus rides stuck with me though. Let’s just suffice it to say if you are a teenage girl from back in Sri Lankan history who is, uh, um, hitting a certain point in your life, people would come to wash you and dress you as you “blossomed” into womanhood. I’m not sure if that is worse than when my mom told my brother when I was 12, “Ray, I have to take Karen to the drugstore, she got her period for the first time, we will be back soon”. I can still feel myself beet red with embarrassment and trying to make myself unseen. Moms…embarrassing kids all through history, some things never change.
So are you ready for some history? Here’s how Sri Lanka came to be from a historical perspective. NO…it’s not part of India. I got asked that at the grocery store when I had my Sri Lanka Elephant t-shirt on. The bagger asked what places in India I’d suggest visiting, I was a bit confused, but then realized his confusion. I was nice, I didn’t get uppity. I told him a little bit about Sri Lanka and gave him a minor history lesson. I swear it was only while my groceries were being scanned and bagged. I didn’t hold him hostage. Also he was wearing a vegan Rhino herbivore t-shirt so I told him to check out VegVoyages and explained how great the trips are.
So how did Sri Lanka become Sri Lanka? I’ll skip the “there was this solar nebula, the sun came to be, then clumps of dust and gas combined and finally planets were formed.” If you aren’t sure how that happened. Feel free to watch 5 minutes of science to figure that out! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3QM7o-egXo.
I’m also not going to talk about how over millions of year the land masses on our planet started drifting, shifting and forming continents, breaking off from on another to what we have today. I could, believe me, I could, but that’s not overly relevant here. You are welcome!
I’ve had few people tell me they had to look at a map to see where Sri Lanka is located. That’s okay, I still can’t place some of those Midwest states and East coast states in the US in the right spot! I think I get them right and then “bam” I mix two up. Sorry to anyone east of the west coast, I get most of them right. I’m a West Coast girl so…ya know, like it’s totally not my thing (insert sigh for using 80’s Valley Girl talk). My friend and colleague Rico let me know he was stoked for me because I was the first person he knew who was going to Sri Lanka. I’m not surprised because I was in the same boat. So in case you don’t want to head over to google maps right now…Picture where India is on the globe. I’m hoping since India is so large, you know where it is (if you don’t please don’t tell me). Picture India. Okay, got it? Sri Lanka is a small island just below India and a little to the right. So, specifically it’s southeast of India. Got it? Good. If not, see below. And again, it’s not part of India, it’s part of South Asia. Yes, at some point way back in time, there was likely a land bridge that went from South India to Sri Lanka, but that’s been gone for a long time. And yes way back in BC time, there were people who came from South India to take over and rule, but it has never been part of India in our recorded history.
Size matters? Nope, not really. Sri Lanka is roughly 1/10th the size of Texas, a tiny bit smaller than Ireland and closest in size to Tasmania. If I picked up Sri Lanka and put it in Oregon, it would essentially fit if I twisted the state a bit. Sri Lanka is 25,332 square miles and Oregon is 98,465 square miles. The population of Sri Lanka is around 21-22 million people. The population of Oregon is about 4.2 million.
Sri Lanka sits in the middle of the east-west trading route that goes back about 2,000 years. It became a huge trading area with multiple ports on the island that were vital to trade. There are written accounts of Colombo as a trading port back in the 5th century. Cinnamon, specifically Ceylon Cinnamon (the only cinnamon you should use for its taste and health benefits, yum) was traded heavily. But the biggest spice to be traded and used as money was pepper. Yes, pepper. And hold up, I know what you are thinking…chili peppers, yum! Nope, I don’t mean chili pepper, those are not native to Sri Lanka. Just regular pepper you know, peppercorns. Instead of using money to pay for things, people used pepper.
Sri Lanka is also famous for its gems. No I didn’t buy any. Another thing that people may or may not know is that Sri Lanka is famous for its tea. There are tea plantations all over and we got to visit one and see the history of tea plantation workers at the museum. We also went to a tea processing plant that still uses a more manual method to create their tea. The tea history in Sri Lanka is not a pleasant history as the British brought South Indian Tamils down to work, essentially as indentured, very low paid servants on the tea plantations after the coffee plantations went under due to a widespread fungal infection that decimated the crop. The other trade was sadly, elephants and ivory. I’ll discuss that more when I hop up on my vegan soapbox later in the story.
So who was in Sri Lanka when? I’m just going to bullet point dates of occupation because it’s a long history of occupation, just like so many other countries. So here we go (quiz later!).
Just for an added tidbit, I know you are wondering, what does Sri Lanka export to other countries? Their main exports are textiles and apparel, yep, check your label you may find “made in Sri Lanka” on it. They also export tea, spices and diamonds (those ugly clear rocks with no color, I much prefer a gem with color in case anyone was wondering and wanted to save up for my Birthday in August).
PHEW…history lesson over? Kind of, I mean there’s history in my story, but yes, the bullet points are over. And I could have written much more, but figure you can read about it instead if you want more history.
So, time for My Sri Lanka Story…for the love of dog, it’s about time!
Sri Lanka, I think of it as Sri Lanka-aaaahhh. It was Maru which means awesome in Sinhalese-which for multiple reasons, quickly became my favorite word and which I have vowed to continue using here at home. The people, the culture, the food, the history, everything was simply amazing. I always know a VegVoyages trip will be wonderful, but Sri Lanka truly exceeded my expectations.
So if you remember from so many paragraphs above, as Zac said, there is a beginning, middle and end to a trip story. Here’s mine, I’ll call them “Act 1, Act 2, Act 3 and Act 4”. Finally, she gets to the point!
Emirates cabin (no, I’m not rich, I use miles for this!) Ready to land in Sri Lanka Flower lei upon arrival
The beginning, for me, starts with the journey; it has to. The long journey from home to a new country. The anticipation for this trip was even greater than trips before, partially because of my back and forth of going- to not going-to going again. But also part of it is because I knew work life was changing when I got back. I had no reservations of going once I finally made up my mind. That former feeling of being concerned about something happening to me while I was there simply disappeared. I felt safe and excited.
Touchdown on Saturday August 24 at the airport in Colombo/Negombo electrified me. I’m pretty sure in my jet lagged state I was walking through the airport with a big dumb smile on my face! Granted, I was tired but I was SO excited and so energized for the trip. I may have been a bit giddy and I’m sure some of that was due to the 36 hours of travel from door to door. I arrived in the morning the day before the start of the VV trip and stepped off the plane. It wasn’t very busy and I got through immigration in about 10 minutes. The first thing I noticed was the smiles on people’s faces, a genuine friendliness that we don’t always see in the rushed lives we live in the US. I also noticed something that I don’t really remember noticing as much on my other trips to SE Asia and S Asia, there are a lot of tall people in Sri Lanka. I mean I know I’m vertically challenged, but yeah, I noticed that was not the case here. I know that’s a weird observation, but it’s one thing I noticed immediately. Not so much the women, but the men - they are tall. My other observation (hubba hubba) there are some very good looking men in Sri Lanka – I’m sure if you were on the trip you noticed it. Okay, I might be blushing now.
My driver who was waiting for me when I walked out of customs/immigration was holding that sign I love to see, a VegVoyages sign with my name on it. He presented me with a flower lei and took my bag and let me to the waiting area so he could get the car. He had cold water for me and we made chit chat as we drove to the hotel. Traffic was a bit busy and congested, even on a Saturday morning as we made our drive from the airport in Negombo to the Mt. Lavinia Hotel. Being a passenger in a foreign country as you drive through a city and countryside is always exciting to me. Even on our bus rides between the places we go I like to stare out the window to observe. While others take naps, I sit and watch – usually while listening to music. I love looking out the window at the landscape, local buildings, signs, scenery and people it’s thrilling. After about 90 minutes, we arrived in Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia at our hotel for 3 nights.
When it comes to war, there are both sides to a story and I’m not going to go into details about the war, you can read more about it on your own. Suffice it to say it was a war propelled by politicians pushing propaganda and creating hate mongering between different ethnic and religious groups. As we have seen throughout history, this is often what pushes people to fight. Lies and propaganda run high in war. Pitting people against each other has been done since the start of time and still continues today. It’s going on now right in my own county and so many others.
During the war and for some time after, trying to get to areas heavily occupied by opposing forces was either prohibited or extremely difficult unless jumping through a lot of red tape to get there. There were armed guard stations set up when going north, some of which are back in use today due to the Easter bombings. Jaffna which is up near the northern most tip of Sri Lanka (and where we stayed for 3 nights) was the hot spot for the Tamil Tigers. It was off limit to tourism until 2016, a long 7 years after the end of the civil war. It’s also only 50km across the ocean from India. If you wanted to go to Jaffna before 2016, the paperwork was intense and likely you’d be denied, especially if just trying to travel as a tourist. And they really couldn’t support tourism, it’s only been within the last 3 years that they have started to welcome tourism and have put resources into it to support visitors.
After the war ended in 2009 and for the past 10 years, the people of Sri Lanka, no matter their ethnic or religious group have been recovering from the war, they have been striving for peace and unity. And it was working. “The relatively recently coined “Sri Lankan – Our Identity, Diversity – Our Strength” says a lot. Sri Lanka is made up of not only the majority Sinhalese, but also Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamils of recent Indian Origin, Dutch Burghers, Portuguese Burghers, Muslim Moors, Malay, Javanese, Colombo Chetties, Veddas and Coastal Veddas, Parsis, Sindhis, Chinese, Bohras, Memons, Bharata people and many more who have called Sri Lanka home for generations, if not centuries and in some cases, millennia.” (a lot of this comes from our 46-page guide and itinerary for the trip that Zac and Yusi wrote. Not trying to plagiarize anything here, just authentic love for how much info you give us for these trips!). In other words, Sri Lanka is very diverse.
The literacy rate in Sri Lanka is the highest in South Asia and one of the highest in all of Asia. Depending on the statistic and year you look at, it ranges from 93-98%. Education has always played a major part in the life and culture of the country and dates back to 543 BC. School is free and so is undergraduate education in state universities. The undergrad education is very competitive and fewer than 16% of those who qualify get admission and only half of those graduate. Going abroad to Australia, Europe, Canada and the US is quite common for students that can afford to do so. We say several banners for info sessions on getting an international education abroad all over Sri Lanka.
As difficult as the aftermath of war was, their physical and emotional wounds were healing. People were going on with their lives. The diversity of this island nation makes Sri Lanka what it was and what it is now. The Easter Sunday bombings caused pain, suffering and death. The loss of family and friends in such a manner is horrific and senseless.
“Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind” John F. Kennedy
Right after the Easter bombings, I’m not going to lie, I was a bit scared. They targeted 3 hotels that are typically occupied by foreign tourists, would I be safe? What if it happened again? I was concerned about going somewhere where terrorists recently struck. So, yep I freaked out a bit, I backed out of the trip, I switched to one of the India trips. I hated doing that, but I was concerned for my own safety. If something happened to me who would take care of my fur kids? What would happen to them if something happened to me? That was actually my greatest worry. I’d have to rely on friends to deal with my pets and take care of my home, belongings, etc. It did worry me.
There were a lot of emails back and forth with VegVoyages and lots of back and forth with fellow travelers who were signed up for the trip. We talked about it on our group FB page. After the attack, there was no way to get travel insurance to go to Sri Lanka due to the threat level set by the US government and others. And with these types of trips so far away, you don’t forgo getting travel insurance. But then Yusi let us know that Zac was going to Sri Lanka to do some trip scouting and firm up the itinerary. Yusi gave us info about how things were going, how the country was recovering and how much the country needed the support of tourism. Local businesses, tour companies, hotels, restaurants – all these places saw their income crash as people cancelled their plans to go to Sri Lanka. But Yusi assured us that the trip would carry on. Now I had to decide what to do. I had already rebooked to do the Camels, Cows, Canines India trip, but in my gut, I wasn’t as excited about it. I had been to India in 2017 and while I definitely have plans to go back, my heart was set on Sri Lanka. I watched and waited for the threat level to drop. I realized, I didn’t want to back out. I wanted to go, I wanted to stick to my original plan. I wanted to support Sri Lanka which had lost so much.
But then it went back to the issue of trying to get travel insurance was going to be impossible with the threat level set by the US government. Luckily, that threat warning was lowered in late June to match that of India, many places in Europe and other places so in June I emailed Yusi and said “please put me back in the Sri Lanka trip and I’m SO glad I did”!
Seven days before my trip was starting, I got the news that my manager was leaving. No one else on our team knew yet, that would not be announced until I was actually on the trip. The fact that he was leaving while I was on my trip made it even more concerning. I wanted to be there for my team, I wanted to be there to support them when it was announced he was leaving and to support them through this change.
I actually changed my flights coming back because I wanted to be there for my colleagues. It didn’t matter to me if I was simply still the lead or if I was going to be the interim manager, I didn’t want our team to go through this solo. So I decided to forgo spending 2 days in Singapore after the end of the trip and came back Monday night. That left everyone without a manager and a lead for just a day and I knew they would be okay, but I wanted to make sure I was there for whatever they needed. Looking back, starting work 10 hours after you get home when you have been accustomed to being 12.5 hours ahead of your own time zone may not have been the best decision because let me tell you, the jet lag was intense! I felt “loopy”, like my body was floating at times. My brain definitely wasn’t functioning at 100%. I had to write every single thing down or I knew I’d forget it. Yowza.
Because of this work change, this trip was even more important and more impactful for me. I needed the break before things changed totally. As I’ve learned in my life, things happen for a reason, reasons we may not really understand. On my first night in Sri Lanka after coming back into the hotel from going down to the beach and seeing the sun set over the Indian ocean listening to the waves crash over rocks and onto the sandy beach, I grabbed a glass of wine at the hotel bar and sat with Chris and Justine. While looking over photos from the day, I got a text from my “now” manager, offering me the interim manager position. I immediately responded with a YES. This happening in this way, no matter what happens going forward with the permanent position, helped to make me truly immerse myself in this trip. I felt good knowing that I would be able to help lead my team back home and that at least I would be able to help keep the continuity going for our team.
Delicious fruits- guava, passion fruit, rambutan, pineapple, banana, mangosteen, wood apple, pomegranate, velvet tamarind, gooseberry, star fruit, mango, jackfruit – I had never had wood apple (right) before, the hotel had it as a blended juice. It’s a bit sour, a bit sweet, has an odd smell, not as odd as Durian which we (thankfully) avoided having this trip. The outside is a hard shell that has to be cracked open. It’s unique and I’d take it over Durian any day.
These type of vacations act as my “reset” button. I needed to reset and not think of other things. Trips like this let me detach, de-stress and get re-energized. Any type of travel is a positive thing. But for me, I have to get away, experience things I’ve never experienced before. I need to see new things, try new cuisines and immerse myself in another culture. And it needs to be active. And let me tell you, you aren’t going to sit around on a VV trip, which is one of the reasons why I love these trips so much. The idea of doing the same vacation every year and going to the same place doesn’t appeal to me at all. I’m just not built that way. I crave the new, the different and I have so much on my bucket list left to see, I can’t waste vacation time or money on doing the same thing every year. My idea of vacation isn’t sitting on a beach sipping Mai-Tai’s. There’s nothing wrong with that and a few days of that is nice. But I burn, I don’t tan (surprised aren’t you? It’s my over 55% British/Scottish/Irish mixed heritage) and I get bored just sitting around. I want activity and ever-changing scenery. That’s just how I’m made. And that’s exactly what you get on a VV trip.
“I travel because it makes me realize how much I haven’t seen, how much I’m not going to see, and how much I still need to see.” – Carew Papritz
To know the story, my story of the trip, you have to have a little history lesson.
Sorry, my story is still in the pre-story phase. I know, I know I can hear you thinking “Why? Get to the story woman!” Not quite yet, part of how you form your story is based on your experience, and the history of a country plays into the story you form. It affects how the country grew, how it evolved and therefore it influences how you form your story about the country you are visiting. So kiddos, it’s time for a little Sri Lanka history lesson. I have stolen this from not only our beloved VV guide and itinerary, but also from Zac, Wikipedia, Professor Google, and from listening intently to Jeewa as he told us about his country (yes, Jeewa, I was listening!)
So it’s time for Professor Karen to drone on, because kids...it’s Sri Lanka History lesson time!
So here’s some history. Like I said and I’ll say again, mainly so I don’t get sued for plagiarism, much of this comes from our 46 page VegVoyages guide and itinerary of our trip. It also comes from listening to Zac, who instills in us, with every trip, info on history, politics, religion and culture. I don’t know how he keeps the thousands years of history, politics, religion, etc. of so many different countries straight in his brain, it goes along with his ability to speak 50 languages (okay, it’s not 50, but it’s upwards of 12-15 or so). I can’t keep count and he’s too humble to claim a number. This history lesson also comes from the wealth of knowledge that our “maru” guide Jeewa, shared with us about his country. He gave us so much information on Sri Lanka, history, religion, customs, culture, etc. I know it’s his job to know this, but I’ve been on many trips and his knowledge of “everything” Sri Lanka was phenomenal. If you need a tour guide for Sri Lanka, let me know, because he should be your first choice.
Some of the history I won’t repeat here when it comes to customs. One that he told to us on one of our longer bus rides stuck with me though. Let’s just suffice it to say if you are a teenage girl from back in Sri Lankan history who is, uh, um, hitting a certain point in your life, people would come to wash you and dress you as you “blossomed” into womanhood. I’m not sure if that is worse than when my mom told my brother when I was 12, “Ray, I have to take Karen to the drugstore, she got her period for the first time, we will be back soon”. I can still feel myself beet red with embarrassment and trying to make myself unseen. Moms…embarrassing kids all through history, some things never change.
So are you ready for some history? Here’s how Sri Lanka came to be from a historical perspective. NO…it’s not part of India. I got asked that at the grocery store when I had my Sri Lanka Elephant t-shirt on. The bagger asked what places in India I’d suggest visiting, I was a bit confused, but then realized his confusion. I was nice, I didn’t get uppity. I told him a little bit about Sri Lanka and gave him a minor history lesson. I swear it was only while my groceries were being scanned and bagged. I didn’t hold him hostage. Also he was wearing a vegan Rhino herbivore t-shirt so I told him to check out VegVoyages and explained how great the trips are.
So how did Sri Lanka become Sri Lanka? I’ll skip the “there was this solar nebula, the sun came to be, then clumps of dust and gas combined and finally planets were formed.” If you aren’t sure how that happened. Feel free to watch 5 minutes of science to figure that out! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3QM7o-egXo.
I’m also not going to talk about how over millions of year the land masses on our planet started drifting, shifting and forming continents, breaking off from on another to what we have today. I could, believe me, I could, but that’s not overly relevant here. You are welcome!
I’ve had few people tell me they had to look at a map to see where Sri Lanka is located. That’s okay, I still can’t place some of those Midwest states and East coast states in the US in the right spot! I think I get them right and then “bam” I mix two up. Sorry to anyone east of the west coast, I get most of them right. I’m a West Coast girl so…ya know, like it’s totally not my thing (insert sigh for using 80’s Valley Girl talk). My friend and colleague Rico let me know he was stoked for me because I was the first person he knew who was going to Sri Lanka. I’m not surprised because I was in the same boat. So in case you don’t want to head over to google maps right now…Picture where India is on the globe. I’m hoping since India is so large, you know where it is (if you don’t please don’t tell me). Picture India. Okay, got it? Sri Lanka is a small island just below India and a little to the right. So, specifically it’s southeast of India. Got it? Good. If not, see below. And again, it’s not part of India, it’s part of South Asia. Yes, at some point way back in time, there was likely a land bridge that went from South India to Sri Lanka, but that’s been gone for a long time. And yes way back in BC time, there were people who came from South India to take over and rule, but it has never been part of India in our recorded history.
Maps for those who need them
Size matters? Nope, not really. Sri Lanka is roughly 1/10th the size of Texas, a tiny bit smaller than Ireland and closest in size to Tasmania. If I picked up Sri Lanka and put it in Oregon, it would essentially fit if I twisted the state a bit. Sri Lanka is 25,332 square miles and Oregon is 98,465 square miles. The population of Sri Lanka is around 21-22 million people. The population of Oregon is about 4.2 million.
Sri Lanka sits in the middle of the east-west trading route that goes back about 2,000 years. It became a huge trading area with multiple ports on the island that were vital to trade. There are written accounts of Colombo as a trading port back in the 5th century. Cinnamon, specifically Ceylon Cinnamon (the only cinnamon you should use for its taste and health benefits, yum) was traded heavily. But the biggest spice to be traded and used as money was pepper. Yes, pepper. And hold up, I know what you are thinking…chili peppers, yum! Nope, I don’t mean chili pepper, those are not native to Sri Lanka. Just regular pepper you know, peppercorns. Instead of using money to pay for things, people used pepper.
Sri Lanka is also famous for its gems. No I didn’t buy any. Another thing that people may or may not know is that Sri Lanka is famous for its tea. There are tea plantations all over and we got to visit one and see the history of tea plantation workers at the museum. We also went to a tea processing plant that still uses a more manual method to create their tea. The tea history in Sri Lanka is not a pleasant history as the British brought South Indian Tamils down to work, essentially as indentured, very low paid servants on the tea plantations after the coffee plantations went under due to a widespread fungal infection that decimated the crop. The other trade was sadly, elephants and ivory. I’ll discuss that more when I hop up on my vegan soapbox later in the story.
So who was in Sri Lanka when? I’m just going to bullet point dates of occupation because it’s a long history of occupation, just like so many other countries. So here we go (quiz later!).
- The prehistoric info on Sri Lanka goes back 125,000 years and even possibly as far back as 500,000 years. But I’ll skip the ancient, ancient prehistoric history!
- I’ll also skip some of the BC history (there’s a lot of it) but suffice it to say, some people from South India did invade way back when. The Chola dynasty of South India invaded and ruled the country for about 45 years.
- During the two and a half millennia of existence the Sinhala Kingdom was invaded at least 8 times by neighboring South Asia dynasties (chola, pandya, chera, pallava, etc). They were all driven back.
- So let’s skip ahead to more “modern?” times.
- Arab traders helped settle the port in Colombo back in the 8th century and many Sri Lankan Moors trace their roots to these traders.
- In 1505 the Portuguese arrived and started to take control of most of the coastline for trading rights. They divided and conquered, creating no less than 3 distinct kingdoms in Sri Lanka. Depending on what history you believe, they divided it into 7 different kingdoms. Here’s where it gets a bit important. The three distinct kingdoms were the Sinhalese kingdom in Kandy, the Sinhalese kingdom of Kotte (general Colombo metro area) and the Tamil kingdom of Jaffna. And we visited them all!
- However, the Portuguese never got control of the inner part of Sri Lanka.
- In a move to secure their stake of the Island’s lucrative cinnamon and pepper trade, the Portuguese struck up an agreement with a local King so they could keep control of the coastline and protect it from outside invaders…even though the Portuguese were invaders. Figures.
- In seeing the conflict and that the Portuguese only had control of the coast, the Dutch decided to make a play.
- In the 1600s the Dutch East India Company was created. Its sole purpose was pursuing trade and profits.
- In 1611, the Dutch East India Company took over what is now Jakarta, Indonesia and set its sights on Sri Lanka due to the trade routes that were so important. They also wanted a piece of the natural resources of Sri Lanka.
- In 1638 the Dutch cut a deal with inland local rulers to help defeat the Portuguese and push them out. The deal was rather one sided and gave the Dutch a monopoly over trade in the country, except the trade of Elephants which remained in the hands of the King of Kandy.
- The Dutch and Portuguese battled and the Dutch prevailed and secured most of the island from the Portuguese in 1640.
- In 1656, the Portuguese capital of Ceylon (which is now Colombo and where our trip started) fell to the Dutch.
- Of course the Dutch played dirty and didn’t keep their agreement with the King of Kandy and kept control of most of Sri Lanka under Dutch rule. There were battles and skirmishes during this time and guess who seized the opportunity to try to get the Dutch out? Ah yes, you know it. The British are coming; the British are coming.
- So now it’s 1796 and due to the fact that the Dutch were seriously weakened during the French Revolution and French occupation of the Netherlands, the British were able to kick the Dutch out.
- In 1802 the Treaty of Amiens was signed and Ceylon was officially seceded to the British.
- By 1815, due to strong-arm tactics of the British (which we have seen over and over during this time in history) the last remaining local rulers on the island would come under British control.
- Suffice it to say each of these invading countries destroyed ancient temples, relics and tried to force their religion and ways on the people of this island country. Yet, even so, the country remains mostly Buddhist.
- Religions practiced today in Sri Lanka are diverse. Percentages vary depending on the source.
- The constitution of Sri Lanka provides for freedom of religion for all its citizens.
- In 2018, Sri Lanka was the fourth most religious country in the world with 99% of Sri Lankans saying that religion is an important part of their daily life. The first three are Ethiopia, Malawi, Niger. So in all of South Asia and Southeast Asia, Sri Lanka is the most religious country.
- The majority of the population is Buddhist, with Theravada Buddhism being the official religion of Sri Lanka. Just over 70% of the population considers themselves Buddhist. Other types of Buddhism are also practiced such as Mahayana Buddhism and some Vajrayana Buddhism.
- Sri Lankan Tamil are mainly Hindu making up about 12.6%.
- Muslims come next, the Moors as mentioned before from when the Arabs came in the 8th century, Muslims make up just under 10%.
- Christians make up just over 7%. This influence comes from the Portuguese who brought Catholicism to the country when they invaded, along with the Dutch and British and other protestant religions. Of the Christians, 6.1% are Roman Catholic and then about 1.3% are “other” Christian.
- The British remained in Sri Lanka (Ceylon) until 1948.
- On February 4, 1948, after 443 years of outside occupation in one form or another, Sri Lanka was granted independence as the Dominion of Ceylon.
- The name Ceylon would continue until 1972 when a new constitution was adopted which established the island nation as an independent republic.
- So in 1972 it became the "Free, Sovereign and Independent Republic of Sri Lanka".
- In 1978, the third constitution came and the name was changed to the "Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka".
Just for an added tidbit, I know you are wondering, what does Sri Lanka export to other countries? Their main exports are textiles and apparel, yep, check your label you may find “made in Sri Lanka” on it. They also export tea, spices and diamonds (those ugly clear rocks with no color, I much prefer a gem with color in case anyone was wondering and wanted to save up for my Birthday in August).
PHEW…history lesson over? Kind of, I mean there’s history in my story, but yes, the bullet points are over. And I could have written much more, but figure you can read about it instead if you want more history.
So, time for My Sri Lanka Story…for the love of dog, it’s about time!
Sri Lanka, I think of it as Sri Lanka-aaaahhh. It was Maru which means awesome in Sinhalese-which for multiple reasons, quickly became my favorite word and which I have vowed to continue using here at home. The people, the culture, the food, the history, everything was simply amazing. I always know a VegVoyages trip will be wonderful, but Sri Lanka truly exceeded my expectations.
So if you remember from so many paragraphs above, as Zac said, there is a beginning, middle and end to a trip story. Here’s mine, I’ll call them “Act 1, Act 2, Act 3 and Act 4”. Finally, she gets to the point!
Act 1 – The journey, the big city, the ancient capital, the intro to Sri Lanka
Emirates cabin (no, I’m not rich, I use miles for this!) Ready to land in Sri Lanka Flower lei upon arrival
The beginning, for me, starts with the journey; it has to. The long journey from home to a new country. The anticipation for this trip was even greater than trips before, partially because of my back and forth of going- to not going-to going again. But also part of it is because I knew work life was changing when I got back. I had no reservations of going once I finally made up my mind. That former feeling of being concerned about something happening to me while I was there simply disappeared. I felt safe and excited.
Touchdown on Saturday August 24 at the airport in Colombo/Negombo electrified me. I’m pretty sure in my jet lagged state I was walking through the airport with a big dumb smile on my face! Granted, I was tired but I was SO excited and so energized for the trip. I may have been a bit giddy and I’m sure some of that was due to the 36 hours of travel from door to door. I arrived in the morning the day before the start of the VV trip and stepped off the plane. It wasn’t very busy and I got through immigration in about 10 minutes. The first thing I noticed was the smiles on people’s faces, a genuine friendliness that we don’t always see in the rushed lives we live in the US. I also noticed something that I don’t really remember noticing as much on my other trips to SE Asia and S Asia, there are a lot of tall people in Sri Lanka. I mean I know I’m vertically challenged, but yeah, I noticed that was not the case here. I know that’s a weird observation, but it’s one thing I noticed immediately. Not so much the women, but the men - they are tall. My other observation (hubba hubba) there are some very good looking men in Sri Lanka – I’m sure if you were on the trip you noticed it. Okay, I might be blushing now.
My driver who was waiting for me when I walked out of customs/immigration was holding that sign I love to see, a VegVoyages sign with my name on it. He presented me with a flower lei and took my bag and let me to the waiting area so he could get the car. He had cold water for me and we made chit chat as we drove to the hotel. Traffic was a bit busy and congested, even on a Saturday morning as we made our drive from the airport in Negombo to the Mt. Lavinia Hotel. Being a passenger in a foreign country as you drive through a city and countryside is always exciting to me. Even on our bus rides between the places we go I like to stare out the window to observe. While others take naps, I sit and watch – usually while listening to music. I love looking out the window at the landscape, local buildings, signs, scenery and people it’s thrilling. After about 90 minutes, we arrived in Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia at our hotel for 3 nights.
Balcony view from my room at Mt. Lavinia Hotel
Sunset on the beach. This does NOT disappoint!
Mount Lavinia Hotel, built over 210 years ago, is colonial grandeur on a cliff above the Indian ocean. The hotel was actually built in 1806 as the Governor’s residence. Sri Thomas Maitland was appointed the second Governor of British Ceylon and he decided to build his personal residence here. It’s one of the oldest and most famous hotels in Sri Lanka. It’s been continuously operating as a hotel since 1947.
The stories of the tunnels underneath that allowed a secret illicit love affair between a local girl named Lovina and the bachelor governor adds to the rich history of the hotel. The governor had a tunnel built from his wine cellar all the way to the end of her house so that she could come meet with him in secret. She was born to Portuguese and Sinhalese parents and therefore their love was forbidden. He was recalled in 1811 to be appointed the Governor of Malta, where he died having never found love again. Oh man, true love that never works out. I love this type of mystery and forbidden love stories. I mean who doesn’t love a good love story, even if it ended in despair. And yes, we got to check out the remaining parts of the secret passageway.
Mt. Lavinia Hotel, statue of Lovina still stands
The statue of “Lady” Lavinia as she became known still stands in the water fountain at the entrance to the hotel. Over the years since it was built, more of the grounds were purchased around the house and it was redesigned to resemble an Italian Villa by the British military engineers. Alas, it was auctioned off and became an asylum for the mentally insane in 1842. The railway was constructed in 1877 and runs right in front of the now hotel. The railway connected Mt. Lavinia to the port in Colombo which enabled many more people to visit the area. The building was purchased and it was turned into an opulent hotel. Two more wings were added. In 1957 a number of scenes from the film “The Bridge on the River Kwai” were filmed at the hotel.
Getting out of the car at the hotel, the staff took my bags as I was led inside and immediately noticed a metal detector. My bags were searched which is due to the heightened security since the Easter bombings. My first feeling was sadness. Sadness that places had to implement this but then gratitude that the hotel wants to keep their guests safe. I checked in and was brought to my room. No time to rest for this traveler. The official VegVoyages trip was starting the next morning, so Saturday was a free day. When I got to my room, I had about 45 minutes to hop in the shower and get ready so that I could meet up with Chris and Justine from Melbourne (this is our third VV trip together) to head out to a special vegan tasting lunch at VoV (voices of vegans) cafe.
Delicious meal at VoV cafe
VoV recently moved into a much larger space and their new spot wasn’t open to the public yet, but they wanted us to try some new menu items and to enjoy an amazing vegan lunch. Thanks Shashika, Chef Rohan, Tashii and Chris, Justine and Cat for letting me join you. The food was amazing and I have no doubt that VoV will continue to thrive and wow everyone who visits, even the non-vegans. Chef Rohan is a master at not only Sri Lankan cuisine, but vegan burgers, pizza, ice cream, etc! You can rest assured that when I make it back to Sri Lanka, you’ll see me more than once.
We came back from lunch and joined Fredessa and Peter for vegan high tea at our hotel. Yes, vegan high tea. I skipped the tea however and had an iced coconut milk coffee. Needed caffeine – stat!
Vegan high tea, Mt. Lavinia hotel Watched the rain pour down
With every VV Trip, there is amazing food and its always vegan. Food on these trips is most definitely part of the story. People who think vegans have such a small amount of food to choose from are sadly mistaken, it’s actually the opposite. We have plenty and this may have been my favorite cuisine of all the trips so far, I didn’t get tired of it. Spices have been a major trade in Sri Lanka going back thousands of years. And oh, what amazing spices and flavors they are. The food on this trip was so delicious and flavorful. The spice (when they didn’t down play it for those who don’t like it hot) was perfect. I didn’t notice the “heat” of the chili as much as others, even those who I know can eat spicy felt it more than I did. I’m not sure why, but I know that different chili peppers affect me differently. I’ve been burned by a really hot spicy Thai dish, but this trip, the heat level was nice, although several times I had to spice it up with chilies and sambol to bring back the heat to the dish when they used less so that others could eat too. And those sambols – coconut sambol, onion sambol (my fav), chili sambol, green, red, orange…oh my vegan yum!
A few curry dishes - breakfast and dinner
Pressing string hoppers Fresh greens, spicy potatoes
Making String Hoppers
Pittu? What is Pittu? I had actually never had it before. It’s a breakfast dish eaten in Sri Lanka made from ground rice layered with coconut, sometimes there is a sweet or savory filling inside. It’s made in a Pittu maker by putting the ingredients inside and then steaming.
Pittu Jeewa holding a Pittu maker Steam enters to cook the pittu
Breakfast, Rice and Curry. Lunch, Rice and Curry. Dinner, Rice and Curry. Sound boring? Nope it’s not. Every curry, every dal, every dish had its own flavors and I didn’t tire of the amazing food on this trip. Curries with all different types of veggies, spices, chili level and flavor are the norm in Sri Lanka. Being introduced to new types of food is really exciting. We had string hoppers, kottu roti, kiribath, hoppers, pittu, vada and so much more. It’s SO easy to be vegan in Sri Lanka, but many restaurants don’t cater to vegans. But when cooking at home most traditional dishes are vegan since they historically have used coconut milk instead of dairy milk. And people, especially in villages, don’t eat meat every day. And when they do it’s not a 12-ounce hunk of flesh that we see being served in the Western world. Meat is the smallest part of their plate, not the largest item on it and not always served at every meal.
Veganism isn’t common in Sri Lanka, by so many traditional Sri Lankan dishes are vegan by default. Rice and curry are staples in the island nation. Yes, it’s rice and curry, not curry and rice as there is always much more rice on your plate than curry. Sri Lanka grows many different types of rice, if I remember correctly it’s around 15 varieties. Rice is a staple and it’s eaten at pretty much every meal. Rice growing accounts for 34% of land cultivation in Sri Lanka. For the average Sri Lankan, rice accounts for about 45% of total calorie intake and 40% total protein requirement. Yes…just like with all plants, rice has protein. Please don’t make me get into the debate with you, yes plants have protein and you can get all the protein you need on eating a vegan diet.
The plethora of vegetables and fruits grown in Sri Lanka is amazing. Their soil and climate create the perfect agricultural environment to grow so many varieties of fruits, veggies and legumes. There truly is no need for animal products of any kind. So many veggies that you will likely never see in the US (unfortunately) that give so much flavor and texture to a curry dish. Just to name a few…Bitter gourd, banana flower, bread fruit, jackfruit (which we vegans use and love here in the US as a meat sub), snake gourd, drumsticks (which is moringa), winged beans, brinjal (the lovely small tasty eggplant, not like our massive purple ones here, they come in all sizes, shapes and color), curry leaves in everything (yum), cassava/manioc, ash banana, gotu kola and of course coconuts! I know I left out a lot, but suffice it to say, there’s tons! And a few that I really need to figure out if I can grow in Portland. All, delicious. And so many health benefits too. But in Sri Lanka, every veggie has an ailment it heals or some positive benefit due to the Ayurvedic medicine practiced there. So much of the info we got was also about different veggies and their medicinal properties.
Wet market
The one thing that you have to watch out for when eating out as a vegan in Sri Lanka, besides the norm of dairy, meat, eggs and butter, is maldive fish. When Zac first mentioned it, I swore (as did a few others) that he was saying “moldy” fish, to which my stomach turned in knots. But it’s maldive fish, dried little fish that they turn to powder and put in their cuisine. It’s much like the use of shrimp paste or fish sauce which is used extensively in SE Asian food. Unfortunately, dairy milk it becoming more common here also. Why anyone would use dairy milk over delicious creamy, oh so tasty coconut milk is beyond me. I think we surprised and turned some people on to the deliciousness that is adding coconut milk to your coffee! Unfortunately, bad marketing exists all over the world and now so many countries are being brainwashed into a western way of eating, it’s sad and its creating health issues never seen before in many countries. As with pretty much every trip I’ve done, in the big cities you see McDonald’s, KFC, Pizza Hut, etc. I wish that wasn’t the case because bringing western fast food to other countries is just a recipe for disaster for health. Just like it is in the US. All right, I’ll hop off my vegan soapbox for now.
I do want to clarify to you now regarding those chilies and the heat level…Believe me, I’m not claiming a Zac or Yusi ability to eat hot chili, they can throw down with the best of the heat lovers. I would pass out and die if I ate the level of heat that Zac and Yusi eat with ease.
But in short, as you expected and saw by my food posts on FB or Chris’ posts since he tagged me. The food was simply MARU! So good that I pre-ordered a cookbook that is arriving any day now called “Lands of the Curry Leaf: A Vegetarian Food Journey from Sri Lanka to Nepal. Not fully vegan, but I can make it all vegan! And how incredibly apropos is it that it’s from Sri Lanka to Nepal. Because hello, Nepal -another VV trip – yes!
So day 1 began with a delicious rice and curry breakfast and coffee, ah yes, the nectar of the gods. Several of my fellow coffee addicts on this trip were very happy each morning for our cup of java. I travel with my own ground Stumptown coffee and pour over filters, so by the time I come down to breakfast I’ve had one or two cups in my room! Yes, I’m a bit of a coffee snob and I wear that label with honor. But more coffee is always welcome. We got to meet our fellow travelers, only 9 on this trip, as unfortunately several people cancelled.
I got downstairs for breakfast on day 1, a long table with our VV reserved sign on it. I sat looking out over the pool and facing the ocean. I mean it doesn’t get much better than that. I was greeted by Zac and Jeewa who said good morning, but then also said Ayubowan. Man it was early, I was jet lagged, but the language lessons were starting already, too early! I kid, I actually like our language lessons. On every VV trip, we get little laminated cards on a ring to help us to try to speak the language of the country we are visiting. There’s a few starter cards, and then each day we get a new one and typically the local guide, in this case Jeewa, goes over the card in English and in Sinhalese and we repeat back. It’s not as easy as it seems, some words are simple (maru for example) and others, not so much. There are some very long words in Sinhalese. Example? Forest is Wananatharaya. Also just like with English there are times when the same word, pronounced a different way means something different.
VegVoyages language cards (Sinhalese and Tamil)
In Sri Lanka the people make up not less than 20 different ethnic groups, speaking two official national languages, with three commonly spoken languages and a wide variety of different dialects and creole languages that developed over the centuries of history among the people who have settled here and mixed over generations.
The two official languages of Sri Lanka are: Sinhalese which is spoken by the majority Sri Lankans and Tamil. English is the third, though not official, and is considered the “bridge” language. This can be challenging, but it’s also fun. If you visit a country where English is not the native language, please don’t be one of those obnoxious tourists who thinks everyone should speak English. English is NOT the most spoken language in the world (it’s currently Mandarin Chinese) so why would you expect other countries who have their own language to speak it? Depending on the list you look at, it varies, but Mandarin Chinese is always at the top and then it changes depending on the list to follow with either Spanish or English or Hindi, Arabic, etc. You get the idea.
One thing I’ve learned in all my travels. I’m a traveler, I’m not a tourist. I know you are thinking – same thing. And yep, I agree they have the same essential meaning in general. But for me I think they differ and yes, I’m going to tell you why I consider myself a traveler and NOT a tourist.
“The traveler sees what he sees. The tourist sees what he has come to see.” – G.K. Chesterton
So what do I mean? Yes, this plays into the story, so hang on while I try to explain. A traveler is a person who seeks out other places, learns about the culture, religion, history and customs. A traveler tries to blend into the country they are visiting. Granted I physically don’t blend well in South Asia or SE Asia, I’m a pale, blond haired woman. I stick out just for that simple fact. And yes, depending on where you are, you may be stared at, believe me it’s not due to how you actually look, but simply because not every place you go sees pale blonde women. It happens to others also, I think Fredessa got the most attention on our trip, but she’s also way more friendly to strangers than I am! I actually didn’t notice it much in Sri Lanka, except for the busy airport in Colombo when I was leaving. A couple of overly long stares that night, but nothing inappropriate. Luckily, my RBF keeps that to a minimum! If you don’t know what RBF is, google it. I noticed the leering and outright stares more in some places in India that don’t see a lot of foreigners. Even to the point where someone would try to pull you over to take a selfie. None of that for me in Sri Lanka which I was grateful for.
When you are a traveler, you respect the country. It’s not hard. Don’t walk around in short shorts with stomach baring tank tops. Believe me…no one wants me to do that and I would never do that, NEVER. I do wear tank tops and shorts at home when we have some hot summer days in Portland and I’m in the comfort of my own home, but still - no belly baring tops. I mean I know there’s a six pack under there somewhere, but as Bill Murray once said “I love my six pack so much that I protect it with a layer of fat”. Boy that rings true on this trip more than others. Seeing myself in pictures, some of them were a ‘wake-up call’ for me.
The worst thing about seeing vacation photos of yourself is realizing that you have put on weight. Holy crap the photos where we are wearing our temple whites, I cringed at seeing myself. This is why I don't wear all white! But I have to say now, the best thing about seeing vacation photos of yourself is realizing that you have put on weight and taking action. Getting older sucks for many people when it comes to weight gain. For women it can be even worse due to… let’s just say some changes as you get older. My little poof on my stomach has advanced to a full blown car tire wrapped around my middle. Have mercy, someone call a tow truck to get this tire off! Crap it truly was a total wake up call for me. It also probably didn't help that I told my hair guy, Ivan, let's go shorter, I want a cute sassy haircut that I can wear straight or wavy. Yeah, let's go shorter...nope that really didn't help! Nope, time to go back to my usual shoulder length hair. It's my safety net and when it's too short, I feel exposed. Yes, I realize this is totally off topic, but as I said this isn’t just a trip story.
Why am I even talking about this? To put it out there that this too is part of life. No one is perfect, everyone has doubts, concerns, feelings that make you feel bad about yourself. Don't get me wrong this doesn't make me feel bad about myself, it just annoys me. I don't base my self-worth on how I look. I do wish I was one of those people who remained fit and trim through all these life changes, but I'm not. That's okay, I gained some weight. There were a few interesting months, probably 5 months where things got kind of weird, but I'm glad I came out on the other side relatively unscathed, except for the 15-pound tire that is sitting around my middle. It's life, it's different for every individual. And I'm posting it because people are so hung up on trying to achieve a certain standard of beauty, forgetting that true beauty comes from within and radiates outwards.
I know that I'll lose some of the weight and get it off. My cravings for sweets has pretty much gone away after months of just wanting to eat vegan junk food. I'm back to eating right and not craving cupcakes and coconut bliss ice cream! I'm going to get some of this weight off, not just because I hate the spare tire and how it makes me feel, but because weight around your middle section (which is where mine always ends up), is the worst type of weight to have. It's much worse for your body and metabolism. I know all of it won't come off thanks to the ever changing hormones of this phase of my life, but I can work on it. No, all vegans aren't skinny, yes if we eat vegan goodies we gain weight, no vegan goodies are not less fattening!
So being so public about this, puts it out there. It's okay to not be perfect, it's okay to go through things that change you, change is the only constant in our lives. Things change, you adapt, you move on. Women and girls can be so negative about themselves and we need to stop being that way. Be who you are, you are amazing!
This also comes from a discussion Fredessa and I had while we were riding through a town and there were Hindu women walking around in their beautiful saris. Their tummies in all their glory were peeking out the sides- just there, all exposed and guess what it was beautiful. Why are we so judged in the western world on things like this? Marketing, TV, movies – it’s an unobtainable standard of beauty. This really has to change, it destroys so many young girls and women’s lives. They aspire to be flawless like a model or actress. But those photos aren’t real, it’s all airbrushing, photoshop and professional hair and makeup that gets them to look that way. It probably also helps if you are a movie star and have a personal trainer and chef at your fingertips. Yeah, that’s not how I roll! This standard is unobtainable and so damaging to women (and men’s) minds. I know this isn’t a woman only issue. Men get bombarded with similar messages of needing to have six pack abs, to be strong and fit. It affects them also. All right, off the soapbox and back to the story.
When you are a traveler, you respect the country you are in. You make sure that you dress conservatively to match their ways. You don’t go to a temple wearing shorts and a tank top. It’s culturally inappropriate and insensitive and in most temples, you aren’t getting in if you are dressed that way. They will NOT let you in. Some temples will loan or rent a sarong so that you can cover up. Showing up that way is disrespectful, take a few minutes to read about what’s acceptable for where you are going. Make sure your knees and shoulders are covered. Also in the selfie obsessed, Instagram influencer, social media world we now live in, please show respect. No selfies with religious figures, no overly sexualized photos and try to respect where you are. You will even see signs that say no selfies with Buddha statues. It’s not allowed, when you do that you are disrespecting their religion. If you want to take a picture of a local, ask…don’t shove cameras in people’s faces, it’s rude.
“When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable.” – Clifton Fadiman
Moral of the story, be a traveler and not a tourist!
Okay so back to the story. We had our breakfast and then it was time for orientation. A chance for Zac to fill us in about the country, it’s people, it’s history and everything that goes in to making a country what it was and what it is now. He does this with several power point slides…oh no! All joking aside, these are the type of power point slides I can get into, I love this part. Besides reading the amazing information in our guide/itinerary it’s a chance to learn about the country and ask questions.
After orientation we hopped on our bus and headed out to a Colombo institution, the Dutch Burgher Union (DBU). Yeah, I’m not going to lie, when Zac said Burgher, initially my brain thought “ah it’s vegan burger day” okay let the food gorging begin (we never go hungry on these trips). Nope. My bad, not burger! But Burgher. Where does that come from? Burgher comes from an early European title of a town or citizen. It also applies to the ethnic group that formed during the colonial time in Sri Lanka. So off we went to The Dutch Burgher Union. It’s much like a clubhouse and restaurant, essentially, for those within this Eurasian ethnic group whose history goes back to when the Dutch were in Sri Lanka. Dutch settlers intermarried with locals as well as with Portuguese Eurasians. They weren’t always Dutch however, as the Dutch East India Company was made up of other such as Germans, Swiss, French, etc. So they were no longer European and not Sri Lankan. Because of that they developed their own unique identity as their culture developed. The Dutch Burghers have been active in all sectors of Sri Lankan society and have contributed significantly to all business areas. Most are Christian, yet their unique culture has developed as a blend of East and West.
At the DBU we enjoyed their famous lamrpais feast, made 100% vegan for us, of course. It was delicious. All made fresh and cooked. Once the rice and other dishes are cooked, it’s then placed together inside a banana leaf and cooked again by baking inside the banana leaf. Twice cooked, because once isn’t enough to create the delicious fusion of spices and flavors. What is it you ask? Pure deliciousness filled with mains, sides, curries, sambols all balanced out with spices of cardamom, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, garlic, turmeric and curry leave. Our first official banana leaf meal of the trip. Wait, did we eat with our hands there? I can’t remember. No worries, plenty more time to explain that and how to eat an authentic banana leaf meal, Sri Lankan style. We did that several times during our trip.
Deepaduttaramaya Vihara Temple, Colombo, Sri Lanka
After the DBU, we headed over to the Deepaduttaramaya Vihara in Kotahena. This isn’t a typical temple and it’s far off the beaten path. Tourists really don’t visit this temple. But travelers do; see what I did there? You likely won’t find this temple on a map or in a guide book. That’s what I love about VV, you go off the beaten path to experience the country, you don’t go from tourist spot to tourist spot. Why this temple you ask? Let me explain. It’s pretty auspicious. This small house of worship played a huge role in modern Buddhism history. You could drive by and miss it and not even give it a second glance. It doesn’t stand out more than other temples that may be more ornate or larger. But when you step onto the sand floors, it takes you back into a rich history of Sri Lanka’s past. It’s one of the oldest temples in Colombo, it’s a fusion of the various influences during the history of this island.
It’s also somewhat unassuming because when it was built in 1785, the Dutch didn’t allow construction of any temples within the city. So the owner convinced the Dutch Governor that it was an extension of his house. Well played, well played. It’s said that a branch from the Bodhi tree in India was brought here and planted in the late 1700s. The other fascinating history shows the struggle for the people of Sri Lanka (not known as Sri Lanka then, but you get my point) to be able to practice Buddhism while they were ruled by the colonial invaders. At this temple, the struggle to recognize Vesak Poya as a public holiday began. In 1883, they started their push to get this very important Buddhist holiday recognized. And on April 25, 1885 it finally was. For the first time, the Buddhist flag which is now used in over 65 countries was raised and flown for the first time in Sri Lanka at this temple. Vesak Poya (or simply Poya) is the full moon holiday. It celebrates the birth, enlightenment and death of Buddha. On this holiday, even wine (liquor) shops are closed.
This temple also has Thai connections. A Thai prince renounced his prince hood (princelieness, princedom, royalness?) and gave up ties to his royal status and entered his priesthood at this temple. Since then, members of the Thai royal family have visited and brought trees to plant at the temple. The current monk led us around the temple to explain the history and also chanted and blessed us in a ceremony. During Buddhist blessings, monks (or other Buddhists) will tie white threads around your wrist. But it’s more than just putting string on your wrist. The monk at this temple took his spool of white thread and it was strung through all of our right hands as one continuous thread. He then sang and chanted as he gave his prayers and blessings. The long thread that was through all of our hands was slowly rolled back up and he then created multi strand bracelets for us and tied one on each of our right wrists and blessed us. When that is completed, instead of saying the usual “thanks – which is Stuti in Sinhalese” you say “Sadhu, Sadhu, Sadhu” back to the monk.
I have to say, it did not escape the women that this monk who I refer to as “muscle monk” was obviously dedicated to keeping himself in shape. Not something I’ve ever seen in a monk at any other temple I’ve been to over the years. Hopefully that doesn’t offend anyone, but there was a major “gun” show going on and we simply appreciated it. I don’t think the guys noticed it as much…strange thing.
“So much of who we are is where we have been.” – William Langewiesche
I know when you aren’t really a religious person, sometimes going to religious sites may not be people’s idea of fun. I find it fascinating, not only the architecture and story, but also the struggles that religion faces in history. I find this more so with places with such a long history. Take me to a catholic church in the US and I’ll be bored. I can appreciate the beauty perhaps, but that’s about it. Take me to a Buddhist temple, Hindu temple, Jain temple and I’ll be fascinated. Just not for the same reason that someone of that specific faith is fascinated. And that’s okay. Every religion has struggles and throughout history it seems like someone is always trying to stop you from practicing what you believe in or to convert you to what they think is the “right” religion. History is full of religious struggle.
I was raised Lutheran, but am not religious anymore. I was encouraged to go to church until I was about 12 and I didn’t enjoy it. Looking back, I think that was the start of “don’t try to make Karen do anything she doesn’t want to do, she will not be a happy camper”. I don’t think that makes me a bad person. I don’t practice a faith and I don’t pray to a god. I’m just me. I believe in myself, I believe in doing what is right in this world. I believe in being a good person, in living a good life and giving to others and helping others. I have a belief system, it’s just led by my morals, by my good upbringing and my desire to be a good person. I don’t think you have to have a god or deity that tells you to be good. I know you can be a very good person without religion. I try to live by the rule of “treat others as you want them to treat you”, which is pretty much what most religions have as one of their “rules”. So sometimes, I also don’t always ‘get it’ when visiting religious sites, but I do get something out of it. I get the history, the experience and some sort of understanding of the basic beliefs of that religion. That doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate it or don’t enjoy visiting religious sites. The story of Sri Lanka includes Buddhism. Their struggles to be able to practice freely and not be converted to Catholicism by colonials who invaded the country. All right enough said on that, as I said I don’t want to offend anyone who does have a religion and practices a faith; just like I don’t want anyone coming down on me for choosing not to practice religion. Religion is a choice.
I know when you aren’t really a religious person, sometimes going to religious sites may not be people’s idea of fun. I find it fascinating, not only the architecture and story, but also the struggles that religion faces in history. I find this more so with places with such a long history. Take me to a catholic church in the US and I’ll be bored. I can appreciate the beauty perhaps, but that’s about it. Take me to a Buddhist temple, Hindu temple, Jain temple and I’ll be fascinated. Just not for the same reason that someone of that specific faith is fascinated. And that’s okay. Every religion has struggles and throughout history it seems like someone is always trying to stop you from practicing what you believe in or to convert you to what they think is the “right” religion. History is full of religious struggle.
I was raised Lutheran, but am not religious anymore. I was encouraged to go to church until I was about 12 and I didn’t enjoy it. Looking back, I think that was the start of “don’t try to make Karen do anything she doesn’t want to do, she will not be a happy camper”. I don’t think that makes me a bad person. I don’t practice a faith and I don’t pray to a god. I’m just me. I believe in myself, I believe in doing what is right in this world. I believe in being a good person, in living a good life and giving to others and helping others. I have a belief system, it’s just led by my morals, by my good upbringing and my desire to be a good person. I don’t think you have to have a god or deity that tells you to be good. I know you can be a very good person without religion. I try to live by the rule of “treat others as you want them to treat you”, which is pretty much what most religions have as one of their “rules”. So sometimes, I also don’t always ‘get it’ when visiting religious sites, but I do get something out of it. I get the history, the experience and some sort of understanding of the basic beliefs of that religion. That doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate it or don’t enjoy visiting religious sites. The story of Sri Lanka includes Buddhism. Their struggles to be able to practice freely and not be converted to Catholicism by colonials who invaded the country. All right enough said on that, as I said I don’t want to offend anyone who does have a religion and practices a faith; just like I don’t want anyone coming down on me for choosing not to practice religion. Religion is a choice.
Kite festival at Galle Face Green Random Spiral Staircase Modern next to old
This is where we first learned about umbrellas. I know right now you are thinking, “Has Karen has gone off the deep end, we know what umbrellas are”. Yes, I know you know. But do you know a second use for them that is truly Sri Lankan? Well, let me tell you. If you see a man and a woman hidden by an umbrella and it’s not raining and the sun isn’t beating down, they are likely getting a little snuggly. Public displays of affection (or PDAs as we call them in the US) are frowned upon. Thank you Sri Lanka, how do I get this started in the US? I’m not against PDAs completely, but some people take it way too far in the US. I don’t need to see you going at it hot and heavy. So in Sri Lanka, if you want kiss your sweetie, just cover up a little with an umbrella, it’s all good!
Sunset over the Indian Ocean
We had great meetup dinner this night at our hotel with some local Sri Lankan vegans and several vegan foreigners who now call Sri Lanka home. We also go to enjoy Tashii’s delicious Smokey’s brownies and yet again, we ate too much. I had a work conference call during dinner, but hey, it’s all good! So much food and so much dessert, not only Tashii’s brownies, but also the hotel made multiple desserts. All were yum. And I slept SO good that night. Even with the many text messages pinging my phone after dinner, I slept like a cat (people say like a baby, but c’mon babies don’t always sleep great, but cats, they can sleep anywhere and do). It may have also been the fact that even with my balcony doors closed, I could hear the soothing ocean waves crashing on the rocks below. I grew up and lived across from the ocean for the first 10 years of my life and crashing ocean waves is very soothing to me. It lulled me to sleep.
Ocean waves lull me to sleep
“A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.” – Tim Cahill
The market is calling. Every trip we see a local market, or several. And nope, I’m not talking grocery stores in this case. An open air market. Fresh veggies picked just that morning, fresh fruit, rice, grains, lentils, spices, flowers, etc. it’s all there. And in case you didn’t know, or didn’t remember from prior mention, chili peppers were not native to Sri Lanka, South Asia or SE Asia. Nope. In Sri Lanka, the Portuguese brought chilies to Sri Lanka from the Americas via their other trading routes. Once chilies were introduced, the every highly ranked pepper fell out of favor. It’s much easier to grow and cultivate chilies in Sri Lanka than peppercorns. And chilies took off like crazy here in Sri Lanka, it was an instant success and they use chilies of all sorts in their cooking to which I say “Yes please and thank you”.
Thankfully in the wet markets in Sri Lanka, they don’t put the flesh or soon to be killed animals near the wet market. They keep it away. Thank you Sri Lanka. It’s rough on vegans to go into markets where fish are overloaded into a bucket waiting to be killed or chickens or rabbits are crammed into little cages waiting to be murdered. To me it’s murder. No one needs meat to live. Sorry, you don’t, you aren’t an obligate carnivore. Okay, I’m hopping off my vegan soapbox now.
While at the market, Tashii helped explain a lot of the veggies to us, we had had some of them in our meals before, but it’s always cool to see what they look like in their “natural” state. After our market trip, we headed to VoV for a fruit tasting and a cooking lesson where Chef Rohan showed us how to cook a few different dishes that we then ate for lunch. Delicious. One really good way to get an idea about a country’s culture is through its cuisine. It’s the history of the melding of a culture that often leads to its specific style and flavor of cooking. And it’s more true in Sri Lanka with so much blending of cultures. And on a VV Trip, no worries, you will eat and you will eat well! People think vegans have little choice. Hate to tell you but our variety is way more varied and delicious!
For a change of pace, we joined a local filmmaker, Vimut Jayas and a female producer, Sumudu Malalagama who introduced us to cinema in Sri Lanka. As you can imagine, being a small country, a lot of the cinema they get in Sri Lanka is from India (think Bollywood), or from other countries. But Vimut Jayas and two other filmmakers made a film to help with the healing, peace and reconciliation that has been taking place since the end of the civil war. We watched the film, called “Her, Him, The Other” during our visit to the Colombo Television and Film Academy. This one film has three separate stories in it, each done by a different writer/director. The film was supported by the government as part of its reconciliation movement to help heal the country post war. It was a very moving film which really made you think about both sides of the war, not only the horror of war, but the struggles of those who fight and the sadness and despair of those left behind who lose their loved ones. It was poignant and powerful. The film has been shown all over Sri Lanka and is used to help heal the rift and distrust that the Sinhalese and Tamil people may have with one another. It shows both sides to the story of the civil war.
This film was really powerful, it was sad, heartbreaking and also educational. I know that everyone in Sri Lanka has their own story of the civil war, their own feelings on which side was right, this film showed all sides. It also showed that for the people, the loss, the sadness, the anger was the same on both sides. The loss felt when someone left and never came home, the fear of being alone when family didn’t return, that’s just human feelings. It doesn’t matter what side of a war you are on, war sucks. Plain and simple. The plight of the people in Sri Lanka has been ever changing as this country developed, from their occupation by the Portuguese, Dutch and British to their independence and then into their 26-year civil war. They, like many other countries have been through a lot, and that’s putting it mildly. It has made them who they are today; resilient, determined, kind and forgiving.
The first two days of the trip, we spent in the “big city” of Colombo. Colombo is located in the slight middle west coast of Sri Lanka. If you look at the greater metropolitan area of Colombo the population is about 5.6 million, of those about 753,000 are in Colombo and over 2.3 million are in the urban area of the city. Hence why all the traffic, people commute hours into Colombo to work. Our uber ride to and from VoV back to our hotel on our “pre-trip day” took 45 minutes. It probably would have been 20 if there wasn’t any traffic. And yes, like most SE and S Asian countries, lines painted on the roads are just suggestions, they kind of obey the traffic lights, when it works for them.
Kiddos it’s time to pack your bags and leave the big city now. Time to head to Anuradhapura (I can actually pronounce that one pretty well!). Anuradhapura is Northeast of Colombo a bit more in the middle/slightly upper part of the country. Why Anuradhapura? It is one of the oldest and most historically important of Sri Lanka’s ancient capitals. Long ago it became one of the greatest political and religious capitals that Sri Lanka would ever know and it stayed that way for almost 13 centuries. It was the unofficial capital of Theravada Buddhism and Buddhist studies, art, teaching, philosophy and culture.
In Anuradhapura, we were welcomed to the entrance to our hotel by Kandyan dancers. You’ll hear more about this amazing traditional dance later. It was really cool.
Thankfully in the wet markets in Sri Lanka, they don’t put the flesh or soon to be killed animals near the wet market. They keep it away. Thank you Sri Lanka. It’s rough on vegans to go into markets where fish are overloaded into a bucket waiting to be killed or chickens or rabbits are crammed into little cages waiting to be murdered. To me it’s murder. No one needs meat to live. Sorry, you don’t, you aren’t an obligate carnivore. Okay, I’m hopping off my vegan soapbox now.
While at the market, Tashii helped explain a lot of the veggies to us, we had had some of them in our meals before, but it’s always cool to see what they look like in their “natural” state. After our market trip, we headed to VoV for a fruit tasting and a cooking lesson where Chef Rohan showed us how to cook a few different dishes that we then ate for lunch. Delicious. One really good way to get an idea about a country’s culture is through its cuisine. It’s the history of the melding of a culture that often leads to its specific style and flavor of cooking. And it’s more true in Sri Lanka with so much blending of cultures. And on a VV Trip, no worries, you will eat and you will eat well! People think vegans have little choice. Hate to tell you but our variety is way more varied and delicious!
For a change of pace, we joined a local filmmaker, Vimut Jayas and a female producer, Sumudu Malalagama who introduced us to cinema in Sri Lanka. As you can imagine, being a small country, a lot of the cinema they get in Sri Lanka is from India (think Bollywood), or from other countries. But Vimut Jayas and two other filmmakers made a film to help with the healing, peace and reconciliation that has been taking place since the end of the civil war. We watched the film, called “Her, Him, The Other” during our visit to the Colombo Television and Film Academy. This one film has three separate stories in it, each done by a different writer/director. The film was supported by the government as part of its reconciliation movement to help heal the country post war. It was a very moving film which really made you think about both sides of the war, not only the horror of war, but the struggles of those who fight and the sadness and despair of those left behind who lose their loved ones. It was poignant and powerful. The film has been shown all over Sri Lanka and is used to help heal the rift and distrust that the Sinhalese and Tamil people may have with one another. It shows both sides to the story of the civil war.
This film was really powerful, it was sad, heartbreaking and also educational. I know that everyone in Sri Lanka has their own story of the civil war, their own feelings on which side was right, this film showed all sides. It also showed that for the people, the loss, the sadness, the anger was the same on both sides. The loss felt when someone left and never came home, the fear of being alone when family didn’t return, that’s just human feelings. It doesn’t matter what side of a war you are on, war sucks. Plain and simple. The plight of the people in Sri Lanka has been ever changing as this country developed, from their occupation by the Portuguese, Dutch and British to their independence and then into their 26-year civil war. They, like many other countries have been through a lot, and that’s putting it mildly. It has made them who they are today; resilient, determined, kind and forgiving.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” – Mark Twain
The first two days of the trip, we spent in the “big city” of Colombo. Colombo is located in the slight middle west coast of Sri Lanka. If you look at the greater metropolitan area of Colombo the population is about 5.6 million, of those about 753,000 are in Colombo and over 2.3 million are in the urban area of the city. Hence why all the traffic, people commute hours into Colombo to work. Our uber ride to and from VoV back to our hotel on our “pre-trip day” took 45 minutes. It probably would have been 20 if there wasn’t any traffic. And yes, like most SE and S Asian countries, lines painted on the roads are just suggestions, they kind of obey the traffic lights, when it works for them.
Kiddos it’s time to pack your bags and leave the big city now. Time to head to Anuradhapura (I can actually pronounce that one pretty well!). Anuradhapura is Northeast of Colombo a bit more in the middle/slightly upper part of the country. Why Anuradhapura? It is one of the oldest and most historically important of Sri Lanka’s ancient capitals. Long ago it became one of the greatest political and religious capitals that Sri Lanka would ever know and it stayed that way for almost 13 centuries. It was the unofficial capital of Theravada Buddhism and Buddhist studies, art, teaching, philosophy and culture.
Kandyan dancers welcoming us to our hotel in Anuradhapura
During his discussion with us prior to the blessing, things got a little bit “heated” when we asked why Buddhist monks aren’t vegan or vegetarian. The first precept of Buddhism is “Abstain from harming or taking life – act with compassion and loving-kindness towards all living beings”. So…hello, that embodies veganism, right? Oh not so fast. In case you didn’t realize, the majority of Buddhists are nowhere near being vegan, let alone not even vegetarian. There are some Buddhist monks that are vegetarian, even vegan. I’ve visited a female Buddhist monastery in Thailand. Oh by the way, for most Buddhists, females can’t be monks, so other “sects” don’t recognize female monks. Which if you think about it fits into society quite well…men thinking certain jobs can’t be held by women. But let’s stay off that debate. So vegan/vegetarian monks – very rare. It is not the norm.
But why, why aren’t vegan/vegetarian monks the norm? “Do no harm” first precept. Alas, for them it’s okay if someone else harms an animal and gives you it’s flesh to eat, you just can’t kill it yourself. And monks rely on the local people to provide them with food. They can’t ask for food; they just accept what is brought to them by the people local to that area. Since they can’t ask for food, they can’t say “hey, you know, I don’t want this meat dish, I’m veg”. So yeah that was his excuse. He has to eat what he is given, not be picky and not complain. Also, he didn’t want to be veg or even care about that. It’s not like he said “I want to be veg but I have to eat what’s given”. So I’m going to preface this now that this next part may annoy or slightly upset some people. That’s not my intent. This whole scenario illustrates very well why I don’t follow a religion. It’s bent and twisted to fit what you want. You can make excuses and change the “meaning” when clearly to me it says don’t hurt or take the life of a living being. Anyway, I digress.
It got a bit “heated” and he told us, in not so many words, that it’s no different to eat an animal vs. driving and hitting insects that then die on your windshield. Wait, what, what did he just say? Seriously, he compared the two. Okay, time for Karen to jump on her vegan soapbox. VEGANISM is about doing the least amount of harm; no one can be perfect. I know that I may have to sit in a leather seat on a plane (#firstclassmiles #firstworldproblems), but you do what you can to alleviate suffering of others. I basically shut down at this point when he brought up the insects hitting the windshield during his discussion and stopped listening. I went to my happy place in my mind and was singing the Chris Isaak song “Insects” silently in my mind. No joke, I was annoyed. A few lyrics from that song you ask…”bad ideas are like insects on the windshield of my mind, now you’re stuck there and I’m gonna have to see you one more time”. Yep, that’s what I was singing silently in my head. Very apropos I’d say.
I perked back up when he started talking about not being able to touch a woman. Not at all, no way, no how. It’s too much of a temptation (all I could think about was VP Pence not being able to dine with a woman unless his wife was with him.) Someone in our group asked what he would do if our fellow female traveler, Tita, slipped down a cliff. Would he reach out his arm to her and grab her to pull her up and save her life or let her fall? He explained that he would grab his robe, and use it as a “rope”. So, wait, hold on here, let’s go back to “act with compassion and loving-kindness towards all living beings”. While you are trying to gather up your robe, Tita may have already slipped to her death. (Sorry Tita, not sure who started that question and put you in this hypothetical scenario). So instead of quickly just putting your hand out to save her life, you take the time to create a rope out of your robe?
This. This, to me, is what’s wrong with religion, to put such strict rules on anyone where this could then prevent you from saving someone. And yes, I know this was just a hypothetical situation, but that’s what he said. Okay, yep, shut down again, this time went to my other happy place, covered by kittens and puppies and singing Chris Isaak’s “Baby did a bad, bad thing”. After that, I don’t know what else he talked about but we were finished and it was time for the blessing. I may have gotten a little more heated also because, yep, it was Sri Lankan gnat time, they were flying all around me and I was intently watching a parade of 9 ants walking in strict line formation making its way all around as we sat on little mats on the ground. (Leanne – you’ll be glad to know that I didn’t get bit like in Malaysia that one time, did you know I got bit by an ant in Malaysia? Sorry, inside joke!)
So this monastery and monk experience differed from the “muscle monk” experience, this time he chanted and created bracelets for us. But…he couldn’t tie them on the women’s wrists. Remember, he can’t touch women, even if they are slipping off a cliff. So instead of being blessed by the monk and having the string tied on my wrist, other Buddhists did the tying for the women in the group.
I didn’t write any of this to upset anyone, it’s my observation and my frustration with religion that tells you what you can and cannot do in such a strict sense. So please know, I don’t have any issue with anyone practicing any religion they like, as long as that religion is about peace and non-violence. Wish that extended to non-human animals also, but maybe someday people will see how it needs to include all that we share this planet with. I’m not holding my breath though.
Ruwanwelisaya Stupa, Anuradhapura
Fruit bats flying around the temple area
Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi Tree
Our next stop we visited Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi, which is home to one of Sri Lanka’s most sacred Buddhist relics, this fig tree is believed to have grown from a cutting of the branch of the Bodhi tree that Buddha attained Enlightenment. It dates back to 288 BC and is one of the oldest human planted trees in the world. Parts of the branches are held up with gold covered scaffolding.
Mihidu Forest Monastery
Our journey north begins now and we leave Anuradhapura. Before reaching our final destination of Jaffna we make a few stops. The first was the Mihidu Forest Monastery where we were guests of monks who introduced us to Vipassana Meditation. They gave us info about their monastery, their practice of Buddhism and taught us meditation techniques. The beauty of this meditation session was that we did it sitting around a huge banyan tree. Sitting and walking meditation was practiced. I try to meditate or at least relax in that sense. I have an app (yeah, there are a lot) and it really does help calm my mind and de-stress. It takes practice to get to a place where you can simply sit and not have thoughts crashing into your mind. Sometimes I do great, other times I can’t keep the random thoughts out of my session. We did walking meditation, it’s not easy. I feel like I do this a bit at home when I walk through Mt. Tabor park underneath the huge fir trees. I try to let my mind go and just enjoy nature. Sometimes it works, sometimes not.
Great place to meditate, under the Banyan tree
Fort Mannar
As we got closer to Jaffna, we stopped at Fort Mannar. This was a key defense which was built by the Portuguese in 1560 and later fell to the Dutch. And if you remember from the history lesson many pages above, it fell into the hands of the British. I like architecture as I have mentioned and this fort was pretty cool. The walls of the various structures were made from local and not so local building materials. Brick, stone and coral – yep, coral as in coral that grows in the ocean. It gave the walls such an interesting varied structure. Colors, textures, all melding together to create the walls made an impact and resulted in some cool pictures. The fort is being restored right now. The workers there have started gardens and are growing tomatoes, snake gourd or snake bean (not sure which), eggplant, etc.
Garden with various veggies growing; Jeewa’s as confused as I am, is it a snake bean or gourd?
Act 2 – The north, the war, the healing, community involvement, religious traditions
“We travel initially to lose ourselves; and we travel next to find ourselves. We travel to open our hearts and eyes and learn more about the world than our newspapers will accommodate. We travel to bring what little we can, in our ignorance and knowledge, to those parts of the globe where riches are differently dispersed. And we travel, in essence, to become young fools again – to slow time down and get taken in, and to fall in love once more.” – Pico Iyer, Why we Travel
So now we find ourselves in Jaffna, where tourists were off limit until 2016. Yes, the war ended in 2009, but it was a full 7 years after before foreigners would be allowed (unless you jumped through all that red tape) to go north to Jaffna. As you may remember (ha, I’m kidding myself, this is so long you likely don’t remember) Jaffna was the “base” for the LTTE (Tamil Tigers). This area of Sri Lanka is home to the Sri Lankan Tamils, the vast majority are Hindu and those who aren’t are mainly of Christian faith. They speak Tamil, not Sinhalese. So now our language cards shift to Tamil words instead of Sinhalese for our stay of 3 nights in Jaffna. You can’t tell by looking at someone from Sri Lanka if they are Sinhalese or Tamil. At least I can’t. There isn’t a physical “tell”, but there is a language difference.
So…Vanakkam and welcome to Jaffna! We arrived at our hotel and were shown to our rooms. Now when I say room, I’m not quite describing it correctly. Nope, it was a townhouse. Downstairs was a kitchen with a fridge, table, electric kettle, stove top and toaster. The living room had a TV (never turned it on) and there was a little patio. Upstairs was the bedroom and bathroom along with a balcony. There was also a hot tub in each townhouse out on the patio, nope didn’t use it; remember…science nerd here. I know way too much to dip into that cesspool of bacterial stew! I won’t even get a pedicure at a place with those Jacuzzi foot soaks, nope-you cannot clean the grunge out of those. Just pour warm water into a bowl and let my feet soak, and I want to see you disinfect that bowl before I put my feet in it. Back to the point…getting off track again.
Raised mural on The Thinnai hotel
Dravidian Hindu Temple Architecture
We had a chance to freshen up and then we headed out into Jaffna to visit a local Hindu temple, Vannai Vaiththeesvaran. Mohan, a longtime Jaffna local joined us for the temple visit and was with us on our first and last day in Jaffna. Okay, I’ve been to many Hindu temples on VV trips, but never have I been to one where the men have to remove their shirts before going in. Yep, just the men. Turnabout is fair play boys, thanks for the show! What, no pictures inside? Dang. Okay, all kidding aside. They remove their shirts to gain more energy from the experience. Not sure I quite grasp that, but that’s the Tamil Hindu tradition. Thankfully, women don’t have to do this. Women get their “energy” from the temple by wearing gold jewelry. Hindu temples are always a sight to see, colorful, ornate, with interesting architecture and layout. When you go through a Hindu temple you always go around clockwise, and you should do it in odd numbers if you go around more than once.
We arrived in time to walk around and see the Aarti ceremony where a flame is offered to the deity statues in the temple as they pray. I’ve seen this several times and it’s interesting to see. This one was a bit different at the end. The priest always brings the flame out to those present and you cup your down-turned hands over the flame and then raise your palms to your forehead. This passes the blessing on to you. The priest also puts a dot of dried cow dung on your forehead. Yeah, not really my idea of what I want on my forehead, but I’ll take cow dung from an herbivorous animal over dung from a carnivorous animal any day. The one thing that was different is this time, he scooped a little milk into our cupped hands and you are supposed to drink a tiny bit and then put the rest over your hair/head. All of us just stood there looking at each other, no way were we going to drink cow’s milk. I looked around at everyone and just slowly let the milk slip through my fingers. We weren’t really expecting that and I had yet to experience that at other Hindu temples. So, yeah totally not vegan!
“If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay at home.” – James Michener
After temple we had a delicious banana leaf dinner at a local family’s house. Now if you have never had a banana leaf meal, I have to say it takes some practice. My first one was on the Bali trip and there is a technique to it. Yes, we eat with our hands for these and I have actually gotten “fairly” good at it, not like a local, but I’ve now had lots of practice on different trips. And don’t worry, if it’s new to you, VV provides an etiquette card so that you the proper steps to eating a banana leaf meal, thus preventing making a spectacle of yourself or fodder for the locals. So in Sri Lanka, what is a banana leaf meal you ask? It’s rice, lots of rice. Rice is put in the middle of the banana leaf and then they add a small amount of the other dishes to your leaf. Curries of various types, dal, veggie sides, papadum, sambol (various delicious non spicy and spicy wonders) and sometimes other little treats. It’s delicious!
First step, wash your hands! For eating you use your right hand only (okay boys and girls, does everyone remember why? If not, remember the “bathroom talk”). You want to make sure that you keep the food limited to the first two areas of your fingers and not go past the second joint. You don’t want the food getting on your palm area. Seems easy? Nope, it’s not, it takes practice. A banana leaf meal is like the picture above. You bring the curry or other items to the rice one at a time before every bite and you mix it up with your fingers and try to form some semblance of a ball. Now picture that little bit of food sitting on your four fingers, but not past the second joint. Got it? Okay, now take your thumb and push the food into your mouth. Boom! That’s it. Seems simple, but it takes practice.
Eating this way, at least for me, means that I eat slower and savor the flavor more. I’m already a slow eater and this takes it to a new level. Now I’ve seen other people mix every dish with the rice and eat it that way, but I like to taste the flavor of each item with the rice to really experience the complex flavors and spice of each item. I know you are now wondering, but Karen, your right hand is dirty and you can’t use your left hand, what to do? Once you have started eating, you use your left hand to drink or pass things. Wait, the left? Uh oh. Don’t worry, remember you washed your hands before you started so the left hand is clean. And with banana leaf meals someone is typically coming by with the food to put it on your leaf and bring you seconds or thirds! Always wait to eat until everyone is served and always leave a little bit on your leaf or plate as it shows the host or chef that you had enough but aren’t still hungry.
When you are finished with your meal you fold the upper half of the banana leaf towards the lower half. This signifies that you are finished. Just make sure you fold it towards you and not the opposite way. It’s folded the opposite way when there has been a death or you are at a funeral. After that, you wash your hands. If you are at a home, they have little water bowls on the table. At restaurants you use a hand washing station.
We had several banana leaf meals on this trip and each one was delicious. You will never go hungry on a VegVoyages trip, it’s simply not possible! And if you really like something, you may end up with the recipe card for it. With every trip, we get recipe cards from various dishes that we have. So once you get home you can try to recreate some of your favorite dishes. I know for sure I’m making that onion sambol and a brinjal (eggplant) dish. I have never been a huge fan of eggplant dishes in the US. It’s usually tough and not tasty. But the brinjal dishes in Sri Lanka, we had many, were SO good. I couldn’t get enough of the flavor – it was Maru!
Joining the Theater Action Group for the morning to learn about their work and have some fun. Dancing, singing and games!
On our second day in Jaffna, we had an experience like no other. We were guests of the local grassroots organization who is instrumental in helping the healing process after the war by bringing people together through dance, music, drama and interactive street theater. The Theater Action Group (TAG) welcomed us into their hearts and we were lucky enough to learn about Koothu, an ancient Tamil folk art of storytelling through music, song and dance. Koothu is a dying art, but TAG is keeping it alive. Back before the internet, TV, movies, etc. theatrical groups would travel from village to village performing for the people. This was a form of entertainment, but it also had a much more important function. Koothu as a form of storytelling brought important social issues to the village. It also spread important preventative health lessons, conscious awareness of issues and teachings to the masses. It also gives the people of the village a voice.
After temple we had a delicious banana leaf dinner at a local family’s house. Now if you have never had a banana leaf meal, I have to say it takes some practice. My first one was on the Bali trip and there is a technique to it. Yes, we eat with our hands for these and I have actually gotten “fairly” good at it, not like a local, but I’ve now had lots of practice on different trips. And don’t worry, if it’s new to you, VV provides an etiquette card so that you the proper steps to eating a banana leaf meal, thus preventing making a spectacle of yourself or fodder for the locals. So in Sri Lanka, what is a banana leaf meal you ask? It’s rice, lots of rice. Rice is put in the middle of the banana leaf and then they add a small amount of the other dishes to your leaf. Curries of various types, dal, veggie sides, papadum, sambol (various delicious non spicy and spicy wonders) and sometimes other little treats. It’s delicious!
Banana leaf meals
First step, wash your hands! For eating you use your right hand only (okay boys and girls, does everyone remember why? If not, remember the “bathroom talk”). You want to make sure that you keep the food limited to the first two areas of your fingers and not go past the second joint. You don’t want the food getting on your palm area. Seems easy? Nope, it’s not, it takes practice. A banana leaf meal is like the picture above. You bring the curry or other items to the rice one at a time before every bite and you mix it up with your fingers and try to form some semblance of a ball. Now picture that little bit of food sitting on your four fingers, but not past the second joint. Got it? Okay, now take your thumb and push the food into your mouth. Boom! That’s it. Seems simple, but it takes practice.
Eating this way, at least for me, means that I eat slower and savor the flavor more. I’m already a slow eater and this takes it to a new level. Now I’ve seen other people mix every dish with the rice and eat it that way, but I like to taste the flavor of each item with the rice to really experience the complex flavors and spice of each item. I know you are now wondering, but Karen, your right hand is dirty and you can’t use your left hand, what to do? Once you have started eating, you use your left hand to drink or pass things. Wait, the left? Uh oh. Don’t worry, remember you washed your hands before you started so the left hand is clean. And with banana leaf meals someone is typically coming by with the food to put it on your leaf and bring you seconds or thirds! Always wait to eat until everyone is served and always leave a little bit on your leaf or plate as it shows the host or chef that you had enough but aren’t still hungry.
When you are finished with your meal you fold the upper half of the banana leaf towards the lower half. This signifies that you are finished. Just make sure you fold it towards you and not the opposite way. It’s folded the opposite way when there has been a death or you are at a funeral. After that, you wash your hands. If you are at a home, they have little water bowls on the table. At restaurants you use a hand washing station.
We had several banana leaf meals on this trip and each one was delicious. You will never go hungry on a VegVoyages trip, it’s simply not possible! And if you really like something, you may end up with the recipe card for it. With every trip, we get recipe cards from various dishes that we have. So once you get home you can try to recreate some of your favorite dishes. I know for sure I’m making that onion sambol and a brinjal (eggplant) dish. I have never been a huge fan of eggplant dishes in the US. It’s usually tough and not tasty. But the brinjal dishes in Sri Lanka, we had many, were SO good. I couldn’t get enough of the flavor – it was Maru!
Joining the Theater Action Group for the morning to learn about their work and have some fun. Dancing, singing and games!
On our second day in Jaffna, we had an experience like no other. We were guests of the local grassroots organization who is instrumental in helping the healing process after the war by bringing people together through dance, music, drama and interactive street theater. The Theater Action Group (TAG) welcomed us into their hearts and we were lucky enough to learn about Koothu, an ancient Tamil folk art of storytelling through music, song and dance. Koothu is a dying art, but TAG is keeping it alive. Back before the internet, TV, movies, etc. theatrical groups would travel from village to village performing for the people. This was a form of entertainment, but it also had a much more important function. Koothu as a form of storytelling brought important social issues to the village. It also spread important preventative health lessons, conscious awareness of issues and teachings to the masses. It also gives the people of the village a voice.
Theater Action Group and VV travelers joining in
Theater Action Group
I tend to take a lot of photos and a lot of video on these trips. It’s rather fun to watch them back as long as I am behind the camera and not in front of it! I have no problem dancing around like a fool having a good time, but I’d rather not see myself doing it. So for that reason, I won’t share some of the videos although I do have to say it was rather hilarious to watch some of them and it brought a good belly laugh and great memories of our experiences. Especially when we were supposed to free style dance, let’s just say a certain two “guides” pretty much did the dad dance! I’ll keep it safe and secure for when I need a good laugh and expect the same if you have videos of me dancing awkwardly. I mean, in my mind, I think I dance great, especially if 80s music is playing! LOL.
“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming - Wow! What a Ride!” Hunter S. Thompson
Drums baby, drums!
We were welcomed by TAG and for the whole day and night, they became family. We danced with them, we sang, we talked with them. We learned how this organization has helped them become who they are today and how much it helps local villages with important issues. Each of the members that joined us, let us know why the joined TAG and what it has done for them personally. For some it was their love of music and dance; for others it brought them out of their shell and allowed them to blossom and become activists. Many live very far away from Jaffna, but came all the way to Jaffna to be able to be part of our experience. One of the founders was a former Tamil Tiger, who was involved in the war. She and her husband and family had to leave their home in Jaffna many times during the war when the fighting got to close. Their home was mostly spared, with some damage that they have repaired. So many homes and businesses were destroyed. People fled and some never came back.
Singing and drumming on the bus Drumming through the village Kids at play
The message that TAG spreads helps people heal, it gives them a voice. In the evening we hopped on our bus along with many of the members of TAG and for the whole ride to the village we were entertained by their impromptu singing and drumming.
Drumming through the village to let everyone know TAG is here
Arriving at the village, the drummers and others walked throughout the village to let the locals know that TAG was there and the performance would start soon. Slowly villagers arrived and they started with a Tamil version of what we call duck, duck, goose. Using a branch with leaves on it, whoever was “it” would walk around the outside of the circle and then would drop the branch behind someone who now became “it”. Now that person had to try to beat that person back to the spot they vacated. The kids were clearly having fun and you could see the passion and joy on the TAG members faces as they played with the kids.
Theater Action Group- Koothu performance for the villagers
After the kids play time, the story telling began. The use of masks and costumes was used to represent the “man/government/corporations” and interaction with the villagers allows them to have a voice. This Koothu performance not only entertains, but also engages the audience. It allows the villagers to speak freely about issues they are facing. The whole performance was done in Tamil since Tamil is the language spoken in Jaffna and the northern province. Even though I obviously don’t speak Tamil, you could almost understand the story as you watched it. When the villagers spoke to the group, their passion for the issues they care about and are concerned about was evident. It was powerful to see the people who, at first, were hesitant to speak up, finally did to get their word heard. The passion with which they spoke showed all of us how important this is to them. They are able to speak freely without cause for concern of repercussion that they would feel if they were talking to their government representative. TAG not only gives the people who they entertain a voice, but it doesn’t end there, they help them if they can with their concerns and requests. It was powerful and moving and I haven’t seen anything like it before. Giving people a way to let themselves be heard, to help them heal through art, music and dance is compelling. I will always remember this heartwarming and incredible performance and interaction with TAG. It ended with a dinner at the founder’s home with many of the members of TAG joining us. We shared our stories with them this time, why we were vegan. What led us to becoming vegan. We took some group pictures and said goodbye to this amazing group of people who shared so much with us, but also make such an amazing impact on others with the work they do.
“A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions” – Oliver Wendell Holmes
Our last day in Jaffna was a very interesting one also, and one that I will never forget. Mohan joined us again and we started by exploring a local wet market. We got off the bus and walked a little bit and were met by a sight I really didn’t expect. Traffic was stopped as a huge procession of Hindu worshipers were walking through the streets to the temple. We were in Jaffna during the Nallur festival. Nallur Kandaswamy Kovil (Kovil is temple in Tamil) is a Hindu Murugan temple. It’s one of the most significant temples in Jaffna in the town of Nallur. In August, the temple has its longest festival which is 25 days of vibrant processions, drumming, dancing and acts of self-mortification, it is held in honor of the war god, Skanda. The existing temple itself was constructed in 1749 and other towers were added over time.
Procession on their way to Nallur Kandaswamy temple
Men were walking and some had items piercings through their faces, that was my first sight I didn’t expect to see. As we got closer to the main street, it was even more fascinating that I had imagined. There were tractors pulling carts that had massively long springboards spanning from the back of the cart to way out in front of the tractor. On top of this long multi board “spring board” was a man holding ropes. Below him was a man hanging from hooks through the skin on his back, waist and legs. While holding the ropes above the man on the springboards would make the man who was hanging go up and down in a rocking motion. It was a sight that you’ll never forget and I had a hard time looking away. I could only stare and take in the whole scene. It didn’t bother me at all, I’m not squeamish, I was awe struck, fascinated, completely blown away.
Why? I’m sure you are asking that just like I did. First, what is it? Self-mortification in this festival is the piercing of flesh, it may be with long decorative metal objects or for those on the pulled springboard vehicles, hooks. Why? It’s practiced to put their sinful nature to rest and to achieve an altered state of consciousness whereby they feel close to their god and by suffering they show their devotion and dedication. Some of the men were carrying ornate Kavadi. These wooden arched structures can weigh anywhere from 10-70 pounds. The Kavadi is a physical burden which the devotee carries to implore Murugan for assistance. Many of the men carrying the Kavadi were also well pierced with ornate metal through their cheeks and tongues. Many of them also had hooks through their backs, showing their devotion to Murugan. The person behind them had ropes that were attached to the hooks with the lines taut, pulling on their flesh, making them suffer to let go of their perceived sins.
Removing the hooks Two hanging together Carrying a Kavadi
After the market we made our way through town stopping at Fort Jaffna and then we arrived near the Nallur Temple. If I thought I had seen it all, I was wrong. We walked down the main street leading into the temple and the enormity of the festival was evident. The streets were crowded with people and with the tractor/springboard vehicles carrying men hanging in all sorts of ways from the springboard. Some as mentioned were hooked through their back, waist, thighs giving them the appearance of flying as they were bounced up and down in the air. Others were hanging only from hooks in their backs hanging in an almost sitting position as the springboard controlled by the men above bounced them up and down as the vehicles rolled on. Some vehicles had two or three men hanging from the springboard. For those in the seated position, women would bring their babies or children for them to hold as they are bouncing up and down. Apparently this would bless the child and make him part of the procession.
At the end part, we watched as about 8 men would hold each of the men that were hanging off the springboard vehicle and they slowly took the hooks out and the man was able to get down and walk around. These vehicles take a very long path through the streets to get to this point, a few miles of hanging and bouncing up and down. I took so many photos and videos because I was simply awe struck. It was an experience like no other. I won’t pretend to understand how someone can go that far with their devotion to suffer for your faith. But these Tamil Hindus are devoted and worship proudly.
Nallur Kandaswamy Kovil
Delicious Vegan Dinner at The Thinnai
Time to leave Jaffna and start heading south and time for a new Act.
“Once the travel bug bites, there is no known antidote, and I know that I shall be happily infected until the end of my life.” ― Michael Palin
Act 3 – The rock, elephants, giving back and ancient ruins
Okay, it’s only day 7, but I’m already to Act 3. The acts don’t run a certain number of days. The acts go with the story and when the story changes due to the city, the landscape, the adventure and it’s a turning point for me; that becomes a new act. From a trip perspective we are at the halfway point of the 14 day “Finding Serendipity on the Island of Serendib”. So again, the timing isn’t important here. But after our experiences in Jaffna, the road ahead was different. It was time to head to the beautiful evergreen forest interior of Sri Lanka and beyond. The interior forest is home to over 160 species of birds, 34 species of reptiles/amphibians and over 24 species of mammals. The one I’m so eagerly waiting for? Asian Elephants! I have never seen an elephant in the wild and this trip I knew I would get to see them. I find Elephants to be one of the most amazing creatures on our planet. I’ve worn a little silver elephant necklace for over 10 years. I rarely take it off. This massive, sometimes awkward, strong and fascinating herbivore is my spirit animal.
So we left Jaffna and our Tamil speaking friends. On our way south, we stopped at Elephant’s Pass which is the gateway to Jaffna. This pass was the site of many fierce battles between the Sri Lankan Army and the Tamil Tigers during the civil war. Both sides took control of it at various times during the war in attempt to control and hold the peninsula. Prior to the battlefield that this area became it was actually a salt pan area producing upwards of 40% of the islands salt.
Elephant Pass along with a silly dog and one that was waiting on his train out! Our stop at Elephant’s Pass also gave us a chance to see a war memorial for Corporal Gamini Kularatne who gave his life defending his country.
Memorial Bulldozer tank
On July 10, 1991 over 5000 LTTE fighters surrounded Elephants pass which was occupied by 600 Sri Lankan army soldiers. The LTTE launched several attacks on the Sri Lankan Army as night fell. The LTTE had an armored bulldozer resembling a tank that advanced on the soldiers and their base. It was equipped with a machine gun and contained a haul of arms and ammunitions. Corporal Gamini ran towards the advancing bulldozer tank with two grenades in his hands. He had already been injured by LTTE bullets, but was able to climb up the tanks ladder and toss both grenades inside it. His act of bravery disabled the bulldozer and he was thrown to the ground and succumbed to his wounds. He was awarded posthumously, the highest honor by the Sri Lankan Army, the first recipient of this award.
In Mihinthale we stopped at an ancient hospital complex. This quick stop was really interesting. There’s not a lot left to it, but it was built by King Sena II between 853-887 AD. There are still stone pillars, a gateway and low walls left in the complex. Completely intact is the medicinal trough or medicine bath. It’s carved in the shape of a human body and looks a bit like a sarcophagus built of stone. The length of the bath is 7 feet by 2.5 feet. For treatment, the patient would lie in the bath and medicinal liquids would be poured into the bath. Likely most of these treatments were Ayurvedic which is still practiced today in Sri Lanka. Drive down any main road in a city and you’ll likely see several signs for Ayurvedic doctor’s offices and treatments. Archaeological digging at the site revealed some surgical instruments and blue medicine bottles. The surgical instruments showed a high standard of technology and a similarity with what is used now.
Arriving at The Other Corner Delicious lunch “Parallelogram of poof” dessert
We arrived at “The Other Corner Resort” in Laksirigama, our jungle home along the forests edge for the next two nights. Crossing over a wooden swinging bridge we were served a wonderful lunch of rice and curry and other delicious dishes. We had a very interesting dessert when we finished lunch. I don’t know what it’s actually called and the flavor was nice, but I call it the “parallelogram of poof”. It looks totally innocuous, just a nice sweet after lunch. Nope, you take a bite and powder explodes in your mouth. The look on my face was enough to make anyone laugh. When Zac took a bite the look on his face would have made a Buckingham palace guard double over laughing. Jeewa tried to get me to have it again when we were in Kandy, but “fool me once shame on me, fool me twice...and all that”! Now anything that resembles it is off limits. Nope, not falling for that again. We had a little bit of time to freshen up after lunch and then it was time to head out to Sigiriya rock.
Sigiriya rock
Originally, Sigiriya rock wasn’t on the itinerary but I’m so glad it was added. Note to VV- keep this in the itinerary, it was stunning. It’s a gorgeous hike up to the top and the views are amazing. Sigiriya rock is a fortress-palace. Today it’s a UNESCO world heritage site. It stands over 200m (656ft) tall and is 370m (1214ft) above sea level. It is truly a marvel. It’s home to carvings, frescoes and was King Kashyapa’s new capital in the 5th century.
The name of this place is derived from this structure — Sīnhāgiri, is the Lion Rock (an etymology similar to Sinhapura, the Sanskrit name of Singapore, the Lion City). We started walking, heading to the start of the climb. Stairs were low and wide as we started our way onto the grounds. As we started our way up, the stairs became steeper and more narrow, we climbed, climbed, climbed. Amazing views greeted us along the way and we could stop and look out at the world below and take in all the greenery and landscape.
Monkey posing
Spiral staircase The beauty in nature
After climbing stairs for quite some time, we reached two metal spiral staircases attached to the side of the rock; one for going up and one for coming down. Their only function was to get us to see the frescoes painted inside a carved out rock overhang. The frescoes were beautiful and the grouping we saw was mostly still well preserved. Part of it was blocked off and a guard was at a desk. The reason for this is that people keep touching the paintings and damaging. However, after a little discussion and convincing from Jeewa, the guard let our group venture back to the restricted area to see the rest. The whole face of the rock at one point was likely a giant picture gallery, not much remains of it however after so much time. The paintings are classified as being part of the Anuradhapura period, but are unique in their design. The frescoes we saw were all of ladies, topless ladies. It’s believed that they are either paintings of the King’s ladies or perhaps paintings of women taking part in religious observances. Either way, the paintings that were still intact are beautiful.
Ancient graffiti on the mirror wall View from above
Dog joining the crowd
After coming back down the spiral staircase, we came to the mirror wall. This wall was so highly polished when it was a palace complex, it’s said the King could see his reflection in it. The wall no longer shows your reflection back to you, but what it does have is ancient graffiti. Writings scribbled by visitors from long ago, some date back to the 8th century. Some are in Sanskrit but have slowly faded over the centuries. You can see still see many of the letters and writing. Over 685 verses have been deciphered from the mirror wall from the 8-10th centuries. One says “I am Budal. Came with hundreds of people to see Sigiriya. Since all the others wrote poems, I did not?” So, perhaps the original sarcastic graffiti artist? Cheeky!
After coming back down the spiral staircase, we came to the mirror wall. This wall was so highly polished when it was a palace complex, it’s said the King could see his reflection in it. The wall no longer shows your reflection back to you, but what it does have is ancient graffiti. Writings scribbled by visitors from long ago, some date back to the 8th century. Some are in Sanskrit but have slowly faded over the centuries. You can see still see many of the letters and writing. Over 685 verses have been deciphered from the mirror wall from the 8-10th centuries. One says “I am Budal. Came with hundreds of people to see Sigiriya. Since all the others wrote poems, I did not?” So, perhaps the original sarcastic graffiti artist? Cheeky!
First Arch going up Second Arch going down (ack, a tourist!😂)
Third Arch going out, and yes, foreigners "exit through the gift shop" stalls!
On your journey up to the top of Sigiriya you pass through three stone arches, natural arches created where the boulders touch. Looking to some like hands held in prayer to bless the journey - Ayubowan. The passageways through were likely dug out and either left as is or stairs were built going through to get you to the next level. We continued our climb and made it to the middle where a plateau was built. Not simply a stopping point before finishing the climb to the top, but a gateway in the form of an enormous lion, complete with two massive carved lion paws on each side of the stairs that start your ascent to the top of Sigiriya. After a long climb from the start to finish of about 1200 steps and a huge gain in elevation, we made it to the top. What a sight! 360 degree views of the amazing island country of Sri Lanka. At the top was the King’s palace, it’s ruins still standing the test of time, albeit a little worse for the wear. The massive swimming pool that was dug out of the rock is still intact. The idea that someone did all of this to create his palace on top of a massive rock jutting 200 meters into the air simply amazes me. No technology, all human labor. The rock stairs we climbed were painstakingly cut out of the rock face. Later metal stairs and pathways were added so that you could make it to the top. We made a few dog friends along the way and several were at the top and all along our hike.
Hike to the top, totally worth it!
Always going to capture a sunset if I see it!
When the king died, his royal palace was abandoned, Sigiriya was then home to a monastery until the 14th century. It is one of the 8 UNESCO world heritage sites in Sri Lanka, yes – 8! Some consider it to be the 8th wonder of the world and I’d have to say I agree. It was an amazing, breathtaking experience to be able to climb to the top. I’m really glad that Gordy and I hike the hills and stairs of Mt. Tabor park next to my house as it definitely helped me get to the top of Sigiriya.
Audience Hall Cobra Rock
Jeewa, Chandra & Lucky – opening King coconuts - everyone kept their fingers!
Chandra and Lucky were chopping open fresh king coconuts when we made it back down to our vehicle. The fresh coconut water probably helped us all recover a bit before returning back to our resort. What a spectacular climb and amazing views from the top of Sigiriya rock. Don’t miss this if you go to Sri Lanka!
We made it back to our huts and had a little time to shower and get ready for Dr. Dee’s elephant talk. Dr. Dee (Deepani Jayantha) was gracious enough to join us in Laksirigama. To put it simply, she’s the elephant whisperer. She is a veterinarian and conservationist who has been working closely on the human-elephant conflict in Sri Lanka for over a decade. She is currently the elephant specialist for Elemotion (www.elemotion.org) a non-profit organization working to improve the lives of endangered Asian elephants through Education, network building and support programs.
During our pre-dinner talk along with adult beverages and snacks, Dr. Dee presented slides and information on the Asian Elephants in Sri Lanka. Numbers put them at around 5,000-6,000 (which is debated) and that sounds like a lot, but it’s not. Human elephant conflicts are not uncommon and part of her work is educating locals about a peaceful human-elephant co-existence which is extremely essential for the elephants of Sri Lanka to survive. We learned a lot about elephants that night. The differences between Asian and African elephants – Asian elephants are smaller and their ears are smaller. Their trunks are also different at the end – Asian elephants have one “finger protrusion” and African elephants have two. Habitat loss, human encroachment, captivity and poaching are just a few of the dangers facing the Asian elephants as they fight for their survival.
“They say an elephant never forgets.
What they don’t tell you is you never forget an elephant” – Bill Murray
- Elephants are abducted from their mothers when they are young. Elephants in the wild stay with their mothers for years. When abducted they are taken so their independence and spirit can be broken and they are beaten to get them to submit to unnatural things.
- Training is cruel and beings early. Babies are tied down and beaten with bull hooks. They become so fearful of their trainers that they “obey” to avoid another beating. Sound familiar, how is that different than beating a child? It’s not. The only reason that humans allow it is because it’s not a human. We have no right to beat, maim or kill the amazing animals that share our planet with us.
- This process of beating them down is called “crush” or “breaking” and it causes not only great pain, but also the elephants often develop post-traumatic stress disorder.
- Elephants in captivity are denied a natural life. Elephants live in matriarchal herds and are highly social animals. They forage for vegetation together, play, bathe in rivers and lakes and travel many miles a day together. In captivity, they have no control over their lives, they live in small cages or pens. They can’t socialize with other elephants and are forced to spend hours chained up. They are forced to carry riders on their backs for hours, perform tricks or wear heavy costumes even on the hottest days.
- Captive elephants are a commodity. They are denied adequate food and water, not to mention proper veterinary care. This is especially important for their feet as this captivity and abuse causes great harm to their feet and legs. Chains cut into their skin and cause cuts which get infected.
- Their lives, just like zoo elephants, are cut short. Most captive elephants develop serious foot problems and arthritis from the hours spent standing on hard surfaces. They don’t get enough exercise. They die much earlier, decades short of their expected life expectancy of 40-70 years. Asian elephants hit their prime, much like humans between 25-40. Captive elephants rarely make it to 20. Most die much earlier due to bad nutrition, abuse and captivity caused health issues. In zoos, they frequently battle tuberculosis.
- The abuse that captive elephants suffer causes some to strike back. With the stress and abuse, some elephants reach a breaking point and rampage. They attack their handler, trainer or as recently seen at a temple festival in Sri Lanka (the week after our tour ended and the week before we arrived this happened). They break loose and run through crowds injuring, or in some cases, killing their handlers and those watching the spectacle.
- When you visit a place that calls itself a sanctuary but offers elephant rides, painting with elephants, etc. you have just fallen for a scam. A true sanctuary won’t offer elephant rides, or allow you to paint with elephants. While some true sanctuaries may let you offer food through a fence, they should not let you interact with the elephant without some sort of barrier. I know some true sanctuaries that allow bathing the elephants, but slowly they are realizing that this isn’t right. So if you want to see elephants, please do so without interacting with them or participating in programs that abuse them. See them in the wild where they belong.
Okay, back to the story. Our dinner after Sigiriya was later than usual and we had an early 6:30 am nature walk the next morning. Coffee before the walk definitely helped! We ventured out with the resort’s nature guide and Dr. Dee. We saw various types of birds, trees, and walked back through the area where they grow some of the veggies for their restaurant. The nature walk was very calming and a great way to start our jam packed day.
After breakfast, we made our way to a local school. It was Sunday and their summer break was ending since school was starting the next day, but the principal, teachers, kids and parents showed up to meet us. After some explanation to the kids about why we were there, about veganism, etc. we helped them do some school clean up, picking up trash and other items on the school grounds. The kids were in their school uniform and I can’t say that I would have wanted to do that as a kid if it was my last day of vacation before school started. We tried our best to communicate with them and one of the girls was pushed by her friends into asking us questions. A mom that was in our group spoke English and she helped us use our cards and communicate a bit. We had a lovely snack and tea after touring the school buildings and then did a group picture with the kids.
Arrival at the school Fredessa helping the kids
Dr. Dee translating for us
On VegVoyages trips, there are always moments to give back and this was one of those. As part of the money that we paid for the trip, we were able to get transportation for these kids to go to Colombo to see the National Museum of Natural History. Many haven’t been to Colombo and this would give them an opportunity for a field trip.
Selfie Photo op with the kids at the school
We then ventured on to listen to a presentation about elephants with the director of Kaudulla National park and Dr. Dee. We stepped into the office and moments later the skies opened up and massive downpour of rain hit. By the time we were done, the skies cleared and the rain had passed. Reminds me of Portland, minus the humidity.
After lunch, it was time! The time I had been waiting eagerly for; time to go on a safari to see the wild elephants who roam Kaudulla National Park. Oh boy, was I excited. No one on the bus was more excited than me to see the elephants. If they were, the certainly did not let on like I did when I leapt from my seat to get to the window to see an elephant on the side of the road shortly after we left our resort. And yep, I went a little ‘cray cray’, but I’m totally okay with showing my enthusiasm for something especially animals. I totally geeked out.
Elephant just after leaving our resort
Jeep safari through Kaudulla National Park
Grazing elephant
We hopped aboard two jeeps and ventured into Kaudulla National Park. The jeeps worked out great as we could stand and enjoy the ride or sit if things got to bumpy. After we made it through the start of the park and got to a flatter open area, there he/she was. An elephant! We were able to get close enough without disturbing the elephant and I captured some amazing pictures and videos. The elephant was grazing on the grass. First he would take on his front feet at kick at the grass to loosen it up a bit. Then using their trunk, much like a hand, grab the grass by twisting their trunk and pulling it out of the ground. They grab more and then shake it repeatedly to get the soil off and then bring it to their mouths and munch away. Their grazing reminded me of humans using their right hand to eat a banana leaf meal. But they are much more elegant with their technique than I am with mine.
Grazing away
Babies playing
So many elephants
Elephants, so many elephants, we saw so many and it was the thrill of a lifetime. Pairs together, a massive herd and a smaller matriarchal head with babies at different ages. Two of the littlest were playing with each other and I could create a story in my head of their thoughts. “Hey, you have this long thing for a nose too, let me hold yours, wait what’s in your mouth let me see, hey why are you running back to mom, come back, wait let me sit on you and roll all over you”. They played a game a chase with one running back to mom or grandma and the other running over to see, then the one who ran over would run back to his mom and they kept the game of cat and mouse going for a bit. You could see them trying to mimic the older elephants by trying to graze like they were. It was truly a heartwarming experience to see these majestic elephants living as they should, free and wild in their herds. I’ll never forget the experience.
Baby Elephants at play
Sunset view from Kaudulla National Park
We ended this exciting night with a little change of pace as the chef made pasta dishes for us along with other amazing dishes and French fries! I definitely slept good that night as elephants roamed through my dreams that night.
"Travel changes us, irrevocably, and mostly for the better. It can nourish the best parts of ourselves like nothing else. Travel broadens our perspective, adds texture to our lives, and makes us more interesting at cocktail parties." - Josh Gates (Host of Expedition Unknown and Destination Truth)
After such a wonderful time yesterday it was time to say goodbye to our forest huts and venture east. We made our way to Polonnaruwa. The picture of the Vatadage at Polonnaruwa was probably the first picture I remember seeing of Sri Lanka. It was breathtaking. Polonnaruwa is a UNESCO world heritage site. It was the second capital of Sri Lanka after the destruction of Anuradhapura in 993 AD. It consists of not only monuments built by the Cholas (remember the history lesson, the Cholas came down from So. India). It also consists of amazing structures built by the Sinhalese King Parakramabahu in the 12th century and King Nissankamalla. During this time, Polonnaruwa was a thriving commercial and religious center in Sri Lanka. The site consists of palaces, temples, religious buildings, sculptures, statues and a lot of grandeur.
King Nissankamalla’s Council Chamber Elephant carvings King's Lion Throne
I can’t even start to describe Polonnaruwa. It’s Maru (still love this word). What I can say is that I can FINALLY pronounce it. Took me a bit, but I have mastered it. We started out with a walk through the area with the Kings swimming pool and King Nissankamalla’s council chamber was located. The council chamber built between 1187-1196 was held up by stone pillars. Those pillars have inscriptions that indicate the seating arrangement of the respective ministers and state officials. Elephant carvings go all the way around the bottom of the structure. When you climb up the steps you are treated to an amazing lion sculpture at the southern end. This stone lion is the kings throne. It’s a massive lion carved out of one piece of stone. An inscription under the lion’s belly lets us know this was the King’s throne. Now that’s what I call a throne.
King Parakramabahu’s Palace
Most of the stones used (like with so many archaeological sites) didn’t come from the local area, but were brought in. Even the Lion throne had a single hole all the way through it which means a long wooden rod was put through that hole and this massive solid stone was carried over to its final resting place. We ventured over to the Kings palace. While it’s no longer completely intact, you can tell from the size that this palace was a tall and spacious building. It was 5-7 stories tall depending on which archaeologist you believe, with 3-meter-thick walls. It included 50 rooms and was supported by 30 columns. Most of what’s left now are the tall walls and a staircase leading to nowhere.
King Parakramabahu’s Council Chamber Carvings on the council chamber Pillar inscriptions
Heading over to the council chamber for King Parakramabahu (1153-1186) the building is very similar to King Nissankamalla’s council chamber, minus the stone lion throne. The pillars have inscriptions and carvings on them. Two stone lions flank the stairs going up to the main level. There are also two moonstones located at the beginning and middle of the staircase going up. On this building there are three different levels of carvings on the outside base of the building. At the lower level are the elephants, in the middle are the lions and at the top. Okay I’m going to fess up here, I had to google the top tier. I knew it was a representation of a deity, but could not for the life of me remember if anyone told me which one. So I did a little google search and found out that it is Vamana Rupa which is the fifth avatar of the Hindu god, Vishnu. At Polonnaruwa you will see not only Buddhist representation but also Hindu influence. For the moonstones, they remove the cow shape from them and used horses or another animal as a symbol. There are also Shiva temples at Polonnaruwa. It’s a blending of cultures and religion just like Sri Lanka itself.
Vatadage at Polonnaruwa
One of the 4 Buddha's in the Vatadage
We then go to the first big highlight for me the Quadrangle area. Buildings here were either shrines for Buddha’s tooth relic or connected with its worship. The Vatadage is the highlight if you ask me. It’s unique to Sri Lanka. Circular in shape, the vatadage has two platforms, one above the other. It has one main entrance up facing North and then to get to the upper platform there are 4 entrances which are typically oriented to North, South, East and West. Each entrance is flagged by a moonstone and flagged by to Muragalas (guard stones). Stone carvings cover the structure. As you enter the top platform (again there are 4 entrances) you are met with a large stone Buddha statue. It’s an amazing structure that has been relatively lucky to stand the test of time and is relatively well preserved. It’s a marvel and one of my favorite pictures I took on the trip is of the Vatadage.
Gal Pota (stone book)
We ventured around this quadrangle, and checked out the temple with multiple Buddha statues in it and then stopped at the Gal Pota (stone book). It’s a huge solid rock book with carvings on the outside and inscriptions on the top (see, it’s a book!) that sing praises to the great Kin Nissankamalla. It elaborates on his rule and eligibility to be King. Maybe a little bit of a brag book, the original Facebook! It’s almost 27 feet long and 4.5 feet wide. There are more than 4300 characters separated by 72 lines and 3 columns. This slab of rock was brought over 90km from Minintale (where the old hospital complex was) to Polonnaruwa. The author of this book is unknown. It’s the largest slab inscription in Sri Lanka.
Satmahal Prasada Rankoth Vehera
After the quadrangle, we hopped out for a quick peak at the largest Stupa in Polonnaruwa and the 4th largest Stupa in all of Sri Lanka. Rankoth Vehera was built by King Nissankamalla. It is made entirely of brick with a diameter of 550 feet and stands 108 feet tall today. Due to renovation work over centuries, is has been changed slightly. It’s believed that when it was built it was almost 200 feet tall.
Galviharaya – Carved Granite Buddhas
Our last stop in Polonnaruwa is Galviharaya. Wow. Okay, the Vatadage is still my favorite in Polonnaruwa, but Galviharaya is second. It was created in the 12th century by that other King I’ve mentioned, Parakramabahu I. It’s 4 rock statues of Buddha which have been carved into the immense face of a massive granite boulder. The 4 images of Buddha consist of a large seated figure, another smaller figure inside an artificial cavern, a standing figure and a reclining figure. Galviharaya is the most visited monument at Polonnaruwa and some of the best examples of Sinhalese sculptures and carved arts. The rock face has been cut 15 feet deep to create a rock face to accommodate the statues and is the only example in the whole country where this has been done. Stunning.
Act 4 – The ocean, dancing, tea and temples and a farewell to Sri Lanka
Time to head out to snorkel
Kayankerni Beach at Giman Free
After a tantalizing lunch of east Sri Lanka dishes, we got “snorkel” ready in our seaside bungalows. Dive master Ollie was our guide and before getting fitted for fins and a snorkel and mask, we learned about our mission on this snorkeling adventure. Seeing as this is one of the last remaining living coral reefs in Sri Lanka, we wanted to do our part to help keep it that way. Part of our goal of our snorkeling trips on both days was to pick up any free floating trash and plastic that we found in the ocean. If things were embedded in the sand or on the reef itself, we called Ollie or Zac over to check it out to see if it could be removed without doing harm to the reef. We didn’t get a lot of trash off the reef either day and that’s good because it means things aren’t getting stuck there. Plastic actually kills coral reefs.
A new study based on four years of diving on 159 reefs in the Pacific shows that reefs in four countries — Australia, Thailand, Indonesia and Myanmar — are heavily contaminated with plastic. It clings to the coral, especially branching coral. And where it clings, it sickens or kills. "The likelihood of disease increases from 4 percent to 89 percent when corals are in contact with plastic," researchers report in the journal Science. Plastics abrade corals, creating new openings and then infection can start killing the coral.
Our massive plastic consumption all over this planet is a major disaster. Reefs are already struggling due to climate change and rising water temperature. Now they have to contend with the tons of trash floating in the ocean, much of which is plastic. Plastic bottles, fishing net, plastic bags – all of these contribute to not only reef die off but death to sea turtles, seals, fish, whales, etc. If you have watched any bit of news in the last 10 years you have likely seen sea turtles who die whose stomachs are filled with plastic. A plastic bag floating in the ocean looks just like a jelly fish to a sea turtle and sea turtles love jelly fish. Whales have washed up on beaches with stomachs filled with plastic trash. Our over use of plastic, buying plastic water bottles and abusing this planet is killing sea life.
Sunset and the crescent moon over Kayankerni beach
We met on the beach to watch the sunset and have seaside sundowners. We let night fall and sat out and looked at the stars. I love star gazing. But so many places it’s hard to star gaze due to light pollution. Luckily on this night we got to see some amazing stars and a few planets shining brightly in the dark night sky. Yeah, okay I cheated and used my sky watch app to figure out what certain stars or planets were, hey – it’s educational okay?! After our stargazing we had a wonderful dinner and called it a night.
In the morning after an early morning “odd” yoga session, we had breakfast and then it was time for more snorkeling and trash hunting. After a couple of hours of snorkeling, we got even more trash this time, we had a nice lunch and had some time to relax.
Beach clean-up at Kayankerni beach
Metal – 1 kilo
Wood – 4 kilos
Glass – 34 kilos
Plastic bottles – 39 kilos
Other garbage – 167.5 kilos
That’s a whopping 245.5 kilos (541.2 pounds of trash picked up)
Partial crew of clean-up volunteers and my “silly” tabulation of all the items we picked up and bagged
There is still so much left to pick up, not only here but at beaches all over the world. Just like always, VegVoyages gives back. Together with the resort, Giman Free, VegVoyages is sponsoring regular beach and reef cleanups to help conserve the coral reef and its marine life. They are also putting in mooring buoys so outside boats coming to visit don’t anchor on the reef. Anchoring on reefs kills decades, if not centuries of coral. Zac gave an amazing presentation to the locals prior to the beach clean-up, letting them know why plastic waste is so damaging and why the overconsumption of plastic has to decrease. If you don’t know how bad it is, search “great pacific garbage patch” on google. You’ll be disgusted. Plastic never goes away; it does break down but then it’s becomes microplastic. If you eat fish, I can guarantee you right now that you have eaten microplastic. Fish eat microplastic because they see it as food. That microplastic then ends up on your plate and you ingest it when eating fish. It also kills marine life and fish can’t survive on microplastic. The Worldwatch Institute, a DC think-tank and global environmental research organization estimates that the average person in North America or Western Europe uses 100kg of plastic per year, whereas the average person in Asia uses 20kg annually (that number is rising for them also due to economic growth). Please try to decrease your plastic consumption. Use a reusable water bottle, don’t buy products that are enclosed in plastic, try to avoid using plastic bags. Try to do your part to get our oceans healthy again. Without them, we won’t be here.
Our last night in Kayankerni, we wore our sarongs (yep, I needed help tying mine as it’s not an easy task to tie it the way you are supposed to). We had a wonderful dinner, tried a 3rd type of arrack and enjoyed our last night along the sandy beaches.
Time for Kandy (yes, I spelled that right). Kandy is located in the central part of Sri Lanka and sits on a plateau surrounded by lush green mountains, tea plantations and a biodiverse rainforest. It was the last capital of Sri Lanka’s independent kings (remember your history lesson?). Right across from our hotel, the beautiful, colonial Hotel Suisse, is Bogambara Lake. Kandy is famed for its sacred Buddhist sites, including Sri Dalada Maligawa (Temple of the tooth).
Partial crew of clean-up volunteers and my “silly” tabulation of all the items we picked up and bagged
There is still so much left to pick up, not only here but at beaches all over the world. Just like always, VegVoyages gives back. Together with the resort, Giman Free, VegVoyages is sponsoring regular beach and reef cleanups to help conserve the coral reef and its marine life. They are also putting in mooring buoys so outside boats coming to visit don’t anchor on the reef. Anchoring on reefs kills decades, if not centuries of coral. Zac gave an amazing presentation to the locals prior to the beach clean-up, letting them know why plastic waste is so damaging and why the overconsumption of plastic has to decrease. If you don’t know how bad it is, search “great pacific garbage patch” on google. You’ll be disgusted. Plastic never goes away; it does break down but then it’s becomes microplastic. If you eat fish, I can guarantee you right now that you have eaten microplastic. Fish eat microplastic because they see it as food. That microplastic then ends up on your plate and you ingest it when eating fish. It also kills marine life and fish can’t survive on microplastic. The Worldwatch Institute, a DC think-tank and global environmental research organization estimates that the average person in North America or Western Europe uses 100kg of plastic per year, whereas the average person in Asia uses 20kg annually (that number is rising for them also due to economic growth). Please try to decrease your plastic consumption. Use a reusable water bottle, don’t buy products that are enclosed in plastic, try to avoid using plastic bags. Try to do your part to get our oceans healthy again. Without them, we won’t be here.
Our last night in Kayankerni, we wore our sarongs (yep, I needed help tying mine as it’s not an easy task to tie it the way you are supposed to). We had a wonderful dinner, tried a 3rd type of arrack and enjoyed our last night along the sandy beaches.
Time for Kandy (yes, I spelled that right). Kandy is located in the central part of Sri Lanka and sits on a plateau surrounded by lush green mountains, tea plantations and a biodiverse rainforest. It was the last capital of Sri Lanka’s independent kings (remember your history lesson?). Right across from our hotel, the beautiful, colonial Hotel Suisse, is Bogambara Lake. Kandy is famed for its sacred Buddhist sites, including Sri Dalada Maligawa (Temple of the tooth).
View from our drive to Kandy and a lotus flower on arrival at the hotel
The performances were great and we got to watch the kids perform also
Kandayn Dance
But, I can’t say the same for our performance, let’s just say none of us are quitting our day jobs! It was fun and it was a really good workout. The teacher wasn’t going to let us slack off and we worked our booties off and sweat up a storm! It was such a great experience to see this amazing dance which originated over three centuries ago. Arriving back at our hotel, we had time to hit the shower before having dinner. A shower was a must!
Tea plants and the hills around Kandy
Time for tea talk!
As I mentioned, Kandy has a large number of tea plantations and it was time to not only visit one, but also learn of the history of tea in Kandy. Our first stop was at the Institute of Social Development (ISD). The what? To learn about the history of tea in Kandy you need to not only know the backstory, but also the story now. The ISD is a non-governmental organization that was established in order to empower the marginalized and discriminated against Plantation community in Kandy. The literacy rate in Sri Lanka is the highest in South Asia and one of the highest in all of Asia. Depending on which statistic you look at it ranges from 92-98%. Unfortunately, that’s not the case for plantation workers. However, with the help of the ISD and its push to ensure the plantation community gets equal rights as equal citizens that is slowly changing. The director of ISD is a former Marxist revolutionary turned human rights activist. He spent time telling us about the institute’s work but also the long history of tea plantation workers in Kandy. After we had tea and vada with him we headed up into the hills to visit the Tea Plantation Workers Museum and a working plantation.
The Institute of Social Development (ISD) created the Tea Plantation Workers Museum to enlighten the wider community about the lives of the tea plantation workers in Sri Lanka. Many of these workers first came as migrant laborers from Tamil-speaking India in the 19th and early 20th century. Most of these workers were coerced into coming to Kandy by the British who ruled Sri Lanka when tea plantations were established. Most plantation workers today come from this legacy. Their unique cultural and socio-economic identity has not been recognized, and they remain at the margins of larger Sri Lankan society. ISD works for the rights of the tea plantation community, and the museum’s mission is to protect and preserve the artifacts, traditional dance, drama, folklore, oral history, and literature of the tea plantation workers. As well, ISD aims to promote ethnic and cultural harmony by highlighting the economic contributions of the plantation community. The museum itself is located in the green, lush hills outside Kandy in a historic setting – a 100-year-old “line room,” a plantation worker dwelling.
The history of any group of people coerced or pushed into a role they don’t want is never a pleasant one. While the workers under British rule were not slaves, they were paid a measly wage that essentially ensured that they couldn’t leave. It’s something we have seen over and over in history in so many countries. Things are starting to change now, more of the plantation worker’s children are going to school or staying in school longer. Part of that is due to the work that the ISD is doing to make sure that equality is given to the planation workers. For so long they weren’t considered citizens, they weren’t given any rights, slowly things have changed.
Tea talk time Tea plant roots
After our tour of the museum, we walked around the tea plantation and learned about how tea is grown and picked. Three times a day, workers pick the tea leaves. Their goal is 18 kilos of tea leaves a day per person. That’s a lot of tea leaves, especially when you consider that they only pick the top three leaves or in some cases less for other types of tea. The work that goes into creating these massive rolling hills of tea plants along with the work that goes into picking it should give you a much greater appreciation for your cup of tea.
After our lunch at the plantation, we headed to an orthodox tea processing plant. Orthodox tea refers to either hand-processed tea or teach that is rolled with machinery that mimics hand rolling. Most specialty tea is made using orthodox production methods. Much of your typical grocery story tea – Lipton, Twinnings, etc. are done using a more fully automated method called Crush-Tear-Curl. That method is primarily used for black tea and doesn’t produced the tremendous range of flavor and aroma that the orthodox method does. CTC method is much faster and therefore you can produce tea very quickly for packaging. At this tea processing plant we got to see the more manual, Orthodox method.
Beautiful tea plants and scenery on the way to Storefield Tea Factory
Depending on the type of tea, it’s laid out to dry naturally (withering) to let the moisture evaporate. Some teas then are steamed instead of having forced hot air blown down onto the leaves. The leaves are then rolled which presses the leaves to prepare it for oxidation. The oxidation process exposes the rolled leaves to air in a controlled environment, the air reacts with the tea leaves and they turn darker. So you can imagine the darker the tea, the longer it is allowed to oxidize. The leaves are then dried or fired to stop oxidation and dry the leaves fully before they are sorted for grading.
Tea factory machinery and various types of tea
All tea comes from the same plant, Camellia sinensis (there is a second variety Camellia sinensis assamica but it’s still the same plant). Yes, all tea comes from the same plant. There are six major categories of tea - black, dark, oolong, yellow, green and white. The way you get these different categories is through the processing method. The drying time, oxidation time (green and white go through the least amount) etc. are what makes this same leaf turn into 6 different types of tea. There you go there is your tea lesson for the day!
Tea Tasting
After our tour of the processing plant we got to sample their tea varieties. The gold tea and white tea were amazing. They are also REALLY expensive. If I remember a 6-month supply of the gold tea was $80 USD. Yeah, it was good, but not that good. It was really interesting however to see the process, especially the orthodox process. Some of their machines that are still in use are over 80 years old. The firing machine they use is wood powered which was pretty cool. No gas powered engine in that puppy.
Temple of the Sacred Tooth
Relic, Kandy
Another gorgeous sunset photo-op
We headed back to Kandy to visit Sri Dalada Maligawa (Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic). This temple is located in the royal complex of the former Kingdom of Kandy and houses the relic of the tooth of Buddha. Since ancient times, the relic has played an important role in local politics as it is believed that whoever holds the relic holds governance of the country. Kandy was the last capital of the Sri Lankan kings and is a UNESCO world heritage site because of this temple. The tooth relic was moved many times from different temples, sometimes because it was stolen and moved to a new location. The tooth relic is encased in seven golden caskets that are engraved with precious gemstones. The caskets are shaped like a stupa. When we visited, worshipers were lined up waiting for them to bring the casket out. It’s not opened so you don’t actually see the relic, but they have a ceremony where they bring the casket out for people to pray and worship. The carvings, statues, paintings and items in the temple museum were beautiful. History is so rich and to see things that are centuries old is so interesting to me. After the temple visit we headed back to our hotel for the night.
Looking out of an oil lamp opening to the outside grounds of the temple complex
The next day would be our last in Kandy. It’s now day 13, things are coming to an end and I don’t want them to. I don’t want to leave! We had a free day today to do whatever we wanted to do after our delicious breakfast. It was time to explore Kandy on our own before meeting up for our farewell dinner. Chris, Justine and I walked to the main area of Kandy, following the lake along the way and stopping to take pictures of ducks, scenery and the area. We had a goal in mind and that goal was…vegan soft serve ice cream! Yes, the Soya Center in downtown Kandy is the only full vegan spot in the city. They have food, and more importantly ice cream! We grabbed a cone (or cup) and sat on their balcony enjoying the hustle and bustle of the city.
Smart pup sleeping in the shade Tuk-Tuk Banana Transport
Notice the sign and all the umbrellas for sale?
Sights from Kandy
We walked around for a while on a mission to find some sort of gift of thanks for Jeewa, Chandra and Lucky, the amazing team from JF Tours. As mentioned before, Jeewa was our local guide for the whole trip. He taught us so much and shared so much of his beautiful country with us. He was always there to guide us and laugh with us. He stayed vegan the entire trip, and he’s not vegan. And he felt good being vegan for the entire journey; eating vegan makes you feel good. And yes, we pleaded and prodded for him to continue his journey of eating vegan, but that’s a decision an individual has to make for themselves. Just remember, Jeewa, if you need a vegan coach, we are here for you. Chandra was a driver and let me tell you now, you wouldn’t find a better driver. No crazy maneuvers, no overtaking other vehicles with not enough room, no excessive speeding. He was great, we all felt so safe in his hands. And every single time we hopped on our maroon bus, he was smiling and greeted us. Always happy, always with a smile on his face. The same goes for Lucky. Lucky was the lookout, the navigator, Chandra’s assistant. He was the one that would hop off the bus, sometimes while still moving to help navigate the bus to help back up, turn around, etc. He always greeted us each time we got on and did it with a smile. He also stood the entire trip while we were on the road, the ENTIRE trip. We tried to get him to sit for a bit and at one point I think Jeewa succeeded in making him sit, but it didn’t last long. All three were amazing and helped make our trip what it was.
Signed cricket bats for Jeewa, Chandra and Lucky
Ah, sorry, the gift. Yes, back to that. We wanted to find a card to thank them, but weren’t really sure what we would do if we found a card in Sinhalese and couldn’t interpret it. We laughed that we might end up with card that said “so sorry for your loss, or congratulations on your graduation” instead of “Thank you”. If it had said Bohoma Stuti we would have been fine since that is Thank you very much in Sinhalese, but we assumed it would be written in Sinhalese script and we can’t read that. So we wandered around and Chris noticed cricket bats. Cricket is a huge sport and followed like American football is here in the US or like hockey is in Canada. So we grabbed three bats (non-regulation size) and we all signed our names and countries on them. We knew on our last day at lunch we would have to say goodbye and we wanted to give them something to remember the first group of vegans on the first VV trip to Sri Lanka. We also did a collection so that we could give them a little parting gift of gratitude with some money. Hopefully to go buy a vegan lunch! I kid, kind of…
Chris, Justine and I walked around Kandy for a bit and stopped in at the Secret Café to have an iced latte.
Secret café in Kandy
Nature survives in unique places, art in the alley and iced coconut latte with cinnamon
After finding what we wanted we headed back to the hotel for a relaxing afternoon. I packed most of my stuff up, took a nice long hot shower and got ready for our farewell dinner.
Came back to my room to find this on my bed
“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” St. Augustine
We hopped on the bus and headed out to Helga’s Folly. Okay, this my friends is where it gets a little whacky!
The quirky, eccentric, wild Helga’s Folly.
Helga’s Folly is a hotel that sits up in the hills around Kandy. It’s quirky, it’s weird, it’s indescribable. It would totally fit in Portland. Now that I think about it, they should probably post a sign at Helga’s Folly that says “Keep Kandy Weird”. In all my travels I have never seen anything like it. Every single wall was covered with murals, a permanent Christmas tree with skulls, a skeleton sitting in a chair. All the mazes of rooms. Staircases with cats painted on them, Alice and Wonderland characters, candles that have been allowed to drip that they are now massive structures of wax frozen in time.
Murals and art all over the
walls and doors at Helga’s Folly
Artists, including Helga herself, have painted every single wall in the hotel. It’s quite a maze and every single room is different. I can’t say I’d want to wake up in some of them for fear I had been swept off into another world or drugged beyond all belief. It’s definitely eye opening. We had our farewell dinner at one of the large round tables in one of the several dining rooms. Water was served in a metal goblet; our bread plate was in the shape of Sri Lanka. Every little detail was crazier than the next. The experience was like no other VV farewell dinner.
After a farewell dinner on a VegVoyages trip, it’s tradition that Zac does a recap of the trip. It always brings a tear to my eye as I realize that the trip is coming to an end. Time flies when you are having an amazing adventure. I never pay any attention to what day it is, but as time passes, I realize that the end is drawing near. I truly didn’t want to go, I wanted to say and have more adventures.
First to talk this trip was Jeewa, our local Sri Lankan guide who has been with us the entire trip and lived as a vegan the whole time. And in his words he’s felt great eating this way...hint hint! Jeewa shared so much of his knowledge of his amazing country and its beautiful people, their cultures and various religions. It truly helped make this trip what is was having him with us the whole trip. And I may even miss the banana song. Bohoma, Bohoma, Stuti Jeewa. It was MARU! Thanks for being vegan this whole time and for telling others how you felt about it. Ayubowan
And then there is Zac...I mean, you can’t find a better person to lead a vegan tour. It’s always with a bit of tears (okay many tears) as Zac gives his recap. He opens his heart to all of us and becomes our friend for life on these trips. You never go wanting for anything whether it’s info about the country, help with something or, of course...food! He ends the trip with the very appropriate quote from Maya Angelou “Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all people cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends”.
This quote completely sums up the experience that you have on a VegVoyages trip. You don’t just see the tourist highlights - you go off the beaten path you learn the culture, you meet people, you eat in family’s homes. Some trips you stay in a family’s home, and they take you in as one of their own. You learn the language or in this case…languages. You get introduced to their religions, their politics, their history. You are immersed in their culture as a whole. It’s always a bit hard going home knowing that the world can’t just come together and live in peace. I think this is even more true for vegans because our idea of the world is peaceful world where no one, including animals, has to suffer. Hatred has no place in a civilized society. Yet, it exists and continues.
Gifts were given to us by Jeewa and Zac, something that they really don’t need to do. A little remembrance to take home from our time in Sri Lanka. We made our way back to our hotel in Kandy for our last night on the trip. An ornate elephant from JF Tours, a reusable bag with Sinhalese on one side and Tamil on the other and a coconut shell spoon a lovely heartfelt card.
After breakfast we hit the road from Kandy back to where our journey began. After lunch it was time for all of us to go our separate ways. But before that we wanted to present Jeewa, Chandra and Lucky with their signed cricket bats and a little something as a gesture of appreciation.
It was time for a round of hugs, each of us hugging each other and an extra-long hug to Jeewa and Zac for the amazing experiences that they gave us on this trip. It was hard to say goodbye but the time had come. Several went straight to the airport to head home or to their next destination. Others stayed longer in Sri Lanka touring around on their own. I had a flight out just after midnight so I had a room at the hotel so I could try to sleep (didn’t work) and shower before heading on leg 1 of 4 for my long journey home.
This is probably the longest thing I have ever written in my life. I don’t think I ever had to write a paper or anything like this before, not even in university. I still have a bit of struggle understanding what prompted this massive writing about the trip. I do know that this trip changed me and I think that’s what spurred this on. I just came back a slightly different person.
So here’s where the story ends my friends. If you have gotten this far, I feel like I need to send you vegan truffles from Portland. I don’t think I really expect anyone to get this far reading, and as I said in the beginning, that’s okay. It doesn’t matter if no one reads this, what matters is that I needed to write it. I needed to write, to share, to open up for whatever reason.
My story of Sri Lanka is long and yes, it went off on tangents. I hopped up on my vegan soapbox several times and I drifted a bit and rambled; but this story is purely mine. My thoughts on all the experiences I had on this spectacular adventure are still fresh in my mind, nearly a month after the end of the trip. The people of Sri Lanka have my utmost respect for what they have been through. The challenges that they have faced due to the civil war and the bombings have made them strong, resilient and yet still so kind. We were always greeted with a smile and either Ayubowan or Vanakkam. That smile was ever present.
The amazing places we went, the food (oh, the delicious food), the sights, the scenery; the centuries old temples, forts, buildings. The elephants, a longtime dream of mine to see them in the wild came true. Hearing about the human-elephant conflict and so much more about elephants from Dr. Dee was a wonderful experience. Learning about the ways people are trying to heal whether through film or the wonderful work of the Theater Action Group was a wonderful experience. I will always remember dancing and laughing with them and the bus ride filled with singing and drumming.
Jeewa and Zac during Zac’s trip recap after our farewell dinner
First to talk this trip was Jeewa, our local Sri Lankan guide who has been with us the entire trip and lived as a vegan the whole time. And in his words he’s felt great eating this way...hint hint! Jeewa shared so much of his knowledge of his amazing country and its beautiful people, their cultures and various religions. It truly helped make this trip what is was having him with us the whole trip. And I may even miss the banana song. Bohoma, Bohoma, Stuti Jeewa. It was MARU! Thanks for being vegan this whole time and for telling others how you felt about it. Ayubowan
And then there is Zac...I mean, you can’t find a better person to lead a vegan tour. It’s always with a bit of tears (okay many tears) as Zac gives his recap. He opens his heart to all of us and becomes our friend for life on these trips. You never go wanting for anything whether it’s info about the country, help with something or, of course...food! He ends the trip with the very appropriate quote from Maya Angelou “Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all people cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends”.
This quote completely sums up the experience that you have on a VegVoyages trip. You don’t just see the tourist highlights - you go off the beaten path you learn the culture, you meet people, you eat in family’s homes. Some trips you stay in a family’s home, and they take you in as one of their own. You learn the language or in this case…languages. You get introduced to their religions, their politics, their history. You are immersed in their culture as a whole. It’s always a bit hard going home knowing that the world can’t just come together and live in peace. I think this is even more true for vegans because our idea of the world is peaceful world where no one, including animals, has to suffer. Hatred has no place in a civilized society. Yet, it exists and continues.
Gifts were given to us by Jeewa and Zac, something that they really don’t need to do. A little remembrance to take home from our time in Sri Lanka. We made our way back to our hotel in Kandy for our last night on the trip. An ornate elephant from JF Tours, a reusable bag with Sinhalese on one side and Tamil on the other and a coconut shell spoon a lovely heartfelt card.
Farwell gift
After breakfast we hit the road from Kandy back to where our journey began. After lunch it was time for all of us to go our separate ways. But before that we wanted to present Jeewa, Chandra and Lucky with their signed cricket bats and a little something as a gesture of appreciation.
Chandra, Lucky and Jeewa – the amazing team from JF Tours
It was time for a round of hugs, each of us hugging each other and an extra-long hug to Jeewa and Zac for the amazing experiences that they gave us on this trip. It was hard to say goodbye but the time had come. Several went straight to the airport to head home or to their next destination. Others stayed longer in Sri Lanka touring around on their own. I had a flight out just after midnight so I had a room at the hotel so I could try to sleep (didn’t work) and shower before heading on leg 1 of 4 for my long journey home.
This is probably the longest thing I have ever written in my life. I don’t think I ever had to write a paper or anything like this before, not even in university. I still have a bit of struggle understanding what prompted this massive writing about the trip. I do know that this trip changed me and I think that’s what spurred this on. I just came back a slightly different person.
“We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm, and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.” – Jawaharial Nehru
So here’s where the story ends my friends. If you have gotten this far, I feel like I need to send you vegan truffles from Portland. I don’t think I really expect anyone to get this far reading, and as I said in the beginning, that’s okay. It doesn’t matter if no one reads this, what matters is that I needed to write it. I needed to write, to share, to open up for whatever reason.
My story of Sri Lanka is long and yes, it went off on tangents. I hopped up on my vegan soapbox several times and I drifted a bit and rambled; but this story is purely mine. My thoughts on all the experiences I had on this spectacular adventure are still fresh in my mind, nearly a month after the end of the trip. The people of Sri Lanka have my utmost respect for what they have been through. The challenges that they have faced due to the civil war and the bombings have made them strong, resilient and yet still so kind. We were always greeted with a smile and either Ayubowan or Vanakkam. That smile was ever present.
The amazing places we went, the food (oh, the delicious food), the sights, the scenery; the centuries old temples, forts, buildings. The elephants, a longtime dream of mine to see them in the wild came true. Hearing about the human-elephant conflict and so much more about elephants from Dr. Dee was a wonderful experience. Learning about the ways people are trying to heal whether through film or the wonderful work of the Theater Action Group was a wonderful experience. I will always remember dancing and laughing with them and the bus ride filled with singing and drumming.
Made it to the top of Sigiriya Rock!
A fond farewell to Dr. Dee
The Banana Song-Oh yes, now you will have this stuck in your head too!
Saying goodbye to Kayankerni Kandyan Dance Lessons, not quitting my day job!
It all comes back to the people who shared their country, their history and their kindness. I thank each and every one of them who we met along the way who were so open in sharing a bit of themselves with us. I’m humbled by your kindness and friendship. The diversity of not only the people, but their languages, their religions, their heritage, their culture makes Sri Lanka what it is; the people of Sri Lanka make it what it is today.
Maybe, just maybe- this story, my story - will touch you in some way. Maybe it will give you the travel bug. Maybe it will make you want to push yourself out of your comfort zone. Maybe it’ll make you want to go to Sri Lanka, to see for yourself what it is to immerse yourself in something different than what you are used to. Or maybe it’ll simply be something that brings a smile to your face or causes you to laugh at my silly jokes. Perhaps it’ll make you think, maybe it’ll spark something inside you. Whatever it does, I hope you enjoyed it.
The experience of Sri Lanka will stay with me forever and I know some day this is one place that I will visit again. I didn’t see it all and I loved it so much, I want to see the rest. So watch out SL, I’ll get back there again someday.
I’ll close with the quote that truly resonates so much with me and was so eloquently said by Dr. Maya Angelou. And yes, I know I already put it in the story. It’s so good, it’s worth repeating. And it’s so very true, travel helps us to overcome our differences and hopefully makes us friends. Please travel, get out there and go, see the world if you can or see parts of your country that you haven’t seen before. I guarantee your eyes will be opened and your heart will be filled with joy.
“Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends” – Maya Angelou
Thank you SO very much Zac and Jeewa for making this trip so extraordinary and MARU! And to my fellow VV travelers, those who I have traveled with before and those that I met on the trip, thanks for being along for this wonderful experience, may our paths cross again on another trip. And behind the scenes of VegVoyages – thanks Yusi for everything you do to make these adventures come alive, and I better see you on my next trip! It’s been too long.
With love from the bottom of my heart, Bohoma Stuti and Mikka Nandri, until we meet again.
P.S. really hoping this google translate of my name to Sinhalese worked…and it’s not some inappropriate word!
The experience of Sri Lanka will stay with me forever and I know some day this is one place that I will visit again. I didn’t see it all and I loved it so much, I want to see the rest. So watch out SL, I’ll get back there again someday.
I’ll close with the quote that truly resonates so much with me and was so eloquently said by Dr. Maya Angelou. And yes, I know I already put it in the story. It’s so good, it’s worth repeating. And it’s so very true, travel helps us to overcome our differences and hopefully makes us friends. Please travel, get out there and go, see the world if you can or see parts of your country that you haven’t seen before. I guarantee your eyes will be opened and your heart will be filled with joy.
“Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends” – Maya Angelou
Thank you SO very much Zac and Jeewa for making this trip so extraordinary and MARU! And to my fellow VV travelers, those who I have traveled with before and those that I met on the trip, thanks for being along for this wonderful experience, may our paths cross again on another trip. And behind the scenes of VegVoyages – thanks Yusi for everything you do to make these adventures come alive, and I better see you on my next trip! It’s been too long.
With love from the bottom of my heart, Bohoma Stuti and Mikka Nandri, until we meet again.
Karen කැරන්
P.S. really hoping this google translate of my name to Sinhalese worked…and it’s not some inappropriate word!
My last sunset in Sri Lanka (for now!)
“To travel is to live.” – Hans Christian Andersen
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