Haven't we seen that sand dune already?

Back to back weekends at almost the Inland Sea (near Saudi)! The weather has started to change so we have started to take advantage of the desert. Pamela and I were joking around saying "where shall we go this weekend? Last weekend we were riding elephants maybe this weekend we should go ride camels" and this turned into a desert day - sadly no camels though. 

Most people here drive SUVs with 4 wheel drive yet most people don't even drive them in the desert. Pamela wanted to take her new baby out for a test drive in the desert, little did she know that her new car was going to receive her new name, bump. Having never driven in the desert before Pamela mistook hard ground for soft and she floored it over a bump. Apples went flying, butts of chairs, and a lot of swear words were screamed. We thought everything was fine until we got to a flat strip of land and I heard a sound. Pamela's bumper had fallen halfway off! After the boys came back for us and "fixed" it we carried on. Until the bumper completely fell off when we were on a sand dune! Poor bump! She did so well minus the bumper! After all this drama we got to the beach and enjoyed the day. Thankfully the drive back was not as dramatic. 

The next weekend we decided to go again. This time I was in Dina's car. Dina, oh Dina, I love ya! Even when you drive down a sand dune with your eyes closed! WE got stuck 3... maybe 4 times. The worst being when we finally got there. She was REALLY stuck the last time. Spinning wheels and all. After breaking a few tow ropes and getting another car stuck in the process of getting her out a nice family form two sand dunes over came to our rescue on their quad bikes. They pulled both of them out in no time. Thank goodness for that family... we probably would have been stuck there for a while and Dina could of lost her car at sea! 

Two back to back great weekends our in the desert! Makes you remember that Qatar can be interesting and fun despite being a big sand pit! Got to make your own fun... I am sure there will be more desert days to come! 

"Don't worry about a thing" - Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Travel Diary

27^th October – 2^nd November 2012

How Sri Lanka was all of a sudden a trip –

I was going a little desert crazy on the first morning of my holiday after seeing a few Facebook posts about the Eid Al-Adha holiday and the various places people were going so I decided to look up flights to India, Sri Lanka, Oman, and Thailand (just to see if there was anything in my budget for a last minute trip). After finding out that flying to Sri Lanka was the best deal for such short notice booking (less than 48 hrs) I started to pitch the idea to my travel buddy Pamela. After throwing ideas back and forth for a few hours, and an extra fee for paying online because the Internet was not taking the credit card, we were booked and ready to head to Sri Lanka for 5 full days! I don’t think I have ever been that spontaneous in my life! We had picked a country and booked it not knowing were we would even stay once we got there. It is a good thing I am a crazy organized person because right after we booked it I went to Pam’s house to plan our five days, book hotels, and make sure we knew where we were going and what were the MUST sees for such a limited time. Sri Lanka was going to be a great escape from the sand and humidity! 

Day 1 (28^th October) - 

We arrived in Colombo at 3 am after a 4 and half hour flight with no sleep. No sleep because the kid behind me clearly had a broken TV (or he was playing a game on the TV aggressively) and it was like I was sitting in a HORRIBLE massage chair. Of course my expression every time he did it made Pam start laughing and I am pretty sure people were not amused at our giggle fit but hey, it is our holiday, we can do what we want! After landing we were greeted by a taxi man from Bentota that we had prearranged through the hotel. It was early in the morning so the traffic was not bad and it only took us 2 hours to drive to our hotel across the road from Bentota Beach. I thought driving in Doha was bad but driving in Sri Lanka is something else. The way the pass is almost as if they are playing “chicken.” I am so glad that we did not RENT a car like originally thought we should do that is for sure. We got to the hotel in a pretty mellow mood thanks to the Bob Marley tunes in the taxi and were taken to our “temporary room” which was an under construction room with no AC. Thankfully there was a mosquito net to keep us safe! After a few hrs of sleep we moved into out new, clean, finished room and went to breakfast. Our hotel in Bentota was a converted villa with a nice pool and walking distance from the beach. 

During breakfast we made plans with “Jack” to go on a tour along The Bentota River. We did not want to waste a day sleeping, even though we were exhausted from the lack of sleep, and it was an overcast day, so seeing crocodiles, wild birds, a scary looking water lizard, water lilies, and the coconut family who makes everything out of a coconut was a perfect way to spend our first day in Sri Lanka. We got to know a lot about Bentota as well as the must sees in Sri Lanka thanks to Jack and on that boat trip we planned out the next 4 days ahead of us.

Our first night in Bentota we went and spent with a friend and her family who were also staying in the area but in a villa by the river. We had a night of wine and seafood. A red fish caught by her father and some lobster they had bought from a guy passing by. We took a Tuk Tuk home, jammed to some Bob Marley (they really like him in Sri Lanka apparently), full bellies, happy, and mosquito bitten (well I was). 

Day 2 (29^th October) - 

The overcast during the day turned into a MONSOON like no other during the night. At about 2 am our under construction room was looking a lot better than our new room with a leak! Both of us woke up as the rain started as it really sounded like a Tsunami was coming for us. After the initial shock of the storm we both realized that the roof was leaking! Thankfully we had some towels, and after laughing at the dripping Chinese torture and the fact that it was starting to leak over our bed we did eventually get some sleep.

Another early morning as we had to drive all the way to Pinnawela to see the Elephants! We got there in record time because it is a full moon and that means no school or work for Buddhists. Before the Elephant orphanage we stopped at another rescue and care place where we bathed and rode an elephant. The guy snapped some great photos of us as we rode around in the rain (so thankful that bought myself a waterproof camera before the trip). After that we went to see the elephants at the orphanage. Unfortunately we did not get to see them bath in the river across from the orphanage as the high amounts of rain had made the river too high and rough for them to bath in but it was still nice to see them playing happy in the mud and the baby ones with their Mohawks. We fell into the picture trap again at the orphanage (the first time was with the baby crocodiles during the river trip). Someone will say take a picture and then ask for a small fee.

After seeing the elephants we went on to Kandy (an hour and half drive) to see the Botanical Gardens. Despite the rain the gardens were wonderful. It was so nice to be around GREEN that a little rain was not going to stop us! I am sure we could have made a day out of the gardens but sitting in the rain isn’t excited as it sounds so we moved on to a Tea Plantation. We were shown how each part of the leaf is used, how they make the different teas, and then we had a little tea party.

After a really long drive back we decided that dinner at Panchi Villa would be the best idea as going anywhere else would be a lot of effort. Another dinner of seafood and it was a great feast. Lobster and prawns, so much that it could have fed a small army but after all our adventures we ate it all up. I must say though the amounts of garlic on that meal did not scare away the mosquitoes like I was told. The Sri Lankan mosquitoes seem to love me! The motto of the day – “a little water never hurt anyone!”

Day 3 (30^th Ocobter) - 

Today we moved down to Hikkaduwa but before we got to our hotel there we did more site seeing. First we went to see one of the largest buddhas in Asia, the buddha at the Temple of Aluthgama. We would have had a great photo of us in front of it but our lovely taxi driver apparently does not know how to work a camera very well and before he even took a picture of us he took one of himself! After a wonder around the temple to see the paintings and carvings we moved on to the moonstone mine. It was extremely interesting to see how they separate the stones and the small percentage of good stones they get from each bucket. Not only did we see how the factory worked but we also walked away with some new moonstone jewelry.

Then traveled south past Hikkaduwa to Galle to see the fort. On the way to Galle we got to see the buddha that was donated to Sri Lanka after the tsunami and the tsunami memorial. I had heard about all the damage in Thailand but I had never heard the story about the train that was derailed in Sri Lanka. It was sad to drive through this area because even though it has been years there are places that are abandoned and places that are still being rebuilt. Once we were in Galle our taxi tour guy man that had been with us all day walked with us as sort of a guard. Jack had told him to make sure we were safe because as Galle was a super tourist spot sometimes there were pick pockets and people saying they will take your picture then running away with your camera. At one point Pam and I were in hysterics because we were walking and he was driving about 15 feet behind us. Was like we were royal! It really was like we had a bodyguard and it was sort of awkward looking! After a quick trip into the museum the fatigue started to get to us so we headed back up to Hikkaduwa to settle in to our new hotel. Again we feasted on lobster and shrimp and a bottle of wine followed by our first FULL night of sleep. 

Day 4 (31^st October) - 

The last two days had been full of site seeing so we decided to hang close to Hikkaduwa. We did not want to be stuck in a car today so after breakfast we took a walk along the beach catching some sun - who am I kidding it was sort of raining still but we walked anyways. It such a shame that a storm picked the week we were there to hit because it would have been really nice to learn how to surf. Someone tried to tell us we would be safe learning but the waves looked a bit scary for a beginner. Today was about swimming in the rain, using my underwater camera for some funny photos, shopping at the local shops outside our hotel, buying gifts for everyone, and having a Tuk Tuk take us to the turtle hatchery. Thankfully the Tuk Tuk has plastic drapes on the side because of course the rain came pouring down again! We got to see newly born turtles, baby turtles they were about to release, recue turtles, and the lucky albino turtle. Being a Florida girl I never say no to baby turtles! I just wish we could have been around to see them set them free!! Before we headed back to the hotel we did some afternoon shopping and lets just say that the population of wooden elephants has decreased drastically thanks to Pamela.

For dinner we decided that we should try and be local so we walked to the main strip of Hikkaduwa and had dinner at one of the smaller hotel restaurants. It was interesting. The rain came again and there really wasn’t a dry seat in the house. We met some really interesting travelers at this place, some traveling and not knowing where was next, some having returned just to be chill in Sri Lanka, and a couple that were there because his parents had been going for 30 years. 

Day 5 (1^st November) -

Our last day in Sri Lanka and it was still raining! We were hoping for at least one day of tanning but I guess swimming in the rain was all we were going to get. Our flight was not until November 2^nd at 4AM so we decided to spend the day being lazy, more shopping, swimming, and reading. You know, the things people do to relax! We found out to late that the batik ladies would have let us work with them for the day - was really upset about this!



Sri Lanka was an amazing trip and I am so glad that I got to go! It really was a great escape from the desert. I am so happy that I have a travel buddy now! Already "planning" our next trip!