On the road again - Journey to the Maldives

We woke up to bad news. The curfew hadn't yet been lifted and they weren't sure when it would be. We checked out a poster of all the animals we COULD see, which included leopards (most of why we were there) and sloth bears (who knew? but they looked so cool!). We waited and they finally said the curfew would lift at 6:30 but the park wouldn't open until 8 am, too late for us since we had to get to the airport.  We went back for a nap since we woke up so early, had breakfast and were on our way.  On the way back we saw a bunch of soldiers and police and the roads were pretty empty. Schools were closed and I'm not sure what else.  We saw lakes where they get salt from.

Anyway the ride was quicker than anticipated and even the security to get into the airport was quick. They had mirrors to check under cars and checked in as well. 

They changed the route for cars so they wouldn't be too close to the runway. They weren't allowed to take us all the way to the doors, but close enough it wasn't a big deal. Then we immediately went through security to enter the building. We went through security again and then despite being 7 hours early we were luckily able to check in.  Thankfully we finally had wifi, though social media was banned and we heard there's going to be another curfew 8 pm - 4 am.

The flight is nice. We left our headphones in our checked bags by mistake but there's plenty of leg room and over 120 movies!

We're fans of Sri Lankan airlines.

It's a quick and easy flight.  We went back a half hour though, so now we're 2 hours ahead of Israel.

The airport

When we land we'll have almost 2 hours before a speed boat picks us up to take us to Maafushi, the local island we're spending the first few nights at.

I'm not sure if I'll blog anymore since our plan is just to relax but we'll see! You never know what adventure we'll end up on.

Off to Safari - Wilpatu National Park

On to Wilpatu!

We woke up and finally got in an air conditioned car that was prearranged to take us to Wilpatu National Park where we were supposed to go on a safari.

The most crazy parts of our adventures are over. On to prearranged and more relaxed.
It was nice having a guide for a bit. He told us a bit of Sri Lankan history and more about the 30 year war. He told us about the coconuts and the people of Sri Lanka. He told us a bit about the differences between African and Asian elephants, and about the process of becoming a guide in Sri Lanka (my question of course).

Since I already wrote about the awful bombings I'm going to skip over that here.

As we got close to Wilpatu our guide said we wouldn't have food for the safari, so we stopped to get.  I misunderstood so we got 4 apples, 2 oranges and a small watermelon. We later realized we didn't need anything.

We then stopped at the side of the road and a jeep came to pick us up and drive us to the camp we were staying in. It was 2 pm and we were supposed to start our safari at 2:30.  We checked in and sat with the manager to go over what foods we'd have since he knew we had major restrictions.

Then we dropped our stuff in our tent (for us it seemed like glamping but I'm sure some people consider it roughing it - there was a bed and a side table and even a bathroom with a flushing (barely) toilet and shower!).

We went out to safari! Unfortunately our driver didn't speak English and we didn't have a guide, but it turned out fine. We drove about 12 minutes to the park and started through. We saw tons of peacocks and spotted deer. We saw all types of birds including some sort of hawk and junglefowl. We saw some orange birds, blue birds and more. We saw mongoose and a wild hare and a small deer like animal that kind of hopped. We also saw the butt of a water buffalo! Thankfully our guide seemed to know most of the animals names in English and was able to point them out to us.  He also had a book of birds he showed us when there was one who's name he couldn't think of.

But that was it. Suddenly we turned back and didn't know why. It wasn't until we were back at the camp that we learned that due to the bombings the country was put on curfew starting at 6 pm, so the park closed at 5 pm.

Back at the camp the wifi didn't work, but thankfully an Israeli girl was able to get into her email and let me email our families to let them know we were safe.

We played a few games then went to dinner. They were so great to us.  They gave us all whole fruits and vegetables, TONS of them, hard boiled eggs,  and a brand new still in the package knife and cutting board. We cut up a nice salad and had delicious fruits for dessert.  Throughout dinner there was an awesome lightning storm for us to watch and luckily no rain!

There was a bit of confusion about who was doing our morning safari, but we got it settled and set an alarm to be up at 5 and out at 5:30!

Relaxing in Colombo

Saturday, April 20

We woke up late and just relaxed a while, read and prayed and started in on our passover food that we'd brought with us. 

We went to Chabad again for lunch and met a guy who's girlfriend got appendicitis and was in the hospital so he came for lunch and to bring her some food.

The chabad family had friends visiting who live in Beer Sheva. It was cool learning their different stories and hearing a bit about their experiences. The family in Sri Lanka seemed to love it.  The wife has given birth twice in Israel and twice in Sri Lanka and is happy with both.  They bring in preschool teachers who board with them to teach the kids.  They sound really happy.

Their friends met at chabad in Mexico. The wife wasn't religious then, and didn't even know what chabad was, but she didn't like the Mexican food so someone told her that chabad had Israeli food.  She went and became curious about chabad and started learning and the two ended up back in Israel.  They want to start a chabad in another country but she doesn't want to leave her family, so they'll only do it if/when her family is ready to move with them.

It was a very enjoyable lunch, and then we went to see the Independence Hall.  It wasn't so far and the walk was really pretty.  It seemed to be a more upscale areas with homes with big yards and a cricket club where there was a practice going on.  We also passed a nice park where there were lots of couples sitting and cuddling.  We've noticed there's tons of PDA here. All the parks are full of couples and they're all over each other and it doesn't seem to matter how religious they are.  Some of the women are covered all except their eyes and they're still cuddling in public. It's a bit confusing for us.

Anyway Independence Hall was cool.
Unfortunately we couldn't go into the museum because it cost money and we don't use on chag or shabbat, but there was a structure on top that we went into that had a bunch of pictures. They were numbered so I decided it must be the story of the independence of Sri Lanka and made up a story to go with it.  Meir wasn't thrilled with my tendency to be short and concise. I think he would've preferred if I fleshed it out a bit.

From there we went back to the apartment. One of the reasons we chose this place was the pool and we hadn't yet taken advantage of it so now we did.  It was an amazingly beautiful rooftop pool. The weather was perfect and the water was warm.

A woman came up in a fancy dress with photographers and we're not sure if she was a bride or a model.

It was a perfect and much needed relaxing day.

Colombo City

Friday, April 19

We slept in a bit Friday then headed out.  The plan was just to walk around Colombo, but we wanted a good last Sri Lankan meal for breakfast since we wouldn't be eating local food once Passover started.  Maria recommended a place but I forgot the directions so we just started toward Colombo 11 (Pettah) since that's where we wanted to go and figured we'd stop along the way.

It was super hot again and not as easy to find a place as we'd thought. We finally found a cute little lake area with pelicans and swan boats and a few places to get food. We decided what we wanted but it turned out since it was another holiday  (Poya, the new moon holiday) All they had was Fried rice and rotti so that's what we got.  It was a good last meal before passover though.

From there we walked along (trying to use map me) and found the Red Mosque. Then some guy started chatting with us and took us around to see some Hindu Temples and we asked him to bring us to the Pettah market which is where he said he was going anyway. I'm pretty sure we went a crazy route and it was super hot out  (in case you haven't caught onto the theme yet). Once we got to the market I was a bit over it. We saw it for a minute, said bye to the guy and moved on (amazingly he was actually just being friendly and didn't want a tip!)

We went to Colombo Fort (district 1) which was right next to 11. On a map it looks like it's on the water but the water is all just a commercial port and land they plan to build up so for now not great.  We stopped in the Kingsbury hotel for a bit of AC, bathrooms and water. When I asked if there was anywhere to fill waterbottles they were great and just gave us new ones.
Then we went to see the lighthouse, and then to see the Sambodhi Chatiya. We had no clue what it was, all we knew was that it's north of the lighthouse. It was literally right there. A huge thing on white stilts like it said. We still didn't know what it was but we saw that people were on top and we saw the stairs so we decided to go up.  It said to remove our hats and shoes so we did.

More stairs. But at the top was basically a sort of temple? A big room with religious artwork.  It was cool even though we still aren't sure exactly what it was.

From there I was exhausted so we took a tuk tuk to Gangaramaya Temple. I think it has the most concentration of Buddhas in the world.  I'm not sure if it was due to Poya but there were lots of people there praying, walking around trees, there seemed to be a sermon and people got chocolate and drinks after.  Everyone was dressed in white to celebrate. We saw the smallest Buddha statue in the world and buddhas made from all different materials from ivory to gold to wood and more. From there, we went across the way to the temple on the lake (the entrance to the larger Temple covered this as well).

There's also a small island on the lake that we took a short walk around, and then got a tuk tuk back to the apartment.

We had an hour and a half to get ready for the holiday and relax.

Meir was right, when we showed up at chabad, we were among the first. We didn't end up starting until over an hour later, and we sat by the front door a while helping people get in and just making sure it seemed like they belonged. When the seder finally started it was a lot of people, but fewer than I'd worried. We sat with an Israeli family with two daughters, and a young Israeli couple just out of the army. 

We sang and laughed. The tables behind us got rowdy (they were Israeli but seemed like frat boys). The Rabbi also got drunk to the point where when he wanted to speak a bit he couldn't form a thought and started just singing instead.  He even asked one of the Israeli guys if he'd say a few words of torah in English, which clearly would never happen. It was taking a while to wrap up after the meal so we finished on our own, but it was definitely a great experience.

Sad Days in Sri Lanka

Hi all,

Just wanted to update. We're at the airport in Colombo, flying to the Maldives in 4 hours. We thought security would be way tighter than it was. WiFi works for email, but they put a block on social media which includes WhatsApp, so we can't use those for now.

We left Colombo at 9 am yesterday morning, an hour before the bombings. We were heading north to Wilpatu National Park for a safari.

About an hour later we were in Negombo and got rerouted. Our driver mentioned something about something going on at a church. We had a feeling something was up. About a half hour later he told us about the six bombings, one of which was the reason we got rerouted. We spent a long time talking to him about terrorism and the 30 year war here and how all in all the religions here live together peacefully so it's a huge shock after 10 years of peace.

We weren't worried, since we knew we were going away from the areas affected.  During our safari, they instituted a nationwide curfew so we had to end early. We hoped to make up for it this morning but the safari was supposed to be at 530 and the curfew only ended at 6 so the safari couldn't start until 8 and they were worried about checkpoints and security on the way to the airport.

Anyway we're fine. It's a bit weird. We were at the Kingsbury hotel Friday just for a bit of AC, the bathroom, and water. Our host also kept telling us to go to the buffet at the Shangrila which we skipped because of Passover.

It's definitely very sad. We passed the hospital in Negombo today where many of the victims were taken, and our driver explained that private hospitals also took people in and donated supplies free of charge. There was a line outside since apparently visiting hours are only 12-1. There's army presence everywhere we drove today, and white flags up to represent sadness.

Negombo Hospital (public)

Line to visit friends and family for visiting hours

We're ready for a different experience and to see what it's like in the Maldives!

The Coast - Bentota and Galle

Thusrday, April 18

I know I wasn't going to take another train, but this was supposed to be empty and only an hour and a half.

It wasn't empty.

But at least it was an hour and a half. We stood the whole way.  At first we were on the wrong side of the train. Not such nice views and sun coming in. Then someone offered for me to take his spot on the other side which was shady and ocean views.
When we got off at Bentota, some guy asked where we were going. We told him a river cruise and he told us to follow him, that we could walk (good thing, we'd been told we would need to take a tuk tuk).

We passed a few on the way so it was clear he was taking us to someone he knows. We agreed on a price of 5000 rupees and set out. We started on a big river, and drove along the side to see a water monitor. Then we went into the lagoon, or mangrove forest, where we saw a baby crocodile!

Sleeping goanna

That's a monkey!

There was also a tree full of bats, water monitors sleeping in trees (they told us that water monitors' skin is poisonous to touch, and that it kills its prey with its tail), black monkeys (apparently Sri Lanka has 3 types of monkeys, black, white, and brown -the brown are the mean ones that steal your stuff), a green snake (it looked like the one I almost stepped on and turns out its poisonous), and pelicans in the top of a tree.  From there they took us to a spice/ herb garden where a doctor showed us around and explained and demonstrated how different herbs and spices can be used.

He put a natural hair removal cream made from wild potatoes that made a bald spot on my arm and Meir's leg. He told us about cinnamon and cacao and cardamon and black pepper and more. Then of course he brought us to a shop but we decided not to buy. Meir asked why he doesn't sell the hair removal internationally and he said because they don't have enough of the wild potatoes and plus they make it by hand so they can't produce that much.

Then we went on and they brought us to a gem store to see how they make gems (apparently a huge industry here).  We left quickly since we didn't want to be pressured to leave a tip and knew we wouldn't buy.

On our way back our guide told us about a place with turtles so we said we were interested in going.  What we didn't understand was that meant going back to land and taking a tuk tuk, and then it was a turtle protection and rehabilitation center. Despite not understanding what we were going to, we loved it.  It turns out they buy turtle eggs from fishermen and bury them. Once they hatch, they keep the babies for a few days in a covered tank so the birds don't get them and then let people come and release them.  If we'd come in the evening we would have been able to do that. Instead we got to hold them, so no complaints.

Apparently there are 6 types of turtles in Sri Lanka, the green turtle being most common.  They have all the types in the center, as students come there to research the turtles.  They have a bunch who are healing after being caught in nets and rescued. They also have an albino turtle!  It was definitely worth the stop.

From there to continue to Galle we had to stand outside to get a bus. We weren't 100% sure where to get it and then buses kept going by without stopping and the ones that did stop weren't going where we needed. I was so hot so I hid in the shade and told Meir we had 5 minutes to find a bus or we were taking a tuk tuk. Of course as soon as I said that the right bus came. We finally had seats!

We got to Galle starving and went into the city to find food. We saw a sign for a restaurant and went in and it was 100% locals. There was no AC, just fans, and we didn't know what half the stuff on the menu was but we ordered and it was delicious! We got Fried rice and kotthu. So good.

Then we continued on to the fort. It wasn't quite what we expected but it was cute. We walked along the perimeter a while and on the walls. We saw a goanna near a crow and Meir was convinced it was going to kill the crow with his tail so we watched a while but it was clear the goanna was more interested in something in the ground.

When we continued it got more crowded and we found where everyone hangs out. There were kids playing and learning cricket, we even found a small beach and stuck our feet in the very comfortable waters!

We wandered through the town a bit and stopped for AC in a shop. I also really wanted a mango juice so we got, but we learned that mango juice when it's not mango season is a bad idea. It wasn't very good so the woman who made it added lime juice for a bit of flavor.

Around sunset we headed back to the entrance and saw a cricket game going on. Then we had to find the express bus to take back. It wasn't so easy, the ones that said the place we were supposed to go (just outside Colombo) were closed, and someone directed us to one that said a different place. Turns out it was the correct bus in the end thankfully.

We learned that there are highways! It took less than 2 hours in the express air conditioned bus to get back.

When we got to the end of the line, we weren't positive where to go, but we saw people getting on a bus that turned out it was headed to Colombo City. We jumped on and hoped to get off somewhere close to where we were staying. Luckily Maria, the woman we were staying with, had told us about an offline map called Map me, so you can track where you are without data. We used it to figure out where to get off the bus.

We got off near the chabad, and decided to go find it to make sure we'd know where it was for the next night.  It was easy to find thankfully, and then we found a restaurant nearby for dinner.

I finally got hoppers! Only problem was once it was in front of us we weren't sure how we're supposed to eat them but they were delicious even if we did it incorrectly. Meir also got a really sweet cookie shake which was good for a pre pesach meal.

Back at the apartment we semi planned out the next day and I hid pieces of cracker around our room for bdikat chametz (which took Meir a while to find and it didn't help that I forgot where two were).
And that's that for this day!

Another train - to Colombo

Wednesday, April 17

I said I wouldn't take another train without a reserved seat.  Well we didn't have that and we needed to get to Colombo. This time I splurged for second class. We said goodbye to the family (who ended up being at the train station with us heading to Nuwara Eliyah for a day trip - turns out there are games going on for the holiday) They had 3rd class tickets though. If we'd known we might have also gotten and travelled together a bit.
Anyway the train arrived and 2nd class was as bad as third. A bit of a waste of money.
This time I stood about 4 hours. There was an Irish couple with us and the woman was NOT happy.  They ended up getting off in hopes that a bus would be better.
As Meir told me, I was a trooper, but not so thrilled. Finally I ended up half sitting with my feet on someone's suitcase and my butt on a little table. It wasn't at all comfortable but I just couldn't stand anymore. We still had 2 hours until Kandy when we thought we'd be able to get seats. With about an hour left someone finally offered me her seat. I got in a nice nap. At Kandy the person next to me moved and a few people tried to sit but I kept it for Meir. We watched a movie and finally at 8 pm we made it (we had left at 9:40 am).  It was such a long way.
When we finally got out we weren't positive where to go but thankfully had our host's number so the cab (regular car this time) called and we found the place. Our host wasn't home so we left our bags with the guard and went down the street for food. It's a cute cafe called Caramel Pumpkin and we got pasta and a salad and amazing iced tea.
By the time we got back our hostess was home.  The apartment is beautiful and has great views. We sat with her a bit and she gave us some advice and helped us plan the next day and we showered and went to bed.