Entry 1 - December 30, 2005

Wow! After nearly two days of traveling we finally made it to the Colombo airport in Sri Lanka, and I can honestly say it felt great to be back on the ground. The airport itself was nice and it wasn't until we stepped outside that it really sank in that here I am standing halfway around the world in a culture that is so different from my own. There were many people waiting outside the airport for friends and relatives and it seemed very intimidating as we made our way to the charter bus that would be our transportation for our trip. We are lucky to have a great tour guide named Upali who definitely knows his stuff when it comes to Sri Lanka. After leaving the airport we drove about an hour to get to our hotel. Driving is very different here than in the US. Not only do they drive on the opposite side of the road the streets are very crowded and it doesn't seem like there are many laws (or at least ones the people follow) about driving.

Our hotel was a lovely place where we got a chance to relax by the pool and see the wonderful Indian Ocean. I learned a good lesson while we were exploring before dinner; do not take a picture of a snake that is being charmed it you aren't willing to give the charmer a tip (usually one American dollar). I unfortunately had no money with me and felt bad about saying no. This is common in Sri Lanka to have people want to do things then expect tips, but I remind myself this is their job and they would like to make some money each day.

The dinner we had our first night was at the Colombo Rowing Club and it was set up in an open-air room with a Sri Lankan buffet. It was interesting to try all the different foods, but a lot of them were very spicy. My favorite was the hopper!

On our second day we traveled to elephant orphanage in Pinnawala where we watched four baby elephants being fed and then saw the whole herd travel to the river to bathe and cool off. It was such a cool thing to watch and you could walk right up to the elephants to get a picture with them. These elephants are trained to be tame, but Upali told us some males had to be chained away from the other females. After lunch we made about a 350 feet ascend to see the famous Buddhist cave temples at Dambulla. There were four caves total all with different Buddha statues. After the temple we drove about thirty minutes to Sigiriya. It isn't a big city like Colombo but the hotel is very nice. We got to relax out by the pool before our buffet dinner. The fresh fruit is amazing!

Today (Dec 30) started off with a bang, literally, as the hotel staff threw a firecracker into the trees to scare away the monkeys who liked breakfast as much as we did. After a great breakfast of fruit loops we set off to hike up the rock fortress in Sigiriya. It is about 600 feet tall and is amazing because all that is around are plains so it sticks out a little bit. The hike up wasn't bad and we were rewarded with a fantastic view from the top. The rock fortress was originally home to one of the kings of Sri Lanka's son who was attempting to defend it from his brother, but he ended up being unsuccessful. It seemed amazing that he lived on top of this huge rock with an army and then all his staff to serve him. The next part was the best thing since we have been here. We went on an elephant ride! Not only did we get to go on the elephant's back, we took turns riding on the neck, which is a lot like riding a horse. It was so much fun!

This afternoon we visited the remains of the ancient capital city of Ceylon, Polonnaruwa. We also went to a woodcarving factory to see different types of wood and how they crave the beautiful statues we had been seeing throughout Sri Lanka. We also saw how they are able to make their own natural dyes. What a great two days, I hope the rest of our trip goes this well!