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TRAVEL
Photographs from Sri Lanka
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THERE ARE A NUMBER OF PHOTOGRAPHS ON THIS PAGE, THEREFORE THIS PAGE WILL TAKE LONGER TO LOAD THAN OTHER PAGES ON THIS SITE.
I went to Sri Lanka for two weeks in August 2000. Before I left the UK I contacted the British High Commission to see if I could travel to the East Coast of the island whilst I was there. I was advised to contact them on my arrival to check on the current security climate.
I was advised by the British High Commission that it would be alright for me to travel to the east coast but that it would be a six hour drive and the road deteriorated further east. I was also told that the road was closed at about 4pm each day and so it would be advisable for me to stay on the east coast overnight and return the following day. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission has a cemetery on the east side of Sri Lanka just north of Trincomalee. I arranged for a driver and vehicle from my hotel in Negombo on the west coast to take me across the island to visit the cemetery at a cost of about £80. On the way to the East Coast we had to pass through about 12 army checkpoints where all vehicles were stopped, everyone had to get out and all identity cards were checked. My driver drove along the outside of the traffic queue at each checkpoint to the front and handed his identity card to the soldier. Occasionally he had to get out of the vehicle. I was never asked for my passport and stayed in the vehicle for every check. The soldiers were very friendly, in th majority and smiled and waved as we left the checkpoint.
COMMONWEALTH WAR GRAVES COMMISSION CEMETERY
The cemetery is beautifully kept by a local couple, who live in a bungalow adjacent to the cemetery. The cemetery is laid out in 2 plots, the plots are separated by a Cross of Sacrifice and a seat. There are 7 rows of graves in Plot 1 and 11 rows of graves in Plot 2. There are 360 named graves and 4 unknown graves in the cemetery. There are 148 known and 1 unknown Navy graves, 52 known and 1 unknown Army graves, 37 known Air Force graves, 6 known Marines graves, 1 unknown miscellaneous grave, all from the United Kingdom. A total of 243 known and 3 unknown graves. There are graves for personnnel from Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, South Africa, Non World War and Non Commonwealth Foreign Nationals, making up the total of 364.
The cemetery gives a good view over the local countryside and has an amazing tree! These shots show the graves in Plot 1.
Plot 2, rear plot.
The plots are separated by a Cross of Sacrifice and a seat.
The couple are pictured here with a tree planted by HRH The Princess Royal during her visit to Sri Lanka in 1998. The couple are holding the photographs of the tree planting ceremony showing them with The Princess Anne. They were so proud of their photographs showing them with the Princess. They also brought out a framed photograph of the Princess Royal which she had signed.
The tree is planted to the side of the 2 plots and Plot 2, the rear plot is seen in the backgound of the photograph.
This is the standard grave stone used in the Commonwealth War Graves Commssion cemeteries
Following my visit to the Commonwealth War Graves Commssion cemetery at Trincomalee I stayed in the Nilaveli Beach Hotel about 10 miles north of the cemetery. I had a beach view room with a balcony where you walked straight on to the beach. This is the view. There were visitors to the beach mid-afternoon whilst I was relaxing over a book with a drink and snack brought to me by the manager. The monkeys started chasing each other and went up the trees and jumped onto the building roof.
In August the sea is rough on the west coast and the travel representatives advise everyone NOT to go into the sea as the undercurrents are very strong and dangerous. On the east coast the sea was very calm and wonderful to swim in. Due to the terrorist situation in Sri Lanka there are no major UK tour operators offering accommodation on the East Coast. The Manager and staff at the hotel were wonderful and very attentive. I was asked if there was anything in particular that I would like for the evening meal. I ordered Prawn Curry. When I went into dinner I was presented with the most amazing meal of prawn curry, rice and a wonderful selection of vegetable and side dishes. There was enough food for about 4 people and it cost £2.50.
As you drive through the countryside there are fruit and vegetable stalls, stalls selling cane furniture and stalls selling a whole variety of products and produce. There are elephants pulling or carrying goods. There was one child using porcupines to make money from tourists. You pay about £0.20 and you can take photographs of the porcupines.
DAY TRIP
I arranged with the driver who took me to the east coast to take me on the day trip covered by the tour operators. I had the vehicle to myself so that I could stay as long as I wanted at each of the stops. I also stopped at other villages along the way where the driver showed me a gem factory and batik factory. I spent some time following the dyeing process as more and more colours were added to the material. The trip covered the Elephant Orphanage at Pinnawela, a spice garden, a Tea Plantation and the ancient city of Kandy.
I arrived at the Elephant Orphanage as it opened and was advised by my guide to go to the viewing area straigt away so that I could take photographs of the elephants before there were too many tourists in the way.
An orphanage worker guides the elephants up to the viewing area so that the tourists can photograph them. And Baby comes too! This is a 2 month old orphan.
At the orphange the elephants are taught to work. They will be expected to work when they leave the orphanage.
This one is having a break from carrying food to the feeding area
The young elephants are bottle fed until they are capable of sustaining themselves. They are led to a shed for the milk. This one decided to take the long and difficult route. (Over a wall, down 2 two foot steps and then the full way around the feeding shed.)
The next one was fed up waiting for everyone to arrive and started shouting for food. Food at last!!
I visited a Tea Plantation and saw how tea grows on slopes surrounding the plantation, how the workers pick the tea and how it is processed ending in a tasting of the finished product.
Picking the new light green shoots.
I visited the Royal Botanical Gardens at Peradeniya where I went to the Orchid House and wandered through the gardens seeing beautiful and amazing plants, shrubs and trees.
These orchids looked as if they were made from wax and could not be real!
As you can see, the trees do come in a variety of shapes!
Kandy was the last capital before the British period. Kandy is famed for its golden roofed temple, which houses the sacred tooth relic of the Buddha.
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