Sri Lanka Ride - Day 1

Route: Negambo - Anuradhapura
Kms: approx 250.
Hrs: approx 8
Road: mostly road with some pot-holed dirt tracks
Weather: Cracking - barely a cloud in the sky

Managed to figure out what i needed to pack into my tiny backpack for 10 days... never travelled so light in my life... feels sort of liberating tho. Woke up to a bunch of messages about Sri Lanka being in a state of emergency due to Muslims and Buddhists having it out... I don't think anyone here really cares.

The last thing Koji (tour company owner) said to me before departing was "the first 100km will be a little boring"... but the first 30 minutes was some of the most intense riding i’ve ever done - the traffic was fucking CHAOTIC!!! The fact my guide Mohammad rode like me made it a lot more fun. There were several close calls with trucks and tuk-tuks that got the palms sweating early!

Once we made our way past the city it was pretty chill - we rode along the coast, passing fishing villages with roadside markets which were kinda interesting... but the stench of fish and raw sewage nearly made me gag. Literally gag. Coming our of one of the villages I almost cleaned-up a retarded dog that walked right in front of me despite me raping the horn... I came to a screeching halt to the hysterics of the locals around me.

Stopped for a water break at a humble little shack on the beach, then about an hour later we stopped in the middle of nowhere for a coconut. Oddly enough an Aussie couple (Peter & Lisa) also stopped & had a nice chinwag with them... their guide Junni had the most ridiculous name I'd ever heard... it was EASILY 30+ syllables and sounded more like a bird call than a name. The guy selling the coconuts sliced them open once you finished the milk & make a scoop out of part of the shell so you could scoop out the flesh... as I finished eating mine I realised I'd had the whole scoop in my mouth... including the outer shell bit. Hopefully there's no liquid shits for the next 5 days.

Had lunch at a very humble (poor) looking roadside shack that had a buffet that cost under US$4 for the 2 of us including a tip. Wasn't brave enough to try any of the meat dished tho.

Our route north was a "short cut" thru a national park on a dirt track. As we entered the park we crossed a dam/bridge where fish were leaping out of the water trying to swim up the torrent flowing out of pipes in the dam. Was actually pretty funny to watch.

The dirt track thru the park was pretty hectic at times - cavernous potholes mixed with patches of soft sand on top of hardpacked dirt. The pace we were riding at was right at the very limit of my comfort zone - we were flying. Perfect.

Both myself and Mo had the bikes airborne on multiple occasions. We also both had parts of our luggage fall off the bikes - he dropped his tools and my sunnies fell out and got smacked against the rear tyre. When Mo dropped his tools he did a bloody U-turn right in front of me, causing me to lock-up the front wheel and almost bin the bike. At least Mo got his tools back, can't say the same about the sunnies. We both lost our bottles of water as well come to think of it.

About 30 minutes into the ride thru the national park I had to laugh - there was a fucking public bus coming thru... it would have to be the bumpiest bus ride on the planet!

Mo was a bit lost as we left the national park - we had to stop multiple times to ask for directions. One time we stopped next to these little school kids - they came straight up to me and asked me to lift my goggles... when they saw my face the cheeky little buggers immediately asked for money by rubbing their fingers together. I was feeling generous so I gave them a hi-5.

Was fun passing the groups of schoolkids tho - it's apparently pretty obvious I'm a foreigner even from a distance, as they're all waving and jumping at me... I've been getting a kick out of doing stupid waves/salutes for them. I like it when the little girls scream... makes me feel like the Biebs.

In the same area as the school kids i cracked up at this herd of goats that ALL had this triangle of sticks tied around their necks, presumably so they couldn't stick their heads thru fences... wish I had've stopped for a photo... one of those "guess you had to be there" moments.

We finally found where we had to go which was a 2nd dirt road back thru the national park - it was a LOT more intense than the first part... I had many a moment. There's was tonnes of elephant shit on the track, but unfortunately no elephants. My only encounter with wildlife was a rabbit running out on the track and running next to me for a good 50m. Pretty funny.

We eventually made it to the area we were staying - passed some MASSIVE Buddhist temples on the way but didn't stop... when we arrived at our hotel 15 minutes later, I think Mo was keen to call it a day, but I made him take me back to the temples for a few photos... he didn't seem impressed (Mo is short for Mohammed... he's a Muslim).

On our way we passed this HUGE Buddha statue, so Mo took me in to see it even tho I wasn't at all keen... he then dragged me into this fucking bizarre "cave museum" that was literally under the Buddha. There were no English translations, and Mo had no idea what any of the paintings or scenarios meant (being a Muslim), so was a bit pointless going in.

Headed to the other 2 temples we passed earlier and took some snaps... asked Mo if he knew anything about them (one looked old and pretty fucking significant), but again he had no idea.

Got back to the hotel & started my new daily rutial of cleaning my riding gear by hand... to be honest, with some golden oldies cranking out of the phone it wasn't too much of an ordeal. Wish my riding pants weren't white tho. Realised I also lost my cap at some stage of the day... hopefully this is the last of lost stuff.

Had a few beers after hanging my washing & got chatting to the owner - apparently the temples go back to 300AD, and each year in May (Buddhist time of mindfulness) one of them is painted with a fresh coat of white paint. Dinner was a decent spread of home made Sri Lankan food, there were 2 other elderly couples from Germany & Holland, seemed friendly enough. Had a few more beers then bed.

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