Tuesday 19th March - Day 25 1 Kings 7:13 - 1 Kings 15:32
Arriving at 5.15am, I'm getting used to these early mornings now! I went through onto the platform to find my train. I had purchased my seat some days earlier and was therefore assured my seat in the first class 'observation' carriage. Located at the rear of the train with a panoramic window to see where you've been.
The observation carriage has air conditioning too, which was rather cold so out came my fleece - for the first time in nearly a month.
The scenery on the trip is exceptional and provides a glimpse of normal every-day living in Sri Lanka, with the tracks used as a public pathway connecting the villages along the route.
The scenery is quite spectacular, as the single track line meanders down from the mountain region towards the coast we encounter deep cuttings and several short narrow tunnels. In truth I was so enjoying the view the quiet time that it offered that photographs didn't really enter my mind! (Google it)
Arriving some three hours later I disembarked at Colombo Fort and took the ubiquitous Tuc Tuc to the OZO hotel on the sea front....Some sea... Only the Indian Ocean!
Leaving Kandy, Anne and the TCL was a strange feeling, this had been home for the last 24 days and I was beginning to feel very much 'at home'.
My experiences and memories flooded back as I sat in the relative luxury of this carriage, many of the people that I had met would never take this journey or one like it, many would never see the Indian Ocean, and fewer will leave their province, never mind the country, many would not experience the comfort and service of a 4* hotel with hot and cold running water and white cotton sheets! - all this cause me to ask - am I privileged, fortunate, lucky? To what extent does my wealth cause their poverty?
Equally, is my western perspective on relative wealth and poverty skewed?
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation describes "Poverty is when your resources are well below your minimum needs." I raised an observation with Anne the other week, along the lines in which I wondered to what extent our colonialism had been responsible for the present situation - that it seems has some traction when you read around the subject!
How is it that many of the worlds poorest countries are also blessed with enormous natural material and human resources?
Thankfully these are just my ramblings and musings and I'm sure that with a little research I may less naive!
What was evident in every home that I visited, in every circumstance and road side encounter, was not poverty, certainly the conditions were different, and there are many practical reasons for this, but the generous spirit. the warmth of the welcome, the willingness to share, the openness in conversation, the desire to know and to be known were at the time it seemed so much more important.
In the end it was time to go, that was more practicality than desire for I could certainly have stayed longer, and in many ways wish that I had, though you don't know this when you book for such an experience. Hind sight is as they say a wonderful thing.
Arriving at 5.15am, I'm getting used to these early mornings now! I went through onto the platform to find my train. I had purchased my seat some days earlier and was therefore assured my seat in the first class 'observation' carriage. Located at the rear of the train with a panoramic window to see where you've been.
 |
| Observation Carriage with panoramic windows, my seat about 5 back from the window, left window seat. |
The scenery on the trip is exceptional and provides a glimpse of normal every-day living in Sri Lanka, with the tracks used as a public pathway connecting the villages along the route.
The scenery is quite spectacular, as the single track line meanders down from the mountain region towards the coast we encounter deep cuttings and several short narrow tunnels. In truth I was so enjoying the view the quiet time that it offered that photographs didn't really enter my mind! (Google it)
 |
| Colombo Fort Station, from the footbridge |
Leaving Kandy, Anne and the TCL was a strange feeling, this had been home for the last 24 days and I was beginning to feel very much 'at home'.
My experiences and memories flooded back as I sat in the relative luxury of this carriage, many of the people that I had met would never take this journey or one like it, many would never see the Indian Ocean, and fewer will leave their province, never mind the country, many would not experience the comfort and service of a 4* hotel with hot and cold running water and white cotton sheets! - all this cause me to ask - am I privileged, fortunate, lucky? To what extent does my wealth cause their poverty?
Equally, is my western perspective on relative wealth and poverty skewed?
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation describes "Poverty is when your resources are well below your minimum needs." I raised an observation with Anne the other week, along the lines in which I wondered to what extent our colonialism had been responsible for the present situation - that it seems has some traction when you read around the subject!
How is it that many of the worlds poorest countries are also blessed with enormous natural material and human resources?
Thankfully these are just my ramblings and musings and I'm sure that with a little research I may less naive!
What was evident in every home that I visited, in every circumstance and road side encounter, was not poverty, certainly the conditions were different, and there are many practical reasons for this, but the generous spirit. the warmth of the welcome, the willingness to share, the openness in conversation, the desire to know and to be known were at the time it seemed so much more important.
In the end it was time to go, that was more practicality than desire for I could certainly have stayed longer, and in many ways wish that I had, though you don't know this when you book for such an experience. Hind sight is as they say a wonderful thing.
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