Blogging From All Over The World

Closing Up

2006-08-20T22:39:00.000-05:00

I've wrapped up my travels for now, and am back in the U.S., back to work. Its a wierd feeling, almost as if life was on pause for six months and now its resumes like nothing changed. I hit the ground running at the office and have been quite busy, plus I'm still in the process of moving back into an apartment. Hopefully it won't be too long before I can resume the blog from somewhere else in the world.

I didn't write any posts during my last 2 weeks in Asia, during my sister's wedding in Bangalore. That really deserves a whole blog of its own. Needless to say it was a great experience, loads of fun and enjoyment, and a fabulous family memory. We're all still sorting through the hundreds of pictures, and when we get it figured out I'll post them to my SmugMug site. For now I'll leave you with a few pics from India...

Tioman Island

2006-07-13T21:26:00.000-05:00

Monday morning started very early, 2:00am to be precise, because I was determined to catch the World Cup final live. I barely caught the first goal and was wide awake 20 minutes in, but then spent the next couple hours (like the rest of the world) waiting for something to happen. Too bad Italy won. After the match I showered up and headed to the Golden Mile complex bus stop in Singapore to catch my coach to Pulau Tioman, Malaysia.

Tioman is a fairly remote, paradise island in the South China Sea off the east coast of Malaysia. Many Singaporeans visit Tioman for its great beaches and relaxed atmosphere (See my pics on SmugMug). Anji actually went there a few months ago and I thank her for helping me plan my trip. The journey to Tioman involves getting across the border to Malaysia and eventually to the town of Mersing, where you then catch a 2 hour speed boat or ferry to the island.

My bus ride wasn't too bad, I met a couple Dutch kids on the bus to talk to and enjoy the ride through endless Malay palm tree and rubber fields. In Mersing we got on a speedboat along with an English family who were friendly, and who I would see throughout the weekend in Tioman.

As soon as I got to Tioman (I stayed in Salang, the most popular of the villages on the island) I immediately visited B & J Dive Shop because I had been tinkering with the idea of getting SCUBA certified while in Tioman. After talking with Louisa, I decided to take the plunge (so to speak) and sign up for the PADI Open Water Diver course. Thus my holiday in Tioman was set. I went to drop off my stuff at the room I booked, Salang Pusaka Resort, which was little more than a shack (See pic). After that I grabbed a bite to eat at one of the few local beach shacks and spent the rest of the day reading through the theory and watching videos. My goal was to complete the course by Thursday afternoon so I could get back to Singapore that night.

So basically the rest of my time in Tioman was spent around the course. My instructor - Sham - was really great and I was lucky to have one-on-one instruction throughout. For those of you who haven't dived, its really neat. I think learning in Tioman made a huge difference too because our "confined water" dives were in the ocean where the cool tropical fish hang out, and our "open water" dives were a bit further out with coral, fish, and everything else. I saw all kinds of sea creatures throughout including clownfish (Nemo), scorpion fish, eels, stingrays, and all sorts of coral. To top it off, the course cost about $280, including all rentals and dive trips. All things considered, I think Pulau Tioman is one of the best places in the world to get SCUBA certifed.

As for the non-SCUBA time, I was a little lonely and bored on the first night, though I did eat some amazing grilled mackerel that was caught just a few hours prior. The social fun really picked up on Tuesday night, when I met an American kid named Ryan from the O.C. at the internet cafe. He invited me to have a beer with him and a few other people he met from Europe. there was an Austrian guy, a Swiss girl, and a couple Finnish chicks at the table, all with great travel stories and an affinity to binge drink. By Wednesday night I was chillin with the dive shop crew as well as the backpacker crew. All in all, good times. I didn't party too hard any night because I wanted to stay well rested for the diving.

As for the PADI course, it went great. Sham said he noticed marked improvement over the days, which he credited to my increasing of confidence while below the surface. Heck, I even aced the written part of the course and blew away the swimming test. SCUBA is all about staying calm, and breathing steady. Its cool to be able to control yourself simply by the breaths you take, and I like to think I learned pretty well by the end. Our final 2 open water dives were pretty much exploring down below, and it was a good chance to stay underwater and look at coral and marine life for nearly 40 minutes at a time.

We finished up everything by lunchtime Thursday, leaving me plenty of time to catch the boat back to Mersing and then a coach to Johur Baru. Along the way I befriended a Dutch couple and German girl heading back to Singapore as well. All three of them were basically in Singapore because they wanted to travel long term. The attitude of the Dutch couple was consistent with lots of Europeans you meet when traveling - they go with the flow and end up where fate takes them. Its nice to see that spirit around and inspires you, reminds you that the world is here for us to explore during our lifetime, we need to simply take advantage of it.

Angkor Wat and Siem Reap, Cambodia

2006-07-10T21:22:00.000-05:00

Last weekend Nima and I visited Siem Reap, Cambodia, the town where the Angkor Wat and other temple ruins stand. The history of Cambodia is incredibly rich, as the kingdom was at one time one of the most powerful and largest in the world. The Angkor temple site is influenced by both Hinduism and Buddhism, and is the world's largest religious site. Wikitravel and Wikipedia give a good historical lesson for those of you interested.

There are several temple ruins at the Angkor Wat site, more than a 2 day weekend trip permits. We had a great tuk-tuk driver named Million who took us around without a hassle over the weekend. The three sites we visited in depth were:

Bayon - Temple of many faces
Angkor Wat - The big kahuna
Ta Phrom - Temple of trees

I'm not going to write too much about the trip because the photos tell the story. Make sure you take a look at my SmugMug site for all the pictures (almost 500 in total). Basically, we arrived in Cambodia early Friday morning and headed straight for the temples. We bought a 3 day pass for $40USD since the daily passes were $20 anyway. One thing really interesting about Cambodia is that their de facto currency is the US Dollar. They have the Riel, but that's really only used for small change as the exchange rate is 4200 to $1. So if you ever come to Cambodia, make sure you have plenty of US Dollars.

Besides visiting the temple sites, we spent a little time in the city of Siem Reap, checking out yet another Asian city. Siem Reap (literally "Siam Defeated") is a pretty small city that just opened a brand new international airport (we might have been the first flight ever to arrive), has an 'old market' where the bar and nightlife scene is sprouting up, and a few other notable places. One of those is the Foreign Correspondents Club, a restaurant and hotel that was once the only safe place for international reporters to stay during the Khmer Rouge regime and wars with Vietnam. The location in Siem Reap is a bit of a gimmick since it wasn't the real FCC, but we did go there to have a nice meal and play some pool. Other places we visited were the several pubs on Pub Street, offering $0.35 beers during happy hour, $0.50 regular price. We also got some seriously great massages at Body Tune ($20/each), good enough that Nima went back for a foot massage the next day.

So here are a few pics of our trip in Cambodia...

Nima and me at Bayon Temple

Me at the Bayon Temple

Nature leaving its mark at Ta Prohm

Monks at Angkor Wat

....And hello Singapore

2006-07-04T02:42:00.000-05:00

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand I'm back in Singapore (at Nima's apartment as pictured). Its so clean here!!! Its nice to breath fresh air, relax a little, and see Nima once again. I'm back in Singapore for 2 weeks before heading to India for Ami's wedding. In these two weeks I'll be taking a couple jaunts to other parts of Asia, starting with Cambodia to see Angkor Wat this weekend. I'm not sure what's going on next week but at the moment I'm planning on heading off to Pulau Tioman in Malaysia for one more beach trip, and to earn my PADI Open Water certification. I have to iron out the details but that's the plan for now. In the mean time I'll be catching up on emails, IMing with you folks back home, hearing about Sac's bachelor party, and organizing myself after 3 months in Sri Lanka. Talk to you all soon...

Goodbye Ceylon

2006-07-01T02:27:00.000-05:00

So yesterday was my last day of the three month ADP project in Sri Lanka. Man, times flies. I spent most of Friday packing up and running around for last meals and errands. Mrs. David, my piano teacher, was kind enough to stop by and give me a little parting gift before I left. She's so sweet. Raj, Renuka and I had massages at the Sanctuary Spa, and then spent the afternoon doing what we did quite a bit of in our free time - playing Scrabble while sipping on a coffee at Barista. For dinner we went back to the Gallery Cafe and had a tasty meal and a capping off chat. And of course we capped off the night by having one last shot of Arrack at the Cricket Club Cafe. After that I picked up my stuff from the Taj and was off in a cab to the airport. Just like that, the three months I spent in an unknown, mysterious tropical island were over.

I had a wonderful experience filled with numerous activities, sightseeing, and people. I'm lucky to have developed a strong friendship with Renuka (who unfortunately will soon be a Dookie) and Rajitha (who unfortunately is British. God Bless America).

Working at ICTA was a great learning experience, and has only whetted my appetite more for getting into development work. Hopefully Lanka Gate gets off the ground and one day I can point to the portal as something for which I laid the groundwork. I'm proud of the work we did and thank everyone at Accenture who helped out back home, and I think that my experience from ICTA should be useful anywhere else I go.

When asked whether I'd come back to Sri Lanka, I decided my answer was yes, I would. Not so much because I want to revisit the country - there are too many other places in the world higher on my list - but because I now know a corner of the world as well as anyone, and it would be cool to bring other visitors to Colombo and Sri Lanka and be able to guide them around. I know the best spots to go in Colombo, I know a lot about the sights through the island, and I even know a couple locals to hang out with. So, if anyone reading this is going to Sri Lanka let me know, I can give you some great tips...

Sri Lanka is an enchanting place, and hope the country can recover from the tsunami and reach a solution to the ethnic conflict. I know I'll be constantly and intently reading up on news from Sri Lanka. Ayubowan...

The Perfect Cup

2006-06-29T01:19:00.000-05:00

I've mentioned it before. At ICTA we get a cup of tea twice daily at 9:00 and 3:00. Its the Sri Lankan way, and I suspect it happens in every office here. The tea we get here is brewed and delivered daily by our office butler, Sampath. Sampath has the secret of how to make the perfect cup of tea. No offense mom or anyone else, but this is the best chai I've ever had. Sampath's daily tea might be what I miss most about Sri Lanka when I leave.

Getting Cultured at the Last Minute

2006-06-27T00:32:00.000-05:00

My last week in Sri Lanka began on Sunday just as my first day did, with a stroll up along Galle Face Green. It was hot as nuts outside, probably the hottest day I've experienced in Sri Lanka. I didn't have much purpose on Sunday, just really to wander around town one last time. Renuka and I went up to see the Colombo lighthouse but its at a Navy base that's heavily guarded so I couldn't get a picture.

In the evening since I had nothing else to do I went to the Barefoot Gallery with Ren to catch a jazz concert featuring Glen Terry, who from what I gather is a locally-loved jazz musician who plays at Barefoot often. The concert was fun and lively though the music wasn't so original, mostly covers. The crowd at Barefoot is definitley upscale with lots of internationals and expats. I met Errol and Jackie, two of the most "in" people in Colombo who Renuka met the night before when hanging out with Arati and Roy.

The next day the three musketeers caught a production at the Loinel Wendt theater, Colombo's main performance stage. The show was called "Uh-Merr-Aka" or something like that. It was basically a satire on the history of the United States. Of course it was an opportunity to take cheap shots at the US, which everyone loves to do, but keeping that in mind the show was laugh-out-loud funny and definitely entertaining. Sorry no pics of the theatre outing.

Chillin

2006-06-22T03:32:00.000-05:00

Last Sunday night Renuka and I went over to Arati & Roy's house in Colombo. Arati is Renuka's former manager's sister-in-law who Renuka got in touch with when she got to Colombo. I've been over to their place once before when they invited us for dinner, which was fantastic by the way, and this time we were having a "potluck" which really meant Renuka and Arati cooking. Arati and Roy are awesome, really nice couple from Bangalore who are in Sri Lanka partially work and partially because they wanted to get away for a bit. They have a cute, well decorated house - both studied art/graphic design in Bangalore so its not surprising. Their place is basically like a lounge, and I enjoy simply hanging out somewhere besides a bar or the hotel, and talking to other people. I lucked out to meet them and hopefully someday they can come over to the US and hang out at my place. Dinner was fabulous and we had a good time just shootin the breeze, playing with their temporary pet kitten who loves clawing my shirt, and looking at wedding pictures.

Tonight (Thursday) we're meeting up with them again to hit up Han Gook Gwan, a local Korean restaurant that was recommended to Roy. Its been a while since I've had Korean so I'm looking forward to it. Also, the USA is playing Ghana and trying to sneak into the round of 16 of the world cup, which would eclipse the last world cup's ultimate backdoor play.

Update: Korean food at Haesong was quite good. The Kimchi was ridiculously spicy, but otherwise it was great. Unfortunately, the U.S. couldn't outmatch the Ghanans so their run is done in this year's World Cup. I'll be pulling for the Socceroos from here on out.

Bizarre Night

2006-06-19T23:12:00.000-05:00

Last Friday night was wierd. It started innocently at the Gall Face Inn hotel bar, where Renuka and I went to catch the Netherlands-Cote D'Ivoire match on their big screen. It was around 10:30pm when we were hanging out at the bar drinking coffee and watching Ruud Van Nistelrooy put the Dutch ahead 2-0. At halftime I got a text from Rajitha saying that she just got an email from Accenture Global Asset Protection ordering us to move out of our hotel, Global Towers, immediately and move into the Holiday Inn Colombo or the Taj Samudra. The reason for the sudden move was that GAP had received reports (from where I'm not sure) that Global Towers may have some sort of connection to the LTTE. Rajitha called Shri, out friendly travel agent at GT, to let him know the situation and that we'd be out by the next day. GAP did mention in their email that they were being overly cautious about the whole thing, and though it was just one report they received they didn't want to take chances with us.

Given this news, Renuka and I took off in a tuk-tuk and headed off to Global Towers to pack up. On the way down Galle Road, we were stopped by a police officer at a checkpoint. Since the bus bombing earlier in the week security has been beefed up all around Colombo so such a stop wasn't out of the ordinary. The officer asked for ID as usual, but when I produced my Virginia driver's license (like I usually do - photo ID) the officer began hassling me about not having my passport. I told him calmly that if he wanted to see my passport we could go to the hotel. He said I need a visa to be in Sri Lanka. I responded by saying that was checked at the airport upon arrival. We sorta sat there for 10 minutes as the officer, in broken English, tried to threaten to arrest us. At one point he said something like "You arrest me no visa." That would've been sweet if I actually did arrest him. Anyway, the tuk-tuk driver did help out and told him we're just tourists from the USA and eventually he let us go, bitter about not receiving a bribe I'm sure.

The whole sequence was bizarre given the fact that we just got orders to move out, and this was the first time anyone hassled me for my passport. Henceforth though I'll be carrying a copy of my passport and visa around Sri Lanka.

Eating in Sri Lanka

2006-06-15T08:42:00.000-05:00

Okay so I'm sure I've complained about the Sri Lankan cuisine, or at least the lack of diversity in day-to-day meals (read: Rice & Curry for breakfast, lunch and dinner). But I don't want to shortchange Sri Lanka completely, there are in fact some good places to eat here in Colombo. Some of my favorites have been:

The Cricket Club Cafe - This is my favorite place in Colombo to grab a pint and a bite to eat. Located not far from Global towers - off Duplication and Queen's road - the Cricket Club Cafe is a cozy, down to earth English pub themed with an abundance of cricket memoribilia. The food is quite good too, I recommend the Border Burger. The pot pies look quite tasty, I haven't had one yet but I plan to do so before leaving. CCC is a must visit in Colombo.

Mango Tree - Rajitha's aunty was kind enough to take the three of out to Mango Tree, a trendy restaurant/lounge/bar in the heart of Colpetty in Colombo. Mango tree is a TRUE Indian restaurant that actually has a balance of flavor and spice in its food, something difficult to find in Sri Lanka. There are a number of decent south Indian restaurants here such as Shanmagus and Shanti Vihar, but Mango Tree offers a wide array of Indian dishes from all over the country including tandoor items, biryanis, vegetable curries and south Indian fare. We ordered a selection including bindi saag (okra curry), tandoor chicken, jasmine rice, raitha (yogurt), bengan bharta (eggplant), and assorted naan (flat bread). The food was absolutely fabulous - better than Minerva or any other Indian restaurant in the US. I even had an authentic rose lassi to go along with the meal. To top it off, the prices are extremely reasonable, around 300 ($3) for a HUGE portion. We were thoroughly stuffed after the meal with plenty to take home, and an experience guaranteed to bring us back.
UPDATE: Renuka and I headed back to Mango Tree for lunch on Friday. This time I tried one of their specials - a mutton sizzler (sizzling hot goat curry). Ridiculous. I don't eat much mutton but Renuka confirmed that it was the best she has ever had, and she's had plenty of helpings in the past. It was actually our lunch at the Palmiryah that prompted me to order the mutton again here, and I was glad I did. Since mutton isn't quite so previlant in the States, its a treat to try it in a place where they know how to prepare it.

Paradise Road Cafe - Rajitha, Renuka and I skipped over to Paradise Road Cafe a couple weeks ago during lunch. Like Barefoot, Paradise Road is an upscale houseware/handicraft shop that has a cafe to boot. Its a nice place to grab a sandwich and hang out in the breeze on the rooftop patio.

Bay Leaf - We went to bay leaf way back in April. It's located on Gregory Lane where the old La Palace recstaurant used to be - in an old palace. That part of town, Cinnamon Gardens (a.k.a Colombo 7) has the best neighbrohood in Colombo with several nice places to eat and shop. I had an impressive mushroom ravioli at Bay Leaf, and though we didn't have time to hit the bar it looked like a decent place. Harpo, the owner, was warm and welcoming, and I'd like to go back to Bay Leaf before leaving Sri Lanka. Also, the prices are vewy reasonable.

Gallery Cafe - Gallery Cafe is one of Colombo's best restaurants - innovatively set in Geoffrey Bawa's old office that's now an art gallery. The menu offers a nice blend of local and western food, and the atmosphere is one that will attract you to stick around for hours while dining. Actually, the more I think about it the more I want to go there tomorrow for dinner. Its located right across from the Cricket Club Cafe on Queen's Road. The food is quite good, though when Renuka and I went there I felt hurried for some reason so I don't remember taking the time to truly enjoy the experience. I do remember I had a very good grilled chicken breast dish. I'll go back this week though.

Barefoot Cafe - Barefoot might be the most well-known store and cafe in Colombo. Right on Galle Road, Barefoot is a store filled with colorful hand-crafted goods and fabrics. Its tough to explain, but Barefoot just has an artsy, earthy, natural vibe to it. On Sundays they host live jazz all afternoon in the cafe, so Ren and I made the trip one Sunday afternoon in May. We got there a bit early and missed out on the lunch special menu (they must have still been chalking it up) so I just had a decent sandwich, however I had a ridiculously good milkshake along with it. The rest of the clientele seemed to be visitors, foreign expats, and Colombo's bourgiouse. It was a relaxed yet lively atmosphere and we were able to easily pass a couple hours there hanging out, enjoying the food, music and weather. Rumor has it that Barefoot offers free WiFi on weekdays as well. I have been back to Barefoot to do some shopping - anyone in Sri Lanka MUST go there at least once - and I'd like to have one more meal before taking off. Maybe I'll get a chance to order the special this time.

Palmiryah @ Hotel Renuka - Hotel Renuka, there was never a question of if we'd have a meal here. As it turns out, the Palmiryah restaurant at Hotel Renuka serves some of the best Sri Lankan food around. Rajitha's mom treated us to Sunday lunch here, and we had a fantastic meal. We had pittu (steamed rice flour cakes), vasai (minced prawns and coconut) and mutton ?? ?(curried mutton). Most of our dishes were actually from the Jaffna region, which is known for its tasty cuisine. I also learned about the Palmiryah tree, similar to the palm though the minor differences make it unique to Sri Lanka. We had a great time hearing from Rajitha's mother about some of the 'good old days' when Rajitha was younger, and enoyed a great meal as well. Hotel Renuka and the Palmiryah are right on Galle road near Colpetty.

German Restaurant - Renuka and I hit up German Restaurant on Galle, right across from the Inn at the Green, for a quick Friday night meal. We were curious to find out what's inside this seemingly out of place restaurant. The interior is well decorated in a traditional German theme (not sure what it's called but there's that feel of wooden houses and german guys dancing around in funny hats and knickers). The beer menu is extensive - I got me a Caffrey's Irish Draugh, something I haven't had in years. For dinner we split a plate of, you guessed it, bratwurst. Frankly the brat was only decent, though the sauerkraut was good. I may try to go back to GR to try a scnhitzel but German food is so heavy and filling that I'll have to be in the right mmod for it.

Beach Wadiya - not much to say here except the best seafood restaurant in Colombo, and possibly one of the best in the world. Its a beach hut - nearly wiped away by the tsunami in 2004 - that simply serves great seafood. I wrote about Wadiya in an earlier blog. Its located in Wellawatte right across from Global Towers, and everyone in Colombo knows it. I've been there 3 times and it never fails to dissapoint. If you are in Colombo for one night, this is the place to go hands down. Get the baked crab. Ask for Banda, his gleeful charm enhances the experience infinitely.

The Inn on the Green - This place is more a bar, but the half roast chicken might be my favorite go-to dish in Colombo. Somehow this English pub hits a homer - or a sixer - on the roast chicken. Tetley's, Carlsberg, and Lion are all on tap as well, so a pint of freshly poured beer compliments this dish quite well. Since we're now staying across the street from the Inn on the Green I should have a chance to head back to sample something else, perhaps the Bangers and Mash or Chip Butty. Bonus at Inn on the Green: Darts and WiFi.

Some other places that are worth a mention

Shanmugas - nice, solid Indian Vegetarian
Wafflers Belgian Waffle Cafe - best waffles in Sri Lanka
World Trade Center Deli Market - a Marche-type place with lots of selections for a nice lunch
Barista Coffee - India's version of Starbuck's available in Colombo

World Cup!

2006-06-10T01:46:00.000-05:00

I've been counting down the days here in Colombo until the beginning of the World Cup. Friday was a tough day at work due to the anticipation, but finally the tournament kicked off at 9:30pm local time. Me and my roommates went to the Cheers Pub to catch the Germany-Costa Rica opening match.

Something strange about pubs in Sri Lanka is that they take reservations for all tables, including the little barstool tables in the bar. It was a bit of a debacle because we got to Cheers a good 2 hours before the match, and there were plenty of open tables, but the bar manager said they were all reserved. Before long there was an overwhelming amount of people in the bar and I think they had to abandon their reservation policy, which was good for us since we were already parked at a table.

If you didn't see the opening match you missed an entertaining one. The bar was generally rooting for the underdogs - though there were a good number of Germans at Cheers. I happened to have my Costa Rica jersey with me here in Sri Lanka, and I think I truly could have been the only person in the entire country sporting that replica last night.

We have plans for tonight's England game and the upcoming USA-Czech match on Monday. The next month is gonna be sweet...

Beach Bummin' on the West Coast

2006-06-07T01:06:00.000-05:00

Still a couple weeks behind on the blog, work has been really busy, but bear with me. We went down to Galle 2 weekends ago for some fun in the sun. Galle is one of the larger cities in Sri Lanka, and the largest southern coastal city. It is known primarily for the Dutch Fort as the main landmark, along with the nearby beach towns and watersports that go along. Rajitha, Renuka and I decided to be adventureous and take the train down to Galle from Colombo on Saturday morning, find a guesthouse to stay for a night, and head back on Sunday afternoon.
Our orignial plan was to take the 9:00am train from Colombo-Fort station to Galle. However, the night before Renuka and I met Anand and Anjali from New Delhi, fellow guests at Global Towers, who told us when they planned to take the 9:00 Saturday train from Fort it actually departed early(!), at 8:30. So we texted Rajitha and told her to meet us early at Fort on Saturday morning. As it turned out, the train left on schedule, but being the beginning of school holidays and government employees receiving 2nd class train vouchers, we ended up on a packed train for the 3 hour ride down to Galle. Bad news as we had to stand, by the bathroom no less, the entire way. But really, outside the fact we had to stand, the train ride wasn't too bad. It basically stopped in each town along the way, but it ran on time and we got to Galle before noon as expected. We also lucked out by ending up next to a guy who worked in the Galle tourist information center, so during the ride we chatted it up with him and when we got to Galle he helped us with a map and suggested things to see in Galle, and set us up with a tuk-tuk.

Once in Galle we first had lunch - string hoppers kindly prepared by Rajitha's family for our trip. We then headed off to visit the Dutch Fort, which was basically a regular old fort similar to the San Juan fort but not quite as impressive. Within the fort walls there's an Aman hotel, the Galle Fort Hotel. Aman hotels are among the most expensive in the world with prices here ranging from $450-$800 per night. We got a tour of the spa amenities, and though it was very nice, I don't see how anyone could justify spending that much to stay at that place. Anyhow, after the fort we headed down toward Unawatuna, a beach town that many people and books recommended as the best in the area. Along the way we stopped at the Carlsberger hotel for afternoon tea, which was quite pleaseant as it offered a nice secluded view of the harbor below. A lot of these fancy hotels in Sri Lanka are built in old colonial estates and mansions, which make for a nice level of ambience.
After tea we continued on towards Unawatuna. The southern coast of Sri Lanka is relatively unscathed, typically lined with the standard grocery stores and guesthouses. The road is close enough to the ocean to catch the salty sea whiff, and the roads - at least while we were there - are not congested. The sights that did jump out at me were the spots that mark remains of the tsunami's destruction. You'll see a row of houses/shacks interrupted with an open lot which only contains a floor still in the ground, but the house's walls and everything else was swept away. Basically you see a tile kitchen floor out in the open - somewhat unnerving. Its interesting, the locals talk quite openly about the tsunami and how certain buildings and landmarks were swallowed, just like that.
Along the way we stopped at a sea turtle hatchery, and later on to take pics of stilt fishermen. The hatchery was really cool, basically a group of people have started this conservatory to protect sea turtles. They seek out turtle egg poachers that are illegally taking sea turtle eggs, and buy the eggs off of them. At the hatchery, they bury the eggs and 65 days later a baby turtle emerges from the sand. They raise the turtles in little tanks for a few weeks before they take them out to release them into the sea. A couple facts about sea turtles include (1) the gender of a sea turtle depends on the tide and temperature of the water, and (2) sea turtles always come back to their place of birth to lay eggs. The hatchery also had a few older sea turtles including a guy over 60 years old! It was a neat experience to see these little creatures up close and personal.
The fishermen on stilts was a scam, they wanted us to pay them to get up on the stilts so we could take pics. Instead we kept on driving and found some fishermen actually fishing, so we got a couple pics. Nothing special.
When we got to Unawatuna we first stopped by Shanti Guest House as recommended by the tourism guy, and at 2200Rs a night for a triple it was good enough for us. We parked and recharged for a little while before heading to dinner. We went next door to a nicer guesthouse for dinner, which turned out to be a seafood feast. I was surprisingly impressed by my devilled prawns, and of course a Lion Lager to wash them down. Unfortunately I also got eaten alive by the mosquitos, but all in all it was a very satistfying dinner. After chowing down we didn't do much, just chat a bit before hitting the sack for the night.
I woke up fairly early on Sunday, and spent the morning down at the beach. We had some morning coffee at the guesthouse, though quickly left after we were taken over by an army of crows. We then headed over a bit to have some breakfast at a beach hut, after which Rajitha left Galle because she had plans in the afternoon with her family. Behind our guesthouse was a 'lagoon' type area where the water is calm and warm, basically there's a reef about 30 yards out where the waves break so the rough waters dont make it to shore. The water was very clear and clean, though I stepped on a shell which lodged a bit into my toe and hurt bad. We basically just chilled out all morning at the beach. Renuka and I just hung out at the beach for the rest of the morning. As we were leaving, I had a brilliant idea to climb on some beach boulders to get a nice view. The climbing part was fine, both Ren and I make it up, but my dumb ass tried to jump down and I ended up scraping up my shin pretty good, resulting in me racing over to the guesthouse for some antiseptic and band-aids. Disaster.
After my fall we decided it was time to leave, so we took a tuk-tuk back to Galle and planned to visit the tourist information center for info about getting on a train, but unfortunately they were out to lunch. Instead we walked over to the bus depot and managed to talk to some guy there who assured us we could get on the next bus to Colombo. The buses in Sri Lanka actually aren't too bad, thankfully they limit the number of passengers (most people had a seat) and types of passengers (humans only). So for 3 hours we were crusining along the coast of Sri Lanka, 'stopping' at every town along the way for people to jump off and on. At the end of the ride we were fortunate to get dropped off right back at Wellawatta rather than having to go up to Colombo Fort, capping off an adventerous and interesting Sri Lanka travel experince.

Last Day in Bangkok....

2006-06-04T01:10:00.000-05:00

...and we weren't about to let it go to waste. The highlight of the Bangkok trip had to be Sunday morning at the Baipai Cooking School. Thanks to Wikitravel I found the Baipai and we scheduled to join their Sunday morning class, which included a set menu of 4 traditional Thai dishes. The school was reviewed to be very fun and friendly, and was not as uppity and expensive as the traditional schools. They picked us up at 9:00am from the OBI (where we had breakfast and a good chat with Joey, the proprieters son who happened to study at Hopkins), and along the way we picked up a few classmates - a middle aged couple from Singapore and two guys visiting from Germany.

The Baipai is set in a nice residential area of Bangkok in an open-air 2 story house. The ground floor contains a shop and eating area, while the upper floor is where the classes take place. The class size it typically 8 people so there is space for each student to have his own cooking area. There's also a demonstration area where the teacher first explains and demonstrates the dish. Their teaching style works very well, there's a traditional Thai person who does the cooking while another person is there for explanation and answering questions. And just like Emeril, there's even an overhead mirror above the teacher's area to get a great birds-eye view of what's going on. I have tons of pictures from the cooking school and the rest of the Bangkok trip on my SmugMug site.

Our menu consisted of:

Lemongrass Tea (instructor made it)
Golden Treasures
Hot and Sour Soup
Panang Chicken Curry
Pork Fried Rice

I have the Thai names of the dishes in my take-home cookbook, which is with Nima in Singapore at the moment.

We got started with some basics, like cutting and carving with a knife. Our assignment was to carve a half lime into a flower-like decoration to be served with one of our dishes - no problem. We then moved on to the Golden Treasures, which is basically minced pork and some flavors like spring onions, fish sauce, and garlic, mixed together, wrapped in spring roll wrappers, and deep fried. The end product looks like little money bags - hence the name golden treasures. I don't use pork much and I don't deep fry much, so this particular appetizer was a new type of dish for me. The instructor was quite helpful here with letting us know what to buy at the grocery stores back home and what substitutions can be made (basically any meat or tofu can be substituted for this). Before long, my first Thai cooking school dish was complete.

Next up was the Tom Yam Goong - Hot and Sour Shrimp soup, a Thai favorite. Again, I don't do many soups so this was fairly new to me. I learned a couple things on this dish, like you don't have to pre-cook shrimp when tossing them in the soup, and that with lemongrass stalks you must crack the stalk first to get the flavor out. We also used a new ingredient - galang root - which is basically a very mild ginger-type root. I know I've tasted it before but never knew what it was until now.

After eating soup and chatting it up with the rest of the class (the two guys from Germany were a trip, one of them was actually American living in Germany, and both were quite fruity. They certainly made for good chatter while eating our delights. Guys at cooking school are....oh wait, nevermind.)

Next up was the Panang Chicken, something I was looking forward to since its a favorite dish of mine. Its actually surprisingly easy, basic ingredients are chicken, coconut milk, and red curry paste. The trick for this dish is to heat up the coconut milk in the wok but not too hot, just before boiling, and then add the curry flavoring and mix it up, while reducing the heat. I completely botched things because I let it get too hot, and when that happens the coconut oil separates from the milk and you get this pathetic looking mess of a curry. Still, I salvaged the dish and it did taste pretty good. Nima, on the other hand, made an absoutely perfect dish and I couldn't help but eat half of hers. She was even sweet enough to tell me mine was good :)

Last on the menu was the pork fried rice, which not surprisingly was pretty easy. Though here we used some more ingredients I normally don't use, and we had practice chopping and slicing. Two very important tricks I learned here about fried rice: (1) you want to chill your cooked rice in the fridge rather than use hot rice when you throw it into the wok. Chilled rice doesn't turn to mush. And (2), When frying an egg in the wok, push all the rice and veggies to one side, make room for the egg directly on the pan, fry it, push the rice on top, and flip everything. Not sure if it makes sense here, but it worked well when cooking.

We finished up around 1:00 with full stomachs and some newly acquired culinary skills. Our time was running out in BKK, so we stopped by MBK one last time to pick up some cheap DVDs, and then headed back to OBI to check out before making our way to the airport. All in all it was a wonderful long weekend in Bangkok and I highly recommend anyone considering visitng.

Bangkok Day 3

2006-05-26T00:52:00.000-05:00

Saturday morning was reserved for one thing and one thing only - shopping at the Chatuchauk weekend market. This famous market is gigantic, with several narrow alleys of shops containing everything from clothes to food to furniture. We decided to take a tuk-tuk out to the market, which was an interesting ride but really not worth it because A/C taxis are just the same price anyway. Since Nima had been to Chatuchauk before we had an idea of what to try to hit. She picked up a couple shirts (I think), and I found some interesting stuff but buying any clothes from these Thai markets is risky because of the chance of color bleeding and shrinkage. I ended up picking up a pair of cotton fisherman's pants for 100 baht. We found a cool t-shirt store Nima went to last time, but unfortunately they didn't have the "Mullet" t-shirt we were hoping to find. By about 11am I was finished shopping, so I parked myself at a cafe/bar with a Singha while Nima continued shopping. There I ended up talking to a couple American girls who were in Thailand for the Peace Corps, each stationed in a village a few hours north of Bangkok. It was interesting to hear their experiences being in small villages teaching English. Both girls agreed that the hardest part was the mental challenge of being in isolation without much contact (internet, phone) back home - which led them to having read dozens of books over the last 6 months. After a couple beers, Nima finished up with the shopping and we headed back via skyway and boat taxi.

We decided that for dinner we wanted to get some good Mexican food (I know, we're in Thailand), but it was really a craving that I had since being in Sri Lanka because I haven't had any good Mexican food since March. We heard of a good Mexican place called Senor Pico at Hotel Rembrandt in "downtown" Bangkok. After taking a much needed afternoon nap during the downpour, we headed off to an early dinner. I don't know if it was my craving of Mexican or the food itself, but I don't think I've ever savored refried beans and real cheese that much. The food definitely hit the spot, and the restaurant added a nice touch of live Latin music as the night went on. We had a nice, leisurely dinner that lasted a few hours before we headed off to check out some BKK nightlife.
We picked out a couple bars to check out on Soi 33, close to the restaurant and in the center of town. According to a guidebook I found there's a jazz/blues bar called Mojos down that road so we decided to check it out. Unbeknownst to us, Soi 33 was full of what Bangkok is known for, "massage parlors" and "sports bars" that cater to out of town male guests. As we walked down the street pretty much all we saw were a couple Thai girls enticing passer-bys to enter their establishment. Nima was getting upset at the whole thought of BKKs industry, and though we ended up finding the bar on the way back down the street there was nothing going on inside, so we decided to find somewhere else all together.
As we were walking by some of the seedy bars I did notice signs that the FA Cup final between Liverpool and West Ham United was going on that night. Nima spotted a bar called The Londoner, which was sure to be showing the game. We headed into the packed pub and luckily found a spot at the bar where we parked ourselves for the next 3 hours. We noticed at the pub an unusually high number of old white men with young Thai women on their arm, something you see everywhere in BKK. Its kinda pathetic when you see the two people pretending they are together yet they can't even communicate. But otherwise, the bar will chock full of lads enjoying the match. In case you missed it, the match itself was incredible, with West Ham scoring a shocking 2 goals early. Down 2-0 in soccer is pretty much a guarantee you're cooked, but Liverpool chipped away thoughout the match to get it to 3-2 with 10 to play. Steve Gerrard then scored on a lazerbeam in stoppage play to tie things up. By then it was midnight and we had an early appointment in the morning, so despite the high drama we decided to take off for the night and get some rest. As it turned out, the FA cup final went to penalty kicks with Liverpool prevailing, marking it one of the best FA cup finals in history. Although we missed the ending, we still had a fun, fantastic night out in Bangkok.

Bangkok Day 2

2006-05-25T10:57:00.000-05:00

Friday was designated our cultural day, which happend to fall on Vesak (the birth, enlightenment, and death of the Buddha). We got up early to visit the Golden Temple and the Reclining Buddha temples, both of which were walking distance from the OBI. One thing to watch out for in Thailand are all the touts who hang out near the temples, harrassing tourists for visitng shops, going on tours, etc. A go-to move they use is telling you the temple or sight is closed until the afternoon for some religious ceremony, so they'll take your around shopping until its open and then bring you back. In reality, the major temples are open every day of the year, even on Buddhist holidays like Vesak. Anyhow, the Reclining Buddha is an impressive sight, as the statue dwarfs any person standing next to it. As we were finishing up at the temples we got caught in an instant downpour, but it was actually nice to huddle under a shelter and listen to the rain falling in such a peaceful setting.

After the temples we headed home to change but again a downpour came through, so we chilled for a bit at OBI. When the rain stopped we headed back to the water taxi to pay a visit to the Jim Thompson House. The story of Jim Thompson is fascinating. Jim Thompson was an American stationed in Asia for world War II as an engineer/architect. He actually never got called to duty, but after the war was over he fell in love with the Asian people and culture, and chose to stay in Thailand. He also fell in love with the traditional textiles on silk, and consequently singlehandedly revived the dying Thai silk industry. Being an architect, Thompson designed and built a beautiful home in Bangkok, composed of 6 traditional Thai bungalows strung together openly with hallways, surrounded by a jungle-like garden. He did a great thing for Bangkok in reviving the industry, and seemingly his life was great. On a summer day in 1967, however, he went to Malaysia for a walk in the jungle and was never seen again - disappeared into thin air. Of course there are several theories of his disappearance, including the CIA abducting him, or a tiger eating him. Whatever it is, he's left an enchanting and mysterious legacy behind in Bangkok. We took the guided tour of his house, which uncovers several cool architectural delights, and had lunch at the JTH cafe which was actually quite good.

After the Jim Thompson house we headed over to Siam Square to check out some interesting shopping - and because we were in the area. We then made it back to OBI right before a huge downpour to take a nap to rest up for the evening. For dinner we headed to Ko Saun Road (KSR) - the backpacker's paradise of BKK. This road is known for all the cheap eats, drinks, and guesthouses. We had a great time peoplewatching while sucking down a Singha in a bar. Nima had some kachi (sour) mango off the street, while I was happy to find a street falafel. We spent a couple hours chillin on KSR before deciding to head over to the Suan Lum Night Bazaar for some shopping.

The night bazaar is where Nima bought some good souveniours during her last trip to Bangkok, particularly a set of candlesticks my mom liked. The bazaar is set up pretty cool, with a central area for eating and watching a big screen TV, and tons of market-style shops on the perimeter. We first went back to the shop where Nima got the candlesticks where amazingly I bumped into Shannon, an Accenture colleague with whom I worked a few years ago in DC. She just finished up a role in Kenya and was in Bangkok for ADP training before heading home to the US. Its really quite amazing to run into someone you know from the U.S. at a place like the night bazaar. While I chatted it up with Shannon, Nima picked up some cool gifts for people and we continued on through the market. I didn't buy anything else, however we finished the night with a memorable experience of a Thai foot massage. It was one of those experiences like the Seinfeld episode where Elaine was in the nail salon and felt uncomfortable with all the Vietnamese women chatting it up and laughing in their language. The massage itself was good, but the boys doing the massage seemed to be having a little too much fun with it. Anyway, we capped off the night with the massages and headed home for some much needed rest.

Interesting News Bit

2006-05-25T00:11:00.000-05:00

The Sri Lankan government seems to have felt the pressure of the Catholic Bishops, and moved to ban the screening of The Da Vinci Code here in Sri Lanka. Surprisingly, even the Vatican and Italy have allowed the movie to be shown. The Congo, Samoa, and Lebanon have also banned the movie, while the Indian government recently rejected calls for a ban. No ban on the book here in Sri Lanka, however, which seems inconsistent to me.

Bangkok Day 1

2006-05-21T08:02:00.000-05:00

For the Vesak holiday I took the opportundiy to visit another great city in Asia, Bangkok. Nima and I met for the long weekend on Thursday and would have a chance to explore through Sunday night.

I arrived in Bangkok around noon on Thursday after a decent flight on Sri Lankan Airlines. Nima made it an hour earlier from Singapore, so as soon as I cleared customs we hopped in a cab to our hotel for the weekend, the Old Bangkok Inn. Nima found the place from Trripadvisor reviews, which were all very glowing and filled us with high expectations. The OBI is located close to some of the historic and cultural sites like the Grand Palace ans Democracy Monument, rather than by some of the more major hjotels downtown. As soon as we got to the OBI we were welcomed by the inkeeper, Nantiya, who was kind enought to let us check in early and have a nap before heading out for the afternoon.

We got directions to downtown from one of the friendly desk clerks at OBI, so we headed down to MBK, Bangkok's best shopping mall. We took a canal taxi boat, something that most tourists miss out on when in Bangkok. The taxi boat is great for several reasons: its a true "local" experience that takes you through many neighborhoods, its a way to beat the notorious Bangkok traffic, and its dirt cheap at 8 baht, or 25 cents. Once we got to MBK we grabbed a bite to eat at what looked to be a true local fast food restaurant, as all the patrons were Thai. I had an okay pork dish, but Nima's Pad Thai was excellent. After MBK we headed to Siam Square, a hip, trendy area with tons of clothing shops for budding designers and fashionistas. Nima visited Siam Square on her previous trip to BKK and wanted to go back to show me and possibly find some cool clothes. She ended up with a really hip pair of pants, and I ended up finding an A&W restaurant where I had a satisfying root beer float. So far, so good...

For dinner we went to the Seafood Market near Phrom Phong - a true tourist spot but a Bangkok "must do". The Seafood Market's motto is "If it swims, we have it." The restaurant is set up basically like the seafood aisle of a supermarket, you grab a shopping cart and pick from a collection of raw (and sometimes live!) seafood what you want for dinner. You are charged by quantity/weight. Then you take the seafood back to your table and a cook comes to take your order regarding how you'd like the food cooked. Shocker - Nima and I chose way too much food. We had garlic tossed scallops, battered/fried prawns, yellow curry crabmeat, and grilled fish (idiot! I don't remember what fish it was). The crab curry was really tasty, and obivously the srimp was good, how can fried food go wrong? I liked the fish the best though, I don't know what it was but it was a nice fleshy white fish and the Thai spices went well with it. After all that seafood, I was definitely finished and done for the night, so we headed home and passed out after a long, eventful day in Bangkok.

I made an omlette

2006-05-20T08:26:00.000-05:00

May 19, 2006 was my first perfect omlette ever. Perfectly round, with onions and tomatoes, evenly cooked on both sides. No breakage, no holes, perfect.

Observations

2006-05-18T06:55:00.000-05:00

What I eat with a fork, Sri Lankas eat with their hands - e.g. rice and curry
What I eat with my hands, Sri Lankans eat with a fork - e.g. pizza
Colombo's traffic rivals the D.C. metro area. Luckily, in Sri Lanka you can easily get a driver to battle the traffic for you.
Lots of people like to stare, especially the creepy looking dudes. Its a south Asian thing.
The abundance of fresh, tasty, and readily available tropical fruit (pineapple, mango, papaya, avacado, and many more) can not be overstated. That alone makes it worthwhile to visit. A pineapple costs 50 cents, an avacado 25.
I don't blame Sri Lankans for drinking Ceylon tea multiple times a day. Its damn good.
Sri Lankans love cricket. That's why despite the NBA playoffs going on, all I catch on ESPN and Star Sports is reruns of some cricket test match from 3 years ago.
Sri Lankan's are generally free-sprited, happy, easy going, helpful people.
That said, the country as a whole has nobody to blame but themselves for lack of development. Sri Lanka is a land blessed with natural resources and sheer beauty, yet the people have torn each other and the country apart for the past few decades. Sri Lanka was on its way to being the Singapore of southeast Asia, but shot itself in the foot multiple times.
The real Sri Lanka lies outside of Colombo. Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Hatton, Galle, Yala, and on and on are all beautiful places (I've been to a few of them and can confirm)
Americans generally don't think of visiting Sri Lanka. Most don't know a think about this island. Its a shame, because Sri Lanka is worth visitng.

Sri Pada

2006-05-07T05:44:00.000-05:00

Rajitha, Renuka and I took the opportunity to use the May Day (link) weekend to visit Sri Pada, also know as Adam's Peak. Sri Pada one of the highest and most holy mountains in Sri Lanka. At the top of the mountain appears a "footprint" that Buddhists and Christians alike claim as part of their history. The Buddhist story is that the footprint atop the mountain is that of the Buddha himself, while the Christian story is that the footprint is of Adam, as his first step onto Earth after being kicked out of the Garden of Eden. Either way, its a current day pilgrimage site for Buddhists, and we wanted to visit and partake in the climb before the season ended.
As mose visitors do, we planned to embark on the 4 hour hike in the wee hours of the morning in order to catch the breathtaking sunrise. Hence, we left Colombo early Sunday evening, planning to catch dinner near the mountain before commencing our hike.
According to Lonely Planet, there's a decent hotel/restaurant close to Adam's Peak that's a recommended place for dining before or after the hike. We planned on heading there for dinner, but our driver didn't really know where he was going so we missed it.
Part of the reason we missed the restaurant was because anytime we stopped to ask a local for directions, they insisted we were going the right way and just waived us on. After a few times, we realized that Sri Lankans will tell you something, even if they really don't know, rather than just telling you they dont know.
We made it to the base of Adam's peak around 9:30pm. We were in a situation were we didn't want to begin the hike, but there was a lot of time to kill. We ended up having dinner at The Green House (picture), a modest B&B literally at the base of the mountain. Rajitha and Renuka also decided that it would be best for us to rent a room to catch a few Z's before starting our hike around 3:00am. It turned out to be a brilliant move.
The Green House was a nice place, dinner was of the Tamilian variety and quite tasty. The room was modest, shower/bathroom less than spectacular, and hospitality was warm nonetheless. I especially liked the beds equipped with pink mosquito nets.
After a nap we all woke up and began the hike around 3:00am. We heard conflicting stories regarding how long it would take to get up to the top, but the general consensus was 3-4 hours. We started strong and chipper, cruising through the first hour. It was pitch dark though during the pilgrimage seaason they have a string of lights all the way up, so the trusty headlamp was useful but not completely necessary. It was, however, a good conversation piece.
The pilgrimage is filled with Sri Lankan Buddhists of all shapes and sizes. Parents carrying babies. Elderly women. Energetic children. Many of the climbers were going barefoot. At 3:00am, however, it was chilly and the locals especially bundled up for the long journey. I was fine in a couple layers, but it was amusing to see the stream of climbers in winter coats and beanies.
After the first hour we started to slow down. Looking back, we probably went to fast and didn't pace well. We began taking breaks every few minutes, to catch up with each others' pace and rest up.
Renuka and I seemed to move at the same pace, with Rajitha usually a few steps behind. About halfway up she asked a boy coming down how much longer to the top, and he gleefully answered 30 minutes. At the time Rajitha was thrilled to hear that, but as it turned out the kid severely underestimated. Or he was just messing with Rajitha.
Two hours in, and we were really starting to feel it. Dawn was upon us and the temperature was warming up. I pared down to a t-shirt and finished off my water. The lights at the top of the mountain were within view, but it seemed like an hour of climbing wasn't getting us anywhere
About 3 hours in we were very tired, but still not at the top. At this point it was past 6:00 and the sun was about to peak through and rise. At this point Renuka and I kicked it into as high a gear as we could, and Rajitha powered through not far behind us.
Nearly 3.5 hours from the time we started, Renuka and I finally made it to the top. The sun hadn't quite risen but we made it with literally minutes to spare. The top of the mountain was jam packed with fellow climbers anticipating the sunrise. I was lucky enough to tower over pretty much everyone there, so I had a clear view of the sunrise among the sea of people. Renuka was unfortunately lost in the crowd a bit, though she said she snuck a peek. As it turned out, Rajitha probably had the best view of the three of us, from not quite the top of the mountain.
After the sunrise we went through the temple atop the mountain to see the footprint. Unfortunately we didn't really see it because it was covered up. After checking that out, we met up with Rajitha and found a nice spot to sit down and relax. During this time a Buddhist morning prayer took place, so we stuck out a bit in the middle of several praying Buddhists.
After leisurely relaxing for nearly an hour, and ringing the token "make a wish" bell, we began the descent. For me, the way down was more difficult as it was less about sheer leg strength, and more about balance and stability, especially in the quads. It was also heating up though the time was still early. The way down took less time, but was equally challenging.
The last hour of the descent was a backbreaker. Landmarks that seemed to be right at the beginning of the hike were a lot further away from the end than we remembered. Along the way there are many shops, stalls, and the occaisnional temple. Renuka and I both agreed the end couldn't come fast enough.
I saw a monitor lizard on the way down about 3 feet in front of me. Pretty cool.
We finally made it back down, and the dagger was the 20-odd stairs back up to the Green House. As soon as we got back our hostess offered cool papaya juice and a chance to get a nap in. I honestly have never fallen asleep as quickly as I did after hitting the pillow.
After a nice little nap, I got cleaned up and we headed to breakfast, nearly 8 hours after our day started. Whoa.
The lasting effects of the Sri Pada hike were slightly embarassing. Tuesday morning I seriously could not climb up stairs. My calves were sore for an entire week, and my hammies and quads were burning for 48 hours. Out of idiocy I didn't properly stretch before and after the hike, and that's what killed me. I think I fully recovered 10 days later. Hiking Adam's Peak was a great experience, but the three of us agreed its something we may never be foolish enough to do again.

Wedding Crashers

2006-05-07T05:27:00.000-05:00

Last night was my first offical wedding crashing, Renuka and I got dressed up and showed up at the Global Towers rooftop deck for a wedding reception going. We didn't stay very long because it started raining, but long enough to get a couple pictures proving we were there. We weren't called out by any of the people starting at us, but I'm sure people knew.
We decided to head to the hotel bar for a drink after leaving the reception, but right then we spotted a group of non-local guys and chicks heading out the door so I wondered out loud what they were up to. As it turned out the group was going to H20, a trendy and popular club in Colombo. They invited us along we piled into a cab and headed to the club.
The group of people we were with was an airline crew from Emirates. They were down by Global Towers because as tradition has it, any flight crew stopping over in Colombo goes to Beach Wadiya for dinner. The crew consisted of a girl from Singapore, Spain, and a guy from Singapore, Australia and Malta. I don't remember all their names but it was interesting speaking to each of them. They all had lots to say about Dubai, their current home, as well as working as cabin crew on Emirates. They all love Emirates, and we spent substantial time discussing the poor U.S. airlines and their "granny" flight attendants. Airlines in Asia are the best, for many reasons, hands down. From what our friends told us, Dubai sounds crazy, a relatively liberal country in a very conservative part of the world, with LOTS of money flowing around. The girl from Singapore (Nina I think) was describing how the girls there are covered head to toe by day in the hajab, but by night they're wearing the skimpiest skirts and strapless tops. The funniest thing any of them said was when the Australian lad asked me if I knew how to get around UAE blocking certain "types" of websites. I told him I'm from "the land of the free" and I've never had to deal with that sort of censorship. Still, Dubai sounds like a place I'd like to visit. Hopefully, I'll have a chance to cross paths with the Emirates crew some day as they were some great people.
H2O was a decent place, a bit pricey on the drinks for Sri Lanka but expected since its the "in" spot right now. They do live music until about 11, and then the dance club atmosphere kicks in. It nice because its a big, airy place with plenty of room at the bar and lounging area. Definitely a place I'll be back to.

Special Guest Entry!!

2006-05-04T22:14:00.000-05:00

Editor's Note: This entry refers to an event that took place over a month ago, but the writer has been very busy and just recently got around to writing this entry.

Like everything in Singapore, it was no surprise that when Satyan had to get his hair cut, it was done with efficiency and elimination of “useless” frills. Within 10 minutes of sitting in the chair, and 10 sing dollars, Satyan was in and out with a fabulous Asian haircut. If anyone has seen Satyan, they know he has tons of thick hair, so who would dare to take on such a feat? None other than Asia’s QB House. The Wall Street Journal, in a recent special report, told the fascinating story of Kuniyoshi Konishi, who started a chain of barbershops - QB House - in Japan in 1996. Mr. Konishi saw opportunity within a problem: He got tired of paying 3,000 to 5000 yen ($25 to $50) for a haircut that took an hour. He came up with a concept to create a no-frills barbershop where the customer could get a haircut in ten minutes at a cost of 1000 yen? (About $10.) Since 1996 there have been over 400 shops that have opened throughout Asia.

So what exactly are the frills that Mr. Konishi did away with? Well let me start at the beginning of Satyan’s haircut experience. After showing up at the QB House location at Plaza Singapora, Satyan took a seat on the waiting bench. To begin with QB House does not take reservations, walk in’s are their business. The flow of information begins before even stepping foot in the shop. Customers are informed of a barber's availability - and waiting time - by lights that are displayed outside the shop. As Satyan sat on the bench watching men, women and children come and go in lightening speed in and out of the barber chairs the bench he was sitting on was transmitting real time data to QB headquarters on how many people were waiting and on the average wait time.

So after about 10 minutes it was Satyan’s turn to get his haircut. Before even coming in contact with the barberchair, Satyan had already paid for his haircut. QB House's barbers don't accept cash. In place of a cash register, each barbershop is equipped with a ticket-vending machine. The customer puts his money, only a 10 dollar bill is accepted, into the vending machine, and is given a ticket that he hands to the barber. The barbers don’t have to waste time making change, they can focus on cutting hair. After handing the female barber the ticket satyan takes a seat in the barber chair. Now, in the US a haircut starts off with a shampoo or at least getting drenched by a spray bottle. Not the case at QB or in Asia, in general they wash a customers hair after cutting, at QB even that option has been rid of as a FRILL. Since Satyan wasn’t getting his hair washed its all about getting to business- cutting his hair. I watched nervously from outside the shop door, as Satyan gave a 30 second explanation of how he wanted his hair cut. As a woman, this is one of the most important discussions a girl can have. I usually have pictures of my favorite celebrities and photos of my hair from three years ago, along with a paint sample to illustrate the color I want my hair. Let’s just say that part of my salon experience takes at least 10-20 minutes with detailed discussion with my stylist. I nearly panicked as I watched Satyan pick up a few strands from the top of his head make a scissor motion with his hand and point to the old man behind him that had just gotten a buzz cut. With his back to me, facing the mirror, Satyan could see my reflection, the panic on my face as I raised eyebrows, flinched and closed my eyes with each snip of the clippers. The barber started at the back of his head cutting close and short, then moving to the top taking chunks and chunks of hair. The whole time I was skeptical of her skills, how would she manage Satyan’s furlick without getting his hair wet, would she just cut the whole thing off??? All these questions ran through my head as I watched hair fall from Satyan’s head. There were moments in the haircut where satyan had what looked like a mushroom, a bowl cut, and even the start of a mohawk. After about 7 minutes I had gained some confidence in Ms Scissorhands, Satyan's haircut was turning out good, great even. She was almost done when she started taking what was a good haircut to another level-an asian haircut. In general asian people have thick, silky hair, what I consider the best hair in the world. I found that regardless of where you are from, everyone gets the asian haircut, which means getting thinned out so hair can be somehow groomed or managed. The barber took a razor to Satyan’s hair and thinned out the top.

What was the end result? A great haircut that looked adoreable. It looked much like what every other Asian guy had between the ages of 6-40 but it looked fantastic on Satyan. After cutting his hair the barber used a special vacuum cleaner she pulled down from the ceiling and to tidy him up and we were on our way. In less than 10 minutes Satyan was had a hip new Asian do, the plastic comb that was used to cut his hair and a sweet smile on his face. All for the bargain price of 10 sing or about 7.50 US and 20 minutes from start to finish. What a deal!

Sri Lanka Situation

2006-05-03T23:32:00.000-05:00

A bunch of you have been asking me about what's going on in Sri Lanka and if I'm safe. Here's the rundown:

Me and the ADP team are safe and haven't been exposed to any danger or violence. We are taking precautions and not trying to tempt fate.
The U.S. Embassy issued a warning to Americans in Sri Lanka to avoid government and millitary buildings and areas, and we're heeding their advice
There was a suicide bombing near the Fort area of Colombo on April 26, which is about 10km north of our hotel.
Nothing has happened in Colombo since, though there's noticable increased security. Violence is growing in the North and East regions where there's a Tamil majority.

The feeling here is quite strange. Sri Lankans have been living with violence for decades, so it doesn't feel as if anything's changed. Business as usual, really. Its pretty sad because most locals I've talked to agree that its Sri Lanka itself that's to blame for the lack of progress, and the vast majority of Sinhalese and Tamils want peace and live side by side.

If anything further happens, especially close by, I'll take necessary precautions. Thanks to all who've expressed concern for me. The best way I've found to keep up with the Sri Lankan news is through a Google News search.

Roommates!

2006-04-27T11:25:00.000-05:00

You've seen the photos of my apartment at Global Towers, now its time to meet the inhabitants of this place.

Rajitha, our fearless leader on this ADP project, hails originally from right here in Colombo, Sri Lanka by way of Brisbanne and now London. She spent up through her teenage years in Sri Lanka before her family moved to Austrailia where she finished school and college and joined Accenture. After a few years working down under, Rajitha headed for cloudier pastures in London where she now resides. Rajitha has been a lifesaver time and time again here, doing everything from driving me around to negotiating with touk-touk drivers over 50 rupees. Though Rajitha laughs at pretty much everything I say and do (for example learning to tie a Windsor knot from a web page or asking questions to waiters in Sinhalese), she herself provides comic relief to the rest of us with her classic British vocabulary. I mean, she actually seriously used the word "fortnight" in a conference call the other day.

The third joiner of our magnificent trio (or three stooges) is our left coast friend Renuka, who makes her home on airplanes and in hotel rooms, but lists Los Angeles as her hometown. This California girl loves flying so much, in fact, that her itinerary on the way over here included stops in five, count 'em FIVE, cities in five different countries all on one trip (LA->Taipei->Kuala Lumpur->Singapore->Colombo). Renuka enjoys...well so far all I've seen is her working...but I'm sure she enjoys other stuff too. Don't be fooled by Renuka's diminutive stature and youthful glow like our colleague Phyllis, who asked whether she pulled a LeBron and skipped college to go straight into the workforce. Renuka enjoys watching people take long walks on the beach from her balcony, curry and rice (wait till she realizes what she's in for), and has been know to party down with the best of them in everyone's favorite D.C. nightclub - DREAM!

The Hill Country

2006-04-27T11:22:00.000-05:00

After an absolutely fantastic night of sleep, we struggled to get up and out of bed early Sunday morning. Vacations are not really that relaxing considering how much you want to get done in the limited vacation time. After another great breakfast that included waffles, coconut juice and chocolate crossiants, we piled into Harry's car and headed off to Nuwara Eliya. Unlike Saturday, there weren't any major attractions planned for Sunday since the experience of Nuwara Eliya comes in driving through the mountains and taking in the sights and feel. This area of Sri Lanka, squarely in the central part of the country, is known for its cool climate perfect for growing tea and other plants. The region is full of tea plantations and roadside stands selling fresh fruit and vegetable. I was delighted to find out that avacados, or butterfruit, is a major crop in Sri Lanka. The windy road through the mountains offers great views and several stopping points at natural waterfalls carved out over the years. In fact, the entire journey through Nuwara Eliya was really about the scenery, and so we stopped at random points throughout the way. Our first main stop was the Glenloch tea plantation. There we got a chance to tour the tea production facilities and learn about the process and different types of tea. We also sampled some freshly produced tea which was very satisfying.

After the tea plantation we headed for the main town center of Nuwara Eliya, though along the way we stopped at some waterfalls and overlooks for photos. The road is really winding and at times seems a bit dangerous, especially with all the overtaking that the drivers along the road do. It was actually amusing seeing Harry get annoyed at touk-touks and slow cars in front of us. But we made it to Nurwara Eliya around noon, and spent a little time walking around the city. Since it was the new year, lots of Sri Lankan twentysomethings were in N.E. partying and hanging around, and we saw our fair share of creepy dudes starting at Nima as we were walking around town. There wasn't much to see in the town, but we did stumble across an authentic open-air market that didn't have any tourists, and it was nice for a change to see that we weren't being hassled by the shopkeepers because they weren't interested in tourists.

By early afternoon we decided to just head back to Colombo, because Nima's flight was that night and we wanted to have time for a decent dinner before she left. The ride back took really long because the rains started and driving became difficult. Harry did a great job getting us back around 6:00pm, and we were able to get a reservation for dinner at Beach Wadiya, the world famous seafood restaurant right across the street from my hotel. The food was so good, it wouldn't be right if Beach Wadiya didn't have its own blog entry.