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Published: January 31st 2010
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Saturday 1/23
I started my trip in Kansas City and flew to Houston for a few hour layover. I boarded the 14 hour Emirates flight from Houston to Dubai. I had a window seat and the seat next to me empty - thank God! Several of the people on the flight would belch out loud during their dinner. I assume this is customary in a middle eastern country - not sure though. If you ever have a chance to fly Emirates - do so. The airline was awesome, plenty of entertainment, free booze, good food and nice lighting. It made the 14 hour flight go by fairly quick. After a 7 hour (yes, 7 hour) layover in Dubai, I boarded my 5 hour flight to Colombo. I passed the long layover in Dubai by hanging out in the Diners Club lounge - snacking, reading and sleeping. The flight to Colombo was long and uneventful. After a day and a half of travel, I landed in Colombo on Monday morning at 9:00 am.
Monday 1/25
I was greeted at the airport by smiling friends - Lake and Kari. It was nice to talk to somebody after traveling alone for
so long. I felt like I got hit by a truck and desperately needed a shower. Lake’s mother arranged a driver for us for the week using her car so we wouldn’t have to master the “driving” in Sri Lanka - again thank God. Driving is a lose term since no one stays in their lanes or follows proper passing techniques. Let’s just say I thought we were going to die a few times on the way to Lakes parent’s house. We stopped on the way to their house and pulled over to this small hut which sold King Coconuts. They split a few open for us and we drank the coconut water inside and then ate the inside of it. After an hour commute we got to Lakes parent’s house. Colombo is the capital city of Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka has around 21 million people and the city of Colombo has about 5 million inhabitants and is divided into 15 different sections. The house we stayed at was in Colombo 5 and the “downtown” area is Colombo 1.
Lakes parent’s house was very nice, large and had plenty of bedrooms and bathrooms. The only issue is there is
no air conditioning. I knew this going in so I was mentally prepared. Honestly if you don’t move around a lot, stay on the bottom floor and just stay still it isn’t bad. If you have to move around it isn’t pleasant. Also, they do not have hot water. However, that isn’t a big deal since the temperature never gets below 80 degrees. They also have a live-in maid - Kokilla - who pretty much does everything from cooking, cleaning, washing clothes, spraying for mosquitoes, and washing the dishes. I would like to bring her home with me - that would perfect except she speaks no English and I can’t even begin to speak Tamil.
I showered and then Lake, Kari, Upatissa (our driver) and I went shopping around town. To cut down on confusion I will refer to Upatissa as “driver”. The clothes in Sri Lanka are very cheap - mainly because all of our name brands are made in there. I didn’t buy much since I had a whole week there to shop around. That evening we went to Lakes Aunt’s house to have dinner. They don’t speak English but Lake and his mom were there to
translate for us. It was very welcoming and the food was excellent. Everyone eats with their hands so I dug right in there with them. It was a fun night - albeit hot and tiring. We got back to the house, I snuggled in with my mosquito net and went fast asleep.
Tuesday 1/26
We left Colombo early that morning and drove down the coast to the city of Hikkaduwa. Sleeping late is pretty much out of the question, because when the sun comes through the windows and the birds start - you get up! Hikkaduwa was about a 2 and half hour drive straight south. We stopped along the way at a local bakery for breakfast. All 4 of us (Lake, Kari, Driver and I) ate for a total of $8 USD. Lake arranged snorkeling and a glass bottom boat ride in the coral reefs. That was a blast, very refreshing and we saw a lot of fish. We did that for a few hours and got in the car and drove north to our resort in the city of Ahungalla. We checked in to the Heritage beach resort in Ahungalla - WOW! It was an all-inclusive
resort that sits right on the Indian Ocean and had 2 infinity pools. Lake’s mom pulled some strings and we got upgraded to a suite - ocean front. For 2 days we sat pool side, swam and relaxed. The food was amazing and we gorged ourselves 3 meals a day. The only downside was the waiter/bartender staff was terrible. Every drink we ordered took around 30 - 45 minutes to come out. Kari finally went to the bar to find out the problem and we found that they didn’t know how to make our frozen drinks. They were looking up how to make our drinks out of a book and trying to find the right mixes. After a few terrible drinks and 2 hours, we decided to go with beer - they couldn’t screw that up.
Thursday 1/28
We left the beach resort on Thursday morning and drove back to Colombo. We stopped along the way to a turtle hatchery where we got to hold and pet sea turtles waiting to be released. We got back to Colombo and chilled out around the house during the afternoon. There isn’t much to do except sit around and visit with
one another. Needless to say I read 2 novels during the trip. Friday was a religious holiday and everything was closed so we had to do all of our final shopping on Thursday night. Kari, Sumi (Lake’s mom) and I went shopping Thursday night and went out for dinner. Lake went out with his old friends from high school and stayed out until 3 am - go Lake. We got home and went to bed fairly early. Again - with nothing else to do you pretty much go to bed when the sun sets and wake up when the sun rises.
Friday 1/29
Friday was Poya - a religious holiday that celebrates the full moon. Everything is shut down during Poya so we used this time to drive around Colombo and take pictures. Downtown Colombo is pretty much sealed off from driving around. After the Tamil terrorist, the country is on high security alert. They randomly stop cars on the street and ask for IDs and sometime search the cars. All the cops carry M16s and flash them around. You feel either really safe or that you were in a war zone. Since we were with locals, I
never felt scared or nervous. We got stopped twice by the security checkpoints, but Sumi flashed her attorney badge and we were waived through. After a day of sightseeing and snapping pictures we hung out at the house the rest of the day. All of Lake’s family came over to say goodbye to him so I got to meet the entire family. No one really spoke English so I sat around and smiled. Every now and then I would hear my name and then all the woman would giggle. I later found out from Lake that everyone loved my fat cheeks and wanted to squeeze me the whole time. I was referred to as Big Bubba - which means big baby in Sinhalese. According to Lake it was a compliment - even so, it was still funny. Friday evening, Lake’s parents hired an airport shuttle and we started our long trek back to the Colombo airport. We took off at 2:55 am Saturday morning from Colombo.
Saturday 1/30
We went from Colombo - Dubai - Houston - Kansas City. It was a terribly long flight from Dubai to Houston (17 hours). I slept and watched a ton of
movies. I am very much looking forward to a hot shower, cold weather and a bed without a mosquito net. Overall, the trip was great. The food was amazing and people were the nicest in the world. The commute and lack of air conditioning was a little rough and the driving was a little scary. Other than that, it was a great trip.
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