Weekend in France

The last time I went to Paris with my friends, we literally spent the whole entire day in 2 department stores. Incredible.

This time, we made it out to picturesque Mont Saint-Michel. My first time driving outside the US went very well : ) The gas price was astonishing though - it cost us over $100 to fill up the tank in one of those small French cars. And I thought fuel back home was expensive...

There isn't much to do at Mt. Saint-Michel, considering that it's just a tiny island made entirely into a mega tourist sight. On our first day, we took a slow stroll around the town and the beach area, which turned into a silly drawing contest of "Who can draw the best monkey?". I couldn't remember what a monkey looked like...only the shape of its face. Someone was kind enough to take a photo of us with our masterpieces. He must've thought we were amusing....The drawing was followed by a even more silly photography session. Think yoga poses and sumo wresting.

We decided to spend a night on the island to get the night view and a quieter/tourist-free morning. Well, we got the lighted scenery all right (excellent opportunity to test out camera settings), but didn't wake up early enough to beat the crowds. Argh. After taking in the abbey the next day, we left the island and headed for lunch in the middle of nowhere. Seriously, we had to drive through all green, little activity lands. There were more cows around than people. But the food was yummy seafood.

Ran into major traffic on our way back to Paris. Stupidly, we forgot to ask where we were supposed to return the car at the station... I was stuck driving without directions, going through the taxi lanes and one way streets. My one friend jumped out of the car to get directions from the office. My other friend was a nervous wreck about the possibility of missing the last train to London (dedicated to work!). What a mess....but we made it onto the train just fine : )

It was so nice to be traveling with friends. I sometimes missed having people to chat with and eat with over the last 2 months.

Click to Tennis

Ticketmaster has this system whereby you can buy Wimbledon tickets a day in advance. They're only for the last rows in center court. Basically, you have to be online at a certain time and click, click, click to make sure you're one of the first people to get through.
I thought the online sales started at 8:00pm, but it turned out to be at 8:30pm. From about 8:15pm, I was constantly clicking the mouse, refreshing the page, opening new browsers. I must've done it at least 50 times...and hooray!!! I got a ticket : )

Thinking that matches started at 11:00am, I was at the court a bit after 10:00am. The start time was actually 1:00pm. Oops. I must've been too excited to be able to see a Federer match...

Being London, rain delays. Nonetheless, I had a fun time watching the rain covers go on and off, the ball boys/girls go in and out of the court, and the fluffy seats in the box area be set up and folded down...all in a finely synchronized manner! In the meantime, I tried out their famous strawberries and cream. Not good - the strawberries were a bit too hard and sour, and I don't like cream to being with. Hehe.

Play finally started around 3:00pm. I watched Federer easily win (over who I forgot...), and Serena kill Mauresmo. Even though the seats were last row, I had a great view of the match.
Federer awesomeness:
Now all I need is to go see the Australian Open to complete my Grand Slam viewing.

Beaches - Beautiful but Cold

Mauritius isn't a place that I'd normally go to. It's all just beach. And if you know me, you'd know that I'm not a particularly big fan of beaches. I hate the salt water, I can't stand being directly under the sun, and I get bored just lounging. Seriously, I can't do more than an hour of beach.

So I can't really tell you why I decided to go...I think it's just because it was easy to build into my around the world ticket. It wasn't a bad choice though. I had a wonderful 4 days on the island.

Except for the weather. The water was crystal clear, the sand smooth white. But it was waaaaaaay too cold to take a dip! Bummer...

I had a beach right in front of my guest house, but it was a bit too small and too close to a lot of boats. So, I walked for at least an hour (I was told that it would take 15 minutes by bus, but decided to walk anyways...dumb) to another beach that was more doable. Sat around for a few minutes, and got bored. Since I didn't have much on my plate, I ended up walking again. Call it good exercise.
On another day, I joined a tour to the most famous, beautiful beach - Isle Aux Cerfs. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't cooperating - cloudy and windy all day : ( It took 1-2 hours drive through curvy roads, followed by a short boat ride, but it was absolutely worth it for the scenery. Picture perfect (well, I guess it would've been better if the sun was out)! When you're drooling over a beach, this is it!
My friend told me that there would be ladies selling whole pineapples at the beaches. I was SO looking forward to it (although my ayurveda doctor told me pineapple is not good for me) but I didn't see any. Darn it. I don't think it was pineapple season....

BTW, I was told by some of the people I'd met earlier that I should stay in Grand Baie. It's supposed to be the most "happening" place. Let me just say that there isn't much happening there... My favorite hangout in the city was SuperU. That's right, the supermarket. They had quite a good selection of instant noodles. I guess there's quite a large Asian population around.

What else did I do...Oh yeah, I watched Care Bears, CSI, and Heroes in French.

How I Spent a Whole Week in Cape Town

First of all, when I first arrived in Cape Town, it totally reminded me of San Francisco. The wharf area looked similar, and the weather was fogy. I knew immediately that I would like the city : )
And I had a lot of time here too...Because I gave up on going to Namibia, I ended up with about a week. What to do, what to do, what to do....

Some brief highlights, if any:
Day 1 - Strolled to the wharf (This is before I moved to the other hostel). Not much to do but shop and eat. I FINALLY had a decent, big lunch of mussel pasta : ) Having been deprived of easily accessible good food over the past few weeks (Sri Lanka to Zimbabwe), I was amazed at the food selection here. The supermarket was awesome too!!! Bought some instant noodles, but they were awful. After window shopping for a while (lots of souvenir shops around here), wandered outside and ran into an aquarium. I've always liked aquariums so decided to take a look. The nemo and shark exhibitions were good.

Day 2 - Took a tour to the wine lands. Mind you, I'm not a big fan of wine (allergic reaction sometimes) and know absolutely crap about it. But...why not?! The wineries in South Africa are much smaller than the ones I'm accustomed to seeing in California or Europe. Since it was mid-winter, no grapes to be seen. Went to 4 wineries, with at least 5 tastings each. I can't believe some people are able to take all that!!! My favorite was the place with the goat (name forgotten) - mostly because of the cute goat and the cheese tasting that went along with the wine. I LOVE cheese : ) Bought blue cheese and a baguette, which served as my dinner for the next 2 nights. Moved to my hostel on Long Street, the "hip", backpackers area.

Day 3 - Took a tour to the Cape of Good Hope. The drive along a coast was beautiful - only if I had a load of money, I would buy a condo by the sea here.... Stopped by a place to see the seals, which didn't interest me (seen enough in SF). So, I stayed behind at the coffee shop, where I managed to spill the whole thing on the floor. Ooops. Once we got to the cape, it was incredibly windy!!! I seriously thought I was going to be blown off the staircase up to the lighthouse. A couple I met on the tour from Chicago made sure that I wasn't blown away, and even treated me to lunch : ) Then came my favorite - the penguins!!! They were soooooo cute! But at the same time, I think I was expecting more...
Day 4 - I was planning on doing a shark dive today. Cape Town is known for its great white sharks, and you can get close to them by cage diving. Initially, I didn't like the idea because I thought they fed the sharks to attract them, in the process making them think that humans = food. But when I learned that they're prohibited from feeding them, I thought "OK...could do". BUT, I DIDN'T DO IT. Because the seas are extremely rough during the winter, and I knew that I was going to get sea sick on my way out to the dive, which would render me useless (ie. non-divable) for the rest of the day. And I didn't want to end up wasting the $175 in that case. So, instead, I went up to Table Mountain. It wasn't the clearest of days, but you just need to take the chance when it's open; for the past few days, the cable car wasn't operating because of low visibility and high winds. It's quite nice up there. Since the mountain is as flat as a table (hence its name), there are a couple of walking trails that you can follow. But it's very windy.

Day 5 - The weather was crap. Rain, rain, rain. With my bright orange raincoat in hand, I returned to the wharf again. It took me over 45 minutes to walk!!! (Taxis aren't cheap in Cape Town) The ferries to Robbin Island weren't running, so I really didn't have much on my agenda. Found a movie theater and watched "Indiana Jones". What an awful movie. But here's the best part - it only cost me $4!!!

Day 6 - Finally got on board the ferry to Robbin Island. It's like Alcatraz, in the sense that the whole island was used as a prison. They housed political prisoners here during the Apartheid, the most famous being Nelson Mandela. I do NOT recommend this tour to anyone...it was such a waste of money. First of all, you're on a ferry for an hour (one way) in choppy waters. Once at the Island, you're put on board a bus that takes you around. There's really not much to see. You can take a walk in the prison itself, but it's nothing special. It actually resembled some of the hostels I've been in...lots of bunk beds crammed together with tiny lockers, cement flooring, and shared bathroom. Since tonight was my last night in Cape Town, I decided to treat myself to a nice dinner : ) Hey, I've been eating bread & cheese or instant noodles all the other nights. I deserved it!!! Had an appetizer (beef carpaccio),pasta, tiramisu, and coffee all for $20! Yes, I finished everything. PIG.

I can't believe I have to leave Africa tomorrow. There are so many more places I want to see. Even in South Africa. I need to (1) dive with the great white sharks, and (2) ride the ostriches in the north.

Random Observations:
- Everywhere I went, I ran into this group of old people all in the same red fleece sporting their tour company logo. Cute.
- Traffic lights are called "robots" in South Africa. Needless to say, when I first asked for directions and was told to turn right at the second robot, I was confused....

In the Emergency Room

No need to worry. I'm perfectly fine.

After spending 2 nights at a cozy house near the wharf, I moved to one of the boutique hostels that seem rather popular in Cape Town. The room that I got the first night was named "Emergency Room". You can see why from this pic:

Cute, no?
They told me I could use the nurse's uniform in the room...but NO, I did NOT try it on!

The place has about 10 rooms designed by different artists. Although it was a big pain in the big behind, I packed and unpacked 3 times during my stay to check out some of the other rooms.

Karaoke room - pretty self explanatory. Karaoke mikes hanging down everywhere, including the bathroom. They told me the system actually works, but I didn't get the chance to test it out. The biggest negative here was the use of fake green turf for carpeting. Not very pleasant.

Fresh room - take a guess?! MENTOS!!! Tables made of Mentos. Wall art made of Mentos. Everything round and colorful! I have to stay that this was my favorite room of all : )

Tidbits

Money
Due to the extremely high inflation, Zimbabwe's dollar is denominated in the millions. They are not really cash/notes, but defined as "bearer checks". Not only that, they have an expiration date within the year. How cool?!
In the past, the black market rates were MUCH better than the official bank rates, but the gap has been lessening. I was told by everyone not to exchange money on the black market since half of them are undercover agents trying to catch you in the act. So, I behaved...even though you end up paying like 5-6x more by using the US dollar.
I got these from my host right before I left : ) All for $1...have no clue if I got completely ripped off, but I wanted some of their currency!!!Food
SO hard to find. I've read about the empty shelves and all, but it wasn't as bad as I imagined. There were some food. I'd stay away from the meat though....they looked like they've been in the freezer for ages.
One day, I went to their only fast food chain "Wimpy's". Had a hamburger that did NOT taste or feel right (I'm talking about the texture of meat), so gave it to the dogs. The french fries (which amazingly had fish boned inside!) cost me a fortune of US$6!!!

Gasoline
There are gas stands in the city, but they are all empty. To get gas, you have to go across the border (that's what the tour companies do) or buy canisters under the table. I don't remember how much they cost...

Completely Drenched!

On the morning TV, I learned about the upcoming Zimbabwean elections, and the threat of violence by the election parties. My first thought - SH*T! I need to get out of here soon...

My original plan was to take the bus from Victoria Falls to Windhoek in Namibia. The bus company, however, told me that they no longer provide services from Zimbabwe due to fuel shortages and political instability. If I wanted to take the bus, I would have to (1) take a taxi to the Zimbabwe border (2) pay $135 for the Zambia visa and cross the border with another taxi (3) take a taxi from the Zambia border to the bus station, and (4) take the bus to Namibia. What a hassle!!! And most likely, I would be ripped off by the taxi drivers. The easiest option would be flying. But for some reason, flights to Namibia are outrageously priced at $600! So, I had to make the tough decision - forget Namibia : ( Oh well...can't see/do everything, right?! Instead, I booked a flight to Cape Town for the following day (the office had no electricity when I went in, but they managed to get me on the flight once the power was back 4 hours later).

Once I got my escape from Zimbabwe sorted out, I headed out to Victoria Falls. My host from the guest house was on his way to Zambia for the day, so we decided to take the 2 - 3km walk together (you pass by the falls on the way to the border). The streets were pretty quiet, but perfectly safe.

I didn't realize it at first, but the rainy season just ended around here, making the water levels really high. Walking around Victoria Falls, therefore, got me wet from head to toe!!! I was warned about it beforehand, so I did bring a rain jacket, but that didn't help at all. It was fun in the beginning, but as I got further in, it was just too much...I couldn't really see much of the falls because of the mist, and the water was pouring on me as if I were caught in a thunderstorm. Rather than taking a leisurely stroll through the park, I rushed to the end. Here, I ran into a group of tourists from China, who kept pushing me out of the way to take photos of the border bridge. Waru was very annoyed and cursed them.

There's a really posh hotel at the falls. I was in the mood for a decent meal, so decided to try it out for lunch. A tiny vegetable curry (southern Africa is big on curry) cost me $20!!!!!

From there, I headed towards the market although my host warned me that I'd get myself into trouble with the aggressive sellers. No problemo! It was actually quite amusing...everyone wanted to make a trade. They were especially fond of my cap, which I liked too and was not willing to part with. Pens were often requested as well. Unfortunately, I wasn't carrying around anything that I didn't need. I wish I could've offered something though, knowing how short on some basic items they were....

The Road to Zimbabwe

Since I was so close to Victoria Falls, it was such a waste not to see it. The only question was whether to see the Zimbabwe or the Zambian side.
- Zimbabwe was the closer option. The safari company would be able to drop me off at the city center, so no logistics involved.
- Zambia was the safer option. The damn visa, however, would cost me $135!

Dilemma, dilemma, dilemma...All the Americans I met on the safari told me I was nuts to go to Zimbabwe. The US government apparently has some sort of warning about the country (not that I take their warnings seriously) and many insurance companies refuse to cover anyone who goes there. But, the safari staff all told me that Zimbabwe is a wonderful country and perfectly safe. Plus, the falls are supposed to be MUCH better, covering a larger area than the Zambian side.

So...being the cheapo that I am, I decided to go to the Zimbabwe side. The safari company had a shuttle bus that took me to the Botswana/Zimbabwe border, got my visa ($30), and dropped me off at Victoria Falls city. They were quite confused when I told them that I had no accommodation prebooked and just wanted a ride (I don't think they cater much to independent travelers).

Anyways, I ended up at a great guest house - 2 adorable dogs and a friendly host. I was their only guest so we had a lot of fun! He took me to the supermarket (I read about the food shortages, but wow...there really wasn't much in those aisles. The meats were frozen completely solid, like they've been there for months. Not appetizing), and cooked me some traditional Zimbabwe food. I forgot what they were called, but something similar to couscous with tomato and onion sauce (yummy!). He grilled some sausages for me too, but I could only take a bite : ( We watched a lot of hip-hop videos (amazingly, they have a GREAT cable TV system) and chatted about work issues. We were 2 disgruntled employees : ) OK, that's wrong - I'm unemployed now....

Zimbabwe - so far, so good!

About the Camp...

Kind of a random entry, but I want to share some info about where I've been staying for the last 4 nights in Chobe National Park.

In both camps (Savuti and Chobe River), I did this "under canvas" thing. Self explanatory. No running water or electricity. For showers, they heat up the water for you and put it in this overhanging barrel/tank - works fine. The only problem was that the hot water temperature was inconsistent each day and tended to be on the colder side (FYI - I am a HOT shower lover). And on the first night at each camp, they put the shower knob too high for my height, so I had to wrap myself in a towel to have them lower it (a lot).
Somehow, the toilets flush. I don't know how the apparatus works, but I'm sure it has something to do with the green tank next to each tent.

Of course there's no heating, even though the temperature outside is near freezing at night. The most comfortable and amazingly warm comforter, combined with the bush babies, were a life saver! No, the bush babies are not the animals (I wish!), but one of those hot water bottles. I don't exactly know why they refer to them as "bush babies". Doesn't matter - they are wonderful. I was completely hooked on them, requesting 2 in the bed each night, and 2 for the morning safaris :)

What's amazing is that according to the national park regulations, they cannot set up camp for more than 5 days. So, every few days, they dismantle the whole tent, including the dining area, kitchen, and staff areas, and move it all to a new location. Hard work. Ridiculous regulation. It seems more harmful to the environment to dig, build, and dismantle so frequently than to allow a more lengthly time frame (the nature loving game drivers and staff seem to agree).

By the way, the kitchen is awesome. Food delicious - hard to believe that they cook everything up in a mobile kitchen. I don't know how they do it. Oh,the cook at the Chobe River camp looked like Usher, only a nicer version. I'm serious! I wish I'd taken a picture...

All in all, I'm really happy about the safari choice I made. I was a bit worried before I came, since I did very little research and the booking was a last minute, spur of the moment decision.
If I ever do another safari, though, I think I'll do this type again!!! The staff were telling me about the "under canvas" safaris they do in Tanzania, following the great migration - very tempting, I must say.

Safari II - Chobe River

After 2 nights in Savuti, it was time to move on to my next camp by the Chobe River. On the way to the airstrip, I saw the cutest cameleon!!!

And at the airport, the elephants were crossing the "runway"!!! The plane, therefore, couldn't land and had to make a circle. This time, the plane was slightly larger - by one seat. I was the last pick-up, so at least I didn't have to endure the numerous take offs and landings. But because of the strong winds, the flight was shaky throughout and I was quite dizzy by the time we landed 45 minutes later. It felt good to be on hard surface. On the same flight was a father-daughter pair from Ohio on a college graduation trip (another one!). Unlike the previous pair, they were really nice. Got along with them well over the next 2 days. It turns out that they were also at another camp with the Colorado mother-daughter pair; those two ended up being a good topic for dinner-time conversation : )

Being by the river (albeit the same national park), animals abound in this area. Especially now in the dry seasons, they move towards the river for their daily supply of water. Tons of elephants, water buffaloes, baboons, warthogs, crocodiles, hippos, and giraffes. The river cruise "safari" was nice...something different. The best thing was that I finally got to see a lioness on my last day of safari!

I have to admit, though, that I was sort of "safari-ed out" by the last day.... I don't think I need to see animals for a while. (probably)

Photos are up on Facebook since I cannot post them from this laptop.

Safari I - Savuti

Getting to the camp was quite an ordeal: An Air Botswana flight from Johannesburg to Maun, followed by a 6-seater Cessna flight to the Savuti airstrip. First of all, the Cessna plane was so small that my bag wouldn't fit in its belly. I had to take out my plastic extendable lock so that we could push it through. Secondly, Savuti happened to be the last stop on this chartered flight, so I had to go through 3 take-offs and landings. But I got to sit right next to the pilot, a cool Australian girl doing this gig for 2 years after she got sick of teaching flying back home. I promised not to touch any of the controls : )

I saw a herd of elephants from the sky, and guess what?!?!?! I was greeted by elephants (wild ones of course) once we landed at Savuti! Total awesomeness.

Had a quick lunch and met my four fellow companions for the next 2 days: A nice couple who happened to work for the safari company and a mother-daughter pair from Colorado. These Americans were THE SNOTTIEST people I ever met! The girl just graduated from NYU and has an offer from GS. She wouldn't stop bragging about how she's going to be working at an investment bank (do you HONESTLY think that the people working at the camp, mostly locals, would CARE about an investment bank?!). And it turns out that she's not really a banker, but IT support. Oh my god, and the mom...she truly thinks that she's a National Geographic photographer. It was like a show-and-tell of their camera equipment. I was so relieved when I found out that I'd be joining the couple for the game drives rather than the American duo.

So, the game drives. I had a total of 4 drives at this camp, 2 morning and 2 afternoon. I thought they'd be relaxing affairs...just sitting on the jeeps and watching the animals. But NO, I was wrong!!! It's actually really tough work - getting up before the sun rises and keeping an eye open to spot animals. Being in an expansive nature reserve (Chobe National Park), you never know when/where you'll see something. During some drives, we went on for over 2 hours not seeing anything. By the end of the day, I was completely exhausted (plus, I think I was coming down with a slight cold with the freezing temperatures and lack of warm clothing).

When you encounter animals, though, you just can't help but smile!!! They look so beautiful in the wild. Obviously, seeing the big 5 is exciting...but I was pretty much happy to see anything. Some highlights:

- Sunset with elephants by the watering hole

- Pissed off male elephant running towards our jeep (and following us for quite a while)

- Mongooses by the dead termite mounds. I think I especially enjoyed seeing them because I was reminded of the Nodame comic books

- Cheetahs are absolutely BEAUTIFUL. I was so excited and caught up in watching the cheetah that I missed the leopard...Apparently, it was a cool scene of the cheetah being chased by the leopard. I can't believe I missed it! And you know what the sad thing is?! I didn't get to see a leopard for the remainder of my safari, no matter how hard I looked. Stupid Waru.

- Herd of zebras. Gotta love those stripes

Learning about Apartheid

After spending the past 2 nights sleeping on the airplane, I arrived in Johannesburg bright and early (7am). It was freezing!!! Fleece came out immediately. And I was very happy that I managed to find a sweater (although very thin) in Hong Kong before my flight.

For some reason, I was not tired at all and felt the need to explore the city. My energy level at this age amazes me sometimes... Johannesburg, of course, is not really a town you can explore on your own. There's the distance issue, but safety is the main concern. So I joined one of the tours offered by my hostel and headed to the Apartheid Museum and Soweto with a French girl.

Man, South Africans drive CRAZY! I swear, always above 80mph on the highway.

In the US, you never learn about South African history. All the information was so overwhelming - I never even realized that their segregation, racial uprisings, and democracy were so recent. Usually, I get extremely bored at museums; can't last more than an hour in them. But this time, I was curious. Learning is a good thing. I basically spent the entire 2.5 hours allotted at the place and even then, I didn't get through all the displays. But please don't quiz me...I don't retain information that well anymore.

As for Soweto, it genuinely surprised me. I mean, whenever I heard the word before, I had this image of shanty towns, danger, and extreme poverty. Certain areas definitely fit this description, but it's not all like that. There are some really posh neighborhoods with huge mansions. According to my guide, some successful African businessmen prefer to remain in their tight community rather than move off into the suburbs. (When I went to Cape Town later on, I actually met a couple who felt the same way and lived in Soweto!) But just a few minutes drive from these upscale homes, there are tiny, tiny huts with neither electricity nor running water. The South African government is trying to improve the living conditions of the poor by proving free housing. The problem, of course, is the endless demand. It seems like once the government provides a new home, the resident is responsible for dismantling the old shack so new land becomes available. Most people don't do that; they'd rather rent out the place, however shabby it may be, to those who are a loooooong way off from getting government housing. It doesn't seem like a difficult thing for the government to keep track of, but what do I know.
Anyways, my favorite aspect of Soweto was its color! There's a lot of vivid wall paintings everywhere. It's actually a form of advertisement where you pay for the wall space. Kinda cool:

Oh, and did I mention that it's REALLY cold??? And there was no heat in my room. I was supposed to have a BBQ dinner with a couple of Americans I met at the hostel, and even walked to the supermarket for some groceries. But the cold got me...I couldn't get away from my blanket once I got hold of it...

And the Most Popular Attraction Is.....

...the Pinnawela elephant orphanage.

Unlike many of the other sites I've been to in Sri Lanka, this one had hordes of people. Abadoned, orphaned, and injured elephants come here to roam in the jungle and bathe in the rivers. It was heartbreaking to see an elephant missing its left hind foot limping along. Injured people I can stand, but injured animals disturb me greatly...

Did you know that elephant dung can be used to make paper???

Personally, I prefer the African elephants (notes to come later) to the Asian ones.

Historical Tour of Sri Lanka

As many of you are aware, Sri Lanka has a lot of problems with the Tamil Tiger rebels. Recently, there has been an increasing number of bomb attacks on the public transportation system. During the short period I was there, 3 bus attacks and 1 train bomb went off near Colombo. I heard that buses outside of Colombo should be safer. But, to be on the safe side, I ended up hiring a car for the rest of my trip through Sri Lanka.
Huge expense & horrible driver. Can you believe that he tried to make a pass at me?!?!?! I was SOOOO pissed off since he made me feel extremely uncomfortable. OK, so I admit that it was partially my fault - I wanted to cut down of my spending, so I asked to share a room with him. (FYI - Hiring a car in Sri Lanka entails you to pay for the driver's accommodation as well). Geez....I am never doing that again. In the end, I just wanted to get away from this guy that I had him drop me off at the airport 12 hours before my flight! Sitting around in the airport (even a Colombo airport) was much better than having to look at him. Argh!

Anyways, back to more enjoyable moments....

Sri Lanka is fantastic! It's actually much more relaxed and developed (and unfortunately more expensive as well) than I originally imagined it to be. I thought it was going to be very similar to India, but it totally wasn't. Except for the food, which is mainly rice & curry. It's such a shame that tourists are staying away from this country - in most of the sights, I only saw a handful of foreigners. One guide told me that he used to give 5 tours a day; now he's down to 5 a month.

I started my sightseeing in the inner tea country of Ella. The place is very similar to the hilly countrysides of Japan with the tea and everything. The main differences being that the plantations are vaster here and the good products are all exported to Europe and the US. I was supposed to take the observation train from here to Kandy (heard positive reviews about the beautiful scenery), but the rain was causing major delays, and so I stuck with the car and damn driver.

The next 3 days were spent in the "cultural triangle" area, where Sri Lanka's ancient cities are located. Since I'm falling very behind on my blog entries, please let me keep it short : )

Kandy - Beautiful city surrounded by hills and centered around a small lake. Had a nightmarish time finding a place to stay here - all the cheap places were somewhere on top of the hill and I did NOT want to have to walk down to the city to find food and internet (FYI - at this point in time, internet was a very high priority item for me. I was in a desperate search for a safari trip in Africa for the following week). Kandy is famous for its Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, where Buddha's tooth is supposedly located. You don't get to see the tooth, so who knows. According to my guidebook, Japanese and Thai citizens are allowed to go into the sacred room itself (but still no tooth viewing) for donating tons of money to the temple. When I asked the guards and guides about it though, they didn't know anything. Oh well. The structure was nice to walk through so I was happy. While in Kandy, I met a Japanese woman volunteering in Colombo through JICA. She's been in Colombo for over a year, and told me about all the bombings that took place around her. Pretty scary. And her friend was so fascinated with me for some reason - she kept wanting to take photos with me and made me promise to visit her in Shiga once I ended my trip in Japan!

Sigiriya - This is a huge rock in the middle of a forest, with a palace at the top. You climb over 1,500 steps to get to the top, passing through several cave drawings (they were wonderful!).To be honest, the climb was extremely anticlimatical. For some reason, I assumed that there would be a palace at the top. But when you actually get there, it's all empty space - only the foundations remain : ( And I ran into a giant squirrel during my hike...not a pleasant creature. It looked so awkward.

Polonnaruwa - One of Sri Lanka's ancient cities. If I recall correctly, it used to house the buddha's tooth before it was moved to Kandy. Numerous ruins are spread throughout the city, most of them just foundations and columns. I think UNESCO is in the process of rebuilding many of the structures, but I can attest that they haven't gotten too far. Although I refused a guide, the annoying driver took it upon himself to hire one for me...and ended up paying for it too. On hindsight, I think it was a good thing that I had a guide...the place is so massive and spread apart, I don't think I would've been able to navigate on my own. Too many places to see here, but I think the highlights were the Buddha statues which had nice, delicate features.

Dambulla - Site of the cave temples. Monks prefer to meditate in quiet, isolated places. Hence, to view the temples, you have to climb up a hill. Yes...lots of stairs. I'm not going to complain though, as the place was fantastic! There are several caves you can enter. In each one, you find several buddha statues (which did not interest me too much) surrounded by the most colorful wall paintings. I really like how ancient Sri Lankan dwellers painted their own walls and ceilings. There are a lot of mating monkeys here as well.

My First Loss

It was bound to happen at some point in time. I've been good during the first month of my travels, but it's finally happened...I lost my first item of belonging : ( I realized it just as I was packing to leave my ayurvedic retreat in Galle.
I lost my towel!!!!! It was one of those fast drying, yet highly absorbent towels (unlike those REI ones that dry quickly because they just don't absorb!) that you don't come across too often. I loved that towel. I was quite devastated by the whole incident. I think I never got it back when I handed in my laundry at the guest house in Kota Kinabalu. I wish I had realized it back then...darn it!
Incidentally, I met a girl in northern Laos who was travelling all the way back to the capital to get her towel back. This was not an option for me since I was about 7 hours away by plane.

Before I left the hotel, I asked them if they'd sell me their towel. They declined, commenting that their towels were imported and not for sale.
Good thing I went to the market before I left Galle and bought one - my hostel the next day didn't provide one!

A Week of Ayurveda

Last week, I indulged myself in a full week of ayurveda. It felt so nice to stay put for 7 nights. No need to worry about where to go, how to go, and where to stay. I just let the hotel take care of everything.
My daily schedule basically went like this:
7:30 - 8:30 Yoga
9:00 - 10:00 Breakfast
10:00 - 12:00 Ayurvedic treatments (mainly massages)
12:00 - 1:00 Relaxation (usually napping)
1:00 - 2:00 Lunch
7:00 - 8:00 Dinner
...And in between, I lounged at the pool with tea by my side right here:

I was finally able to finish "The Fountainhead" (donated to the hotel library) and got through a book of travel essays and "A Spot of Bother". Terrible book - very disappointing after that "Curious Incidence of the Dog" book which I enjoyed so much.

Ayurveda is a therapy method based on meditation (yoga), herbs, and health food. There's definitely more to it, like body constitution, but I don't want to get into it here. Please refer to wikipedia. Random, but it occurred to me that the Aveda brand name must come from this word.
Herbs - Both for digestion and use in treatments. They use a LOT of herbal oil. I seriously felt like a tempura in one of my treatments!!! But it was so warm and comforting, I really enjoyed it.
Food - VEGETARIAN food is the core. I've got to say that this was the least enjoyable part of the entire week. Vegetables are good, but not when there's a lot of carrots and beans! Plus, dinner was the lightest meal of the day. Yes, I understand the healthiness aspect of it, but I LOVE big dinners!!! This was dinner one day:
Sad, no? And another day, it was FOUR pieces of pumpkin ravioli. I was so excited when they served me fish on the last day.

Oh, and by the way, the place I stayed is located in the city of Galle, on the southern Sri Lankan coast. The old part of the city is surrounded by a wall and was therefore spared from the brunt of the tsunami disaster. But it seems like a lot of places were damaged in the new part of the city. Lots of buildings destroyed (only the foundations still exist) and new ones erected. You see NGO cars (shiny, big, and nice of course) everywhere.

Galle is a very small town, and apparently listed as one of the UNESCO World Heritage cities as well. The old town is beautiful and quite nice to walk around. Barely a foreigner around.
I will admit that I didn't spend more than 5 hours outside of my hotel during the whole week. However, during my limited time out, I managed to make a few friends. Most notably, an old man at a jewelry store, who wanted me to make a sign in Japanese in exchange for a piece of jewelry. Unfortunately, I couldn't provide the proper translation (how am I supposed to know what the stones are called in Japanese?!). And a girl working at a bank. She studied in Japan for a few months and wanted to practice with me!

All in all though, this has been a week of bumming. Quite relaxing. I feel totally re-energized to continue my trip : )