Tissa - temples & safari

Rice & curry at Refresh
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Another crazy bus trip and we were in the small town of Tissamaharama (or Tissa for the locals & tongue-tied tourists).

With a bit of careful negotiation with the manager, we managed to check into the 'poshest place in town' (i.e. clean sheets and minibar), and headed straight out to the restaurant called 'Refresh' which according to the guidebook does one of the best rice and curry meals in the country.

'Rice and curry' is a bit of an institution in Sri Lanka but hard to find as apparently locals don't eat out much (the cooking is better at home), meaning that most restaurants serve up tourist fodder (we are  both getting a little bored of club sandwiches).  The meal consists of at least 6 different curries (mainly vegetarian), mounds of rice and pappadums.  We have learned the hard (hot) way to say we like our food 'medium', not 'spicy'.  The meal at Refresh consisted of about 9 curries from memory and was very good, except that dissapointingly at least 4 of those had the same curry sauce but just different contents. Still, much better than a club sandwich and we rolled out absolutely stuffed and ready to face our evening in the nearby town of Kataragama.

Flaming coconuts!
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Every evening at 7pm, the temple complex at Kataragama is beseiged by pilgrims who, after bathing in the nearby river bring their offerings (mostly huge fruit platters) to the temple.  Amidst much drumming, incense, fire, dancing and ceremony, the crowds push through the temple, handing their offerings over and praying.  Outside the temple, other pilgrims queue with flaming coconuts which after praying they smash on a rock set into the ground.  It was an incredible sight, ancient tiny ladies who looked like they could barely walk smashing coconuts with such force and determination.  One lady's cooconut did not smash and completely panicked (bad luck apparently).

Elephant couple
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Simon made friends with a local lad on the way back in the bus, and before getting the bus to stop immediately outside our hotel (great service!) asked us to write him letters so that he could practice his English.

The next day was all about going on safari to the Yala National Park.  The park had only just reopened after being closed for 3 months following a  Tamil Tiger attack on army personnel based in the park.  Locals assured us it was fine (even though the UK foreign office website didn't seem to think so), so we crossed our fingers and went for it.

Another rubbish view from our hotel
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To go to Yala, you hire a jeep and the park 'gives' you a tracker.  Our tracker was crap but our driver was a legend, spotting and naming beasts and birds long before our tracker had even looked out the window.  Highlights included elephants, families of wild boar, crocodiles sunning and swimming, elk, and leopard footprints (but sadly no leopards).   A dusty and bumpy few hours later, we headed back home to the mini bar - very satisfied tourists.