After breakfast I ran across the street to the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage. That is where the elephants that bath in the river behind my hotel come from. But I had to make way for this guy before I could go in.
Gross. Besides that serpentiney greeting, the orphanage was a really cool place-it's like an elephant sanctuary, arguably one of the happiest place on earth. (Thats right, share the space Disney!)
Many thanks to the nice German man (I think he was German) who so willingly took pics with my camera during the process--even though his girlfriend/sister photobombed a few pics. I honestly think she thought I wouldn't notice because when I would look at her way she would look back and away like she was being so sneaky. But come on chicka, you were practically right next to me.
And I loved this one because of all the hair on top-it reminded me of the little elephant in Jungle Book.
To be fair this pic looks a little freaky but look at those baby tusks!
After feeding time I took some more photos and hit some of the shops around the orphanage for some last minute knick knacks. I kept hearing this siren-which I assumed was an ambulance, although I did think it was weird that it didn't seem to be moving closer or farther away. Luckily one of the shop keepers pulled me aside and pointed up the street where I saw this:
Oh hello there! The siren wasn't an ambulance at all, it was a "watch out because 30-ish elephants are coming down the street and we don't want you to get squashed" sound. And I totally missed it. Thank heavens for mindful shop keepers that watch out for unknowing volunteers. I was taking pics of the processional at the first so I only got video of the end of them but here you go anyway:
Gross. Besides that serpentiney greeting, the orphanage was a really cool place-it's like an elephant sanctuary, arguably one of the happiest place on earth. (Thats right, share the space Disney!)
After hanging out with the herd for a bit, I moved over to the baby elephant feeding area. They were so freaking adorable.
This one kept trying to sneakily get his bottle anytime it was out away from his mouth for more then 5 seconds. (And I actually don't know it he was really a he but whatever.)
After wheeling and dealing with one of the handlers, I was able to feed one of the baby elephants not one, but TWO bottles.
Many thanks to the nice German man (I think he was German) who so willingly took pics with my camera during the process--even though his girlfriend/sister photobombed a few pics. I honestly think she thought I wouldn't notice because when I would look at her way she would look back and away like she was being so sneaky. But come on chicka, you were practically right next to me.
I've concluded that baby elephants look just as cute close up as they look from far away.
And I loved this one because of all the hair on top-it reminded me of the little elephant in Jungle Book.
To be fair this pic looks a little freaky but look at those baby tusks!
Oh hello there! The siren wasn't an ambulance at all, it was a "watch out because 30-ish elephants are coming down the street and we don't want you to get squashed" sound. And I totally missed it. Thank heavens for mindful shop keepers that watch out for unknowing volunteers. I was taking pics of the processional at the first so I only got video of the end of them but here you go anyway:
They were on the way to bath time in the river, so when I got back, I quickly checked out of my hotel and went down to watch them for a bit. You would think I would be all elephanted out but I can't get enough of them. The group of young ones playing king of the mountain and the little family bonding time were my favorite.
And last but not least, this pic of the lone mahout.
I met some nice Italians who where watching elephant bath time as well. One of them was born in Italy, but was currently living in Texas. He was glad to see another American around-there really isn't a lot of us in this part of the world, most of the foreigners are European. Of course as soon as I said I was from Utah he asked if I was part of any religious group--"err actually are you Mormon?" It was funny, here he was, a distinguished ER doctor who is working on joining "Doctors Without Borders" and he was stumbling over asking me what religion I was. I told him I was, and then he proceeded to tell me that we were still polygamists. He was kind about it, but we still had a little conversation about how we once practiced polygamy but no longer do and haven't for years. And that the "sects" of Mormonism who do practice it are not sects of the Mormon church at all, they are doing their own separate thing. It was a good conversation though, and one of the times I've been able to share things about the church while sharing other cultural and world traveling experiences-which I really think helped me relate to and articulate my feelings to this guy. I don't know how to describe it other then it was one of the shortest yet most enriching religious conversations I've ever had with a stranger.
And last but not least, this pic of the lone mahout.
I met some nice Italians who where watching elephant bath time as well. One of them was born in Italy, but was currently living in Texas. He was glad to see another American around-there really isn't a lot of us in this part of the world, most of the foreigners are European. Of course as soon as I said I was from Utah he asked if I was part of any religious group--"err actually are you Mormon?" It was funny, here he was, a distinguished ER doctor who is working on joining "Doctors Without Borders" and he was stumbling over asking me what religion I was. I told him I was, and then he proceeded to tell me that we were still polygamists. He was kind about it, but we still had a little conversation about how we once practiced polygamy but no longer do and haven't for years. And that the "sects" of Mormonism who do practice it are not sects of the Mormon church at all, they are doing their own separate thing. It was a good conversation though, and one of the times I've been able to share things about the church while sharing other cultural and world traveling experiences-which I really think helped me relate to and articulate my feelings to this guy. I don't know how to describe it other then it was one of the shortest yet most enriching religious conversations I've ever had with a stranger.
Eventually, I had to peel myself away from the elephants and load my stuff into my Trusty Driver's tuk tuk so we could set out on a cross country adventure. Okay fine, it wasn't literally across the country but it was across a big chunk of it. We traveled from Kandy to Bentota-which is where I am going to spend my last couple of days in Sri Lanka. Originally I was going to take the train, but Trusty Driver gave me a really good deal and I thought it would be cool to see some more of Sri Lanka's prestige landscape. Plus, I wasn't sure how exactly what I would be getting myself into taking the train. And just for the record, Trusty Driver has a name-I'm pretty sure it started with an S-but I never was able to hear it clearly enough to commit it to memory, so he will just have to remain Trusty Driver. It was a long journey, (it ended up being about 4 hours total) and I thought being in a tuk tuk that long would be way worse then it was. Really, it wasn't very bad. And it was beautiful.
The traffic in Sri Lanka is WAY better then it is in India. There is a lot less honking and weaving, and people actually obey the traffic lights and signs. Imagine that. It makes such a huge difference. About an hour into our journey, Trusty Driver admitted to me that he had never been to Bentota before so that ended up being fun once we got there--but eventually we sorted everything out. I felt a little bad when he left to go back to Kandy because he was for sure going to have to travel in the dark some, and where he wasn't familiar with the way...........I hope he made it back to his wife and little girl alright.
This hotel is a little different then my last one. It doesn't have a river with elephants in it like my last one did, but the view from my bed through the window is still breathtakingly beautiful.
And then I walk out into this:
Actually, this hotel was destroyed in the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami and had to be completely rebuilt afterwords. Based on the interactions I have had with them so far, the staff is absolutely incredible so even though it seems more like a European geriatric home then a hopping beach resort I'm sure it will be just fine. Ironically though, I guess there was a ginormous party there this past Saturday night that had TONS of singles at it-like my age singles. It was weird to hear everyone talk about it and to simultaneously see a place that didn't seem able to host such a party but I guess looks can be deceiving because it was the talk of the guests, the staff and the town-literally.
I dropped my stuff off in my room, took a quick shower (this one really was quick because it was cold--and yes, it was very depressing) and went to get my hair trimmed for the first time in 6 months. The hairstylist was really fun. She caught me off guard because she was so westernized. She talked about living in Dubai for a few years, and how she is going through a divorce, etc. I am not use to people (other then certain staff members) being able to communicate that well and then talk about things my hairstylists at home would. I don't know how much she grasped the concept of trimming my hair, not that she cut it really short, I just don't know if she trimmed much of anything off at all. It feels good though so that counts for something right?
After our adventures in town, Manoj took me back to the hotel where I had dinner and kept visiting with the guests that we picked up from dinner. They were so funny. They were middle aged German's who were just wrapping up their trip. The one couple was very well traveled and had actually been to Utah before. They loved Utah. The wife of that couple was a crack up. They had already ate so they were sitting down for drinks, but I was eating my actual dinner at the next table over. This lady kept coming over the my table and showing me pictures of things they had seen in Sri Lanka-which were a lot of the same things I had seen, yet she was showing them to me like I had NO idea of their awesomeness. She was just being friendly and talkative so it was fine but it did make me laugh a little. My favorite part of the night was when she saw some kind of animal (I don't remember what it was---a squirrel maybe?) by the door of the restaurant that led out to the beach, and called for me across the room saying "UTAH! You have got to come look at this!" Their last day in Sri Lanka is tomorrow-I think Ill miss them when they go.
The traffic in Sri Lanka is WAY better then it is in India. There is a lot less honking and weaving, and people actually obey the traffic lights and signs. Imagine that. It makes such a huge difference. About an hour into our journey, Trusty Driver admitted to me that he had never been to Bentota before so that ended up being fun once we got there--but eventually we sorted everything out. I felt a little bad when he left to go back to Kandy because he was for sure going to have to travel in the dark some, and where he wasn't familiar with the way...........I hope he made it back to his wife and little girl alright.
This hotel is a little different then my last one. It doesn't have a river with elephants in it like my last one did, but the view from my bed through the window is still breathtakingly beautiful.
And then I walk out into this:
Actually, this hotel was destroyed in the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami and had to be completely rebuilt afterwords. Based on the interactions I have had with them so far, the staff is absolutely incredible so even though it seems more like a European geriatric home then a hopping beach resort I'm sure it will be just fine. Ironically though, I guess there was a ginormous party there this past Saturday night that had TONS of singles at it-like my age singles. It was weird to hear everyone talk about it and to simultaneously see a place that didn't seem able to host such a party but I guess looks can be deceiving because it was the talk of the guests, the staff and the town-literally.
I dropped my stuff off in my room, took a quick shower (this one really was quick because it was cold--and yes, it was very depressing) and went to get my hair trimmed for the first time in 6 months. The hairstylist was really fun. She caught me off guard because she was so westernized. She talked about living in Dubai for a few years, and how she is going through a divorce, etc. I am not use to people (other then certain staff members) being able to communicate that well and then talk about things my hairstylists at home would. I don't know how much she grasped the concept of trimming my hair, not that she cut it really short, I just don't know if she trimmed much of anything off at all. It feels good though so that counts for something right?
After getting my hair "trimmed" Aesha (the hair stylist) called one of her friends to take me into town to walk through the weekly market and just take in the surroundings. Turns out that her friend also happens to work at my hotel and was one of the people who helped with my bags when I first arrived. His name is Manoj, and he actually works in the dive center at the hotel as well. I think the hotel may have paid him to hang out with me and keep me safe (one of the worker made some mention of making sure I was okay since I was a single white American traveling alone) but it was fun so who cares. We wandered around the market, hit some souvenir shops, picked up some other hotel guest, took them to dinner and wandered around a little more while we were waiting for them to finish eating. We got cornered by this insanely drunk man (who was behind the wheel of another tuk tuk which made my stomach fill with knots) who would NOT stop talking. I was slightly bugged but Manoj was getting really annoyed. The said drunk guy had mentioned not wanting his picture taken so I whipped out my camera to try to shoo him off, but in the end he just kept talking. We got a funny picture at least!
After our adventures in town, Manoj took me back to the hotel where I had dinner and kept visiting with the guests that we picked up from dinner. They were so funny. They were middle aged German's who were just wrapping up their trip. The one couple was very well traveled and had actually been to Utah before. They loved Utah. The wife of that couple was a crack up. They had already ate so they were sitting down for drinks, but I was eating my actual dinner at the next table over. This lady kept coming over the my table and showing me pictures of things they had seen in Sri Lanka-which were a lot of the same things I had seen, yet she was showing them to me like I had NO idea of their awesomeness. She was just being friendly and talkative so it was fine but it did make me laugh a little. My favorite part of the night was when she saw some kind of animal (I don't remember what it was---a squirrel maybe?) by the door of the restaurant that led out to the beach, and called for me across the room saying "UTAH! You have got to come look at this!" Their last day in Sri Lanka is tomorrow-I think Ill miss them when they go.
