At 7:00 a.m. just after we had docked in Colombo, Cruise Director, Bruce announced over the ship loudspeaker that we should all rush to look over the railing to see the huge elephant. Leslie had already called us with the same message. She said it was one of the largest elephants she had seen, and she ought to know as she once held weekly elephant washes to raise money for one of her Asian causes. A huge market was set up on the pier. This was in contrast to last year, when there was no welcome at all. This year we also had gorgeous dancers.
The heat and humidity were in full swing at 7:30 when we met Grace and Calvin shoreside. We successfully negotiated a small minivan and set off. We had a great day together and we were so glad that it worked out that we could join them, for we learned a lot as well, due to fact that they are Buddhists, and this is a nation of Buddhists.
To begin, last year, we were a bit apprehensive about this port as it had only been 3 years since the war between the Tamil Tigers and the rest of the nation ended. We have a large Sri Lankan community in Toronto and know the violence and horrors that the people had suffered in this desperately poor nation. We had been delightfully surprised last year to find probably the friendliest people in the world, (outside of Bali) who literally waved to us as we passed and gestured for us to take their pictures. We found things had not changed this year, with people being so friendly and frankly curious about where we were from and why we were in Colombo.
We were only in the port for a short visit, with all aboard being 2:30 pm., which meant we couldn't get out of the city like we did last year when we had journeyed 3 hours away to the Pinnawalla Elephant Orphanage.
Calvin and Grace had the same objective as we had, which was to visit the Keleniya Buddhist Temple. None of us knew, including Grace and Calvin, until we this cruise, that Buddha had visited Colombo 2600 years ago, arriving by ship to preach his learnings. This temple houses some of his relics although I am not sure which ones. Visiting this temple was extremely moving. Once again, as we had seen last year in India, albeit then it was Hindus, we were struck by the devotion of the people, who were present in the hundreds. It being Sunday, families, dressed in white, or beautifully pressed and clean clothing, even those of humble means, made their way to chant, pray and make offerings to the philosophy of the Buddhism way of life. Buddhism is not a religion, or so we were told, but a philosophy, and Buddha is not a god. He showed the way that all spiritual beings may find to merge with the One. On the edge of the parking lot were stall upon stall of sumptuously beautiful flowers, mostly lotus blossoms, as well as incense. Luckily Calvin had told us to bring socks, as every visitor must enter the sacred area without shoes.
As soon as we entered, an old nun, who was missing most of her lower teeth (in fact I did note that a lot of Sri Lankans have terrible teeth) asked us all where we were from. She allowed us to take her picture, and as I left, I turned around and she offered a blessing on all of us. Many people were sitting on stone steps, chanting, others had small blankets spread on the ground in front of the Buddha, and were praying, some with small candles lit. Off to the side was a large area of burning candle offerings. Buddha's statue sits up high under a large spreading tree, that was started from a branch of the original tree where Buddha is said to have meditated for years and where he eventually found enlightenment.
Around the side of the area, there were large numbers of children in Sunday school, all dressed in white, sitting quietly and patiently listening to a single teacher, some sitting, others standing gathered around their teacher. You cannot help but be struck and affected by the sight of such devotion, which we do not see in North America.
The temple itself is a large stone building, with stunningly detailed frescoes in orange hues covering the walls and ceilings, which depict the life of Buddha. A large gold dome houses some relics, and in another room there is a lying down Buddha, which symbolizes the moment when he was ready to pass from this life into Niravana.
All the time we were in the temple area, Calvin was whispering in our ears the significance of everything, which greatly added to our experience. In one room, was a small family sitting on a carpet with 3 month old twin girls. People bring their food with them, and after their devotions they pick it up and eat their breakfast, sometimes out of the back of their cars. I was dehydrated by now, and annoyed at myself that I hadn't brought water for us.
We left this place after an hour or so, and made our way back to Colombo. We wanted a city tour, and to go to a market. Our taxi driver was not a guide, but he tried to tell us a bit. Most of what we saw consisted of grave poverty, or houses that once must have been small but lovely, but were now in need of major repairs, lots of evidence of repairs, and new buildings, a new airport road, and some major development of modern glass skyscrapers rising either fully built or in progress. Last year we learned that this nation was so poor that the major highway we had travelled on had been entirely financed by the IMF as the country couldn't afford to build it.
The market proved to be another amazing experience where every sense was assaulted: the sights were incredible (carts of fresh leeks, oranges, and other produce, garments, people, bikes, buses, small tuk tuks) , the noise was cacophonous with loudspeakers set up in some small stalls, and smells of street food, garbage, and sewage. The products here were some of the poorest we have seen, and we all just spent the hour roaming and drinking in the scene. So many people wanted to know who we were and where we came from. They were very friendly and seemed to enjoy our taking their pictures and showing them the result on our camera. Colombo is not a major tourist destination.
We came back to the ship and shopped the pier. One more item of note, is that Sri Lanka is the "gem" island, because most of the precious gems in the world originate here. Some gem dealers were set up on the pier and they had some extremely expensive pieces for sale.
Our evening was spent comparing notes with Leslie, Karen and Jonathan, and then attending the show where a marvellous musician played his electric and acoustic cello. I may have failed to remark that we have been gaining hours this past week, sometimes going forword an hour, then back one, then one and a half, and finally another 30 minutes. It gets very confusing to figure out what time it is at home, but we are resigned to the fact that we are literally on the opposite side of the world, and when we arise in the morning, our family and friends have gone to bed, making it impossible to call home, especially as our internet connection remains spotty and expensive.
We have 3 days ahead on the sea, but we have entered pirate waters. The Captain sent us a letter and spoke over the loudspeaker noting the razor wire that was now wrapped around the ship at our Lower Promenade level to prevent pirates from boarding. We also were to have a special drill in the morning to prepare us for the unlikely occurrence of a pirate attack. Dr Schirer had spoken in his lecture about how piracy was on the decline because there was finally international military co-operation and action to squash it,, but it is still a reality that Somalian pirates are in these waters and we must take the necessary precautions. There will now be 24 hour watch on the ship, the water hoses will be used if necessary, and there are acoustic guns that can be used to blow out pirates' ear drums. The realities of terrorism are with us, no matter where we travel, even the high seas.
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