Sunset, Blue Skies & The Indian Ocean

No Filter Needed

One simply does not travel from Thailand to Sri Lanka in the blink of an eye. Keeping to a steady pace, our voyage took sixty-five hours from port to port. Those sixty-five hours were spent eating, sleeping, vegging. knitting, trivia, enrichment lectures, cocktail parties, blogging, and another magic show. Different magician from the previous one where I briefly acted as an assistant (I sometimes wonder if these aren't plants in the audience, but I certainly was not). A few of my friends were somewhat put-off when this highly energetic young man chose to stop his magic acts for a couple of minutes to "give us a lesson in morality", as one friend phrased it. I applauded! Okay, maybe that was not why anyone had come to the show, however he was spot-on as far as I'm concerned. Glorious sea days, I do love them. On to Sri Lanka...

Oh, Glorious Sea Days!

On the Insignia, we had an overnight stay in Colombo allowing for two different equally enjoyable excursions. This year we had thirteen wonderful hours. As it has seemingly become Oceania's custom, we docked at a different location from that of 2023. No worries - the tiny, modern, comfortable, air-conditioned tour bus was waiting at the end of the gangplank for our 8:30am departure. Gone were the rickety, broken-down, screeching buses of 2023. In fact, as I looked around on our way through town, the only thing I could recognize was the beautiful Lotus Tower. Construction cranes were everywhere! The roadways outside the city were narrow but paved and very heavily traveled! I was unable to discern mention of speed limits, stop signs nor other instruction to motorists, yet I witnessed no accidents or even near misses. Having been under British rule until 1948, they naturally drive on "the other side of the road" from that to which I am accustomed. This holds true for the most part in the city and on thoroughfares (saw none of these in 2023). But on the way to and from the Tea/Rubber Tree Plantation, any open space was fair game. No tires squeal, no horns honk - they just seem to know what everyone else is going to do before they do it. Amazing! Truly Amazing!\

Local Authorities "guarding" our ship

A Tuc-Tuc Delivery Vehicle

Water Buffalo Grazing in a Rice Paddy

It became crystal clear why our buses were so small immediately upon turning into the dual purpose plantation - the pavement was maybe six inches wider that our wheel base! Less than half a mile into the plantation, we met oncoming traffic on a one way road. Ooops, something has to give. It was then that I understood why we had an "assistant driver" as he exited the vehicle to assure that our tires remained on the pavement while backing to a bit of a shoulder. This happened multiple times as we entered and exited.

First we came upon the rubber trees and a lady waiting to demonstrate how the rubber was harvested. Fascinating process. Our guide explained that a tree did not commence producing rubber until the age of five, then continued to do so for some twenty-five years. The trees on which she demonstrated were about halfway through their productive life. As I learned previously, this harvesting must take place in the very early hours while it is cooler. Once it gets too hot, the liquid hardens and thus is no longer useable. We were shown a string of rubber (much like a broken rubber band) which had been removed from the spiral cut made when harvesting earlier that morning on a nearby tree. An elastic "string" pulled from the cut in the bark of the tree. The liquid runs down the spiral cut in the bark and into half of a coconut shell. From there, it is collected and off to become latex gloves or other such items. No longer used in tires, however. Hmm! Yet another use for coconuts. (One more use for coconuts I have not shared: Our guide in Bali told us that it has long been their custom that upon one's death, the body is cremated then put into a cleaned-out coconut shell, the hole closed, and thrown into the ocean, "to return in another life...")

From the rubber harvesting to the tea harvest. Also immediately adjacent to the paved lane, two ladies awaited our arrival to demonstrate the harvesting of tea leaves. Tea plants can and will grow into tall trees if not harvested often and correctly. For the perfect Ceylon tea, only the bud and first two leaves are picked. Yes, picked. By hand. In the sun. For hours each day. Think of those little ladies the next time you sip your Lipton tea! When we first arrived, I noticed that both ladies were wearing head-cloths. I assumed for protection from the sun... Nope! That was for the harvested tea leaves. Pick a big hand-full, raise their hand to the top and back of their head, drop the leaves into the bag, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat. . .

Then its off to the factory, built in the 1920s, I think he said. Little, if any, improvements have been made since completion. We followed the progress of the freshly-picked tea leaves from drying, to grinding, to fermenting, to sifting for size, to more grinding, to packing, and on to tasting. All on a 90 degree day with equal humidity in an un-air-conditioned building. The workers were unfazed! Another day, another dollar. The only person (besides us tourists) who seemed uncomfortable was a man who was overseeing one of the many grinders until he saw I was taking pictures of the process. He studied my phone for several minutes then beat a hasty retreat into another area of the plant. We had been told that pictures of the plant were allowed - just not acceptable to him, obviously. Never saw him again, but after that, I made sure no people were in the photos. Once we witnessed the tea taster doing his job and heard his description of the various Ceylon teas, our guide asked if we were all ready to proceed to our own tea tasting. To which I replied, "Yes, I do believe I am properly steeped." He didn't appear to catch my attempt at humor...

Back on our little twelve passenger bus, we go to the plantation manager's house and beautiful gardens. In the midst of the garden under the shade of a huge tree was a circle of chairs where we were served a MOST DELICIOUS cup of certified Ceylon tea - made from the leaves gathered by those little ladies we saw earlier. To accompany the cup of tea, we were served a yummy cake. Something between a sponge cake and a pound cake but better. One thing I didn't hear/retain was how long the process is from plant to cup. Days? Weeks? Months? Don't know... Along side the circle of chairs, was a stand offering the opportunity to purchase their end product (minus the teabags). This we all did until there was no more...

A quick stroll around the grounds, a visit to the ladies room, then back on our comfy little bus. Throughout our return, I continued to marvel at the traffic, the construction cranes, the apparent economic growth and overall improvement since 2023. Our guide was silent as to any explanation. When I asked about the Lotus Tower, he proudly stated it now housed businesses as well as restaurants, and that all of the city tours now include a visit to its observation deck. Never was there mention of the current form of government... source of funds for all the progress in transportation... amazingly fast recovery from bankruptcy... nothing. However, mine is not to reason how, but to appreciate what is.

Back home aboard ship our evening show was "A Taste of Sri Lanka", a traditional cultural show much like if not exactly like the one we saw in 2023. I even convinced myself that one of those lovely young ladies from 2023 was on our stage.

Love, love, love Sri Lanka!