EXPLORING

Every now and then we like to travel a little further from home to explore this island we have found ourselves in. April brings the Sinhala/Tamil New Year and two weeks off school for the kids, so it is the perfect time for such a venture. We had some business to attend to in Polonnaruwa and we had often heard Prince extol the virtues of Sigiriya, so we thought this would be a great time to merge business and pleasure by visiting both places.

We decided to do the drive to Sigiriya over two days, stopping overnight in Kandy. It is not often that we can take our time like this, so it was a real pleasure to enjoy a 'short' drive and not feel like we were rushing. There was even time for the kids to have a swim in the morning and for us to take a stroll before we needed to move on. We stopped in Dambulla for lunch and then it was on to Sigiriya to trawl for a place to stay. We finally picked a place, complete with monkeys running around the grounds.

The next day we decided to visit the Sigiriya Rock Fortress. This is the magma plug of an extinct volcano which is now home to ancient ruins. Many archaeologists believe it to be the site of an old monastry, but locals will tell you that it was the home of an ancient king, who built his palace on the top and this seems to be the description that has stuck. Whatever it was, its pretty amazing to see.

First you will cross the moat and then walk through the remains of the water gardens. You can see the rock in the distance and you will wonder how on earth you are ever going to make it to the top. As you start up the stairs you will be met by many guides wanting to adopt you for the ascent, obviously looking for rupees. We prefer to explore on our own. As you continue up the stairs you will cautiously heed the signs not to make to much noise for the risk of upsetting hornets. The hornet nests are massive. By the time you get to the top of the stone staircase you will know that its a hot day and, undoubtedly, you will have worked up a fair sweat. And now you are at the foot of the rock.

Here you can climb up a large spiral staircase attached to the side of the rock (don't look down!) to view the ancient rock art. Most of these ancient drawings have been destroyed but a few still remain, protected from the harsh sun by a canvas that has been erected. To view the drawings you stand on a plank scaffolding, a bit like a window-washer for a multi-storey building. Definitely not for the faint-hearted, but well worth it. Upon descent you will pass the graffiti wall where, over centuries, people have written praise for the beauty of the ladies drawn on the rock wall. This wall is now protected from the public, so no new graffiti allowed.

You will now go around the rock to the point where you will begin your ascent to the top. On the way you will pass a gigantic boulder that rests on a series of smaller rocks, set up like dominoes. This is an ancient defence mechanism, set up but clearly never used. Should invaders have come, the dominoes would have been activated to set the boulder sliding down the hill, crushing those in it's path. Around from here you will find yourself at the Lion's Staircase. In ancient days, a huge statue of a lion stood over the foot of the staircase. One would begin their ascent by passing through the open mouth of the lion. All that remains these days are the large lion's paws.
The stone staircase ends and one must now climb a set of metal steps attached to the side of the rock. Although the more timid might find that this climb leaves their heart in their throat, they will find it preferable to the way people used to have to get to the top - scaling the side of the rock using notches carved into the rock face. At the top, climbers are able to check out the ancient remains - a palace or a monastry, depending on which story you follow - and are treated to a pretty spectacular view. Up here you will also find the ladies' pool and a throne where the king could appreciate the vista unfurled before him (or the ladies bathing, depending on which way he was looking). Upon descent you will pass the council chambers. This is a large piece of boulder that had broken away from the main rock and is believed to have been used as a meeting place for court matters.

The next day we decided to take the kids for an elephant ride. There is a town, not far from where we are staying, where several houses on the main road have signs advertising elephant rides. We went with a guy who was a friend of a friend of a friend. I was relieved that this elephant ride was in a basket. This was my third elephant ride, but my last one was bareback. Riding an elephant bareback gives you a true perspective of how large these animals really are and, for me, it's quite scary when you realise how far away the ground is. Our elephant was named Rajah and he took us along the main road and then down some back streets to the open plains. As Rajah took us down into the river, the rain began to fall. It was such a fantastic experience to be riding this creature through the river and then up through fields of mango trees, with the cool rain falling on us to break through the hot morning. By the time we returned to the main road, the rain had stopped and the hot sun made short work of drying us out. As Rajah lumbered along the road, passing vehicles slowed and we waved cheerily at the staring onlookers. At the end of our journey we were able to reward Rajah for his efforts with some fruit. Later that afternoon we decided to go for a walk to explore the area around our hotel. Thankfully we did not come across any elephants then, as wild elephants are considered to be quite dangerous.

From Sigiriya, we moved on to Polonnaruwa. Polonnaruwa is also home to many ancient ruins but this was not to be on our agenda this visit. We chose a hotel situated on the large tank (or dam). This tank was first constructed under the direction of an ancient king, although it was more like a series of tanks. Over time, the tanks were combined to create one massive tank, which is a place where locals can fish, wash, do laundry and play. Our purpose in Polonnaruwa was business but after we met those obligations, we were still able to go for a drive looking for wild elephants. Much to our delight, we were lucky enough to see and photograph a wild elephant before it disappeared again into the bushes. No flash photography though, that aggravates them.

Finally it was time to head back to Negombo. This time we decided to do the entire journey at once, so this was a full day's drive. By the end of the day we were back; sleepy, with suitcases over the floor, a full memory card in the camera and heads full of memories.

BEING A LOCAL

Having now been in Sri Lanka for about 15 months, we consider ourselves locals to some degree. Without giving away too many trade secrets, having the resident stamp in your passport ensures that we get some perks of being local without having to change our skin colour. Mostly these are financial gains. For example, hotels generally have two different prices: one for foriegners (what we look like) and one for locals (what we can now say we are). This can make a difference of up to 50% in the price. This price differentiation also extends to entry into nature parks, musuems and zoos. Usually a portion or all of this goes to the tour operator or the local driver that has taken you there.

As "locals" it is nice to go out and be recognised rather than being noticed. Being stared at is quite normal for us when we go out and it is something I have learnt to live with. But recognition is so much better and makes us feel like we are a part of Negombo. We are known around our house and also down on the main road by the beach. This means we are no longer asked if we want to go to the fish markets, Negombo city or have a massage every time we pass a three-wheeler. In fact one Croatian guy we know has started printing t-shirts with that exact slogan. We have even got to know a few of the local beggars so that now they are happy to sit back and wait to see if we have any loose change for them, as we give more often than not. We know and are content in the fact that we will never be free from shouting "Hello" and "Goodbye"halfadozen times to the children living on our street that we pass each day.

However, there are often a few locals that want to offer more than a stare and a quick hello. One such fellow is the security guard where we do our shopping. His job is to ensure no one takes bags into the shop and help the cars reverse safely in the car park, which Prince always protests about as if it is an affront to his driving skills. If he spots us he always comes over and says hello at least four times and a hearty double-handed handshake. He will come over and open doors for us, but as his English is poor he ends up just hovering around, smiling, until we leave. His English may be bad but our Sinhala is not much better (though if I need to know where the fat, black cat was sleeping, he would be the first person I would ask.)

Still, there are still those occasions where we are happy to settle for trips to the pool just to blend in with all the other "Suddas".

INTRODUCING THEODORE

We are beginning to wonder if our house is turning into a halfway house for local animals. The latest little fellow to find his way into our home is a baby chipmunk. Prince brought him along one morning. He had fallen out of a tree (the chipmunk, not Prince!) and, being a baby, still lacked the climbing ability to get himself back home. After some not-so-subtle hints from Prince, we agreed to take him in.

Considering that Lovely the Egret only managed to survive 10 days with us and our turtles escaped, Darren has been hesitant to give the chipmunk a name. I call him Theodore, but I also like what the Sri Lankans call chipmunks - Tinting (from the sound they make). Whatever we call him, there is no denying that he is unbelievably cute! He is incredibly affectionate. He sleeps a lot but when he is awake he loves human company. He loves to crawl all over you and look for places to burrow and snuggle. Now that he's getting more confident and more capable he loves to go exploring, especially if he can climb or burrow. He likes to bask on the laptop (it generates a fair amount of heat) but he gets jealous of my mouse and tries to attack the scroll wheel on it.

So, as you can probably tell, even in the space of a couple of days we have all become particularly fond of Theodore/Tinting/technically unnamed Chipmunk. We know that eventually he'll probably find himself a proper home in the wild, so we keep reminding ourselves, but until then I guess the McQuades Halfway Home for Sri Lankan Wildlife remains in operation.

OUR NEW CLASS

We have recently begun work with a new group of students. We are excited about this because this is our first group that we will work with on a regular basis. It is also our first adult class. This class has four students,who are also completing a college course. They spend one day a week with us learning English and computing. This will not only help them in their current course but will help them be accepted into higher level college courses in the future. The students come from various places in Sri Lanka but, for their course, are based in a town a few hours away from us. They travel by bus to get to and from our class, which means a long day and lots of travelling, but they are so keen to learn. We are hoping to have a second class starting a few months from now.

HEADING EAST: PART 2

After visiting the pre-schools we were invited to visit the homes of some of the locals. The people we visited were neither Sinhala nor Tamil, but Veddah. The Veddah people are the aboriginal inhabitants of Sri Lanka. Where the Sinhalese people and the Tamil people both have their origins in India, the Veddah have always lived in Sri Lanka. Veddah have a close relationship with the land and, even today, many still practise traditional ways of hunting and cultivation. Unfortunately, much of the jungle area which would be their traditional land has been cleared. Also, intermarriage has meant that Veddah culture is at risk of being lost. Thankfully, it seems that recognition of the benefits of the traditional Veddah land practices is encouraging a comeback for Veddah culture.

It was a particular honour to be able to visit the local Veddah tribal chief. The chief was blind, but he told us the story of when, years back when his eyesight was better, he was taken all the way over to the West coast so he could have an operation to have his cataracts removes. The doctor explained the operation to him and he thought that the doctor was saying that he would have his eyeballs removed. Naturally, the chief was terrified and he ran away back to his home on the other side of the island. Later, when the opportunity arose again and he better understood the operation, it was too late.

On our way home from visiting the Veddahs we noticed a curious sight. As we drove we passed many men on bicycles, travelling in the opposite direction, carrying rifles across their laps. Our host was able to explain. It seemed that, at some stage in the past, the government had supplied the locals with guns, just in case they found themselves caught in the middle of the ongoing conflict. On regular occasions, these locals need to present themselves and the guns at the local police station for inspection. It turned out that today just happened to be gun-checking day.

HEADING EAST: PART 1

Recently we made a weekend trip to the Eastern side of the island. The Eastern Province has long been a front in the conflict in Sri Lanka, which has had it's toll on the people, socially and economically. However, of late it has been becoming increasingly stable, so it was deemed safe enough for us to go and visit. This was quite a trip though - requiring several hours driving and the most stringent security checks we've experienced so far.

Our visit was a research trip. We were to visit three pre-schools out there - to meet their staff and children, to have a look at their resources and to get a feel for their needs. The first pre-school we visited was held in a simple room attached to a house. It can have up to 15 children but today it had 5. The communities we visited were in rural areas and we were told that when the parents needed to be in the fields they often had to take the children with them for the day, so the children did not go to school. A couple of the children here found our camera a bit too scary!

The second pre-school we visited was held in a small, mud hut. This school had no budget to work with so all they had to use with the children were a few sheets of paper, a few pairs of scissors and some glue. Still, the classroom walls, adorned with colourful pictures, were testament to their ability to make do with very little.

The third pre-school was the biggest and best equipped of the three. This pre-school educates about forty 4 and 5 year olds. We were lucky enough to arrive in time to witness the rice-and-onions lunch meal that the school provides before the children are sent home.

When we arrived there were many parents waiting outside the school building for their children to be dismissed. I was intrigued to notice that there were also several older children. I was told that this village lies in the corner of it's region so there is no nearby school for the older children. Most can not afford the daily bus fare nor can they cope with walking home for hours in the heat of the day without having had lunch, so they do not go to school. They go to the fields with their parents or they stay home to take care of the younger children while the parents work. I took some photos and chatted with these lovely children, to learn that some of them did not even know how old they are. These children really are growing up a whole world away from so many of the rest of us.

A LOVELY MEMORY

For 10 days we were parents to an injured egret. Brenton found it wandering around our backyard one day. It's wing was so badly injured that it just dangled badly from it's body, only just still attached. We didn't know what to do with it so we just took it in and figured we would just see what happened. At night we put him in a box so that he didn't become prey for one of the many neighbourhood cats. We had to put a stick in the box for him to perch on though, otherwise he wouldn't sleep. During the day we put him outside to get some fresh air and to stretch his legs. Still, he actually seemed to prefer our company. If he got bored or hungry he'd come and wander through the house to see what was going on. He particularly seemed to like Prince, though I don't think Prince was so keen on him, and would stand at a safe distance watching him while he cleaned the van or covered books. Other times he would just wander around the house and try and make sense of this strange new world.

He was a fish-eating bird, so we went to the pet shop and bought a small tank of guppies. We would put them in my laundry tub and he would go fishing. We also got him a little frog and he scored a few of the prawns that I was shelling for dinner once. Apart from that, we went to the fish market and bought some smelly, little fish that we could freeze and break off a few whenever he needed feeding. He was quite willing to come and take the fish out of our hands.

We really hadn't been that sure he would make it through the first night, but after a few days we figured it was safe enough to give him a name. Because Brenton had found the egret, we gave him the privelege of picking a name. Brenton decided that 'Lovely' suited him quite nicely, so Lovely the egret he became. But unfortunately, despite his inquisitive behaviour and healthy appetite, his injuries must have still been quite severe because 10 days after he first came into our yard, he died. Brenton was brokenhearted. Still, our constant travelling really made it difficult to take such continued care of him. I'm just glad he died with a full belly.