Saturday, April 9th, 2022 – Negombo
Apr 13th, 2022 by rallyadmin
Bag issue somewhat sorted, out of baggage claim to exchange money and buy sim’s for the phone. The currency exchange is the usual, two dollar notes in, hand in passport, illegible scribbling on some receipt, count the 2 dollar notes two times, no three times, and a fourth time just to make sure there hasn’t been a mistake. Rapid tapping on calculator keys followed by rapid counting of the stack of SR rupees. Push stack and receipt out from window. “NEXT!” I have no idea how much I have been given and really don’t care. It’s not very likely that I’ve been cheated. The potential for mob violence is just too high to risk it. Been down this road too many times.
Now for the sim card for the phone. I do this every time I travel with these boys and the sim card never works. The idea is to turn my phone into a local phone with a local number. It is supposed to give much lower rates for calls and data and it would if the bloody things would ever work in a north American phone which are locked to a specific region. Hope springs eternal in spite of the US telecom industry.
Out to the taxi stand for the ride to the agency that is renting us tuktuks. Lots of taxi stand hysteria but eventually all of the baggage and all of the people are stuffed into a small taxi with the luggage miraculously matched to the passengers and were off.
The ride to the tuktuks is the first glimpse of what traffic is going to be like. At first glance, Brownian motion looks less chaotic that the local traffic. Cars, trucks, motorbikes, push bikes and tuktuks are all weaving about filling every opening within milliseconds. Did I mention any lane that has an opening. When the traffic does start to move, there’s always a bus coming with horn blaring and playing chicken with whoever is in the way. The first few hours with the tuktuk is going to be exciting in the extreme for a driver who naturally drives on the right. Here they drive on the left, “the wrong side”.
We “drive” a few kilometers and the taxi’s suddenly stop and dump us all, bag and baggage, on the side of the road at the opening of a small alley. Hike down the alley a few hundred meters and there a hole in the cement block wall and inside is TukTukRentals.
We trundle through the collection of tuktuks and are greeted warmly with glasses of cold water. Soon we all get together for the “briefing” which is a very complete discussion of how the tuktuks work, how to keep them working, what to not to do with them, the Sri Lankan road lawyers, what to do if whatever happens and the local culture. All in all, a very comprehensive briefing but lovely employees.
Then for a hands on briefing on the mechanicals of the tuktuk. Where to check the oil. Where to add more oil. Where is the brake, the clutch, the fuel port, the switches for windshield wiper, lights, turn signal. Again a very comprehensive given to us by “the only female tuktuk driving instructor in all of Sri Lanka.” (No, really.)
Then it’s off for a short test drive on a small quiet side street. It take a few moments to get used to the idiosyncrasies of the the machine but soon we get the tt moving without bucking and turning WITH braking and actually shifting the trannie without the usual gear grinding. (It’s all in the wrist movement.)
Then it’s back to the garage area for the per-departure inspection. Photo all of the dings, scratches and dents. Photo the International Driver’s License. (This is the first time that I have ever even taken the IDL out of my passport case on all of the trips I’ve taken.) Fill out a few more details, load the bags and the mob moves pout to the main road. The first test.
Surprisingly, the drive to the hotel is uneventful, probably because the traffic is so slow. We get to the hotel and start a serious complex dance of maneuvering the 10 tuktuks into the most compact space without using all of the space in the small parking area.
Finally, to the room. I’m sharing with Pinky and he’s already been there. It’s a fine room with two double beds and working air conditioning. The room actually seems frigid when coming in from the humidity and heat of the road. This will do.
Obi