10 Things You Will See At A Beach In Sri Lanka

1. A dog

2. A beggar

3. Women selling handmade beach covers and blankets (covers, throws etc)

4. Men selling handcrafted items (masks, Buddhas etc.)

5. Tout's

6. Beach boys/Sea urchin's

7. Beach cabana's

8. A washed up coconut

9. A surfboard

10. Restaurants with signs in German and German flags outside.

The Factory Visit

Chris went on a tour of a factory that makes everything from women's lingerie (V.S.), Nike, Speedo, Gap and a host of other clothing.

She said at the end of the tour they brought them into a big boardroom and treated them to a spread of goodies to eat complete with chocolate cake.

They also gave them a gift, that gift was to let them pick through bins of presorted ladies bras and panties that the factory had already presorted for them based on the sizes they gave them.

She returned with 9 bras and 8 panties that I guessed cost upwards of $100, I could tell they were expensive. Chris said more likely well over $200! Not only that but they gave them 2 coffee table books, not cheap books either. One is a book of sports figures wearing the company clothes.

She said the factory was very clean and that they provide transportation, breakfast and lunch for the workers. They work 45 hours a week and no more than 60. No sweatshop here!

http://www.masholdings.com/

The Nuwara Eliya Experience

Lest I forget the second part of my journey with my son took us to Nuwara Eliya, also known as Little England. It was a very long drive through the tea plantations. We learned that there are low range, mid range and high range grades. I thought certainly with all of the driving we were in high range tea territory, but it was only mid range, it was probably two more hours before we reached high range tea plantations.

Whats with the Little England title? Apparently back in the colonial days Nuwara Eliya was the place that the British elite went to get away from the Sri Lankan heat, you see Nuwara Eliya is cold! I heard that it was cold, didn't realize how much so until we got there. The weather reminded the Brits of back home. Along with the weather there are golf courses (Probably the only on Sri Lanka) and European themed architecture throughout the city.

There isn't much to do in the city. There is a open market that sells Columbia, North Face and other name brand jackets for as little as $10. I bought a nice fleece jacket for about $3 and another jacket for my son for around $27.

The city was once known for it's horse racing track but it was shut down by the government.
Now when we entered the city we saw people riding horses which most likely meant that you can ride them as well so I called our driver and asked him to take us to the horse track.

As we pulled up to the horse track we were followed on both sides by men on horses or by foot, think of a paparazzi scene, I'm not kidding, I knew were in for fun when we parked. As soon as we got out it started "SIR SIR RIDE MY HORSE" "MASTER MASTER RIDE MY HORSE"this went on and on and on. They wanted 1000 Rupees to ride the saddest looking horses and ponies you have ever seen for a half hour. I told them no way, I would give them 1000 Rupees for two of the best horses (sic) for a half hour. The best I was offered was to ride a pony for 750 Rupees for a half hour, I wasn't going for that. Then things started getting edgy, somebody grabbed my arms by behind and was trying to pull me towards a horse, somebody else had one of my sons feet and was trying to put it in a stir up. I put my arm in the air and signaled for our driver and told my son we were leaving. We got in the car and the mob scene continued. We pulled out and drove back to the hotel only to see that there was a group on horseback chasing us down the road! Picture that, like something out of a bad movie. Eventually they stopped and turned around. I was really surprised that they would rather not get any business than bargain down, but it didn't matter. The horses were in such poor condition we didn't want really want to ride them.

One good thing about our stay was our hotel which although a little aged did offer some nice amenities, turn down service with chocolates, breakfast with egg and crepes chef, stocked bathroom with a hair dryer (That's rare here), free WiFi, satellite TV, mini-fridge, all for less than $70.

Photo: St. Andrew JetWing Hotel http://www.jetwinghotels.com/jetwingstandrews/

Nuwara Eliya Trip

Pictures of our visit to Nuwara Eliya also known as Little England also pictures of our ride down the mountain and towards Kandy. I thought it was pretty neat driving through the clouds and tried to capture a few pictures of that. I will post the Nuwara Eliya story next.







Our Hotel - St. Andrews Jet Wing

Bed time chocolates

St. Calir's Water Fall, Sri Lanka

One of several water falls that we saw on our trip

Royal River Hotel

This is the first hotel Corey and I stayed at during our trip into the interior of Sri Lanka. After we white water rafted our driver took us on what seemed to be a very long trip up to the top of a mountain, it was actually only 6 kilometers (Little over 3 miles) but the road was in such bad condition and very tight hairpin curves.

The roar from the river was so loud, yet soothing. We left the door to the balcony open for both the cool breeze and to listen to the river.

Here is a video I shot from outside of the room taking in a view of the jungle, a quick look at the room then outside to the balcony.

Nawam Maha Perahera aka The Big Elephant Festival

The end of February brings the big elephant festival to town. The elephants are walked down "elephant pass" (Kandy Road) from Kandy, this is about a two week journey for the elephants. I happened to have seen one the elephants taking this journey with its handlers. Along with the elephants the tooth of the holy prophet (Buddha) is also brought down, this is a pretty big deal here.

Having a fairly good idea but not knowing exactly where the festival was taking place we left the apartment. By chance we bumped into our neighbor who gave us some round about directions to the festival and we were on our way.

I was expecting to see crowds of people walking towards the festival and no trishaws to be found, but neither was the case, no crowds of people flowing in any one direction and if we needed a trishaw it was just a matter of hailing one.

After a good walk we reached a point where we needed directions, one trishaw driver told us we were in the wrong part of town and another trishaw driver told us to turn right on the street we were approaching which we did.

As we walked down the road we could see the walls of a stadium and voices over a loudspeaker, could this be it? We were able to sneak a look inside the stadium, no, this wasn't it, that and there were to be seats for one million people!

We followed a curve around a bend when I could see trees with lights, police and lots of Buddhist flags, I think we found in.

As we got closer I could see lots of seat cushions lining the streets, thus one millions seats. Wish I had taken a picture.

We walked a bit further and we could see makeshift viewing stands, the word "Tourists" was painted in the ground. Someone from work mentioned there was VIP seating, we wondered how we could get a seat there, so Chris asked one of the attendants, he walked us over to one of the other viewing stands and there one of the attendants asked us for tickets, Chris told the attendant that we were with "The company" to which the attendant gladly escorted us to another viewing stand, the best seats in the house complete with red carpet and a roof! Also there was just a handful of people there so we sat in the front row. Later we were joined by other people from work.

The elephant that carried the tooth was wearing this big Elvis outfit, lighted and everything.
The parade went on for almost two hours. Dancers then an elephant, each elephant had its own unique dance or acrobatic troupe. Wish I could go on about any particular one but it did begin to turn into one big blur after awhile. All in all glad I went though.

Note: It was difficult to take pictures in the dark, some turned out all right, others not so well. I will upload them and the videos (Turned out better) and post the links.

Beautiful Beaches Around Sri Lanka

I stumbled on this forum with great pictures of some of the beaches here in Sri Lanka:
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=48242413

Hope we get a chance to visit all of them during a time here.

The Day After the Elections

A ghost town. No other way to describe it. Now granted today was declared a national holiday by the government, but even on regular holidays here there is more vehicle and pedestrian traffic.

Today was the day that the Sri Lankan presidential elections winner would be announced. It was no surprise who won, the incumbent.

As mentioned before it was a rather messy election. Barbs thrown out on both sides. To think just last year these two worked hand in hand and now are enemies.

I kept up with the election results via Twitter which made for some rather interesting bits of information. It was pretty neat watching updates come in literally by the second.

The opposition (General Fonseka) and his staff was staying at the Cinnamon Lakeside, where Chris and I had dinner last Friday night. The army decided to surround the hotel. They said for his protection, he said to assassinate him. Last I checked he was still there. Could you imagine if the Army had surrounded John McCain's house the U.S.A. after the election?

I could hear the fireworks inside my office, my boss commented what we were both thinking "I hope that's fireworks". When I walked home it was a surreal scene to say the least. The streets are empty and covered in confetti, there is a rainbow in the sky, the sun is going down over the ocean, the humidity is so thick it's hard to breath and the sound of drums coming from the presidential palace.

Wondering what tomorrow brings.

Long Bumpy Ride

I volunteered today to be an unofficial "reporter" of sorts for the election. I went on a ride 45 minutes into the interior of the country. This by itself does not sound like much but when it's 45 minutes of bumpy roads, passing buses, avoiding pedestrians and just about everything else Sri Lanka has to throw at you, it can be one fun experience.

Fortunately our driver was very professional and handled the 5 speed armored Toyota Landcruiser with ease on the roads. I'd really love one myself, a diesel 5 speed Toyota Landcruiser, never find one in the States, but nice to dream. It doesn't have to be armored ; 0

Well the funny thing about this trip is I'm thinking, I must be the only Westerner out here, I can't even pronounce half the names of the towns and on our way back I notice a western tourist couple resting on bicycles taking pictures of a river. So much for that.

Serendipidity

Serendipity is the effect by which one accidentally discovers something fortunate, especially while looking for something entirely unrelated.

"The word derives from Swarnadip, the Sanskrit language name for Sri Lanka,"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serendipity

And here I am, yet another chapter in the Doc Report begins. Follow me if you will from Sarajevo, Baghdad, Jeddah, Montevideo and now the tropical island of Sri Lanka.

I arrived this morning around 0230 local time via Sri Lankan Air. And lest I forget a friendly Ayubowan to all!
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ayubowan

My journey started on from good ol' Norfolk, VA (ORF) to the ever so popular New Yorks JFK and onward to London, Heathrow via Delta Airlines. Had a bit of a problem in Norfolk as the ticket agent was convinced I had a 3 month visa for Sri Lanka, I told her it wasn't a problem but she had to check with her supervisor. I managed to stay awake and fairly comfortable the flight "over the pond" watched two movies. The last leg to Colombo was a solid 10 hours and 45 minutes. Thankfully I had a window row to myself so I could stretch a little. The flight attendants were super friendly and wore really neat traditional style clothing as uniforms.

Someone from the work was there to greet me and being so late at night there was no traffic and didn't see the city.

First impressions of my new apartment? Let me put it this way, WOW!.
At least 1 1/2 times the size of my apartment in Montevideo. Any of the guest bedrooms here is the size of my master bedroom in Montevideo and each guest bedroom has a full bath, which are larger than the master bath I had in Montevideo.
My master bathroom is huge as is my living room. The best was waiting for me as I opened my patio door, do you hear it?
The Indian Ocean, probably 100 yards away. Okay I can't swim there but the waves crashing do provide a wonderful backdrop.

There are a few quirks as can be expected, oh maybe like railroad tracks also in front of the apartment and before the beach. As I tried to sleep last night I heard "HONNNNNK HONNNNNNK!!!", my brain asked, "Was that a train?", yes all hours of the night and day, speaking of one....

I woke up this morning and ventured out into my new world. Uhm, I'm not in Montevideo anymore! All I have to do is go to the sidewalk, turn right and walk about 5 minutes, there I am at work!

It's hot and humid, no make that, it's VERY hot and humid! I am sitting at my porch right now, the sun is down and it's 82F.

As soon as I get some batteries for my camera I'll take a few pictures of my new surroundings.

Until then.