Well here we are, with today being our last day in Sri Lanka
before we leave for the Maldives later! I have been meaning to blog since the
beginning of our trip, but jet lag, being on vacation, laziness, sickness and
etc. have just gotten in the way.
Before I get started, I want to thank everyone for the
incredible outpouring of support and love after my last blog post in December
from Kenya; so many different people reached out, those I know well and those I
really do not know well at all. All of the calls, texts, Facebook messages and
emails, thank you. It was completely unexpected, and very much appreciated. I
was a little nervous after posting it about how honest and vulnerable I had
been, but my concern seemed to be unwarranted. It seems to be a subject we
should all talk about more, but don’t really have the words.
Back to Sri Lanka! A lot of people have asked why Sri Lanka?
I have wanted to come here since I started traveling, and it has also been on
Cris’ list. It is one of the most biologically diverse places on Earth
(considering size), amazing beaches, beautiful countryside, why not Sri Lanka?
As I said earlier, jet lag has been a huge reason behind the
lack of blogging. Jet lag has hit me harder on this trip than maybe any other
trip I have ever been on. The time swing is huge (13.5 hours ahead), and each
night for the first week I was just exhausted after our wonderful days experiencing
Sri Lanka. If you haven’t ever experienced jet lag/time differences in the double
digits, let me tell you: it is rough and sucks. The first night in Dubai I was
up at 3:00 AM, and the following three days between 2:30 and 4:00 AM! Not fun
to say the least when your body is wide awake at 2:30 in the morning. I seem to
be getting over the most of it now, of course just in time to leave ; )
I was able to upgrade Cris and I to business on Emirates on
our way here, just days before departure. I was VERY excited when I learned
that I was able to do this! I have always wanted to sleep in a “pod” as I call
them. Just the idea of laying flat while hurling myself across the sky has
always seemed very appealing while crammed back in coach, and waking up with a
kink in my neck from falling asleep in a strange, contorted position. I have
always envied walking through the business section on the plane on long haul
international flights, seeing everyone sipping their champagne and eating their
damn warm nuts as we board, and looking rested and refreshed upon departure,
while I look a hobo. I want nuts and champagne and to be a more well rested
hobo, too! But more than that, I wanted that damn seat that folds into a bed.
We flew on Cris’ birthday, so it was the perfect excuse to
upgrade us! We started our journey taking advantage of the Emirates lounge in
Seattle. Lot of snacks, food, and drinks were waiting for us to eat and drink
them. I had lots of wine, Cris eventually fell asleep. Not everyone can handle
the lounge ; )
Our flight kept getting delayed, and then delayed some more,
and then delayed some more. I was beginning to get very concerned because it is
a LONG flight, about 16 hours on board with boarding time, and knowing a lot
about crew’s maximum working hours due to one of my best friend Colin being
cabin crew on Virgin Atlantic, I was very concerned about the flight being
cancelled until the morning. Airlines can also move people with horizontal
seats (i.e., first and business) to coach to accommodate crew rest time, and I
didn’t want that happening to us! I was ease dropping on some airport staff
murmurings that the flight was going to be cancelled until the morning. I was
super disappointed! I then went into Super Crazy Kimberly mode because I knew
the morning flight was not empty and we would not all be getting on that
flight! They offered people the option to switch to business complimentary on
British Airways, but they unfortunately don’t fly to Sri Lanka (not to mention
their business cabin isn’t nearly as nice). Before they even made the official
announcement, I was waiting in line like a crazy person, at the ticket desk
(there is thankfully one in the lounge) to get us rebooked on the morning
flight; I was getting on that damn plane!! They rebooked those switching to BA
first, and then I was first in line to be rebooked. At this point, a very large
line had formed behind me, but of course because I am crazy, I was ahead of the
curve. Not my first rodeo! I was disappointed because of course a vacation
flight in business, not a work flight in coach, was the one getting cancelled!!
As they pulled up my record, there was an announcement over the staff’s walkie
talkies that the flight was indeed going to go after all!! I was elated. SUPER
big wave of relief and excitement rushed over me and I pretty much skipped back
to Cris announcing to the entire lounge that the flight was leaving. Cris slept
through this, lol.
We boarded our flight and were absolutely SO happy to be
on board, now for more reason than one! We checked out our seats and acted like
total business class noobs, taking photos and looking at all the free swag we
got. I am sure there were tons of people looking at us thinking, “psh, amateur
hour in row 6.”
We helped ourselves to champagne, drinks, and snacks, and
our flight attendant came around and took our first “in-flight drink order” for
us before we even took off, so that we would have a drink as soon as we were
able in air! Amazing. Can I always fly like this? Cris stuck to mojitos for the
duration of the flights, while I stuck with champagne. It was glorious. We
enjoyed multiple wonderful hot towels that smelled of eucalyptus throughout the
flight, dinner, with real linen napkins, glass dishes, and etc., served in
three courses! They also came around with breadbaskets and champagne. After
dinner was finished, we played around with our seats and watched some movies.
Before going to sleep, the flight attendant came over and made our seats up
into beds, with mattresses! What?! Amazing. We both slept around 6-8 hours
total (sleeping on a plane, even in business, is still challenging. I know,
World’s smallest violin for me). We had
breakfast before we landed, again complete with table linens, champagne
service, china, etc.
We landed in Dubai and went to a hotel we had reserved for
the night. The flight landed at 9:30 PM (two hours late), and our next flight
was at 7:30 AM the next morning. I got a few hours of sleep, but the “problem”
with having flown business, is you really are better rested, so I wasn’t ready
to sleep! I woke up at 3:00 AM. Ugh. We spent a few hours at the airport the
next morning enjoying the Emirates lounge, and let me tell you, it was
fan.freaking.tastic. It makes the lounge in Seattle look like a joke. Huge
buffet spread, as much alcohol as you want, shoe shining (I didn’t even realize
that was still a thing, lol), showers, and more! It was amazing. It sure beats
sitting in the airport at your gate, fighting for elbow space with a stranger!
Our flight to Sri Lanka was only 4 hours, and when we
boarded the plane, we realized we were the only people in business!!! We
literally had the entire cabin to ourselves, with our own dedicated flight
attendant. This plane was very new and so it had lots of bells and whistles
that our previous one didn’t have! It was great. We have both been forever
ruined by business. I felt very grateful to have had the opportunity to try it
out.
We landed in Colombo in the early afternoon. It is one of
the weirdest airports I have been to, anywhere. There is a huge appliance
store, in the airport. Like washers and dryers and ovens. Who buys these things
before flying?! Cris and I have joked throughout our trip that we are going to
pick one up on our way to the Maldives.
The drive to our hotel in Kandy was about 2 hours. We were
so happy to be in Sri Lanka! The grounds of our hotel were really beautiful. I
ended up falling asleep around 5:00 PM!
Major no-no in terms of “jetlag rules.” Most people I work
with, or people I know who also travel extensively, have a set of rules around
jet lag. I also have rules. Each person’s rules are slightly different, but the
most widely accepted and common are:
1) NO NAPS ON THE FIRST DAY. Bad idea. Your body is super
confused and your nap will likely turn into a full night of sleep, because if
you are on the other side of the world, your body thinks it is nighttime. This
is the best way to adjust to your current time zone.
2) Do NOT go to sleep before 8 PM. I know a few people who
say 7 PM, or even 9 PM (I can never make it that late), but 8 PM seems to be
the most frequently cited time. If you go to bed any earlier, you run the risk
of waking up at the ass crack of dawn, or middle of the night. You will most
likely be up very early anyways, but a few hours later in the evening usually
buys you some extra Zzzzzs in the morning.
3) Get outside and
expose yourself to daylight as much as you can, it helps reset your clock and
keeps you awake.
Well, I broke every cardinal rule when it comes to jet lag: I
laid down in the afternoon in my (dark) hotel room, decided I was going to “
just quickly nap” and it was before 8PM (it was around 5 PM). My theory is that
because I didn’t follow my tried and true rules, it has been hard to get in
front of my jet lag this trip.
I was up bright and early at 2:30 AM our first day in Kandy
(one reason to not go to bed before 8 PM, to attempt to avoid this), and was up
and ready to go. We went to an elephant orphanage on our first day. It rescues
elephants that were kept as pets, used in entertainment or etc. It is open for
three hours each day, where you can pay to observe a feeding, and then watch
them play in the river. I have been to an elephant orphanage (for babies) in
Nairobi, and it is really wonderful and has a great reputation. We weren’t
quite sure about this place. Cris and I are both vegetarians primarily because of
animal cruelty/factory farming/animal rights and etc., so these issues are
obviously very important causes to us. There were some things at this orphanage
that both made us a little uncomfortable without having all of the information.
While most of the elephants were free to roam around, there were a few chained
up, and this deeply disturbed and upset us. It was supposedly because they were
new elephants and had lots of behavioral and aggression issues. While I can
certainly see how animals coming from service, entertainment or etc. would
likely have issues, it made both of us quite upset, as we thought there has to
be a better way.
Sometimes traveling, as a “tourist” or traveler, you end up
partaking in and supporting things that after the fact, you realize might have
been unethical, or that took advantage of people, or animals, or etc., and some
people can struggle with guilt from this, I know I have many times. A lot of
people don’t even think twice, so I think coming away acknowledging that it
might not have been a good activity to participate in, and telling others is
ok; you made the decision you did at the time with the information you had
then.
I find, for me, that
traveling is one of life’s greatest opportunities for learning and reflection:
How are we impacting the world? How is this trip impacting the places we go?
The people? Are they paid fairly? Are they treated well? What are my dollars
supporting, are they reflecting my values? I find that I am constantly thinking
and analyzing my actions traveling, particularly in limited-resource settings. I
receive some kind of education everywhere I go, every single time. It is a
constant readjustment to how I travel through the world, and how I spend my
money.
Ultimately, the elephant orphanage was great, other than the
few chained up elephants. I would need more information to make a completely
informed decision about the place. Watching them play in the river, however,
was amazing!! Seeing them just walk off, lay in the mud, play with each other, roll
around, or whatever, was magical. I LOVE elephants. They are such majestic
creatures, and seeing them in their natural habitat has been some of the most
wonderful experiences of my life.
We spent the rest of the day lounging by the pool, and I got
a wonderful Balinese massage. It was a great day!
We spent our second day in Sri Lanka on a day trip to hike
up a huge rock, Sigiriya, that has a temple built into it at the top, and to
some ancient Buddhist caves called Dambulla. Sigiriya was not something that
was at the top of my list due to my pretty significant fear of heights. Cris
really wanted to go, so of course I said I would go, and would try my best. It
is a pretty steep and quick ascent, mostly via stairs that are attached to the
side of this enormous rock. Rock really isn’t a good word; it is more like a
mini mountain. Once we reached the second to the top level, I decided I
couldn’t go any further. The stairs to the final level were absolutely insane.
SUPER steep and seemed like shoddy construction. I wasn’t going to do it, and
Cris was going to go up alone, when a guide literally grabbed my hand and led
me up the stairs (he knew I was afraid), and kept saying, “slowly slowly,
steady steady, no look down.” I miraculously got up to the top! He of course
wanted to be paid (which I did), but I was thankful for his literally, hand up,
pushing me past my boundaries. I wouldn’t have done it otherwise. It was an
incredible view from the top! I was really proud of myself, because I really
don’t like heights. We could see for miles and miles. I just got a new camera
and lenses and we both had lots of fun playing with the zoom lens I bought for
it. The entire time on the way up I was like, “Who do you think designed this?
How are these steps secured to the rock? What do you think the maximum load
bearing weight is for these stairs? Are these stairs swaying? Aren’t there too
many people on these?!” Cris told me those weren’t normal things to think about
and that I should stop, HA! Coming down wasn’t fun; it is usually worse for me.
My legs become Jell-O and I become the asshole who is holding up the line. I
eventually made it down in one piece; Cris was very patient with my irrational
fear, slowness, and peppering line of questions.
After Sigiriya, we went to cave temples that have sculptures
carved directly out of the rock in them. Some are as old as 1,500 years old.
They were pretty incredible! It is crazy to think how people built this stuff
back then.
Our final day in Kandy, we spent exploring the city itself.
We went to the famous, “Temple of the Tooth” where Buddha’s supposed tooth is
immortalized. We tootled around the city, went to a market, which is always a
highlight, and hiked up to this huge Buddha on a hill overlooking the city.
Cris also experienced his first tuk tuk! Kandy itself was overall just kind of
medium. I was looking forward to the next day!
From Kandy, we took the train to Ella, a highland town full
of tea plantations. This particular stretch of train is very often regarded as
one of the most scenic or beautiful train trips in the world. I had seen it on
lists in years past, and knew I had to do it! We splurged for first class
tickets (7 hour journey), and were very glad we did, because there was AC, and
the rest of the train did not have it. I spent most of the time hanging out the
door taking photos. It was unbelievably beautiful! The train just zoomed
through hills upon hills of rolling green as far as the eye could see. Hard to
believe it is all tea. The journey passed quickly due to my constant photo
taking and being mesmerized by the scenery. It truly is one of the most
beautiful things I have done and am so glad to have experienced it.
We arrived in Ella and went to a little cottage/bungalow type
thing in the hills. We had our own balcony, and were tucked away in the jungle,
surrounded by tea! The view was gorgeous. We just sat and enjoyed it for a very
long time. We would both love to spend more time in Ella, it is a jewel in Sri
Lanka’s very beautiful crown.
Our day in Ella was spent hiking and trekking through the
hills and foothills of the highlands. We hiked something called Little Adam’s
Peak, which was well worth the ascent! Amazing, sweeping views of the verdant
hills. It was a perfect day, albeit quite hot! We also visited a tea plantation
and factory, and learned so much! Did you know that green tea and black tea are
from the same tea plants, but they are just processed differently? Green tea
comes first, from drying and heating the tea leaves, and then from it, black tea
can be made through a fermentation process. I thought it was quite interesting
and neat! After our tea factory visit, we headed to the famous Nine Arches
Bridge to see a train pass over it. It is one of the images very often
associated with Sri Lanka, but few actually end up getting there, because it is
quite difficult to access, and also dangerous!
I was prepared to wait a few hours for the train, knowing
that train service can be quite unreliable in Sri Lanka. But I was determined
to see the train cross over this beautiful bridge! Sitting around on train
tracks in the beating sun, all for a photo of a train going over a bridge, is
not exactly Cris’ idea of a fun afternoon. He was very patient because he knew
how important it was to me, which I very much appreciated! He filled his time
by feeding nearby cows some grass. He would go and pick it from an area where
it was abundant, but they couldn’t reach due to their ropes, and feed it to
them. I think the cows and Cris both had fun.
In total, we ended up waiting 2.5 hours for the train, and
got very burned in the process. But when the train came over, wow! Amazing.
Such an incredible sight: an old train coming through a train tunnel between
two hills of green, over this old, brick bridge, with the sun shining down. It
was such a sight to behold and so worth the wait! I absolutely love the photos.
We debated whether we should backtrack and retrace our
steps. Backtracking would mean a very steep hike out of the valley and a much
longer route. Most people just walk the tracks into town going through the
tunnel, as it only takes about a half hour. We ultimately decided to take the
tracks, because the afternoon train had come through and felt like we would be
safe. It was a really beautiful walk through a largely untouched area, with
lots of tea everywhere. While we were walking, the tracks started to vibrate,
ever so slightly.
I stopped, and asked, “Is that a train?”
At this point, the vibrating was hard to discern whether it
was a train or from us walking. I again asked, “Is that a train?!”
At this point, Cris stopped, and I screamed, “It is a train!
IT IS A TRAIN!!!”
We were unfortunately on a narrow bridge, and had nowhere to
go. I was like well fuck, here is where it all ends. He stopped and said very
calmly, “Quick, backtrack to that patch and jump off!” I followed him and was
going as fast as I could, but was really afraid I was going to trip, which
would be very bad news. I told myself in my head, “calm down, go slower.” I
held the camera around my neck with my hand to avoid it swinging and infringing
my view of the tracks. I don’t know how long it was until we could jump off,
but with every track, all I was thinking was a methodical rhythm and instructions
for my feet in my head, “plank, foot, lift, step, plank, foot, lift, step,
plank, foot, lift, step.”
I was focusing all my energy on not tripping due to being
scared as hell and not looking backwards. The first time I looked up from the
planks Cris yelled, “NOW! JUMP!” The train was right there, blowing its
whistle. Fucking scary as hell. But what do I do? I grab my camera that is
still around my neck and start shooting photos of the train! It was really
incredible. And also kind of fucking stupid. And scary. And lucky for us that
we made it off in time. After that, needless to say, our hearts were pounding!
We were over halfway to town, probably more at that point, so we stayed on the
tracks because we figured it would be less time on them if we continued rather
than doubling back. We hastened our pace a lot and were much more cautious. It
was really scary!
Another one of my lives down, I suppose. Always gotta keep
things interesting! Moral of the story: walking on train tracks is a really,
really bad idea.
The next day we traveled to a hotel right outside of Yala
National Park, where we would be doing a one-day safari the following day, very
early in the morning. The hotel turned out to be amazing! We even got upgraded
to a suite. It was one of the nicest hotels I have ever been to. We were both
in awe of everything, it was a really nice treat. We had the afternoon to just
relax, and ended up getting Ayurveda massages. Ayurveda is some kind of
traditional Indian healing method (? I really don’t know much about it, feel
free to educate me), but it involved a massage with hot oil that was supposed
to help treat sunburns (I told them I had a bad sunburn). At the end of the
massage they literally went to their aloe plant outside, plucked off a huge
leaf, and made this aloe paste stuff and smeared it on me. It was wonderful. Instantly
soothing and cooling, far above regular aloe vera gel. They even gave me an
aloe leaf spear thing to use while traveling! I love it. I officially want to
own an aloe plant. I have no proof that the treatment helped the sunburn, but
it has healed really quickly. Either way, the massage was nice.
Bright and early the next morning, we left for our safari.
We were in the safari jeep by 5:15 AM, and much to my surprise, we were very
high in the air, open air, and appeared to have no seat belts! We were cruising
down the street really fast. I was like does this thing have seat belts? The
guide said no and just shrugged. Of course it doesn’t have seat belts. I was
freezing so quickly started layering, and got out my trusty snuggy. That thing
always comes in handy! Good thing it is zebra print so I can blend in with the
animals (there are no zebras here).
We got to the park and there was an insane line of safari
jeeps waiting to go in, I was kind of annoyed, we must have been the 50th
one (literally) or so in line. But much to our pleasant surprise, our jeep just
cruised past this line! Cris and I looked at each other and went, “SWEET!” I
figured it was the line to buy entrance into the national park, so figured that
is why we bypassed that line. Once in the park, we eventually encountered
another line, with lots of safari jeeps as well, but he just cruised past these
ones too! He literally drove on the shoulder of the road, cutting the line. We
both felt bad that we were cutting in front of the other vehicles but also
amused at the entire process.
One of the midwife trainers I work with always says in
situations where we have no idea WTF is going on, “I don’t know what’s going
on, I am just here for the ride.” I told Cris this story, and it quickly became
our mantra for the entire safari day. We ended up being 3rd in line
for the park when it opened! ‘
As background context, I did a one-day safari in Kenya last
January, with pretty epically and comically bad results. To make a long story
short, a colleague and I found a driver, the cheapest one we could find,
safari-ed around all day, and then our van died in the middle of nowhere
(literally) as it was getting dark and we were stuck for hours, and ultimately
ended up staying in a lodge. As I didn’t want a repeat of that, I figured the
age old adage of, “you get what you pay for” might be especially true for day
safaris, so went with an expensive operator (expensive being relative,
everything is pretty inexpensive in Sri Lanka). It turns out our operator is
the biggest in the area and appeared to have paid the park to let his jeeps cut
in line. I guess you get what you pay for?! We felt bad, until we saw a leopard
two minutes into being on our safari!
The park we went to is known for leopards and elephants,
with the former being very hard to spot (ha!), much like any wild cats. We saw
a HUGE leopard up on a rock, just as the sun was coming up. It was incredible!
It was pretty far from us, but with my zoom lens and with binoculars, we were
both able to see it really clearly. The safari was great, and very different in
every way from my experience in Kenya. The parks look vastly different, with Amboseli
in Kenya being vast and open, and Yala in Sri Lanka being very dense with brush
and trees, with minimal open spaces. In the first four or so hours of the
safari, we saw lots of animals, but no elephants. I am really obsessed with
elephants, so I really wanted to see them. They call elephants “Jumbos” here,
so Cris and I adopted that term about a week ago and have been calling them
Jumbos since. I also call them elefantes (Spanish). So we were cruising around
the beautiful park, but no Jumbos in sight. Eventually, we saw a few in the
distance (solo males), but none up-close. Because the park isn’t really “open”
you can’t really spot the tiny elephant humps in the distance like in Kenya,
with the exception of a few spots in the park. Midday, the guide parked us by a
watering hole and said that we would just wait for the Jumbos there. I was kind
of annoyed and impatient and didn’t know if this was a good use of our time. I
really wanted to see some elefantes up close! The guide and Cris ended up
napping while I was on Jumbo Lookout. All of a sudden, an elephant randomly
crossed our path!! It was really quick and I nearly missed it. It was a
young-ish elephant, maybe 2-3 years old. After a few minutes, the Mama and a
smaller baby crossed as well. IT WAS AMAZING. Right in front of us! We watched
the three of them eat in the bushes for a long time. They were totally unfazed
by us, just merrily chomping along their jumbo way. We could hear more
elephants to the right, but couldn’t see them. After maybe 15 minutes, four
more elephants, including the bittiest baby elephant I have ever seen, crossed
right in front of us to eat in the same spot! They were all one family.
I.was.dying. This little guy was so cute, and SO small! The guide said just a
few weeks old. We watched them for a really long time and I took approximately
one million photos.
There was a really sweet moment when one of the older babies
nuzzled their trunk up behind their mama and clung to her leg, just like a shy
two year old child might do. My heart was bursting, it was so cute and sweet!
Then, the Mom pooped on the baby’s head. Like 5 times. I of course photographed
that, don’t worry. Gotta learn the hard way, I guess, kid.
We learned a lot about the Tsunami from the guide throughout
the safari, which was really fascinating to me. Most of what I know about the
Tsunami from Thailand’s perspective, but Sri Lanka was really devastated as
well. 15,000 people died in Sri Lanka from the Tsunami. The park we were in was
hit really hard. I guess in the hours preceding the Tsunami (it hit at 9:20 AM
local time), all of the animals moved north, sensing either the earthquake, or
ground shaking, or something. He said that literally almost all of the animals
evacuated themselves and they lost very few. It is of course hard to think
about what they must have thought that day, but I thought, wouldn’t the safaris
that day, or the guides, notice the animals leaving in mass exodus? I guess
they couldn’t have even remotely predicted what was to come, even if they
noticed the animals leaving. Animals are amazingly smart creatures.
We ate lunch on the beach, where there was an area full of
foundations from houses. Our guide explained that these were once houses, which
the Tsunami ripped off of their foundations. I realized when he said that, that
I had seen others like that, and hadn’t put two and two together. Many people
(locals and tourists alike) died who were in the park that day, pretty much
everyone who was in the wave zone (the entire park was not died). So scary. Most of Sri Lanka has been rebuilt, and you
would never know that a Tsunami wiped the southern end of the country out 11
year ago, but there is still work to do. It is so hard to conceptualize what it
must have looked like, or the work involved in bringing a place that has been
wiped clean, back up to what it was.
If you ever have the chance to go on a safari, anywhere, you
should absolutely take it!! The two safaris I have done have been some of the
most amazing experiences of my life. Seeing elephants in their natural habitat
is unreal. They are so majestic and fascinating to watch, it really is a sight
to behold. As are giraffes and lots of other animals. Seeing animals in all
their animal glory is so cool!
After our safari, we headed to the beach. It is postcard,
calendar-page beautiful here. The water is teal and very warm, and there are
lots of palm trees. We have spent our last few days in Sri Lanka enjoying the
beach before we make our way to the Maldives. Such a great way to cap a great
time in such a beautiful country.
We have both really loved Sri Lanka. The country is
incredibly beautiful, and very diverse. Every new place has brought an entirely
new landscape, even with little distance between. We have gone from a
“mountain” town full of Buddhist ruins and sites, to tea highlands, a
jungle-like national park, and a beautiful coastal area. We are sad to go! But,
very excited for the Maldives.
We have had a great trip so far. Cris has been introduced to
Travel with Kimberly, and all the insanity that ensues when I leave the country with my passport. He also has
been introduced to how frequently I get sick while abroad. I have,
unfortunately, been sick on and off on this trip. I can’t escape it, even while
on vacation!! He has marveled at the fact that I leave the country so often,
given the regularity and predictability of my being sick. But I have always
said, I don’t care what travel does to me, or how difficult it is on me; it is
what I love to do. I can’t imagine my life any other way.
