Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is so peaceful and relaxing. We spent our week up in Polonnaruwa (4+ hour drive from Colombo). The country is lush and green. The people are relaxed, open, friendly and quick to smile. It is like laying in a grassy area with the sun caressing you, a line of fresh sheets flapping nearby and you can smell the clean crisp scent. One morning I thought there was a thunderstorm but it was only monkeys on the roof of the hotel. We stayed in Polonnaruwa, along the lake. Almost every day we could see elephants come out of the jungle and down to the lake.

Polonnaruwa is both the name of the city there and the name of the ancient ruins. The ruins were the main factor in choosing this area. We were able to ride into town and to the old city by bike. It's a pretty incredible place, the best part (for me) of the ruins was to see the giant Buddha statues. We had a very kind and informative guide. It rained A LOT, we sat out for a long bit of it, then just rode back to the hotel in the rain anyway. It was warm enough air temperature and warm rain- not like Oregon!

A day trip took us to the Sigiriya rock fortress. Wicki, our Polonnaruwa guide, hooked us up with a friend of his, Shunil, to drive us for the day. Shunil was a long-time guide and former history teacher and was FULL of fascinating information. Pretty much the whole day, we felt like we hit the jackpot. Not only did our visit to Sigiriya pass our expectations but we also saw Asian elephants, birds, more monkeys and peacocks (native to Sri Lanka).

The food situation in Sri Lanka is fantastic. Personally, I ate the local rice and curry for pretty much every meal. Though, for breakfast, instead of rice, you eat string hoppers. These are little white noodles that are steamed in little individual discs, then served room temperature all stacked up, you peel off what you want. When I say curry, do not think of the Indian yellow curry flavor/mix or the Thai green or red curry dishes. Think of being served a variety (4 to 6) little dishes ranging from the green leaves from the outside of the banana flower (not the leaves of the plant), eggplant, okra, bitter melon, fresh tomato and onion, sambar (fresh grated coconut, salt, onion, lime, salt, pepper and 3 types of chilies) and papadams. You can have just vegetable, or fish, or meat but it's not typical to have meat and fish together. We hired Shunil to drive us back to Colombo when we left and he guided us to a local restaurant and ordered a selection of things for us to try. Sri Lankans eat these things with their hands and he gave us a lesson on that as well. They do not drink while eating, you may drink tea in the morning and around 3 pm they have tea, unless it's cold then you might drink coffee.

The hotel staff where we stayed was really attentive, as well. Seems there aren't too many Americans coming to Sri Lanka. Most people in the area where we were didn't know "America," "The United States (of America)" or "The U.S." In some ways, it's refreshing. It also seemed uncommon for tourists to stay in the area for an extended period of time. The management arranged us an extremely lovely, beautiful four-course meal outside by the pool, and all of the staff wore traditional clothing.They served us these big freshwater prawns, which were amazing, and I don't like shrimp, prawns or lobster!

I would not only go back to Sri Lanka in a heartbeat, but also recommend it to anyone. They do seem to have some strict rules, though. For example, the penalty for possession of illegal drugs is death.

PHOTOS!

We are home now... I have uploaded and semi-sorted all the photos from the trip. In the end, I have decided to post the photos that relate to previous posts as their own separate posts. I'd love to go tuck them back in with relevant text but seems messy somehow. I still have more posts about the trip as well they're just not finished.

People Make the World Go Round

Of course I know this isn't scientifically the literal truth. Tomorrow we depart for home. I am not sure I am ready. We have been beyond fortunate with all the amazing friends we have visited and made along the way. It's people that make a country, and our life, rich.

A Quick Taste of Dubai

Even walking into the airport in Dubai was a big change from our last three months spent in Africa, not surprising. Everything was shiny and had an unblemished feel. The airport was quiet, which was nice. No endless loud flight announcements, just the call to prayer. By the time we cleared our long wait in immigration and caught a cab to where we were staying, it was 5:30 in the morning. Again, we are so proud of the good little travelers the boys are- they complain so little in these sometimes trying situations.

The first day (after our nap) we went to a nearby mall, the one with the indoor ski and snow park area (yes- real snow in a mall in a desert). Even though I didn't like breathing all the burning garbage and dust in Africa, the recycled mall air was oppressive in a different way, with that artificial smell that malls have. What is it? Perfume, plastic, new clothes? It just felt fake or uncomfortable in some way. At one point we went to a toy store with the kids and truly 90 percent (or more) of it was just a straight waste of natural resources. Its the same things you can buy in the States, but it feels like it's all clean garbage. It made me feel awkward. In fact, most of the mall felt just full of useless and ridiculous things.

The second day, we went on a hop-on hop-off bus tour, which was good since it allowed us to see the sights of the city and gave us a bit of the history, all interesting. Dubai was a small pearl diving and fishing village just 200 years ago. Now it has a 7-star hotel, manmade islands and some theme attraction stays that offer things like GIANT aquariums where you can scuba dive and fake reefs with dolphins totally enclosed, just to name a few... I am glad we were there in the "cold" time of year, not when it is 110-115. I even saw one of the ultra swanky low police race cars. Sadly, I am so ignorant about cars that I can't tell you anything besides it was low-to-the-road, red color with two long doors that swing upwards like wings. I think it's a car in a video game for racing, too.

The food we ate was great. Shawarma- the slow spit roasted meats, shaved off, pickled vegetables (O was so happy, he has been craving pickles for months), a creamy garlic spread and bread. We also ate some great food from Pakistan. We weren't there long enough for me to talk my way back into the kitchen of anywhere for a cooking lesson. :)

We were only there for two days, so it was just a taste. I am now really interested in the Bedouin culture. They had a little bit of information at a museum we visited. We found out (a little too late) we could have done a tour that would include a 'dinner and dancing' among other things. I am feel mixed about those types of things. Interesting, but hard not to feel a bit voyeuristic or something- no doubt it would have still been fascinating.

I will miss being in cultures with the Arabic language and the Muslim religion.