Sri Lanka 1 - Escape from Hoth

Coconut Palm Tree in Kandy

პრივეტ (privet, hello) from Sri Lanka!

After waiting for what seemed like eternity in the cold winter of post soviet Georgia  I finally got onto an airplane and made my way to Sri Lanka, land of milk and honey (well, papaya and sea food). It's been so wonderful to get out of the cold and finally get to eat fresh fruit and fish again.

On the 10th we went from Tbilisi to Dubai, where we had a bit of a layover. Gina (person I'm traveling with) and I ended up taking about a 3 hour nap on the floor of the Dubai airport, which was tough since the Islamic call to prayer would blare over the loud speakers and wake us up. It was really neat seeing all the different Islamic dresses in the airport. On the flight (fly Dubai) they had a safety and security video that was done with Arabic cartoons, and it was funny seeing the characters of the Islamic world doing airplane safety things like fastening their seat belts and not smoking.

View from plane flying into Dubai. It's a very large city. 

We got in at about 5:00am and changed our currency, and went outside to catch a Tuk-tuk to our hostel (a tuk-tuk is a 3 wheeled motor taxi, kinda like what you'd picture in Indiana Jones movies). It was weird to see the sun rise at 6:10am (in Georgia now it rises at about 8:30), and there were many birds and monkeys screeching. We got to the hostel in Ngumbo and I took a nap after being awake really for about 48 hours. After I woke up we went to the beach where we took a walk and saw some pretty sweet Oruwa boats on the beach.

 Later that afternoon we went along one of the boardwalks in Ngumbo and had ourselves some fresh fruit juice from one of the local vendors, made for us right on the spot (we had anoda juice). After not having real juice in almost 10 months, it was a real treat; not to mention that it was a type that we don't really get in the USA. It's also here that I found out that in Sri Lanka, everything is REALLY INEXPENSIVE.

A picture of the types of fruit we have available in Sri Lanka. 

That night I indulged myself and had a seafood platter that had 3 lobster tails, 2 crabs, calamari  shark, shrimp, and some other type of fish along with fries and salad. This is great because I'm scared to eat the seafood in Georgia given the pollution levels of the country. All for about $14 US. Did I mention that everything is very inexpensive here?

Yes please. 

The following day we set out to Kandy. We took a very crowded bus to get there from Ngumbo. Before we got there we stopped off to take a look and then ride some elephants, which was actually pretty hard to do given how wide they are. It would have helped to have done some stretching before hand, but it was still fun. The money went to helping rehabilitate and protect them from poachers, so I didn't feel too bad about exploiting them for our tourist purposes.

Finally we made it to Kandy, which is where there is a large temple devoted to the Buddha's tooth, recovered after his cremation (it's the left incisor in case you're wondering). This is a very sacred site to Buddhists, and there were many items of devotion surrounding it. There we also a lot of monkeys, but we couldn't take pictures of them because they were angry, and there were lots of them. Oh well. 

Tooth Temple

Moonstone leading to the Tooth Temple

That evening we walked about 3K around the lake at Kandy, and it finished in a nice sunset over the lake. We stopped and got fresh Mango with chili powder sprinkled on it. I had never had that before, but it was delicious. I definitely recommend it.

On the top of the right mountain you can see a large statue of Buddha. 

Today we went to Nuwara Eliya and to a tea plantation near by where we got to take a tour of the place and see how tea was made. I learned all kinds of things about the qualities of tea and how they differ depending on where they are grown, it was really neat! And of course at the end we got to try the tea for free, so that was nice. I had 3 cups, all with great satisfaction. I bought some tea for my host family and my director, so it'll be nice to have a present coming back.

Tea plantation and their own hydroelectric plant (it's an eco friendly operation)

Me drinking Tea at the end of the tour 

We're in the highlands of Sri Lanka, so they sell all kinds of fantastic rip off clothing here. I did some shopping and bartering and was able to get a 2 layer North Face Jacket for about $50 bucks, and it included a balaclava , since even though I'm warm now, I know it's gonna be cold as balls when I go back to Georgia. 

Tomorrow we go on a hike, and then we're going down to the white sand beaches of southern Sri Lanka.

If you can't tell, I highly recommend this country as a place to visit.