A quick update on the progress of my ayurvedic medicine treatments from Sri Lanka. You may recall that the dude removed clumps of hair off my back and as it is growing back, is itching like crazy. A new found respect for women and their battles with depilation.
Here are some words I have never heard strung together in my presence before..."What is that music you are playing? It is so good, can you turn it up?"
Fun story this week from the Taiwan Times. A magma chamber has been discovered under the nearby Tatun volcanic group. This is the volcano whose slope we live on and while an eruption is not imminent, it says our neighborhood would bear the brunt of its force. Sweet.
In happier news from the neighborhood, a new Italian joint opened up this week. An 8 minute (I timed it) walk from the apartment, it is exceptionally good. I got invited to attend the soft opening last Saturday by my buddy (and local Taiwan wine celebrity) and it was fantastic. Technically, I invited myself once I heard he was going, but still. As it was just my pal, his wife and I, the owner sat and ate dinner with us and we got to hear all about it. He really has an Italy fixation as everything is from there...from the utensils to the flooring to all the wine. Wonderfully decorated but still cozy, a massive open kitchen, three floors with outdoor roof seating (and view of the aforementioned volcano), staff that is half local and half Italian and just perfect food. We went back last night and enjoyed it just as much. While not Olive Garden, the prices are quite reasonable for the quality, and one can get a nice bottle of wine for $20 bucks. They are also open for breakfast and the boy and I went the other day and shared a couple of fluffy pastries and I got a double espresso Italian style. Can you tell I am pumped? To get a decent Italian meal in the past, we'd have to schlep 30-40 minutes downtown. Life just got exponentially better.
Regarding my wine celebrity friend (he recently became a Master of Wine, which is the PhD of the field) tonight is our latest installment of wine tasting. It is a class that we organize to benefit the Community Center where 10 attendees come to our place to sample a bunch of wines, have some chow and enjoy a buzz filled evening. This is our fourth and sadly, last one of these as our buddy and wife are moving home at the end of the school year.
Every year I have to write a passage lamenting the loss of friends here as the attrition rate for expats is high. Some years, there is a large quantity of the good ones that go, but this year, I am really sad as the quality leaving is high. Have probably mentioned these friends before...I met the bloke (they're Brits) at one of my earlier Chinese classes a few years ago. Was wearing a Yo La Tengo t-shirt that first class and he not only knew, but likes them. Obviously this guy had great taste and we struck up a friendship. Not long after, our wives got in on the act and they became the rare couple where we all enjoy each others company. The wife is a delight as well (she joined us for the recent Yo La Tengo show and still raves about it, so I need to say no more about her bona fides). We can chat and laugh about anything with them without anyone getting offended. Not only that, but the gent is a big Pittsburgh Steelers fan and we talk and watch football together a ton. Their leaving is gonna leave a massive hole in my heart.
A short one this week. Don't be surprised if I skip next week as am gonna meet up with Betty for a couple of nights in Ho Chi Minh city (formerly Saigon) next weekend. She is working there and am gonna take advantage of the opportunity to see that city. We have an early morning tour to the Cu Chi tunnels that the Vietcong used during the war and an evening foodie tour booked. Should be some good photo ops.
Saturday, February 25, 2017
Sunday, February 19, 2017
February 18th, 2017
On our local cable, we get the package that comes with HBO and there are 4 channels of that. Have been toying with getting rid of the cable altogether as there is rarely anything on that I would want to watch and we can get Netflix and the kids are good at downloading anything else, but we have it. Was looking at the schedule the other night and the great Best In Show was coming on the HBO Family channel around bedtime, so thought it would be good to doze off to. It's one of those flicks I can nearly quote the whole thing (Grande espresso anyone?) and am watching it and it seems to be moving along faster than I remembered when I realize that they have completely edited out the Stefan Vanderhoff and Scott Dolan characters. Guess that openly gay dudes and their Shih Tzu Miss Agnes are too much for the family audience. Cookie Fleck's promiscuity...no problemo.
Almost every morning when driving the kids to school (a 3 minute transit) is see this dude carrying his infant in a Baby Bjorn. No matter the weather, he wears a tight tank and short shorts. And every time I seem him I shout to myself 'Big Baby/Little Baby'. Understand this is only funny to me.
Finishing off Sri Lanka...we had done the cultural triangle and so moved into phase two. First up was a tour through tea country. LK is blessed with soil that was conducive to tea and when the Brits came in to colonize the country (1815 - 1948), they found it wildly profitable to grow tea to satisfy their bottomless taste for that beverage back in the homeland. We discovered that it was the Scotts rather than the English that were the driving force behind creating that industry throughout the world (James Lipton was from Glasgow for example). The hill country was far cooler than the lowlands, which was a welcome respite for us. At several points, it would be overcast and drizzly and we felt right at home in its Seattle feel.
I'm not a tea drinker and being immersed in this culture didn't sway me. Had dialed up an In Our Time podcast on the subject to listen to as we descended into the territory. Coffee was introduced into England prior to tea, but the locals got hoodwinked by the tea industry as being a health remedy. And while I knew it subconsciously, the Americans affinity for coffee stemmed from the Boston Tea Party and its F-U to King George. We popped into a couple of tea plantations and learned how it is made and was underwhelmed by how simple the process was. Pick, dry and bag it up. If you want black tea, it gets fermented for three hours and if you prefer the precious white tea, it is just the little single bud on top. Other than that, not much to tell you. I wondered if flavored tea had any tea leaves in it and no one seemed to know...almost started an argument asking if there are no tea leaves in it, can you call it tea? What if I soaked my underpants in hot water, is that tea? No one seemed amused.
My other tea question was around the caffeination process. Apparently, fermenting the tea leaves for 3 hours is what turns it from green to black and initiates the caffeination process. As a coffee lover/addict, the caffeine is what my habit requires and asked if fermenting it longer would increase the caffeine content. Apparently not as it would just make it bitter. On our tour were some very British sounding Indian tourists and I made a comment that it is the caffeine I am looking for and need my fix any way I can, while making a motion of being willing to inject it directly into my veins. The very proper Indian guy in our group could only say "Oh my".
We popped into the very English town of Nuwara Eliya for a superb lunch at an Indian restaurant before our scenic train ride to Ella for the night. The train station was frozen in time from the time of the Brits as all of the equipment was vintage.
Ella was totally hippied out with dreadlocked Europeans galore. It is great hiking country we were told. We did a relatively easy hike up to Little Adam's Peak and saw the snake charmer on the path.
He got pissed when someone took a photo without a donation.
Let's talk about dogs for a second. There were strays everywhere. They were docile for the most part but the quantity of them was astounding. And most of them seemed to have come from the same momma as the light brown ones were the vast majority. We knew that Buddhists are huge on letting life live and that even crushing a spider is verboten. I did catch the driver squashing a mosquito at one point and he sheepishly justified it as an us vs them thing. That is why the dogs are allowed to roam free and breed unchecked. The Australian owner of one of the hotels had a pet dog, which was well fed and groomed (and flea free) and we talked to her about dogs. I asked if her dog as neutered (she called it de-sexed) and it was and wondered if the local government had a policy on rounding up the strays and fixing them to control the population. Not only was that unconscionable, but her Sri Lankan husband had basically disowned their own dog when she brought it home after his de-sexing operation.
After tea country, we budgeted a couple of days for beach time. We wanted to vegetate and worked with our tour operator to find a beach that was clean and quiet. We found it on the eastern end of Weigama Bay on the southern tip of the island. Just lovely...the water was perfectly warm and calm and our place was at the end of the beach that was away from the surfing schools. When we were in the water, were the only ones out there. The sand was fine and the waves just big enough to play in without being slammed. I walked the beach a couple of times and in 10 minutes, we could have been in the heart of the surfer scene, but other than the strolls, we didn't leave the property and just sat in the sun and chilled. There are a few beaches that are built up with tourists, but for the most part, all of the beaches around are like the one we visited. Some rudimentary hotels but not crowded and absolutely perfect. We didn't do it, but you could snorkel/dive, go whale/dolphin watching and there are reefs and turtle sanctuaries. I know this would be a haul for people in the Sates to visit, but if you are in the area, LK has got everything a Thailand does, just without the annoying crowds.
Speaking of annoying crowds, I mentioned last time that people all volunteered that the Sinhalese men were lazy. The other comment that they all felt compelled to mention was about tourism. Yes, Sri Lanka is rebounding and that they have everything a traveler could want from a vacation they'd say. And for the country to make more strides in their recovery, having more visitors is key. And then if a more hushed voice they would say, "but we don't want the Chinese". They said this matter of factly and right to Betty's face. Either they didn't think she was Chinese, which she gets a lot, or they didn't give a shit and they just effin hate them.
After chilling out for a couple days, we needed to drive back up to the north a bit for our last 2 nights. We eschewed the wildlife parks and some of the cultural spots to spend a couple days at an old tea plantation. On the way, we were able to pop into the Galle Fort. On the southern tip, this was the location where first the Portuguese, then Dutch and finally British made for their base of operations on the island. Very colonial, its walls were so high that it withstood the 2004 tsunami.
Of course we remember the awful destruction of that day, but mainly on the destruction it wrought in Indonesia and Thailand and I had forgotten that Sri Lanka was hit just as hard with over 30,000 killed and millions displaced. Any signs of the tsunami were gone by this point but hearing the stories was chilling.
Galle Fort was a self contained site with shops and old churches. The shops were a bit pricey for our tastes but we did get ice creams.
We saw dozens of wedding parties being photographed on our trip as it was an auspicious time on the calendar for it apparently. The people looked very Indian to me, but have never been there so I couldn't say for sure. The color of the skin on many was really dark, not black but almost grey. Didn't notice to much of the Indian head bobble although did see it on occasion. I didn't think the women were to cute in general as they all seemed a bit dumpy. One thing about all of the people we saw was that they would look at you and have a very serious face, but as soon as we would smile at them, they would all give you a huge smile back. We liked them a lot.
Onto the tea plantation...we had read about a few that had been restored to their colonial splendor where you would be treated in royal Victorian fashion. The one that initially got us interested in Sri Lanka as a destination that was in Conde Nast called Ceylon Tea Trails. Owned by the same group that did the Meadowood Inn in Napa (where Betty and I ate a $700 dinner last summer) was booked, so we booked at a place called Rosyth. I think it suited our tastes more than the Tea Trail place as I found the Meadowood thing a bit ostentatious. Rosyth was so laid back with a staff that was there for your every need but didn't get in the way. Our rooms were in a separate two story bungalow that looked over the valley and were immaculately appointed. Whoever chose the artwork definitely had a milk machine obsession.
Welcome foot massages, the girls did a spa thing, and it was just a chill session extraordinaire. They did take us on a couple hour hike through their property...showing us all the gardens where they harvested the food for our meals and down to the rubber plantation. A fascinating process. 500 trees that can be tapped every other day. Two Tamil ladies do all the harvesting in the morning and then they come back to weigh it and are paid by their haul. These were two lightly built women that were carrying 100 jugs up and down the hills...I was taken by one of the ladies vintage Tayshaun Prince hats.
The flight home was a grueling as the one there (1am departure, home at 5:30pm), which didn't include sitting at the stupid Colombo airport for 4 hours. They recommend that you get there 5 hours before your flight for reasons that are still unclear. I fought to make it 4 hours cause 5 felt ridiculous and it took us about 10 minutes to go through Customs. Total bull shit. I did see a movie on the flight that was excellent. I forget who recommended it to me, but Hell Or High Water was a great flick and if you like a bit of the noir, this one is for you. Didn't know it was up for Best Picture but is certainly deserving.
Almost every morning when driving the kids to school (a 3 minute transit) is see this dude carrying his infant in a Baby Bjorn. No matter the weather, he wears a tight tank and short shorts. And every time I seem him I shout to myself 'Big Baby/Little Baby'. Understand this is only funny to me.
Finishing off Sri Lanka...we had done the cultural triangle and so moved into phase two. First up was a tour through tea country. LK is blessed with soil that was conducive to tea and when the Brits came in to colonize the country (1815 - 1948), they found it wildly profitable to grow tea to satisfy their bottomless taste for that beverage back in the homeland. We discovered that it was the Scotts rather than the English that were the driving force behind creating that industry throughout the world (James Lipton was from Glasgow for example). The hill country was far cooler than the lowlands, which was a welcome respite for us. At several points, it would be overcast and drizzly and we felt right at home in its Seattle feel.
I'm not a tea drinker and being immersed in this culture didn't sway me. Had dialed up an In Our Time podcast on the subject to listen to as we descended into the territory. Coffee was introduced into England prior to tea, but the locals got hoodwinked by the tea industry as being a health remedy. And while I knew it subconsciously, the Americans affinity for coffee stemmed from the Boston Tea Party and its F-U to King George. We popped into a couple of tea plantations and learned how it is made and was underwhelmed by how simple the process was. Pick, dry and bag it up. If you want black tea, it gets fermented for three hours and if you prefer the precious white tea, it is just the little single bud on top. Other than that, not much to tell you. I wondered if flavored tea had any tea leaves in it and no one seemed to know...almost started an argument asking if there are no tea leaves in it, can you call it tea? What if I soaked my underpants in hot water, is that tea? No one seemed amused.
My other tea question was around the caffeination process. Apparently, fermenting the tea leaves for 3 hours is what turns it from green to black and initiates the caffeination process. As a coffee lover/addict, the caffeine is what my habit requires and asked if fermenting it longer would increase the caffeine content. Apparently not as it would just make it bitter. On our tour were some very British sounding Indian tourists and I made a comment that it is the caffeine I am looking for and need my fix any way I can, while making a motion of being willing to inject it directly into my veins. The very proper Indian guy in our group could only say "Oh my".
After tea country, we budgeted a couple of days for beach time. We wanted to vegetate and worked with our tour operator to find a beach that was clean and quiet. We found it on the eastern end of Weigama Bay on the southern tip of the island. Just lovely...the water was perfectly warm and calm and our place was at the end of the beach that was away from the surfing schools. When we were in the water, were the only ones out there. The sand was fine and the waves just big enough to play in without being slammed. I walked the beach a couple of times and in 10 minutes, we could have been in the heart of the surfer scene, but other than the strolls, we didn't leave the property and just sat in the sun and chilled. There are a few beaches that are built up with tourists, but for the most part, all of the beaches around are like the one we visited. Some rudimentary hotels but not crowded and absolutely perfect. We didn't do it, but you could snorkel/dive, go whale/dolphin watching and there are reefs and turtle sanctuaries. I know this would be a haul for people in the Sates to visit, but if you are in the area, LK has got everything a Thailand does, just without the annoying crowds.
Speaking of annoying crowds, I mentioned last time that people all volunteered that the Sinhalese men were lazy. The other comment that they all felt compelled to mention was about tourism. Yes, Sri Lanka is rebounding and that they have everything a traveler could want from a vacation they'd say. And for the country to make more strides in their recovery, having more visitors is key. And then if a more hushed voice they would say, "but we don't want the Chinese". They said this matter of factly and right to Betty's face. Either they didn't think she was Chinese, which she gets a lot, or they didn't give a shit and they just effin hate them.
After chilling out for a couple days, we needed to drive back up to the north a bit for our last 2 nights. We eschewed the wildlife parks and some of the cultural spots to spend a couple days at an old tea plantation. On the way, we were able to pop into the Galle Fort. On the southern tip, this was the location where first the Portuguese, then Dutch and finally British made for their base of operations on the island. Very colonial, its walls were so high that it withstood the 2004 tsunami.
Of course we remember the awful destruction of that day, but mainly on the destruction it wrought in Indonesia and Thailand and I had forgotten that Sri Lanka was hit just as hard with over 30,000 killed and millions displaced. Any signs of the tsunami were gone by this point but hearing the stories was chilling.
Galle Fort was a self contained site with shops and old churches. The shops were a bit pricey for our tastes but we did get ice creams.
Giant lizards were all over.
We also stopped on the roadside to snap a few photos of the famous pole sitting fishermen. For a few rupees, they'd let you take a turn.
Onto the tea plantation...we had read about a few that had been restored to their colonial splendor where you would be treated in royal Victorian fashion. The one that initially got us interested in Sri Lanka as a destination that was in Conde Nast called Ceylon Tea Trails. Owned by the same group that did the Meadowood Inn in Napa (where Betty and I ate a $700 dinner last summer) was booked, so we booked at a place called Rosyth. I think it suited our tastes more than the Tea Trail place as I found the Meadowood thing a bit ostentatious. Rosyth was so laid back with a staff that was there for your every need but didn't get in the way. Our rooms were in a separate two story bungalow that looked over the valley and were immaculately appointed. Whoever chose the artwork definitely had a milk machine obsession.
Welcome foot massages, the girls did a spa thing, and it was just a chill session extraordinaire. They did take us on a couple hour hike through their property...showing us all the gardens where they harvested the food for our meals and down to the rubber plantation. A fascinating process. 500 trees that can be tapped every other day. Two Tamil ladies do all the harvesting in the morning and then they come back to weigh it and are paid by their haul. These were two lightly built women that were carrying 100 jugs up and down the hills...I was taken by one of the ladies vintage Tayshaun Prince hats.
Saturday, February 11, 2017
February 11th, 2017
Have mentioned that I watch Fresh Off The Boat from time to time. Caught an episode on the plane the other day that nailed it. The mom, who wants to adapt to America in a bad way, is sitting in the car pick up line at school and marvels at the efficiency of two lanes merging into one like a zipper. She goes on a long narrative about how great it is and ends with 'who would have guessed we could learn so much from pants. The mother-in-law, who is old school Chinese and speaks no English, is in the back seat and says that she is 'a button gal herself...I push through'. It so perfectly encapsulates the different driving styles and my row mates all turned to look at me laughing out loud.
This week at our monthly coffee morning, we invited the local Foreign Affairs Police to speak to the expat community. This arm of the local police force is there to work with the foreign community on all the range of issues that you could imagine and they have officers in each station that will come to the scene of a crime or accident to liaze with the foreigners to ensure that every ones rights are met. We thought it would be informative to get the word out about them and that the expats would be able to have their questions and concerns addressed. Before, during and after the talk, it was clear that we all are enamored by Taiwan and are happy to live here. The place is cleaner than it should be, the people are welcoming to us and it is safer than any other place any of us has been. I feel OK about the women in my life buzzing about town unaccompanied...I said OK, but not happy about it. There is good reason it just got voted number one by expats as the most livable city. And while some of us (me) will complain about the weather (not their fault) and food choices (no accounting for taste), one thing we all agreed on and bitch about constantly is the driving habits...and we let the representatives for the police know about it. I did feel a bit bad for them as we would not change the subject and really had no other concerns or complaints. A couple of our more empathetic members tried to argue that it is a cultural thing, but I call bullshit. Since when is running red lights and screwing over your neighbor by constant illegal and dangerous cutting maneuvers an OK cultural trait. Betty has always argued that they are informed by centuries of having to push to get enough to eat, but that is what evolution is all about. I argued it is not a cultural thing but an enforcement one. The laws are on the books and they have cameras everywhere. The police said that by law, they cannot use those to write tickets but did say there was an education plan underway. Also, they are using their resources to focus on drunk driving but I wonder what causes more accidents and deaths?
Travelogue time...we spent 8 days is Sri Lanka over the Chinese New Year break. It is a decent haul to get there (5 hr to Singapore/4 hr layover/4 hr to Colombo...same on return) and due to work being done at the Colombo airport, all flights arrive/depart between 10p and 1a. The first thing we noticed about Sri Lanka, and something that we had never seen before, was that all of the stores leading from Customs out to the arrival area sold major appliances with the most popular being refrigerators and washing machines. Dozens of stores. We were told later that this is due to the many Sri Lankans that travel overseas, mainly women to the Middle East, to work in factories and in homes. The law allows them upon return to buy a certain amount of stuff duty free and since they are loaded with cash, and that regular import duties run near 300%, these are popular items to buy.
Our collective knowledge about Sri Lanka going in was low. I had a friend in high school from there and everyone called him Coolie (which I learned later in life was a derogatory term for an unskilled Asian migrant laborer...1983 was such a much more openly acceptable racist time, sorry). I also knew that they had a long civil war, but was not as well versed on it as I should have been. I read about it before hand and this Wikipedia entry details it well. 25 years of brutality from 1983 to 2009 that went criminally under reported in the west. Add that Sri Lanka was hit extremely hard by the 2004 tsunami in the midst of it and was wondering if there was gonna be any there there.
My research led to the conclusion that we couldn't navigate around on our own efficiently. Public transportation was both slow and unreliable and driving was not a consideration, so we enlisted the help of a tour operator (Rainbow Tours, ask for them by name) to craft our visit and hired a driver for our stay and were delighted we did. Our driver/tour companion was named Wasantha and he not only spoke English very well, but knew his stuff. I would be following along with my research and he not only nailed all the facts, but embellished them with local knowledge that made the countryside come to life. By the end, I felt that we would consider him a friend for life.
Great views from the perch and this is a representative shot of how lush and green it is everywhere.
And there were monkeys everywhere. The macaques are ubiquitous and they are equal parts cute and horrifying. Watched this guy climb a trash can an fish out a delicious apple core, which he ate in its entirety.
Another stop we made was to the most iconic of all the sites in LK...Sigiriya. Stunning rock fortress dating from 477AD-ish.
The climb is 1200 tall and brutal steps and my knees were barking already. I started up but had to tap out about a couple/three hundred up. The kids and Betty went to the summit and report that it was fantastic. Cable car technology is reliable now...please invest.
While the family went up, I camped out in a clearing that was a transit stop for the journey up and down. I hung out in the sun dappled area watching the world go by. Tons of tourists that seemed about 60% Chinese and 40% European that were taking breaks and watching the macaques beg for food. At one point, a pile of Germans were recovering under a branch and a couple of the monkeys decide that it is time to get busy. The Germans loved it and started taking photos. Not a ton of foreplay involved and the male monkey only needed a few seconds to reach climax when he then pulled out and ejaculated on to himself. Not skipping a beat, he scooped up his sauce and began eating it. The Germans were delighted by the show.
We also dove into the mid-history site of Polonnaruwa, from around 1077AD. I have to say that I don't get off on the ancient sites as much as I do the history that goes into them.
Stupas are a requirement for all Buddhist sites and this was a big one. And each gives us a chance to make the 'I'm with stupa' gag.
Last stop of the cultural part of the trip was in Kandy, which is the second largest city in the country and the religious capitol. The cultural center is the Temple of the Tooth, which houses the Buddha's tooth, which is one of the most sacred spots/relics of the religion. We dove into it early evening as it is said to be at its most colorful then. Music is played at that time in a hypnotic drone style, which I like.
You have to line up to walk past the vessel where the tooth is kept. As it is a pilgrimage site, the line is long and they are pushing. The window to view the tooth is about 3' x 2' feet and you can't stop to take photos. I get it that it would take forever if everyone took a selfie, but why did they have to start pushing 50 yards before you got to the spot. Annoying...guess I wouldn't do well during the hajj. In front of the window is a pen where pilgrims sit with their offerings in total silence.
The Buddha's donated from around the globe room was colorful.
The outdoor candle room was a wonderfully hot and smelly
And the massive incense shack was not so wonderfully smelly and smokey
This week at our monthly coffee morning, we invited the local Foreign Affairs Police to speak to the expat community. This arm of the local police force is there to work with the foreign community on all the range of issues that you could imagine and they have officers in each station that will come to the scene of a crime or accident to liaze with the foreigners to ensure that every ones rights are met. We thought it would be informative to get the word out about them and that the expats would be able to have their questions and concerns addressed. Before, during and after the talk, it was clear that we all are enamored by Taiwan and are happy to live here. The place is cleaner than it should be, the people are welcoming to us and it is safer than any other place any of us has been. I feel OK about the women in my life buzzing about town unaccompanied...I said OK, but not happy about it. There is good reason it just got voted number one by expats as the most livable city. And while some of us (me) will complain about the weather (not their fault) and food choices (no accounting for taste), one thing we all agreed on and bitch about constantly is the driving habits...and we let the representatives for the police know about it. I did feel a bit bad for them as we would not change the subject and really had no other concerns or complaints. A couple of our more empathetic members tried to argue that it is a cultural thing, but I call bullshit. Since when is running red lights and screwing over your neighbor by constant illegal and dangerous cutting maneuvers an OK cultural trait. Betty has always argued that they are informed by centuries of having to push to get enough to eat, but that is what evolution is all about. I argued it is not a cultural thing but an enforcement one. The laws are on the books and they have cameras everywhere. The police said that by law, they cannot use those to write tickets but did say there was an education plan underway. Also, they are using their resources to focus on drunk driving but I wonder what causes more accidents and deaths?
Travelogue time...we spent 8 days is Sri Lanka over the Chinese New Year break. It is a decent haul to get there (5 hr to Singapore/4 hr layover/4 hr to Colombo...same on return) and due to work being done at the Colombo airport, all flights arrive/depart between 10p and 1a. The first thing we noticed about Sri Lanka, and something that we had never seen before, was that all of the stores leading from Customs out to the arrival area sold major appliances with the most popular being refrigerators and washing machines. Dozens of stores. We were told later that this is due to the many Sri Lankans that travel overseas, mainly women to the Middle East, to work in factories and in homes. The law allows them upon return to buy a certain amount of stuff duty free and since they are loaded with cash, and that regular import duties run near 300%, these are popular items to buy.
Our collective knowledge about Sri Lanka going in was low. I had a friend in high school from there and everyone called him Coolie (which I learned later in life was a derogatory term for an unskilled Asian migrant laborer...1983 was such a much more openly acceptable racist time, sorry). I also knew that they had a long civil war, but was not as well versed on it as I should have been. I read about it before hand and this Wikipedia entry details it well. 25 years of brutality from 1983 to 2009 that went criminally under reported in the west. Add that Sri Lanka was hit extremely hard by the 2004 tsunami in the midst of it and was wondering if there was gonna be any there there.
My research led to the conclusion that we couldn't navigate around on our own efficiently. Public transportation was both slow and unreliable and driving was not a consideration, so we enlisted the help of a tour operator (Rainbow Tours, ask for them by name) to craft our visit and hired a driver for our stay and were delighted we did. Our driver/tour companion was named Wasantha and he not only spoke English very well, but knew his stuff. I would be following along with my research and he not only nailed all the facts, but embellished them with local knowledge that made the countryside come to life. By the end, I felt that we would consider him a friend for life.
For brevity, will refer to Sri Lanka as "LK" going forward. In crafting our itinerary, we had to make some choices as you can't see it all. It is almost twice as large as Taiwan (13,794 sq mi to 25,305 sq mi) with the same population (roughly 23 million). For reference, Washington state is 71,000 sq mi with 7 million souls. We chose for a couple/three days to tour their cultural triangle. I had assumed that being a few miles off the coast of India, that it would have been part of that country, but it has been an independent entity for most of its existence. Buddhist from the most ancient of times, there are several ancient cities with their centers in relatively good shape.
One afternoon, we visited Dambulla Cave Temple, which have a bunch of Buddha's in caves dating back to the 1st century BC. Was an opportune time to refresh our knowledge of Buddhism, which still makes the most sense of all religions this writer's mind.
We also dove into the mid-history site of Polonnaruwa, from around 1077AD. I have to say that I don't get off on the ancient sites as much as I do the history that goes into them.
That was roughly it with the historically religious sites. One could spend a month visiting all of the ones in country but you'd have to be hard core to do that. I found them interesting and would recommend that you spend a day or two there. As the crow flies, they aren't very far from one another. about 60 kms, but the problem is that the roads are not great. There is one highway that runs from Colombo to the south coast that is 100 kms long, but the rest of the roads are all 2 lanes (one each way) that are effectively wide enough for 3 vehicles. That means that drivers are constantly playing a game of chicken passing each other one way while the drivers are doing the same going the opposite direction so you always going head on with another vehicle before diving back into your lane. I said constantly, right? It makes for slow going and you can travel about 20-25kms an hour, so a 60km drive takes about 3 hours. It is an art form out of necessity and one that I could probably master but was glad we had an expert driving us.
The roads themselves were in surprisingly good condition. I had expected worse after 25 years of civil war with much of their money going into that, but Wasnatha told us that the President that ultimately ended the civil war was a good one and he resurfaced all of the roads in the years following the conflict. He was very favorable to that president as he also built schools and a lot of infrastructure and complained about the current government, which is a coalition one, that has been proving ineffectual. Wasantha was good in telling us about politics and did not hide his affinities. The civil war was between the majority (75%) Sinhalese, who came 3000 years ago from northern India, and the minority (25%) Tamils that came a bit later from the southern part of India. Not going to get into who was right or wrong on the conflict, but what we heard often was that the Sinhalese, especially the men, were lazy. Did not hear that from Tamils but from the Sinhalese and foreigners who were happy to volunteer the thought. After we did the cultural thing, we headed into tea country and all of the workers at the plantations were Tamils, most of which were imported by the British from mainland India, to do the labor intensive back breaking work.
Before I go into tea talk, I have to call out a thing that we chose not to do based on time. As we were driving, we passed by many natural parks. They are littered through the country and are almost all interconnected so that the animals can follow their migratory paths. The main attraction are the wild elephants, but a few have leopards and other wildlife. We'd see scores of safari jeeps, the kind where you stand up in the back, going to and from the parks. There are corridors between the parks so you can drive past them, with electric fences up so the animals and cars don't run into each other, but on occasion, an elephant would be warming himself near the roadside for us to see.
For time, we elected to bypass them, mainly cause Betty has been on several in Africa and I'm not that into it, but to other travelers that may be going, wanted to call them out as being completely accessible and worth the trip if it's your kinda thing.
As we drove, nearly everywhere were roadside stands selling that areas food treats. Bags of chilies, sweet corn, which is boiled in salted water, and such. My favorite stop was when we got the big bag of chili cashews (so good). Betty loves coconut milk and she was enamored by the King coconut stop.
None of us had ever seen them before and upon later research, discovered that King coconuts are indigenous to LK and billed as being the best tasting. I'm not a connoisseur, but Betty agreed.
While LK is close to the equator, had assumed their agriculture would be limited in scope but was amazed at the variety of things that were grown there. They import grapes and apples, but other than those, all of their food is grown on island and they are self sufficient in that respect. As we'd drive, Wasantha would point out a farm and tell us what was grown there. In one hour span, I jotted down peppercorn, teak, morning glory, rubber, mango, papaya, jackfruit, cashew, yam, roseapple, coca, cloves, coffee, cinnamon, beats, palm oil, and of course, coconuts. A new one for me was the rambutan, which is a giant lychee. Yummy inside and the shell is a vibrant red fuzzy delight. Enjoyed a couple at breakfast.
The food in LK, as with everything else there is like India's well behaved younger sibling. Tons of curries but without the variety of their Indian counterparts. And also without the accompanying Dehli belly...none of us got sick once. They like it spicy, and maybe they dumbed it down for me at times (which I told them not to), but I didn't find it painfully or unnecessarily hot. Asked if they had a super hot pepper and was told there is one they refer to as a "Cobra" pepper. I would ask for it later at places we stayed/ate and the people would look at me and laugh. Not sure if they were laughing at or with me, but never did get to taste one. We had a lot of great stuff but the thing I will remember most was the night I ordered an appetizer called Devil cashews. They "deviled" a bunch of things, like potatoes and chicken, and these were cashews fried with onions and chilis...so effin' good.
The first couple of days, the driver would stop at a restaurant for us to have lunch, which were typically buffets of curry and local treats, but once we discovered that there were roadside stands that sold samosas and roti (which is flatbread stuffed with spiced eggs/veggies/meat), we wouldn't settle for anything else. We could feed the whole car for 5 bucks. Genius.
One more specific food call out...hoppers at breakfast. It is a pancake made of rice batter and coconut milk made into a bowl shape. For breakfast, they drop an egg in and cook it in the pancake. We had a few and liked it, but at the last place we stayed, they brought it along with sides of caramelized onions and spicy chili chutney. Oh my...
OK, one more bit of food porn. We saw something called curds and treacle on menu's but didn't order it. We were given it as a dessert a couple of days in and fell in love. Water buffalo curds (love that beast) along with a treacle honey. I always thought that treacle was refined sugar, but native to the area they have a "treacle" tree called caryota urens that produces the stuff naturally. A damn fine dessert or breakfast dish.
Was obviously wowed by the food offerings, but the local agriculture was not just for ingestion. Had read about their Ayurvedic medicine. In short, this is the Indian subcontinents version of Chinese medicine and has been developing for 3000 years. We stopped at an ayurvedic farm place for an informative tour. We were taken around and shown the different plants and were provided descriptions as to what they combine into treatments for various ailments. This place offered 45 different products that helped with things like migraines, constipation and menstrual cramps. The menstrual cramp potion description reads, "Lady Tonic, cures menstruation disorders, stops white discharge improve the feminine health and makes ladies happy during period by remedying the pains and unpleasant sensations." They had one (#14) for hair removal and the dude wanted to show us how it worked. I joked that it would be good for my hairy back and he insisted on trying it out on me. I took off my shirt and he applied the cream all over. Had to walk around topless for 20 minutes (I know...) and then we stopped for him to rub it off. Have to say that it worked. He rubbed it and sure enough, it came off in clumps. Betty took a video of the process, which I will never share with anyone and the kiddies were appropriately grossed out. During my topless period, the guy pulls me aside and shows me #6, which is good for the pecker-oo. I asked if it lasted 4 hours and he laughed and said 'no, only for an hour'. I was reading the instructions on how to use it and it said to "apply and gently massage on penises". I asked who should do the application and he smiled knowingly.
I ended up buying two products. # 21, which is said to relieve arthritis, and # 29 that is supposed to cure psoriasis. I suffer greatly from both of these ailments and am supposed to apply them daily for one month and afterward, they are supposed to go away forever. Immediately felt buyer remorse but damn, finding a solution, especially a natural one, to these annoying maladies would be a miracle. Started the treatments when we got back and so far...mixed results. Knees are still quite achy but my head psoriasis seems better. The knee thing smells and feels like menthol icy hot, but the head cream smells like shit. Not fresh stuff, but more doo doo that has dried. Regardless, will report back to you in March (and hopefully beyond).
Think I am going to put a bow on this one and finish up next time, but if you are interested in what they have to offer Ayurvedic-wise, please find below.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)