Exploring, with Tago.....

I looked out to sea, clam and flat again, it had been like this for days now. Bored, I decided to go exploring on Tago.

Leaving Pelana beach we headed inland across the railway line and skirted the limits of Weligama. Houses and rundown buildings gave way to rice paddy fields and coconut shaded villages, dry and weltering in the morning sun.

I followed the river, idle and dirty, it continued deeper into the interior. Here people waved more frequently, friendly gestures and shouts of "good morning" rang out as we rode by. I found a dirt road, quiet and peaceful, it dissected two paddy fields, was raised and dark brown in colour, i cycled on.


(The bird in the image is a peacock in flight)



The rice crop is planted in a field saturated with water, the water is controlled by a gravity feed stream system. The fields lie boarded by lines of jungle, trees and bushes, dark green, left standing following the slash and burn technique, used to claim the land and control it's march forward.

"Hallo" came from behind, I turned to see a smiling old mans face, gaining on me, dripping in sweat.

"We're you going?", he mumbled once along side me.

"I don't know where I am?' i sarcastically replied, adding "let alone where I am going!!"

He returned a puzzled frown, we rode on, the power of the mid morning sun continued to increase. We approached an island of coconut trees and red tiled roof tops, surrounded by the sea of paddy fields I had just crossed. We rode in up the small incline, hedge lined, houses alternated sides as the road wound it's way up, painted red, orange and white, cement details, wooden doors and windows with bars, hard clay packed driveways lay empty, only inhabited by lazy dogs, rested in the shade.

My cycling partner lead the way to a 'cake factory' with pride as we passed, local women going about their daily activities and staring as we passed.The sweet smell of baking bread, coconut and flavored sugar, spoiled his surprise.

Leaving Tago out front we slipped down a corridor and poked our heads in an open door and caught the staff unawares. Two of them were slowly fashioning jam donuts from the pile of dough on the stainless steel desk, and another was filling bread tins with a similar mixture, as the ovens heated up.

Taking my shoes off I was invited to wonder about, unfortunatley I was between the morning and afternoon bake, the manager still managed to rustle me up a 'fish bun' they had made on the earlier bake, or maybe it was one of the workers lunch. I thanked him for his kindness and he showed me around.

On through the village, past more sleeping dogs and screaming children, I descended out the other side. There I was greeted by a freshly laid black top, 4 lanes, stretching miles in either direction. It was not open yet which made it even more eery, I felt like screaming 'where is everyone?', the end of the world had come, and what I was left with, was the black scare of progress, as it sliced through the jungles, fields and villages, I carried on east.

My journey continues, this is just part one, part 2 will be here sooooooooon, hopefully :-)