Travels with Kathryn

Happy birthday to me! I shall admit to waking with some expectations this morning, having seen the spread laid on for Fiona yesterday, and the hotel and our bus crew again stepped up. Everyone I have met in my time in Sri Lanka has been so lovely and welcoming and really can’t do enough for you. Its a beautiful place to visit, and the food is phenomenal, but I do think its the people that keep bringing tourists back.

But yes, I have now reached the grand old age of 42 and I was perhaps a little more tired today than I was yesterday (no morning swim today) but I put that down to the later night and having had a few beverages last night.

I would really recommend Jaffna to people. Its really interesting to see this area post the civil war, and I would also heartily recommend the Thinnai Hotel. We have had the most amazing stay (in our suites!) and the whole thing last night, this morning, and the fact that the general manager was ever present throughout. So impressive.

The hotel again put on a little celebration for me this morning and I got fresh decorations on the bus (no recycling of yesterday’s) I feel very special.

I shall be spending the majority of my birthday on the bus as we have a long drive (around 5 hours) to Trincomolee where I hope it is not raining as forecast. Trincomolee was one of the main reasons for choosing this trip, as in Coming Home (as written about previously), this is where Judith is stationed towards the end of WW2. Trincomolee is the fourth largest natural harbour in the world. After the fall of Singapore, Trincomolee became the base for the Eastern Fleet of the British navy and the Dutch navy. The harbour was attacked by Japan in 1942, however, Ceylon was never taken by the Japanese and became a key launching point for British operations in 1944 and 1945 (hence it featuring in Coming Home).

Our first stop of the day was at elephant pass. This has a perfectly nice war memorial to commemorate all those who died during the civil war. Perfectly respectful. However, slightly further down the road was propoganga central commemorating the single young hero who stopped a suicide bomb (an armoured bulldozer) of the Tamil Tiger terrorists (as we learnt from the full video presentation and much signage). As we know, history is written by the victor, and this was very much written by the victors. The memorial is located on the main road which is where this happens for fair enough, but had we then turned off and taken the coast (non-main) road we would have visited Mullaitivu which has a memorial to the 40,000-70,000 Tamil civilians who took refuge here in the final days of the war as it was a no-fire zone and were shelled by the Sri Lankan army. Thought that was an interesting difference of perspectives.

Back in the bus and another learning opportunity. Fun with Bank Notes (similar to Fun with Flags, but about money). All Sri Lankan rupee notes feature a famous location, a native bird and butterfly. Here goes:

• 20 Rupee – Port of Colombo, a serendips scopes owl and a barronet butterfly.
• 50 Rupee – 9 Arch bridge, dul blue flycatcher, and blue oak butterfly.
• 100 Rupee – Power station, Sri Lankan babler, and an autumn leaf butterfly.
• 500 Rupee – Business cente, lairds parakeet, and a Ceylon indigo royal butterfly.
• 1000 Rupee – tunnel, Sri Lankan hanging parott, and a white four rings butterfly.
• 5000 – A resevoir, yellow earred bulbul and a lemon mograt butterfly

We finally arrived to Trincomolee at about 4pm and we are staying in another delightful hotel so it was straight down to the beach. The waves/undercurrents are pretty powerful in this part of Sri Lanka so it was more of a paddle, but then a proper swim in the pool.

Its now 6.30pm and I am writing this drying off having showered and now coated in mosquito repellent. Tonight we shall head in search of (hopefully) something seafood-y for dinner and maybe a light drink.

Added later:

I have had a lovely birthday. Very low key what with it being a travel day, but what was laid on by the hotel in Jaffna and having the decorated bus really was lovely. Unfortunately, no one in our group is having a birthday tomorrow, so we will just have to cope.