Archives for 2011

Or “We have a WHAT in our bathroom?”

After a not-too-sound of sleep, I was ready for our early morning rainforest trek. I was excited to see some wildlife but feeling a bit wary of leeches. I cannot think of a more disgusting pest.

A short tuk tuk ride later, we had met up with our guide and were good to go. First step to entering the rainforest: Salting your shoes and socks. The salt keeps the leeches away and I was keen to keep the leeches away.

Our early arrival allowed for us to see quite a bit of wildlife. We saw a snail, several millipedes, a viper, a few chameleons, several monkeys, and a tarantula.

Seeing the tarantula settled a bit of curiosity we’d had since arriving at our hotel. While checking out the bathroom I noticed something. I called Mike in for a look. I believe my exact words were, “Hey Mike? Are you afraid of spiders? Because we have a pretty big one in here.” Take note of how calm I sounded there. Although Mike is not afraid of spiders… the look on his face was priceless. I’ll leave it at that.

After discovering our house guest we kept the bathroom door firmly closed. Every so often we’d do a little check to see what he was up to. One of his favorite hangouts was the toilet. Kind of inconvenient. At dinner we asked the proprietress if any poisonous spiders lived nearby. She assured us they did not. We weren’t too worried. In fact, we put our hands right up next to the spider for photos to show its giant size. No big deal. Then we showed our rainforest guide our friend… he chunkled. “Tarantula!” Oh. Ooops! I wasn’t too sad to leave that hotel behind.

But back to the hike… it was a nice quiet walk in the woods. We were seeing wildlife and learning valuable information about the guest living in our bathroom. Then we reached the river. The guide looked at me and said, “Now. We cross. No trousers.” “Um, no trousers?” “No trousers.” “Oohhkaay… no trousers.” We decided to just change into our swimsuits in anticipation of a planned swim further down the trail. A little privacy would have been nice. Despite my attempts to convince Mike that the guide was not watching him… he was totally watching him. Kind of awkward. Kind of whatever.

Reaching the waterfall was worth dropping trou in front of a stranger. The water was a bit chilly but nice to swim in. Sticking my wet legs back into my jeans? Not so pleasant.

After the hike we went back to our hotel to rest, have lunch, and bid farewell to our pet tarantula. We were off to see some elephants!

xo, jill

…and in style.

After a nice breakfast (I ate a lot of toast in Sri Lanka), it was time to say goodbye to the beach. It wasn’t easy to leave behind these pretty waters, but we were ready for some inland adventure.

Apparently, the route we chose wasn’t too popular with tourists. The transportation options were a bit limited, but we were encouraged by our hotel owner’s excitement that we’d see beautiful landscapes. We ended up taking quite the tuk tuk ride… about 3 hours. I couldn’t stop giggling over how ridiculous (and uncomfortable) it would be to take a tuk tuk so far.

When we got a bit closer to our destination, we asked to be taken to a nearby waterfall. That was a challenge. The tuk tuk ripped down what looked more like footpaths than roads. If there had once been pavement, it had been washed out long ago with only random chunks remaining. I kept thinking surely he’d make us get out and walk… but nope. Only when the path entered the bushes did the tuk tuk driver give up. We walked the rest of the way to the peaceful falls.

After the waterfall we continued on our way the Rainforest Lodge. Once again the tuk tuk amazed me by commanding the rough roads, and once again we had to get out and walk the remaining steps to our destination. The lodge is located on the edge of the jungle in the middle of a tea plantation. It is only accessible by foot and boasts amazing views.

Shortly after our arrival the rain began to fall. Now, if you’re currently living in the Pacific Northwest, that might sound like a bad thing. But… if you live in the Middle East… rain is quite the thrill. We did a little a dance.

We spent the rest of the day reading and relaxing. Mike did a little exploring around the grounds until the leeches drove him back inside. Those things are gross. You can imagine how excited I was for our potentially wet rainforest hike the next morning…

xo, jill

The turtles are back.

After spending some time on the beach, we did a bit of exploring. Our first stop? Another turtle hatchery! I supposed you can’t see too many turtles in one day.

Next we drove out to see some of the stilt fishermen. The fish weren’t out at the time but the sun looked pretty.

With just the last few bits of sunlight, we visited a spice garden. There’s not too much to see there, just samples plants of the different spices, before you’re ushered into the gift shop. The spice garden was on a lake and I really liked the look of the boats on the water.

We returned to our hotel after dark and ate dinner out on the beach.

xo, jill

The popular beach.

After our breakfast we spent a few more hours on the beach. Mike took out another surf board and I finished reading Zeitoun.

On our way out of Hikkaduwa we stopped at a temple. A monk showed us around and explained some of the depictions on the walls.

Not too long later, we arrived in Unawatuna. Our hotel was right on the water (probably a bit too close to be responsible even) and we had an awesome mosquito net.

After dropping off our things we took a walk to a vegetarian restaurant we were both excited to visit. The food was delicious. With lunch out of the way it was time to get back on the beach!

xo, jill

And it’s not the last of them either.

Our second morning, we (as in, Mike) had plans to be up early (as in, before the sun). We didn’t quite make that deadline but it was an early morning nonetheless. There aren’t too many people on the beach at 7am… better for photos.

Before too long we were in the back of a tuk tuk heading towards a turtle hatchery. Turtle eggs are a tasty treat to some in Sri Lanka. To help dissuade people from enjoying this delicacy, the hatcheries pay the locals to collect the eggs on the beach and bring them to safety. The turtles are able to hatch in a protected area, safe from predators.

The turtle keeper let Mike hold a big one…

but just the little ones for me.

Baby turtles are pretty cute.

The owner offered to let us release a baby for a “donation” but we declined. According to a few articles I read before the trip, this is bad practice because it has a negative effect on the life of the turtles, which normally would not enter the sea in daylight. The focus of the hatcheries should be on the turtles… not pandering to tourists (in my opinion). But enough of that.

After the hatchery we happened upon more turtles! While we were walking along the beach back towards town, a self proclaimed “Turtle Man” guided some giant turtles into shallow water. He handed us some seaweed and pulled us in. It was a very awkward moment of privilege to have this man completely ignore the giant group of school children (in uniform), who were also there to see the turtles, in favor of catering to us. When I offered to let a child feed the turtle, Turtle Man told me the experience was just for us. I guess he knew who had the money because a tip was requested shortly thereafter.

We continued our walk along the water and sought out some breakfast. Once there Mike could barely keep his eyes off of this guy:

xo, jill

We finally meet.

There’s not too too much to say about the beginnings of our trip to Sri Lanka. I would just dive right in to the more interesting stuff… but it doesn’t feel natural. I’m so linear that way. I’ll at least try to make it quick!

It was a long wait at the airport due to fog delays.

We arrived in Colombo a bit later than expected and set about getting a taxi down to Hikkaduwa. Mike found us a deal, which later turned out to be a miscommunication which is how I’m choosing to describe a potential scam. But for the time being, we were happy. Sleepy, but happy.

Four hours later we reached our hotel in the dark and in the rain. We ran out to the beach for a hot second before the rain drove us back in.

Our first morning we walked along the beach seeking breakfast and surfboards.

Turns out, I’m a better surfer in the chilly waters off the Oregon coast and in the company of my sister. I ditched the surfing and played on a boogie board while Mike kept at it. Naturally, there’s not evidence of this as we were warned to not leave our camera on the beach.

Later in the day we hired a scooter and scooted around town. It’s always more interesting to get away from the tourist strip and see where daily life takes place.We found the lake and relaxed there for a bit before racing back to the beach for the sunset. (Note: Sitting on the back of a scooter is the perfect time to start singing annoying Shania Twain songs in your driver’s ear. Especially if you can change the lyrics to give it a much more personal touch.)

The cloudy skies foiled our sunset viewing plans…

but didn’t stop us from taking silly photos.

With not much going on in town, we had dinner at a place that claims to show feature films. I say “claims” because whatever we were watching, it was not 2012 as advertised. Not that low-low-low budget films can’t be amazing… but when it’s the world that’s ending, you kinda gotta go for broke.

Excitement picks up on day 2. Don’t you worry.

xo, jill