Shopping ... Are we talking about shopping?

This one took a little while to come out because Monday was a day of mixes - Shopping, some desired and some bonus; seeing the devastation of the earthquake firsthand; seeing the incredible spirit of Nepalese people; and listening to my guide discuss Buddhism and Hinduism, architecture, and politics.

The Holy Man. Note the building devastation in the background.

My two for the price of three selfie.

I wanted to find things to do that wouldn't be covered by our tour so the first thing that I did was walk Thamel. Thamel is the section of Kathmandu filled with hotels, and usually their restaurants; shops catering to tourists; and all that goes with it. It really isn't much different than anywhere else except for two things - Nepal really doesn't have great infrastructure ( more on that in a future blog) and everyone is ALWAYS cleaning. I mean there are people sweeping at any point of the day. Dust is omnipresent.



A spice shop

Garuda - Shiva's transport

So on my walk, I found out what Marketing looks like. It is little different than in India, Sri Lanka, Peru or I am guessing anywhere else emerging in the world that relies on tourism.the first tactic is to greet you and pull you into the shop through conversation and asking for your business. It certainly wasn't as aggressive as elsewhere but it is the tactic. The next tactic is to maximize location through the numbers game - send out droves of late teens that have foreign language skills to convince tourists to walk to their shop. I loved the variant here, however, - the four people that approached me had listened to their trainers well. The conversation always started with asking how I was and where I was from. The answer that I was from the US quickly drew the response "Washington, DC! That is your capital." To be followed with a listing of the major US cities in descending order of population.  I'm not sure American kids could pull it off. Honestly, there was nothing wrong with the process as they were obviously just trying to drum up business.

Placards everywhere of what the empty lot was supposed to be

The temple where the 3-5 year old is tested to see if she is the incarnation of Kali.

Buddha in his many meditation positions.

Even the living goddess Kali's buildings need support.

 

The temple with the Kama Sutra carved into the stone and wood.

A still standing temple

So then I was off to Dhabar Square. It was a tough walk, but not due to distance or topography. It was through an obvious working class neighborhood but one that obviously had been hit HARD by the earthquake. Many buildings were cracked, bricks were everywhere, lots - while clear of debris, had not had construction restarted. In short, if it still kept some rain off you then you still lived in it. And first floor shop keepers and families were clearly losing the battle to dust in a very valiant way.

At the square I was approached by a holy man. I knew I had to pay for a picture, so I did. It isn't really optional but didn't get a blessing in return as I had expected though. I was approached by a gentlman that said he was a guide and asked if I had heard about the living goddess. I tried to brush him off as I figured this was a shopping opportunity waiting to happen, but am glad he was persistent.  Dilip was just the kind of guide I like. We talked architecture, culture, religion, philosophy schools, and politics. I learned and saw the living incarnation of Kali. I saw the temple decorated with the Kama Sutra built in the 17th century "to bolster the population and keep Nepal from being swallowed up since it is on the doormat of India and China". I learned about the consolidation of Nepal. That it was a closed country until 1947. I also heard a lot about the hippie tourism of the 70s. Four hours passed in what felt like no time.

At this point I was tired and hungry, so I started off back to the hotel. The destruction was tough to

see. It was tough as craftsmen approached with varying degree of desperation to sell you something. I also had been warned by Dilip of a scam where someone follows you to your destination claiming to be your guide and then asks you to buy them food. They take you to a grocery store where you buy
something and then they return it. My scam artist turned out to be an 11 year old girl. Thankfully she was hitting me up for clothes and not food. I told her I wasn't going to buy her clothes but would give her a hundred rupees to turn around and let me walk in peace. The results were hilarious - she took the money but told me that if People give money to children it teaches them bad habits. She seemed surprised when I said that it seemed the same to me. So she followed for a while trying to explain that buying her something she returned was less of a bad influence than giving her cash.

Once I got back for my very late lunch, I decided to book a mountain flight and enjoy a nearby garden. I didn't need anymore shopping for the day.

My afternoon sanctuary

It is why you always ask questions ...

The start of the journey is always the hardest part for me ... You know what you hope to see and do but you much more tangibly what you are leaving behind. You know you are leaving a pile of work behind regardless of how hard youtried to make sure everything was left cleanly, you know it isn't. You know you are leaving family responsibilities behind for the boys and the cat. And I am sure there was a basket of laundry to be folded and a room still left with clothes that didn't make the cut that were piled high somewhere in that mix. So you have to help yourself sort through the pictures you hope to get (and hopefully one that can be turned into a print for the wall at home), the experiences of hiking and learning about new cultures, the learning how to cook Nepalese food, the rafting, and the exhilaration of traveling somewhere where you know nothing. That may be the aspect that I love the most - the realizing that everything you thought you knew may not help you answer your question you face on the road. In the end you get on the plane for that very reason.

So getting to Chicago was super easy and a shoutout to American Airlines for doing a technical update right. Saturday was their first day of a new traveler facing kiosk. They had plenty of staff to sort you through it .... Which I needed because Travelocity dropped a letter of my name which makes the auto-passport review process logic not work so well. In Chicago, I was amazed how alien the international terminal 5 was at O'hare. But the Etihad Airways team did a great job of keeping me from standing in the insane line (because I asked a question) and so getting to he gate was a breeze.

Unfortunately the next 15 hours weren't so much of a breeze. Wow when you have to rebook flights a week in advance, you get hosed. I ended up in a middle seat on a row of 5. It worked out fine but I may have bought the business class seat if I had known how bad being in the LAST row with no reclining seat and row mates that are more portly than I would be feeling with 8 hours to go.

I got to Abu Dhabi where for a mere guarantee that you have $1400 to your name you can leave the airport on a layover. Unfortunately, I only had two hours between flights (the originally rebooked schedule called for 6) so I didn't make it out into the desert.

And then it was onto the 4 hour flight to Nepal. An uneventful flight except I was finally able to sleep  and got to make friends with some Nepalese that were returning from vacationing in Vancouver. They ended up with an even worse travel experience than I did due to China Southern cancelling their flights so that question asking  worked in my favor again.

And last but certainly not least, I arrived in Nepal. Where you can't buy you Nepalese visa with Nepalese rupees but they do take Visa. And I go outside to be greeted but he onslaught of taxi drivers and porters .... And there isn't a sign for me. So I walk back to the terminal to pull up my contact's number and determine that my phone isn't connecting. So now I am screwed. But then that old ask a question thing pops back in my mind and I again face the gauntlet, but this time I ask, "Bohemian Tours?" Note I didn't pick the tour because of the company name so no grief on that one. And someone identifies himself - with the wrong sign apologizing that he picked up the wrong sign. He keeps apologizing and explaining but I know that after 28 hours I am getting in his van, even if he is a serial killer. But he insists in showing me an official looking document with my name on it before I put my luggage in the car.

After a good night's sleep, I woke up before breakfast time at the Thamel Eco Resort to roosters to write this and start the adventure ... 

Day 6 -- When travel attacks

So after a relaxing end to day 5, I wake up early and raring to go. I finally have hoppers (the Sri Lankan breakfast of choice). The hopper is similar to a tortilla, but in the shape of a bowl with much thinner sides and tastes like rice flour. With  your hoppers come veggies or curried meat and sambal (onions, garlic, chili paste and spices used as a condiment). I had the chicken curry sambal with both spicy and sweet sambal. The other thing you can do is have a sunny side up egg in the bottom of your hopper. I skipped that as I am not a runny egg fan. For the record, the spicy sambal at Casa Colombo was almost too spicy hot for me. That may be a first.

As I had about 50 minutes to kill, my domo from the hotel took me to Sri Lanka's largest gem house. I ended up being 15 minutes late to meet Ruwan, but he was 40 minutes late so I was ok there. Did I mention yet that Sri Lankans drink sweet tea like form the South. As I was cooling my heels, I had another. Yeah, it is almost perfect here.

The lateness factors in because we hit horrendous traffic and I ended up being 10 minutes too late to board my direct flight to Bangalore. It was tough being cross with Ruwan for being late because of all the great things that he had done for me AND he was so late because he was buying me a very special gift. In every wood carving shop, I was looking for a cross. I was raised that you should always have a cross in your house and I wanted to buy one from Sri Lanka made out of coconut wood as a reminder of the trip. As Ruwan is Christian and religion is a common discussion topic here because no one gets offended over the differences, we talked a little religion on our drives. He knew I was looking for one because I commented that all the shops had Hindu and Buddhist wood carvings, but no crosses.So thanks to Ruwan, I have a cross.

So I sat in the Colombo airport for a couple hours to fly to Chennai to fly to Bangalore. In the Colombo airport, I had the weirdest experience. I'll talk to anyone (insert your own comment here). Sri Lankans are also naturally friendly. So as I am waiting to enter the gate (there is also security screening at each gate), the TSA agent starts up a conversation as his partners are all still on break between planes and I am super early.

As all conversations with Sri Lankans do, this one gets VERY personal quickly. I think the third question was, "Are you married?" Being too honest for my own good, I tell him that I am getting divorced. He is sad for me and then proceeds to try to analyze the marriage with me and the problems. And then he asks, "So you really aren't married, or won't be married soon, right?" You've got it buddy. And then he asks me if I find Sri Lankan women attractive. I was too dumb to be uncomfortable before, but now I am really worrying where this is going. Kumara proceeds to then show me pictures of a woman on a cell phone and I start feeling better because he just wants me to compliment how attractive his girlfriend is and that is easy because she is very pretty. And then it happens, "Do you want to make a match with her?" I laugh. He tells me that he is serious. This is his sister and she needs to marry now. I laugh a VERY nervous laugh. He goes into sales pitch mode. She is 28, has never been married, speaks English well, has an education, etc.

So what do you do? This guy can make my life miserable in about 10 more minutes and I just spent two minutes telling him how awesome this girl looks (and she does). So I go into the not ready to be married response and he has an answer for that. I do the she'll want kids and he says she'll do what I want. Man this guy is good. I may hire him at work to negotiate with partners for us. Then karma intervenes. His supervisor comes with a new crew for shift change. So I morph into the can I have your number phase so he'll move on when I know I'll never call. And the day progresses.

I can't recommend the Chennai airport. It was insanely busy, flies everywhere, and a lot like the Delhi train station. But I landed in Bangalore and am ready to start the work portion of the trip today.

Sri Lankan Driving School

I forgot this story that I think is NASCAR worthy. As we were discussing driving, Ruwan shared a lesson that every Sri Lankan learns on their first day of driving lessons at 17 to prepare for their license at 18 -- drive to the back end of cows and towards dogs' heads. Cows and dogs are all over and constantly claiming sections of the road as theirs. The logic is that cows are slow and don't normally change direction so drive where they just left -- like in a NASCAR wreck. Dogs, on the other hand, change directions frequently so driving at his head will make it move out of the way away from your car. I think the story says it all.

And the best part is that as a learner you are branded -- literally with a scarlet letter. You get a big, red "L" on your car, truck, or three wheel auto-rickshaw. I think it stands for learner, but given how slow these "L"'s are driving -- maybe it stands for loser. Certainly the amount of honking they get would indicate that.

I did comment that most drivers appeared to treat pedestrians like cows, which drew howls of laughter. In Sri Lanka, pedestrians do not practically have the right of way -- even at cross walks. People act more like cows when crossing the street.

Day 5 - And another thing said Colombo

Got some work in. Skyped with some great friends. And got on the road at 11. I can't believe how inexpensive the hotels are here. My bills have been ridiculously small. So if this blog inspires you to come to Sri Lanka, call me. I'll come back with you.

 We stopped at the turtle hatchery on the way up the coast to Colombo. It was really interesting. The hatchery buys turtle eggs from fisherman (or whomever) for 30 Sri Lankan ruppes ($.27 US). They replant them and let them hatch 48 days later. They hatchlings will stay for two days (until their navel closes over) and then will be released at night. The owner/biologist said this raises the likelihood that the turtle reaches adulthood by three times. It was pretty cool - of course since it is a private endeavor I initially wondered how much profit he made. The more I spoke to him, the more I felt it was earnest.

This was also the first place that I got to see concrete examples of the Tsunami damage. He had before and after pictures of the Tsunami. Wow, totally devastating. As we drove north to Colombo, I got to see a number of shells of houses along the beach with a new house right next to it. Ruwan said that the south and west coast had water inland for many kilometers.

And then we arrived in Colombo. It is the commercial center of Sri Lanka, the main port, and where most embassies are. We arrived on a Buddhist holiday (the third National Holiday since I have been here -- which reeks havoc on everything from changing money to seeing sights to shopping).

The Casa Colombo is awesome. Again, a dirt cheap rate to stay here -- I mean Super 8 type of rate). There are only 12 rooms and it isn't full (and each room is a suite). My suite (I was upgraded my domo told me with pride) is humongous. If you have an extra weekend in Bangalore, fly here for $200 US on Sri Lanka Air and stay in this place. You'll get a ton of bang for your buck. Look at this suite. The bathroom is bigger than the bathroom we had as a hall in college! The pool is phenomenal. I don't take baths but I may need a hot one in that tub!

And then we went to lunch. The other night, I sent Ruwan home to be with his family. His daughter was sick and his wife had all three kids home. I knew it was going to be a beach day and a half for me so I wouldn't need a driver. So today, I got no canned American music on the MP3 player but real Sri Lankan radio AND real Sri Lankan food. AWE-SOME as Aidan would sing-song. Look at this plate of food for $3.50 (inclusive of an orange Fanta, I may add). I spilled red chili sauce from the deviled shrimp on my pants but it was totally worth it. The fried rice comes with its own egg on it. The fried eggplant was sweet and tangy. The chili paster to mix with the potatoes gave hot a new meaning. Dave, before you ask again. No one knows anything about a ghost pepper. But these chili's were super hot.

So after some real shopping with non-inflated tour stop pricing, we did some sight-seeing - without actually being able to go into anything due to the Holiday. I got to see the Sri Lankan Independence Hall. I am partialto the one in Philly. Here the both are so you make the call:

So here I sit at the end of the day by the pool writing on my last full day in Sri Lanka. As my new bud, Dilan asked this morning, "Mr. Chris, will you be back. Can I have your email to send you a note to find out if you are coming back. Sri Lanka needs more people like you to visit. If you come back, I will have you over to my house to cook a real meal for you. Please come back and bring others like you." Six days was not enough, however. I recommend longer.

So I'll get up from beside the pool. It is getting dusk. And ready myself to pack and maybe go into the office tomorrow. I'll continue to blog from Bangalore, but I am guessing it won't be nearly the same since the day will be filled with work.

See you all soon as my time away is now halfway done.

Day 4 - A day at the beach

I didn't get my butt out of that teak lounge chair with a cushion except to visit the restroom, go to the pool, or hit the ocean. Well, that isn't true. While I was tipping well ($3 a drink), those dang Russian tourists were throwing money around like it was sand, so I had to go get a couple drinks at the bar BY MYSELF - the horror of it all.

It was the first day without rain. I woke at 730 and went straight for a workout at gym. It is super great to key your weight in kilograms in those machines instead of pounds. Gosh I lost 50% of my weight since getting here so I can drink more! After the workout, I booked dinner reservations at the "fine" dining restaurant even though the seafood at the outdoor grill station last night was most admirable and a Balinese massage for the hot hours of the afternoon. And I parked it.

The pool was incredible - as you saw from previous pics. The surf at the beach was rough and exciting with waves that were three-ish feet over the normal sea level. I have not been able to body-surf like this since my grandfather taught me to do it as a boy in Wildwood Crest, NJ. And did I mention the Russian tourists? Wow. I think the women and men wear equally small bathing suits. Ruwan would later tell me that many of the tourists are coming to find a beach boy or girl to pamper them while they are here, travel around Sri Lanka with them, and then get lost at the end of their vacation/holiday.

The Balinese massage was awesome. Susan (pronounced Suzanne) was not over 5'1" and maybe 85 pounds. She could pack some power, however, and soon had all the tension out of my muscles. I don't think I've been these relaxed for years in those muscles. She used her elbows, hands, forearms, and at one point I think she was standing on the table over me (but I was jelly so I couldn't have lifted my head if I wanted to). That girl could seriously work muscles. She only knew four English words -- "Is that good, mister?" and I don't think my answer mattered, but she could rock it. She didn't even know how to say "Thank You" for the tip. We both had to go to the salon manager and she said something to her, who then told me a tip wasn't necessary. When I told the manager I knew that but wanted Susan to have it, they had another conversation before Susan said something to me and the manager translated to "Thank you very much".

Then more beach time, a little sand volleyball, and off to dinner. My plan was to nap as well, but that never emerged. I also slathered on enough sun screen that I did not burn which I was worried about given the sun's heat. So a pretty awesome and relaxing day.

Dinner was great. Scallops as an appetizer with bacon. Bean and bacon soup -- not the Cambpell's kind, think coconut milk broth with black and navy beans, carrots, ginger, and bacon. I would have fallen in love with the chef if they could have added some heat to the dish, but it was mighty tasty. And the entree was a lobster shell stuffed with lobster pieces in a crab cream sauce with garlic and green chili peppers. The spicy hot factor went from 0 to 60 pretty darn quickly. It came with a bed of leek risotto and pickled veggies. It was quite the meal. And my new best friend became Dilan the server, but more on that in the next post.

So after the meal, I slept pretty awesome. No pics today, but a ton in the next blog.

Day 3 -- Or what I saw at 45 KM per hour

The day of the epic drive. So you know when you look at a map and something is only 186 miles away and mostly on the highway, you figure 3 hours+. I didn’t count on these highways. It took us 8 hours to get to Bentota. But the location is worth it.

Along the drive I got to see a rubber plantation. It is amazing how rubber used to (and still does) come from trees. A section of bark is peeled away from the tree. The tree coats itself with rubber until the new bark grows. So the harvesters wait until that coating is complete and then peel it off the tree. That is a sheet of rubber that can be cut into the needed shape – it can’t be molded. How hard would it be to create a tire from THAT? Can you imagine pre-synthesized rubber tires and the number of sheets needed to make just one tire? Wow!

The other big aha on the trip was the number of Buddhist temples that we passed. They were everywhere. It was a little surprising to see these ascetic monks carrying briefcases on cell phones, etc. That isn’t the what Professor Mahoney taught us.

As you can imagine, we had a lot of time to talk. And although Ruwan speaks English, it isn’t enough to fill the entire time. We did have good dialogue around the Sri Lanka school system, family life, civics, and history. He used to work on the naval base is Bharain so there were some good stories there as well.

The Sri Lankan schools are free and Sri Lanka boasts a 99% literacy rate. Grades through 13 are compulsory, but after 7 you start to specialize. To continue past 13 you must pass a test and then graduate school is another test. Education is free, however, at all levels if you pass. You do have to pay for workbooks, food, housing, etc. though at higher levels there are scholarships.

In family life, it was traditional that men to marry in their mid 2’s and women in their late teens. The education system is causing women to marry later as many look to complete college, if eligible. Sri Lanka is also a mix of religions and cultures that seem well blended. We passed through a village that hosts a Christian festival at their church – the only one for KMs around. The local Buddhist and Muslim families were supporting the festival by housing and feeding Christians from other cities. Not sure that you would see that everywhere. Ruwan even spoke of the fact that he has been in religious parades where out of deference, the parade will go silent as it passes the temple of another religion.

The Sri Lanka government is working hard to provide for its people. He talked of houses built to reduce homelessness (tens of thousands), there are robust highway projects, and the government has a fullcourt press on against litter. They seem to have balanced their budget after the aid dried up from the Tsunami relief funds. So for a socialist country (yes, including healthcare), there are many people that get to be entrepreneurs (the nature resort owner, the gem shop owner, and the wood carver were all examples) but with some balance for those that are farmers/laborers. Oh and cell phones have enabled a huge leap forward because of the ability to skip a lot of infrastructure needs around phones, And everyone – from the servers to the entrepreneurs asks that I invite you to come visit Sri Lanka. As my guide in Sigiriya said – He used to climb those 1200+ stairs 3 times a day pre-Tsunami and war, now he is lucky if it is three times a week. Tourism could be a bigger boon here and the island certainly is inexpensive (except for the shopping) and beautiful.

The beach is lovely. I am parking it here for the day tomorrow. I am drinking Arrack (think strong coconut liquor) with Ginger Beer and going to get sunburnt. When does it start snowing in MPL?