No Fixed Abode: Happy Sri Lankan New Year

Thu 14 Apr 2016 - Negombo

Apparently the date and time of the Sri Lankan New Year is calculated in great detail by the state astrologers with the ‘auspicious’ and ‘inauspicious’ times defined to the minute. Being a superstitious lot they spend the inauspicious period of New Year’s eve in the temples before partying in the auspicious period, fortunately the period we’d arrived.

Anyway, we were very tired in the morning as a) we spent a long time awake the day before, b) we got to bed very late, c) we had 1.5 (Sri Lanka is in a weird time zone 5.5 hrs ahead of GMT) hrs of jetlag to overcome and d) some idiot (Glenn) ordered breakfast for 0800. On the plus side breakfast was tasty and included two plates of special New Year cakes made by the wife of Niluk, the owner. All very sweet and tasty.

Once finished, and feeling particularly stuffed, Niluk, offered to take us on a tour of Negombo, the small town that hosts the airport, 20km north of Colombo. Expecting a slightly grim industrial town we were pleasantly surprised to find a lagoon full of brightly coloured fishing boats, including dozens of sailing canoes with outriggers, being paddled out to sea before the sails were hoisted. We then visited a huge catholic church full of carved figures and with a very impressive sistine chapelesque ceiling. Next to the fishmarket on the beach we met a local old guy who told us he was famous as he’d been interviewed by Rick Stein for his tv show about the fish drying he was supervising. In front of us were dozens of hessian mats covered in fish, squid and fillets of ray all drying in the sunshine. He told us the fish were spread one by one by hand in one day, individually turned the next then collected the third and that the birds did not eat them because of the copious amount of salt they were covered in to aid their preservation. There were scores of women on their hands and knees placing or turning these fish and already at 9.30am the heat was intense.

Then we were dropped at the beach and told to call when we wanted collecting. As it was New Year’s day the beach was rammed with locals all swimming - well, wading and standing mainly - in the sea. Boys in their underwear, girls fully clothed. When it is this warm nothing takes too long to dry. Walking along the beach we could see the sailing canoes all bombing about a few hundred meters off shore, like a congested regatta, and then we came to group of guys all heaving on a net that was being slowly hauled from the sea and laid out on the beach. We watched them for a good while before noticing a similar group further along the beach working towards them. It seems they had laid a massive, easily 400m log, purse seine net in a huge arc off the beach and were slowly gathering the ends together to land their catch. Considering there were so many of them and it took a long time to get the actual purse ashore they didn’t catch a massive amount of fish. Four big ones, about 600mm long, and two baskets of smaller ones. Once they had the catch in they then re furled the net into a small boat ready to relay - presumably tomorrow.

After we’d had a couple of dips in the sea playing in the large waves with Yvonne speculating that if she hadn’t caught cholera by now, by virtue of the amount of water she swallowed, she never would.

Returning to the hotel Glenn realised that he’d badly burned his neck and shoulders. They had not been exposed that long but the sun was so fierce (it is almost directly overhead at this time of year) and the air so clear that that’s all it took.

Feeling hot and very sweaty in the humid air we sought refuge in the air conditioned room to plan our journey around Sri Lanka. For dinner we ate a tasty meal cooked by Niluk’s wife then sat with them into the evening as a thunder storm raged overhead, talking about their aspirations for the hotel and what sites we should visit. Niluk had been a tour guide for eight years so knew all of the history of the ancient sites and gave us some really good advice on timetables and places to stay. He’d always harboured a dream to run his own hotel so they bought a scruffy piece of land, spent a year clearing it of trees and shrubs then had the bedrooms and a shell, that will eventually become the reception, built. 6 months ago he’d left his job and they started taking guests. Mainly overnight stays before or after flights due its proximity to the airport, the reason we’d stayed here, but business was going ok. We wished them luck as they have worked hard and made a good job of the place.

With our tour plan in place we retired to our room to book some hotel rooms then went to sleep.