What is really a holiday for me? And: Tsunami 2004 - Experiences of the helpers

After a good night's sleep, we pack our things and have another hearty breakfast. In the meantime, toast with jam and butter has proven to be the main breakfast here. The Sri Lanka breakfast is not yet ours: we can't manage lentils for breakfast yet.

We do everything calmly, the children are not quite well, they have burnt themselves so much in the sun. I even think they are real burns and they also have sunstroke.

They put on lotion and a second time, until it's time to take the tuktuk to the bus station. Carrying a backpack on the kids' backs is out of the question. But it works more or less well in the hand. Since we all travel light, that's no problem.

I'm still a bit dizzy, but it works. Arriving directly at the bus station, which by the way gives the feeling of being a honking, noisy clump of cars, we find the right bus right away thanks to the shouting bus trip salesmen. In we go, the backpacks are deposited at the front with the driver, as the aisles are quite narrow and the luggage rack above the seats is more suitable for handbags. We occupy 2 rows, each with a window seat. The open windows give us a nice breeze. About 2 hours later we should arrive in Unawatuna. We have the most chaotic, life-weary bus driver we have ever experienced. He seems to completely ignore the usual left-hand driving rules here and only drives on the right, honking loudly. According to the motto: the strongest is right. Thank God I'm sitting in such a way that I can't see the traffic directly, but Kathi and Gerd have little panic looks every few seconds. I don't even want to imagine how I would do in those seats. After all, I'm such a bad passenger. The cars, the tuktuks, the small motorbikes and the buses seem to follow their own law here. Traffic rules have nothing to do with it. I rather think that there is something like a natural flow, similar to water. Water also finds its way around all obstacles. Somehow everything always works out. Viewed in a relaxed way, it really is like a river. And if I look benevolently past the overtaking, the many honking horns and the flashing lights, everything is wonderful. I'm trying to get more and more used to the flow here. If I'm feeling well, that works too. If I'm tired or weak, it works less well.

We observe that every now and then the buses stop at Buddhist temples and the bus ride salesman quickly jumps out and throws a little money into a cash box. We assume that donations are being made here. And we interpret that it must all be for good karma. Or that people are making amends for the chaotic traffic. In any case, it helps and we always arrive safely at our destination.

At some point we reach Unawatuna, which advertises with its amazing beaches. We have now booked a slightly better hotel with a pool for the beach days. We get off the bus, immediately two tuktuks are waiting for us and it's actually quite simple, we tell them the name of the hotel and off they go. Unfortunately, neither the one toothless nor the other tuktuk driver knows where the hotel is. What is always a phenomenon for us: before a Sri Lankan says he doesn't know, he will first drive off, smile and have a look. So we drive up and down the road, up the mountains and at some point we even lose our kids in the tuktuk behind us.

At some point we arrive at the hotel, Gerd and me. By the way, it was about 100 metres from the bus stop. We could have easily walked. The friendly Englishman who owns the villa in Paradise greets us and smiles when we tell him that we have lost our kids. He, with his English humour, says that now we can really enjoy our holiday. He says that actually all tuktuk drivers know the hotel. Only that he doesn't pay any commission to the tuktuk drivers and that's why they pretend not to know it.

Kathi and Moppi are probably also carted across Unawatuna for this reason and end up in a hotel lobby with the statement: this is the right place for us. Kathi takes the opportunity to quickly access the WLAN and call me. I am reassured. And in the hotel lobby there is also a young Sri Lankan who has studied in Germany before and who also knows the hotel where we are waiting for our dear little one. He quickly climbs into the tuktuk and just as quickly our little ones are back with us. After we had already paid 200 rupees for our tour (much too much for the few metres), the tuktuk driver wanted 400 from the children. Gerd just gave him 200 too and that was that.

When they finally arrived, they immediately went to the in-house pool. The children still don't want to and can't go to the beach, to the sun. The pool is also beautiful. Surrounded by palm trees and jackfruit trees. Some sun, some shade. Next to it, two big hammocks, a few deck chairs and a fridge in the house filled with cool drinks.

The host is incredibly entertaining and friendly, has his own English humour. He tells us a lot about the region, about his life, about the people here and I am also allowed to ask something about the tsunami in 2004. The villa here is on a slope, so we can look over the huts to the beach and the sea. He tells us that the tsunami wave came up to a few metres in front of his house and washed up with the people. There were probably some to save, but unfortunately too few. 35,000 people died that day. 80,000 lost their homes. There is usually room for 20 guests in the villa here. Roger and his wife accommodated about 112 people for a few days until the embassies issued replacement passports and bused people to the airport. It must have been cruel. However, he also told us that the Sri Lankans here are used to a bad, poor and hard life. So they just started to rebuild everything without much fuss. After two weeks, something like normality had set in and a lot could be rebuilt thanks to many donations.

In this context, it would be interesting to know that the big charity organisations only patrolled here with their new huge jeeps, while individuals or very small organisations simply collected money, bought medicines and the most important things in their home countries and brought them with them, and simply helped on the spot, built things up and supported the people directly. This shows me once again that helping people does not depend on the size of the aid organisation, but on proximity, on small deeds that can then possibly also achieve great things.

We feel very comfortable here in the oasis, we enjoy the peace, the caring nature of the hosts and the pool. In the evening we follow the recommendation of the host and go to the beach to a restaurant with sea view, great cuisine, great food. I don't feel like eating yet and settle for 2 dry toasts.

And, as always during our holidays, we finish dinner shortly before 8 and are completely exhausted. Shortly after 8 we lie in bed and sleep. Thanks to the air-conditioning, we sleep soundly until dawn, which is promptly at 6 am here. And so is the sunset at 6 o'clock. Within a few minutes, the whole island is dark.

One more thing about holidays in general.

I notice that I hardly ever really get around to writing a diary, just writing down the things we experience is actually something I find boring. But I'm almost incapable of doing more than that. I almost have to hide to be able to write in peace. Someone always comes and asks something. There is always something. Quiet is not so available here. But I love peace so much. I have to look for the quiet. In the morning, just after sunrise, when everyone is still in bed. I am now sitting on the terrace with a view of the sea. The palm trees move slightly, sometimes a monkey or a squirrel scurries through the bushes. Two monitor lizards live in the lawn by the pool, they are quite big (40-60 cm) and always look to see what is going on. But as soon as we move, they scurry away. Butterflies fly through the air. Far from the road, I hear the first honking.

Otherwise, it chirps here in all pitches, I feel like I'm in a jungle. People are sweeping around the house, the rustling broom sweeps the leaves off the path from time to time. The host gives me a pot of tea, Ceylon tea, of course, and I am very satisfied. Little by little, everything is awakening here. The sun comes out strongly, I have to change places because it is already getting much too hot for me at 6.30 am. I would love to jump into the pool. Maybe I'll do that before breakfast, we'll see.

Our life together here with the children works out very well. We laugh a lot, we play UNO a lot and we do almost everything together. It also works out wonderfully that we are almost always in rooms with four people. In the meantime, it really works out well. We notice that the two of them really like each other. They do a lot together.

I miss the privacy with Gerd, the peace and quiet, the nice conversations. They happen less here. The exchange of ideas that usually makes me so happy.

But all in all, I am very happy that we are taking these holidays together. There are probably not many families who still do this kind of holiday with such "old" children.

The other day, Moppi remarked that he likes the way we travel, backpacking. He can probably imagine doing it more often. Kathi knows it from Interrail the year before last and I think she likes it too. We really have been in bad rooms. Right now we are in a very nice house. The children do everything without grumbling. When it comes to food, they don't choose the most expensive things. They see that it suits all of us.

However, we are certainly already over our budget. But somehow we don't care at the moment. We enjoy the time, we enjoy ourselves.

I am very grateful for the time we spent together. I am grateful for the spontaneity, for the tolerance and for the togetherness with the children. I am grateful that Gerd does all this with me and the children. I am grateful that life has so many beautiful things in store for me.

Shownotes for iTunes: https://www.leben-pur.ch/012-sri-lanka-was-ist-wirklich-urlaub-fuer-mich-und-tsunami-2014-erfahrungen-der-helfenden/

Info:

Hostel in Tangalle: Namal Garden Beach Hotel

Travel guide: Stefan Loose Travel Guide Sri Lanka

Facebook group to travel in Sri Lanka

Rail Sri Lanka