Sri Lanka continued to mesmerize and repulse right up until the moment we left. Despite fatigue, we kept on plowing our way across the country, traveling from Galle, a World Heritage Site, south to Tangalle and then back north to Hikkaduwa before finally heading back to the airport.
(Girl on a bus)
In Galle Laura came down with an eye infection, and we figured we should get it checked out. It was the start of the Sri Lankan new year, and so all the private clinics were closed. Our hotel called a tuk tuk for us and the driver took us to the Galle General Hospital. I had a lot of flashbacks to Kenya and Tanzania in 1994 when I had to be hospitalized there for malaria. If you do come to Sri Lanka, try and not get sick. Let's just leave it at that. Even so, I was amazed to find her care was free, courtesy of the taxpayers of Sri Lanka. I tried to pay something, and there was not even a way to accept money.
(Gratuitious sunset shot, Hikkaduwa)
The journey to Tangalle was extraordinarily difficult and painful. Pollution, noise, heat, cramped spaces, body odor (Sri Lankans are likely the stinkiest people on earth -- sorry, guys!) and the usual assortment of people barfing on the bus.
I took an afternoon to myself to visit a set of mountain caves painted with frescoes begining in the second century BC. I was the only tourist there.
(Laura goes under the knife, Galle General Hospital -- OK, it was only eyedrops, they all thought it was very funny I was taking this picture)
That night we took a tuk tuk through a night fluid with humidity to the beach at Remake. Remake is one of the best sites in the world to view sea turtles laying eggs. A conservation project pays villagers to look after laid eggs instead of what they used to do, which was collect laid eggs and sell them for about 20 cents apiece. We were assigned a guide, a mostly naked drunk man, and sat in the rain on the beach for an hour. Suddenly his radio crackled -- a turtle had landed. We took off running down the beach and made it just in time to see a green turtle -- five feet long and 500 pounds -- waddling a wide trail toward the crashing waves. For a moment I looked into her eyes -- a timeless and unforgettable experience. Later we found the eggs -- 138 buried in a deep pit. We took turns pulling the eggs out and warpped some of them in Laura's handkerchief to transplant them to a section of beach where they could be looked after.
(Frescoes, 200 BC, Tangalle Sri Lanka)
From Tangalle we headed back to Hikkaduwa, a ramshackle beach town where we stayed in a swaying palm tree hut overlooking the beach and its 10-foot waves -- no joke! The next day we lollygagged, ate Sri Lankan pizza (not really pizza, in case you were wondering) and took a bus to Colombo and then to the airport.
(138 eggs)
Security at the airport was heavy due to Sri Lanka's ongoing conflict. When we got through to our gate I was surprised to see free Internet terminals all over, and so we checked our mail and learned about the trouble in Thailand.
(Laura catches up on some very important reading, Hikkaduwa)
Thailand has had political problems for years. In 2006 a coup replaced the prime minister with the current one. Last fall protests erupted against the government by supporters of the ousted PM, who has fled the country -- those were the riots that closed the airports for weeks. Two weeks ago tens of thousands of protestors converged on a central park -- all of them wearing red shirts. Two days ago, the red shirt protestors swarmed a summit at a nearby beach resort, forcing some delegates from Asian nations to fleet the convention center by running down a beach to waiting speedboats. Protests then spread to the capital, where the government declared a state of emergency and banned the gathering of more than five people at a time. Government forces, however, stood by while rioters attacked government vehicles and swarmed toward the capital.
We landed in Bangkok about 6 a.m. after the overnighter from Colombo. We found the famous Land of Smiles had been replaced by the Land of Surly People. Out of the airport, we found many bus routes had been cancelled; we had to take a taxi partway. Protesters had parked busses at key intersections leading to the state house, and there were fires burning at some intersections.
We checked into a hotel in the famous tourist ghetto of Khao San Road, and from the rooftop swimming pool could this afternoon see smoke from several fires and hear intermittent gun fire. We have a flight to Taipei tomorrow afternoon, and have learned now all bus services to the airport are suspended. We plan on taking a taxi early.
The violence in Bangkok is being played against the surreal backdrop of celebrations of the Thai new year. In our district, most streets are closed and are filled with throngs of locals and tourists who spray each other with ice cold water and smear clay on one another. The fact that many people use huge water guns to douse each other stands as a bizarre juxtaposition to the rioting taking place just blocks away.
Here's hoping for calm times in Taiwan!
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