Sri Lanka

          Normally I would start a post with a brief outline of “The Three W’s” of our current Port. You will have to wait a bit for that information because first I am going to apologize, explain, and give you all some traveling hints. I deliberately did not say “traveling advice” because advice can only come from someone who knows decidedly more about something and who has also considered your personal preferences on a subject, hence I will use “Hints”.

                   The backstory.

                   When we first enrolled ourselves in this World Cruise deal, we were really looking forward to seeing and experiencing each and every port to the best of our limited time ability. That feeling has not changed but the modus operandi of it has morphed considerably. If you go back to the beginning of the Posts and read about this subject you will see where I was singing the praises of using a Princess Tour for all the right reasons, one of which, the guarantee of getting us back to the ship before it sails, is a huge one.

                             It is a safe decision.

                             Albeit, it come with costs, and one of those is what happened to us yesterday.

                             Hence, my Explanation and subsequent Apology.

                             We had booked ourselves on the Highlights of Columbo, Columbo being the Capital and largest city in Sri Lanka. You may think that that decision would be a good one, and at times, it may be. What we have come to discover is that any “Highlights” or “Best of” tour is a veiled description for mediocrity. And, in our case on this particular voyage of four months, one should have figured out that the average age of our fellow voyagers would be considerably higher than what may be considered agile (because one needs to be retired or ‘old’ to take this much time off!). I will state that we’re no spring chickens, but we can move with the best of them and are capable of traveling at a good pace. By now you know where I’m going with this as I’ve commented on it before, mostly in jest.

But now It’s serious.

After this much time on board and with half of our ports already visited, I can speak with some authority on this subject. Consequently, yesterday we knew in advance what we were going to experience on this “Highlights” tour, and unfortunately, we were prematurely underwhelmed, and it cast a pall on the day. It is hard to start into something when you know that it will not in any way meet your new, higher expectations and desires.

Besides, it was a cloudy day, and the photo opportunities were notedly thin as we did not get anywhere interesting.

I’m afraid that all of this has tainted this post with its mediocrity.

Now that the apology and explanation are dispatched with, I will give you our “hints” and promising outlook for the future.

                   Just as with driving the Motorhome around the country, our best times have been off the beaten path. Get out of where everyone else is going, try a different route, away from the touring masses.

                   Now there’s something to consider…. Are we tourists, or travelers?

                   When we started out, we were definitely Official, Card Carrying, Camera around our neck, Tourons. We are desperately trying to move closer to a Traveler identity and it has come with the help of some of our new friends on board. We have met tons of Tourists, and just a few Travelers.

                   In order to enter the Traveler category one must be willing to press the boundaries of your comfort level. I am not good at this, and I know it! This is where some guidance from someone you trust comes in really handy!

                   Let’s take Harold and Sherry for example. I don’t know where they haven’t been. Sometimes it seems like everywhere!

          Do they take Princess Tours?

          Sure they do, but they try to find the ones that are not cattle-car  events. This comes with experience.

          Do they strike out on their own like, “We’re just gonna get a taxi and head into town.”

          Yup…. They do that a lot.

          Do they use another reputable tour company like Viator or Tours by Locals?

          Definitely!

          And this is what we’ve done for the vast majority of the remainder of our cruise. With their help and along with Sandra and Darla, we have scoured the rest of the ports using Tours by Locals to find interesting and immersive experiences to throw ourselves into.

          “But Don, what about the possibility of missing the ship?”

                             That does enter the equation but there are some safety nets built into these decisions like…. What are the chances that it will really happen?

                             Answer: Slim to none, but still….

                   What will they do about it?

                             Answer: They will put you up and get a flight for you to re-join the ship.

                             Hmmm….. not something that you would want to happen, but at least it’s something!

                             In today’s age of Internet Information and Ratings, it’s hard to fool everyone for an extended period of time. These guys have been in business for years and have garnered more Five-Star Ratings than the Chatterbox ever did!

                             So, it now comes down to a ‘comfort level’ that should only increase with experience. We are thankful for Harold and Sherry’s experience being passed along to us to ride on until we get our own, which I am sure will be by the end of this voyage.

                             Now that That is all out of the way, I can say with some conviction that the rest of the World Cruise will be something to experience. There are no more “Best of” tours booked (we are still on a few Princess tours, but they are specific in nature) and although these decisions to go “Private” comes with some added expense, it is not enough to break the financial bank, and has the distinct ability to add to the “Immersion and Satisfaction Bank”!

                   So let’s get on with it!

Sri Lanka or Ceylon?

                             I guess that it depends on when you were born and subsequently attended school.

          The first question would be, “Was Geography taught as a subject?”

                             The second question would be when?

                             Ceylon became Sri Lanka in 1978 and there was a whole lot going on for the last few hundred years for that name to change. Like any other country in this area of the world, its history is entwined with the three main seafaring countries of old Europe. The Dutch, Portuguese, and finally the British have held sway over this area, each leaving visible and social evidence of their one-time dominance.

                             I will say that Sri Lanka could be the friendliest place that we have visited. Granted we were in a fancy tour bus, which identified us as such, but I doubt if random construction workers in NYC would stop and wave at a tour bus there! We experienced this many, many times over the day! We only made a few stops on this half-day tour, the Museum, a Temple, a nice hotel where all the tours met for a light lunch, and a very nice State-Run Souvenir Shop, where we did drop some rupees!  (It was about 3000 rupees to $10.00 US.)

                             Speaking of rupees, Sri Lanka has the second highest per capita income in Southeast Asia, but it is not high compared to the rest of developed countries where it ranks 117^th, with a dollar index between $2500 and $5000. This was not readily obvious from our tour but remember we were in the largest city and the capital, to boot. And…. In the nicer part of town. After speaking with some of our friends who went to visit an elephant preserve about two hours away who were able to see firsthand the poverty level of the folks outside the city, we realized that what we had witnessed was not the norm for the country.

                                      Sri Lanka’s modern history dates back a few thousand years but there is evidence of human occupation that is around 125,000 years old. If you look at the top left of Sri Lanka, (especially from space) in the northwest corner of the country, you can see a long set of limestone shoals and islets that when the sea level was lower, provided a land-bridge over to mainland India. There are many speculations about this “bridge” and its influence on the pre-history of Sri Lanka as its names, Adam’s Bridge (as in Adam and Eve) or Rama’s Bridge. Rama is one of the major deities in Hinduism. In the Rama-centric traditions of Hinduism, he is considered the Supreme Being. So, it would seem that at least in the days of the past, this land-bridge theory had its supporters!

                                      We stopped at the Sri Lanka Museum which holds many of the countries past archeological finds. As in any civilization or country, keeping track and studying these relics of the past is an important part of their culture. The displays were in three languages, Sinhala, and Tamil which are the official languages, and the third is English which is a recognized language. The Sinhalese make up about 75% of Sri Lankas population and are primarily Buddhists, while the Tamils make up most of the remainder of the population and are primarily Hindus. Evidence of both cultures was widely on display in the Museum.

                                      We also visited another Buddhist Temple, but we did not go inside. We were not dressed appropriately, and we knew that before we left our stateroom. Long pants and long-sleeved shirts were not something that we wanted to wear on this hot, humid day. Had we not experienced similar temples in Penang, I’m sure that we would have reconsidered. But as I said before, we were already not looking forward to this outing.

                   Had we to do this all over again, we would have gone out and hired a Tuk-Tuk and its driver to take us all around the city.

                   Lesson learned!