FIRST VIEW OF THE FAR EAST

We were living in Zimbabwe in 1984 and had been bitten by the travel bug, despite the significant problems that we had in paying for services outside the country. Exchange control regulations were such that we were only allowed to spend $360 per annum outside Zimbabwe – and that didn’t buy many hotel rooms. Although we had (illegal) funds in South Africa, it was difficult to access those too because of the Regulations that applied down there. In the pre-Internet days it was also difficult to make bookings in the Far Eastern countries but we really wanted to see them after we had been to Europe and the Americas a couple of times.

The simple answer to our problems was to take a Group Tour, but we’ve never been very good at mixing with crowds of strangers. Happy to meet people, have a meal, have a drink, have a chat – but to be in a tight Group for a couple of weeks??? Not really, we thought. But….needs must when the devil drives. We finally accepted the fact that this was going to be the only way of doing it so we signed up for a TFC Tour out of Johannesburg taking in Sri Lanka, Singapore, Thailand and Hong Kong. Should give us a taste, we thought. Matt, who was thirteen at the time declined to come with us, saying he would rather travel around South Africa and stay with friends and grandparents.

We almost didn’t make the trip because there was the first of many financial crashes in South Africa and most of the people who had booked on the Tour cancelled. We were told that there had to be a minimum number or it would all be off. They managed to get the number - ten as it turned out – so we could plan to be on our way.

It is interesting to see the currency exchange rates when we left home. A Zimbabwe dollar was  worth about 80 US cents and 1.10 South African Rand. Against the US dollar there were 25 Sri Lankan Rupees; 2.13 Singapore dollars; 26.25 Thailand Baht and 7.82 Hong Kong dollars. Interesting to contrast the rates with those applying now, in early 2013. The Zimbabwean dollar hit hyperinflation and there were about $10 million to the US dollar before new rules were applied and it is now back to an official rate of 362 Zimbabwe dollars to the US dollar. The South African Rand has fared a little better but is still low at R8.87 to the US$. Others – all against the US$ are  126 Sri Lankan Rupees; 1.23 Singapore dollars; 29.8 Thailand Baht and 7.75 Hong Kong dollars.

Here we are (or most of us Jennifer was missing). From left to rightL Widow Pat, Chris, Lynn (Tour Leader), David, Rab, Sam (Thailand Guide) Patty, Terry, Peter/Piet, Richard, Margaret

 

Sri Lanka 2nd December 1984 - Colombo

At long last we arrived! Not that there were any real problems in the end, but the lead up to our departure was so fraught with difficulties. Anyway, these were overcome one by one and we finally left Harare at 08.30 yesterday morning. Matt accompanied us to Johannesburg where we parted ways as he had decided to spend his holiday in South Africa. I suspect that he was sorry in the end that he had made this decision, but he was determined and must learn that all decisions have consequences.

We checked in very early as Jen and Matt wanted to get cracking and we got what are technically very good seats over the wing in row 31. the only problem is that we were surrounded by children, since the area is one set aside for mothers and their young offspring.

Once again we were surprised by the lack of goods in South Africa – we couldn’t even get a film for the camera – they were out of stock!! Anyway we killed an hour or two in quite congenial surroundings before boarding British Airways flight BA 026 – City of Bristol – and taking off on time at 14.00 South African time.

Our courier’s name is Lynne and as soon as we were in flight she came forward and told us that there were a lot of seats in the rear of the aircraft. Although they didn’t have as much leg room as our original ones, we took them because it gave us a chance of lying down to sleep. Fortunately, although we were in a smoking area, not many people were smoking, so we were quite comfortable.

The food on the first leg was delicious – liver pate, grilled fish and a nice pastry – followed by good coffee and three Drambuies. There was time for a little snooze before touching down at Mahe in the Seychelles at 20.20 local time (18.20 SA time). We stopped there for 20 minutes for refuelling and as we were allowed off the plane we wandered around the duty free shop where I bought a tape of Sega music which I omitted to buy in April when I was there for a conference. There seemed to be a lot of people getting aboard but we still kept our seats. The evening meal was also very good and we each had a bottle of wine followed by a couple of liqueurs. Rab soon settled down to sleep but unfortunately we hit a bit of turbulence and, of course, sitting near the rear of the plane we were affected more than most.  In the end I made her sit up and belt up but in the end it calmed down and we managed to get in an hour or two of sleep before we landed here at 03.10 local time (23.40 SA time).

We got through Customs etc pretty quickly and then the group assembled at the bus. Fortunately there are only 10 of us, so it shouldn’t be too bad, but they look a rum bunch. There is another couple from Harare – David and Chris; an odd Chartered Accountant from Johannesburg – Richard ; a couple from Botswana (ex-Rhodesians) - Peter and Margaret;  a lone bird – Widow Pat; Jennifer, who, as she told us repeatedly, has done this trip four times already and her companion Patty. So….nothing of great interest there.

The bullock carts were a surprise

The ride into the city was uneventful – the bus was air-conditioned – but we saw a lot of cattle sleeping in the road and a lot of bullock carts, most of which had oil lamps as rear lights (no head lights though). There is a dusk to dawn curfew here because the rebellion is beginning to pick up steam and there was a pretty ineffectual road block on the bridge at the city limits. I noticed that the troops were still armed with ancient .303 rifles.

The hotel we are staying at – Lanka Oberoi – is magnificent. The entrance foyer is a hollow cube seven storeys high with three enormous batiks hanging almost full length. Our room is very large and comfortable and everything works. (Although Richard, who had an adjoining room couldn’t make anything work and appealed to me for help  – that was an early sign of problems to come.) by the time we had checked in etc it was about 05.00 local time (01.30 SA time) so we went to bed and managed to get a few hours solid sleep.

After a cup of coffee and a wash, we made our way to the Araliya Restaurant in the hotel where they were in the final stages of a Shrimp Festival. We had some delicious shrimp dishes with the whole meal costing about $12. the garden and pool area of the hotel are beautiful with coconut palms everywhere. There are also a lot of crows about – much smaller than the Zimbabwean variety – but very cheeky and raucous.

Many of the streets were not paved

After browsing around the shops in the hotel we all assembled for our city tour. Since it was Sunday there was no traffic to speak of and we got around pretty easily. The city is very dirty and scruffy with most of the buildings looking very derelict – although we did see some advertisements for paint, I would not like to try and make a living as a paint salesman here. (Twenty five years later there was an echo of this comment when we met an oldish South African in Venice on his first overseas trip. “Man,” he said “these people invented paint – why don’t they use some of it?”) Matt would have been interested to see how many Morris Minors there are here, operating as taxis. Must be the highest population in the world I reckon. (I didn’t realise then that these little cars and their companion Oxfords were still being made in factories in India where they existed by the thousand).

A better street, with Morris taxi and Buddhist temple

Mount Lavinia

Once we had driven around the city, we moved on to have a look at the suburbs, including Cinnamon Gardens, which was the suburb in colonial times. What magnificent houses there were, all looking pretty tatty and the worse for wear now, I regret to say. After a brief stop at both Hindu and Buddhist temples we went on to a beach resort – Mount Lavinia – and had a quick look at the very beautiful hotel there. We were in a bit of a hurry because Bennet, our guide, wanted us to get to the zoo in town for the elephant show. This we did and enjoyed watching the troupe perform. There were seven or eight beasts, ranging in size from a fully grown one to a little lad at the end and they all did their special tricks. The best was one of the fairly small ones who did a sort of hop, step and a jump and stood on his head!

 

From the zoo we made our way back to the hotel and had a drink with Peter since it was his 50^th birthday. Richard invited himself to dinner with us and we had some very good Biryani in the Ran Malu restaurant with an Indian trio providing background music – sitar etc. It was a very pleasant evening, although I would really have preferred to be on our own because Richard has so many hang-ups. A good day altogether.

All the good buildings had someone holding them up.