Riiiing, riiiing, riiing. I roll over and look at the clock. Its 9 in the morning, who could this be? I pick up the phone. Its Ruberu. Hello! I have come to work today, do you need to go anywhere?? I smile and tell Ruberu that no, I don’t need any rides today thank you and hang up, falling back asleep. Riiing riiing riiiing. I roll over again and now its 10 o’clock. Again it is Ruberu. Miss it says here that you want to have a tour of Colombo today (it does??) do you still want to go?? No thank you, I say, and tell Ruberu that I do need to get to the airport tonight and so we arrange for him to take me at 11 o’clock pm. After the second phone call I decide that it is time to get up and do some work. I spend the morning transferring and labeling photos, deciding that I should stick around the Colombo area today instead of venturing off like the previous days.
After working for a while I went downstairs and had lunch at the buffet restaurant and then decided to walk down to a handicraft store to pick up some Sri Lankan crafts. The store was only 2 short blocks from my hotel so there was no need to get a taxi. So I set off, but turn in the wrong direction at first. Instead of turning right back around, I decided that I could actually walk around my hotel to the other side and get through that way, so I kept walking.
Several rickshaws passed offering me rides but I refused. I turned around a corner and heard a familiar honking sound and turned to see what it was.
Its Ruberu. Again.
Hello Miss! He says, I saw you walking and I was coming back to the hotel and so I thought I would come see where you are going since you are walking away from the hotel. Smiling, I walk up to him and tell him where I need to go. I will take you, he says and so I agree. He takes me around the corner and drops me off at the store and I tell him that there is no need to wait since it really was not far from the hotel.
So I spend about an hour perusing the shop and make it back to my hotel with my huge bag that needs to be sent back to the United States. So I get some other things from my room and head back out to get a taxi to the DHL which is a courier service to the States. Ruberu wasn’t around at this time so I had to get another taxi driver to take me (much to his disappointment later---why didn’t you call me Miss??) I spend about an hour at the DHL trying to send my things back to the States, unfortunately not being able to send all of it since some of the receipts were back in my hotel room and the man was very wary of sending things through Sri Lankan customs without the receipts.
After all of this I head back to the hotel and go back to the pool again. Its about the same time as yesterday (around 4:30) so there is just a few hours to swim and enjoy the nice weather. I then head back to my room and get changed then head to the Sri Lankan restaurant for dinner but am unfortunately turned away due to my lack of reservation (it is a Saturday night!) and go back to the buffet restaurant from lunch and have dinner there.
My flight leaves at 2:50am and so now I am spending my time writing in my blog and packing things up, waiting for it to be 11 o’clock so that Ruberu can take me to the airport!
(c) 2004 Sarah Galbraith. All Rights Reserved.
Saturday, February 28, 2004
Friday, February 27, 2004
Kandy, Sri Lanka--Day 28
There’s something about waking up to a phone call in the morning. As I rolled over and grabbed in the direction of where the horrible noise was coming from, all I could think of was who is calling ME? Only Ruberu…
And it is Ruberu. He’s at the hotel and hour early and shouldn’t we get on our way? Yes, I tell him as I sit up looking at the clock. Its 7am which means that he is an hour early. Ok that’s fine I say as I get up and get dressed, finding that I can hardly see anything due to the fact that I still had my contacts in from the night before.
We first set off to Dambulla in which there are these beautiful temple caves, and really not all that much else. Ruberu dropped me off and said he would meet me back in the parking lot when I was done visiting the caves. Out at the entrance to the caves was a HUGE golden Buddha (supposedly the biggest sitting Buddha in the world…who knows if that is true!) as well as an overpriced Buddhist Museum which I decided to skip. So up I went on sort of a hike up to the top of these hills here the cave temples were. After leaving my shoes at the shoe minder’s outside f the temple, I was able to walk through the five caves at my own pace (I was firm with the “guides” outside that I didn’t need any help). IN the caves were numerous figures of Buddha, either sitting, standing and even reclining. In one of the sacred caves there was even a leak in the roof in which the water is collected constantly (even if there is a drought) and used for religious ceremonies. Pretty neat. There were also a lot of monkeys around, which would follow you in hopes that you had food to give them. Um, hellooo, like I am going to give food to rabies-on-feet. Apparently this didn’t seem to be an issue for several tourists around me so the monkeys got their fair share of bananas and bread anyway.
After Dambulla we headed to Sigiriya, which is this AMAZING rock fortress atop of this HUGE rock, which was built over 1500 years ago. Again Ruberu dropped me off and I was to meet up with him in the parking lot when I was done. When you first walk into the site, you come across the amazing terraced water gardens that were just spectacular in themselves. After a long walk towards the huge rock, you finally came to some steps going in and out of various boulders and rocks as you made your way closer to the huge rock, on which the fortress lies at the top. I could see the lines of people walking along various paths on the rock but I couldn’t see how on earth you got to the top.
After climbing up a huge flight of stairs, I stopped to get a better view (and to catch my breath) and it was just awesome looking down onto the gardens. I then made my way up a modern spiral staircase into a room with several 5th Century (I think it was the 5th C…) paintings of women adorned with gold and jewels and not much else. Basically they were 5th C pinups that had been painted on the walls and were still in beautiful condition. After viewing these I went back down below and there was the Mirror Wall, in which writings about the women were scrawled back in the day (basically 5th C graffiti). It was really neat.
I then made it across a very narrow and nail-biting walk to the main entrance way to the fortress along these rock cliffs (not recommended for those with fear of heights that is for sure!). I found myself at the base of the fortress, which was about halfway up the huge rock. At the base are lion’s paws and the original stairs that led up to the top. Apparently back in the day there used to be an ENTIRE lion on the side of the cliffs and you would start by walking through the paws and end up coming out through its mouth at the top. Unbelievable!
I climbed up to the top following the masses of school children, Asian tourists and a surprisingly large number of Sri Lankan tourists and after a long climb (all the while trying NOT to look down!) I made it to the top. The heat was overbearing and I was exhausted, and had no water to drink but the view made up for it all. It was amazing. This wasn’t just a fortress, it must have been a palace and you could see the ruins of the rooms and there even was a massive SWIMMING POOL at the top which was is still filled with water. There is also a throne crafted out of the rock for the King. It was amazing, and well worth the trip.
After exploring the fortress I made it back down to the base, and then back down to the gardens at the bottom. Looking back up it was hard to believe that all of that was actually up there! I tried to head back towards the parking lot in a different direction but was scared off by some horrible looking monkeys who got into that I’m-going-to-bite-you crouching position so I ran away (literally) and then found the parking lot and Ruberu who was excited to see what I thought of it, picking up a bottle of water from a vendor on my way back to the car.
It was time to make the long car ride back to Colombo, which was long but still very interesting. I spent most of the ride back convincing myself (and un-convincing myself) that I have Malaria since I got a mosquito bite on my elbow. J Honestly, I kept thinking about it and then would remind myself that I was sick from something that I ate, not because of my mosquito bite but to my horror my guide book says that you can have Malaria and not even feel that bad. Great.
We stopped at a lunch buffet on the way back to get something to eat and I sat eating a nice lunch of curries and rice (thanks to my stomach which was feeling much better) and then we made it back to Colombo around 4:30. Ruberu was to have the day off tomorrow (they work in 24 hours shifts!) so I wouldn’t be seeing him again. I thanked him for everything and went straight up to my room to get my swim suit and to go jump in the pool.
The pool was great and the rest of the daytime hours, which wasn’t much, I spent sitting by the pool. For dinner the restaurant has seven restaurants, and I wanted to try some good Sri Lankan food. However I saw a Japanese restaurant and went to peek in and see what the had to offer and before I knew it I was seated and drinking fruit juice! Ugh. So I had some Japanese food for dinner (which was actually really good) and THEN headed over to the Sri Lankan restaurant and ate dessert there outside under the stars which was much better than in the Japanese restaurant, where a cheesy Japanese soap opera was playing on the TV.
Completely full, I headed over to the Karaoke Bar just to see what it was like (turned out to be nothing more than a small room with several sketchy looking men in it) and then I opted to go back to my room instead of hanging out with those fellows and get some sleep.
(c) 2004 Sarah Galbraith. All Rights Reserved.
And it is Ruberu. He’s at the hotel and hour early and shouldn’t we get on our way? Yes, I tell him as I sit up looking at the clock. Its 7am which means that he is an hour early. Ok that’s fine I say as I get up and get dressed, finding that I can hardly see anything due to the fact that I still had my contacts in from the night before.
We first set off to Dambulla in which there are these beautiful temple caves, and really not all that much else. Ruberu dropped me off and said he would meet me back in the parking lot when I was done visiting the caves. Out at the entrance to the caves was a HUGE golden Buddha (supposedly the biggest sitting Buddha in the world…who knows if that is true!) as well as an overpriced Buddhist Museum which I decided to skip. So up I went on sort of a hike up to the top of these hills here the cave temples were. After leaving my shoes at the shoe minder’s outside f the temple, I was able to walk through the five caves at my own pace (I was firm with the “guides” outside that I didn’t need any help). IN the caves were numerous figures of Buddha, either sitting, standing and even reclining. In one of the sacred caves there was even a leak in the roof in which the water is collected constantly (even if there is a drought) and used for religious ceremonies. Pretty neat. There were also a lot of monkeys around, which would follow you in hopes that you had food to give them. Um, hellooo, like I am going to give food to rabies-on-feet. Apparently this didn’t seem to be an issue for several tourists around me so the monkeys got their fair share of bananas and bread anyway.
After Dambulla we headed to Sigiriya, which is this AMAZING rock fortress atop of this HUGE rock, which was built over 1500 years ago. Again Ruberu dropped me off and I was to meet up with him in the parking lot when I was done. When you first walk into the site, you come across the amazing terraced water gardens that were just spectacular in themselves. After a long walk towards the huge rock, you finally came to some steps going in and out of various boulders and rocks as you made your way closer to the huge rock, on which the fortress lies at the top. I could see the lines of people walking along various paths on the rock but I couldn’t see how on earth you got to the top.
After climbing up a huge flight of stairs, I stopped to get a better view (and to catch my breath) and it was just awesome looking down onto the gardens. I then made my way up a modern spiral staircase into a room with several 5th Century (I think it was the 5th C…) paintings of women adorned with gold and jewels and not much else. Basically they were 5th C pinups that had been painted on the walls and were still in beautiful condition. After viewing these I went back down below and there was the Mirror Wall, in which writings about the women were scrawled back in the day (basically 5th C graffiti). It was really neat.
I then made it across a very narrow and nail-biting walk to the main entrance way to the fortress along these rock cliffs (not recommended for those with fear of heights that is for sure!). I found myself at the base of the fortress, which was about halfway up the huge rock. At the base are lion’s paws and the original stairs that led up to the top. Apparently back in the day there used to be an ENTIRE lion on the side of the cliffs and you would start by walking through the paws and end up coming out through its mouth at the top. Unbelievable!
I climbed up to the top following the masses of school children, Asian tourists and a surprisingly large number of Sri Lankan tourists and after a long climb (all the while trying NOT to look down!) I made it to the top. The heat was overbearing and I was exhausted, and had no water to drink but the view made up for it all. It was amazing. This wasn’t just a fortress, it must have been a palace and you could see the ruins of the rooms and there even was a massive SWIMMING POOL at the top which was is still filled with water. There is also a throne crafted out of the rock for the King. It was amazing, and well worth the trip.
After exploring the fortress I made it back down to the base, and then back down to the gardens at the bottom. Looking back up it was hard to believe that all of that was actually up there! I tried to head back towards the parking lot in a different direction but was scared off by some horrible looking monkeys who got into that I’m-going-to-bite-you crouching position so I ran away (literally) and then found the parking lot and Ruberu who was excited to see what I thought of it, picking up a bottle of water from a vendor on my way back to the car.
It was time to make the long car ride back to Colombo, which was long but still very interesting. I spent most of the ride back convincing myself (and un-convincing myself) that I have Malaria since I got a mosquito bite on my elbow. J Honestly, I kept thinking about it and then would remind myself that I was sick from something that I ate, not because of my mosquito bite but to my horror my guide book says that you can have Malaria and not even feel that bad. Great.
We stopped at a lunch buffet on the way back to get something to eat and I sat eating a nice lunch of curries and rice (thanks to my stomach which was feeling much better) and then we made it back to Colombo around 4:30. Ruberu was to have the day off tomorrow (they work in 24 hours shifts!) so I wouldn’t be seeing him again. I thanked him for everything and went straight up to my room to get my swim suit and to go jump in the pool.
The pool was great and the rest of the daytime hours, which wasn’t much, I spent sitting by the pool. For dinner the restaurant has seven restaurants, and I wanted to try some good Sri Lankan food. However I saw a Japanese restaurant and went to peek in and see what the had to offer and before I knew it I was seated and drinking fruit juice! Ugh. So I had some Japanese food for dinner (which was actually really good) and THEN headed over to the Sri Lankan restaurant and ate dessert there outside under the stars which was much better than in the Japanese restaurant, where a cheesy Japanese soap opera was playing on the TV.
Completely full, I headed over to the Karaoke Bar just to see what it was like (turned out to be nothing more than a small room with several sketchy looking men in it) and then I opted to go back to my room instead of hanging out with those fellows and get some sleep.
(c) 2004 Sarah Galbraith. All Rights Reserved.
Thursday, February 26, 2004
Colombo, Sri Lanka--Day 27
Last night I woke up in the middle of the night quite sick. I’m not sure with what, but like in Guatemala, I won’t go into details. It wasn’t as bad as before though and after a while I felt ok and went back to bed.
I woke up to go to Kandy and felt much better. So I got dressed and got my things and headed downstairs to meet up with Ruberu. He was there, as he said, and we were off to Kandy. Ruberu promised to take me through on a little tour on our way to Kandy, showing me the sights. Again, this sounded just fine to me.
Now driving in Sri Lanka is much different than in the States, being more similar to India. Lots of cars, lots of pedestrian traffic, animal traffic (this time with elephants!) and of course, LOTS of honking. It didn’t take me long to figure out when and where to honk. You honk when you are approaching another car to pass it (apparently to let them know that you are coming and want to pass), then you can choose to hold down your horn WHILE you pass to let them know that you are passing, and then honk at any other traffic that might have gotten in your way. Since cars are not that far apart, this basically means that you are honking all of the time.
It was pretty harrowing, but since I was with Ruberu and in a safe car (a Nissan Sunny- basically a Sri Lankan Sentra--which is my car!) and so there were only a few times when I was actually worried in which I would just close my eyes until the honking (and subsequent braking or speeding up) ended.
On our way we passed several cool things. As the road wound around, we would pass different stalls and small towns selling all sorts of Sri Lankan goods. We passed a porcupine breeder whom you paid a little bit of money to get pictures of the porcupines (which I had never actually seen before), pineapple and coconut stores, cashew nut stalls and various other things. Sri Lanka is absolutely gorgeous and green. They produce a ton of tea (Ceylon Tea, for example--Sri Lanka used to be called Ceylon, btw) and already I was really enjoying myself.
Ruberu lets me know that we can stop off at the elephant orphanage on our way and see baby elephants who roam around the orphanage, their feeding time and watch them bathe. Where else can you go walking around with wild elephants like that? Sounded like a good stop to me. These elephants live there until they get big enough to become “working” elephants, which you would actually see on the roads carrying things and in the fields! We first stopped to get some breakfast at a pretty touristy orientated tea place and then made it to the Pinnewala Elephant Orphanage a little too late to see the feedings, but we did get to see the elephants tromp on down to the river to take a bath.
It was so amazing. There must have been fifty or so elephants all marching down to the water to take their bath (the first of two each day) and along with numerous other tourists and Sri Lankan school children, I watched in awe and snapped pictures away with my camera! So cool! Some of the elephants even decided to lay down to be washed, more like taking a bath than being splashed with water.
After all the excitement, Ruberu and I headed back to the car (after watching a snake charmer woo his snakes for a small fee) and started off again towards Kandy. But first Ruberu thought that I should get a good elephant ride in before we left. I wasn’t too sure that I actually needed to ride one but then figured what the heck, when am I going to be riding elephants again?? So we headed to another elephant place where there were several working elephants that you could pay to ride. Fifteen dollars later, I had bought myself a 15 minute ride on an elephant.
I am instructed to stand on this high step and wait for my elephant to come up. There are two people in front of me who get on their respective elephants, and then mine comes up. But my poor elephant must have been the oldest one in the bunch. Its skin was so saggy and its ears were so droopy that I felt that for sure the elephant was going to collapse right then and there with me on it.
I could already see it: “Sarah Louise Galbraith, 1980-2004. Squashed by an elephant.”
But I got on and for the next 15 minutes (hardly, it was more like 10) I was paraded around on top of the elephant with a guide (who told the elephant when to go and when to stop) as well as another man who was excitedly snapping away on my camera taking pictures of me on top. I must have at least 10 pictures of me sitting on the elephant all in different places on the ride. I had to admit, it was kind of fun and a very strange feeling to feel the elephant’s shoulder blades move from side to side as it walked. An elephant also has very rough and hairy skin.
When my 15 minutes of fame were up, I got off the elephant at the same high step as before and was shown the elephant museum that they had, which was basically a room filled with elephant skulls and a big poster displaying one of their elephants who had “starred” in over 200 movies, including “Tarzan.” Ooooh.
After my ride, Ruberu and I were off again, not to Kandy, but to see some spice gardens. Sri Lanka exports a lot of spices and oils and things and so they have numerous gardens set up where tourists can go and actually see the plants that spices come from. I was immediately greeted by my own personal tour guide (I’ve had a lot of those- I need to make friends!) and was taken along a small path lined with different plants, including the banana plant, pepper, cinnamon, and a few others. It was pretty interesting and I feel like I learned a couple of things or so about spices that I didn’t know before. I was offered some hot cocoa with banana flavoring which was extremely tasty as well as some special spicy tea, which I could of course buy at the gift shop! J
After my little tour my guide directed me over to a small gazebo area and proceeded to show me all sorts of different balms, lotions and oils that I could mix together and heal all of my ailments. I was also given quite a nice back rub, which was insisted upon me even though I at first declined.
Feeling a little greasy but pleasantly less stiff I was then brought into the gift shop and shown where I could pick up all of the things that I had been seen. I found a few things that I liked and soon thereafter Ruberu and I were off again, this time headed to Kandy.
We made it through all of the traffic in Kandy and drove up to the top of a big hill to eat lunch. The restaurant at the top was again very tourist orientated and had a wonderful picturesque view down onto Kandy. Ruberu didn’t eat with me (“They will charge me the full expensive rate like you”) and so I don’t really know where he ate for lunch but I sat and read my guidebook while I ate some pineapple and rice. After lunch we went back down into Kandy and headed to our day’s original destination.
In Kandy is the Sri Dalada Maligawa, also known as the Temple of the Tooth. In this Buddhist temple is said to be one of Buddha’s teeth, which was taken from his ashes (post cremation) and is reportedly in a golden case in the shrine. Whether or not the tooth is actually there, I don’t know, but nonetheless it is one of the most sacred and special temples in Sri Lanka, and throughout Asia I believe.
Ruberu dropped me off at the entrance and waited for me while I went in, warning me that I did not need to have someone show me around the temple and that I could do it on me own. I followed his advice and spent the next hour or so touring around the Temple and seeing where the tooth is kept. Also on display at the Temple is a stuffed elephant who was declared a national treasure before he died. Very interesting, but also kind of creepy at the same time.
After visiting the Temple we headed back out of town to the Botanical Gardens near Kandy. They were beautiful and I got to spend about a half and hour walking around before it was time for us to head back towards Colombo. However, I had another idea. I really wanted to see the Ancient Cities of Sigiriya and Dambulla, which, according to my guidebook, shouldn’t be missed. I talked to Ruberu about the idea of going back to Colombo for the night and then back to the Cities and he wouldn’t have it. It would be a waste of time, he says, to drive ALL the way back there and then ALL the way back again. We will get a hotel in Kandy, he says, and I will stay in a different guesthouse for the night, and then tomorrow we go to Sigiriya and Dambulla. I debated this with him for a while (couldn’t he just drop me off? He didn’t have to stay, was he sure?) and again he told me that not only was I like a daughter to him, but he really couldn’t just leave me at Kandy since I was now his responsibility and if anything happened to me, it would cost him his job.
Oh.
Well when he put it that way, I felt good about having him along but also bad that he would have to stay overnight somewhere. But he really didn’t seem to mind at all and was more than happy to accommodate my change of plans, and agreed that I needed to see things, when are you going to be in Sri Lanka again he says. Good point!
So before we head back into Kandy (Which wasn’t that far from the Botanical Gardens but with all of the traffic it was) we first stopped at another gem shop because he wanted me to watch a video on how they actually mine the gems. I thought he had realized that I wasn’t interested in buying any gems, but I went along with it anyway (could I really refuse? Not really). So we found ourselves at another gem place where I was put in a room to watch a video on Sri Lankan gem mining which was actually REALLY interesting. They dig these HUGE holes in the ground and fortify them with rubber tree logs and just keep digging and digging until they find some gem bearing soil, all done by candle light. I was impressed and watching the video alone made me want to buy at least something from them for all of the work that goes into it.
When the video was done I was brought into a room where I could see the gems being cut and polished and then into the display room. I was shown very exquisite earrings and jewelry, all of course I clearly would need. It didn’t matter that I was wearing dirty clothes and hadn’t showered this morning--diamonds go with anything.
Well again I had to apologize profusely and say that I didn’t want anything. I don’t know why I was always left feeling so bad and very guilty about not buying anything (I think that is how they go about it though!) and I suggested that I take one of their cards and call them if I decided to change my mind. That was my ticket out of there and out came a business card with all the necessary contact info along with a big smile.
So Ruberu and I headed back into Kandy to make it to the “elephant show” (as Ruberu kept saying) which was to start at 5:45. Never mind that it ended up starting at 6 pm and didn’t have ANY elephants in it at all, we made it to the Cultural Center in time for me to see some awesome (yet very touristy) Kandyan dancing, drumming and fire walking and eating, despite all of the heavy traffic due to a political speech going on in the center of Kandy. I was impressed and enjoyed the hour long show, feeling that it was even more worth it that we stayed in Kandy just to see that since it gave me a good idea of what Sri Lankan dance and music was like.
After the show Ruberu took me back to a nice hotel that was actually right across the street from the Temple of the Tooth and they had a room available for a whopping $33 US dollars. I got the room and Ruberu made me promise that I wasn’t going to leave the vicinity of the hotel and that he would be back at 8 am in the morning to get me. Fair enough, I said, and I got my room key and headed upstairs to find my room with one of the bell boys.
My room was absolutely HUGE. I not only had two beds, but a walk in closet and a huge bathroom. It was ridiculous, all for only $33 dollars. I couldn’t believe it. (For all of you from Mac, it was about 3x the size of Anna M.’s room at the C.H.). Anyways it was pretty nice and I got some dinner at the hotel restaurant before going to bed. At the restaurant I unfortunately had to order a plate of spaghetti instead of some of the nice looking Sri Lankan food they had available. My stomach was still upset and the idea of eating more curry didn’t seem like a good idea. I couldn’t explain this though to the French people next to me who looked at me in disbelief as they dined on their Sri Lankan pudding for dessert.
Oh well.
(c) 2004 Sarah Galbraith. All Rights Reserved.
I woke up to go to Kandy and felt much better. So I got dressed and got my things and headed downstairs to meet up with Ruberu. He was there, as he said, and we were off to Kandy. Ruberu promised to take me through on a little tour on our way to Kandy, showing me the sights. Again, this sounded just fine to me.
Now driving in Sri Lanka is much different than in the States, being more similar to India. Lots of cars, lots of pedestrian traffic, animal traffic (this time with elephants!) and of course, LOTS of honking. It didn’t take me long to figure out when and where to honk. You honk when you are approaching another car to pass it (apparently to let them know that you are coming and want to pass), then you can choose to hold down your horn WHILE you pass to let them know that you are passing, and then honk at any other traffic that might have gotten in your way. Since cars are not that far apart, this basically means that you are honking all of the time.
It was pretty harrowing, but since I was with Ruberu and in a safe car (a Nissan Sunny- basically a Sri Lankan Sentra--which is my car!) and so there were only a few times when I was actually worried in which I would just close my eyes until the honking (and subsequent braking or speeding up) ended.
On our way we passed several cool things. As the road wound around, we would pass different stalls and small towns selling all sorts of Sri Lankan goods. We passed a porcupine breeder whom you paid a little bit of money to get pictures of the porcupines (which I had never actually seen before), pineapple and coconut stores, cashew nut stalls and various other things. Sri Lanka is absolutely gorgeous and green. They produce a ton of tea (Ceylon Tea, for example--Sri Lanka used to be called Ceylon, btw) and already I was really enjoying myself.
Ruberu lets me know that we can stop off at the elephant orphanage on our way and see baby elephants who roam around the orphanage, their feeding time and watch them bathe. Where else can you go walking around with wild elephants like that? Sounded like a good stop to me. These elephants live there until they get big enough to become “working” elephants, which you would actually see on the roads carrying things and in the fields! We first stopped to get some breakfast at a pretty touristy orientated tea place and then made it to the Pinnewala Elephant Orphanage a little too late to see the feedings, but we did get to see the elephants tromp on down to the river to take a bath.
It was so amazing. There must have been fifty or so elephants all marching down to the water to take their bath (the first of two each day) and along with numerous other tourists and Sri Lankan school children, I watched in awe and snapped pictures away with my camera! So cool! Some of the elephants even decided to lay down to be washed, more like taking a bath than being splashed with water.
After all the excitement, Ruberu and I headed back to the car (after watching a snake charmer woo his snakes for a small fee) and started off again towards Kandy. But first Ruberu thought that I should get a good elephant ride in before we left. I wasn’t too sure that I actually needed to ride one but then figured what the heck, when am I going to be riding elephants again?? So we headed to another elephant place where there were several working elephants that you could pay to ride. Fifteen dollars later, I had bought myself a 15 minute ride on an elephant.
I am instructed to stand on this high step and wait for my elephant to come up. There are two people in front of me who get on their respective elephants, and then mine comes up. But my poor elephant must have been the oldest one in the bunch. Its skin was so saggy and its ears were so droopy that I felt that for sure the elephant was going to collapse right then and there with me on it.
I could already see it: “Sarah Louise Galbraith, 1980-2004. Squashed by an elephant.”
But I got on and for the next 15 minutes (hardly, it was more like 10) I was paraded around on top of the elephant with a guide (who told the elephant when to go and when to stop) as well as another man who was excitedly snapping away on my camera taking pictures of me on top. I must have at least 10 pictures of me sitting on the elephant all in different places on the ride. I had to admit, it was kind of fun and a very strange feeling to feel the elephant’s shoulder blades move from side to side as it walked. An elephant also has very rough and hairy skin.
When my 15 minutes of fame were up, I got off the elephant at the same high step as before and was shown the elephant museum that they had, which was basically a room filled with elephant skulls and a big poster displaying one of their elephants who had “starred” in over 200 movies, including “Tarzan.” Ooooh.
After my ride, Ruberu and I were off again, not to Kandy, but to see some spice gardens. Sri Lanka exports a lot of spices and oils and things and so they have numerous gardens set up where tourists can go and actually see the plants that spices come from. I was immediately greeted by my own personal tour guide (I’ve had a lot of those- I need to make friends!) and was taken along a small path lined with different plants, including the banana plant, pepper, cinnamon, and a few others. It was pretty interesting and I feel like I learned a couple of things or so about spices that I didn’t know before. I was offered some hot cocoa with banana flavoring which was extremely tasty as well as some special spicy tea, which I could of course buy at the gift shop! J
After my little tour my guide directed me over to a small gazebo area and proceeded to show me all sorts of different balms, lotions and oils that I could mix together and heal all of my ailments. I was also given quite a nice back rub, which was insisted upon me even though I at first declined.
Feeling a little greasy but pleasantly less stiff I was then brought into the gift shop and shown where I could pick up all of the things that I had been seen. I found a few things that I liked and soon thereafter Ruberu and I were off again, this time headed to Kandy.
We made it through all of the traffic in Kandy and drove up to the top of a big hill to eat lunch. The restaurant at the top was again very tourist orientated and had a wonderful picturesque view down onto Kandy. Ruberu didn’t eat with me (“They will charge me the full expensive rate like you”) and so I don’t really know where he ate for lunch but I sat and read my guidebook while I ate some pineapple and rice. After lunch we went back down into Kandy and headed to our day’s original destination.
In Kandy is the Sri Dalada Maligawa, also known as the Temple of the Tooth. In this Buddhist temple is said to be one of Buddha’s teeth, which was taken from his ashes (post cremation) and is reportedly in a golden case in the shrine. Whether or not the tooth is actually there, I don’t know, but nonetheless it is one of the most sacred and special temples in Sri Lanka, and throughout Asia I believe.
Ruberu dropped me off at the entrance and waited for me while I went in, warning me that I did not need to have someone show me around the temple and that I could do it on me own. I followed his advice and spent the next hour or so touring around the Temple and seeing where the tooth is kept. Also on display at the Temple is a stuffed elephant who was declared a national treasure before he died. Very interesting, but also kind of creepy at the same time.
After visiting the Temple we headed back out of town to the Botanical Gardens near Kandy. They were beautiful and I got to spend about a half and hour walking around before it was time for us to head back towards Colombo. However, I had another idea. I really wanted to see the Ancient Cities of Sigiriya and Dambulla, which, according to my guidebook, shouldn’t be missed. I talked to Ruberu about the idea of going back to Colombo for the night and then back to the Cities and he wouldn’t have it. It would be a waste of time, he says, to drive ALL the way back there and then ALL the way back again. We will get a hotel in Kandy, he says, and I will stay in a different guesthouse for the night, and then tomorrow we go to Sigiriya and Dambulla. I debated this with him for a while (couldn’t he just drop me off? He didn’t have to stay, was he sure?) and again he told me that not only was I like a daughter to him, but he really couldn’t just leave me at Kandy since I was now his responsibility and if anything happened to me, it would cost him his job.
Oh.
Well when he put it that way, I felt good about having him along but also bad that he would have to stay overnight somewhere. But he really didn’t seem to mind at all and was more than happy to accommodate my change of plans, and agreed that I needed to see things, when are you going to be in Sri Lanka again he says. Good point!
So before we head back into Kandy (Which wasn’t that far from the Botanical Gardens but with all of the traffic it was) we first stopped at another gem shop because he wanted me to watch a video on how they actually mine the gems. I thought he had realized that I wasn’t interested in buying any gems, but I went along with it anyway (could I really refuse? Not really). So we found ourselves at another gem place where I was put in a room to watch a video on Sri Lankan gem mining which was actually REALLY interesting. They dig these HUGE holes in the ground and fortify them with rubber tree logs and just keep digging and digging until they find some gem bearing soil, all done by candle light. I was impressed and watching the video alone made me want to buy at least something from them for all of the work that goes into it.
When the video was done I was brought into a room where I could see the gems being cut and polished and then into the display room. I was shown very exquisite earrings and jewelry, all of course I clearly would need. It didn’t matter that I was wearing dirty clothes and hadn’t showered this morning--diamonds go with anything.
Well again I had to apologize profusely and say that I didn’t want anything. I don’t know why I was always left feeling so bad and very guilty about not buying anything (I think that is how they go about it though!) and I suggested that I take one of their cards and call them if I decided to change my mind. That was my ticket out of there and out came a business card with all the necessary contact info along with a big smile.
So Ruberu and I headed back into Kandy to make it to the “elephant show” (as Ruberu kept saying) which was to start at 5:45. Never mind that it ended up starting at 6 pm and didn’t have ANY elephants in it at all, we made it to the Cultural Center in time for me to see some awesome (yet very touristy) Kandyan dancing, drumming and fire walking and eating, despite all of the heavy traffic due to a political speech going on in the center of Kandy. I was impressed and enjoyed the hour long show, feeling that it was even more worth it that we stayed in Kandy just to see that since it gave me a good idea of what Sri Lankan dance and music was like.
After the show Ruberu took me back to a nice hotel that was actually right across the street from the Temple of the Tooth and they had a room available for a whopping $33 US dollars. I got the room and Ruberu made me promise that I wasn’t going to leave the vicinity of the hotel and that he would be back at 8 am in the morning to get me. Fair enough, I said, and I got my room key and headed upstairs to find my room with one of the bell boys.
My room was absolutely HUGE. I not only had two beds, but a walk in closet and a huge bathroom. It was ridiculous, all for only $33 dollars. I couldn’t believe it. (For all of you from Mac, it was about 3x the size of Anna M.’s room at the C.H.). Anyways it was pretty nice and I got some dinner at the hotel restaurant before going to bed. At the restaurant I unfortunately had to order a plate of spaghetti instead of some of the nice looking Sri Lankan food they had available. My stomach was still upset and the idea of eating more curry didn’t seem like a good idea. I couldn’t explain this though to the French people next to me who looked at me in disbelief as they dined on their Sri Lankan pudding for dessert.
Oh well.
(c) 2004 Sarah Galbraith. All Rights Reserved.
Wednesday, February 25, 2004
Mumbai, India--Colombo, Sri Lanka--Days 25/26
Its been another long day(s). I got up this morning and decided that my best bet for the day would be to stick to the hotel. Now I know, I know I should really be out and about exploring every minute (which I do think that I’ve been doing) however after yesterday I felt like I just needed to chill out for the day.
Because Mumbai is such a gigantic city, I would have most likely had a repeat of yesterday’s adventures and since I made it to all of the touristy spots yesterday, I decided to save myself the frustration. Time was needed just to get some work done with organizing the photos and taking the afternoon to just read by the pool. Even though I have only had two days in India, I am defiantly sure that I would like to return in the future, on my own time and pace, and to some of the smaller places rather than the large city. I felt the same way with Sao Paulo, Brazil which is such a huge place where its hard to anything because there is so much, yet so little going on. I don’t’ really know how to explain it better than that.
So I spent a good deal of time working on the computer and then sitting by the pool reading about Indian culture and religions. Really interesting stuff. I also spent a lot of time watching the workers who were subsequently watching a very risqué (and if you ask me, inappropriate considering the Indian culture) wearing nothing but a string-thong bikini and what appeared to be her bra. I don’t know, I didn’t really look although there were several men who were working on building a hotel right next to ours who would take their breaks (as it seemed) to watch her with an overhead view. Needless to say, she didn’t seem to mind.
What happened between dinner and going to the airport is rather boring. A lot of me sitting watching some TV before I was to check out of the hotel at midnight. My place to Sri Lanka was leaving at the ungodly hour of 3:50 am so I had to check out late at my hotel. I did spend sometime downstairs listening to the live jazz band playing in the lobby and then headed back up to my hotel room for the rest of the time.
Around midnight I checked out of the hotel (after being asked to fill out my like 5th survey--every time I ate anything I would be asked to fill out a survey about how the service was and upon checking out I was asked to fill out yet another one about my checkout service). Anyways, I made it to the airport just fine in a hotel car and in to the airport.
Standing in line for Sri Lankan airlines was also uneventful and I then bought some postcards and filled them out while I was waiting to check in. I originally inquired to the post office desk as to how much it would be to send postcards abroad and the man told me back something and I tried to give him 100 R (all I had) and then get the stamps, but he wouldn’t let me. This was confusing, I just wanted to get some stamps please. He tells me to come back after I have finished writing my postcards (fair enough) and I have to remind him that he has my 100 R bill. Ohhhh yeah, he says, handing it back to me and smiling.
Very suspicious.
So I am convinced that the post office men want to get more money out of my postcards than usual so after filling them out I try to ask other employees at the airport how much it costs to send postcards abroad. They all refer me to the post office, of course. Sighing, I returned to the post office and paid whatever it was they wanted me to so that they would stamp my postcards with a big rubber stamp. I asked them to please do it right then but they shooed me away and said that they would do it. I hope so!
I was really surprised at how many people were at the airport, as there were all sorts of flights that were leaving at extreme hours in the day. I sat down on a cushioned chair amidst a huge row of them next to a nice English lady named Carol who had just spent 10 days or so traveling on a lecture tour in India. She was really nice and we chatted until I was alerted by an airport employee that my plane was boarding. So I headed off to my plane and after numerous bag searches, x-rays, more searches and questionable looks later, I was on the plane (don’t worry, they did this to everyone). I quickly moved to a window seat when it became apparent that there weren’t going to be many people on the flight and we took off.
The flight was fine- I dozed for most of it and we were served some sort of breakfast/lunch concoction around 4:30, of course the perfect time to be eating such things. When I awoke again it was about 15 minutes before we were about to land (the flights is about 2 hours) and I looked outside to see the most brilliant sunrise that I’ve seen- with big bold stripes of red, orange, yellow, green and blue--just like a big rainbow--climbing up the sky. It was absolutely magnificent, it really was. The sky gradually began to lighten and we began our decent but it was really cool because all of the clouds had turned this neat purple color so we were dipping among purple and then the sea was below us which was black so we were sort of stuck in this purple and black nothingness for a while.
We finally approached land and I was able to tell even from the plane what they mean about Sri Lanka having nice beaches! Arriving into Sri Lanka I was greeted by a long line for immigration. Well, it wasn’t THAT long, but it took a long time and I was standing behind two British girls about my age. I finally made it through and was just about the last person to pick up my luggage. Not only because my immigration line took so long but because I was standing near the wrong baggage claim--the one from Saudi Arabia. Hmm, no wonder I didn’t recognize any of these people from my flight. Thankfully my bag was coasting along quite nicely on the luggage conveyor belt and I got it and met my driver and taxi just inside the entrance to the airport.
My driver went off to get the taxi while I stood and waited on the curbside for him to come. HE finally did (after quite a while) and we were off to the city center. It took a while to get there but we finally made it. There was a lot of traffic of people walking to work (it was about 7:45 am or so) plus car traffic as well.
I got to the hotel just fine and checked in (under Mr. Galbraith, not Ms.) and headed up to my room for a “nap” which turned into not getting up until 1:30 in the afternoon. I was so exhausted from traveling all night and even when I woke up I felt really sick. But I decided that I had to get up and go check out the hippo situation at the zoo to see what circumstances I would be working under this time around!
So I got dressed and headed downstairs to get a taxi. I got one from the hotel service and was taken by quite a nice taxi driver named Ruberu to the zoo. I asked him if he would come in with me and help me out with the hippos, basically finding where they were and what their names are. Sure, sure he says and we are off. We head to the Dehiwala area of Colombo where the zoo is and park our taxi. Ruberu takes off this hat and fancy cuffs on his uniform and we head into the zoo.
Compared to the Mumbai Zoo, The National Zoological Gardens here were nice. Even though the animals weren’t in the best of living situations, it still seemed better than what I saw in Mumbai. Maybe it was because I was with a nice driver and that I wasn’t surrounded by potential pick pockets right off the bat.
Anyways, after a little bit of asking around, we find the hippos. There are four of them, Sally, Sandy, Soda and Jully (pronounced “Julie”), with Sally and Sandy being little babies. They were VERY cute and I got some great pictures of them showing me their teeth and swimming about…that is after they became active. The bigger hippos were swimming about just fine, but the two babies were sleeping peacefully. I told Ruberu that we could just wait a bit for them to swim around and then I could get some pictures of them out of the water. I was looking through my camera and couldn’t see Ruberu to my side picking up rocks. I also couldn’t stop him in time when I realized that he was throwing rocks at the smaller hippos. Now it wasn’t like he was pelting them with huge rocks, I really should say that he picked up some pebbles and tossed them onto their backs to wake them up. Luckily he only threw a few and so I didn’t have time to intervene to make him stop. This “method” kind of worked, but it seemed to make them more annoyed than eager to swim around (understandable, of course).
You could actually get REALLY close to them and at one point I could have reached out and petted them if I wanted to. Didn’t seem quite like a good idea to me so I didn’t, but I was happy to get the pictures, as well as the names of the hippos right off the bat. With Ruberu there, all I had to do was take notes as he talked with the zookeeper for me. It was great, I had my own personal translator, much like in Mumbai.
After all of this we were off, heading back to the hotel. But first Ruberu wanted to show me the gem factory in Colombo, where they sell gems wholesale. Hmm, the likelihood of me buying lots of gems was rare, but I went along with it since he was so helpful at the zoo getting the names of the hippos. So in we went and I was shown several huge cases with all sorts of gems and rings, bracelets, earrings, etc. all with very beautiful, but also expensive, stones from Sri Lanka. I was impressed but not convinced and so we headed back to the hotel.
Ruberu wanted to know what my plans were for the following days. Now that I got the pictures of the hippos on the first day, I had three days to travel around Sri Lanka and around Colombo. Ruberu suggested that I spend a day exploring Kandy, which is another city that is sort of a day trip from Colombo and that sounded good to me. He says that he has a daughter my age, and that “I am like a daughter to him” and that he will take care of me, no problem. So Ruberu left me and promised to pick me back up at 7 am tomorrow for our trip out to Kandy. Sounded good to me! After all of this I got some dinner at one of the seven restaurants at my hotel (they even had a dance club and a karaoke bar) and then it was back to my hotel room to get some more sleep!
(c) 2004 Sarah Galbraith. All Rights Reserved.
Because Mumbai is such a gigantic city, I would have most likely had a repeat of yesterday’s adventures and since I made it to all of the touristy spots yesterday, I decided to save myself the frustration. Time was needed just to get some work done with organizing the photos and taking the afternoon to just read by the pool. Even though I have only had two days in India, I am defiantly sure that I would like to return in the future, on my own time and pace, and to some of the smaller places rather than the large city. I felt the same way with Sao Paulo, Brazil which is such a huge place where its hard to anything because there is so much, yet so little going on. I don’t’ really know how to explain it better than that.
So I spent a good deal of time working on the computer and then sitting by the pool reading about Indian culture and religions. Really interesting stuff. I also spent a lot of time watching the workers who were subsequently watching a very risqué (and if you ask me, inappropriate considering the Indian culture) wearing nothing but a string-thong bikini and what appeared to be her bra. I don’t know, I didn’t really look although there were several men who were working on building a hotel right next to ours who would take their breaks (as it seemed) to watch her with an overhead view. Needless to say, she didn’t seem to mind.
What happened between dinner and going to the airport is rather boring. A lot of me sitting watching some TV before I was to check out of the hotel at midnight. My place to Sri Lanka was leaving at the ungodly hour of 3:50 am so I had to check out late at my hotel. I did spend sometime downstairs listening to the live jazz band playing in the lobby and then headed back up to my hotel room for the rest of the time.
Around midnight I checked out of the hotel (after being asked to fill out my like 5th survey--every time I ate anything I would be asked to fill out a survey about how the service was and upon checking out I was asked to fill out yet another one about my checkout service). Anyways, I made it to the airport just fine in a hotel car and in to the airport.
Standing in line for Sri Lankan airlines was also uneventful and I then bought some postcards and filled them out while I was waiting to check in. I originally inquired to the post office desk as to how much it would be to send postcards abroad and the man told me back something and I tried to give him 100 R (all I had) and then get the stamps, but he wouldn’t let me. This was confusing, I just wanted to get some stamps please. He tells me to come back after I have finished writing my postcards (fair enough) and I have to remind him that he has my 100 R bill. Ohhhh yeah, he says, handing it back to me and smiling.
Very suspicious.
So I am convinced that the post office men want to get more money out of my postcards than usual so after filling them out I try to ask other employees at the airport how much it costs to send postcards abroad. They all refer me to the post office, of course. Sighing, I returned to the post office and paid whatever it was they wanted me to so that they would stamp my postcards with a big rubber stamp. I asked them to please do it right then but they shooed me away and said that they would do it. I hope so!
I was really surprised at how many people were at the airport, as there were all sorts of flights that were leaving at extreme hours in the day. I sat down on a cushioned chair amidst a huge row of them next to a nice English lady named Carol who had just spent 10 days or so traveling on a lecture tour in India. She was really nice and we chatted until I was alerted by an airport employee that my plane was boarding. So I headed off to my plane and after numerous bag searches, x-rays, more searches and questionable looks later, I was on the plane (don’t worry, they did this to everyone). I quickly moved to a window seat when it became apparent that there weren’t going to be many people on the flight and we took off.
The flight was fine- I dozed for most of it and we were served some sort of breakfast/lunch concoction around 4:30, of course the perfect time to be eating such things. When I awoke again it was about 15 minutes before we were about to land (the flights is about 2 hours) and I looked outside to see the most brilliant sunrise that I’ve seen- with big bold stripes of red, orange, yellow, green and blue--just like a big rainbow--climbing up the sky. It was absolutely magnificent, it really was. The sky gradually began to lighten and we began our decent but it was really cool because all of the clouds had turned this neat purple color so we were dipping among purple and then the sea was below us which was black so we were sort of stuck in this purple and black nothingness for a while.
We finally approached land and I was able to tell even from the plane what they mean about Sri Lanka having nice beaches! Arriving into Sri Lanka I was greeted by a long line for immigration. Well, it wasn’t THAT long, but it took a long time and I was standing behind two British girls about my age. I finally made it through and was just about the last person to pick up my luggage. Not only because my immigration line took so long but because I was standing near the wrong baggage claim--the one from Saudi Arabia. Hmm, no wonder I didn’t recognize any of these people from my flight. Thankfully my bag was coasting along quite nicely on the luggage conveyor belt and I got it and met my driver and taxi just inside the entrance to the airport.
My driver went off to get the taxi while I stood and waited on the curbside for him to come. HE finally did (after quite a while) and we were off to the city center. It took a while to get there but we finally made it. There was a lot of traffic of people walking to work (it was about 7:45 am or so) plus car traffic as well.
I got to the hotel just fine and checked in (under Mr. Galbraith, not Ms.) and headed up to my room for a “nap” which turned into not getting up until 1:30 in the afternoon. I was so exhausted from traveling all night and even when I woke up I felt really sick. But I decided that I had to get up and go check out the hippo situation at the zoo to see what circumstances I would be working under this time around!
So I got dressed and headed downstairs to get a taxi. I got one from the hotel service and was taken by quite a nice taxi driver named Ruberu to the zoo. I asked him if he would come in with me and help me out with the hippos, basically finding where they were and what their names are. Sure, sure he says and we are off. We head to the Dehiwala area of Colombo where the zoo is and park our taxi. Ruberu takes off this hat and fancy cuffs on his uniform and we head into the zoo.
Compared to the Mumbai Zoo, The National Zoological Gardens here were nice. Even though the animals weren’t in the best of living situations, it still seemed better than what I saw in Mumbai. Maybe it was because I was with a nice driver and that I wasn’t surrounded by potential pick pockets right off the bat.
Anyways, after a little bit of asking around, we find the hippos. There are four of them, Sally, Sandy, Soda and Jully (pronounced “Julie”), with Sally and Sandy being little babies. They were VERY cute and I got some great pictures of them showing me their teeth and swimming about…that is after they became active. The bigger hippos were swimming about just fine, but the two babies were sleeping peacefully. I told Ruberu that we could just wait a bit for them to swim around and then I could get some pictures of them out of the water. I was looking through my camera and couldn’t see Ruberu to my side picking up rocks. I also couldn’t stop him in time when I realized that he was throwing rocks at the smaller hippos. Now it wasn’t like he was pelting them with huge rocks, I really should say that he picked up some pebbles and tossed them onto their backs to wake them up. Luckily he only threw a few and so I didn’t have time to intervene to make him stop. This “method” kind of worked, but it seemed to make them more annoyed than eager to swim around (understandable, of course).
You could actually get REALLY close to them and at one point I could have reached out and petted them if I wanted to. Didn’t seem quite like a good idea to me so I didn’t, but I was happy to get the pictures, as well as the names of the hippos right off the bat. With Ruberu there, all I had to do was take notes as he talked with the zookeeper for me. It was great, I had my own personal translator, much like in Mumbai.
After all of this we were off, heading back to the hotel. But first Ruberu wanted to show me the gem factory in Colombo, where they sell gems wholesale. Hmm, the likelihood of me buying lots of gems was rare, but I went along with it since he was so helpful at the zoo getting the names of the hippos. So in we went and I was shown several huge cases with all sorts of gems and rings, bracelets, earrings, etc. all with very beautiful, but also expensive, stones from Sri Lanka. I was impressed but not convinced and so we headed back to the hotel.
Ruberu wanted to know what my plans were for the following days. Now that I got the pictures of the hippos on the first day, I had three days to travel around Sri Lanka and around Colombo. Ruberu suggested that I spend a day exploring Kandy, which is another city that is sort of a day trip from Colombo and that sounded good to me. He says that he has a daughter my age, and that “I am like a daughter to him” and that he will take care of me, no problem. So Ruberu left me and promised to pick me back up at 7 am tomorrow for our trip out to Kandy. Sounded good to me! After all of this I got some dinner at one of the seven restaurants at my hotel (they even had a dance club and a karaoke bar) and then it was back to my hotel room to get some more sleep!
(c) 2004 Sarah Galbraith. All Rights Reserved.
In Sri Lanka
After another long day, I have made it to Sri Lanka and have already caught up with Sandy, Sally, Jully, and Soda, the hippos at the National Botanical Gardens, Dehiwala in Sri Lanka. Will update blog tomorrow and I hope that you've enjoyed reading about South Africa and India! :)
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