Ella and the tea plantation

The Halpe tea factory tour was one of the highlights of our week. We learned how they grow, pick and sort the leaves (all by hand) for taste and color, and then how it is dried and sorted. Fascinating.

The factory dates back to 1867 when the English ruled Ceylon and decided to compete with China for tea production. Ceylon tea is black, because it is full of antioxidants. Its smokey flavor comes from the burning of land (and rubbish) that is ubiquitous in the area (and stings the eyes).

As Shamus said, the 1800's methods - which have barely changed since - meant that anywhere else (like the UK or USA) the factory would have been closed down for safety reasons. No hard hats, no shoes, no gloves!

We bought loads of tea, and drove back to Ella for lunch. Ella is a really cute little town, full of bars and restaurants. We tried La Mensa, which despite the Spanish name was 100% Sri Lankan. For a bottle of white wine, they had to go to another restaurant to 'borrow' one! Wine is not a 'thing' in Sri Lanka.

Our hotel was on the mountain; it was fairly basic but the view - OMG.

(Victor's hotel was also on the mountain, but up a really hilly, bad road - and the van could not get up the hill. We got out, and after several runs at it our driver got up. It was about 9pm by then and pitch dark.)

After two nights in Ella, we drove the 3.5 hours on really windy roads to Yala. Upon arrival, we sorted the guide for the next morning's safari and Shamus was ordering a breakfast box for the morning when the hotel worker said 'By the way, safaris are cancelled!'  Coronavirus strikes again. All national parks and activities, including whale watching, were cancelled.

Disappointed, we spent the next couple of days sunning ourselves by the pool and still managed to see loads of wildlife - boar, Langur monkeys, birds...

Sri  Lanka was cracking down, and there were already visibly fewer tourists. Luckily, we decided to check on our flight for Saturday, although Sri Lankan Air had not sent any notice of any changes. Turned out, the last flight to London was leaving on the 18th - and there would be none after that for the foreseeable future.

We love Sri Lanka, but really did not want to be stuck here for a month - without our laptops we couldn't even work from here. I got on the phone to the airlines and got us seats on the last flight - economy. Even though we paid for business class each way, we will be stuck in economy - for the SAME price! So much for no penalties.

Our last 4 nights on Talpe Beach were reduced to 1. We checked into our fabulous hotel, which was empty bar another couple. It is a very windy beach, so swimming was out of the question. We went for lunch instead at Victor's Wijaya Beach hotel and cafe - fantastic. 

At the airport now, in business lounge then to our economy seats (argh). Fingers crossed!

Train journey Kandy to Ella

We got the the train station at Peradeniya (Kandy) at 11:30 Thursday to check in for the 12:35 train. Two hours later, at about 1:30, we finally pulled out of the station, chugged for 5 minutes, stopped, went back to the station on a different track and then we were on our way...

The Kandy to Ella train journey is legendary; some of the best scenery in Sri Lanka can be seen from your seat. We were booked on the Viceroy service, a 'luxury' train car with comfy seats.

Full bar service and a pre-ordered curry lunch meant that we were set for the 6-hour trip. If only it were to be 6 hours.

The  scenery was all it was cracked up to be - stunning tea plantations, tiny villages, temples, local boys running outside their homes to watch the train come by.

The train chugged along at 7 km per hour max, rocking violently from side to side. A trip to the loo was an adventure in finding your sea legs (but it was perfectly clean once you got there).

We finally arrived in Ella at 8:30pm. Darshana, our driver, was waiting for us and we got the  address for Victor's hotel and took off. Darshana was a bit concerned about getting the van up some of the mountain roads, but he had not checked the road to Hotel Laura. Unfortunately.

We turned where Victor's GPS said to turn, past a mountain of garbage (first time I have seen any real mess/litter here) and down the narrowest part-tar track imaginable. No Hotel Laura sign anywhere, so D asked a local - he told us to keep going and we would find it. Dead end road. No turnaround.

A 9-point turn and then we got stuck going back up the steep road to the main street. One hour later and lots of burned rubber, the van made it to the top and we got a tuk-tuk to our hotel. Victor got one to Hotel Laura - it WAS on the same road where we got stuck. Just no signs.

Lessons learned: Never assume a car will fit down the roads in Ella. Never assume a hotel will have a sign on the road.

The view from our room made up for the hellish arrival.

Tea plantation tour next.

Sri Lanka and the Cultural Triangle

After a 5.5 hour ride on crowded roads (with a short break to feed some adorable baby elephants at Pinnawara Elephant Orphanage), an aching lower back and a stressed-out husband from watching our driver pass oil tankers with about 1.5 inches to spare, we arrived at Habarana and the Cinnamon Wild resort.
The place is gorgeous, lush and quiet and full of cheeky monkeys. Unbeknownst to us, yesterday was "Full Moon Day" - a Buddhist holiday each month where absolutely no alcohol is allowed whatsoever. No beers in the bar, no wine at dinner.
Luckily we had bought a bottle of red in Negombo, which we enjoyed a glass of before dinner on our patio. We immediately got into trouble with our upstairs neighbors, who were sitting outside on their terrace, because Victor decided to hold a shouty Facetime conversation with Ped. We apologized and went to the restaurant.
Tuesday morning: The news from the outside world is so incredibly grim and glum, that I cannot even bear to watch the BBC. TV off, it's time to explore Polunaruwa, the 10th century capital of Sri Lanka and a UNESCO site - which was a fantastic collection of ruins, with a great guide. The architecture reminded me a lot of the Roman ruins we have explored, but they were never here and this (10th C) was a LOT  later - so I guess the Roman influence was ubiquitous by then. Monkeys everywhere!! Such fun!
The Cave Temple - 400 steps to get up to - then Kandy for the train journey tomorrow. We are at a sweet, but worn-out hotel in the hills of Kandy outskirts, with the most incredible views. Train to Ella next.

Coronavirus Travel Diary - One Week and Counting

Saturday 29 February, 2020

T minus one week and I am packing my case for Sri Lanka. The virus panic is spreading by the minute – Iran, South Korea, Italy, USA – but Sri Lanka has only one reported case (and he recovered). The England cricket team has decided it is safe to go there for the tour, and if it’s good enough for them (and their no doubt uber-cautious insurance company) then it’s good enough for us.

UK press headlines are roiling with accusations against the government for not being prepared – which is not completely fair as there are only 20-odd cases here so far. When you think of how much the Brits travel, that is not many at all. I do fear, however, that the NHS is not prepared for an onslaught of people needing hospitalization. For some obscure reason, they hospitalize flu patients each winter, leading to a shortage of beds every year. Hospitals are 87% full at the moment.

Our friends in Thailand have been alternatively excited and panicked.  Unless Thais are confined to base, he (an intrepid Brit) will come with us but his Thai wife will not. The news there is even more hyped than in the West, and she is very nervous of catching the virus. (“We’re doomed, doomed I tell you.”)

Living in London, there are a million viruses flying around the tube, the theatres, the pubs every day. I do not intend to seal myself away at home in hopes of not catching something. Sri Lanka, here we come.

This will be our first stop: http://nationalzoo.gov.lk/elephantorphanage/about_us/

Greed and the Bakken: Explosive Oil Needs Stabilizing

Today's Wall Street Journal article about Bakken crude oil production makes my blood boil. I have been following the crude oil quality issue since the Lac-Megantic explosion last year, trying to get Platts reporters (when I was editor there) to find out why it was so explosive. They failed, whereas the WSJ investigation has unearthed some very disturbing facts.

From today's issue:

When energy companies started extracting oil from shale formations in South Texas a few years ago, they invested hundreds of millions of dollars to make the volatile crude safer to handle.
Now the decision not to build the equipment is coming back to haunt the oil industry as the federal government seeks to prevent fiery accidents of trains laden with North Dakota oil.  In North Dakota's Bakken Shale oil field, nobody installed the necessary equipment. The result is that the second-fastest growing source of crude in the U.S. is producing oil that pipelines often would reject as too dangerous to transport.

North Dakota shale oil contains 33% light ends - the flammable stuff like gases and gasoline. In other words, 33% of a barrel of oil from the Bakken is highly flammable. It also has a high Reid Vapor Pressure (again, thanks to WSJ's excellent investigative reporting), making it one of the most explosive barrels of oil on the planet. Around one million barrels per day comes out of the Bakken and makes its way to refineries around the USA and Canada through pipelines, barges and - mainly - by rail (more than 60% currently moves by rail).

Only one stabilizer - which would remove the most volatile gases - is slated for the Bakken. Why? Money. Stabilizers are expensive; the ones built for the Eagle Ford shale area in Texas cost producers hundreds of millions of dollars. So far, Bakken crude has been one of the best deals going for American (and to a lesser extent Canadian) refiners. It is cheap to produce and cheap to move by rail.  Making Bakken more expensive to produce would hit the American consumer, say refiners and politicians.

Who wants to add to the costs by adding stabilizers? I would say that the next group of people to experience a crude by rail crash and fireball in their town might think it worthwhile. I would also say that after the next rail crash and fire, lawsuits could very well target Bakken producers. And a multi-billion dollar lawsuit could very well make adding stabilizers look cheap.

Get it Through Your Heads: U.S. Crude Oil is Explosive

   The latest derailment of a train carrying crude oil -- which exploded violently and caught fire in Lynchburg, Virginia -- proves yet again that U.S. crude is no average oil. 
   On the whole, crude oil does not explode, nor does it easily catch fire. But newer sources of American crude, particularly from the Bakken field in North Dakota, are proving to be an unwelcome anomaly. 

   Crude oil coming from the Bakken, and also Eagle Ford in Texas, is of high quality. It is very low in density and sulfur. But that does not necessarily make it explosive. 
   After the crash and explosion that killed 47 people in Lac-Megantic, Quebec last year, I urged reporters at Platts (where I was an editor) to dig deep and find the specifications for Bakken from their sources. None of their sources would release any but the most rudimentary of specs. 
   Then analysis done by the Wall Street Journal showed that Bakken crude has an unusually high Reid Vapor Pressure, which is a measurement of volatility. As there are no laws mandating RVP tests for crude, the combustible nature of Bakken and Eagle Ford was largely ignored. Regulators were slow off the mark to test the quality of the oil being shipped by rail. Oil producers and refiners -- in their haste to sell and refine these cheap feedstocks -- often misclassified them as less hazardous than they really were. 

   Because the infrastructure supporting oil transportation in the U.S. is sorely substandard, with barges and existing pipelines overbooked (and proposed new pipelines like Keystone XL unlikely to be built), the U.S. and Canada too quickly embraced moving crude by rail car. They neglected to test crude quality from newer U.S. fields and failed to strengthen safety regulations until after several fiery crashes. They allowed inferior quality rail cars known as DOT 111s to continue to be used, even as they proved themselves to be very good moving firebombs. 
   Now, however, responsible producers and users are beginning to take steps of their own to try and prevent further accidents, and avoid the wrath of the law and punishing insurance claims. Canada will phase out the older cars by 2017. U.S. oil distribution company Global Partners just announced that it would immediately switch to newer specification tank cars called CPC 1232, trying to head off New York Governor Cuomo's move to slow down a Global oil by rail development in Albany. 
   Oil producers, gatherers, traders and end users surely knew the kind of oil they were dealing with, yet they put it onto rail cars that were not fit for the task. The sooner DOT 111s stop carrying oil the better. And the sooner railway operators and regulators get a grip on crude oil, its specifications and flammability, the sooner these accidents will stop happening.

The High Frequency Trading Debate is Not New

I love Michael Lewis. He is the writer I most want to be. I live in his world, I am a journalist and have been a broker and am married to a trader. I know stuff. But I am not Michael Lewis. He is a brilliant writer. I am a hack and part-time flack. HOWEVER, I take exception to the recent the fuss over his book "Flash Boys." I keep hearing on CNBC that NO ONE knew how big the problem of high frequency trading was. I did. Here is one of the tongue-in-cheek blogs I wrote about the issue - in September, 2010.

In the 1960's American sitcom Get Smart there were two opposing agencies - CONTROL and KAOS. At CONTROL you had The Chief, Maxwell Smart (Agent 86) and Agent 99 as the good guys. KAOS was the bad guys of course.
In today's seemingly perplexing world of electronic trading The Chief appears to be played by U.S. Senator Charles Schumer. The well-meaning but hapless Maxwell Smart is played by U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro. (The SEC staff can take turns as Agent 99.) KAOS is represented by high frequency and algorithmic trading.
The Chief (Schumer) made a strong suggestion (order) to regulators to get a grip on KAOS, by looking into slowing down some high-speed trading at times of market stress and investigating manipulative strategies including quote stuffing.
Agent 86 (Schapiro) got on the case and the investigation is underway. One telling statement by Schapiro this week alluded to the algos that automate execution when she said that regulators need to decide whether they "are subject to appropriate rules and controls."
"An out-of-control algorithm not only can cause serious losses to the firm that uses it, it can also cause severe trading disruptions that harm market stability and shake investor confidence," Schapiro said in the statement. She added that the SEC will review market fragmentation and the role of dark pools of liquidity that fall outside the traditional market structure.
“High-frequency trading firms are subject to very little in the way of obligations,” Schapiro said at an event held by the Security Traders Association in Washington. “We will consider carefully whether these firms should be subject to an appropriate regulatory structure governing key aspects of their market behavior, including quoting and trading strategies.”
The SEC may also need to peer a little more closely into the market structure that preceded all of these issues. A third of TabbFORUM readers polled said that the Securities and Exchange Commission had something to do with the May 6 flash crash: 31% of respondents to the poll blamed the crash on Reg NMS. (Still, 29% said it was “something else." Cue Siegfried - the Vice President in charge of Public Relations and Terror at KAOS).
All of this investigating is good news, as long as moderation is the byword for resolution. If indeed your opinion is that HFT and algos are run by a shady KAOS-style cartel on Wall Street then the more controls the better. It is my opinion that KAOS-as-HFT is a figment of non-financial industry scaremongers, and that a lighter touch is needed.
CONTROL can best come out on top if it deploys the proper tools: pre-trade risk management and controls, real-time risk management, real-time market monitoring and surveillance. All of these will help to stop KAOS in its tracks before it has the chance to throw another bomb into the room (flash crash...get it?).

I knew about HFT. The SEC knew about HFT. The trading firms and exchanges and brokers knew about HFT. And everyone knew it was a bomb waiting for a detonator. I just wish I had written the book!