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

Doc and Corey's Big Adventure - Part I

This past weekend my son Corey and I went on a guided tour into the high mountainous region of Sri Lanka. The driver picked us up in a nice Peugeot 405 and we were on our way.

The traffic getting out Colombo was pretty bad. We headed south then east.

The concrete jungle soon disappeared into lush tropical forests and small towns and beautiful mountains.

Our first stop, white water rafting. The driver parked the car at a small hotel and said he would wait for us there and he pointed to a waiting trishaw that took us up the hill. I had my first chance to look down and see the river and rapids, and looked exciting already.

A Sri Lankan kid was pumping up a rubber raft while another one led us to do the gratuitous waiver signing and put on life jackets and helmet.

They attached the rubber raft to an overhead rope and the boat slid down the hill to the river, pretty smart! Us on the other hand had to walk down a precarious concrete steps of various sizes that went down the hill, this was way more dangerous than the white water rafting!

Our guide explained to us the two commands "Hold the rope" (Around the raft) and "Fall in the boat", somehow I thought the "Fall in the boat" command would be a after the fact.

We launched the boat, us and three guides. I was surprised at how fast the river current was. We soon approached our first rapids. My eyes were probably as big as saucers as we approached. Turns out it wasn't so bad, wasn't bad at all and it was really fun!

At one point the guide asked us if we had ever heard of the movie "Bridge Over The River Kwai", well I had, not my son. The guide said that this is where the bridge was blown up. There is nothing left but a rusty eye bolt stuck in a rock, but interesting to know that there are real train cars 50 feet down at the bottom of the river.

We went through some more rapids and we reached a point where one of the guides encouraged us to jump out and float on our backs, initially I thought, why would I want to do that! The guide did, so I jumped in. It was so cool! The current just pushed you along, no problem. We approached a small rapid and we went through it, very cool! It was almost as fun as being in the boat!

We eventually came to the end of our journey where they showed us where we could get cleaned up and change. I tipped our guides and thanked them. Our driver then took us inside the hotel for a hot cup of tea which really hit the spot.

We then departed for our hotel which was across the road, per se, also 6 kilometers up a mountain on winding, twisting very poor condition dirt roads. This seemed to go on forever!
We eventually made it to our hotel (Video and short story I already posted).

Next, the trip through the tea plantations and our stay in Nuwara Eliya, also known as "Little England"

Whats with the picture? The red dot is my helmet and you can make the black dot which is the guide as float through the rapids on our backs (Wearing life preservers).
The other picture is of me showing approval of the human rafting experience.
Pictures of our guides and me and my son.

The Train Experience

As promised I would post a little bit more about the train trip south. We have found the trains to be a very affordable mode of transportation to near most any part of the island. There was some hesitation at first, mostly how confusing it might be to purchase the tickets and figure out the schedules etc, but as it turns out there was nothing to worry about. Purchasing the tickets is easy enough as it's just a matter of deciding what class seat you want, and even the, that doesn't matter (More on that). And regarding the train schedule, pretty much anyone you ask has a little bit of knowledge of when the train is coming or going. There are some web sites with the schedules but we find them kind of questionable.

So after you buy the ticket you head for the train. At smaller stations that could be just a matter of heading towards the one and only track, but at the bigger stations like Colombo Fort you have to know which track to go to which usually means dragging your bags up and down a flight of stairs that goes over the other tracks, did that make sense? I really need to take pictures.

There is no one to take your tickets or show you what car to get into, it's pretty much spelled out for you in big numbers on the door, 2 and 3, 2nd and 3rd class. Thus, anyone with a 3rd class ticket can enjoy the comfort (sic) of the 2nd class cars.

Comfort? Hardly. Think Washington Metro, more dirty, no climate control and open windows. The2nd class car has 2 seats per row the 3rd class car has a bench seat on each side. The cars get very filled, 2nd and 3rd. Standing (Squeezing) room only.
When the whistle blows and the train starts rolling people will jump on board and fill in and nook and cranny on the train.

I have found the best spot to be is in the doorway, just sit down with my legs on the stairs, grab a hold of one of the hand rails and enjoy the breeze.

Now I'm not the only one who knows about sitting in the doors, in fact, it's a coveted spot. So if we get on the train when it's crowded I have to wait for the cars to thin out before getting a seat, until then it's sweat and be miserable.

Of course getting to the station early will afford us a seat and we do plan on that next time.

The nest thing about sitting in the door is I get to take it all in. Listening to the train increase in speed, seeing all of the cars as the train goes round a bend, waving at the children along the tracks, occasionally smelling food being cooked, watching orange peels being thrown out the windows of the train (Men go through the cars selling oranges, water and other snacks).

The sad thing is seeing all of the tsunami damage and people living in shacks or barely that. I often gripe about the sounds of the rains that go past our apartment, we are 5 floors up (4th floor apartment + ground floor) and the sound of the trains can rattle my nerves sometimes. Well the train was passing by a shanty-ville and I realized that some of these shacks were less than 10 feet from the tracks! Actually it seemed I could just reach out and touch some of them. I could hardly even fathom what it much be like to live in them. That pretty much humbled me.

The Kandy Visit

Greetings from Kandy, Sri Lanka! Where? It's in the interior of the country, used to be the old capitol when the country still had a king.

Let early Monday morning with an overly ambitious driver that got me here in what must have been record time. It was very neat to see the landscape change so much, especially to see the presence of mountains.

The company put me up in one of the older colonial era hotels here, The Hotel Suisse. The room is somewhat locked in the 70's, it even has an rotary dial phone!

I am working at a trade show of sorts. I was told 4 million people would pass through and judging by the crowds I certainly believe it. The line of people entering and leaving stretches for what seems like miles, although I'm sure it's not.

I am working the evening shift and after our first night we went to a hole in the wall restaurant for traditional Sri Lankan fair, egg hoppers, rotti and of course curry. It was SO spicy and good!
There was a TV in the corner and I saw people get up and pay attention to something being said on the TV. The general who was opposing the president in the recent election had been arrested.
I won't make any comments about that.

Today the driver took me to the Temple of the Sacred Tooth which is probably the most famous thing here in Kandy. Basically it is a huge temple that holds what is supposed to be a tooth of Buddah. You can read about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_the_Tooth
it's a pretty big deal here as people from all over the world come to the temple for all sorts of things, mostly healing. There are Buddhist monks everywhere.

I'll post more about the visit soon. I have one more night here.

The Scam

This happened to me the first weekend I got here and I was both to embarrassed and to proud to mention it, but if it prevents one person from falling prey to this then I've done my job.

I was going to have lunch at the Galle face hotel (Yes the same place that made me sick) and was walking in that direction when a friendly man started up a conversation with me.

He said that he has seen me at the Cinnamon Grand hotel but I told him I wasn't staying there, but maybe he had seen me because I visit the food court attached to the hotel. He said that he was on his way to the Elephant Festival, it only happens once a year and everyone was going. He asked if I wanted to go and I thought why not.

He waved for a nearby taxi and we were on the way. Friendly banter the entire way and we ended up at the Buddhist temple, where there is an elephant, but hardly a festivals worth and there was hardly anyone there. My first question, where are the elephants and he talked his way out of that with the present elephant. Next question, lack of people which he explained that people come, pray and leave.

We left and went back and when I asked how much I owed the driver the driver said 1800 Rupees. I haven't paid 1800 Rupees for anything yet. 500 Rupee's will get you to the farthest point in Colombo via tuk tuk. I knew that I had been scammed, I'm sure the driver and tour guide split the fee.

I had a tuk tuk driver take me around today and he treated me to lunch when he told me about the "Elephant festival" scam, even describing where they prey on victims, on the way to Galle Face Hotel.

He also told me that there is in fact an Elephant Festival in Colombo, just not on the day I got scammed! Also they usually try for a larger amount of money, sometimes as much as 20,000 Rupees, if the victim will pay.

http://www.asiarooms.com/travel-guide/sri-lanka/colombo/festivals-and-events-in-colombo/navam-perahera-festival-in-colombo.html

Tourists and food news.

It didn't take me long to figure out who the tourists are and who the expats are. The expats seem to dress a little more business casual, the tourists are much more casual and have that doe in the headlights look.

I was watching a group of around 5 tourists roam the food court going to each vendor and looking everything over, only to stop and order at Pizza Hut Express! I almost got up and smacked them upside the head! You come to Sri Lanka to eat at Pizza Hut Express?

I on the other hand found a new fav' vendor. Got a delicious Sri Lanka meal and a bottle of water all for around $1.25.

I tried a new place for dinner. They claim to serve Thai food. Well I got this chicken and rice dinner with fried egg and vegetables on the side, with a bottle of water $2.60. It was delicious and a "little spicy", I couldn't finish it all. All the while there is a gentleman playing tunes on a electric piano and singing songs. I'm thinking, replace the paper napkin with a cloth one, put this setting back home and this was an easy $14 meal.

I managed to stay away from the ice cream place today although yesterday I fell prey to a banana split.

Tour of the city

So I went on a half day driving tour of the city. First impressions? The traffic is by far the worst I have ever seen in my life! We took a small tour bus and I swear the driver had nerves of steel!

Saw some interesting things, would have been nice if I brought my camera (DOH!) but some of the folks who did take pictures will share them with me. There was this Hindu temple that was almost cartoonish in how it looked, hate to say this, it was a little creepy too! We visited a Buddhist temple complete with big golden Buddah's and big old elephant (A real one). There was a couple getting married in traditional Sri Lankan outfits with drummers and dancers. Let me tell you, wow. The bride was barefoot in a ankle length gold colored dress and roses in her hair, she looked beautiful, the groom wore traditional royal garbs, it was pretty cool. We visited a place to buy what I call, more stuff for your house. Some cool things but did I need any of it?

The day finished off with lunch at a nice restaurant. I had some Thai green curry, it was spicy but not overly so.

We work half days on Fridays so when we returned I had the rest of the day off : )

Nice day for a walk

It was a beautiful day for a walk, and a walk is what I did. I again took the long walk to Mercado del Puerto and still have no idea how far that is. This time I stopped at the Museo de Carnival (Carnival museum), 50 pesos, kind of surprised me as there really wasn't much to see and nothing in English.

There were to big cruise ships in port and tourists everywhere.

As I was waiting for a bus at Ciudad de Vieja I noticed a young couple that were obviously tourists trying to figure out the bus schedule. I asked them where they were going, Carrasco, don't know why, not much to see. Anyway, the bus they needed didn't stop at the bus stop we were at and I pointed them in the right direction.

Most bus stops have metal signs with the numbers of the busses that stop there, if the signs are there at all. Others have plastic signs but almost all of them have the bus numbers pealed off or missing.

I was going to walk home and as I was walking down a side street that went towards the rambla I saw a bus stopping that went to my neighborhood so I jumped on and rode home.