Sri Lanka Part 4: Mirissa and Weligama and our departure

After our abrupt departure from Katagarama, we headed straight for the beach.  We drove to Weligama, a lovely little beach on the south coast, getting warmer with every kilometer.  Our "hotel" there was really the most shocking yet: we stayed on the third floor of a place that was under construction.  The bare concrete stairs up had no hand rail or wall of any kind and were a complete death trap.  On our floor, two rooms were finished and two more were merely concrete shells, open to the outside with no barriers whatsoever.  Luckily, I was too tired to fight to find another place so I simply locked the kids in our room with me whenever we were there and held on to them tightly whenever we had to leave.  Weligama is still mostly a locals only sort of fishing beach with just a few places teaching surfing to tourists.  After we dumped our bags, we headed right across the street to play on the beach.  The husband body surfed, the boys played in the waves and made sand castles, and I picked up shells, of which there were many, one of the most diverse collections of shells I have ever seen on a beach, actually.  We had an absolutely peaceful afternoon, which was fabulous.  When it got dark, we wandered back to the road and looked for a place to eat, settling for an open-air restaurant where we were the only Westerners.  At long last, the husband decided to go all in and try the full-on Sri Lankan curry dishes (we had been avoiding them in favor of keeping our stomachs under control) and was very, very pleased with the results.  So pleased, in fact, we ate there again the next night and tried some different curries, all of which were also delicious, as well as their bananas in crepes.

Oh, what's this?  Just a huge monitor lizard crossing the
road, minding his own business.

The next morning we got up early once again, this time for a whale watching trip.  We're going to file this particular journey under the headings "sounded like a good idea at the time" and "what doesn't kill us makes us stronger."  I had prepared in advance and taken motion sickness pills, but the seas were very, very rough and the boat's captain was very, very determined.  After not very long at all, people started to throw up...often...everywhere.  And after about 45 minutes, E joined them.  E continued to be ill every half hour or so for the duration of the journey, which went on for a long time as we chased a blue whale another boat had sighted.  Along the way, we did see a huge sea turtle swimming and several groups of dolphins who swam and cavorted by the boat for quite awhile, but in the meantime, conditions on the boat deteriorated rapidly.  In the end, at least 80% of the passengers were vomiting at one point or another, though, thankfully, J and the husband and I were not among them.  At one point, several miserable and vocal tourists begged to go back ashore but the crew said they wanted everyone who wanted to see a whale so they would try to go where they knew one was.  These tourists tried to bully everyone else into saying they wanted to go home, too, and while most of us were silent (I was cradling a vomiting E at the time, actually, but wasn't about to get involved) one father with two young boys who weren't sick and were very, very excited about seeing the whale said he would like to stay, at which point a shouting match broke out, which was bad enough until one of the other tourists asked the father where he was from (his wife was wearing a hijab and I later found out they were from Abu Dhabi--she and I were chatting whenever she wasn't sick herself).  The father shouted that it was none of his business, which it wasn't, and then the other tourist started shouting more threats and advanced to the front of the boat and both had to be restrained and it was quite dramatic and sad.  In the end, those who could did see a blue whale spouting three times and a fin--not much, but enough to assure the crew that no one would ask for a refund.  We finally limped back into harbor many hours later.  Not the highlight of E's trip!

Family shot while still at the harbor.

E before we left the dock.

J was super excited for the trip.

Near the end of the voyage.

J as we came back into port.

That afternoon, to recover, we went to the Mirissa Beach Paradise Resort for lunch overlooking the ocean.  After more curry (again, delicious), we went to Mirissa Beach, which was lovely, definitely a tourist beach, pristine and well-groomed.  While the boys went to the water, I went with the driver on an impromptu trip to nearby batik factory.  It was up in the mountains, a bustling little factory with a room piled to the ceiling with piles of fabric.  They had the most beautiful pieces, so I bought more than I had planned and I really enjoyed my visit, until the driver started stamping his feet before we were ready to leave, and told me this area was famous...for leeches!  Oh, of course!  Meanwhile,  at the beach, the waves were HUGE according to the boys (3-5 foot swells, actually), and we all had so much fun there for the rest of the afternoon.  We were so sandy and salty and exhausted and happy we didn't even mind our half of a hotel when we got back.

And the next day was our last.  It was a busy day: after we left the beach, enroute to Negombo, where we were going to stay the night before our 4am departure, we visited a sea turtle hatchery, another excellent beachside restaurant (I had chicken kotu roti, my favorite Sri Lankan dish of all time) and the Dutch fort at Galle, as well as a maritime museum and an archeological museum inside the fort.  Our hotel in Negombo, arranged by our driver, was the best of all, a resort right on the beach with a pool and a restaurant on a veranda.  Our room even had a balcony!  We swam and I shopped for a few last minute souvenirs and we packed and got ready to leave in the wee hours.

Sea turtle eggs!

And sea turtles!

J about to try king coconut juice...

...it wasn't his favorite!

Napkin sculptures in Galle: a voodoo doll...

...an elfin shoe...

...a peacock...

...and a bird of paradise (or, as I like to call it. the Sydney
Opera House).

On the ramparts at Fort Galle.

Our rampart selfie.

Archeology museum.

Our last trip to the beach.

Just before sunset.

Almost dark...

Sri Lanka says goodbye with a flourish!

All in all, a fast-paced and successful vacation.  We love Sri Lanka!

Sri Lanka Part 3: Katagarama

After we left the cool highlands, we headed down to the south of the island to visit the national parks.  On our way, we sampled a custard apple, a bizarre fruit I have never seen or tasted before.  The husband said it was a cross between a pineapple and an avocado, which seems like a fair approximation to me, but it really wasn't my favorite thing we tried.  The boys also turned their noses up at it, but they did try, which is all we ask!  As we were driving, our driver also mentioned that sometimes elephants wander out onto the roads that pass the parks and we should probably get some bananas to bribe them off.  Wait, what?  He also showed us the electric elephant fences protecting some towns.  It seemed too bizarre to be real: elephants roaming free? Surely not!

After more slow progress, we did pass into the national park area and we started to see signs telling us to drive even more slowly to protect the animals.  There were also peacocks everywhere, something I never thought about seeing.  Who thinks about wild peacocks on all sides?  Not me!  Around one turn, we came across a tuk tuk stopped on the side of the road and the driver flagged us down.  He handed us a half a jack fruit in a plastic bag in case we needed it for the elephants, and then waved us on.  What is going on?  People handing you free fruit as you drive along? But then, we came around a curve and there was an elephant in the brush beside the road.  The driver drove past (quickly, for once) and then we stopped 50 feet away and watching the elephant thrashing around in the bushes.  Our driver said we should wait and give the jack fruit to the next elephant (!), so we drove on...and ran into two more elephants.  Look at the pictures below; we were actually closer than we seem in the photos, which was amazing!  The boys were beyond excited, which was so much fun for all of us.

After our elephant encounter, we reached Katagarama, where we were going to stay for two nights and do a safari in the national park one of those mornings.  To be totally honest, Katagarama was the low point of our trip.  Our hotel was filled with bugs, there were no restaurants open for dinner when we arrived tired and hungry, the only "grocery" store in town sold only powdered milk and packaged cookies, and we were all a bit cranky.  Eventually, we drove to Tissamaharama and ate a fine dinner but we were all wiped out and needed to get to bed early for our early morning safari.  Fortunately, our safari was awesome!   We ended up not going to Yala National Park as planned because they were closed because of drought conditions, but we went to Ruhuna, which is either another side of Yala or another park altogether; I couldn't really work out which!  We loaded ourselves up into an open, elevated safari jeep in the dark hours of the morning and headed for the park, where we paid our entrance fee and drove off, the first of a half dozen other jeeps that were also there.  And almost immediately we started seeing animals everywhere.  I started to make a list so we could remember everything: monkeys, jackals, spotted deer, great kingfishers, green and blue tailed bead catchers (little birds), egrets, fish eagles (two kinds), white necked and white tailed storks, crocodiles, pelicans, water buffalo, mongooses (mongeese?), starlings, sand pipers, cuckoos, parrots, kites, crested hawk eagles, hornbills, imperial green pigeons, more peacocks, some other ferret-like animal no one could identify.  And that's not all; I couldn't list all the birds we saw, there were so many.  We were very close to all the animals and the boys loved it.  Heck, I loved it!  The safari was all it was cracked up to be, which was great because the boys had been looking forward to it the most.    At the end of the safari, we hadn't seen any elephants, and apparently that's not allowed, so we left the part and drove off on the road we had been on the day before and, lo and behold, we ran into three, one of which stuck his trunk in the window of a passing bus in order to get the bananas he wanted.  Apparently, the elephants hold the drivers hostage on the road until they are fed, because the drivers don't want to anger them and risk the elephants tipping over cars or busses or upsetting motorcycles.  So they're wild elephants...with street smarts!

After the safari, I just couldn't face another night in Katagarama, so we decided to check out early and head to the beach instead, putting that sad little town behind us.  It was the best decision we made, because the beach was so much fun, and you'll hear all about it next!

Sri Lanka Part 2: Nuwara Eliya and Ella

After leaving Kandy, we began the slow drive up the mountain to Nuwara Eliya, or Nurelia as all the locals call it.  This drive was beautiful as we climbed up through lush tea plantations and past huge waterfalls.  On our way, we stopped at the Glen Loch Tea Plantation for lunch and a tour.  Lunch happened on a large outdoor veranda overhanging the road and overlooking more of the mountainous green terrain.   To punctuate our meal, we got to watch some men blow up a portion of the rock beneath us as they prepared to expand a parking lot, which thrilled the boys to no end.  Then we went on our tour of the warm and fragrant tea factory, where we got to see how all the almost 19th century machines worked as they dried, cut, sorted, and packaged the tea.  The factory workers and guides loved the boys and kept putting tea in its various stages in their hands for them to smell and feel and letting them watch the giant machines work for as long as they liked.

Sri Lanka Part 1: The road to Kandy and Kandy itself

We arrived in Colombo after an overnight flight from Doha.  We left at 8pm Doha-time and arrived in Colombo at 3:30am-ish extremely tired and groggy.  Our lovely driver, Gamini, was there to meet us as promised and we all filed out of the airport after him into the dark and muggy parking lot.  We traveled with just our carry-ons, so we were able to leave right away, which was fortunate given the less than state of the art airport.  Gamini led us to a station wagon and we blew up the kids' Bubble Bums travel booster seats (Best. Purchase. EVER!) and buckled them in, at which point they mostly fell back asleep.  It turned out that the middle seat in back didn't have a seatbelt at all, so we just crossed our fingers and hoped for safety the whole trip.  (Not our best plan, but we survived--well, actually, I survived since I was back there 95% of the trip since it was really too small for the husband to fit comfortably.)

From Colombo, we drove through the wee hours with Kandy as our ultimate destination.  At some point, we had breakfast but I can't remember where, though I do remember the boys were not impressed with the guava juice.  It took them almost the entire trip to come to terms with all the juices offered everywhere, though by the end they were yumming them up like champs!  On the way, we stopped at an elephant hospital where we were able to ride an elephant and the husband was even able to give that same elephant a bath.  It was an amazing experience and a great start to our Sri Lankan adventure!

Here are the boys with an elephant tusk and tooth
 (I think...) in the small elephant museum.

The whole family in front of an elephant skeleton.
These are are travel outfits, by the way, and we are
all really, really tired, as you can see.

Starting our trip on Monica, the elephant.  They
told us the chains were for her own protection,
so she wouldn't get hurt, though they seemed a
little much to me.

She got hungry while we were walking.

Just before our final dismount.

After the elephants, we continued our drive, stopping along the way at a spice garden that was absolutely entertaining.  It was here that I realized that Sri Lankan vegetation is very similar to Hawaiian vegetation as I recognized all the plants from my childhood and was able to introduce them to the boys.  We also saw cinnamon, nutmeg, rubber, and cardamon plants among many, many others, and we were then given a demonstration on the Aryuvedic healing properties of various of the herbs and spices.  Both the husband and I ended up getting back and shoulder massages under a wooden pavilion in the middle of the spice garden, a surreal but really, really relaxing experience.

Rubber straight off the tree!

Doesn't the husband look happy?

I am blissed out, believe me!

The spice garden mural.

During our drive, we also saw monkeys randomly on the the side of the road!  The driver stopped to let us get some pictures but warned us that they bite, so we kept our distance.

Monkeys!

This one came very close to investigate us while we
were investigating him, so we moved a safe distance away.

At the restaurant where we at lunch, overlooking a
huge river, before we found a maggot  or worm of some
kind in E's tomato, which helped us to learn to be more
vigilant about the food from there on out, a timely lesson.

J just before the first of many, many prawn
dishes he ate while we were in Sri Lanka.
He was never disappointed with his food choices!

Significance

(We're still on vacation but back soon!)

When you're an expat, suddenly many everyday events seem highly significant, if not symbolic.  The first time you drive on your own.  Your first brush with the law.  The first solo shopping trip.  That casual conversation with that random person that turns out to be the answer to your most pressing question.  The first time you know more than the person next to you about where to find something, how to do something, how to get somewhere.  Your first trip back to the motherland.  The first time your kids refer to their new house as home.  Your first successful dinner party/business meeting/vacation plan/whatever.  Some of these events are more significant than others, of course, but even the littlest things often seem meaningful.

For example, recently, I made the switch to A4 paper.  Yes, I am now printing on A4, not the standard US 8.5 by 11 inch page, but the more universally used 8.27 by 11.69 inch sheet.

And it feels really, really weird!  I know, it's not like this is a big deal; I told you, sometimes it's the little things!  While assembling these school application packets for the kids, I've had both of these sheets going, since the apps themselves need to be on A4 while the kids' former school reports are all on 8.5 x 11.  Everything looks very messy to me, but there's really no help for it unless I decide to recopy all the old reports onto A4, which I am not going to do.  We brought one ream of paper from the States with us when we came the first time and, even though we were running low, I just couldn't see wasting valuable luggage real estate by bringing another ream back after vacation.  Plus I couldn't imagine paper would really cost that much here so I made the switch after we got back from our vacation.  And it feels strange, I tell you!

Another new facet of expat life is the relativity of time.  While we were gone this summer, our compound, which had been a virtual ghost town when we left, was suddenly populated with other families, so that when we came back we hardly recognized the place.  And all the new folks kept asking me when we had arrived, assuming that we had just come.  I found myself in the strange position of telling them "no, we've been here since Christmas; we've been here for months and months."  It's odd to be a veteran resident after 9 months but that is how time works in the fluid lives of expats.  The husband, who is coming up on a year here, was going through his list of colleagues who arrived with him and realized that several of them had left already.  You never know how long you will be staying where are!  But I do like being in a position to help lots of new families settle in and get adjusted.  I'm finally realizing just how much I have learned since we moved here, when other people look on in wonder when I tell them about my favorite supermarkets or the back way to get to the nearest mall that avoids the busy roundabouts or the best brunches for kids.

I don't think I'm quite to the point where I would call Doha home if I were talking in my sleep, but I'm much closer than I was!

The State of Thrift

(We are not really here; we're leaving for vacation, but the posts continue.  Sneaky, huh?)

I threw a swap party the other week and, of course, me being me, I didn't even think of taking pictures!  But whether we have photographic evidence of the fun or not, I think everyone enjoyed themselves and walked away with some new-to-them treasures.  I ended up with two shirts, a dress (that I may end up wearing as tunic, since I seem to be enthralled with those lately--it's something about the heat and all the abayas and saris I see around me, I swear; the style is contagious!), a bunch of felt panels, some colored tissue paper (a rare commodity here), some church pictures (an entire Gospel Picture Art kit, actually, plus extras), and a package of colored pencils.  Quite the haul!  And I was able to divest myself of a bin full of t-shirts and skirts and sweaters and the like that were just going to continue sitting in my closet and mocking me, as well as some silverware the husband picked up during his solo sojourn here that I really didn't love very much, so getting rid of all that made me happy as well.

We "limited" ourselves this time around to women's clothing and accessories and house wares, but I think we will do another one soon for kids' clothes and toys.  Maybe in November so we can clean out and/or get ready for Christmas?  I love doing these, particularly here in Qatar since garage sales are few and far between and thrift stores are non-existent.  There are some Craigslist-y type boards, the biggest of which is Qatar Living; the most useful of which has been the members-only classifieds section at Doha Mums.  There are also several fairly active buy/sell/trade Facebook groups here and the women from church also put things on offer fairly regularly on our little Facebook page as well, but I'm still not entirely satisfied with all this online thrifting.  I miss the tactility of the experience; I like to get my hands on the merchandise, people!

I think I've mentioned this before, but the boys and I have been to just a few garage sales since we got here (maybe three or four?), and every one has been entertaining in its own unexpected way.  One woman told us "karma was in effect" at her sale and we were to pay what we thought everything was worth, then she let us loose in the top and bottom levels of her house.  Another had a crazy assortment of craft supplies we were happy to take off her hands, even though I actually kind of loathed the crafts she had used the supplies to make!  Another man was selling all sorts of boy toys for negligible prices because his grandsons had moved away, apparently never to return, and he simply couldn't keep the toys around any longer, but he was very happy to go through them piece by piece with my boys in intricate detail (that was our first foray into Pokemon).  Like all expat gatherings, you learn much more about the sellers at these events much more quickly than you most likely would at your average garage or yard sale stateside.  We don't do idle chit-chat around here much; we don't have time because we never know when we might be leaving!  And most folks who are having these sales are usually in a really good mood because they are leaving the country, so they are even chattier than usual.  And feeling very generous, an added bonus.

So to satiate my thrift jones, I'll keep scouring the classifieds for deals (this week I got a little trampoline for the boys--score!), try to find the infrequent but highly worthwhile garage sales that don't take place on Fridays (church day, you see), do my best to track down the (in)famous "boot sales" that some of the UK schools host (where they sell things out of the backs of cars in parking lots, apparently--sounds like a blast!), and organize my own swap party every once in a while.  Qatar isn't really a country where thrift is a virtue, but I will find it just the same.  You wait!