Hoi An

It's Christmas eve day in Hoi An, Vietnam. We arrived a few days ago and we're not sure we ever want to leave. So far we've just been doing a lot of walking around the town and visiting tailors. I can't believe it, but I'm getting a whole new wardrobe made for myself here. A new suit for the one time a year I have to wear suits, and a whole bunch of work clothes, since I haven't bought new clothes in about two years. The ladies making the bulk of my clothes are really fun, which is probably why I'm going overboard a little bit.

The food here is consistently some of the best I've had anywhere. We have yet to be really disappointed by a meal: fresh herbs and vegetables, delicious seafood and pork, scrumptious broths and interesting mixes of western and Asian dishes. And they have fresh bread! and one of their national dishes is a sandwich!

I'm making a real effort to relax and not think about work for this vacation. I was expecting work to be a little easier (I mean, it is my FOURTH YEAR for crying out loud), but things aren't turning out that way. At least I'm pretty sure that my busy-ness is productive this year. Anyway, some things I'm doing to keep my mind off of work include:

The Wim Hof Method- This is the iceman guy some of you may have heard of who does things like run marathons in extreme conditions (above the arctic circle and in the Namib desert with no water). I know it sounds crazy, but I like the effects. So far, it's just breathing exercises and light yoga, but it's pretty cool. After four days, I can already empty my lungs and go for 90 seconds without taking a breath; the most amazing thing to me is that after that, I just take one deep breath and then I can breathe regularly: no huffing and puffing.

Badland- The most fun I've ever had playing a game on my phone. The physics are really cool, puzzles are just hard enough, and there are loads of interesting ways to die. This game makes me laugh out loud.

The Windup Girl- Post-global-warming collapse speculative fiction. Finally found a new author I really like, unfortunately he only has two books out for adults so far.

So, I'm well entertained and my cells are fully charged with oxygen. We're heading out to the beach for the day to take a break from shopping. I'll try to post more with some pics next week. Happy holidays everyone!

I'll take a pass on Pasikudah, but Trincomalee is the place for me

After a wonderful last meal in Polonnaruwa (Sri Lankan breakfast),

New food! Some delicious fritters and something sweet wrapped in a leaf

we headed out for a secluded hotel north of Pasikudah on the east coast. We were looking forward to a relaxing few days here, but our expectations were a bit high. I could spend a whole post recounting our adventures on the shadeless, rocky, nearly un-swimmable beach; bitch and moan about the dirty, over-chlorinated pool surrounded by sand with a liberal sprinkling of cow shit, which was blown at us painfully in the gale-force winds...

View from our balcony, only picture I took here..

But I've spent the past week putting it out of my mind, and the less said about it, the more I can concentrate on our stay in Trincomalee, a little further north and a world away. We arrived after that nonsense I don't want to talk about really yearning for some beach time. We had booked five days in a little cottage run by a couple of British ladies, and within five minutes of arriving and checking things out, we extended our stay for our last three remaining unplanned days.

Gajari and his gang of gregarious geckos, guarding our gate from gruff gnats and grasshoppers

The view from our room

and from the cafe

Our door was mere steps from a beautiful stretch of sandy beach: sunrise every morning at 6 with a swim to wake up, little morning nap (because who wants to get up at 6 on a vacation), coffee outside of the room to watch the beach traffic pick up, score some prime seats on the beach for some serious relaxing, jump in and play in the waves when you like (or when you have to pee), watch the daily volleyball game, shower off and take a little walk along the beach (for western options) or back to the road (local fare) to find some food... That pretty much sums up the most relaxing week I've had in awhile.

The beach area was a nice mix of the backpacking crowd, which we haven't run into much here, couples, and families. Very relaxed, with excellent people-watching opportunities. We also got to watch gangs of 20 fishermen lay out huge loops of nets by motorboat right in the middle of the swimming area, then drag them in by hand to stock up on fish.

Catch of the day. The photo even captures the ubiquitous Sri Lankan crow, always ready to scavenge, annoy the piss out of you, and occasionally poop on Rani's leg from the shade tree while you're trying to relax on the beach.

We did a little bit of diving with the shop next door, which was ok, but lacking a little in wildlife. We did get a nice close encounter with a cuttlefish and some rockfish (on the day we didn't bring the camera), but weren't overly impressed. It was nice to get back under the water, though; can't believe it's been a year since I've done any diving!

Dum-de-dum, where's all the fish?

They were hiding from us!

We got a little bored and started taking selfies.

Freeze!  I had a little altercation with the diving cops, but it just turned out to be a big misunderstanding (they thought I stole all of the fish).

As soon as they left, I continued punching the crap out of every fish I saw!

We also took a day trip into the city of Trincomalee to check out the big Shiva temple, and had a nice lunch in a hectic local cream house (don't ask me, that's what they call lunch places here).

Super Shiva

Front view of the temple

Little dioramas all around

Prayer boxes in the tree

Hi there!

Back of the temple

mmmm! lunch!

Yesterday morning we said our goodbyes and headed west, all the way across the island to Negombo where we're splurging a bit before we fly out in a couple of days. The hotel here is definitely meeting our expectations, and our room has one of the most comfortable beds I've ever slept in, which I may not leave until we have to fly home (except, of course, for the occasional massage and feeding frenzy).

Polonnaruwa, I hardly knew ya

We're in a nice little family-run hotel that's been open for just about a year.

New room friends! Faizal the frog and... Wait! Gajari must have hitched a ride in our bags!

The owner is really friendly, and when he found out we were interested in learning about Sri Lankan food, offered to let us cook with his wife, who does the meals here. We climbed up some narrow stairs to the second floor, which consists of one small room with an even smaller kitchen attached, where the owner, his wife, and their two small children stay.

On the first night, we watched the wife prepare dinner, grinding coconuts in a contraption I've never seen before, mixing the pulp with water, and squeezing it through to make coconut milk, which she used as a base for most of the dishes. She cooked 5 or 6 different types of vegetables, a few of which were new to us.

Time to grind the coconuts

We also met the owners mother and two of his four brothers, and some various other family members who just kind of rotated through the kitchen and living space as we were there. The next morning as we were eating breakfast, the owner called us over and took us next door to see a neighbor grinding coconut and spices the old fashioned way to make a sambal.




For lunch, Rani helped slice and mix some of the dishes.

This all was a nice experience, and introduced us to some new ingredients, including garcinia, jackfruit, pandan leaves, banana flowers, and a few that don't even have names in English. In our meals here, we were presented with something like 20 different vegetable dishes.

But, we couldn't just stay in the hotel and eat, right? We visited Minneriya wildlife park for another hot, bumpy safari, and saw some herds of elephants (and agreed we'd probably had enough of safaris for this trip).

Viewed some kind of Buddhist parade on the way back.

Climbed Sigiriya (UNESCO world heritage site) to see the site of an ancient temple.

This is the rock; there are ruins of a palace on top.

Sexy cave paintings

Almost to the top; These paws are all that's left of the lion that used to guard the ascent.

View from the top

Toured a spice garden where I was treated to an Ayurvedic massage and we were romanced into buying some oils, ointments, and various potions.

And finally, toured the ancient ruins of Polonnaruwa, a huge complex of temples and monasteries (and another world heritage site).

Ruler's seat with ancient carvings

Bathing area

Super stupa

Buddha carvings

So, what I'm calling the middle leg of our trip, the tourist part, the things we feel like we probably have to do while we're here, is coming to an end, and we're headed back to the beach. This time, on the east coast, where the weather should be right for swimming, diving, whale watching, and general lounging. More to come soon!

Lemme tell ya about Nuwara Eliya

Wednesday (?- getting hard to keep track of days of the week) morning wake up, pack up, and head out through the hills. It seems like every stop on this trip brings us to a totally different landscape, and this is one of the more dramatic shifts. We leave the hot, windy plains and rice paddies of Kataragama and start heading up into the mountains, where the jungle continues, but now had sort of a different character; a little more lush, green, and wet. The air gets cooler and we end up switching off the ac and opening the windows (we splurged for a car for this ride, and it was worth it).

We arrive at Nuwara Eliya, which is an old cool-weather retreat from the colonial days, and has some weirdly English features. We're staying in a nice little bed and breakfast outside of town, with a great view over the surrounding valley, which is full of houses and neat, geometric patches of vegetables.

We spent the afternoon in the town, had tea and a nice walk around the botanical gardens. In the gardens we somehow got roped into this crazy tour by one of the gardeners (I think he expected a tip, but I played the clueless tourist), who showed us a bunch of rare and interesting plants, including one with leaves that smelled like Tiger Balm and one with a flower that smelled like banana candy. The gardens are well-manicured and beautiful (mom and Rani's mom, you would love this place). It feels like a cool but sunny fall day, which is a nice change from the heat of the lowlands.

Huge, old cactus

Banana-smelling flower, lime, Sri Lanka orchid

We had pizza in a roadside shack and some drinks in an "English pub", then back to the room for some rest. Up at 530 for a long, cold tuk-tuk ride up further into the mountains to Horton's Plains.

These are windy, misty highlands that look a little like Scotland probably looks, but with more tropical vegetation. An hour hike out to World's End, a cliff with fabulous views all the way out to the coast, where we had a little picnic breakfast. Another couple of hours hiking back, getting hotter, and getting pretty tired, and then another long ride back into town for lunch.

Rest in the room, dinner, sleep, pack up, and out the door to the train station.

Cool wooden time table for the trains

We took the train because it sounded like a good thing to do, a good way to see the countryside, a relaxing way to travel. It was a good way to see the landscape, but not very relaxing and we traveled for 6 hours at night, which negates the whole scenery aspect of things. Anyway, at the first train station, we spent our time waiting for the train watching a pack of stray dogs fight over a pig's head on the tracks, then got on and traveled three hours to Polgahawela, which is just a railroad junction town, not a place expecting tourists. Gone are the signs in English and the occasional, somewhat comforting glimpses of other white people. We spent about 5 minutes looking around outside the train station before deciding just to get snacks at the canteen in the station, waited around for three long hours, sweated the details of which track to wait on, and finally boarded our last train. Bumping through the night, we made it to Polonaruwa at 2AM and found our hotel relatively easily. After a recovery day of lazing around the room and cooking with the manager's family (and finding out from the manager that we could have taken a two hour train ride and a three hour bus ride and been here at about 7PM), we're ready for our four days here seeing some sights.

Rani sez: "Damn right we're takin the train!"

Kataragama-a-rama

So, a dusty, hot, 4-hour ride through the mountains in a tuk-tuk, rumbling in the dark over a half-closed road for the last 30 minutes, sleep deprived and itching from attacks by mosquitos and jungle leaches, and sticky with sweat. One arrives at his refuge, the place where he will lay his head for the night, in the hands of the people who will be in charge of his comfort for the next three days. What does one immediately ask of these people upon arrival? Yes, of course: a simple beer.

However, one might not realize he is staying in a city that exists to serve millions of religious pilgrims who might only be looking for a comfortable, peaceful, affordable place to stay. Needless to say, I ended up with a Sprite to go with my rice and curry (don't worry, more about beer later).

ANYWAY, we stayed in a lovely bungalow (deserving of the name this time), but were a bit creeped out by being the only guests at this hotel, under the watchful eye of the sometimes-too-attentive manager. Nice guy, had a few conversations about him about his family and his career path and his collection of foreign items given to him by other travelers; just wish he had a few more guests to pay attention to.

Gajari the gecko, a much more welcome hotel-room-companion (sorry Sanjit!)

 The first night was recovery: we slept in, messed around on the internet trying to figure out where we had gone wrong with our accommodation choices, and trying to figure out what to do with ourselves in this out of the way place. We took a walk into town through some blistering heat, past a lake that somehow produced gale-force winds (threatening to shove us off of the 2 inch shoulder of the road into oncoming traffic), and dodging the cat-calls of locals who COULD NOT BELIEVE that we were walking in this heat. Tramped around the town looking for a place to get lunch, and found a cafeteria where we got some fried rice. Got some snacks,

Gingelly balls, gingelly balls, gingelly all the way!

got denied at a few ATMs, and got a ride back to the hotel, where we took a heat-stroke nap.

Dagoba (not the Star Wars kind)

Back out in the evening to visit the Kataragama sanctuary, the reason this town exists. This is a collection of really important religious sites for Buddhists, Hindus, and Muslims and the goal of a pilgrimage from Sri Lanka's far north to it's far south. We're missing the big event by a couple of weeks, which is a little unfortunate because it's one of those things where pilgrims pierce their flesh with big hooks and walk through coals and other things that would be interesting to see. Even with the tour and a bunch of reading, I still have trouble understanding the story behind it, and how it links all of these religions together. We were there for an ordinary evening puja, witnessing a dizzying conglomeration of Hindu and Buddhist prayers, artifacts, shrines, temples, etc. I don't really know how to describe it, but it ended up with me joining a mad scrum of people through a temple, getting a slash of holy oil on my forehead, and eating "temple food" (some kind of sweet cake with lots of grains and fruits and nuts). Glad I did it, but still a bit confused.

Hmm, what's in here?

Ready for action

Next day is national park day, and we head out at 4:30 to Udawalawe (super fun to say out loud, just try it) national park, where we took a jeep safari and saw elephants, tons of birds, and many other things.











Then back to the hotel for another heat-stroke nap and some lunch, and back out in the afternoon to Yala national park, where we saw fewer elephants, some monkeys, lots of water birds, some crocodiles, and a pretty cool leopard. It was fine, but Africa really ruined me for national parks and wildlife; where are the giraffes and rhinos, Sri Lanka? Come on!

On the way home, I talked with our jeep driver and guide and found out the ONLY place you can get a beer in this town. We stopped at a bar in the back of a hotel just down the street from ours and paid steep rates for a couple of beers, but it was worth it, and all was right with the world.

Next day, and it's off to our next destination, which you'll be hearing about very soon...