Sri Lanka by public transport

Join Malcolm and David on this first episode of a double header as they explore the incredible island nation of Sri Lanka.

From the bustling streets of Colombo to the scenic tea-covered hills of Ella and the wildlife-rich national park of Yala, they uncover the diverse experiences that make Sri Lanka one of Asia's most captivating destinations.

Along the way, they discuss the country's rich history, vibrant culture, stunning beaches, world-famous cuisine, warm hospitality and the genius that is Duran Duran.

Whether you're planning a future adventure or simply love discovering new places, this episode offers an inspiring journey through the Pearl of the Indian Ocean.

In part 1 we focus more on David's journey travelling alone and with public transport.  In part 2 we will be looking at Malcolm's trip with small children, a driver/guide and much more cricket.

If you have something you want to ask just contact us at contact.unraveltravel@gmail.com

Our theme music is Traveler's Blues by Jerzy Gorecki from Pixabay (with licence)

https://pixabay.com/users/jerzyg%C3%B3recki-2233926/

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Welcome to Unravel Travel.

SPEAKER_03 0:12

Where every journey has a story. And in hindsight, if I was doing it again, I would have gone right to the north.

SPEAKER_05 0:21

The Jaffna Peninsula.

SPEAKER_03 0:22

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_05 0:24

It was probably safe enough by then, wasn't it? It wasn't really safe enough when we were there.

SPEAKER_03 0:29

Yeah, it was safe uh when I was there. Yeah, it was safe when I was there. Probably safer than it is now, because I think it might have flared up again recently. So it's a sh that was a shame that I didn't do that. But at the time I wanted to make sure I wasn't going to get stuck anywhere and yeah, still early on in my travelling days. You can always go back again, Dave. And that's what I thought, and I planned to do it, and then you had the economic issues that Sri Lanka was going through, so it's not been somewhere I've gone. Uh and now because this is so close to retiring and being able to come on these trips with me, I think I'll hold off because I think it's a place she would really like. I think it's a place everybody would like, to be clear.

SPEAKER_05 1:06

I I've not seen it. It's got the shape of a jewel, and it's like a jewel in the Indian Ocean, isn't it? I mean, I don't I didn't I didn't read that somewhere, I just made it up.

SPEAKER_03 1:15

Yeah, I believe you. And the highlight for me was we went to the Botanical Gardens, uh-huh, which is about I think we hired we hired a car to get out there, and it was maybe an hour or so to get there, so I'm guessing 30 miles, something like that, maybe a bit less.

SPEAKER_05 1:35

And the botanical gardens did they have all sorts of foreign trees like oaks and ashes and stuff.

SPEAKER_03 1:41

Like like no willows and it was exactly what I wanted it to be, which was all the stuff we have to keep inside at our botanical gardens, but outside, and so much bigger, uh, as in you know, when they're in their natural environment, you can just everything gets wow.

SPEAKER_05 2:04

You saw me standing by the wall at a corner of a main street, and the lights are flashing on your window sill. All alone, ain't much fun, so you're looking for the thrill, and you know just what it takes and where to go. David, any idea what that song might be?

SPEAKER_03 2:27

I know the song, but it's not coming to me. Gone, you're gonna have to tell me. It's Save a Prayer by Duran Duran. Of course it is. Of course it is, and it was filmed in Sri Lanka.

SPEAKER_05 2:40

And it was filmed in Sri Lanka, the video.

SPEAKER_03 2:42

Yeah, yeah. Um yeah, the elephants and all that sort of stuff.

SPEAKER_05 2:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:48

I can't believe I didn't recognise a Duran. Did you like that one?

SPEAKER_05 2:50

I I deliberately didn't I deliberately changed the cadence of the reading just to do it.

SPEAKER_03 2:54

Yes, you didn't help. I knew all that was weird actually, because I I recognised all the words, but it because you I hadn't realised you changed the cadence, but because you had it just didn't drop in. And I've only been awake about 40 minutes, which I'm a big thing helps either.

SPEAKER_05 3:08

Well, it is six thirty in the morning, David.

SPEAKER_03 3:12

Somewhere. Yeah, somewhere. Probably probably in the middle of the Atlantic.

SPEAKER_05 3:16

So today we're going to talk about Sri Lanka.

SPEAKER_03 3:18

We are indeed. I went there in 2017. February time. Uh so getting on for ten years ago, and you went there a a lot longer.

SPEAKER_05 3:30

A lot longer ago. Yeah, my brother uh lived and worked in Colombo for a couple of years, brother Stuart, and so I went out a couple of times. Uh once on a long weekend extravagantly, flying back from Singapore, as you do, you know. Yeah. I think I could get a flight that changed in Colombo, so I did. And then once with the very young family in I think 2004, early 2004, Megan was six months old and in a papoose, and Joe was only a couple of years old, so that was really quite a different sort of experience of travelling.

SPEAKER_03 4:08

But I could imagine that Singapore would work for a young family. Not having had a young family or even an old family myself. I'm not the best person to talk about it, but uh, you know, it's a place that isn't that difficult to get at. I mean, I did public transport, but I'm presuming you hired a car or or or a driver or something like that to get around with a family. In Sri Lanka? Yes.

SPEAKER_05 4:31

Um, yeah, well, we stayed with Stuart for a few days, and then around Colombo we used tuk-tuks.

SPEAKER_03 4:39

Of course.

SPEAKER_05 4:40

Uh and then when we went on a sort of extended road trip, we had a driver. It was experience, first experience of having a driver, and that that worked perfectly because we could stop if we needed to stop with the kids and all that sort of stuff. So, yeah, not public transport at all.

SPEAKER_03 4:55

Ah, so yeah, so I can talk about my public transport experiences, which were interesting, and and could have been a could have been very good, but well, I'll get but due to the sheer numbers of people on them up, they weren't so good. We'll we'll come to that in due course.

SPEAKER_05 5:10

I think we um drove along an air-conditioned delight next to some of those buses, Dave.

SPEAKER_03 5:16

The buses were fine, although somewhat ballsy with their driving. Yes. I wouldn't it's a country I wouldn't like to have driven in myself. No. Uh basically the as far as I could gather, the rule of law was the larger the vehicle, it had the right of way, whether it was on your side of the road or not.

SPEAKER_01 5:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:36

As long as they're blowing their horn and big, then that's that's okay, they're in the right.

SPEAKER_05 5:41

We saw some big nasty accidents on the road, I remember, and lorries coming down the wrong side and all sorts of things.

SPEAKER_03 5:49

I certainly saw the lorries.

SPEAKER_05 5:50

I mean the aftermath of accidents, I mean. Not physically happening.

SPEAKER_03 5:57

I I was blissfully unaware thinking, well, I haven't seen any accidents, so it must all work. Just glad I'm not being expected to do any of the driving. So I was there in 2017. It was my second big trip after my first one, which you'd recommended in uh Bali. Uh and there's a bit of a theme here because you might have recommended Sri Lanka, but I certainly ended up speaking to your brother before going.

SPEAKER_05 6:20

I think I probably just put you in touch with my brother as the best bet.

SPEAKER_03 6:23

I think you did. And uh I came up with uh an itinerary which was really good. I'd recommend it to other people. Like you, I guess I started in Colombo. And were you solo travelling, Dave? I was, yes, yes. It's uh completely on my own. Although unlike the one when I went to Bali, uh I actually decided to start in Colombo staying in um a youth hostel. Um reason being I've discovered in Bali that uh if you are in a hotel it can be a little bit isolating. So I thought well, if I'm you in youth hostels and I'm more likely to be meet people. So I spent far more time in youth hostels on this one.

SPEAKER_05 7:00

And did that work?

SPEAKER_03 7:01

Um it did, it did. You do meet people, and uh not necessarily the the you the young crowds that you might associate with the name youth hostile. I guess it wasn't youth hostel, it was hostels. But yeah, so it did work. By the end of it, I was getting a bit fed up of sleeping uh in rooms with other people. Uh so I ended up uh when I was at the beach, I was quite happy just I stayed. I think I stayed at hostels, but I just had my that some of the hostels have their own rooms. Yeah. So I stayed in a couple of places with their own rooms, and then communal areas and stuff like that. Exactly, exactly. But yeah, and uh, you know, in one place it was a mixed hostel, and there must have been double figures of people sleeping in there. Uh and in the room, you mean? Yeah, in the room, and you know it it you you're always a bit worried when you wake up in the morning and think, well, that's great that nobody snored last night. And you're thinking, oh shit. It was probably me. I don't think it was, but you you never know. But I had a lovely night's sleep when I was staying in those hostels. Um the fur the first place I stayed wasn't so good because there was a guy who had his phone beeping all night long, but he was one of these guys that seemed to be able to sleep through uh what was keeping everybody else awake. I think I would have taken taken it and put it in another room. You know, I I was it was the first time I'd been in a hostel, and I thought I'm gonna keep my passive aggressive. Well, that's not really that passive aggressive, is it? That's just aggressive. Uh you know, I I I I'm now sharing with other people. I've got but I was right fucked off with it, to be honest.

SPEAKER_05 8:37

Let me tell you a quick story, amusing story about a similar incident um and how I dealt with it. Uh we were staying, uh Petra's brother-in-law Milan worked on renovating old buildings and he'd renovated this castle in check, and we got to go and stay in it overnight. So a group a whole group of us turned up when they kicked all the paying tourists out and gave us the keys, and we just stayed in this castle all night, down in the dungeons and up in the rooms, and some of it's supposed to be haunted and stuff, and we were all sleeping, the adults, about ten of us probably, on sleeping mats in this big stone room. We bought sleeping mats and sleeping bags and just bedded down in this room. Anyway, Petra's brother-in-law started snoring heavily within two minutes and I got up, and me and another bloke got hold of his dra his sleeping mat and we dragged him into the next room and closed the door. And he slept through it. We had a much better night. No harm done then. Well, did you drag him into the dungeon? Well, no, we dragged him into the room which was supposed to be haunted. There had been a beheading taking place.

SPEAKER_03 9:47

Okay, so step up from a dungeon. Anyway, yes, nice story. Um back back to Sri Lanka. Sorry. Uh no, no, no, not at all. I like it. So yeah, I started in Colombo. Presumably, you may have done that as well. Yeah. Um, flying in there, uh, stayed in a youth hostel, and then I can't remember how many days, but it'd have been two or three days. I like when I'm somewhere for a month, I like to spend just two, three days just getting over jet lag exploring it. And Colombo's a a good sized place, as in it it it's walkable. Um it's quite charming, I think. It is, yeah. They I mean it's colonial, so it depends whether that's your bag or not. Uh yeah, I did enjoy Colombo. And like you said, the tuk tuk. I remember getting a tuk tuk from the airport, it was bloody crazy. Was it your first experience of tuk-tuks? I'd I'd been on one in Thailand years ago, but it was my first experience of a tuk tuk for some time. And the guy's driving along, and then he starts kicking the tuk-tuk next to him. And I'm thinking, bloody hell we're gonna get in a fight, and then it turns out they were mates, and I was thinking, oh my god, but he's literally driving along with his leg out, kicking this tuk-tuk, and I'm thinking, what have I got myself into here? But yeah, luckily they were mates. As far as um Colombo goes, I try and I went, we went to I met this guy and we went to a museum one day, which was about the I think it was the history of Sri Lanka, which is quite interesting. I can't remember the name of the museum. Uh, and there was a big is it a department store that's uh just a lovely colonial building? Uh so it was really just architecture that I was paying attention to while I was in Colombo. What what were you up to? Was it different having the family or you did say you spent a weekend there as well? Although you and Stuart probably didn't get up very early and were just in bars.

SPEAKER_05 11:35

We did go out in bars quite a bit, yeah. We we we it was an opportunity to leave the kids with uh the the sort of housekeeper that they had. So we did go out, yeah, nightclubbing at least once, and we went to the cricket. There's gonna be a when we talk about my trip, there'll be a a lot of cricket involved, Dave.

SPEAKER_03 11:56

So and no, that's that's fine because uh you know I've been to India and I've been to Sri Lanka, and I know India's the one that everybody says is cricket crazy, and yes, I guess I went to Goa quite a bit, and the south, which maybe is less cricket crazy, but my experience was Sri Lanka is cricket crazy. Yeah. Uh in a in a nice way. Yeah, they both are. Yeah, they're totally obsessed by scratch of land that can be used, somebody's playing cricket on. If if there's a game on, it's on the TV. No, and you know, I I enjoy cricket, I I think it's lovely. Feel free to dive into any cricket anecdotes or games you played.

SPEAKER_05 12:36

Well, well, maybe we'll talk about that when we do. We're sort of going to do your trip around this time and we'll do mine maybe next time or in the second half, depending on how quickly we went through it all. Um but we did go to the cricketers cafe in um in fact I'm drinking tea from the mug, from the cricketers' cafe. Still remarkably long-lasting mug. I bought two and they're still in excellent condition. I was gonna say I'm st I'm drinking tea from there.

SPEAKER_03 13:01

I was thinking, God, that is long lasting.

SPEAKER_05 13:04

Um that was quite a nice place, and it's where the foreign cricket teams often hang out when they're there, you know, England and Australia and stuff will go and hang out there. So um so yeah, that was quite a good good place.

SPEAKER_03 13:17

The the you'll know this for sure, but I'm gonna try and guess. The cricket grounds, or remember, the cricket grounds in Sri Lanka are in Colombo, Candy, and Gaul. Is that right? Um the main ones, the test test playing grounds. Well, I missed one.

SPEAKER_05 13:32

I I think that they're not I think Gaul's been retired as a test playing ground, I think. Oh, that's it. That's a shape. That's a great location. Dambullah. I think there's a test in Dambullah as well, north of Candy.

SPEAKER_03 13:43

Yeah, no one heard of that one. Cool. Just for anybody who's would listen to this, just uh about the cricket. Thought I'd fill those, fill that in. Um so I mean I I'd kind of like covered my bit in Colombo, but sorry, carry on.

SPEAKER_05 13:57

Yeah, no, so Colombo, which way did you go on your road trip? Did you go clockwise or anti-clockwise?

SPEAKER_03 14:02

Clockwise, and you just saw I had to I actually had to draw for it to know which way's clockwise. Whereas I went the other way, so that'll be an interesting contrast. That will be interesting. So have you anything else to add on Colombo before I do my trip to Candy?

SPEAKER_05 14:17

I'll talk about some more later, uh, you know, when we do the other side of it, I think. Okay, if that's alright.

SPEAKER_03 14:22

Absolutely. Um so I got the train uh from Colombo to Candy. This was again, as I said, one of my earlier trips. I did no real pre-planning at all. So I got to the train station and I think I went the day before because I'd been advised to, uh, and the only ticket they had was first class, but I remember that costing about the the cost of a tube ticket, so I thought, well, I I I don't mind that much then. Um got the train up to Cat, and it was a glass fronted, if I remember correctly, big glass screens, every so you you know you had a really good view of the I can say there's a viewing carriage there, isn't there?

SPEAKER_05 14:59

But that's what you were in.

SPEAKER_03 15:00

That was it, I was in the viewing carriage, yeah. Uh and I don't remember that being a particularly hard or long journey, just really quite nice and pleasant. Uh I got to Candy and I was staying the far side of the lake.

SPEAKER_05 15:14

But there must have been some excellent views from that train, surely, up into the mountains or Colombo sprawls quite a long way, doesn't it? Quite early in the morning. I can't remember. Oh okay.

SPEAKER_03 15:25

I I honestly just I remember it being uh yeah, I remember it being nice, but I can't specifically remember. It was going uphill. I remember that. Yeah, definitely. And then I got to uh to Candy and I think I got a car round to the far side of the lake, which is past I think it's past a Buddha, it's past some sort of Buddhist area. I don't think it's the big Buddha because I think that's further up on the hillside, but there was something down by the lake which you could which I obviously didn't go and look at by the sounds of it. Um and then in Candy, I I was there with a a guy I'd met, and the highlight for me was we went to the botanical gardens, uh-huh, which is about I think we hired we hired a car to get out there, and it was maybe an hour or so to get there, so I'm guessing 30 miles, something like that, maybe a bit less.

SPEAKER_05 16:13

And the botanical gardens did they have all sorts of foreign trees like oaks and ashes and stuff.

SPEAKER_03 16:19

Like like no willows and it was exactly what I wanted it to be, which was all the stuff we have to keep inside at our botanical gardens were outside and so much bigger, uh, as in you know, when they're in their natural environment, you can just everything gets wow. And you know, I'm quite a I like plants, I like gardens. Uh and it was the first time I'd been to a botanical garden outside of the UK. Uh, and I've done a I try, I haven't done that many since, but I always like to if I come across one with spots, yeah. Yeah, or got a good reputation. Uh, because it was a brilliant day, spent the whole day there. There was a downpour in the afternoon, but that was great because they had a cafe. You could sit outside at the cafe, and I just remember sheets of rain just running off the roof down in front of us. I can't remember if I was having coke or coffee. I wasn't having tea. I know. I was in Sri Lanka, but still wasn't drinking tea. Just thinking, wow, this is the life. Just absolutely feeling warm, feeling dry, having had a lovely time wandering around. Reclining on some colonial teaking with a fan waller. Exactly, I was gonna say with my feet on a local, but yeah, uh somebody fanning, no, not quite. Uh it was just really, really lovely, relaxed thing to do.

SPEAKER_05 17:36

And then it's good to just take the time, isn't it? You don't want to be I mean, it's too hot and humid often to be rushing around touristy all the time. You know, you need to ch pamper yourself, Dave, a bit.

SPEAKER_03 17:46

Well, absolutely. And you know, when you've got a month you can do that, you you don't have to rush everything all over the place.

SPEAKER_01 17:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:52

Um, and I guess maybe I was starting to learn that the longer you have, you can take take your time doing stuff, you're not having to cram everything in. And then food-wise, I remember we found uh a nice uh Indian restaurant, so we ate there a couple of times. Indian restaurant rather than a Sri Lankan restaurant. It was Indian. I don't remember having that many Sri Lankan meals while I was out there, to be honest. I know you're gonna you that's maybe an area that you could cover. Yeah. Um I am gonna talk about Sri Lankan food. I must I must have had some, but I just don't really remember they they didn't really sort of like strike me. There was one I had later on in the trip, but I remember being absolutely lovely. Again, it was a curry type thing, but it was a Sri Lankan curry. Uh but other than that, nothing else sticks in my mind. You've been listening to Unravel Travel on Sri Lanka. And I only really you didn't go to Candy, did you?

SPEAKER_05 18:50

No.

SPEAKER_03 18:51

Uh so that that was kind of like all I did in Candy was go to the botanical gardens and sort of wander around the area a couple of times. Uh and then the next thing um was a a bit of advice that your brother gave me. I went to the Knuckles Forest. Did you go there at all? I don't think so, because that was not we didn't get as far north as that. Yeah, because this was further north from Candy. Uh and actually, while we're on the subject of north, this is why my one big regret because I didn't know how long it was going to take me. I ended up getting to the south with two weeks left. So I spent two weeks on the beach at the south. And in hindsight, if I was doing it again, I would have gone right to the north.

SPEAKER_05 19:31

The Jaffna Peninsula.

SPEAKER_03 19:32

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_05 19:34

It was probably safe enough by then, wasn't it? It wasn't really safe enough when we were there.

SPEAKER_03 19:39

Yeah, it was safe uh when I was there. Or yeah, it was safe when I was there. Probably safer than it is now, because I think it might have flared up again recently. Um so it's a that was a shame that I didn't do that. But at the time I wanted to make sure I wasn't going to get stuck anywhere and still early on in my travelling days. You can always go back again, Dave. Well, and that's what I thought, and I planned to do it, and then you had the economic issues that Sri Lanka was going through, so it's not been somewhere I've gone. Uh, and now because this is so close to um retiring and being able to come on these trips with me, uh, I think I'll hold off because I think it's a place she would really like. Um I think it's a place everybody would like to be honest.

SPEAKER_05 20:22

It's got the shape of a jewel, and it's like a jewel in the Indian Ocean, isn't it? I mean, I don't I didn't I didn't read that somewhere, I just made it up.

SPEAKER_03 20:29

Yeah, I believe you. Um I mean I've not seen enough of India to know for sure, but I I Sri Lanka head and shoulders above what I saw of India so far. I I really like Sri Lanka.

SPEAKER_05 20:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:43

And I'd love to go back, so I I will. Um so yeah, so I went to the Knuckles Forest uh and it was like a safari or just uh wandering around trails or 'cause it's quite a big area. It was just wandering around trails. Um I didn't really I'd probably in hindsight I'd have been better off taking a guide. Um actually no, just a minute. I'm trying to remember all these trips merge. I think I did take a guide on that. I met up yes, I think that was it. It was either there or it was in India, but let's pretend it was in Sri Lanka because I think it was. I met up with this Indian guy, which is why I think it was Sri Lanka. I know that sounds bizarre, but there was an Indian guy and his girlfriend, and she did a cookery course at the place we were staying, and we went out and did the early trek. We were going to do a trek, and then because she was doing the cookery course, they said, Well, do it earlier, then you can come back and eat everything that she's cooked. Which sounded like an ideal uh turning down that exactly. I did eat Srankan food, and it was really good. Uh, so we just yeah, we did a hike through terraces, don't remember them being tea terror uh tea plantations, but yeah, through terraces. Saw um a highly a viper, I think, so a highly venomous snake, and but just had a A generally really nice walk. I've completely forgotten I'd done that one because the one that came to mind was I just went out the back of the place with my sat nav and just sort of went and did a linear walk and then came back, which is never that great.

SPEAKER_06 22:14

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:15

I was a bit worried about getting lost, so I thought, well, as long as I do linear, I know I can always find my way back. Uh but I think that just proves that a guide is best, not just because you you won't get lost, but just because they know the best routes, they can show you the best stuff. Uh, because that was that was a far better way of doing things. And then we yeah, we came back and we got to eat all this lovely sort of four or five courses of Sri Lankan food. Sounds great. Um, and then from Knuckles Forest back down to Candy. Uh I think I just spent one night there, and then this is where the travelling isn't so good. Uh, because I got the train to uh I think it was Newar Elia next. Um, and the problem with that one was uh it's something like a seven-hour train journey. Blimey. It's not very far.

SPEAKER_05 23:09

Looking at the member, it's like 50 kilometers. Although it's quite mountainous, though, isn't it, in that area?

SPEAKER_03 23:16

Yeah, exactly. Maybe it was certainly more than four. Uh I remember maybe it was five, six, it was a long journey, and it's supposed to be and is, I'm sure, one of the most beautiful scenic train journeys in the world. So I'm just going, oh, brilliant, looking forward to this. This'll be stonking. This will be amazing. Get on the train, standing room only. And the problem with standing room, even when you're only my height, is you can't see through the windows. Uh, because you're if you're looking down, or you can if you're not through the window, you're just looking down on the track. And the reason was it was Chinese New Year, so it had this big influx of Chinese tourists. Um, and uh, they'd obviously seen this is the most beautiful journey, train journey in the world, and everybody was doing it. Uh, and I I wasn't able to buy a ticket in advance. I think all the tickets had maybe sold in advance or whatever. Again, this comes down to not doing the proper planning, not knowing wanting to keep things common. I was still in the flexible exactly, but uh it was really how I I was traveling how I used to travel in 2003, 2004, when you could do everything last minute. These days you just can't because people can book things in advance, they can book accommodations in advance and then cancel them last minute. You it's a lot harder to do things last minute. So these days I book things. Um, but yeah, it was an interesting journey. Got chatting to some Chinese people who thankfully spoke English. Uh so it was a fun journey, but it was a long way to be standing and a complete waste of the most beautiful train journey in the world. And the idea is because it's through the mountains, through the plant tea plantations, and just stunningly gorgeous and green and all that sort of stuff. Um, but when I finished that, I decided that I was gonna get a bus to the next one, which was to I'll come back to Noah earlier. But the next leg of the journey was to Ella. Uh and I thought, well, I'm just not risking that again. I'm gonna get a bus because they can't make you stand on the bus, can they? Which was a bit naive. But but I did manage to get a seat on the bus. And that was uh, you know, in hindsight, that that was just as beautiful because it was through w winding mountain roads through the tea plantations, took ages, but I don't mind bus journeys taking ages if uh you're getting to see some of the countryside. Um so Ella, Elia. Uh I again stayed in a um a hostel, met some people, and uh did some hikes and that sort of stuff, went to uh did a tea plantation tour, went to uh it's uh I think it was run by a Scottish Max MacLeods rings a bell. I think yeah, I'm pretty certain it's McLeods. Uh and that was interesting, so that's the first time I've been to um a tea factory.

SPEAKER_05 26:02

Yeah, I we did a a sort of colonial tea tasting tour of the of the picking and then tasting thing as well. Probably the same place.

SPEAKER_03 26:12

Um could well be. Uh I mean there's a few of them, but the McLeod seems to be the one that the people get taken to. And you know, I'm a coffee drink. I did. I'm I'm a coffee drinker, but I I don't mind decent I just don't put milk in tea. Um don't put milk in anything. But if it's decent tea, you know, I I quite like it drinking it black or maybe with a bit of lemon in it. I certainly like a bit of oil grey, it's quite nice. Uh so yeah, that that was interesting, just seeing the whole process and tasting the teas at the end, because they were nice.

SPEAKER_05 26:41

Yeah, I I found the process interesting as well. But and lots of old sort of Victorian type equipment, which I love to see, all the old sort of stuff still grinding up everything and you know, drying it and all that sort of stuff. The tasting was what I found rather a strange experience, like some sort of lab type room and a whole row of teacups, and you're tasting it cold and spitting it out, yeah, you know, and that sort of stuff. It's not it's not, you know, it's not sitting down in a cafe and having a a a couple of truckers, is it?

SPEAKER_03 27:13

Yeah, well, remind me, I know you've done a wine uh tasting and you've we've done the episode on it, haven't we? Uh but I also remember asking you, did you spit it out? And you went, No. Not doing the wine tasting, no, doesn't it? Sounds like you don't really like doing it on the tea tasting either.

SPEAKER_05 27:31

Well, uh well, it was cold and black, and I prefer mine like Trucker's style, so yeah.

SPEAKER_03 27:36

Loads of milk in it. And warm. Well, yeah. Actually, I don't mind I could see how the cold would work because the flavour. Iced tea is a thing, isn't it, in that part of the world. I mean, yeah. Just not with milk in it. Yeah, have I made my phone.

SPEAKER_05 27:51

Iced tea, definitely not with milk, no, definitely not.

SPEAKER_03 27:54

And then, yeah, so I I can't remember much more about uh Ellie. I know there's Horton's Pla Plains National Park there, and I regret not going to that. Uh so that will be something to do when I go back again. Um and then there's the uh I then went to Ella, as I said, by the bus. Um when I got to oh Ella was the one which had the backpacker vibe, so it was almost like being in Thailand, it had street a whole street of um fast food places. So I felt in my element there uh I could go and go and get a burger, go and get pizza, you know. It was nice. Met some people there, um, and that's when we did a we went to uh Little Adams Peak, because I think Adams Peak is in the Horton Plains, and I didn't feel like my leg was up to doing a long walk there. But there's a Little Adams Peak, which is a lot shorter walk, and I met a couple of people, actually, it was more than a I was uh sort of chilling out with a couple of people anyway, and then we got a bigger group. We said we were gonna go there, and I think the group of us was probably five-six people at the end, and it kind of like you you've seen the beach, haven't you? Yeah, we've mentioned name tricked it a few times. We have uh where it had they had this hand-drawn map of this where this mystical beach was. Well, we ended up with a a hand-drawn map of where Little Adam's Peak was. And how did that work for you? Well, yeah, I I I wasn't a huge fan, uh, but you know, needs must, and that's all we had. Uh, because it was before Google Maps would have had anything covering anything like that. And that this so this band of intrepid uh foreigners, uh all from different nations, headed off following an international expedition, eh? Well, yeah, actually, yeah. I like your your thinking. Um, and the start of it is you're wandering along this railway line, and I think that's it. We're certainly not going to get lost while we're following a railway line.

SPEAKER_05 29:59

You join a very narrow bridge and get halfway across. Oh, have you done you've done this one? You did the hike as well, didn't you?

SPEAKER_03 30:06

Is that what happened? That's what happened. Uh so it is a railway line, becomes a very non-well, when I say narrow, it's basically the track. Yeah. And then of course you hear the and you know, have you you seen um the Stephen King film Stand By Me? I know. Similar, it's not a horror. Stand by me is not a horror. No, I haven't seen it. Let me just say that. Coming of age, it's a coming of age film, and it felt very like that. The only difference is there they they had to sort of jump to their feet because they were listening to the tracks to hear if it was definitely a train and then sort of sprint off. We had to break into an almost brisk walk to outrun the train. It doesn't sound quite as exciting. It it wasn't. They're not particularly fast. Uh then what we would have done. Well, I suppose if it one was coming the other way, we would have just turned round, but luckily we were going the same way as the train. Uh, but yeah, all very exciting, or not so exciting stuff. Uh, and then from there, it wasn't, even though it was a hand-drawn map, it really wasn't that difficult because basically Ella Rock is the high point, so you just followed a trail upwards. And then at the top, it was it was a really nice, cool uh vibe about it. Met a couple of um gymnasts, although they're probably I wanted to say circus performers, which they I think they probably were, they were that sort of gymnast, uh, and sort of he was holding her up on one hand, and they're you know, and it didn't feel show-offy, alright, because you know that sort of thing can feel a bit much, but maybe I'd been chatting to them first or whatever. And it was just a quite a nice hippie-ish, uh relaxed uh type of vibe there. So that was all a very, very nice day. Not the most difficult of treks or whatever, but just nice, almost felt like a fellowship doing it, and having the little hand-draw map just made the whole thing more old school. And obviously, you've all kept in touch and uh not really, obviously. Uh but I'm friends with some of them on Facebook, uh, about three, three or four of them, still friends. Although I I as I don't even reply to your posts most of the time. I don't really like replying in public, uh, so I don't reply uh to any of them uh when they send their posts, but it is nice to see what they're up to.

SPEAKER_05 32:31

So when you tell them about this, they can comment to say if it were if it really happened or not, or whether they had to sprint to avoid the train, or there was no train incident at all.

SPEAKER_03 32:40

There's no train at all, it was a ghost train in my memory.

SPEAKER_05 32:47

You've been listening to Unravel Travel in Sri Lanka.

SPEAKER_03 32:51

And then from uh Ella, I wanted to do a well, I think again, Stu might have recommended this, uh, but I I've always liked doing safaris. We've done uh an episode on safari, um, and I went to Yala, which I think you went to Yala as well. Yep. Yeah, because we mentioned that in the other episodes, so I'll keep this brief, but um I wanted to see leopards uh and uh that is the place to go and see leopards. I've seen them in Africa, but it was at night. Here you see them during the day, um, and it was absolutely brilliant. Um stayed on uh a place not that far from Yala, and the guy came and collected me, a very rustic bungalow, uh, on stilts above a lake uh that had I don't know if they were crocodiles or they were cayman or but you know they were of the same type.

SPEAKER_01 33:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 33:46

Um but you know, you're on stilts, and I actually only saw them the far side of the lake. Oh, and while I was there, met some locals, one of them offered to drive me around the local area on the back of his scooter. So I sort of said, Well, how much how much do you want? He goes, Oh no, no, no, just just as a friend, just as a friend. Okay, fair enough. Oh yeah. What else did he want? Well, I was happy to pay him anyway. Uh and it was quite a nice way to um to drive around a city. We drove all the way around the lake because it was quite a big lake anyway. Uh, and then at the end we we met up with some of his mates and they said, Uh, have you tried a rack? And I said, Uh no, uh, I haven't tried a rack, but I'd like to, because you know, it's the local brew. Uh yeah, yeah, absolutely. This will be a good way of getting some, you know, getting one which is nice or whatever. And I I said, Well, they said, Would you like to? I said, Yeah, yeah. So I said they said, Oh, well, we can go to this place and buy it. I said, Okay, how much how much do you need? And sort of I don't know, gave him twenty quid or something to get some, maybe it was a tenor, I can't remember. And he said, Oh, I'll let me buy two bottles. Well, I don't need any more.

SPEAKER_05 34:59

So two bottles it is then. If he if you're having a bottle each, you're not going back on the moped.

SPEAKER_03 35:05

Exactly. Um, but no, that was a and you know, nice bunch of lads, quite young uh lads from memory, sort of, you know. They they probably I don't know if they were working or whatever, but it felt felt like there wasn't a lot for them to be doing. You know, it was just nice mixing with locals and sort of getting to see the area in a way that you wouldn't, and then having a bit of a drink at the end of it. And yeah, getting back on the moped at the end, although I think I was very close to where I was staying.

SPEAKER_05 35:32

So after your Arak hangover had worn off, Dave, what did you do after Yala?

SPEAKER_03 35:38

Oh, I ended up going to the the south and had about two weeks uh along the whole of that south uh coast of Sri Lanka. It was it was it was nice, uh nice beaches. Uh did some scuba diving. Did some scuba diving there. I I think I started in Tangeli Beach and I I stayed at a place with a swimming pool and I just chilled. I think I'd I'd done quite a lot up until that point, so I was happy just to spend two, three days just chilling. And I don't really remember doing very much there. Uh, but then I moved on down to Unawatuna, which I think you might have been to. Yeah. And that was where I did the scuba diving. Um, and it was on the back of me, obviously having scuba done the liverboard when I was um in uh Bali and uh the Ghilly Islands. Uh so they allowed me to go down to 30 metres, which I'm not proud of. I don't think I'd well I wouldn't do it these days. Uh, but there was um an old British steamer wreck that was 30 metres down, and when they looked at my logbook of the dives I'd done, they said, Oh, you could do this one. I'm going, really? Okay. Was this off off on a watuna on on the reef on the yes, almost with well, with you could see the shoreline, so it's not very far out at all. Okay. Um, it I guess it just drops away quite quite steeply. I I certainly wouldn't do uh a diving uh a dive of a wreck if you have to go inside it or anything, but basically this is just the the shell of it. Uh from my recollection, I could see a big the steam wheel uh and you just either went around it or over the top of the wheel. The paddle wheel thing. The paddle uh yes, yeah, exactly. Uh and you know that was some that was a nice thing to do. I did three or four dives while I was in Sri Lanka. Again, from memory, um all the trips do merge a little bit after a while, but I I think I just got a tuk-tuk there each morning um and did a did a dive and then came back in the afternoon and just chilled.

SPEAKER_05 37:37

So was the dive place actually in the bay of Unuatuna somewhere, or was it at a different uh like a little port somewhere outside Unuatuna?

SPEAKER_03 37:46

Pretty certain it was in the Bay Bay area of it. Uh and I can't remember how I found them. They're perfectly acceptable. I've I think it was just me with the dive master each time. I don't remember meeting anybody else while diving. In fact, that that was where I stayed at a hostel but had my own room uh and I don't really remember talking to an awful lot of people while I was there. You know, i i it was just one of those things uh maybe the crowd was a lot younger doing other stuff, so we just didn't really meet. But I was you know, I was fine by then. I'd already spent three weeks in in the place and was quite happy having my own company.

SPEAKER_05 38:23

And we stayed there as well, um, in some sort of like little hostel stroke hotel, um, which Stuart it was a regular place that Stuart went because it's obviously not too far from Colombo, relatively easy to get to down the coast. Yeah. And um he used to go there quite often. So we stayed at the same place. In fact, they came down with us, I think, or they met us there for a day or something like that. Um but it's a really nice it's one of those classic sort of bays, isn't it? Co coconut palms and lovely sand, etc. Yeah. Uh with swimming and bodyboarding and that sort of stuff, and then um and then I did a snorkeling trip, but I I went out with a with a boat onto sort of the reef at the edge of the bay, and looking down onto there was some sort of wreck down there, but it wasn't it wasn't as far out as you're describing, and I wouldn't have been able to see down 30 metres very well, I don't think so. But that was quite good. Yeah, they just dropped me over the side of the boat and they went off to look at something else and left me left me swimming around out there on my own. Slightly disconcerting, but uh but it was fine.

SPEAKER_03 39:27

Well, true. At least when you're scuba diving. Well, okay, when you're underneath water, you always want to be with your buddy, but when you're on the top, at least you've got the your BCD inflated, so you you don't feel like you're ever going to drown when you're scuba diving. Yeah, that's true. Whereas if you're alone snorkeling, I don't like going too far from the boat just in case. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 39:46

And and I'm um well, I definitely couldn't, it was quite deep, and um and I'm always slightly worried about other boats in the area because it was you know nothing particularly visible on Kirsty McCall. Kirsty McCall exactly, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 39:59

So yeah, but it was a nice place. Yeah, it's very nice. I mean, I was uh you know doing the research to remind myself of the trip, I just did a search on um shipwrecks uh around Unawatuna, and there's loads. So I couldn't believe how many there were. Uh I and I'm my recollection from when I was there was that the steamer had actually been sunk intentionally. Uh so I think they used to do that uh when they were at the end of their useful life. They just sort of put them in semi-deep water and forgot about them. Yeah. Um, which is not great, but then on the other hand, th these days it supports life. Uh corals starts to form, that sort of thing.

SPEAKER_05 40:42

Haven't they been recent didn't the Americans s deliberately scuttle some sort of battleship or or aircraft carriers uh for scuba diving somewhere, I think.

SPEAKER_03 40:52

I didn't hear that, but it wouldn't surprise me at all. Yeah, I mean it takes a while, but eventually you get life built up on it. So as long as you put it in a place where it's not going to um you know get in the way of shipping lanes, and I guess as long as you strip anything that's likely to be toxic or whatever, then uh it's probably a reasonable I'm willing to be corrected, but it's probably a reasonably good thing to be doing for the ecology.

SPEAKER_05 41:16

Yeah, I'm wondering how different that coast was. We should compare photos sometime to when I was there because I was there just a few months, six months maybe before the tsunami. Yeah. And of course it decimated that coast.

SPEAKER_03 41:30

I remember being told about it while I was out there, and they were saying it had just begun to get back to how it was before. Uh because uh that would have because the tsunami is that the tsunami that hit Thailand as well?

SPEAKER_05 41:46

2004 Chris Boxing Day.

SPEAKER_03 41:48

Well, oh yes.

SPEAKER_05 41:49

So on the verge of 2005.

SPEAKER_03 41:51

I knew I knew it was a year after I'd been in Thailand, but of course, yeah, it was Boxing Day, you're right. Um and I was there 20 uh 17, so it had quite a long time to recover. But as I as I said, it surprised me when it was so long, and they said that it only just got back to how it had been. Yeah. Um, and then from Unawatuna, I remember I thought about going to stay in Gaul, um, but I couldn't really find any accommodation that was probably suited my pocket. That was that was that must have been galling. Oh dear, dear. He's here all week. But uh the bus was easy. I just got a date, uh, a bus there, wandered around for the day, uh taken in the side. I remember it being very, very hot. Um, and that's the other thing we didn't really mention about Ella and Elia is it's so much uh easier climate to be in. Uh cooler. That's cooler. Yeah, absolutely. And particularly down in Gore, I found that hot. So I uh you know, I wandered around, stopped at cafes, that sort of thing. I didn't do too much walking.

SPEAKER_05 42:53

Did you spend much time in the fort? I mean the fort's fantastic.

SPEAKER_03 42:57

Yeah, yeah, just wandering around, yeah, just chilling, basically. Um I think I just found a bench and just sort of chilled out. I might have taken a book with me or something. Was there any cricket on on the no there wasn't the whole of the time I was in Sri Lanka? I'm pretty certain that I that I watched some cricket, but I think it might have been Sri Lanka against India in India. I don't think there was any cricket on or no international cricket on at the time. Right. Um which is a bit of a shame because I probably would have gone along if uh you can sit on the wall of the county, can't you?

SPEAKER_05 43:27

In in uh in Gaul and and watch from the wall of the fort, I think. It's right up against the wall of the fort, isn't it? That's it. Okay, no, I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_03 43:35

Yeah, that would have been good. Um and then from there, I don't I didn't go back to Colombo, I remembered now. Basically realised that I could get it was quite a long journey, but I thought I'd see Colombo, and I spent a whole day travelling back to the airport, and my flight was early the next day, so I basically just stayed in uh an airport uh uh hotel at the airport.

SPEAKER_05 43:57

So we did that on our way back as well, some cheap hotel at the airport, which was fine.

SPEAKER_03 44:01

Yeah, exactly. I mean what what else you got if the only other the other way of doing it is do a moderately long journey and then a night in Colombo and then a moderately long early journey to the airport. So I just rather get it all the travelling behind me. Yeah. I mean I got I got there at something like four or five in the afternoon, went out for um found a ri reasonably nice. I did have a look another look, I can't remember what I ate, but I ate Sri Lankan food, which was quite nice. Uh and then, you know, early to bed and up early the next morning, which I remember was my birthday. Um so I m it must have been make you a cake. No, it didn't upgrade me on the plane either. So it must have been uh most of the holiday must have been in February then, actually. Probably three weeks in February, and the other week was end of January. Uh that that was the end of my trip. Um, but as you've hinted at, uh there was stuff that I've missed, and uh I'm definitely wanting to go back there.

SPEAKER_05 44:54

Okay. Well that's really interesting, Dave. Let's come back and talk some more about Sri Lanka next time.

SPEAKER_03 44:59

Yep, we can cover the aspects of uh your trip. Um because I think there's quite a lot that we didn't cover uh that you'd done. So yeah, really nice uh going back over all of that. It's made me it's wetted my appetite to go back out there because it by the time I'm out there it'll be ten years, because it's obviously almost ten now, it'll be ten back next February. Uh so yeah, it'll I'll be well ready to go again. Yeah, good. Speak to you all soon. Bye, everybody.