Sri Lanka: Colombo

As I mentioned in the previous post, our start to Colombo was (once again) off to a rough "Sri Lankan" start (as we joke!) On the train, Andrea noticed a young guy scouting me out and then sitting near (us). When our stop arrived, four hours later, he got off at the same stop and was actually really sweet about leading the way. Once off the train, he started talking to us...asking us where we were going, etc. It turns out he is 19 and a student (he was kind of scrawny so Andrea and I weren't too concerned to begin with). After asking us where we were staying, he told us that that place is too expensive and that we can stay with his family at their apartment. He then made a phone call. Being with Andrea, and having had lots of "spontaneous" stranger encounters on my travels, I jumped at the opportunity, thinking that if we were uncomfortable we could always leave. We followed him home, first stopping at a fancy hotel to use their restroom, and then to a nice apartment building. However, it turns out that it was his friend's apartment, not his family home. His friend was just as odd as he was. I was also in the process of coordinating a Christmas dinner party with my friend's friend Chinthaka, so we were in a bit of a time crunch. Andrea and I showered at this rando's house, and as soon as we came out of the shower all "fresh and pretty" the mood changed. These boys, who when we first showed up looked gross, suddenly seemed like they really wanted us to stay. Andrea and I didn't know what to do with our bags because we were going out, but we knew we didn't want to stay there! As I finished putting my makeup on in the bathroom one of the boys came up to me and was just staring (creepy).

I think that they were not only really inexperienced with women (they told us they were from strict Muslim families) but they had never really known a foreign woman. This one boy was trying so hard to get us to sleep at his friend's apartment instead of with my friend. He even inappropriately called my friend, questioning him, and then telling me that my friend sounds "low class" by the way he talks, and there's "no way that his house is as nice as his friend's option." Ummm, you should have seen C's house. It's one of the most stunning homes I've ever been in. Regardless, things just got really weird. Andrea and I were on the same page about getting the heck outta there, but the boy who brought us there insisted on helping us get a tuk tuk and going to the store with us to buy wine and chocolates as gifts for the Christmas party. In the tuk tuk ride he kept telling us how "lucky" we were to have met him, because Sri Lankans will "mess up" two girls traveling alone like us. Andrea and were thinking, "We're five years older than you, and have probably traveled more than you ever will...We'd be fine on our own." When I got out of the cab he said, "You look very pretty." Ahh the whole experience, even writing about it now was so WIERD...and draining.

Finally, we arrived at the Hilton- where my friend C was going to pick me and Andrea up. This boy refused to leave, insisting he sit with us and wait. After trying politely to let him know that we were fine (I didn't want my friend C to meet me for the first time with him, and then be polite and invite him to the Christmas party too for the evening, etc.) I told him, "Look we are big girls, and you really need to go." With that, he left haha.

We went on to meet C (who is lovely) and then go to his girlfriend Ira's Christmas Party. Before, however, we took some awesome pictures with a real chocolate fountain! (I commented on how it was gross that children were sticking their fingers in and licking it, and then I did the same thing haha). At Ira's party, she had bought plain white mugs that guests could decorate, and she had a hot chocolate bar with hot milk in thermoses, and different kinds of chocolate spoons, whipped creme, delicious specialty marshmallows, and sprinkles. It was such a cute idea! There were also little appetizers and hors d'ouvres (Andrea and I were starving and dressed for the beach haha...totally hilarious then and still now). Since about 9pm all we wanted to do was go to sleep (we'd barely slept the night before because we woke up so early for whale watching, and then we were drained from our stranger "adventure"). However, we were staying with C and it was his one night to rock, so we went out. We went out to a Colombo nightclub with pounding music and smokers inside called "Silk." There was a bit of drama between C and his girlfriend, but everything worked out. Andrea and I went outside around 2am...completely exhausted. It's hard when you don't have your own hotel because you need to be hospitable to the person you're the guest of (so generous of him!), and we both would never have had him leave to take us home (there's no way he would have let us take a cab either!) so we were really stuck. Not to exaggerate, but this was another moment in Sri Lanka where I was miserable haha. Around 330am we went home. I had some of the best sleep I have ever had that night :)

In the morning I woke up to C and his brother watching Disney's "Hop." C's family helper had made us bacon, chocolate pastries, fresh bread, and eggs for breakfast. It was lovely, and it was especially lovely to be in someone's home. (I can't wait for that in a few days!!!) Then we had a poolside chat, went shopping to buy some gifts (tea) for C's parents to thank them for letting us stay at their beautiful home. Then Andrea and I took a short stroll along the coast (where we were both stared at and both mentioned to each other that we didn't feel 100 percent comfortable in Sri Lanka) before meeting C and his cool British friend Mula for some beer and a special Sri Lankan drink. I got drunk. We ended the night with a delicious traditional "kutto" dinner. They treated us to everything (entirely unecessary, but very gracious). Andrea and I rode to dinner with Ira and her driver. Everyone was in a better mood tonight (I can get really crabby and mean when I'm exhausted haha).

The next morning, December 24th, I flew to Bangkok for the night (sleeping at the airport) only to head to BURMA the following morning :) Burma has been wonderful, and I can't wait to start blogging about it!!

HAHAHA!

Hilarious that Andrea snuck a picture of our "friend"

who offered to help us at first, and then became possessive of us!

The only picture Andrea had of me and C after my computer freaked out.

(Such a bummer that the chocolate fountain pics are lost forever!)

View from C's friend's apartment (gorgeous!!!)

On our walk along the coast, Andrea and I spotted these

twin little girls gleefully chasing each other in circles :)

They seriously were adorable. I wish that I had a video!

The Colombo coast :)

Me (Sri Lanka's flag is faintly blowing behind me)

Beautiful waves

Tasting "kotto" for the first time!

Our lovely dinner group

Amazing breakfast at C's house! Andrea and I were in heaven.

"Emily happy!!!"

Isn't this an amazing dining room table in C's family home?

At the Colombo airport. 

Forks? Really? Airport security needs to chill out.

Sri Lankan Airlines provided a proper menu!

(And I watched "What to Expect When You're Expecting")

Ahh real airlines and their luxuries!

(Again, some pictures from this post are missing...stay tuned until next week!)

Sri Lanka: Mirissa Beach

Andrea and I sat on a bus, squished uncomfortably between people for the 7 hour journey south to the beach. However, when we arrived at the beach it was an absolutely LOVELY day. It was about 3:30pm and we still got a hot afternoon in! The beach we settled on was called "Mirissa Beach" (we opted to skip the popular party beach "Unawatuna"...both because we didn't feel like partying and because we wanted to stay in one place for two nights!) The beach was very quiet, not rocky, and had some good waves.

When we finally headed home to Shehan Guesthouse (we loved the family there!) the mother who ran the guesthouse cooked Andrea and I one of the most delicious feasts I have eaten yet (See pic below!) I was a little nervous I would get sick, but the food was just so SO good! Traditional Sri Lankan ;)

Exhausted, the following morning Andrea and I hauled ourselves out of bed to go whale watching (what everyone does at Mirissa Beach). It was a splurge for us, but we saw dolphins, experienced it, and will probably never do it again. Hilariously, on the boat many people got very seasick. Every child (there was a big Indian family onboard!) and several adults were throwing up after only a half hour or so of being on the boat. Let me tell you, that boat was rocking!!! I consider myself very comfortable with water and boats, and even I wanted to get off/ wouldn't be offended if the tour was cut short. It was 4 hours hahaha.

We did see some beautiful dolphins though! To me, it was worth it to experience whale watching for the first time in such a cool location as Sri Lanka. Not sure I would do it again though! (They also served stale sandwiches and pineapple slices onboard...very few takers!)

As soon as we came back we were off to Colombo via train! While we didn't think this train ride had any more male stalkers, we were wrong (see future blog post on Colombo!) However, I had a grand time waiting for the train to come: There was a Mom and baby goat on the train tracks! I went up close to them and stared at them. They stared back. I never realized how scary goats look up close! Their eyes are literally on an angle on the far ends of their heads (not as extreme as horses, but not like monkeys!) It's pretty freaky when you're up close. I also captured an awesome shot of religious diversity at the train station: A Buddhist monk and a Muslim man standing next to each other waiting, in their respective attire.

One more (awesome) story: As Andrea and I were waiting, this sweet (beautiful) little girl came up to us wanting to practice English. Her family was with her initially, but when she approached us a second time she stood so close to me that Andrea whispered quickly to me "grab your bags her family sent her over to us to steal from us." I have to say, that I was thinking the same thing. It turns out that this girl was genuine. Andrea and I felt really badly for thinking the way we did, but we've both been around for awhile. You can never be too trusting (sad but true). The girl's family came over to us (her Mom, sister, and a friend's family) and we all talked for a half hour. I always travel with some magnets and keychains from Chicago because you never know who you may meet and want to be remembered by. Sure enough, I had one Chicago magnet left! I unzipped my bag and gave it to the girl and her sister. (We got a great picture of this). Then the little girl took Anddrea's hand to "protect" her and show Andrea where her train car was haha (again, I have an awesome shot of this).

Unfortunately, my computer is about to die (It has been through a lot this year to be fair!) so my iPhoto Library isn't properly loading. I will need to check it out at the Apple store and hopefully be able to add the photos to this post once I'm stateside (next week!!!)

For now, enjoy the photos that were able to load. Also, Happy New Year 2013 from Yangon, Burma!

Mirissa Beach

Beautiful!

A little table and chairs we found on the small nearby island

My last beach stop before America...bittersweet!

Look at that water!!!

Andrea and me, in one of our few photos together this trip haha

Me with the lovely woman who cooked 

us a fantastic traditional dinner :)

With flash haha

For those of you who told me I would lose weight in SE Asia...

Beautiful!!!

Andrea!

Me and Andrea :)

(The whale watching, goat, and little girl-at-the-train-station

pics are only appearing in my thumbnails at the moment...stay tuned!)

Andrea kindly shared the pics she took of the little girls, and a few more!

An adorable Indian little girl on our sea-sick whale-watching excursion haha!

An almost unreal shot from whale/ dolphin watching. 

It's a dolphin, but so looks like a shark!

(The only shot I lost that I can't retrieve was this gorgeous

shot of a man standing on a small fishing boat with nothing

but glistening water around...reminded me very much of "Life of Pi;"

Almost too beautiful to really believe that it's true!!!)

The adorable little girl who Andrea and I (at first) thought

wanted to steal from us (she stood practically on us!)

Why I always carry Chicago souvenirs around...

You never know who you're going to meet!

(This is one of my all-time favorite pictures)

The two on the right are sisters :)

Andrea

Buds on the train. So many trains haha

Clever, Andrea!

The little girl on the far left kept smiling at me the entire trip.

Then, the mother of the little girl in the middle handed her 

over to me to be plopped down in between us when their weren't

enough seats on the train. The two little girls hit it off.

Special, special moment.

I think that this is a happy final picture!

Sri Lanka: Train ride to Nuwara Eliya & Cinnamon Fire

After only one full, drizzly day in Kandy, Andrea and I hit the road in the morning. After much (difficult) contemplation because we’d wanted to go to a town called Ella, or to an ancient town called Sigiriya, but especially to climb Adam’s Peak, we decided to head to a town called “Nuwara Eliya” because everything else was rained out. Adam’s Peak would have been 5 hours of cold and wet hiking, and Sigiriya was completely outdoors as well. It was just really disappointing. However, the train ride to Nuwara Eliya from Kandy was absolutely beautiful. There were open windows and doors, and it was through the countryside. It felt like a toy train!

However, on the train ride, we had a stalker. A male, maybe 30 years old, creepily followed us onto our car. Then we switched seat after he wouldn’t stop aggressively staring at us. He switched seats too. Maybe he had never seen foreign women often, or maybe he just thought that we were really pretty. Regardless, it was completely inappropriate and uncomfortable for Andrea and me. Five hours later…

Sidenote: Andrea’s Indian friend told her that when this happens in India you should either take off your shoe and wave it in front of you, or find an elder woman (because this type of behavior is completely inappropriate and elders are very respected). I guess that I didn’t have a problem earlier in India because I was with Anuj and a group of people. As a matter of fact, I thought it was funny to wink at the men at red lights. Shivani, Anuj’s aunt had told me to be careful because “they will follow you home.” Yikes!

After our creepy train ride, and a fun photo op with the intrigued Sri Lankan sitting opposite of us, Andrea and I had yet another obstacle finding where to stay. There was a Sri Lankan man who was harassing us to stay at his homestay as we got off of the train, and then he followed us onto the bus and continued trying to plug his homestay. I found it very rude and I snapped at him “We’ll talk to you when we get off the bus.” After all that, we ended up staying at his homestay because it was cheapest. However, it was very far away from the main road, and Nuwara Eliya was freezing cold. I needed my winter coat and long johns. Andrea and I got in bed and just huddled and looked at each other and said, “This trip sucks. We’re miserable!!!” It had definitely been hard. Then we met a British girl named Sarah staying at this homestay too, and things started turning around. We made a cinnamon wood fire in our room and invited her over. We watched 3 episodes of “Friends” on my computer.

While the man was building the fire, he told me that he believes in aliens. He thinks that NASA “went to the wrong star and that there are 6 -7 foot humans, who are worse with technology than we are here on Earth, living out there waiting for us.” By this time I was just laughing in my head. Time to go home to America J (Besides that he was a really nice guy though, and I felt bad about snapping at him because he just was trying to make a little bit of money…really sad actually if you think about it).

Also, petrified of getting sick again, the only food I would eat were bananas and packaged crackers. After meeting a cool German couple when we were checking our internet, they offered to share their private van down to the beach the next morning. I was sold. It was way too cold in Nuwara Eliya and we were miserable. We ended up heading to the beach for the next few days, and it was very needed…and lovely!

I should do a blog post just on the artwork that's

been in some of my hostel's rooms. I am in Burma now, 

and I was greeted in my room by a painting of a lovely

old lady smoking from an opium pipe.

View from the train

Andrea on her iPod

At stops, vendors sell snacks and reading material.

They all storm on, hoping to be the first to make a sale.

Extremely hard work, especially with the packed trains!

Moving on

We're coming round the mountain!

Notice the family in the distance waiting for the train 

to pass so that they can cross the tracks?

Not bad for a train view ;)

Beautiful

These boys hung out of the train for the entire journey

Sleeping lady hehe

More sprawling views :)

Training it across Sri Lanka!

They wanted picture with us, and then we wanted

pictures with them haha

Dangling from the train haha!

Andrea and I both thought that this was funny.

How is the "Foreigner's wash room" different than the local's?

Making some kind of doughy food!

Our cinnamon wood fire!

Andrea haha

With her book. We didn't want to leave

 the room we were SO cold.

Sarah, right, our new British friend who joined the cold party.

The man who first hustled us and then drove us to his home

where we ended up staying (haha), making our cinnamon fire. 

He was hardworking, and his new room really was lovely.