One Day In Sri Lanka

March 21st has come and gone back in Canada so Spring has officially started… I’m not sure Spring is such a big thing in a tropical climate when the seasons seem to look the same but alas, Spring…new growth, love….

Very early in our visit to the island, Mark and I went for a walk along the Galle Face Green ‘boardwalk’, a wide cement sidewalk and huge wall separating the ocean waves from the ‘green’. I remembered Mark saying, “Oh ya, there they are, the “Umbrella Lovers”. He had read about this phenomen of couples meeting on the Galle Face Green and using umbrellas to not only block themselves from the sun but also from prying eyes.

This was a typical scene back then…

These days, there is major construction work on the Galle Face Green so it is all fenced off. But the lovers are still congregating:

We were heading to or returning from someplace else when the taxi turned out of a busy roundabout – suddenly several city-blocks of art appeared on a Park fence – I could barely contain myself as I asked the driver to stop and let us out!

We found out that every weekend students from a few college/university art programmes set up their work along the fence and hope for the best. They arelocated at relatively central part of the city in Viharamaha Devi Park (Victoria Park for those of us who get tongue-tied – it is walking distance to ODEL, the Museum, & the Town Hall).

The student prices are very reasonable and despite the occasional bird-dropping or attempt to ‘cover-up’ an error, the art work is well worth viewing.

Mark and I ended up purchasing several pieces from the students – We’ve put them up in our apartment at Global Towers (using heavy-duty velcro so that we don’t wreck the walls). It’s really helped to make our place feel like a home and I think, with the two of us being teachers, it feels good to be surrounded by such excellent student work!

A few Saturdays ago I got a rare chance just to go out and take photographs. It was a Poya Day so most of the stores were closed but as usual, the Flower STalls outside one of the Hindu Temples in the Wellawatta area along Galle St. were open for business.

The fragrance is wonderful as you walk by and the colours magnificent. Thankfully, these guys were fine with me taking their photo as they worked. There was much comraderie among the various stalls and a bit of competition as one group put white jasmine flowers around my neck so another group added purple flowers.

There’s a definite technique to tying the flowers onto the strings – these guys were really fast!

BOMBAY SWEETS on COLOMBO STREETS
I heard the bell ringing first – it seemed far away but close enough to peak my interest. The streets of Colombo have many different mobile street vendors, some sell their wares from baskets atop their heads, others push two-wheel carts, while some have tuk-tuks or bicycles. Every morning I hear the pineapple sales men going buy the hotel – he yells, “Anansi” or something like that – I’m not sure how he’s carrying the pineapple, I’ve only heard him – and friends have told me what he does.

So who was ringing the bell…and what was he or she selling? Luckily, the sound got louder as I entered the cross street I wanted to use to get up to Galle Road from our hotel. I caught a glimpse of a man with a square container wearing a hat and swinging his hand back and forth before he turned into an alley half way down the street. The ringing continued and a man’s voice called out..I could not make out what he was saying. I waited for him to come out of the alleyway, he seemed to circling a large apartment building – he must have something people from the building would want…I mused to myself.

As he approached, I asked him, “What is it? What are you selling?” – “Bombay Sweets!” He replied with a toothless smile. “Can you show me?” I queried motioning towards the can. He opened it up and grabbed a small handful of stringy stuff using a piece of recycled paper as a barrier between his dirty hands and the food. Just as he handed me the mound of string, a group of Sri Lankans passed, looking wantingly at the yellow stringy stuff – “Mmmm, bombay sweets, GOOD!” There was a little boy with the group so I asked if he could have the man’s sample. “Sure!” they replied. I just couldn’t see myself taking a chance on this street food. The little boy smiled as he took the mound from me.

I asked the vendor how much I owed… He stopped pensively, looked at me and then said, 100 rupees. “What?!!” That’s too much! I exclaimed – that little bit of sweet did not equate to the price of a chocolate bar in my mind… I gave the man 20 rupees – thanked him and continued on my way.

As I walked I thought that maybe he had misunderstood me – Perhaps he thought I didn’t want to just pay for the sample he gave me but rather a regular amount…

Sometimes the language barrier really gets in the way.

This woman and her little girl caught my eye as I was sitting on a window ledge sipping my water.

When they came right up to the store where I sat, I asked the mother if she minded if I took a photo of her daughter – with permission granted I took another shot and showed it to the smiling little girl. I wonder if I can get a copy to them?

This weekend I got some time to just walk around the streets in the neighbourhood and shoot… my kind of day!

I just like this one…. Perhaps it’s the blue and the rust, or the pattern in the lime and chili’s… I dunno…I just like it!
The above selection was available outside a temple.

He asked me sympathetically why I gave money to the “Talking Man”….The fake watch vendor, shook his head and clicked is tongue, scoldingly. I said, “I believed him”. Again, I got the sympathetic eyes and sad face… “You should never believe a Talking Man” he replied…but then, almost in the same breath came the call, “Want to buy a Rolex?” Surreal for sure!!

Mark and I decided to eat North American one night so we were heading across the busy Galle Rd when a mid-aged man started walking with us. At the median, he began the, now familiar, banter… “You don’t recognize me, eh?” I looked at Mark, he at me… “No” Mark said politely. “I work at the Sapphire, I’m a bartender, there – I’m not wearing my uniform today – that’s why you don’t know me!”. We laughed – I thought I caught a glimmer of recognition in Mark’s eyes and later, I learned that Mark thought I had recognized the guy. He helped us a bit with directions and told us not to buy electronics in a nearby store because they were expensive and then he said he had to go because he had a Doctor’s appointment at the clinic “over there”. We said our good byes and thought nothing of the chance meeting…until 20 minutes later when we came out of another store and the same guy was in front of us. He said he had to pay a medical bill and that he would give us his watch in exchange for 800 rupees. I couldn’t bear him giving us his watch as collatoral so I suggested to Mark that we just give the money. The smallest denomination Mark had was 1,000 – As the guy walked away…Mark and I had the conversation we should have had after the first time the guy met us. I said, “Did you recognize that guy from the hotel?” “No, I thought you did” was Mark’s reply…. we both smiled knowingly… We’d been SCAMMED!

How did he know we were from the Sapphire though? We figured he had got the information from the three-wheeler we had just gotten out of. And I proved this point a few days later. At Majestic City, I had just climbed out of a Global Tower hotel car and entered a bookstore when a vaguely familiar-looking Sri Lankan man came up to me and said, “You’re from Global Towers – how are you – you don’t recognize me, na?” I could not believe it… there he was right in front of me doing the same schtick!! I told the guy, “I do recognize you and I want your WATCH!!” I figured I couldn’t get our money back from him but he still had his watch!! He was surprised with my outburst in the store and said immediately, “No, no, you have the wrong person, I’m a tuk-tuk driver!” I’m flaring now, “Okay, show me your tuk-tuk… and give me your watch!! you took money from me and my husband and I want it back!!” The guy ran out of the store and down to where the tuk-tuk’s were parked – I followed him – “I’m going to tell every tourist I know about your scam – you will be put out of business” I irrationally told him – he surprised me with this retort: “I will go to Kandy to Anaradapura, you will not be able to stop me!!”. It was all kind of funny and good entertainment for the tuk-tuk drivers – I wasn’t really upset…more intrigued about how this guy operated – and his good english!!

After the scam artist went into the Mall, one of the street vendors gave me the warning of never to talk to a “Talking Man” and I haven’t since that day! Well, sometimes, I tell them “I don’t talk to strangers” – Sometimes I just ignore them – Sometimes I tell them I’ve been in Sri Lanka for a long time and I know what they’re up to.

You see, the regular Sri Lankans, although a friendly bunch when you get to know them, are not typically the type to “chat up” perfect strangers. Only “talking men” do – and there are quite of few those types in places where tourists hang out. They usually start talking to you about the weather and how hot it is…then they ask where you’re from and how long you’ve been in Sri Lanka – if you’re still on amiable terms, they will see if you want to go to the festival…see an elephant… etc. How do I know this? Almost everyone can tell you such a story….there was one of friends who got taken on one such scam where he ended up seeing an elephant, a few other sites but then had to pay the three-wheeler driver an astronomical fee and just when his head was beginning to clear, the talking man said he had to pay him!! Oh there are many stories!

Here are pictures of Talking Men who walk the beat between Crescat Mall and the Galle Face Hotel. You’d think after I had got rid of one that the others wouldn’t try… but alas…

I’ve come across a few designs I adore….This swing is one… it can be found in the “Marry Browns” just down from Global Towers on Marine Drive, a fast food franchise out of Malaysia. I sat waiting for any one of the three swings to become free so that I could take a picture of just the swing but to no avail…the swings are the most popular seats in the house! I was left to beg the young lovers to allow me to take a photo while they swang and ate…luckily they obliged.

MB’s is just a block down the seaside road – it’s got cheap but tastey cappuccino (from a Nescafe machine) served in a real cup – tandoori chicken buns, nice salad offerings, and niblet corn as a side dish….not bad for fast food!

These photos are for my friend Bea in Toronto. She is a seasoned traveller who collects weaving samples on her many stops around the world. She has not been to Sri Lanka yet so I thought I’d send her some photos of an array of fabrics I found in a store along Galle Street in Colombo, near the Crescat Mall.

A headline like “Garment Free Trade Zone”, might lead one to believe that we visited a nude colony in Sri Lanka… but the emphasis here, is on “Free Trade Zone” not “Garment Free” !

Last week Annand took me on an excursion with one of the teachers from his Jaffna schools to buy outfits for their upcoming August concert. The idea was to buy sets of matching ‘good clothes’ for each of the classes in the concert – a total of 200 students! Can you imagine the administrative nightmare of measuring all the children and then purchasing the clothes? Well, Annand and Ann-Mary had it all under control – I joined them on their 3rd day of shopping along Pamunugama Road in the Maharagama area just outside Colombo. Annand tells me that the shop keepers visit the many Garment Factories operating in this area very early in the morning and they purchase a certain amount of the clothing destined for the western markets. The prices on the street are unbelievable – a child’s sporty-looking shorts $1.00 Canadian!!

More pics and stories about the day to come!

Okay, I’m a little late with these pics – and now I’m in a bit of “pickle”.

I have all these veggie photos from the Pettah trip but I don’t have their names!! I need to get these out of the way, so that I can share another really neat shopping place I visited this week…So can you help? Just click on the word “Comments” below if you know any of these!

Photo#1 What is this woman chopping?		Photo#2 – I’ve seen these at home – They kind of look like cucumbers with warts.
Photo#3 – Notice the size…see the cabbage and peppers?		Photo#4 – If these were more purpley, you might think it was turnip…wrong!!
Photo#5 – Okay, this is for double points – What’s that brown bumpy thing on the left and the white items in the middle, which I think I had in a soup in China.		Photo#6 – Let’s go for two here, also – the middle bag and the purple vegetable (I had this one in China, for breakfast one day).
Photo#7 – The left veggie looks cucumber with very high ridges and right…well?		Photo#8 – Thilaka said this is somewhat like a potato but it makes a very delicious drink.
Photo#9 – I’ve heard you shouldn’t let anyone take this one, cut open on a crowded bus – apparently, it stinks – but it is very tastey!		Photo#10 – Easy points here – each vegetable is only worth half a point!

Yesterday, Thilaka, a Sri Lankan friend, took me to Pettah, an area of Colombo that is packed with street commerce. Thilaka was great at helping me get acquainted to this hectic place where it seems every side street has a different product to sell (we visited the fruit, vegetable and clothing alleys) while at the same time she introduced me to a variety of Sri Lankan fruit and vegetables. I can now put a name and cooking/eating method to many of the strange beasts we’ve seen in the produce area of the supermarket.

I will add more photos at another time but for now I hope these capture the essence of the place!

One “Shop” setting up just as we arrived… I’m not sure where the boxes get stored overnight

The same shop later in the morning

It’s mangosteen season – sticky, juicy but oh so tastey!

One of the Fruit Areas of Pettah

I picked up a handful of the best looking beans I’ve seen ever…really! and some beets – while Thilaka popped a sampling of mangosteens, mangoes and rambuttan in my bag as well.

We spent most of the morning browsing, buying and babbling – then finished off with a refreshing woodapple drink…what fun! Thilaka described that the outside of the wood apple is hard like a coconut – you crack it open and then puree the inside fruit – you can either drink it alone or add milk – but our treat had ice cream…mmmmmm – Sorry no pics of the woodapple experience…but I had been curious about them ever since I spied them in the grocery store!

Three wheelers are used to transport a variety of items here in Colombo – This one in particular caught my eye because I haven’t seen any donut shops around so I wondered where the Dunkin’ Donuts were going…then I realized that they are not dunkin’ donuts!

Mark and I had a great Saturday…walking along Galle St…. finding some new places for coffee, sushi, books and other items. We were out around midday so we also got very good at identifying stores that would have good air-conditioning where we could deke in and get cooled off while we ‘browsed’.

As we approached Majestic, the closest mall to us, we came across an open-air auction in a field. I like this particular shot of the action because it seems to tell the whole story all in one frame – it’s just unfortunate the auctioneer’s orange juice is more prevalent than his gavel…..ugh

I’ve included a short movie from my digital camera of the action at the auction (see the link below). You will see that auctions sound the same, no matter what language they are in!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvOiSWTXPQY

If you go and view the video, it is unfortunately, a little blurry in this format – you can make it smaller (and therefore the blurriness is less annoying) by clicking on the size button in the lower-right shown here: