Putalam-Anuradhapura: Meeting people

Saturday December 28, 2013, 78 km (48 miles) – Total so far: 222 km (138 miles)

At 7.20 a.m. we started riding. The weather was cloudy but extremely humid, after 1km our shirts were wet already. We saw the first “elephants crossing”-signs and some poor soldiers from the sri lankan army did their morning sports program and were jogging along the road all dressed with uniform, boots and carrying Kalachnikovs. It was amazing how strong such fragile looking persons could be.

We passed a natural water reservation and had a photo stop. Another cyclist from France stopped,too. His name was Francois Gerard, and he was a film ressigeur and producer. He knew a lot about Sri Lanka, for he had travelled the country before as a backpacker and gave us some useful tips and advice. We will try to find his latest film “Voyage sans retour” which is about terror. He travelled all in Pakistan and Afghanistan to do the film-crazy and couragious guy.

As he went on I just wanted to take some more photos. Suddenly a sri lankan group of racing bikes got close. The first time we saw some racing bikes here ever. The bikes were all single speed, and had these old brakes that stop the wheel by pressing some rubber onto it.

They could speak more english than the avarege level here which doesn´t mean good, but a little conversation was possible.
We rode on and they accompanied us for a while. They were all serving in the army and did their training. As we said good-bye, we could see how fast they would go and the road today was going up and down all the time, not flat. They seemed to fly.

We had a break at a small bakery and got some lovely spicy pieces with fish and vegetables-very tasty. Another coconut break at the stand of a young lady. She studied financial management here in Sri Lanka and was able to speak real english. She gave us some information about the local fruits, e.g. that coconuts are not coconuts.There are a lot of different types, and the ones with the milk to drink are called “King Coconuts”.
We finally arrived at our guesthouse “Boa Vista” in Anuradhapura. The manager was off for a funeral and the two boys that were in service didn´t understand a word. But in the end we got our room, just the attached restaurant wasn´t in charge that day, so we had to get some food in town. We got fried rice with chicken (no curry!!) from a road stand, and it tasted real good. All food seems to taste good here!!

Elephant crossing
Elephant crossing
Beware of elephants
Beware of elephants
Water reservation
Water reservation
Water bird
Water bird
Water reservation
Water reservation
Meeting Francois Gerard
Meeting Francois Gerard
Meeting Sri Lankan Army bike group
Meeting Sri Lankan Army bike group
are you coming?
are you coming?
The non-racing type
The non-racing type
Meeting the future financial management of Sri Lanka cutting king coconuts
Meeting the future financial management of Sri Lanka cutting king coconuts
almost there
almost there
Our guesthouse "Boa Vista" in Anuradhapura
Our guesthouse „Boa Vista“ in Anuradhapura

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