Day 256 of Our Sri Lanka Trip

     Okay, so it has only been seven days in reality, but it feels like SO much more!   This is nothing like I expected (not exactly sure what I expected), but this trip has totally worn me out, physically and mentally.  We came to relax, but it seems that doing anything we like is hard work.   Internet access?  Have to walk to find a place.  Any walking?  Have to fight off the tuc tuc drivers, the store owners, and the beggars.   Walking?  Too humid.   Eating?  Afraid to eat now due to sickness.  Tired of fighting off the teeming hoards of humanity.  Don’t want to take naps, because then I can’t sleep at night (which is hard anyway because the bed is so uncomfortable and there is always noise).  

      I found out that my beloved Aunt Shirl passed away yesterday.   I can’t believe that I am so far away from the life and death matters in my family.   It makes me totally homesick….I can’t even believe how much. 

Christmas Eve/Christmas Day in Sri Lanka (2011)

     I can’t begin to tell you how homesick I am right now.  I miss my family and friends, and I also miss my own holiday traditions.  I hadn’t realized how hard it would be to give up those things in order to live overseas.  I never have taken those things for granted, but I can tell you that I never, ever will.  It’s the smaller things in life that make our daily survival bearable.  If Santa Claus showed up right now with a ticket for me to fly home, I’d take it in a heartbeat….and forget anything here on the other side of the world. 

     Sri Lanka is a blend of Christians, Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists; Nikki read something that called Negombo the “Little Rome” of Sri Lanka because of the number of Christians here.  There are Christmas lights all over the place.  Little bands of boys run through the streets at night singing “Jingle Bells” while begging for donations.  There are shops full of Christmas schtick like blow up Santas, red plush Santa hats, and fat, colorful garland.  This is a place that definitely loves its holiday.  There are creches everywhere.   Here is an example of someone getting too excited about putting up the Nativity scene, put it up in front of the crucifixion statue:

     On Christmas Eve, we went to dinner at our local WiFi hangout.  I was able to Skype for a little while with my sister and her family.   That was delightful!   I got to say “Merry Christmas” to a fat, jolly, naked, little elf named Charleigh Jo…..the newest sweetie in our family!  Nikki ate fruit salad and I had a bowl of chicken/egg drop soup with ginger ale.  Then we were beat so we came back, read a little, and hit the sack.  Alas, sleep was not my friend.  The natives were celebrating Christmas Eve by shooting off fireworks for a good portion of the night.  On top of that, our air conditioning was working too well and my sheet just wasn’t up to the job of keeping me warm.  I got up twice to turn it up before I discovered the magic number.

     Then, Christmas morning, we got up early and headed off to our WiFi hangout.  I know that they normally don’t open until 11:00am but we saw someone there and asked if we could simply sit by the back gate and use their WiFi; of course, in all his niceness, he said yes.  I was so hoping that Grace would have been up so I could have wished her a Merry Christmas eve and see what was happening.  But apparently the festivities were in full swing at the Block household and no one was thinking about getting on the computer.   I don’t blame them….I know how much fun Christmas Eve is there with all the family gathering together!!

     We then came back to our hotel for breakfast and then I purchased a sarong from a beach vendor lady…..she was stick thin, so I figured that she didn’t eat very regularly.  We got offered a ride in a catamaran, which we declined since we will be on the water for a few hours tomorrow; two days in a row is a little much for my pale skin.  Then a little R&R before going back to the beach for swimming.  How many people can say they swam in the Indian Ocean on Christmas Day???   Oh wait…I can tell you….a whole bunch!   The beach was full of people walking, swimming, eating, laughing, visiting, and having fun.   It is a beautiful day in paradise!!

 MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

First Day of Sightseeing in Sri Lanka

     We found a tuc tuc driver, Naushad.   This was a good find.   He has been exceedingly helpful and speaks very good English.  He has helped us out in several ways so far.

     First of all, I needed to have a blood test for a new medication that I recently started.  I asked Naushad if he would take me to a clinic to have it done.  He took us to the Ave Maria Clinic/Hospital.   I told the receptionist what I needed and was directed to see a doctor.  I waited for less than 5 minutes before being showed in.   He wrote the directions for the laboratory and we were on our way.  It only cost R185 for that visit.  I was delighted to get into the laboratory immediately and the technician quickly got the job completed.  Of course, at home the test is a finger prick; here it was a blood draw which only cost R850.  I was directed to come back the next day for the results.  As we had plans, it took an extra day to return, but I did and all was well (after talking to a doctor again). 

     My experience at the hospital was a very pleasant one.  One surprise was that the building was open all around -- so that the air could circulate.  In order to pay for the blood test, we were directed to go down a hall, turn to the right, and then go ahead.   Well, it didn’t quite work that way and we did get to view some of the hospital rooms.   Very ugly, plain little rooms with doors wide open.  Very poor looking.  I wish I had taken photos here!

     Then off to find phone cards.   Good thing that Naushad was with us, because this was not an English speaking store.  I bought a SIM card and was told that it comes automatically with a few minutes, but this turned out to be false.  Nikki bought minutes for a phone card that Roman had given use from his previous trip, but we never could manage to get them loaded.   It turned out that they were for another provider – none of us noticed THAT!  The good thing, so we thought, is that they were for the SIM card I purchased.   Unfortunately, the phone wouldn’t accept that particular kind of card, whatever that means.  I never did get my phone to work.

     Of course, we did not have the correct adapters for our various electronics.  Our next stop was at an electrical store.  These guys were very helpful and we found exactly what we needed for cheap!

     Then it was time to go to Colombo!!  Nikki knew that Arthur C. Clark was buried in Colombo and viewing his grave was a must.  The trip to Colombo in a tuc tuc took awhile, but we certainly did get to see lot of things on the way.  They are building a new highway from the airport to the city and we saw two different portions of the construction.  I was interested to see that the const. equipment was very small compared to the Caterpillars I am used to back home!

     Arthur C. Clark’s grave is located in the largest cemetery in Colombo.  It is very beautiful, if you are interested in cemeteries and graves.

 We were interested to see this gravestone with the swastika on top….the gentleman passed away in 1938.

Here was a fun place to visit:  the Colombo Municipal Park.  It’s 42 acres of gorgeous greenery.  It was built approximately 250 years ago by the English.  There are many varieties of trees, bushes, and flowers, as you can see by the photos.  A very large golden statue of Queen Viharamahadevi greets you at the entrance.  The park is actually named after this queen (after originally being named Victoria Park).

Across the street is the municipal building, which is built to look like the U.S. Capitol!

     We had lunch in a downtown mall, which was pretty much like any other mall, except that this place was packed!

     The Independence Memorial was interesting.  This monument celebrates the Sri Lankan independence from England.  I had an experience there where I wanted to purchase a cool gift for my friend, Bob Geary, from a street vendor who didn’t have change for my large bill.  “Come, come,” he said while motioning me to follow him.   I was a little nervous, but Naushad came to my rescue and followed along.  We went out to the street to another man who also didn’t have enough cash.   I kept saying, “Forget it.   I don’t want it anymore,” but they were desperate for a sale.  Finally, one man dug into his secret stash and found a few more bills…..all I know is that I wasn’t going to pay anything more for this item!

     Our last stop in Colombo was a tour of the largest Buddhist temple in the world. 

Supposedly Prince Siddhartha Gautama’s tooth, a sacred relic, is stored here.  A little man who showed us his badge claiming that he is a certified tour guide took us on a tour. We had to remove our shoes before entering and checked them with the claim agent.  We entered the building with many people, many of whom were dressed in white.  Many also carried lotus flowers, which I later discovered is the holy flower that they placed on the altar. 

We saw the place where the tooth is housed; behind the door are seven golden caskets, the very top one is the one that holds the tooth.  Above this are 100 golden lotus blossoms in the ceiling; this is very beautiful.  The whole building was beautiful and very spiritual.

Home again, home again, jiggity jig.

Trip to Kandy

          Got up at 5:00 a.m. to pack to move to another hotel.  Naushad picked us up at 6:00 a.m. and moved us to the Topaz Beach Hotel, which are much nicer accommodations than we had.   Nikki didn’t like the idea of packing and moving all over the place, so we decided that we liked Negombo and booked for seven days.  We found that we could use this as a jumping off point for doing the tourist things that we wanted to do.  Here is a view from our balcony:

Drove to fisherman’s beach which is where Naushad parked the tuc tuc and we met his friend with a van who was driving us to Kandy for our day trip.  Nikki and I walked a little ways out on the beach to get a better look at the fishermen preparing their sail boats for their daily fishing expeditions.   Of course, they wanted us to come out with them for a boat ride…money!!!   And then, ironically, wediscovered that Naushad and his friend are both Muslims and are both Mohammeds!   Who would have guessed that we would find Muslims in a predominately Christian area of the country, especially after leaving our Muslim friends in Kuwait?

Our first stop was at a bakery for breakfast items.  Naushad told me that a particular fish roll was “very nice.”   It looked like a nice croissant, and you know me:  I’ll try anything once.   Well, it turned out to be some kind of fish paste and was NOT very nice; it gave me a horrible aftertaste.   But my goal is to try new things, and now I can say I tried it.  The jelly roll was much better.

                Then we drove and drove for several hours towards Kandy.  It seemed like we never got out of the city.  We would see areas that looked like forest, but there would be people on bicycles, walking,  or on motorcycles, plus, there were little stores lining the road.  People everywhere!!

At the Elephant Orphanage I got to pet an elephant!   A first in my life!   We walked around and saw what there was to see and then left the park to look for souvenirs down a street of little shops.   And a good thing we did.  It turned out that the elephants march down this street on their way to the river to bath and cool off.  It was magnificent watching these huge beasts at such close range.  They drive them to the river for a few hours and then drive them back up the street back to the park.   Amazing! 

At one place, Naushad said come in here; it was an elephant dung, paper-making process plant.  Yikes, you may say, elephant poop????   Well, think about it.  All elephants eat are fiberous plants; when the dung is dried, it is mostly fiber, and what is paper, after all?   The dung gets washed and dried again, and I can vouch that it is odourless!   It is then mixed together with water and cooked until it becomes a smooth, runny consistency.  This mush is spread out thinly into a mesh tray and placed in the sun to dry.  The resulting paper is rather thick and uneven…it reminded me of heavier art paper.  These pieces of paper are put into a rolling press and when they come out, they are flat and smooth; not as thin as our writing paper, but thicker like a greeting card.  Then there are people who take these sheets and make them into things like note pads, greeting cards, and small notebooks.   I particularly liked one which had a cinnamon stick cover, so it smelled delightful!

Nikki and I agreed that we both wanted to stop at a spice/herb garden, so we did!  This was an ayervedic herb and spice garden….an olfactory delight!  A guide walked us through telling us about the various herbs and spices and inviting us to smell everything in sight.  At the end, we sampled some of the different products, like a hair removal product,  a face rub, and I had a shoulder/arm massage.   You know how I love my massages!  Nikki and I both purchased “medicine” to bring home.

And last, but not least, we visited a tea factory….yet another olfactory delight.  They processed only black tea at this particular building.  We toured the whole process, which was very educational, and then had a wonderful cup of tea in the tea room before making our purchases.  I splurged and bought “silver tip” tea which is one step below the most expensive tea.  I can hardly wait to try it in my new brewing cup!   “No sugar and no milk” I was cautioned by the lovely clerk in her business sari.

Well, there was yet another surprise in store for us!   On the way home, we got to stop and visit a Hindu temple!  This was very amazing.  We had to remove our shoes outside; this is a symbol of respect.   I took photos of the outside, but didn’t feel that it was appropriate to take photographs inside the temple, disrupting people who were worshiping.   It seemed disrespectful.  There was an air of spirituality there that permeated my soul, as so much of Sri Lanka seemed to do.  For such a small country, there is a large amount of religion available.

Flight to Sri Lanka and Arrival

     Gulf Air was our airline of choice, and a good choice it turned out to be.  The hosts and hostesses were very pleasant.  All drinks were free, even the alcohol; this is very unlike anything that I had seen in the States!   The seats were definitely not as crowded as United’s, which made for happy legs and feet.  One downfall was the weird television show that played on the short flight to Bahrain; it was a looped show of something similar to Candid Camera .  Nikki found it obnoxious, but I  laughed in a few places nk that people are funny.   After we changed planes for the flight to Sri Lanka, I plugged in my earbuds and listened to some rock and roll for awhile until my attention was diverted by the Indian movie that was playing.  The acting was so bad that I turned the channel and listened in (and read subtitles) to some strange, humorous love story between Siddharth and Meera, just to see what was going on.  And then I ended up watching the whole thing.    Okay, this will sound funny, but in my mind, it was a blending of Will Farrell’s bad humor with Shakespeare’s love of twists and turns!!   Perfect bad humor!! 

We had a plane change in Bahrain.  A HUGE surprise awaited us:  Christmas decorations and Christmas music!!  

I had another “Jane” moment in the Sri Lanka.  I got my passport out of my purse in order to fill out the visa paperwork.  I filled everything out and put my passport away.  Unfortunately, I did not put my purse back into my carryall.   Nikki and I were heading on down a long hallway when I suddenly remembered that I had forgotten my bag!!!   I ran back (can you say O.J.???) and went back past the security…..and guess what?   My purse was still sitting on the counter next to some men who were filling out their papers!!!   That would never happen back home, but here people are honest.   I was one happy traveler, I can tell you that!

We had made arrangements for the Silver Sands Hotel to pick us up and sure enough, there was a man with a sign near the exit waiting for us!  He loaded our stuff into his van and off we went!  It was interesting to have our first “view” of Sri Lanka to be at night when all we could see were the lights of the shops and things.  It was very inviting and interesting.  We only rode in a proper vehicle one more time during our whole trip (one with doors and windows).

We traveled and toured Sri Lanka in a number of tuc tucs, but our favorite by far was our new friend who told us his name was Naushad.  A tuc tuc is a small, 3-wheeled motorized vehicle (a cross between a motorcycle and a car).

Silver Sands Resort House

     We booked this room through the Internet (after reading about it in Lonely Planet) and only for two nights.  Our thinking was that we would figure out what we wanted to do once we arrived.  Well, this is a strange and delightful little place.  We chose it for price, WiFi availability, and an ensuite bath.  We got a good price, the WiFi only exists in the reception area, and the bath had a toilet that took forever to refill and the shower didn’t drain.  Oh well, we survived!

     There were several cool things about this place.   1)  the plant life everywhere, in pots, in the ground, growing up and growing out.  2) the line of fish tanks along one low wall in the reception area; Lonely Planet was right.  3) the koi pond in the reception area with a Catholic shrine above it.  And the final thing was the little restaurant around the corner with WiFi where we could sit, have a snack and connect to our friends!

The view from our balcony the night we arrived:

                                                                                     

Everyone here was exceedingly polite and spoke English very well.  The Silver Sands is only steps away from the Indian Ocean which is definitely a plus.  We walked down to the beach as soon as we got unpacked.  All was dark so there was not much to see, but the moonlight on the waves and also the crashing noise were enchanting.

As you can see, we had two twin beds underneath a blue mosquito net: