Day 6

We set off for honeymoon trip to the hill country, Newara Eliya. It was a whopping 5hrs drive from Colombo, about 200km away, and it is especially challenging on Pavi's 635cc jeep. Yes, that is 635cc! I think it beats Chery QQ flat! The roads in Sri Lanka are really getting more and more challenging. Initially, it was 2 lane roads with markings, then it became 1 lane without any marking, after which, it was not road, but troughs and humps and eventually, it became stones and rocks! I seriously don't understand how the roads broke into stones and rocks... Nonetheless, it really happened!

Sri Lankans are superb drivers, because the highway which are further from the city has only one lane, and slow vehicles like tuk tuk and buses would occupy the road, thus causing congestion. This would mean that many cars would have to overtake carefully, and true enough, the precison in overtaking was breath-taking. 3 vehicles in a row with centimeters apart. For the 200km journey, about 130km was mountain climbing to a eventual 2000m altitude. Since there are no street lights nor road markings, nor safety barriers, driving up became really dangerous. Yet, 2 vehicles can speed past each other at 40km/h.

By the time we reached our destination, it was about 2100hr. The final 4km up the final stretch of slope was CRAZY! It was the ultimate rough terrain, and the average speed was about 15km/h. The track was narrow and broken, and it didn't look like an entrance to the 4 star hotel we were supposed to stay, The Tea Factory. We doubted so much that we actually reversed out of that stretch, but after some enquires, we were assured that that was the entrance. A 4 star hotel in the mountain was really something, because there is no similar hotel within the 30km radius. Temperature was about 15 degrees celsius, with winds howling strong, and I was in a t-shirt! Caught a cold.

Well, the essence of the story begins here. Pavi and Kaushi plotted a perfect prank on me. The ganged up with the hotel staffs claiming that there was no room for me. To intensify the plot, the hotel staff even convinced me that there were no more rooms, and they suggested that I sleep in the lobby. I was really depressed. Well, much stronger feelings are involved if you visualize, internalize and analyze the situation. I packed up and walked off, ready to sleep in the jeep, and only then and then, they told me that they were playing prank. It was a test, yes, a test for me. What the...

Finding 5

There is a horning culture in Sri Lanka. When a faster vehicle wishes to overtake a slower one (bus), it would horn once, and the bus driver would stretch out his hand to signal 'go ahead'. After overtaking the bus, the overtaker will horn again to thank the overtaken, and the overtaken will return a horn to say welcome.

Finding 6

The villagers are really warm. Pavi's brother used to bluff his foreign friends that all the villagers are his friends. So, when he drove past, he would press the horn once and wave to anyone, and the villager would more often than not, return the wave. That's the warmth of villagers in Sri Lanka. Try doing that in Singapore, and a fight might be initiated.