Sri Lanka

Since we had an extra day in Sri Lanka, we decided to go to Kandy. We thought this was an excellent idea.

This turned out to be a leeetle bit more of a hassle than we anticipated. Mostly because prices, they are subject to change at any time. For any reason.

So our car arrived at noon, like it was supposed to. But then it left because it didn't have air conditioning (air conditioning was a high priority on a three hour drive.) Then the second car left because it was broken, needed to be replaced. Finally at 1 we piled into the third car and proceeded to drive around the tiny lake near our hotel while Dan argued with the driver about the price, which was 40% more than he had agreed upon. We returned to the hotel at 1:45, unsatisfied with the monetary arrangement, and arranged yet another car with the hotel travel office. 3 o'clock, he said. Fine, we said. So we walked to the Galle Face Hotel, then back down Galle Road, where we ran into a scuffy looking man who decided that we needed to be accompanied.

On the other side of the lake is the temple I visited last time with my friendly tuktuk driver. We made our way over there via the hotel laundry room, which is not, in fact, a room, but sort of a small field with clothes lines and stone pits for the hot water. I had been eyeing it for a while with an inclination to take some pictures.

We ended up at the temple on the lake, and with 15 minutes left before our car was to arrive, we visited the bigger temple. Last time I was there, it was full of people. This time was quiet, but not because of our "guide," who took every opportunity to point out things that we might have missed: "Buddha!" "Flowers!" "Books!"

We rushed out at 2:55 to grab a tuktuk, when, unsurprisingly, our "guide" put on his Most Pitiful Face and asked for a little something "for the children." We feigned ignorance, and asked the tuktuk driver if we should give him something. He bobbled his head affirmatively and Kirsten coughed up 100 rupees-about 1 dollar. Then as our tuktuk sped around to the Cinnamon Grand Hotel, the driver informed us that the money was not, actually, for the children. "This man, bad!" He said "Drugs!"

We had just unwittingly supported a Sri Lankan's drug habit with our 1 dollar.

The hotel van arrived at 3 and we began the climb out of Colombo up through the green hills to Kandy. When we arrived there, it was drizzly and dark, and the hotel reecommended a "famous restaurant-the most famous!" to us. I suspect it was not in fact the most famous restaurant in Kandy. Is uspect that it is owned by the hotel owner's cousin. But never mind. It was decent food, and we were serenaded by a trio of Sri Lankans singing "It's Now or Never" and "Country Roads" with their Sri Lankan ukeleles.

The next day we headed to the Temple of the Tooth, the Royal Botanical Gardens, and the elephant orphanage. All were wonderful, partly because they are wonderful and partly because they are So Foreign To Me. That's why I took Lots of Pictures. Monkeys! Elephants! Saris! In this case, the pictures are worth a thousand words, so let's skip to the photos. More black and whites to come, but they are yet being developed.

The ride home was uneventful, and we arrived just in time to send Kirsten off to the airport. We hung around and slept, ate, and puttered until our flight left at 3 am.