A bit more serious today...

For the most part the posts of the past couple of months have been fairly fun and actually quite pleasant for the most part. Though after being in Sri Lanka for all this time, I think I've finally come to the point where some things are a bit 'indigestible' for me. A lot of it has to do with politics (sigh, what doesn't these days), and more so the lost potential of a nation as well as the belittling it receives at the 'well-meaning' first world countries. Of course there is a lot more than just that, the attitude of common people and how easily they are mislead in the simplest means sometimes (this is a problem everywhere). It has come to a point that I need to vent a little or I might explode in a cascade of assaulting verbal diarrhea on the next hapless person to ask 'how's your day going?'.

I guess I should explain a little about how it came to this point, I've been doing a lot of reading mostly for my own interest and as well to gain an understanding of this country and the habits of people. As well I've been studying history (always a dangerous area to venture) to see how things got the way they are, and if any patterns emerge. Though one thing has shown itself to be quite clear - interference of foreign powers for their own self interest.

The reason this frustrates me is that most people in the west (believe me growing up in Canada I know the attitude more than I care to admit) have this self satisfying image of themselves as the champions of democracy, selflessly going to other countries bringing peace hope and the word of god (well, not the last part so much anymore - I need another time to rant about that particular topic). People seem to think that when countries like Canada give aid, it is like giving food to the needy or, lending a friend a helping hand. I appreciate that it is a noble sentiment but the amount of damage foreign countries do - and continue to inflict leaves me in a rage sometimes. It is only through the efforts of local activists that harmful policies are rejected, I shall give a few examples of the 'generous' support given internationally.

The WB (World Bank) decided that Sri Lanka should increase exportable goods, and recommended converting vast fields of paddy (rice fields) to grow gherkins... yes gherkins. Rice is a basic staple of the local populace but the WB said it was an inefficient use of land "it would be more productive and lucrative to the farmers to grow gherkins for export". Actually they are probably right in that regard except that they are looking at the extreme short term, fortunately local community groups realized this and strongly opposed the plan, encouraging local farmers to keep growing rice.
Then the world hit a food shortage... the price of food is going up everywhere, Canada, Sri Lanka, I mean everywhere, especially when it comes to imported goods. Now, if Sri Lanka had fully initiated the WB plan we would have a wondrous supply of gherkins for export, though would have to import most of the rice people required for daily sustenance.

This isn't the only area where WB influence has caused harm, they are pressuring the Sri Lankan government to privatize the education system. Currently all levels of education in Sri Lanka is free - yes, even university. There are some problems and competition is fierce but if someone has absolutely no money but wants to study... the opportunity is there, no need for student loans or having parents save for years just to receive education. There was a network of community schools in remote areas which gave the country one of the highest literacy rates in the world at 95.7%. With the move to privatization so far 700 local community schools have been closed forcing students to travel long distances and making education inaccessible for some.

I know that some people honestly try to help but it is just so misguided that one wants to scream, and trying to convince people of how they are hurting a country by introducing half-baked or ill-conceived methods is met with some amazingly stubborn ignorance and denial. I really should devote a more thought out post for this topic but haven't had the patience to wait while the frustration continued to build on a daily basis with every person I talked to and fact I learnt. Probably what is really scary is that the west is forcing Sri Lanka to make the same mistakes they did in regards to industry, the environment and social policies. For example there are species dying across north America with wildlife habitat reducing at a steady rate. Sri Lanka has devoted one of the greatest percentages of it's land mass to national parks, even since the times of ancient kings 2500 years ago wilderness was considered precious and vital to the survival of the people entrusted as 'guardians' of the land, not owners. It was custom for farmers to always leave one section of their fields to grow freely for birds and local wildlife to use, that practice was discouraged as an 'inefficient use of land' by the WB.

There shouldn't even be a food problem in Sri Lanka either, fruit trees grow on the side of the road like weeds - WEEDS! Coming from a place where you couldn't grow anything for 6 months of the year and even then the climate and conditions allowed only a select number of viable crops - it's pretty freaking amazing.

What I find hilarious is the fact that people in Sri Lanka can lead the type of life that westerners dream about. Warm climate fresh foods and friendly people, having the option of taking it easy or working hard depending on the day. Then people in Sri Lanka wan the type of life glamorized in the west, surrounded by glitz and glamor, driving expensive cars, with high-tech electronics and modern conveniences. Actually both images don't take into account a lot of problems associated with the lifestyle choices, but trying to convince people of the reality is always a challenge.

What really bugs me, I now realize is that the west is trying to export a broken system to Sri Lanka and the rest of the world. If you don't believe it is broken, then I have some excellent sub-prime mortgages to sell ya!

Alas no photos...
Well, maybe one... though it has nothing to do with what I want to write about. The photo is a antique reminder of my ancestors liquor merchant heritage, it's probably about 100 years old. So now it is used as a prep table for cooking. As a side note the family is now mostly vegetarian and don't drink, funny how generations change.

Though to start writing about what I was to write about... of course now I completely forget. It was pretty important too, hmm. Oh well, since last post been working hard at the Daily Mirror, a local English language newspaper with their own nifty website. I get the privilege of updating the site and authorizing comments of the 'special' people who comprise most of the Internets' denizens.

However, also get access to the breaking news and all the news that doesn't get in pretty fun. As well have the opportunity to write for the paper, so while the routine stuff is kinda boring, the people and potential are pretty swell... I think some of them may even have this blog site address... Uhm the people at the Daily mirror are the most wonderful fantastic beings to grace the earth! Okay that was a bit too much, anyway my other projects are slowly progressing. Still working on websites and trying to find a decent server in Sri Lanka to host the sites, either they are affordable but highly questionable or ridiculously overpriced.

Another thing I noticed is this facination with having photo's on the internet, while designing the sites, the clients would want an absurd about of photos that didn't really relate to the subject of the site. It actually took a bit of convincing to show that having that many pictures on a website is really unprofessional (unless it's a porn site - was tempted but didn't say that to the client).

Getting the hang of getting around and other stuff, though in truth haven't done too much the past couple of weeks. Perhaps the 6 day work weeks are getting to me, but my English class is a lot of fun. Started to try more serious work to get them thinking with English words instead of just a conversation class. Though I think what keeps the students interested is that the class is a lot of fun, one said that she always laughed so hard from class that her face hurt when they went home... I think that's a compliment.

Well, that's about it for now, time to get back to work or at least what seems like work ;) To all a good night!

Feeling a bit like James Bond...



Well now it's official, I am a Dual citizen of Sri Lanka and Canada. Recieved passport in the mail the other day and boy is it nifty, with nearly 3 times as many pages as my Canadian one. It feels kind of cool to be able to travel on 2 different docs, though how wise that would be... is debatable. There are a few interesting things though, with the Sri Lankan passport I can visit a few other countries (such as India) without a visa though still it is a lot easier to get around on the Canadian one.

Hmm, let's see what else... been trying to take a few more pictures for the blog though it's getting more difficult with time in short supply and a excess of security in the scenic areas. Though occasionally find a nifty shot to take. Above is the 'Green Path' that runs through Viharamahadevi park in Colombo, it's next to the National Art Gallery as well so quite a few 'Artists' set up shop along the road to sell paintings. I say 'artists' because I'm not sure how much of what they paint is meant as expression versus as a means to sell, that is something I've always wondered about. If something is created purely for monetary gain with no thought behind it what so ever... is it still art? Meh, probably, after all it is 'in the eye of the beholder' that appreciation for the art is found.

Been a little busy working on a website for my Aunt's Union, had the site launch last Saturday and it was an akward experience. Firstly I'm not exactly experience building a lot of site... in fact only 2 and they were incomplete half-hearted attempts made with the built in web tools. So this time fired up Dreamweaver with all sorts of nifty photo editing plugins like Fireworks and got to work. I was surprised I could actually design somthing half-way decent but still not too happy with the result. Another problem is finding a reliable hosting service in Sri Lanka, looking on the web I found a couple that seemed reliable until I phoned them up to ask more questions. So for the demo I had to create a subdomain on my own site and show off the few pages I had done. Actually for a first serious attempt it's not too bad, though realize it will need a lot more work to properly represent the All Ceylon Union of Teachers or ACUT. I have other comments I could make about the nature and frustration in getting proper material for the site, but not wanting to say anything negative I'll just say it was an interesting and almost typical experience of Sri Lanka.


Though now I don't have an excuse to miss future posts, I have internet! A cool USB doohicky that provides 3G services (wide area Wi-Fi) so I can be blogg'n on the road or other places... I begin to debate the wisdom of writing on this subject, oh well. Anyway the device is definately a god send which is what allowed me to finally finish the above mentioned website on time - trying to build a website without internet access is like trying to drive a car without tires.

Hmm, I suppose I should explain how I got my hands on such a wonderful little gadget but I'll have to save that for another post, until then my friends. (hey that rhymed!)

Ouch, been a while

Sigh after what seemed like a regular interval of updating the posts kinda lagged there, not that I don't have quite a bit of material to use (in fact maybe too much) but slow to non-existant internet and an involvement in a variety of side projects has kept me from this pleasant past-time. So today I'll show that I haven't bummed around the whole time in Sri Lanka since my last post (though there was a bit of that too;). Below are a few pictures I managed to take but they really didn't have much place in an opinionated piece so they were just sitting on the hard drive gathering electronic dust, anyway for your enjoyment some random photos of things with a brief caption if I have the engery :)


The above picture is the road outside my house, in the community of Rajagiria Udyanaya (as well I am a figure head president of the community association by an odd series of events to relate at a later time).

On the west coast in Colombo (the urban hub of Sri Lanka), this was the day I managed to see the beach for the first time... though wasn't much beach, mostly rocks and trains. The day was a bit overcast as well but just felt the need to see the ocean and feel the salt in the air.

Now the above picture is a favourite simply because it was taken quite by chance as I was walking home, happened to look up and saw this sight... and it wasn't some exotic location, just about 30 feet from my house.

A water monitor just off a bridge close to parliment grounds, the parliment area is quite scenic but as it is considered a High Security Zone (HSZ) pictures aren't supposed to be taken... fortunately being a clueless tourist serves well to avoid any 'inconveniences'

Another pic near parliment grounds, pretty self explanatory - a buddhist temple with standing statue... or it could be an advertising thing...

That's about all I have the patience to upload right now, wish I had taken more pictures recently but sometimes it's good to not draw attention to oneself (I do that enough already ;). Anyway if I get a chance will update later with some photo and comments or if you're really luck a full length blog entry.
Ah, I do have another excuse for not being able to update in the future but that in itself is another post away... oh well. Take care all

August 24th 2008
Day 11, Sunday

Cricket!

Quite suddenly one day I was invited to a cricket match for the 3rd game in an India vs Sri Lanka test match, of course being ignorant of all things cricket I just went along out of curiosity. Without much of a clue as to what the day would entail I just packed my camera and my outing hat for a day at the greens (that probably isn’t even the proper term, but just roll with it).
Was picked up by Sanjeev (the cousin who invited me to the game) around noon and we picked up a few more people on our way to the stadium. I learnt that the stadium security allows only non-alcoholic drinks, so our ingenious crew took a sealed water bottle removed the water via a small hole in the bottom and injected white coconut arrack (40%-50% sharp tasting alcohol), along with a bottle of cola to mix all was well.
As we approached the stadium I could see greater crowds of people traveling along the roadside and the traffic became quite congested. Fortunately the seats we were able to get came with a special parking pass that got us right beside the stadium – otherwise a bit of a trek with long line ups to get into the grounds. The pricing for seating were as follows; standing area for Rs. 100/ ($1 CAD), lower level seating for Rs. 1500/ and upper level seating for Rs. 2500, there is also special boxes for the relatives of the players and other officials. Again we were quite fortunate to get the upper level seating with a good view of the field, after getting seated the game had yet to start so I took the opportunity to learn at least something of cricket which Sanjeev was able to impart.

It’s similar to baseball but there are only 2 innings, the first to bat is decided by coin toss. Here is where it gets a bit complicated, there is a bowler and he throws 6 balls in one over, after an over the batsmen switch side – oh, I forgot to mention there are always 2 batsmen on the field. Instead of a diamond the field is a large oval, with an inner border, the pitching field is in the middle consisting of a rectangular track with a set a wicket at each end. The wickets are 3 poles stuck in the ground that have 2 small wooden pieces resting at the top. The goal of the bowler is to hit the wicket and knock the piece over to get the batsmen out, per inning each team has 10 wickets – or 10 outs after which the teams switch positions. As well wickets can be taken from catching the ball before it falls to the ground or penalties such as the ‘right foot rule’(if the batsmen is standing in front of the wicket so that it is covered).
There are a bunch of other rules but I have no desire to go into them here, nor do I actually remember that many more so let’s continue with the story…

As the game was about to start more and more people started pouring into the stadium, the crowd was fairly mixed though in the upper level more of the well to do and ‘cool’ people were in the crowd. I was surprised to see a five person band seat themselves not too far away, a fairly common thing they are called ‘papara’ bands denoting the type of beat they usually adhere to. It seems the band is part of the attraction of seeing the game live, I must say that they were quite good at keeping things lively.
The game started with a coin toss which India one – they elected to bat first. As the people took their positions on the field the cheering became intense and people began using these inflatable plastic noise makers that were handed out at the entrance of the stadium, even the band got louder and played a faster beat for the crowd. The cheering reached a crescendo when the first Sri Lankan bowler threw the first ball resulting in a scratch (no run or out). Afterward everyone settled down a bit then divided their attention between the game and listening to the band.
By far the center of attention were the bands, people around them were dancing and cheering along with them, as honestly to keep attention on the match itself would be kind of boring. Every once in a while an exciting play took place and everyone got up to cheer, but only the really hardcore cricket fans could really stay focused on the game all the time.
Scoring for the game was fairly straight forward, if a batsmen hit the ball far enough away he and the other batsmen would run the length of the centre pitch, being awarded 1 run for each length they ran. If they hit the ball so that it rolled along the ground over the outside boundary 4 runs were awarded. Then if they hit the ball in the air over the boundary then that was 6 runs (the most that could be awarded).
The rest of the game was a mixture of various types of runs awarded to India and a few plays that resulted in wickets. The game had a maximum of 50 overs per inning which translates into 300 pitches (and chances to score), though again if a team got 10 wickets it was over.

I’ll take a little break here to mention ‘Percy’ the one man cheering squad. It seems that for ages there was only one patriotic elderly fellow (I so wanted to use old geezer) who would be the only one cheering for Sri Lanka at international and all local events. He was so dedicated showing up for every single game in uniform and waving a Sri Lankan flag that he was officially recognized by the team and sponsors. A self made celebrity, who just loved the cricket team… or had way too much time on his hands, either way quite an interesting story. So carrying on where I left off…


After the first 50 overs (and roughly 3 ½ hours) India had 237 runs, not exactly a high score but average. This began the ‘half-time’ so we took the opportunity to get some beer and short eats, such as chicken hot dogs and nuggets. The crowd was quite large around the 4 concession tents with the beer line by far the longest. The whole thing seemed an exercise in chaos familiar to anyone who has attended a major sporting event anywhere in the world.
Sri Lanka came up to bat and the crowd became rowdier than before, as many started producing smuggled bottles of Arrack and other alcohol to consume for the second half. We also broke open our ‘bottled water’ and had a few drinks as Sri Lanka started their batting, they had to score 238 runs to win the match. Again it was a bit of a boring affair watching the game in length but dividing ones time with the festivities of the papara band and the occasional cheering moments on the field made the time go by quickly. Unfortunately Sri Lanka was penalized several times early on for about 5 extra wickets, so after only 20 overs they had only 2 wickets left and about 50 runs. It didn’t look like Sri Lanka was in any form to win against India.
Though as the game continued one could not help but get caught up in the excitement as the Sri Lankan team tried to rally for more runs, it then became an exercise in math as we would calculate how many pitches were left and the number of runs needed per pitch, and average number of runs they needed per over. For a while it was very close but India played well and wickets Sri Lanka received early on proved their downfall as the game ended at 48 overs after a pop fly was caught by the Indian fielders.
The final score was India 237 – Sri Lanka 204, actually quite a dismal showing by the Lankan team according to the spectators. The stadium emptied out pretty quickly (a few people left early on after when Sri Lanka had 8 wickets at the 20th over).

With that we waited a bit for the crowds to lessen and headed home, a few drunken revelers were outside but otherwise fairly tame. I can’t say that cricket is my new favorite sport, or that I really appreciate the game – I like the atmosphere of watching with other people, and the excitement created by the bands and revelers. A few people may have taken it a bit far in my opinion, dancing like possessed spider monkeys in seizure. Though what I also liked was that everyone regardless of age, gender, religion, background etc. was there to have a good time and cheer on the national team. In a country that has been given an image of a society divided by civil war, seeing a show of unity is quite uplifting – even if rather inebriated.

Adventures in Fort
August 20th – 23rd
Day 7-10

I had scheduled this post for writing about the cricket match between Sri Lanka and India but decided I need to finish up on a few thoughts and some experiences otherwise… actually for no real reason other than to see myself write?... there doesn’t seem to be an appropriate parallel to hear oneself talk, oh well. Anyway a few things that took place in the same time period as the previous posts.

I was offered a position teaching spoken English to students, was quite surprised to learn that there is a overwhelming demand for teachers here and there are quite a few quacks that offer comprehensive English courses that don’t really teach anything practical (basically like the mandatory French language programs in Alberta – c’est merde). Even among the more illustrious institutes like Royal Academy, there is more of an interest in making money than in a students education… do I really need to add a quip here?

My first class teaching is Wednesday August 27th, well 2 classes one 10-2pm and the other at 5pm, most of the students are in their 20’s and want to practice spoken English for employment purposes, honestly it’s pretty easy work but I’m going to try to challenge them a little… an evil part of me briefly considered talking with a Newfie accent but I was able to suppress that instinct. It doesn’t exactly pay much by Canadian standards but for this location it will serve well for getting groceries, travel and various knick knacks (I’ve always wondered at the history of that phrase). Starting with one day a week then depends on my popularity as a teacher… I should start handing out candy in class, or maybe cell phone minutes would be more popular – oh, in reference to my previous post I have to add one more thing that is awesome about the Sri Lanka cell services, you can send people extra minutes! That’s right if your friend is about to run out of minutes and you have some to spare you can basically SMS (some sort of txt system on steroids) them some of your extra minutes.

Okay, so the teaching thing is interesting and we’ll see how that turns out. Now I would like to expand a bit on my first adventure touring around the main city Colombo by myself on the local transit and how I avoided pick pockets, shills, and characters of dubious repute and interactions with the friendly people with machine guns, or as they are known the Sri Lankan Military security (whose checkpoints sport all sorts of advertising – fortunately nothing too out of taste).
When I had taken the bus (for the first time) to the heart of Colombo called the Fort area, my goal was to see the ocean and head to an area called Galle Face Green, a well known park by the seaside. The place I got down was about 1km or so away and I thought it would be fairly easy to just walk down to where I wanted to go. I was quite mistaken. Firstly when one gets off the bus in Fort it seems like utter chaos busses are haphazardly moving in and out of the area, people are milling hurriedly in all directions and various street hawkers are yelling either something about what they’re selling or ancient Klingon poems (I’ll try to keep future geek references to a minimum).
I easily got disoriented as there are few – make that no street signs to speak of and most of the sidewalk space is occupied by the peddlers of things ranging from pirated DVD’s to fake designer bags. While I was tempted to try shopping a bit, my main goal was to see the beach and so I just picked a direction and kept walking. To make a long story short, I chose incorrectly. Fortunately I had a street map of the area and was able to discover my error after only about 45 minutes of walking under the hot sun. So heading back the way I came looked around for alternative routes, as well by this time my shirt was soaking with sweat not so much from physical exhaustion but uncomfortable heat and humidity. With that I really looked out of place and was approached by quite a few ‘helpful’ people that wanted to take me where I wanted to go, and one persistent fellow walked with me for a few blocks saying he was a person not ‘from Colombo’ and didn’t want any money but wanted me to follow him to his place. It seems he also collected stamps from various countries… yeah, and I was born under a Bo tree. Eventually plotted a route to take me to the long anticipated beach but was puzzled by these “High Security Zone” notices as I approached the street, then I was politely stopped by some security officers wearing very crisp green uniforms and although seeming quite well used, serviceable machine guns. After an initial language confusion was able to convey my intentions and they were actually quite helpful (if a bit hard to understand) and pointed me in the direction I had to go in.

Unfortunately this began… the term ‘rat in a maze’ comes to mind. It’s not that I didn’t know where to go but every other street or area I needed to get to was blocked by HSZ’s (aforementioned High Security Zones). I probably spent about 3 hours wandering around the center of the city at times I even smelt a cool sea breeze… and finally I found the right street to take, but at that time I needed to head back home.

That technically ended my first adventure to the area I would later learn is called Pettah, the infamous street market district. The area itself is quite overwhelming aside from the street hawkers there are several side streets that seem to be dedicated to various goods, down one street there are gold smiths and jewelry shops (mostly owned by Muslims), down another is household electronics, and down one is textiles so on and so forth. I definitely plan to do a bit of shopping there in the future but it is extremely crowded and also a bit dangerous to the unwary. Pickpockets are abound so you have to keep a close watch on your valuables – which one should really keep to a minimum in the first place. As well the shop keepers will try and charge you as much as possible so one has to be knowledgeable about local prices or fairly good at bargaining. So while it is easy to get ripped off one can find a variety of clothing and other items for around Rs. 500/ ($5 CAD) that may cost you around $20- $90 CAD back home. Eventually I did return to Pettah for a little shopping and picked up a pair of pants for Rs. 150/ and a nice shirt for Rs. 475/ probably overpaid for the shirt but even by local standards the pants were a steal… hey, where’s my wallet?


(Oh there it is, under the pile of pirated DVD’s I got for Rs. 100/ ($1 CAD) a pop - MPAA eat your heart out)

A few days later…
August 20th – 22nd
Day (7-9)

So a few more observations I want to write about… actually I think we’ll skip that for now and I’ll relate my other experiences just getting around the area.
Anyway, after about a week in Sri Lanka finally felt well enough to head out on my own with the local transit system. Here, I’ll have to do a bit of explaining as the system of transit is vastly different from what you would find in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Probably the biggest difference is the majority of busses are privately owned though they do prescribe to set routes designated by numbers, for example to get to Colombo from where I am staying in Kandana means taking the Ja-ela 187 bus, or Airport bus. There are also 2 types of busses the larger 40-50 seat buses and the smaller vans, the vans are air conditioned so are a bit more expensive for the same trip, a trip to Colombo runs Rs. 24/ for the regular bus and Rs. 80/ for an AC van.

Busses come with fair regularity and the first time I went didn’t wait for more than 15 seconds (seriously) before a bus rolled up and jumped on and took a seat, the most I’ve waited as of to date is about 5 minutes for a bus. The busses themselves vary in mechanical maintenance and cleanliness, some are spotless and run as well as Calgary Transit busses, others sound like they are a large bump away from losing the entire engine and you can’t tell the original color of the interior for all the dirt – Though most busses fall somewhere in between.

The procedure for getting a bus is a bit entertaining as far as I’m concerned, you can either wait at a bus stop… I use the term loosely, or as the bus approaches flag it down. The bus slows down and the conductor shouts the destinations, you then hop on and grab a seat if available or find suitable standing room. Then after the bus gets on it’s way the conductor comes around and collects money from the new passengers. Not speaking Singhalese too well, have run into a few problems in the past but usually another passenger knows enough English to help me out. Some of the conductors also provide receipts or tickets… not sure why since no one ever seems to use or need them.

Then one just sits back and enjoys a bumpy ride listening music pumping over the speakers of the bus. The music is mostly Singhalese so don’t really understand it but it seems to suit the riding the bus and kind of grows on you. During my first trip was listening to what I though was a really catchy tune when I realized it was a couple of people who were playing music on the bus! The guy had a drum and kept beat while the girl had a tambourine and sang, it was kind of enchanting traveling down the dusty road with people singing as the bus bounced to and fro. Near the end of the route the couple passed around a basket for tips so gave a few Rupees as the experience was to be remembered.

The main bus junctions can be a confusing affair with dozens of busses moving slowly up the street trying to pick up more passengers before the leave, I’ve seen a few bus drivers roll forward and back to get people on the bus faster. In general using the bus is fairly easy and cheap way to get around, one just has to know which stop to get off at. Unfortunately there is very little in the way of documentation on the Sri Lankan transit system, routes and availability to be found on the internet or even with the transportation ministry itself. Not knowing the language can be a huge deterrent to bus travel but the experience is far better than trying to travel by taxi (and a hell of a lot cheaper).

After quite the pleasant experience traveling by bus I decided to take the local train for a few travels too and from the city. Tickets for the train are a bit cheaper at about Rs. 13/ for 3rd class but the times are a bit limited, the morning train is at 8:15 AM and the next one is at 11:30 AM. The local station is divided into two sides and to get to the other side one has to jump down and cross the tracks (a finable offense in Calgary). During the morning commute, a couple of military guards check bags at the entrance to the station, the terrorist situation is still a bit of a concern.
So after waiting a few minutes the train actually arrived 15 minutes early, it definitely had a used look to it, most of the cars were designated for 3rd class. Though the first car had signs painted in Singhalese, Tamil and English stating “Reserved for Clergy”, though either people didn’t take these signs seriously or “Clergy” encompasses a wider variety of people than I previously believed. After getting on the train found all the seats occupied so just stood near one of the door ways, actually the younger teenage passengers preferred the doorways as they would hang outside the doors while the train was moving for entertainment. The train car definitely had a bit of a used look to it but was pretty functional, there were rotating ceiling fans that kept conditions inside pretty comfortable. The passengers seemed to be daily commuters and occasionally groups would break into a song that others would pick up on as the train went on its way, then everyone would just sit as before lost in thought as their commute continued – not a bad way to travel.

One slight hiccup in the whole trip was the realization that I was indeed the victim of groping… hard to believe, I know. I brushed it off at first since I assumed it was because of crowding but even when I moved to a more open space the creepy old guy sort of followed along. I’d rather not go into details, but suffice to say it was a rather uncomfortable experience. It was only later that I learned that even among locals some people are afraid to ride the train for reasons as above and that the daily commuters have taken a very proprietary view on the train, they assume that since they’ve been riding the train for so long that a particular seat or car is basically ‘theirs’ and they have been know to force people off of train cars that are invading their ‘rightful space’. I’m not sure how much of this has been exaggerated and how much is based on truth but given my previous experience I am leaning toward the latter.

In any event travel by local transport is easy enough after the initial plunge but can definitely take a bit of adjustment. Meh, given a couple more weeks will eventually be a seasoned traveler, for now signing off for another day. Next time will tell tales of cricket and how it puts sporting events in Canada to shame – just for the atmosphere created by the audience.