Southern Escapades (Part 2)

Continuation from Part 1

Day two was a day for the beaches. We started out early in the morning and drove down to Sri Lanka's southern most tip- Dondra Head.

We climbed 233 steps of Sri Lanka's tallest light house. The white washed bricks against the deep blue reminded me of the Santornini palette.

The winding staircases with furniture custom made to fit inside the curved walls, the little windows framing vistas of the ocean and finally the spectacular 360 degree view at the junction of land and water makes lighthouses in general one of my favourite things. 

The view at the top was unmistakably beautiful. The beaches only occupied by local fisherman kept the sands clean and untouched by tourist activity. We watched a few fishing catamarans riding the waves back onto shore. 

The water was so clear and in many areas we could see the rocks beneath the surface. Facing South, this vast mass of water separated us from the Antarctic. 

This beach is definitely one of my favourites. Quite unlike the others, this one had more rocks than sand. The piles of rocks create rocks pools between them. Each almost like a world of it's own with a variety of coral, fish, crabs, snails, sea urchins and other strange creatures.

I wanted to take back a shell as my souvenir, but couldn't find one that wasn't occupied. We spent ages there watching the pools and crevices in the rocks struggling to get pictures of crabs before they disappeared into the dark beneath the rocks. We stared at a shell for ages waiting for the hermit crab to emerge. We chased jumping fish from rock to rock. Our feet brushed anemone and coral, slipped over sea weed rocks and sank into fine sand. The waves didn't spare us either.

Snorkeling and scuba diving is a class of it's own, but the rock pools had quite an array of life and colour that quite easily goes unnoticed. 

The trip couldn't have been complete without some time spent swimming in the waves. After breakfast at Matara's Galle Oriental Bakery, housed in a white and green colonial building with dark wooden interiors and simple bakery fare, we drove back up the coast to the famous Mirissa beach. 

The clean stretches of sand, a few beach shacks and with waves more ideal for surfing than swimming, we decided we just HAD to rent out some boards and try level one of surfing- body boarding. It made us feel pretty cool to be walking around with the boards tucked under our arms. 

The strong undercurrents, and equally strong waves made the whole thing a lot harder than it looked. I spent more time trying to save my swimsuit and my board from being taken away with the waves than actually getting the perfect wave. But the times I did, was absolutely great fun. Being on top of the waves, picking up great speed and steering the board back to the shore. It was quite a workout which our muscles would remind us of the rest of the week.

The drive back up the coast, lunch at the fort in Galle, music, dancing and four takes of our attempt at a music video brought our little holiday to an end.

"The sea does not reward those who are too anxious, too greedy, or too impatient. One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach - waiting for a gift from the sea." 

~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Southern Escapades (Part 1)

This trip falls into the category of random, unplanned trips that I've done. We only finally decided to go on Friday evening by which time it was too late to call and inquire about accommodation.

We made a long list of accommodation options spanning three of the little towns on the southern coast for the following morning and another list of things we could do and we were packed and on the road early Saturday. A fully charged iPod, sunglasses, beachwear, Google maps and the trusty Lonely Planet book and we were pretty much set.

Although the Colombo-Galle highway took us away from the scenic coastal drive, the long stretches of smooth, empty highway brought us to Galle in perfect time for a good breakfast in the fort.

I visited Galle last year on my holiday to the country. Galle Fort is a 17th century Dutch fort a bit off the coast, surrounded on three sides by water. The fortified walls contain a little network of cobbled stone streets with cafe's, hotels, little stores, a lighthouse and as we discovered that morning, some interesting graffiti too. I will finish an exclusive Galle Fort post soon.

After walking into a few cafe's to read their amusing signs and menus and their not-so-amusing prices, we finally decided to eat at the tiny Cafe Punto. Our table at the front overlooking the narrow cobbled stone streets was quite a lovely breakfast setting.

Once back on the road with content stomachs, we drove further down to Jungle Beach. As the name suggests, the only way to get to the beach was by walking through a jungle patch which I managed to get through in a skirt. Despite not being that easily accessible, there were still quite a few people there. 

From there we walked up to the Japanese Peace Pagoda. Peace Pagodas are Buddhist stupas built as shrines for peace in places hit by some sort of calamity. It was started by the Japanese monk, Nichidatsu Fujii who put them up all over the world. This one was built as a memorial for the victims of the Tsunami in 2004. 

The blinding white of the shrine against the blue of the ocean was so serene. The view from each tier was beautiful; the jungles, the beaches and Galle Fort in the distance.

We were lucky to find available accommodation with much less hassle than anticipated. But locating the place wasn't as easy. The narrow town roads often disappeared off the map and sometimes Google would place us in the ocean. 

TripAdvisor and Lonely Planet became our helpful companions not just for accommodation, but for all the places we ate at. We ate in Mirissa's highest rated restaurant- No.1 Dewmini Roti Shop. We sat at one of 4 tables in the front garden of a family home. The kitchen opened out onto their front patio. We were waited on by the wife and the grandfather. It was obvious where all the publicity came from with the genuine hospitality and the tasty home cooked savoury and sweet rotis. 

What we did next was what I was least excited about. From the many times I've seen snakes in my grandparent's garden to the one year we lived in snake infested Kerala, I've not been very fond of snakes. 

Here in Mirissa, an Ayurvedic doctor carries on what his grandfather and father did and has a collection of local snakes in his home to harvest venom for the various medicines he uses.

Although a bit excited that I would get a picture with a snake around my neck, the fear quickly overrode that. The hissing of the cobras brought goosebumps which became shivers when he placed the muscular 2m python on my shoulders. I could feel the muscles tighten and in my head I could imagine that mouth opening to swallow me up. 

I was slightly better with the other snakes that weren't around my neck. The green vine snake in particular was quite striking. We wore the common trinket as a bracelet and also held the Sri Lankan flying snake and the Forsten's cat snake.

I stayed far away from the venomous ones- the cobras (even the hissing 2 week old one), the vipers, kraits and the scary looking scorpions and tarantulas.

All said and done, it was an interesting experience. Learnt a lot and can proudly say that I've come a long way from the panic-stricken seven year old in Kerala. Would I carry a snake around my neck again? Probably not. 

Day 1 ended with a short wade on the dark Weligama beach admiring the brightly starry sky.

(Click to read Part 2)

Yellow Buildings, Canyons and Macadamias

One of the big highlights of the trip was the days spent at Kruger Park, but the 2 mornings we spent travelling there was one of the most beautiful drives ever. We (Anil, Vandana and I) traveled in a minivan with 8 others and got to drive through a diverse variety of South African countryside.

Although wintertime in the African subcontinent is not the prettiest time to visit, the dried barren lands created a landscape of all possible shades of browns and yellows. Miles and miles of endless highway with the roads so so straight into the horizon. Once we had exhausted every possible yellow and brown, the orchards of orange trees started. Such a contrast. Rows of trees loaded with bright oranges. It was like the trees were inviting all the cars on the highway to come and pick oranges.

Then just before we hit the Drakensberg mountains we had a pit stop at the quaintest little village- Dullstroom. It is a little tourist town. Midway to Kruger from Johannesburg/Pretoria, it is a common lunch break. Content with fruit for lunch, we used up the 40 minutes to see as much as could in Dulstroom. 

Built against the Drakensburg backdrop, the village is at an elevation of 2100m and is well known for trout fishing. The 'stroom' in Dullstroom is the Dutch word for stream owing to the many tributaries that pass through the area. The Dutch influence has left traces on the architecture. I've noticed that the Dutch like painting their buildings butter yellow (I've seen examples in Sri Lanka).

Restaurants and shops line the main road. The lovely sunny afternoon brought the tables out of the building and onto patios where a guy with a microphone and a guitar entertained the Saturday afternoon family diners. We walked into living rooms converted into curio stores with handmade soaps, jewelry and scarves, leather stores with crocodile handbags and kudu belts with zebra and oryx skins for carpets. A little book store specialising in cigars and used books was a cosy space with shelves from floor to ceiling. And of course the many souvenir shops packed with all things South Africa from postcards, key chains and t-shirts to potholders, beer mugs and shower caps. Aromas of coffee and bread wafted into courtyards flanked by buildings that hid in futile behind leafless trees. 

We passed by a clock store, but didn't go in because of lack of time. On further reading of the village, I read that this Clock Shop has the largest collection of clocks in the Southern hemisphere. There is also a whiskey bar with the largest collection of whiskey in the Southern hemisphere. Quite a bit of fame for a village with a 600 odd population.