A Brief Layover in Singapore

After our adventures in Cambodia, we headed off for our super-layover in Singapore. The airport was amazing and we got through immigration and customs very easily. We also found out that you definitely don't want to be a drug trafficker and be caught in Singapore. It was clearly posted in numerous places that the punishment for that is death. Whoa.

Our taxi ride to the hotel was great, if you’re okay with your driver belching at a pace of about two times per minute...for a twenty minute ride. So...it was actually pretty terrible. Each belch reduced the tip amount he was going to get. By the end he technically earned a negative tip, so he just got the regular fare. Gross.

We decided to spend our first day there by going to the huge Gardens by the Bay complex. There are a series of gardens within the sprawling area and it is very kid friendly...and hot. After drying off from our sweaty journey, we got some food and found the kids play area. There were a few playgrounds and a big splash pad. Amanda and Annabelle both cooled off as we all listed to the Disney-themed soundtrack play in the background. After sufficiently embarrassing our child by singing along to our favorite Disney songs, we headed back home for an early night.

The next day we headed to Jurong Bird Park. We saw a show with a bunch of birds, rode a trolley through the entire park, and then of course played at the splash pad there, too. We also spent some time in a huge enclosed area they have for their Lories, which we directly fed out of plastic cups full of nectar. Not only does this park have a vast array of birds, they also have a strong focus on conservation of all wildlife and their habitats. It was very well done.

After the bird park we went straight back to the airport and headed "home" to Hyderabad.

Cambodia: The land of temples…and numerous types of massages

or Wat, among other temples in the area. The easiest way to get to Cambodia from Hyderabad is via Singapore. Easy enough. Unless the only flight from Cambodia to Singapore gets in AFTER the only flight from Singapore to Hyderabad leaves.  So, we shifted our plans to basically spend a day in Singapore. Then that flight got cancelled and moved to the next day. So our layover turned into a two day stay!  But back to this post…

Getting to Siem Riep, Cambodia was pretty easy; especially since we applied for our visas online before the trip. That allowed us to bypass about 95% of the other passengers and get through immigration lickety split! Then we had to decide whether or not to exchange dollars for the local currency (Riel). We passed...and it’s a good thing we did. The exchange rate is about 4,000:1...and everyone accepts US Dollars; some exclusively.

Because of the overnight flight we had to take, we decided to "relax" at the hotel for the day. But when Annabelle's definition of relaxing is to swim for almost two hours, it ended up being a pretty tiring day.

We decided to spend the next day touring the main temples in the area: Angkor Wat, Bayan (main temple in Angkor Thom), and Ta Prohm. Each of the temples is approximately 800 to 1,000 years old and in various states of restoration.

Angkor Wat is the most popular temple in the area and surrounded by a huge man-made moat. This protected the temple from too much encroachment from the forest for hundreds of years. It was initially built as a Hindu temple to the god Vishnu; which was uncommon as most Hindu temples were/are for Shiva. The main legend of this temple was about the struggle between the gods and demons. In order to remain immortal, the gods needed holy water. To obtain this they had to move a mountain into the sea. They then wrapped a snake/serpent around the mountain; which the gods and demons struggled against each other to pull. The pulling of the snake made the mountain spin...thereby creating the holy water. This story was carved into one on the walls of the temple. Over the years, the temple eventually converted into a Buddhist temple, again into a Hindu temple, and finally back into a Buddhist temple as it remains today.

There are five large towers and three levels to Angkor Wat, with the third level being the most holy where there are several shrines to Buddha. In order to get to them you have to climb a very steep set of stairs...not made any easier by the high heat and humidity; by our standards at least. And due to how sacred the space is there are no kids are allowed (neither are "sexy ladies", which we heard more than a few times from the security guys there). Annabelle was actually perfectly fine staying back with our guide, Chai, so we headed up for about 15 minutes. The craftsmanship and architecture are incredible, as are the shrines.

When we got back down we were all a little steamy, but luckily Chai knew of an ice cream shop which helped Annabelle press on to get out of the complex.

Our next stop was Bayan temple within the ancient city of Angkor Thom. This one started as Buddhist, but also went through the ol’ Hindu-back-to-Buddhist conversion. This temple was quite different than Angkor Wat, with many more towers that had several faces circling each one. There were a number of shrines there: a handful are Hindu, but the rest Buddhist. There was also quite a bit of restoration being done in a joint effort between UNESCO, The Kingdom of Cambodia, and Japan.

Next stop was an awesome lunch with some very good Khmer curry. (“Khmer” is an encompassing term in the area for the region, people, language, food, you name it.) We got an air conditioned room and recharged for the afternoon.

Our last planned stop was to the so-called "Tree Temple": Ta Prohm. This was also going through some serious restoration, thanks to help from India. As opposed to the other temples we visited, this is a long and relatively flat complex. Over the years, trees were able to take root and grow through the crevices in the stones used to construct the temple. This resulted in many trees actually growing over the walls of the temple. Very cool.

After exiting Ta Prohm, Annabelle and Griff had to get a coconut to share. With that refreshing jolt, we had one more temple left in us. This was one of the first temples in the area, over 1,000 years old and actually made out of brick. A lot of it had to be restored (with help from Germany), but the main shrine to Vishnu had been very well maintained.

We spent the entire next day in Siem Reap. A short tuk-tuk ride into town got us to the main tourist areas and we could walk everywhere we needed to once we got there. (The tuk-tuks here are motorbikes with carriages attached.)

 The first crazy thing we saw were foot massages...by fish. "Please feed our hungry fish your dead skin." Yup...you put your feet in and the fish eat the dead skin off. Lovely, right? We passed on that. Then it was into the old market; a large indoor market where you can buy produce, fresh fish and other meat, and myriad souvenirs.  We were apparently too inquisitive with prices in one of the first shops. When Amanda asked the woman a price of maybe the fourth or fifth item...the woman paused for a moment, started folding up a dress and said, "Don't ask if you not going to buy."  Burn. Other than that we had a good time bartering.

After lunch, we wanted to check out the Night Market area, but it wasn't open yet...at 3:00 in the afternoon...go figure. So instead the girls decided to get pedicures at a local shop. I got a little bored and decided to go for a walk. Bad idea. Very. Bad. Idea.

It turns out that the vigor with which people offer massages increases quite a bit as a lone male. In no less than two minutes I got four offers. The first woman almost smacked me with her massage menu when I said "no, thank you"...I knew at that point something was a little different. The second woman simply asked me "why not" as I walked by; a little better...what a nice lady (maybe not...see below). The third offer came from a lovely gentleman lounging in a chair and in the form of several loud kissing gestures. The fourth is what really got to me (so far).  She didn't want to give me a chance to say no and keep walking, as evidenced by her pressing her entire body against mine and literally pushing me (hey, watch those hands, lady!) several times toward her shop.

Whoa. Okay. So, at the end of the block I realized I now had to turn around and walk the gauntlet again. The Aggressor ignored me this time, but my guy friend had to ask me a few times "why not" as I kept walking. I was able to muster a smile and a laugh for him, at least. But then...that nice little lady from before came up again, closer. This time it was, "You want massage? ... I put inside." Now, I can ONLY assume she meant she'd put my bag inside the massage parlor for safekeeping..............right?  C'mon, you know better than that. And so did I.

I got back to nail place and was shell-shocked. Amanda knew something was up immediately, but I decided it best to wait to give her the details until our child was out of earshot. Wowee zowee. That was quite the experience.

To calm down a bit we went on a shopping spree and got some pretty good deals, including a nice backpack for our Europe trip and a new suitcase to hold all the other stuff we had to buy.  We also found a catholic church hidden in a corner of town, which was an interesting experience.  They definitely adapted to local culture as they had everyone remove shoes and sit on the floor during mass (no standing and very limited kneeling).  They also had a very interesting sculpture of Mary and some great music to rock out to.  Even though we were hot and tired, we were very glad we went.  Very cool experience.

On our last day we found a vegetarian restaurant that had a bunch of fair-trade items, as well as a yoga class. There was also a bonus swing in the mix for Annabelle.  This whole complex was amazing. It was remarkably difficult to find vegetarian food in Cambodia, so the fact that this place had yoga, swings, fair trade products, and it was exclusively vegetarian meant that we needed to spend the whole day there!

So, we got to experience some amazing ruins, lots of bartering, great food, yoga, pedicures for the girls, and I even got propositioned for the first time in my life. SUCCESS! Thanks Cambodia!

Do they do the Chikan dance at weddings in Lucknow?

Our next trip ended up being to Lucknow; which is in the North/East part of India. One of my coworkers, Astika, was getting married and invited us to the various ceremonies. We flew through Delhi, which of course meant a stop at the glorious Starbucks at the airport there. Hooray! A long layover also meant Annabelle (and Amanda) got to shop for accessories for the wedding.

We arrived in Lucknow in the early evening and it was quite different than the other cities in India we've been to. It's less of a big city (although it is of course still quite big, all things considered). The traffic was very heavy, but always seemed to be moving along; which was a welcome change.  We arrived at our hotel with an extremely tired girl and a close-to-very-sick mom. A bed and some NyQuil (just for Amanda...promise) did the trick for them.

With the girls solidly passed out, I decided to head to a pre-wedding get-together that Astika and Abhi were hosting. It was at a local restaurant and just a small event for friends. Aside from great food (as always), I also tried a water pipe for the first time and caught up with an old colleague who now works in Dubai (Simon). After few drinks, Simon and I got one last drink. But, when that was done we decided we'd have just one more. That happened two more times...thanks Simon.

When the party was over Simon told me he was sure his auto driver was still there because he gave him a good tip on the way there. Here's some advice...promise your driver a really good tip at the END of the night IF he sticks around for you... Don’t front the good tip. After it settled in that we didn’t have anyone waiting for up, our next great decision was to start walking around Lucknow at midnight for a new auto. After about 15 minutes we were lost. Luckily, Astika and her brother were driving home and randomly found us. After bartering a bit on price, they gave us a good deal and we were headed home! Just kidding on the bartering, of course. They gave us a great deal to start with.

The next day we spent some time exploring the city. The first part of the day included a quick trip to the Chikan markets (a type of handmade stitched clothing) and a park visit for some serious swinging. We found a massive swing about 15-20 feet long and proceeded to make Amanda quite nervous.

We then headed over to a shopping area where Amanda came REALLY close to getting a lehenga for the wedding, but it would have been extreme right timing since the wedding was that night at 8:00*.  We then met our friend Kavita (also there for the wedding) for some good local food before heading back to get ready for the wedding.

* 8:00 was listed in the invite, so we should have known to add at least 90 minutes to that...but didn't.

For the wedding, Annabelle wore a new lehenga, I wore a kurta and vest, and Amanda busted out her sari from our last trip. We were able to enlist the help of someone at the front desk to help Amanda dress herself in the sari. After half an hour and a phone call to her mother for advice...she got the sari on Amanda and we were off!

We arrived right "on time", but were greeted only by Astika's parents and everyone preparing food for the wedding. We were perfectly fine with it, but someone actually called Astika and she talked to Amanda and apologized for not being there. We felt terrible, but it does go to show how amazing the people we got to know while here are.

While Annabelle watched some guys prepping paratha for about 15 minutes, we checked out the rest of the venue. It was a big open area with chairs and a huge decorated stage set up. Around the perimeter were a lot of various food and drink stations for guests. There was also a small dance floor that kept all the kids entertained for a while. And no…they don’t do the Chikan dance at weddings.  It was just a bad pun used for a creative title to the blog.

Eventually more and more people showed up, including Astika. She was quickly shuffled away to prepare more, but was absolutely gorgeous in her wedding attire (a red lehenga and a LOT of jewelry). Then we heard some commotion, music, and fireworks. This was Abhi's entrance - a lot of fanfare. We didn't see it, but I imagine he came riding up to the venue of a white horse, which is very common (at least up North). After that, people went back to eating and visiting as if nothing was really going on. They continued to do so even when Astika started processing down the aisle. We almost didn't notice it and people had to actually be asked to love out of the way for her. Crazy.

There was a brief garland ceremony and then a loooong series of pictures, including some with us in them. Then came dinner which was incredible. The paratha that Annabelle watched being prepped earlier was fantastic. And they cooked it inside a huge heated pot by slapping the rolled out dough on the inside of the pot. We ate and chatted with others for a while and it was 11:30 before we knew it. Annabelle was going strong, but we knew we had to leave before a meltdown. Ice cream was the perfect bribe, as usual, but not before saying thank you and goodbye to Astika and Abhi. We missed the main ceremony that was a couple of hours later in the wee morning hours, but it was quite the experience overall. And Annabelle fell asleep with a cone in her mouth on the ride home...

 The next day we had a late start in order to sleep in, but then headed out to the Kukrail Reserve Forest Northeast of town. It was a huge park area where they had a bunch of playgrounds, a crocodile hatchery, and some other open space with wild animals. After walking through most of the park we headed back for some swing time. There were a lot of school groups there at that time and we ended up being the main attraction for them. Annabelle usually attracts small groups, but this ended up being a huge crowd. Since Lucknow is smaller the residents probably don't see as many tourists, explaining the crowd we got. But the park was huge and we were able to find a secluded swing for a while.

When we left, a troop of monkeys crossed our path, which was pretty cool to see. One of the last monkeys stole someone's lunchbox from his bicycle and scooted up on a fence. The man decided to buy some popcorn to bribe the monkey...which almost worked. The monkey politely dropped half the lunchbox when the man approached, then took the popcorn, and proceeded to drop the other half of the lunchbox...on the other side of the fence. Well played. Our last stop was at the Bara Imambara (literally “big shrine”), which is a Muslim shrine dedicated to the martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson, Hussain ibn Ali (and others), in 680 AD. This event is observed annually as the Mourning of Muharram.

And that was Lucknow! It was great to get to experience an Indian wedding and see another part of the country.

Annabelle Takes on the Taj!

Our trip to the Taj started out at around 7:00 in the morning after a quick breakfast. After convincing the hotel staff to not put Annabelle's carseat in the back of the van we rented ("No, our daughter needs to sit in that."), we were off!  It took about an hour to just get from Gurgaon, where we were staying, through Delhi and out of town. That's when we hit the new highway that was built from Delhi to Agra since the last time we were in India. Pretty fantastic in comparison. It's like your everyday toll highway in the United States...other than the random bathroom breaks happening on the side of the road, despite there actually being a couple of rest stops along the way.

The rest stop we went to was really only interesting due to there being some sort of fancy-pants Eastern Europeans stopped there at the same time. They stuck out in India even more than the Lothrops...probably mostly due to their entourage, caravan of vehicles, and heavily armed guards.

Enough of that excitement. As we got into Agra, we went to a nice hotel near the Taj Mahal called The Trident. (There's also one that's halfway operational and halfway still under construction in Hyderabad.) This was intended to be a quick stop, but with a three year old nothing is guaranteed to be quick. We needed a bathroom break...and then second breakfast. After getting done with that we picked up out your guide and headed out.

About 1 km from the Taj Mahal is where we pick up tickets. We got the foreign visitor tickets...which basically cost a lot more, but actually gives you a good amount of perks. This is also where we ditched our combustion engine van for an electric powered oversized golf cart. There are no combustion engines allowed within a certain distance from the Taj in order to keep too much pollution from encroaching, and it makes a noticeable difference.

We entered through the foreigner lane and bypassed a huge group of school children. This is where the local crowd turned into Annabelle's paparazzi. For the rest of the day at the Taj, we garnered a ton of attention, much to Annabelle's chagrin. Not only were we a fair skinned family, but Annabelle opted for her traditional Indian outfit, so I think that added to the allure.

Luckily, our tour guide was great. He was very knowledgeable, told Annabelle a lot of stories about the Queen for whom the Taj was built, and did a good job shielding us from too many people crowding us. 

The Taj Mahal is stunning. The pictures speak for themselves, but it's much more incredible in person.

We made our way to the front entrance to go inside the main structure, which is where the Queen and King (Shah Jahan) rest. You have to wear protective shoe covers (or no shoes) to go in. As my dad knows all too well, Lothrop feet don't fit in just any shoe cover. But I was in luck! They had a fancy oversized shoe cover contraption to fit over giant feet.

When we got to the main entrance, they actually let the three of us in to the main chamber alone for about a minute. It was amazing. There was a man in there who showed us a few cool things, including a certain stone used in the designs throughout the structure that glows when light shines on it. The man also called out "Anna" a few times to let her hear the echo.

When the minute was up, the chamber filled with people: back to reality. 

After we were done, we headed back to the Trident and had a wonderful brunch. I even got some more (sanitary!) pani puri. Could this get better?! Yes. While we were eating someone from the staff came by and told us there was a kids area where we could leave Annabelle for a while. Amanda and I actually enjoyed a few drinks just with each other and Annabelle had a ball playing. A great ending to a great trip.

“Who travels North in December!?” A trip to the “cold” capital of Delhi

While most of our time in India will be spent in Hyderabad, we also have an office in Delhi (Gurgaon, to be specific).  I had some trainings to deliver at that office in early December, so we made a long-weekend out of it to see spend a little more time in Delhi sightseeing and also take another trip to the Taj Mahal.  We were warned by a lot of our co-workers that it would be cold, so we should bring jackets with us.  “Cold” is a relative term in India.  It did get down to about 10 Celsius (50 Fahrenheit) at night, which was refreshing, but it’s nothing compared to the Midwest.  How’s that Polar Vortex 2.0 going, Chicago?

On Friday, December 5 we flew up to Delhi, which is about a 2 hour flight.  We arranged to be picked up at the airport by a hotel car.  They touted the BMW that would greet us at the airport…which would have been great if it weren’t for my 187 cm frame (for those of you not yet on the metric system: http://bit.ly/1BPkZXb), and AB’s gigantic carseat…  After about 15 minutes of manoeuvering in the dark (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPmTGFg06zA), I was cramped into the front seat and we were on our way to the hotel!  The best part of the journey was passing a “Government Approved Drinking Place” (and that place was HOPPING!).

We decided to spend our first day touring Delhi.  The first thing that hit us in the face as we headed into the main part of Delhi, literally and figuratively, was the pollution.  Amanda and I had noticed it seemed bad back in 2010, and we thought we were used to relatively high levels in Hyderabad, but we were shocked at how dense it was almost everywhere we went.  The Wunderground description of the weather conditions was appropriate: “Smoke”.

Our first stop was going to be the National Rail Museum to check out some cool old trains and take some pics to send to AB’s buddy Felix.  But, alas, the museum was closed for renovations.  Apparently it was supposed to have opened up over a month prior…but was delayed.  At least we snapped one picture, despite objections from the “security guard”.

Aside from the emergency bathroom break for AB at a random (awesome) hotel, our next stop was a huge, gorgeous Hindu temple complex: Swaminarayan Akshardham.  There were A LOT of school groups visiting (most schools apparently go 6 days a week), and as we entered Amanda and AB went through the female foreigner’s lane – with the school kids on either side.  As usual, they were enamored with AB and were yelling to get her attention and grabbing at her as they walked through.  Every time we passed by any children for the rest of the time we drew an inordinate amount of attention.  The grounds of the complex are vast, with a number of amazing sculptures and hand-carved pillars/etc.  It was remarkable…but we found out upon entering that cameras weren’t allowed…so no pictures.  Just trust me – it was great.

 

Our next stop was a drive over to India Gate, which is an Indian war memorial.  Before stopping there, we took a drive on the Rajpath, which is a ceremonial road that runs from the residence for the President of India straight to India Gate.  When we were there they were already setting up bleachers for the annual Republic Day parade that occurs on January 26 of each year.  This year President Obama will actually be there for the parade.

Once we got to India Gate, we soon realized that the structure itself wasn’t the most intriguing part of the experience for us.  Lining the street and sidewalks are people (often young children) selling various souvenirs (mostly gimmicky stuff) and lots of food carts.  We were told that Delhi was known for its street food – and it didn’t disappoint.  It got built up a lot…especially by our friend Jai…and I couldn’t let him down by NOT trying something, right? 

The one thing I had to try was pani puri.  I had tried it in a restaurant before, but this was the real-deal.  I was strategizing as we walked around trying to pick the right cart to stop at (there were probably 20-30 that we saw there).  Of course, I ended up stopping at one with an older gentleman who didn’t speak any English – go figure.  Upon telling him I’d like some pani puri (mostly with gestures…accompanied by wide-eyed looks and snickers from locals), he started serving them up.  I’ll note that this is all by hand.  He first starts with a hollow piece of fried dough (puri) that he pokes a hole in.  He then puts a little mixture of potato, onions, and spices in (think of what’s in most samosas) and then dips it into a vat of tamarind sauce and a vat of spicy/tangy flavored water (pani).  From there he plops the filled dough-ball on a platter and I put the whole thing in my mouth.  It’s a large bite, but you have to take it down all at once or you’ll have a huge mess on your hands.  It’s a pretty fantastic blend of flavors: crunchy dough, tender potatoes/onions, sweet, and spicy.  By the time I’m done with the first, he’s already got another loaded up for me.  Gotta keep going.  I was expecting six…but had to tell him to stop after my tenth!  Amanda was fairly horrified with the situation and I think had been making plans for my funeral as soon as I got this idea in my head.  Of course…not horrified enough to not take pictures.  [Note: I am still alive…and didn’t get even a little sick!]

While the pani puri was the adults’ big adventure, the enormous park around the area was definitely AB’s.  The playground there is really a series of similar play areas that stretch for a while.  We hit all of them.  Swings and slides were, as usual, the big hits.  We were definitely the only Westerners in the entire park and AB drew another big following.  Luckily she was distracted enough with having fun that she didn’t notice the hundreds of pictures that were being taken of her while she played.  Don’t worry – we got plenty of evidence to back up her popularity.

And AB even started showing off how assimilated she is becoming with Indian culture by her complete and utter disregard for a line at the slides.  Time after time she marched right up to the stairs for the slide and squeezed herself in like everyone else. 

After a series of bribes, we finally got AB to agree leave the park and head to a Catholic church in the area.  We arrived at the church early and actually got to see the processional from a wedding.  There were a few men playing drums for the crowd as they left the church.  This was close to what we’d expect to see at a wedding in the US: white wedding dress, suits for most of the men, Western looking dresses for most of the women.  [From what we have heard…a Hindu wedding is extremely different.  We need to find a way to get to one of those while we’re here!]  Once the dust settled, we were able to get in for Mass, which was pleasantly normal – until the end.  Before Mass was over, the priest talked for a few minutes encouraging everyone to attend a protest later that week.  There was another Catholic church in the city that had burned to the ground and it was suspected to have been done by arsonists.  Whoa. 

Never a dull moment in this country! 

After church we headed back to the hotel to rest up for the next day when we headed to Agra to see the Taj Mahal.

The Great Sri Lankan Monkey Incident of 2014

As promised, here’s the harrowing monkey tale…

As you’ll recall, we were all set for a nice afternoon relaxing.  AB was going to color, I was going to have what I can only imagine would have been the best beer of the trip so far (probably not true), and Amanda was setting up her spa appointment.

First step was setting up AB (also known as “the bait”) on the balcony.  I then set out my beer and a glass for my part of the afternoon and headed back into the room.  Amanda was on the phone trying to decide on her relaxation package.

All of a sudden, a blood curdling scream comes from the balcony.  It’s AB and she starts running into the room.  My first inclination is obviously that she had found out I had filled in one of the pages to her book and I was in trouble.  No, don’t be silly, my first thought was, “Oh, sh!t, MONKEYS!”.

There’s he is.  A monkey on the table where AB was drawing…and he wants into the room.  Amanda was able to slam the phone down and then slam the door shut before the invasion could occur.  We then sat in abject horror while a team of monkeys began the systematic destruction of our nicely planned afternoon. 

It started with the monkey squad tearing apart AB’s awesome dry-erase princess coloring book and marker.  They must have a lack of fiber in their diet, because that book didn’t last long.  One would check the book out all over…tear off a piece to enjoy…then take another look.  They passed it around and it was eventually dropped into the abyss below.  I didn’t check, but I imagine it was like the river scene from Indiana Jones where people fall to their doom into the crocodile infested river below. 

Then, onto my beer.  My precious, unopened, local, strong, beer that I had been looking forward to for the entire day.  One of the monkeys (meagerly) attempted to open the can.  Sure, monkeys have opposable thumbs, but those dummies won’t be able to take over the world until they can actually crack open a cold one, turn on the football game, and pass out at halftime with one hand down their pants.  Oh…wait…maybe we’ve actually DEvolved…  We should be worried.

Back to the story.  Given his unsuccessful attempt, the monkey knocked the beer off the table and proceeded … to pee all over it.  Good lord, what kind of world are we in!?  The presumed mastermind of the attack then showed up to inspect the beer.  He gave it the old college try, but was also unsuccessful.  However; he did proceed to have relations with a female from the group right in front of our eyes.  Luckily for us, I think he needed that liquid courage to actually perform in front of strangers…and he gave up shortly thereafter.  THOSE DAMN, DIRTY MONKEYS!

Having gone through everything on the balcony they could, the monkey squad moved down to their next unsuspecting victims and we were finally free from their wrath.  After about 10 minutes, I went out to the balcony in a hazardous materials suit (okay, it was just a couple of towels) and opened up my beer.  Don’t worry, Amanda convinced me to not drink it.  However; I did pour it out and leave it for the monkeys for later.  A goodwill gesture of sorts.

The ol’ leader of the pack did, in fact, come back later.  After giving the beer a good sniff he dipped his hand in and gave it a try.  He must have preferred some local arrack and decided he’d pass on finishing the beer.  What a shame.

The fallout from the incident wasn’t too bad.  Turns out the beer was probably not very good (based on the monkey taste-test).  Amanda still got her spa treatment scheduled.  And Annabelle’s demands were only that we get a replacement book when we get back to the US.  Well, one for her and one for her cousin Chloe Grace.

The Week Before Thanksgiving in Sri Lanka!

As dedicated readers of the blog, I’m sure you all remember this “DON’T” from a prior post:

DON’T forget to make sure you booked the Thanksgiving trip to Sri Lanka during the week of Thanksgiving…and not the week before.  Do try to do complete this step more than 24 hours prior to leaving for this trip.

That, my friends, is a little bit of foreshadowing.  Now, you’re about to hear…the rest of the story.

When we found out about our rotation in India, we decided that Sri Lanka might be a good place to visit.  The Associate Pastor at our church was born there, and several of our co-workers in India told us it would be great.  Since we had a few days off from work for Thanksgiving (and work is typically slower at that time) we decided to book the trip for that week.  Leave on Wednesday morning and stay through Sunday.

Sleep deprivation is a funny thing.  To make a long story short, we realized on November 18 that our flight to Colombo, Sri Lanka was on November 19.  It was a bit of a scramble, but we made it work and set off in the morning!

We arrived in mid-afternoon and got a taxi to take us from Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, to Dambulla, which is more toward the center of Sri Lanka.  The 3½ hour ride reminded us a lot of East Africa: similar vegetation, lots of tea, speeding into oncoming traffic to pass a slow-moving vehicle on a road barely big enough for a Smart Car, spice farms, and fresh produce everywhere.  We arrived at our hotel, the Heritance Kandalama, just in time for dinner.  After traveling all day I needed a beer…and apparently I also needed to be covering my provocative legs at dinner…resulting in me being dressed in a sarong for the evening.

On Thursday, we decided to hang out around the hotel, tour the Eco Park, and go on a jungle trek.  Our guide was a tiny, old man who had grown up in the area.  He had been working for the hotel for 10 years and learned to speak English (fairly well) from the guests he took on tours.  We navigated through some fairly thick jungle and a few waterways…some more successfully than others.  Apparently we visited Sri Lanka during their rainy season – whoops.  We saw lots of butterflies along the way, some ancient village structures, and ended at a small village where we were presented with some tea and AB was magnetically attracted to a swing.  No surprise there.  But this was a pretty cool wooded swing and got AB pretty high in the air.  Wait, what’s that?  It’s not wood?  Oh…it’s an old elephant leg bone?  Great – even better!

Later that day we encountered several monkeys visiting our balcony.  The guests above us had “accidentally” dropped a banana near our balcony.  Given the signage everywhere telling us to keep our doors locked and not feed the monkeys, we were surprised.  The few that came all did a pretty good job sharing, and the little guy who finished it up had a cleft palate!  Very interesting.

Friday started off with Amanda getting a private yoga session with a visiting spiritual/fitness know-it-all from the Maldives. Emily Evelyn (yeah, that’s her name) guided Amanda though a very relaxing yoga session…and effectively sold us on visiting her resort in the Maldives (hopefully in March). 

We then headed off to the city of Dambulla to visit the Buddhist Cave Temples.  Many years ago a ruler of the island was deposed and sought refuge in the hills.  Buddhist monks took him in for many years until he eventually regained power.  To offer his gratitude, the ruler commissioned five cave temples to be made with various and numerous statues of Budda placed in each one.  The hike to get to the caves was quite the ascent, especially with a wriggly 17 kg three year-old on your shoulders.  And the descent included a pit stop for said three year-old off in the forest.  Grandpa John would be proud.

The next stop was at a spice farm.  Again, the similarities to East Africa were abundant… coriander, cloves, vanilla, chocolate, pepper, ginger, cinnamon, turmeric, etc.  It was a lot of fun to see AB experience the fun of seeing all the spices grow and then getting to try some out at the end.  The tour ended with tasting an eggplant chutney, some spice tea, hot chocolate, and a straight-up shirt-off (for Griffin, at least) massage with some ayurvedic lotions.  After avoiding purchasing the $100 bottle of vanilla extract, we headed out with some nice (smaller) parting gifts from the farm.  And on our way back we even stopped at a “Wine Shop” for a couple local beers and a bottle of Arrack, a distilled liquor made from the nectar off of coconut tree flowers.

Sidebar: Since I brought up coconuts, I think I should describe how awesome the food was in Sri Lanka.  For local food, the influence of coconut in what seemed like everything was heavenly.  A spicy coconut dish they had at every meal was called sambol.  There could be a national shortage of this now based on my consumption…  The resort also had some great Asian and Western options – a welcome reprieve from the cornucopia of curries we’ve been consuming.

Our journey on Saturday took us to Sigiriya Rock.  For those of you familiar, this is a similar geological structure to Devil’s Tower in Wyoming: rock in the middle of a relatively level landscape.  As the high ground in the area the top of the rock was essentially a naturally guarded fortress.  The ascent again included a ridiculous amount of steps.  However; the route included numerous cave dwellings, amazing architecture built into and up to the rock, a series of beautiful frescos, and an intermediate landing point (before the final ascent) that featured a huge entrance to the stairs above framed by enormous lion’s paws.  The only damper (so to speak) on the experience was the torrential downpour we experienced at the lion’s paws.  Darn that rainy season!  Even still, Amanda and I each individually climbed the rickety metal staircase to the top to experience the ruins of a huge complex at the top of the rock. 

Again, that afternoon I needed a beer (recurring theme?).  We were set up perfectly to have a nice relaxing time where AB could color on the balcony, Dad could enjoy a beer, and Amanda could get a spa treatment.  Step one was being completed, when “The Great Sri Lankan Monkey Incident of 2014” occurred.  You guys, this experience deserves its own post.  It’s pretty great.  Stay tuned.

Moving on…we set out EARLY on Sunday morning for our trip back to the airport.  On the way, we arranged a stop at an elephant orphanage.  For those of you who know…this is yet another link to East Africa where the Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage is located.  This orphanage is a bit different than Sheldrick, but they guys still have it pretty good.  They have a huge open area to roam and get tons (literally) of fresh greens to eat each day.  There were even a few two year only “babies” that we got to bottle-feed.  AB was super excited about the prospects of doing this until she realized the sheer mass of these “toddlers”.  But still, she and Amanda got to feed one a liter of milk…in about three seconds flat…before the elephant proceeded to have about 15 more.

After feeding time, it’s time for the elephants to head down for a nice dip in the river and some bathing.  Amanda got an up-close view of the herd trampling down what amounts to a loading dock into the river where they get some nice free time to hang out.  It was amazing to get to see them in their (relatively) natural habitat while in the river.  A great way to end our premature trip to Sri Lanka!