Week 4-6 August 27th 2018: Summary of Travels

There's a lot that has happened since my first Angampora practice.  Even the week I was writing about, I left out my travels to Galle, Kandy, Nurawa Eliya, Ella, Horton Plains, Kandy again, Anuradhapura, Polunaruwa, Sigiriya, and Dambulla. Also one of my friends visited me (thus all the travels). I'm going to be summarizing a lot of things, especially family dynamics since at this point I've gotten to know must of my family well enough. The most recent and important development is my Seeyah, since I will probably mention him a lot.

So Seeyah literally translates to grandfather. My grandfather (mom's father) is dead. He had 8 siblings, 4 of whom are still alive.  My granduncle Surinimula, whom I stay with in Kandy, and whom everyone agrees, was most like my grandfather,  I started calling me Seeyah.  He also told me that having me here is like having his brother back (so Awwwww!).

Now, lets get into the crazy Fun travels!

Colombo/Galle

So my friend Andrés, came to visit me.  I know him from Adams House (my former undergrad house at Harvard).  He's what we call Adamsians like to call a "house elf." This means he lives with us, dines with us, and runs certain social functions that the Heads of the House put on (i.e teas, study nights, etc).  In Andrés' case he often acts as the on call musician😉😏

Now his name is Andres, but I call him Aèyah, a derivation of the Sinhala word Ai-yaa,  which means older brother.  Having known him  for about 4 yrs, he really does live up to the title. Andrés is that  mischievous older brother you love to hate. From here on out I shall refer to him almost exclusively as Aèyah.

Ancient Sinhala Sword styles around 1100 AD I think.....

Side view of the National Museum

This is us (okay, mostly me, since Aèyah doesn't like being in his own photos -_-) in Colombo

We went to a restaurant called KamaSutra, which is clever since Kama is the Sinhala word for food. It was apparently the tuna ambulthiya there was an orgasmic experience for Aèyah.  Tbf the food was amazing.





This is the Kites at Galleface in Colombo

GALLE

We took the luxury bus to Galle which is a little port city. The youngest of my grandfather's brother lives there, and manages the family estate. My grandfather, and all of his siblings grew up on the land we were staying at. The massive estate has since been divided up into smaller patches between the various descendants of the Wirasinghes.
We went to Unuwatuna Beach, unfortunately the waves were MUCH to big, and I got knocked over .... a lot. (I thought I took pictures, apparently I didn't)

This is the Lagoon Tour Near Galle.  They take you around on a boat and show you wildlife

Aèyah  Really Freaked OUT at all the Fishies HAHAHa 🤣They nibble at your Feets!!🤣!

Who THE HECK THOUGHT ^^ THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA?!?!???Aèyah  driving a Boat? Dow Aèyah   Have a Boating Liscense?!? No, I don't think so.  (Actually neither did our guide, so???)

Thoughts about GALLE:

Fisherman boats near the harbor and Fish market in Galle

Galle for me creates a weird emotion. My grandfather was disowned by his father, as in he was completely removed from the will. I'm not sure why. I know my grandfather and grandmother were from different castes. I know his mother tried to reconcile this, after his father's death, but my grandfather, he did not want or need the land she offered. I'm not sure what exactly happened.

We stayed at Mehinsa's house. He is one of the brothers whose family moved to Australia, but he, his children, and grandchildren still own a piece of the estate.

Being here, on the soil that is stained with bittersweet memories, years after the feud was forgotten, I wonder what my grandfather would think.  He never lost touch with his siblings, whom universally looked up to him, and they are what remain here. The love is what remains here, and it greets me when I arrive.
I wonder about the land. The land where all Wirasinghe descendants have a claim, except me.  I wonder what land he would have passed on, and what his house would have looked like? I wonder what inheritance was lost, and what would have been ours, what would have been his, what would have been mine, what would have been future my children's. I wonder if the Sri Lanka soil can learn to recognize me. I wonder if it can embrace me as the fruit of it's labors across the sea. I wonder if severed roots can heal?
I think about this not only with regards to Galle, but the more time I spend in Sri Lanka, the more I think about the circumstances under which my grandparents, mother and aunt fled,  the more I find old connections and ties, the more I love this country.

This is Galle Fort, Not to be confused with Galle Face.  Galle Fort is where the Dutch came in the 1500s and settled. They took over an old Portuguese fort, and finished it. 

Some Cows were wandering the Street!

 We also Had dinner at this Amazing Cafe, (right) owned by an elderly sweet man named Fahzal, he also told stories. He makes all the food from scratch in his own kitchen.  I believe he is a moor (which  I'll explain why that matters)

AWKWARD MOMENT: (I.e why it matters).

This is Food from another cafe, it was Delicious(So was Fahzal's place)

I have gotten in the Habit of paying obesaince to my elders, or teachers. This is a Buddhist and Hindu practice of bending down and touching the feet.  So when leaving I bent to try to do the same to Fahzal who is muslim.  SO  in Islam, and in the middle east throwing a shoe or touching feet etc is a HUGE insult.  The feet are considered Unclean.
Of Course I  Didn't know that.  I didn't even think of the Possibility.  So of course to say thank you, my Dumb-butt tried to bend down to touch.
  (Aèyah  was surprised I hadn't had this conversation before since I have quite a few friends who are not only muslim, but one of them is a Scholar and Academic, so I should have Known the difference in culture). 
Fahzal Jumped back, and we all laughed it off as I apologized and was super confused.  
I realized Sri Lanka is NOT a monolith, and it is so easy when you are apart of a majority to just assume everyone is the same as you, has the same culture and beliefs.  Its like being white in the USA,  their is privilege in that assumption you don't even know you're making.  (I will probably write a WHOLE different page about contending with privilege).  

Also here is a lagoon tour.

Carving a traditional Sinhala  Yahka mask

Ambulangoda Mask Making  

MISADVENTURE to Kaduwala (I think???): 

So after the trip to Galle, we were supposed to go back to my Seeyah's in Kandy, which was acting as our home base.  I had planned all of the transport ahead of time.  I knew we were supposed to take the A/c luxury bus from Galle to Maharagama, then a short bus to Colombo, then from Colombo go to  Kandy in a Nice luxury bus. SO technically it's 3 Buses, but like very doable. 

WELL That plan got thrown out the Window.... (mostly By accident). 

Now I had scheduled quite a bit of down time with the assumption that something might  just maybe go wrong.  IT DID. 

We got to the bus stand in Galle and thought we would ask if there was a bus to Kandy. I don't Know WHY after a mere 3 weeks, I thought I understood Sinhalese well enough to inquire about this, or thought I could understand the conductor at the bus stand, but I did.  He basically said that if we wanted to go to Kandy, there was no direct bus and that we could take bus X and it would drop us off 

at the next bus stop where we could take a bus direct to Kandy.  2 Things I did NOT understand.

1) The Bus that would take us to Kandy was the generic heavily crowded NO A/C intercity Bus. (i.e Standing room Only).

2) It was a Friday Night, and Rush hour by the time we would get dropped off so Every bus would be packed to the brim, so there was NO chance of getting on a regular intercity bus anyway. Also we still had ALL of Aѐyah's luggage (which was really just 1 small-ish suitcase and a Massive back-pack), and I had my Backpack from Galle. 

#LanguagePROBLEMS

Nonetheless we got on the bus, because I thought it would be 2 luxury buses to Kandy. .... 😖😫 Clearly that's not what happened.  When we got left at this random bus stop, someone who spoke English explained it to us, and said we should just go to Colombo. This meant that we  were now in a random city 7 a-clock at Night and it was getting dark. Aѐyah suggested we find a place to crash and just go to Colombo tomorrow morning and then take the bus go to Kandy. 

WHAT HAPPENED NEXT (O.o)

So we walked around and eventually found a hotel that didn't seem shady. (Mostly it was cool because there was a woman manager so it was more likely safe and a cop showed it to us).  We decided to go find dinner. The place we went was well reviewed on google and seemed cool.  The restaurant had an outdoor pavilion and there looked like there was some sort of convention going on.  At first we thought it was some sort of reunion or a business convention.

Aѐyah even made a joke about what if this was the Sinhala version of the Klan... I mean what were the chances right? Stumbling onto some backwoods nationalist racist group in the middle of Nowhere, right???..... ..... ... . . . .  0.0

 *Note: Andres is Mexican-American, thus a brown person, so he understands/knows oppression, and that's why we are able to make a joke about the Klan, which under regular circumstances is not funny, but more like the irony of the possibility. 

We heard them talk about Tamils, and Muslims Repeatedly. 

(For those who don't know, Sri Lanka had a 30 yr civil war between the Sinhala majority and the Tamil minority.  Namely with the Tamil tigers, but there was A LOT of fascism, racism and Nationalism, during this time, as well as war Atrocities committed on both sides, but the casualties were primarily Tamil).  

They also kept using the word "Boomi Putra" which roughly translates to "sons of the soil". Remember what I said about what were the chances? Pretty High, apparently, since between google translate, (and confirming later with audio clips my family translated) they were a nationalist conspiracy theorist group, who thought he only people who have a claim to Sri Lanka were the Sinhala. They also thought Facebook was the devil and was corrupting the minds of the next generation, as well as India was responsible for the internet and were using it to mind control people, and some other crazy theories. 

... 

So that happened.  Its weird to realize my heritage includes a group that committed atrocities against another group.  I have feelings and thoughts I don't know how to approach.  (I will come back to this later when I right my segment on contending with race).  We quickly got the bill and left, and then made it back to Kandy.

Nurawa Eliya 

 Once we had made it back to Kandy we were able to laugh off the whole experience, as ridiculous and problematic, we planned our trip to Nurawa Eliya, where  Seeyah's son Chathura lives.   

This is the drive on the From Kandy to Ella 

This is the view  as we Hiked up the Mountain in Ella  

This is The View from the TOP of Ella, Little Adams Peak  (Low Key I was sorta Freaked out being up there). 

Railway to Nine Arches in Ella

HORTON PLAINS 

This is Me, Sarange (our driver and friend while in Nurawa Eliya), and Aeyah, at the World's Edge in Horton Plains

This is a SAMBER, basically an Endemic type of elk in Sri Lanka, he was Really Into Aeyah ;)

WaterFall, where we stopped and had some fun snacks. It was a moment of silence and quiet while listening to the waterfall. 

Nurawa Eliya (Pictures)

 We went to a Tea Plantation in Nurawa Eliya.  They have  like 8 types of tea. The strongest is called dust, and its only sold in country.  Apparently foreigners find this type of tea too strong, so they actually only sell the other ones.  

They only pick the top leaves and new buds. The tea plucking is still done by hand, and mostly women.

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Aѐyah and Chathura-aiyaa Playing Ping pong!!! IT WAS HILARIOUS, and VERY INTENSE.  (Chathura is my Seeyah's son.  He is a doctor living in Nurawa Eliya, so we were staying with him). He was an amazing host and Also very into Ping Pong. I should say that he slaughtered Both me and Aѐyah. Well, okay it was a much closer game when it was Aѐyah and Chathura, it was a slaughter with me. Also I feel like Aѐyah deserves a proper amount of praise since he would probably want me to mention he beat me Three games in a row. The best Game was the third, where he played the ENTIRE game Left-Handed. The end score was 13 to 21. (I got the 13. . . . . >_<  ) 

Nurawa Eliya is a mostly Tamil city. Thus Hinduism is the primary Religion. This is the entrance to a Kovila (temple) It was BEAUTIFUL

Kovila alter 

City of Nurawa Eliya  (Btw Nurawa Eliya is FREEZING.  Like it is SUPER COLD there)

Back to Kandy we go!

After all the adventures, Aѐyah  and I needed some Serious recoop time.  Once back in Kandy, I also fiddled with Getting Data and and showing him around. 

I was also glad to be back in Kandy since I actually knew my way around. (I tend to want things to be perfect, so unlike the weird Misadventure, Kandy I could do well). 

So here is a gorgeous Picture of Kandy

We were at the top of some tourist-y  Bar during Happy Hour.  I completely lied to my Seeyah when he called to ask what we were doing. Sips Mojito "Yeah, Umm Aeyah wanted to stop for some water ..." Cause ya know its totally on him, and we a definitely drinking water. 

Helga's Folly is a Super Kichi place

Ancient City tour (Honestly I can't remember which ones are which).

These I know are All ANURADHAPURA, also Google the Ancient City of Anuradhapura, this City was in use for years than its been abandoned (So trust me and google it because its REALLY freaking OLD)

Pretty sure this Is Anuradhapura

Pretty Sure this is ALSO... Wait I don't remember, literally guessing Anuradhapura, it was HUGE

This is a Tank Built Forever ago, and still functioning... okay sorta functions, there's still water in it. 

SIGIRIYA (Please, for the sake of all that is good, google it.  I do NOT have enough time or space in this blog to explain how EPIC Sigiriya is!)

Fun Monkey times... >,< 

So in Sigiriya, Aѐyah and I finally got to the top of this GIANT mountain. We are understandably tired and want a snack.  (Mind you, earlier, we had literally seen  a monkey Jump and Grab someone and try to pry the food out of their hand) We picked a spot where there really weren't monkeys, and they still came. I was holding a bag of sri-Lankan version Cheeze-its. Some random person pointed out that there was a monkey.  So I stood up and backed away and FREAKED out when it started following me! I then panicked and started running and it started running too. So I threw the small snack bag away from me and it dove for it, and fought with another monkey.  I feels stupid, but legit I am afraid of those things. They could legitimately rip your face off or something, or Bite you.  I mean they usually run away from you if you take your shoe off and try to hit them.  Aѐyah  was DEFINITELY annoyed, albeit entertained.  XD , I guess he had been ready with his shoe off and everything for a fight, but I was like "HERE! take the Snacks!" The last time I visited Polonnaruwa the monkeys stole a stone elephant from my bag. This time they came up on me like O'Gs ready for a Fight. O.O they won.   (IDK, what would you have done?Fight them like Aѐyah or Run, like me? Comment below!)

And Yes, I feel sufficiently guilty for the plastic I have added to the environment, and that feeding the animals is very bad.

The View from the Top Of Sigiriya, It was insane and amazing!  

I know this is Polonnaruwa

Monkeys!!! THEY ARE DANGEROUS LITTLE MONSTERS.  But CUTE!!!!!!!! Photo Credit: Andres Ballesteros, using my camera

The monkey on the floor is not dead, he his chillin' while his family picks bugs from his fur

SO ELEPHANT MIGRATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 Actually right now is the largest gathering of Elephants in one place in the world, in our short safari ride through the national park, coming home from Polonnaruwa,

Okay That's ALL Folks! 

(That's actually Not all, but I have been working on this for days!) I will tell you all about the Kandian Perahera Next time, and the other adventures in Kandy.  But believe me when I say it is not all fun, and this Entry is  HIGHLY condensed with none of the self reflections, thoughts or personal connections I've made. Its reductive, since I really only can summarize, and there is A LOT to summarize. I will write separate pages on what it is like to a women, and gender, which really needs Multiple entry's. I will also write about the intersection of traditional Hinduism and Sri Lankan Buddhism, as well as my current thoughts on the legacy of the Caste system, and what having a "home land" feels like. 

Next Posting: Sept 10, Monday

(Note: I will be adding separate pages on gender, race, etc before the Sept 10th release).