Ulpotha

As part of Britta's research into rural electrification she had to visit a remote village which has a solar water pump. There wasn't anywhere in the village for us to stay (hotels/guesthouses etc) but a few kilometers away from the village was an exclusive yoga retreat called Ulpotha. One of the people who helped supply the solar pump for the village happened to be friends with one of the owners of Ulpotha, so we were fortunate enough to be able to stay there for a week while Britta did her research. The usual price to stay there would be in the region of $180 a day...

As far as I understand it, Ulpotha was bought by three friends about 15 years ago (two Sri Lankans and and Englishman) when it was an abandoned coconut plantation. They turned it into what it is today; a sort of traditional Sri Lankan village. It's surrounded by steep rocky hills and has it's own lake for irrigating the  rice paddy fields, where they grow all their own (extremely healthy) red rice. There are local people who live there all year round (it is their home) but for several months a year there are also (predominantly) westerners who come to stay and do Yoga/receive Ayurvedic treatments/massages etc. Accommodation is in traditional houses made from mud and cow poo, with thatched palm roofs. No walls or doors, just a mosquito net to protect you from the jungle at night, so if you're not big on insects, or snakes, or iguanas, or monkeys...probably not the place for you. 

There's no electricity at Ulpotha, which means no internet or cold drinks, but actually adds to its charm. Oil lanterns line the paths around the place and your hut at night. We arrived for the last week in the season. It was the last week in the season because as of now it's just too hot for most westerners to be sitting around in the jungle with out any air conditioning. And it was indeed really hot! 

Not being particularly into Yoga, or Ayurvedic treatments for that matter, and with lack of internet or phone signal I was concerned I might run out of things to occupy myself over the course of a week, but after a few days your brain seems to re-program itself to life at Ulpotha; lots of lounging around interspersed with lots of ambling around to find another spot to do some more lounging... 

I did take a few pictures though, and me and Noah went on lots of bike rides (with him sitting on the handle bars). The bike rides were great as it was harvesting time for in the rice fields which meant photo fodder for me and the occasional tractor and stuff for Noah to get all excited about. We also found a shop with a fridge...oh heaven! 

Here's some of the pictures I took; 

Our house....

Our cupboard, complete with resident bat.

Noah's new fiend Roshan

The view from our hut, over the Rice paddy fields

The main path through the village, leading to the main house, where food is served.

Irrigation stream running through the village

Jungle

Courtyard with well, at the main house. 

Morning Yoga class, lead by yoga master Christoph. 

Evening meal...rice and curry (very nice, very healthy)

Bandara; in his kitchen, with about 5 wood burning stoves behind him

Nalaka's tea and snack house.

Two kettles boiling with morning tea. (No coffee though!)

The shower...cold (which is just what you need in that heat)

Hot water for a hot 'bucket bath, if you need it. 

One evening everyone in the village arrived to take part in a 'Puja'; a celebration/ritual to mark the first  rice harvest. Although Sri Lanka is predominantly Buddhist and Hindu this traditional village ritual predates all that. It's more shamanic in it's nature, rather than religious, with lots of drumming and singing.  

As the main man makes an offering he is shaking, and his legs keep giving up under his weight; he has to be held up by the man behind.  For a while he went into a trance...It went on until about 2 or 3 in the morning. I couldn't stay up for it all, but could hear it in a kind of half sleep from my hut, mixing with the night sounds of the jungle...all quite primal! 

Laying a new floor in one of the huts, using the traditional method of mixing mud/cow poo and water. 

Two km away, on one of our bike rides, me and Noah discovered a shop with a fridge...cold coca cola/chocolate milk!  So I did their family portrait while I was there...

Also while on bike rides, I did some portraits of the men and women working in the paddy fields.  I took Noah along with me as my assistant...he was not particularly helpful to be honest, but a 3 yr old holding the flash while I took pictures was something of an ice breaker. I felt a bit like PH Emerson in the Norfolk broads (though I bet he didn't have a 3yr old assistant!)

All around Ulpotha...flower arrangements, Sri Lankan style! 

Britta doing some well earned lounging after a day doing interviews with people. 

Fuel price fury

About two or three weeks after we arrived here in Negombo the government put the price of fuel up. This is allegedly the direct result of American sanctions on Iran, where Sri Lanka buys most of it's fuel. (The opposition say that's nonsense and in any case they have a years worth of fuel, stockpiled for emergencies...it's just an excuse to make more money through tax).

Petrol went up least, where as Diesel and Kerosene went up more than double. Diesel is used by lorry and bus drivers, as well as fishermen, and Kerosene is also extremely important to the fishermen (who are some of the poorest people here) as they use it in both their boats and their homes (cooking/lighting etc). So when the prices went up there was a considerable amount of anger nationwide, amongst various groups of people, notably the bus drivers and fishermen.

They organised a nationwide strike, which went on for about a week, and blockaded the roads. The main (or should I say only...) road between Colombo and Puttlam in the north was blocked for a few days which caused mayhem. The fishermen didn't go out fishing for over a week, which meant no fish for anyone...and this also meant no fish in any of the restaurants for all the lovely rich tourists the government are trying to attract here.

Negombo is one of the largest fishing ports in the country, as well as being a huge tourist destination. It's a strange combination of people...tourists, who are by local standards very wealthy, and fishermen, who are by tourists standards, extremely poor. Most of the time they rub along nicely with fishermen occasionally making money out of tourists by taking them out on their boats (aside from the money they make selling fish to the tourists through the various hotels). But for about a week, when the fuel price went up (and it was a dramatic hike in price!) there was a noticeable tension in the normally placid air. The main street though the tourist area is called Sea street, and the fishermen blocked it at various points right the way along it, using anything they could find...fishing line, palm trees, and in some cases their boats, as well as burning tyres in the road. Depending on the level of anger of individual fishermen (and their wives) 'manning' the blockade you could either pass through, or go round another rout. I managed to go through most, though one fisherman was very angry at me for ducking under his line...The road is lined with restaurants, all of which exist to cater for tourists, and all of which had worried looking owners standing by the door wondering when this chaos would end and their trade would return to normal.

The normally peaceful air of the main road through the tourist area of Negombo is filled with burning rubber and roadblocks. 

Strangely as protests go, there was not a policeman in sight during the days this was going on. Although it looks chaotic, it all seemed to be politely tolerated...as long as it didn't go on too long.

Fishermen and their wives argue with people who want to drive through the roadblock.

It's a stand off... no vehicles, and in some cases people, allowed through. 

Eventually the army were called in to clear all the roads, and just hang around looking menacing. This seemed to go reasonably peacefully, though apparently there were some shots fired into the air. In Chilaw though (north of Negombo) one fisherman was killed in a similar incident...the army were called in to clear the road and shot one fisherman through the head, and injured two more. 

The army arrived after about a week...and cleared all the roadblocks and fishermen out of the way... Felt a bit nervous about pointing my camera at blokes with guns, so didn't take many pics of this...apparently I can be arrested for taking pictures of soldiers, policemen, or any government buildings. Just like home in that respect then...

Although one fisherman was killed in Chilaw, the whole protest here was a bit surreal.  A mixture of anger and resentment, but quite peacefully done... It did make me think though about how fragile the lives of the fishermen must be. Their livelihoods depend on catching fish. If the fuel price goes up they can't afford to return from a fishing trip without a good catch. Add to that the fact that some fishermen are being moved off their traditional beachside homes to make way for yet more expensive hotels for rich western tourists and you can understand why they may feel angry. This is the point where the two worlds (fishing and tourism) seem to collide. I think I may be doing some more pictures about this...

Colombo

Britta has to go to Colombo about once a week to meet with various people, so me and Noah have been going with her... It's about an hour and a half away by bus, or about 2 or 3 hrs (depending on I don't know what) on the train. Either way it's a slow, and usually cramped journey. The notion of personal space is not as popular here as it is at home...never mind if there's no more room on the bus, or train carriage...just get on and sit/stand where you can.

Personally I prefer the train. For one thing there is more air coming in the window, and aslo you can stand in the open doorway and lean out for better view/fresh air whilst the train is running. (I imagine you'd be prosecuted for that at home!) Our local train station is about 15/20 mins walk;

Also, the onboard entertainment is much better than the bus;

When this guy got on with his keyboard and speaker I assumed he was on his way to perform at a party or something, but then he sat down on his speaker, plugged in and began playing. Kind of like Sri Lankan lounge, or elevator music. Just brilliant.

There's also lots of other people selling stuff/collecting money, ranging from people selling snacks/cold drinks/magazines to people with various disabilities and disfigurements. One guy with Elephantiasis of both legs and feet is something I will probably never forget.

















Colombo's pretty hot and noisy, like any city I guess. When you get off the train there's the usual army of tuk tuks wanting your business, and a market to walk past selling pretty much everything (by the looks of it). Once past the market you reach the sculpture on the Telecom roundabout, which I think is a masterpiece;

It just says everything that needs to be said about modern telecommunications, all neatly packed into such an imaginative sculpture. I love it.

I guess Colombo is like any city in that you really need to live there before you can fully appreciate it. But there are one or two things that so far stand out for me. Curiously they are mostly old colonial remnants.  I'm sure I must have been a colonial in a former life...

1.  Cargills; 

Cargills is an old Colonial era (early 1900's I suspect) department store. In it's day I imagine it would have been the place to go for all your needs (if you were a colonial at least). Sort of like the Harrods of Ceylon. It's enormous, and some of the old signage is still there;

From outside it still looks impressive. Inside is a different story. It' really odd...only the ground floor is occupied, and true to the ethos of a department store it sells lots of different kinds of things, just not really in departments. It's all jumbled up. And most of the stuff they sell is on view inside old wood and glass cases (which I suspect are left over from the shops' heyday). The company now trading as Cargills is also a national supermarket chain (Cargills food city) so there is one part of the shop which is kind of like the supermarket corner...which is rather incongruous to the rest of the shop. It feels a bit like going into Harrods after it's been closed for 50 yrs and then taken over by Poundstretcher. 

2. Galle Face Hotel

Another Colonial era building, and one of those places that you just have to visit really...we went for 'high tea'. You can just imagine it in it's day...gin and tonic on the veranda, and croquet on the lawn. Today it's one of the most famous/expensive hotels in Colombo. 

 This is 'High Tea'

And, if High Tea isn't quite enough, you get a fashion show to look at in whilst you're eating, just as the sun begins to set...

 This is the doorman...

And this is Yuri Gagarin...one of the hotels more famous patrons  (other than Roger Moor). I love this sculpture of him. He reminds of of 'Jonny Cab' from Total Recall (terrible film, I know!) 

3. Victoria Park. Renamed Viharamahadevi Park in the 50's, but most people still seem to call it Victoria park. It's a classic Victorian park like in any big English city, but with huge ban yan trees, and swarms of fruit bats flying around the sky. Also, on some days you can see Elephants there...having a bath;

This is a view of the town hall; 

But the best bit for me is the small guage railway which used to run and which is now derelict. And the engine (Diesel) was built in Hunslet, Leeds, by a company called 'Hunslet'...(where the Hunslet light Railway now runs, in Leeds of course). I'm not a train enthusiast...just enthusiastic about finding this old train from the city which I call home. 

And this is the station...with someone waiting for the train that's never going to come!

And finally, there's the cafe, where they serve really horrible tea. Shame really...for a country where they grow the stuff. Here's Noah, in the cafe, showing Britta how you should smile when having your photo taken; 

4. National museum. Built sometime in the late 1800's (by the British, of course). I really enjoyed it and could have stayed all day, browsing through the dusty old exhibits, in a this dusty old museum, but unsurprisingly Noah was bored within about 10 minutes and wanted to go back to Victoria Park to play Thomas the Tank engine on the old railway line. 

Colombo is an interesting mix of old and new...and there's plenty of both everywhere you look. I like the old colonial era stuff, but there is plenty more of interest. The more I go there, the more I like it. 

 

This lake is right in the middle of the city, and has a buddhist temple on a little island. Nice to look at but swarming with mosquitoes at the time of evening we were there. Not good timing I guess. 

This is the Dutch Hospital (now bars/shops) and home to the Barefoot Cafe...more on this in a later post I think. 

 View of World Trade centre...with Dutch hospital infront.

And finally, on a Post colonial note, I keep seeing these post boxes everywhere I go. These two were in Colombo. GR? Is that George the 6th? 

Makes me feel at home anyway!