Claude, Tea and Sore Bums

Mr Claude Amarasinghe

Sri Lanka sure knows how to throw bloody big days at us.

We began the day with a quick stop for some cheap bakery snacks before heading to Galle so we could sit upon the fort walls and eat our breakfast. Then we were on a mission...to visit Claude as organised a few days earlier. Baddegama, which is only 20km-ish from Unawatuna, is surprisingly hard to find when the map drawn for you is on a post-it note and the person who drew it spoke only limited English and therefore couldn't really explain it to you. Still, we set off in the hope that other locals would make sense of this mud map we had.

 

 

 

 

Mr Claude Amarasinghe

We got lost a few times. Then we got really lost but a very friendly local who didn't speak English came to our rescue. He noticed there was a phone number on our map so rang it without hesitation, got directions and led us to a large padlocked gate where we were to wait for the man himself...Claude Amarasinghe.

The 88 year old emerged from cinnamon/coconut/rubber estate, hobbling down a grassy hill with a broken leg and a hat with a wombat on it. What a man! Within 2 minutes I had been offered one of Claude's bungalows to live in indefinitely, his car to use as we liked and a king coconut. We took him up on the offer of the coconut, which he sent one of his staff to go chop down for us, and we took a seat in his home and began to reminisce.

Presents for Claude.

On behalf on Pete we passed on a message and a bottle of Arrack and shared some photos of Pete, his kids and his grandkids, and in return got some great stories about Pete and his mates during their youth (watch out Pete). We also got the offer of a trip to the Maldives for a reduced price (Claude would come along of course), the offer of Claude being our guarantor so we could buy a brand new motorbike which he would buy from us when we were done with it so we would get our money back and the offer of buying land adjacent to his and moving to Sri Lanka.

Claude sure was a character and at 88 was still up for travelling around with us, having a few shots of Arrack with us when we return to visit him later and still loves to chase a bargain. I feel so privileged to have met this man who was so kind to Pete so long ago and was so happy to take us into his home without question. As he reminded us, we're like family and as we travel, we should feel free to drop his name whenever necessary. After he hugged and sniffed (yes sniffed) us goodbye, we were off again. Thanks Claude.

Over it

After our adventure this afternoon of getting from Baddegama to Deniyaya our feeling of being "lost" this morning, suddenly felt insignificant. We sure can pick the backstreets. From Baddegama we ended up in Elpitiya then forged ahead, against the advice of the locals, towards Morawaka via the road on the south side of the Sinharaja Forest Reserve. The road being "under construction" is a gigantic understatement. It was under Sri Lankan style construction. So, while some sections of the road were a dream to drive, others were a dirt, pot-holed, one lane goat track. Add to that crazy Sri Lankan bus drivers, suicidal dogs, over-friendly construction workers and monsoonal downpours that threw raindrops as big as coconuts, and that pretty much sums up our afternoon. Oh, and the jaw-droppingly beautiful hill country, endless tea plantations and huge grins from every local we rode past. Worth it.

Wet weather gear: necessary!

It took us seven hours to ride 200km. And on a bumpy road with three bags somehow hanging from the bike (and from us) we were darn sore as we approached Deniyaya. So when we came across a road block about 1km from our destination, it wasn't ideal. Traffic was banked up, and around, and down, and on and over the 'highway' and its side streets. Thankfully, after about 15 minutes of standing around looking confused, the policeman controlling traffic spotted our fluorescent attire and white skin and let us through. Turns out they'd closed the road so the entire population of the town could stand around/on/in the buildings and streets and watch guys doing tricks on their motorbikes. This was part of a larger racing competition that happened to be going on as we arrived in town.

Wet and tired we were forced to set off on foot (blocked by the racing) to find a place to rest our heads. After much walking and negotiating with Nicky we claimed a room with hot water for 1000 LKR. Not bad when they originally offered 2500 LKR. Really though it was more down to luck than our negotiating skills. The dingy room at Nicky's friend's place, that he was hoping to put us in, was full so we're now staying at Sinharaja Rest, where they are trying their darnedest to convince us that going on a rainforest tour tomorrow is a grand idea. Doubt it. Don't they know we're on a budget?

Turns put that the motorbike racing was part of a much larger festival that was happening in Deniyaya and continued to happen until 3am. Although we chose not to attend, we didn't miss anything as the sound of the band which bellowed until all hours of the morning was channelled through the valley right into our bedroom. After about 11am it was no longer funny. After a huge day of riding, the fact that we couldn't sleep went from frustrating to annoying to tear provoking. We were glad to only be handing over 1000 LKR, especially considering we were sharing a single room.

 

Hill Country

Sri Lankan kilometres accumulated on bike to date: 212km