mini-vacation

The lack of recent updates has been due to my recent travels in Lanka and India. Mom and Dad came last week and we embarked on Sri Lankan taster trip. The trip was very short and one needs much more time to see Sri Lanka but we had fun.

When they arrived at 6am from Bombay I was waiting at the airport with the car and driver, Mr. Sarat. We then proceeded to drive to Kandy on the Colombo-Kandy road where we stopped to see the elephants at the Pinnewala Elephant Orphanage. There had just been lots of babies and it was very adorable to see them get fed and try to swim. The elephants were out in an open field and we could walk right up to them. It was quite different from the DC zoo where the elephants are far away and separated by cement walls and a moat.

We napped in the car as Sarat drove us to Villa Rosa, our hotel in Kandy where we relaxed a bit and had tea. The villa had an amazing view of the Mahavehli River, and its remote location was worth the breathtaking view which reminded me of the Amazon. We then got back in the car and went to explore the city. In Kandy we drove to various lookout points to better see the “Switzerland of the East” as the city is sometimes called. Mom kept referring to the place as a “quaint town” which is funny considering it’s the second largest city in Sri Lanka.

We then proceeded to watch a Kandyan Dance performance, saw the famous temple of the tooth, and enjoyed a candlelight dinner at the villa. The next morning my parents woke me up freakishly early as always and we headed off on the long, long drive to Bentota. We left Kandy at 10am and made a quick stop at the national botanical gardens along the way. We then drove straight to Bentota and the trip ended up being around 6 hours.

We were so tired once we got to Bentota we had energy only for a quick walk on the beach before dinner. We then left the Taj and went to a little hotel café where we tasted the best prawns curry I have ever had. The next morning we got up early again and went to Galle for the morning. We walked around the fort and marveled at the clearness of the ocean. We then went back to Bentota with a quick stop at a sea turtle sanctuary where we got to touch baby sea turtles. Two different kinds of baby animals in one trip! The weather was unpleasant so we went out for lobster dinner, saw another dance performance and went to bed.

The next day we got lucky and the sun came out so we stayed in the Taj longer and swam in the ocean until 2. We then headed to Colombo for a little shopping in Odel and had my awesome birthday dinner at gallery cafe. My parents stayed in my guesthouse, forgoing the luxury of the past three days for a night in my humble, mosquito-ridden home.

The next day went in hectic Colombo errands. We went to the madhouse that is House of Fashions, a giant clearinghouse for surplus Western garments. Name brand shirts at HoF cost something like $2 usd per shirt. Pants for $3. The crowds were ridiculous as it is close to Christmas but we emerged triumphant with bagfuls of clothing. We then stopped at the mall, the supermarket, my office, and the Paradise Road store before staggering home. Finally we moved my stuff from the mildew room I was living in, into a much smaller, less mildew ridden room in the same guesthouse. The rest of my birthday was spent sharing some wine with dad and getting on the flight to Bombay!