Going to Kandy

First trip to sea, first cargo port. 1970. When we reached our discharge port, Colombo, we were brought to a cargo pier that was, as always in those days, in the center of the city. My extreme fortune was to go to sea at the last possible moment when cargo was still being carried in small ships to small ports. Containerization hadn't come along yet in such numbers that required new dock yards to be built miles from town. So when you had crossed the ocean you were brought into the port and nestled against ancient stone wharves next to equally ancient warehouses and cargo, in this case bagged grain, was unloaded by large gangs of longshoremen. We would position the derricks for them, "yard and stay" rigged over the dock and the hatch. We would open the hatches, taking off the tarps and pontoons.. Usually a tarp was used to keep rain out by hanging it from the cargo runner when the hatch was not being worked. Men needed to move bagged cargo numbered in the dozens. In addition to this there was always the possibility of a "shore gang" It worked this way. I made $40 a day plus overtime.. The only overtime I could make in port was on the gangway watch since we weren't doing maintenance. But, I was still supposed to work 8 hrs on weekdays. So the Captain would allow the Bos'n to hire a couple of guys to work for me. I gave him $10 a day and I was free to go ashore except for gangway watches, every third day. The Bos'n would keep $5 from each member of the deck dept who did this and hire twice as many natives to get the maintenance done. They were given hand tools and were able to clean out the hard to get rust (under the hatch coamings, etc.) for about a dollar an hour. I found myself free to go ashore, two days at a time! Not having much money left to spend, I didn't really do much, but I did try to get clear of the city and see the country of Ceylon (Sri Lanka).

As I walked across a busy street which was swarming with people someone leaning against a wall motioned for me to come talk to him. Reluctantly I approached this strange, brown man wearing the long white skirt (doti) that everyone seemed to wear. He said "No matter where you go in the world there are always more good people than bad people, or else there wouldn't be any people" I thanked him and went on my way, relieved that he had seemed to be a good person. I asked two policemen where the train station was and they asked me what was in my wrist band. I made a mental note to not wear the wrist band ashore any more. They recommended that I take a taxi, that it wouldn't be that much money and would be a lot quicker and safer.. So, for about $10 I hired the first car they hailed for me and we all decided I could make it to Kandy and back in a day. I had no idea where I was going, but they seemed to know best.

That taxi took me all the way to Kandy, which was about two hours into the center of the island, up into palm tree forest covered mountains to a couple of thousand ft elevation. this was a great discovery to me. The old capital of the kingdom of Ceylon. The taxi took me to a Buddhist temple that was older still, built by the ancient kings of the realm. It was the temple of the Tooth, because it had one of Buddha's teeth enshrined there. The tapestries depicted an incisor; the floors were teak as were the beams and ceilings. After being instructed to remove my shoes I was allowed to go into the center of the temple and view the casket where the tooth was enshrined. In another week, I was told by my pious taxi driver, the annual festival celebrating the tooth would take place. One hundred elephants would parade throughout the city from and back to the temple. These animals would be decorated to the max, with silks, gold fittings and painted brightly. The lead elephant carries the casket (which is really seven concentric caskets) made of ebony, ivory and gold. and troops would guard the procession until it was back safely in the temple. Man, did I want to see that. Still do. As we headed back down the mountain we stopped for dinner and there were two Western travelers there (the backpacking kind) who marveled that an 18 year old kid from a cargo ship could afford to hire a taxi for the day. We also stopped at a river where some guys were washing their elephants, used for skidding logs out of the woods. The driver talked them into letting me ride one for a few minutes. We also stopped at a tea plantation where dozens of women were picking tea leaves over a mountainside, visible from the road side stop where we had a cup of the same tea. The girls that were nearby came over to see who the driver had with him. This was another world away from any world I ever thought existed. One last stop at a huge tree which had medicinal properties. At the driver's insistence I chewed a leaf and felt my whole face grow numb for a few minutes! He couldn't explain what it was, but everyone knew about it. I hope nothing has changed in the past 46 years so that when I do return I can be reminded of that time and place and update this story with more details.