BANGLADESH - Dhaka/Chittagong (2008)

Dhaka:  21.10.2008

We spent last night in Kolkata at our house. It was indeed a good opportunity to meet my parents, albeit for a few waking hours only. Caught up on their latest treatments as well. Easwar stayed with me, sharing the bed.

We had an early-morning flight today morning at 7.00 am, which meant we left house by 4.15 am, startling the crows. Stopped on the way at Salt Lake to meet Panna’s mother and hand over a few gifts that I was carrying. She was very happy that I had visited practically their old homestead. I gave her a japa-mala made of jade beads.

We checked into Dhaka Sheraton with very little sleep under our belt, so crashed for an hour before getting ready and visiting the market. Dhaka is still the same younger Kolkata sort of place. Only the traffic is terribly congested and unruly now. However, there are some improvements as well. Rickshaws have been banned from a lot of roads. All autos are on CNG. A number of cars are of CNG as well, and I could feel the lessening of pollution compared to my visit 5 years ago. Running cost of CNG in city traffic seems to be around 2 taka per km against a pertrol consumption of around 4 taka per km. More smart youngsters on the streets. More restaurants to eat at (and not just Chinese).......

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Our evenings here are likely to be full. As it is the customers are open till 8.00 pm. At 8.30, our scheduled dinner host will land up promptly, straight from the shop, giving us just enough time to change into T-shirt and slippers. Today we went to a Thai/Chinese/Indian joint and ate Chinese and Indian mixed up.

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As expected, the people are fairly thrilled that I speak Bengali and open up immediately with issues that they would not have shared otherwise. The flip side is that they would have booked all our meals if they could and we could reduce the number only by skipping lunch every day and saving the appetite for dinner. After interacting so much in Bengali, I was getting infected by the sing-song intonation!

Dhaka:  22.10.2008

Working day here is more of ‘walking’ day, as the market is close to the hotel, so we go walking, and there also we walk around from shop to shop. Good in a way, as the exercise burns off the breakfast calories, as well as the calories in the 7-Up cans that we are sometimes lovingly wrapped around. Bengalis are very serious about hospitality, whether there is any business coming forth or not, and consider it a major mishap if a guest goes away from the premises without taking ‘something’.

Today also our day ended at 8.15 pm and our dinner hosts arrived at the hotel at 8.35 pm to take us to a ‘Chinese’ dinner which took place in Santoor – a totally Indian joint. Food was excellent. There was a local group of dealers around 8 in number who well all customers of our host, so he was probably showing off them to us and vice versa.

Tomorrow afternoon we plan to fly to Chittagong and return the following night.

Chittagong:  23.10.2008

Morning was a bit of catching up and revision work in the market. Our flight was at 4.00 pm and in spite of all the buffers that we had built in, we found that we had finally checked out of our hotel and boarded the taxi at 2.45 pm, expecting the journey to take around 45 mins! Anyway, the good news is that we caught the flight. It was a stressful period, though.
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A small propeller-driven plane, some clouds, green fields, muddy river Karnafuli, and we were landing at Chittagong one hour later. The customer’s car met us. Chittagong is also fairly challenged traffically and the jam started from the airport. The drive to this guy’s office had once taken 3.5 hours! However, today seemed to be an average day and we took only an hour for a road that should have taken 20-25 mins on a free day.

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While driving down, I had serious doubts about visiting Cox Bazaar tomorrow morning and driving back the same day to catch the 9.00 pm flight to Dhaka. CB is 4 hours driving distance and a total tooting around of 10 hours was not my idea of a holiday, even though CB did sport the longest beach in Asia (some 80 km of it). So what – you can’t see 80 km at a stretch anyway. So we cooked up a story about my needing to be in office on Saturday morning, in which case I needed to catch the night flight from Dhaka tomorrow night instead of day after, so could our tickets to Dhaka also be preponed to mid-day tomorrow? Our escort in the car obliged and even before we had reached the customer’s place, we had talked to our office in Muscat as well and re-aligned our departure.

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Chittangong visit was reduced to a 2-hour discussion and a visit to the premises. Peninsula Hotel 12th floor gave us a good view of the roads of Chittagong. We had dinner at the hotel itself and went to sleep anticipating a non-working day tomorrow.

Dhaka:  24.10.2008

The morning was a relaxed affair, thanks to the revised schedule that dropped the Cox Bazaar trip. Our customer was still disappointed (“Kichhui korte paarlaam na…”). A leisurely morning of report-writing followed by a leisurely drive to the airport along roads that were thankfully sparsely used today, being a Friday. The last approach to the airport is actually along a narrow single-track road that winds through hutments. And this for an international airport! Our aircraft was still the same propeller-driven one, with the air-hostess still serving biscuits and juice only. We landed in a wet Dhaka, where the temperature had gone down by at least 5 degrees.

.We had lunch at Sheraton itself. Easwar was still trying to avoid the people who were trying to get us for dinner, saying that we were still at Chittagong and were flying back only by the 5.00 pm flight and Mr Rajat certainly cannot attend any dinner-shinner and for himself he will confirm. We wanted to keep some time free for shopping and went to ‘Vasundhara’, a truly impressive mall near Sherton, 7 stories high with a full-fledged Cineplex and food-court. Being a Friday, the place was like a railway-station with the escalators groaning under the load of people coming in. We bought some Tangail sarees, which was a fast affair by women’s standards, but for us the half-hour spent was a very high level of commitment. Also picked up the ‘Friends’ series (copies of course). Bangladesh copies are supposed to be good.

.Easwar could not get his schedule preponed and is leaving next day. There is enough to occupy him still. He had scared me with his earlier experience of long security queues in Dhaka and I arrived in the airport with a fairly good safety factor of 2.5 hours. Picked up a collection of novels by Humayun, a famous writer of Bangladesh as per the shop-keeper.

.Signing off at the Emirates business lounge at Dhaka.
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MYANMAR - Yangon/Pegu (2008)

Yangaon: 17.10.2008

Even from the air, the countryside of Burma (sounds so much better than Myanmar) looked a lot like Bengal, although the latitude is more like Madras. Green, with lots of single-story houses. Although boasting of a swanky new airport inaugurated early this year, the roads remain simple, the vehicles very old and the tuk-tuks overcrowded..

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.What reminds one again of Calcutta are the old British government buildings, made of red brick, placed in huge compounds. Unfortunately, after the official capital was shifted to Napido (70 km away) some time ago, all the buildings are in heavy disuse, overrun by shrubbery and put up for lease. Apparently the Chinese are bidding for all of them.

Burma has a military government for the last 26 years. “The old general doesn’t die also”, exclaimed our customer. Although the junta government has ensured ‘safe streets’, the development of Burmese people in terms of education, or of industry in Burma is at a very poor stage. Its comprehensive range of imports is supported by export of fish, teak and precious stones. Its relationships are strong with Russia, India, China, Kuwait – ie whichever country not in the lap of the US. In fact, after the cyclone, the government had refused aid from UN and managed to revive based on funds from the business community.

Like Bangkok, Yangon was hot and sultry. People here said that the climate of Yangon area has changed after the big cyclone last year that wiped out around 70% of the trees in the region. After that both heat and dust have gone up in the city.

Overall the people are friendly, and quite good-looking. Cost of living is not very high, but availability of essential commodities sometimes becomes a problem. Like I mentioned earlier, cooking oil may suddenly vanish. Petrol and diesel are of poor quality and regularly spoil carburettors and oil-pumps. But a very peaceful place otherwise. The hotel we have put up in, Kandawgyi Palace is actually like a palace and situated by a lake; so the view from the window is really very nice. But there are only two other 5-stars here, one of which is a branch of this one.

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.Panna’s mother’s family had migrated to India from Burma during the Japanese aggression. They used to live in Pegu, a city 40 km (around 1 hour drive) away from Rangoon. Will try to pay a visit on Sunday and take some photos of the current Pegu.

After one customer visit in the morning, we came back to the hotel and had a Thai/Burmese lunch. Everything very tasty but also very spicy. I had, in a misplaced spirit of bravado, ordered a dish prepared in ‘hot chilly sauce’. Hoo-hoo. “Spicy, no?” asked the waitress sympathetically, not at all deceived by our jolly grinning faces, and replaced our sodden napkins with fresh ones.

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We were picked up by a second customer after lunch for business discussions. He was of Chinese origin. More than half the population of Myanmar constitute people of Chinese and Indian origin. Prior to 1980, Indian population dominated. However, after the current junta government took over and most of the infrastructure was nationalised, a large chunk of the Indians left, who were in service in various departments here. Even in the current business community, Indians are just behind Chinese, with Burmese a poor third minority. There are around a 100 Bengali families still living here (told by a Gujrati friend, whose community had only 15 families left). The new Indian ambassador is also a Bengali (Alok Sen).

Yangaon: 18.10.2008

During the day, Yangon’s seams came out a little more. Dilapidated buildings, bumpy roads, ill-lit streets. Not that Myanmar’s revenues are dwindling. Around 10 billion USD per year from exports of gas, timber and jewels. However, it is mostly consumed by the military generals. There is also a strong ‘license raj’ in process. Licences to import are issued to only select few companies who then sell them for premiums to those wishing to import. The item whose control is heaven right now are new cars (import of used cars have been banned) and these licenses are held by a few people in government who hand them out as favours or even as a substitute for cash. Import prices of cars in Burma are 3 times higher than normal. Even GSM connections cost USD 2500 and are permit-based!......

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We visited the largest used-part market in the world. Around 10,000 sqm, with a variety ranging from small tail-lights to full-engines for trucks. Our Chinese customer is also a vehicle-manufacturer. From import of used components he is manufacturing a perfectly serviceable ‘Dagon Jeep’ of 2000 cc capacity! As it is, most of the vehicles on the road are 10-20 years old, due to the import problems, and are veritable rattletraps in the bargain. These small colourful jeeps (costing 10,000 dollars) make a very important fashion statement around here.

We were taken by a Tamilian-origin customer to an Indian restaurant and were treated to an excellent dinner. Although Easwar and I stuck to veg out of choice, it was a welcome relief. Our Tamil host spoke Tamil and Burmese. He was okay with Easwar. He had with him a Gujrati friend/partner, who was speaking Hindi and Burmese, and took care of me. Between themselves, our hosts spoke only Burmese! We also visited a very old Perumal temple, renovated recently, and offered puja for our families. The Burmese government are fairly sympathetic towards the religious practices of Hindus and there are 3-4 temples, including one for Durga Mata, where Dussera was celebrated mightily recently. Comparatively, Muslim religions do not receive as much sympathy, as per our hosts.

Pegu: 19.10.2008

Today was a Sunday, one that we had deliberately put aside for sight-seeing (not that we do not do it on working days, if it comes our way).

Today was a scheduled visit to Pegu (or Pago or Bago), around 60 km from Yangon. Apart from the fact that Panna’s mother lived there when she was young, before the family fled to India at the time of Japanese aggression, Pegu is well-known for its pagodas. In fact, Pegu and Tatho, an ancient port town around 200 km away, were the first places where Buddhist settlers from India landed and propagated the Buddhist culture. The area was originally called Suvarnabhumi and was an extremely rich place, fertile, full of precious stones, and the kings who greeted Buddha on his visit are depicted as bedecked in jewels and sitting in elaborate courts and palaces. Some of the palaces still exist, of course. These areas also had large Indian settlements (non-Buddhist as well). Myanmar is said to have more than 50,000 pagodas, big and small, and lower Myanmar, where the erstwhile Suvarnabhumi is situated, has the lion’s share. Buddhist spread to upper Myanmar slowly, along the river banks. While the statues of Buddha in upper Burma (closer to the Indian border) are mostly standing, those in lower Burma are mostly ‘sleeping’ or actually lying down with eyes wide open. There is one near Tatho that is 300 ft long and 75 ft high and has five stories inside.

We visited 5 pagodas in Pegu, the most famous ones, with varying architecture, some with domes and some without, some with sleeping buddhas and some sitting. In Pegu actually there are 3 big sleeping Buddhas – Diamond, Gold and Ruby. All the structures use the gold colour generously and they have mostly been renovated of course, where the original structure is left untouched, it shows up as a simple brick structure with vegetation growing out of it.
v Shwe Maw Daw
v Sein Tha Laung (sleeping – diamond)
v Double bird pagoda
v Mya Tha Laung (sleeping – gold)
v Min Tha Gone

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In all the places, families were arriving in their tuktuk buses (that is, Hilux with benches fixed to the back loading bed and stuffed to the gills with smiling Burmese). This being a Sunday, pagodas were sort of places of picnic and families were happily laying out tiffin carriers. Really, seeing pagodas were hot work and the tiles were gradually growing hotter. We called it a day and returned to Yangon.

Panna’s mother’s family were staying in a place that sounded like New Le Bin and meant ‘four banyan trees’. Our friend could not locate it exactly but said that the last two pagodas that we visited were in that general area and localities there were named after trees. The old house was not expected to be there now anyway.

We returned to Yangon and had lunch at the buffet set out in the Traders Hotel where Sunday was a special buffet day. Indeed the spread was fantastic, from oriental to continental to a bit of Indian as well. We sampled everything (except sushi) and felt like bursting. The cost was only USD 16 per head, cheap by our expectations.

After lunch, our host suggested a massage. This was a tricky one. We had no idea what a Burmese massage entailed and said diffidently that we did not feel like it on a full stomach. Our host said he was suggesting only a foot-massage which would be very relaxing. Okay, we said, that seemed down to earth anyway.

We parked at a ‘Reflexology Centre’ and after a bit if wait, were ushered into a dim room with four foam-cushioned reclining chairs which four of us clients occupied. The Burmese girls who gave us the massage were young and very thin. Where the thinness becomes relevant is that elbows are a major tool in a Burmese massage! The initial foot-washing and sole-massaging and toes-pulling were all very well but when they started pressure tactics on the sole with a pointed thing and then attacked calf muscles and lower thighs with their elbows and the bonier parts of their forearms, we did not find it very relaxing. Between the pokes that sometimes became severe tickles, I hoped they were working deeply inside the body that will bear fruit later on. Even at subconscious levels will do. Our host kept cracking jokes with the girls who giggled practically continuously and I am sure some of the jabs at my lower anatomy were more spasmodic that therapeutic.

After it was over and the girls had retired outside, our host smiled and said there was more to come. After half-an-hour of poking and prying, more to come? Yes, he said, hands-shoulders-neck, and the thin girls returned, cracking their knuckles. Having discovered all the sensitive points on my hands and arms, she finally stood on a stool and bore down on my neck muscles with her elbows! At the end of it all, I had aches in various parts of my body and was actually feeling quite relaxed, basically since I had been pretty tense all this time. An hour had passed quickly. I have to take the Thai foot massage now, if for nothing else than to revive my faith in massages, and to be reassured that there is also a school of massaging that rubs, instead of prodding.

A bit of rest, and another friend arrived at 7.30 pm to take us out to dinner. We were non-plussed as to how to tell him that we were not at all hungry. Luckily he took us to a roadside kebab joint doing roaring business Bare-miya style. The boti-kebabs and parathas were heavenly, soft and low in oil. Afterwards he asked: “Kidhar jana hai bhaiya – baal-waal katana hai to bolo.” We wordlessly dived into his car and sat tight till he followed suit and dropped us back to the hotel.

Yangaon: 20.10.2008

We are leaving for Kolkata today by a mid-day flight, reaching late afternoon. So we had decided that the big pagoda, Shwedagon, which is close to our hotel, can be visited for an hour this morning.

The premises are really huge – 114 acres, with the central shrines occupying 14 acres. The insides are teeming with structures, mostly golden coloured, but some, including the high central dome, plated with gold. There are more than 1000 buddha images in the temple, of varying shapes and sizes. We took a guide and spent around 45 mins going around.....

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A new thing I learnt was that the Buddists here recognise 4 Buddhas, with Gautama as the last and most revered. I do not remember the names of the first two, but the third was Kashyap (our mahamuni?). All four sit in the central area in four shrines, facing east, south, west and north in that order.
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The shrines also have small Buddha images for celebrating the worshipper’s day of birth (Sunday, Monday, etc). Each day has an associated planet and an animal. Mine turned out Venus and Guinea-pig. So I poured 9 cups of water on Buddha’s head, 3 cups on the Burmese King standing behind Buddha, 3 cups on the pillar behind signifying the planet concerned, and 3 cups on the guinea-pig.

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Hindu influence on the architects is also evident. There was one pagoda which was in the style of the Meenakshi temple. The decorations and ornamentations are quite intricate. Work on gold is there. Wooden pagodas have detailed filigree work. There are those financed by Thai people where mirror-work is predominant. There are also lot of picturisation of events on the walls and the workmanship on that is of relief type, with the human figures protruding at an angle with the result that from the waist up the figures are standing free.

However, this pagoda, although the most famous and is like a Mecca for Buddhists the world over, is not the tallest one. The first pagoda we visited in Pegu yesterday, Shwe Maw Daw, is taller by 14 metres. It is however, extremely popular. We were advised by the guide to come after dark as well as the temple lightings are superb. Won’t have a chance of doing that, though.

We are now waiting for the IC flight, which is late by 30 mins and will be full of Buddhists travelling to Gaya on a pilgrimage. For this reason the flight is going to Gaya first and then to Kolkata. Such a waste of time for us. Maybe they will make up a bit in the air.

LINK TO MYANMAR ALBUM

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THAILAND - Bangkok (2008)

Bangkok: 15.10.2008

My first visit to Thailand started on a groggy note as the midnight flight was for 3.5 hours and allowed for very little sleep.

Bangkok seemed to be a brother of Kuala Lumpur – same sort of streets, traffic, flyovers, MRTs. It is a bit more cheerful though. “The land of smiles” as the Thai promotional posters glibly announce. But the biggest turn-on in Bangkok is the food. Right from stalls to posh restaurants, the cooking is good and light. We had lunch at a food court in an industrial area for just 40 baht (~ 500 baiza) of pork in soya sauce with rice. We had a similar thing at night at a proper restaurant and the bill was the same! Amazing.......

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The whole day went in chasing one customer from one of his branches to another and we found ourselves at MKB finally, one of the biggest supermarkets in town, 7 stories high, with a MRT station attached. That place was wasted on us – totally meant for wives, though the floor-full of electronics and mobiles and software held us no end. Every product was cheaper than you would expect, varying from 10% to 50% cheaper than gulf prices. Goods mostly made in Taiwan. Easwar bought a dual-SIM gsm, with touch screen and TV, for just RO 45/-.

People here are friendly, but it is soooo difficult to understand their English. Becomes quite embarrassing sometime. The whole nation seems to be like my son before his tongue operation. Very nice to hear, but cannot understand a word.

In the morning, we also went to the Myanmar embassy and applied for Myanmar visa, where we were scheduled to travel 17th morning. I was talking to a Punjabi who had settled in Myanmar. Why was HE applying for visa? It seems most of the companies in Myanmar are unregistered, as registration fees are exorbitant, so the companies do not have labour clearance. Therefore he is working on a series of business visas for both himself and his family! The place is extremely safe to live in, he says, with crime practically non-existent, thanks to the government’s intolerant attitude towards criminals.

We had dinner at a restaurant at MBK itself and returned around 10.00 pm by Skytrain, which has a station fairly close to the hotel.

Bangkok: 16.10.2008

Another working day in Bangkok, with some sightseeing thrown in. We had a little time in the morning and went to see the Grand Palace and the big Sleeping Buddha, but as luck would have it, we reached at 12.00 noon and the premises were closed to non-Buddhists from 12.00-2.00 pm. We had not time to hang around like that so we saw a Standing Buddha nearby and left..

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Had lunch at a new Indian food place who, after serving lassi to Easwar, forgot that we had ordered two veg thalis and took up the matter when we reminded them after 30 mins. Then we collected our passports from the Myanmar embassy with their visa stamped and went back to MBK because Easwar was having some minor hiccups with the gsm he had bought yesterday. I walked around severely resisting temptations and almost bought things like 8” DVD players and CCTV for doors. We took the skytrain again and the transport is very efficient and popular.

There is really not much to see in Bangkok itself otherwise. There’s the ‘night market’ of course, as the Thais call it, but we didn’t go that side. The customer whom we met in the evening took us for dinner (at 7.00 pm – they have early dinners here) to a seafood joint and we had the mostly delicious crab-meat curry and lobsters. In spite of not being the least hungry, we did great justice to the food.......

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Our customer was describing the hullaballoo going on in Thailand for the last few weeks. The ‘people’, a protestant group, have camped in the government house and not allowing any official proceedings to proceed, in protest against the way the Prime Minister is conducting the country. They are supporters of the King. Meanwhile, border skirmishes have broken out between Thailand and Cambodia. The inside news is that the PM, aware that there is oil just across the border, has made a deal with the Cambodian King that Thailand will ‘capture’ the area after some fighting and then lease out the oil-producing land to Cambodia.

All in all Bangkok is a good shopping and eating place. Of course a full travel of Thailand would show up many beautiful spots and it is a place to be visited with family. We leave early tomorrow morning for Yangon (earlier Rangoon) by the 8.00 am flight.

LINK TO THAILAND ALBUM

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SRI LANKA - Colombo (2008)

Colombo:  12.10.2008

Sitting in Taj Samudra writing the journal. I had visited this city maybe 5 years ago, but not much has changed.

In this tour of 15 days, I’ll be passing nights in 7 cities – Dubai (airport), Colombo, Bangkok, Rangoon, Kolkata, Dhaka and Chittagong.

I travelled to Dubai last night, landing at 9.30 pm, with a connecting flight at 2.30 am. Business class lounges are a relief. This time I am carrying my laptop, so I brought some movies as well (having bought a pair of Sony ear-phones to enhance the experience). So I watched “The Last Lear” to while away the time. Bachhan, Preity Zeinta, Arjun Rampal et al – a very nice film. A Rituporno Ghosh film, by the way.

This Emirates flight was very nice and the Business class seats were those types that become totally flat, giving the allure of a bed without its comfort. Vibration massage built in as well.

Today is a Sunday, so we can relax a bit, although there is a customer meeting at 5.00 pm. However, we learnt that day after is also a monthly holiday here, ‘poya’, the day of the full moon. That leaves practically one working day for us. And one more forced holiday on 14th, the night of which we are leaving for Bangkok.......

After a late Chinese lunch at the hotel restaurant, we slept for 90 minutes and were met at the hotel by a soft and humble customer who took us around some supermarkets. It is raining here (unseasonal, as the season is usually Nov, like Chennai) and the weather was fairly cool. There was tight security with gun-toting military lurking around corners, in view of the bomb-blasts continuing upcountry.

Colombo:  13.10.2008

During breakfast at the hotel, I had the typical Sri Lankan aapam called "hoppers" here. They are made in a bowl and shaped like it and in villages the accompanying curry is often served inside the hopper itself. Interesting.

Today was a fairly busy working day. The auto market is located in a street chock-a-block with auto shops, called Panchakawattah Road. Unlike Kirinyaga Road in Nairobi, where one has to do scared rabbit-hops from one safe shop to another, here we could go around with no tension, as if we were in Chennai.

Military police has set up lots of check-points and we were stopped a number of times and asked who we were. “This war”, wailed all our customers, "will drive away all the business. Upcountry buyers are not coming to Colombo any more. The world financial crisis is not depressing them as much as the continuing fighting with LTTE rebels. Surprisingly, the checkers would invariably ask “Indians?” with a big smile and wave us on, as if Indians were no source of trouble at all, but Iraqis beware! On top of that my friend Easwar was an Indian from Chennai.

Our customer Marlon took us for dinner at the Capri Club – “Very exclusive, only 600 members”. We had a very very light dinner. When Marlon was ordering main courses, we thought that were appetisers and went really easy, saving our appetite, only to find him ordering dessert next. That too papaya. I had another round of Pasta Carbonari in my room at 11.00 pm.

For once, both nights, I was having trouble going to sleep. Finally I would nod off after 1.00 am, with lights on. My kriya and meditation were being pushed back to the evening.

Colombo:  14.10.2008

Today is a holiday here, courtesy the rotundity of the moon that has achieved full figure this day of the month. ‘Poya’, as they call it, is a holiday every month and is a Buddhist thing, and duly observed since more than half the population here is Buddhist.

However, we had official work with a customer in the morning, in fact right till 1.00 pm. Our friend Ranjan had offered to take us to the Elephant Orphanage in the afternoon, with an early start at 12.30, so as to reach well before 4.00 pm, when the elephants were all led out to a nearby river for a daily bath and the cavorting herd was watched gleefully by bipeds strategically seated at a high gallery on the riverbank.

However, we could reach back to our hotel and push off immediately only by 2.00 pm. The orphanage is situated halfway to Kandy and 2 hours away by car. So some sharp turns by Ranjan, supported by lunch collected on the fly, enabled us to hit the gates by 4.15 pm.......

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The roads of Sri Lanka are very well-maintained, though single track in the hilly stretches we passed through. Today traffic was supposedly light but we would be invariably reduced to the lowest common denominator of the speed of a state bus in front of us. It was cloudy and dripping moisture and as soon as we alighted at the gates and prepared to dash in, rain came down in torrents, forcing us to take shelter at a curio shop in front and gaze interestedly at fat smiling buddhas. Finally Ranjan bought two small multicoloured umbrellas that the elephants had hopefully been conditioned to seeing suddenly on a rainy morning, being quite a contrast to the serene landscape befogged by the downpour.

Our second disappointment was that the bathing ceremony had been completed in the morning itself and we would have to see the elephants in the orphanage, in their small jungles and kraals. That was also a nice walk amongst green grass and red pathways, the soil flowing like anaemic blood. If you see an elephant through the drizzle inside dark foliage they seem somehow more sinister than nature intended. We saw one adult with an amputed foot. Maybe the authorities here collect abandoned and damaged elephants like this from the wild and take care of them here, hence the name Orphanage.......

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We were quite drenched actually, Ranjan being the most, having been the subject of the hospitality of both us umbrella-wielders, and thus having caught two sets of marginal drippings. A warm tea in a café and cold AC in the car dried us out during the next 3 hours of stop-go driving. However, by the time we reached Colombo again by 8.00 pm we were quite chipper and a bit hungry and so paid a visit to the food-court at some place that sounded like “Chriss-cats”. But it cannot be. I had Thai food, Easwar had Sri Lankan food, and the Sri Lankan had Malayasian food. Nice.

We checked out by 10.00 pm and went to catch the Thai flight to Bangkok departing at 1.20 am. This entry is being made sitting in the Business Class lounge at Negambo airport.

LINK TO SRI LANKA ALBUM

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