Quick Update

I know I haven't posted in awhile, really don't have any excuse. For the past couple of days I've been down with a head cold and the decongestants I've been taking have made me a bit drowsy when I get home.

I have also started reading more and surfing the Internet less. My entire day at work I sit in front of a computer and lately I just get more and more tired of whacking away at keyboard.

I had planned on going home in September but decided to postpone it until the holiday season. Seems I haven't been in the States for Christmas in what seems like ages.

Operation Maldives - Part 3

Right after our snorkeling trip we went on a night fishing trip. As we departed the island we can see the sun setting and what was very cool is that you can also see a full moon in the sky, wow!
The boat stopped for photo opps and one of the crew was quick to take photos of couples together which was very thoughtful.

We later went to a fishing hole and the fishing lines were passed out, note no fishing poles, just line wrapped around a spool with a sinker and a hook with chunks of tuna as bait.

Everyone found a spot and dropped their lines, I was surprised at how deep it was. It didn't take long to start getting some bites, the hard part was trying to catch one! But soon everyone had caught a fish, I caught a Red Snapper, but somehow I caught it through the eye. I was waiting to hear Chris say "I got one!" and she did, a little banana fish. Someone else at the back of the boat caught what appeared to be about a 4' - 5' shark but they cut the line.

When we returned the fish were laid out for a photo opp again. Then the kitchen asked how you wanted your fish cooked. I need to back track. A staff member from island who was on her night off caught a nice sized White Snapper and said I could have it. In turn my Red Snapper was donated for someone else meal. We chose to have the fish cooked Mediterranean style. We went back to the villa to get cleaned up. After awhile we went to the main outdoor dining area and relaxed in the outdoor theater area until the fish was cooked. We went and got a table and our fish was brought to us along with salads we ordered. The fish looked good and tasted even better! We ate it to the bone, literally.

The next day we spent some more time at the beach and returned to pack up. The hotel sent a golf cart to collect our stuff but we were running late so I asked them to come back.

We checked out and got on after a short wait got on the speed boat back to the airport. This time they gave us a short safety lecture that they had not done before. It was very neat cruising very fast across the ocean and seeing all of the many other resorts. We also passed some dolphins.

About 40 minutes later we arrived at the airport. Security was a breeze along with passport control. When we got to check in Chris was quick to ask for a company upgrade. The counter agent already had our tickets in hand and said that in fact we had been upgraded to Business Class, sweet! She also gave us VIP passes to the Business Class lounge. We went straight to the lounge at hit the cappuccino maker with a vengeance! We also made plates of cheese and sandwiches and the like. Some friends from work also made their way to the lounge so we had company.

Boarding was announced and we went to the Emirates plane and to our seats. Pretty comfy! The meal was delicious, coupled with all the stuff I ate at the lounge and now this, I was stuffed!

We arrived in Colombo and back to reality. We also were much quicker than anticipated and our driver was not there. I called him and he told us to take a taxi. I was a bit leery as I thought they would try to inflate the price but was happy when he quoted pretty much the same price our driver had charged.

About an hour later we were back in the apartment. My unpacking took me all of about two minutes, all the clothes in the hamper, shaving kit back on the bathroom counter, travel returned to its spot, done.

Would I go back? In a heartbeat, but would probably try to stay at another resort just to get a little change of taste.

The Hikkaduwa Guest Houses

Just thought I would mention the funnier names of guest houses in Hikkaduwa:

Funky de Bar
The Drunken Monkey
Casa Lanka

I'll post more when I think of them

The Hikkaduwa Get Away

Right on the heels of our Maldives mini-vaca we decided to go to Hikkaduwa which is a nice break from the city. If we had a car it wouldn't be that big a deal but being that we don't we have to get a ride, be it by train or driver. Well the train is the least expensive route but also the most miserable. We never really found out how much a car and driver costs but we asked our usual trishaw driver to take us in his trishaw.

The drive south took much longer than expected, he said it would take 2 1/2 hours but the traffic was awful getting out of the city. It eventually took us 3 1/2 hours. We took breaks along the way stopping at some fruit stands and buying this strange fruit, I'll have to take pictures of it.

We stayed at the same place we had before, The Time N' Tide Resort (sic), it's a guest house, just a better guest house. On the low end of the scale a guest house might only have bars for windows and no hot water for showers, maybe no door for the bathroom etc. This place has a air conditioning, mini refrigerator, rain shower head, hot water for showers, nice pillows, free wifi and balconies with great views.

I was hoping to ride the waves but it's not surfing season on the east coast and the waves were horrible, just vicious overhead waves one right after the other that were relentless and were so difficult to get past. I tried and tried and just wore myself out. I was the only knucklehead trying to ride the waves. I caught two rides, but it wasn't worth the effort.

We were having pizza at the pizzaria the guest house has on the second floor facing the street. The whole dining area is open. I mentioned to Chris that I see people lining up and it looks like they are getting ready for a parade. As it turns out there was a parade complete with three elephants. It was a mini version of the Perhera festival parade, with fire twilrlers and the monkey people and the stilt dancers etc.

Another thing that was going on was Hikkafest 2010 which was this huge party that seemed to be attended by only Sri Lankas's privileged youth. The ticket prices were quite expensive. The morning after we counted two past out drunk kids sleeping outside, one just two feet from the busy street. The music went on all night till day break.

We enjoyed our favorite cheap food while there, rotty, which is hard explain, except that it is dough that is filled with usually veggies or chicken or chicken and cheese or veggies and cheese or chicken and eggs (You get the idea, whatever you want), it's folded over and grilled on both sides and sliced up, served with a hot sauce, delicious. We had 3 dinner rottis, 2 deset rottis and drinks for about $6.

All in all a good weekend but can't wait for the waves to calm down!