Trincomalee

Trinco – a town of some 60,000 people with a generous mix of Sinhalese, Christain, Muslim and Buddhist. In the early morning hours, like 0430hrs, the call to various religious prayers begin. I am not sure who starts it off but I think it’s the howling of the dogs that announces the beginning. Truly the dogs howl then the  amplified call to muslim prayers begin. After a few minutes the bells and horns from the hindu temple sneaks its way in, then the chants from the Buddhast temple and to finalize it all the weak bells ring from the Christian church. And we thought Malaysia’s anchorages were a little over assaulted by the call to prayer.

So, I guess it’s the Christains who are the lazy ones as they are last to announce morning prayer. Soon though all these sounds get drowned out by the movement of traffic along the waterfront. The buses belch out their exhaust while the tuk-tuks roar along at high revs trying to pass the cyclists. All of this, of course, is accompanied by the honking of horns and still the barking/howling dogs.

Believe it or not this is a major roundabout but like all dogs in this town they are saying they don’t care we will lie where we want to. Yes, they have a big dog problem here.

At least here we don’t have power boats roaring around us as in Thailand.

So the day has begun. There isn’t much commerce in Trinco. The natural harbour is huge and in any other locale it would be bustling with maritime traffic both local and international. There are two large container ship wharves; one for flour, and the other for cement. There is the navy. It appears from our vantage point there are no large naval ships. We have only seen hi-speed commando style rigid inflatables interspersed with the occasional typical military personnel carrier transporting people from one area to another. There is also one commercial ferry carrying upwards of 50 people from one side of the harbour to the other. We, being anchored in Town Bay, get to see almost everything in terms of water traffic.

The only other commercial activity in the harbour is the local fishing scene. There are fishing weirs set up in a variety of locations and in the evening the harbour is dotted with local manually propelled fishing craft that have a very unique Sri Lankan design not seen anywhere else in SE Asia, but maybe in south Asia.

And here is a VERY special fish boat that our friend, Evelyn, found in Galle when she so missed me she went looking for a reminder

Other than the harbour activity and the navy there is little other sign of economic activity other than the three main streets selling various goods with 30 shops selling plastic wear, 40 shops selling shoes, 25 shops selling fabrics, a couple of banks, a bus station, a central market, 2 small grocery stores and 2 hallal restaurants.

Umm, where’s the cricket ground. Ah yes, there it is, next to the bus station. Phew.

If you ever want to visit Trinco and are looking for supplies Connie has made up a sketch map for where to buy a few supplies. There are no local tourist maps but with a combination of Connie’s sketch map and Google maps one gets by.

And last but not forgotten for long are the rutting deer to be found at the local market. Appears Sri Lankans

haven’t developed a taste for deer meat. Pity there aren’t more Canadians here. We could have a wonderful BBQ!

Sunset in Town Bay, Trincomalee