Swishy Sri Lanka

Varkala at 7:30am

 In Varkala the beach was packed in the early mornings with Indians bathing, praying and playing cricket and with foreigners doing yoga, mediating, running backwards(?), practicing martial arts and exercising.

Negombo at 7:30am

 Here the beach is huge, empty and garbage free. There are a few locals exercising (including some running backwards-I kid you not) and a daily game of soccer, but absolutely no foreigners except for Jesus.

Jesus at  7:30am

In fact, the beach is so big and the hotels set so far back, that all them have swimming pools for theirr guests.  I saw two foreigners swimming in the ocean for the first time this morning.

In Varkala there were never any helicopters landing on the helipad. Sril Lanka has a number of companies that run sea plane and helicopter air taxis that you can use to fly from one place on the island to another.  I learned this too late, or I would have forked over the $200.

Here is a helicopter picking up guests from the hotel Simon wanted to stay at.  I did not wait for a better shot because, in my experience, military policeman do not like cameras. I do not know who the guests were, but my guess is they were not a Canadian teacher and her 15 year old son.

Which brings us to the real issue- Sri Lanka has been great, but it is expensive.  A tourist meal that would cost 2 dollars in India costs 20 dollars here and we are doing things on the cheap.  I am not sure if it is because of the huge number of Arab tourists or not, but there is no limit to the fancy accommodation options here.  A few that I have happened upon since my arrival are:   

A villa experience for water sport enthusiasts that has rooms decorated with images of cultural revolutionaries including all your communist favorites 600-750 US. I think this is where all good communists stay when they are here: .http://www.villaredsrilanka.com/index.php

Mud huts and tree houses for tourists: http://boooyanatureresort.com/

Air conditioned tents with balconies: http://www.dolphinbeach.lk/

Colonial luxury for 1400 US a night: http://www.amanresorts.com/amangalla/home.aspx

It is a little overwhelming for those of us  who have been earning an 15 US a day.

enjoying the view

We haven't been posting because we aren't really doing anything with our time except homework, a little art and ...

 

...taking advantage of our sweet hotel room.  Below is a shot of Simon in bed watching the world's smallest TV under a pink frilly mosquito net.  The shot does not show the black velvet painting of peacocks over the bed or the yards and yards of peach polyester drapery fabric that give the room such ambiance.  If you are lucky I will post a photo of the burgundy and metallic gold lace curtains used throughout the main areas of the hotel for your enjoyment.

 

 We priced one of the tastefully decorated hotels across the street tonight.  Apparently it costs $350.00US to live in a velvet and lace-free environment.  Yikes!

Oh, and Simon has been fooling with the look of the blog in his ample spare time.  You can email him, or comment if you have an opinion.

Colombo

I dragged Simon through the national museum in Colombo where he had control over the camera.

We paid 2.50 for a camera pass, so one would think Simon would use his camera power for good and not evil, but.....we ended up with a number of textile shots that look like flags from Game of Thrones and a bunch of shots of paper mache water buffaloes.

Where to begin... From Kandy we took a tuk tuk and three buses to nowhere (Ella) and then 2 additional tuk tuks to the exact middle of nowhere on a tea plantation where Simon learned some simple math:

India + Sri Lanka = cobras

rain + jungle = leeches

Margaret + leeches inside her clothing = Margaret in hysterics 

Simon + Margaret + Sri Lankan Jungle during rainy season  =  reading in room

We then took a 10 hour train journey to Colombo (yet another expensive hotel night)

Now we are finally settled in a small hotel apartment in Negumbo for the rest of our stay.  Simon has his eye on the 250 US Dollar a night resort across the street, but I'm not cracking this time.  

Ella at last

THINGS WE LEARNED YESTERDAY
1   The thing that sounds like a gun shot in Kandy actually is- locals use them to scare off cheeky monkeys.

2    If one bus is good, 3 bus rides are not better.  We are in a place so remote it took us 3 busses and 3 tuk tuk rides to get here from our last location.  Simon wanted to know how normal people made this trip.  How to tell him.....

Simon wants more Kandy

Stayed in Kandy one day longer than expected because of a train fiasco.  Apparently Simon doesn't like crappy second class trains that require you to stand for the entire 6 hour trip- who knew?  It was our first real bit of traveling so far and we chose to retreat to a nice hotel again.  The silver lining is that we got to do some sightseeing in town.  The botanical gardens were particularly beautiful.

Below is a shot from the orchid house and a  picture of the trunk of a  cannon ball tree.

The gardens were full of monkeys, young couples sitting on park benches and monkeys harassing young couples for control of their park benches.  The couple who lost this battle are sitting on the grass near by.

We will be in Ella later today unless Simon has frozen to death in the air con of the room.  He has the temperature set at "Canada".

Arrival

GOOD BYE INDIA 

 

 

HELLO Sri Lanka

 OK, so I went a little overboard on a hotel for the first 2 nights, but we deserve it.

I think we deserve it-Simon iis not so sure.

cold case

I investigated a potential Jenny sighting and was disappointed and delighted to find this girl:

leaving it all behind

Business has slowed and the season is winding down a little early this year.  Many of our regular customers are printing off their boarding passes and heading out.  We think we have worked enough 15 hour days for one year and are ready to press print ourselves.  We have moved our departure date up two weeks to February 14th and have selected Sri Lanka as our destination because the flight is short and cheap and it is not India. We will be on the road for a few months and I expect there will be tales to tell so we will keep you posted, or perhaps I should say- we will keep posting.

Things left behind in the cafe this week:

a wilted temple flower garland

a USB key

a paperback novel

a wet towel

a hunk of fish skin*

* The fish skin was technically not left in the cafe, it was abandoned by a tom cat that I scared away as I came up the stairs one morning.

bird & breakfast

We have a crow that enters the cafe every morning and self-caters breakfast from the fruit on the counter.  My problem is that I don't know what to charge him because it isn't one of the menu options.

monkey seeking male

Simon was so impressed by:

Well settled decent Brahmin boy Srivatsam 31/178 SWE MNC Chennai with minor insufficient sperm counts seeks bride who cannot bear child/with other minor defects.  Status no bar. send BHP

that he thought it would be a great idea for us to write classified ads for one another.  That is to say, he considered it for a split second before realizing it would be weird for him and there would be effort involved.  He decided that I should write both.  I tried to write one for him, but couldn't- he is still just a baby. 

The final draft of my my own ad reads as follows:

Pasty white Canadian woman with no class seeks funny and intelligent man with movie star good looks that will allow her to have her own way in all things including hair brained schemes to live in India. I like no-cash bars. Send BHP (unless it is something gross).

 

lonely hearts

Those who know me know that I have always focused considerable energy searching for a husband.  I have doubled my efforts recently as I am slowly coming to terms with the fact that Matt Damon and I may not end up together as planned.  It is only logical therefore, that I spend some of my free time here searching the lengthy personal section of the local paper for a suitable mate.

It is always a depressing job eliminating all of the ads for which I am completely unsuitable because I am not from the correct cast, religion or income bracket, or because I cannot produce a sufficient dowry or the perfect horoscope match required. I must also omit the large percentage of eager grooms who are looking to marry doctors (My heart goes out to what is obviously a staggeringly huge population of female doctors in India that must also be scanning the classifieds looking for love.) In my most recent search I had to also write-off the man searching for a bride "with 2 years experience" as I lack the background.

Obviously I have to consider my own standards and requirements as well.  Yesterday I found I was able to further scratch from the latest listing the vaguely suspicious "widower divorcee" and the unnecessarily boastful "can ride two wheeler". In fact I have been left with a single candidate in the final cull of suitors:

       "Well settled decent Brahmin boy Srivatsam 31/178 SWE MNC Chennai with minor   insufficient sperm counts seeks bride who cannot bear child/with other minor defects.  Status no bar. send BHP" 

He sounds perfect (if you don't consider the low sperm count). I don't know what BHP is, but I have a number of extra copies of my most recent passport photo saved for exactly this type of occasion.

I think I am an excellent candidate with my unwillingness to have another child, my many defects and attractive photo.  I am a little worried about competition from the potential bride advertized as:
       

"Tamil Muslim 24/153/ M.Sc, slim, smiley, wheatish, very homely"

Is "very homely" a minor defect?  I promise to keep you posted on my progress.  In the mean time keep your fingers crossed and calendars open for a spring wedding.

Reminder

It really is time to take down the Christmas decorations.