I was hoping to have some quality beach time today but it was a little overcast and not so much relaxing on the beach weather so I cashed in on this awesome deal my hotel was running at their spa. It was a "medical" spa, which really only meant that they took my blood pressure and pulse rate before starting. But it was heavenly so who cares. I got to choose five treatments, most of which I choose massage something or another. At one point I literally fell asleep while they were working. They kept asking me if I was okay because I was so relaxed I was sleepy and groggy. I was kind of sad I slept through some of it because it was feeling so good but what do you do. After a couple hours they had me walk out to this garden area and drink an herbal tea they had made for me. Supposedly, this tea was specially made to help me with the medical problems I had informed them about. After tea break it was onto my sinus clearing. I have had a bit of a cold/sinus infection. This is the first one I have had in a long time actually, I don't get them much anymore since I had my sinuses roto-rootered. They took me into a room where they had someone else in the process of a steam bath. I didn't see them, I just heard a few muffled sounds coming from what looked like a closed grill. I didn't have my camera but that is honestly what it looked like. It had two roll over lids, one for the bottom half of your body and the other for the top, only there was no head outlet. Hence why I didn't realize someone was in there until I heard the muffled answering to something. It was kind of creepy to be honest-in a human roster type of a way. My apparatus didn't look so scary though. They had me lay down on a massage table-one of the ones that have the hole for your face. They covered my head with towels, and put a boiling pot of herbs and natural medicines below it. There were a few intense moments where I had to lift my head up, and I was honestly afraid that I would going to have a bright red circle steam burned on my face-but luckily that didn't happen. It did help clear me out though. I am sure me blowing my draining nose right across from where the coffin steam bath lady was trying to relax wasn't the highlight of her trip to the spa but what do you do.
I was entirely greased up and sweaty by the time I was done, but because I was still hoping for the clouds to part I didn't want to shower just to get in the ocean at some point in the next couple of hours so I ate an amazing lunch of chicken kabobs and fresh salad and set out with Manoj to visit a turtle hatchery. They seem to be a big deal around here. Our visit was short and the place itself really lacked luster. In some ways, it felt like a scam to get you to donate money to their cause-BUT-it was good for seeing sea turtles which is why I went in the first place. I got to hold the little ones-who have strong little flippers might I add. I was very surprised!
Besides the newborns, they had other unique turtles as well-such as the albino turtle,
the missing one arm fin and one leg fin turtle,
and the lover turtles who where nuzzling all over the place. It was precious but seeing them made me think of a Youtube video I saw on mating turtles once-which made me chuckle to myself a bit. I probably looked crazy laughing at "nothing" but who cares. Life is short-laugh. Even if it is at yourself and no one else knows why.
Here a few more of my favorite pics from the turtle hatchery:
I know it looks like a painting but that is a real turtle, I swear!
My guide and Manoj. I think they guide was mad at me because I didn't donate anything other then my entrance fee-but of well I guess, you can't please everyone.
The weather still kind of blah so rather then beach time we went on a boat ride up the river. Initially, I wasn't so jazzed about this-not that it didn't sound fun, I just really wanted beach time! Turns out Manoj use to be a river guide so I had special privileges for the event-aka my own boat with two seasoned river/tree animal scouts.
They didn't disappoint either. I could not believe the things they spotted. Some were more obvious, like the bright blue birds-but one of them spotted this green snake (from far away too) while I was staring right at it for a couple of minutes trying and still not being able to see it. In my defense though, I assumed when they said snake they meant large brown python snake-not a perfectly camouflaged medium sized guy.
There were a lot of these nasty snake/crocodile looking things (both dead and alive),
even more bats,
and of course this man who let us hold his baby crocodile.
This may sound weird but it looks a lot more sharp and scary then it really way, but it was a little intimidating to hold it simply because of what it was. Of course I didn't try to touch its teeth but I was curious to know if they were razor sharp yet or just appeared that way--like how some puppy's teeth are. We saw other lizards and creatures that got away before I could get a good pic, and honestly my camera was having a hard time focusing on some of them because they blended in so well. Overall it was a cool experience, even though we didn't see any adult crocodiles.
I had given up on the beach at this point so after the river we went to see the biggest Buddha in the world. I got way better pics then this one, but I thought it would be cool to gets some pics approaching it, so you can see its hugeness in relation to its surroundings. It was going well until this cow walked right out in front of the tuk tuk and we just about hit it. But don't worry, the cow and the tuk tuk both escaped unscathed, and a successful pic was taken. Obviously Buddha was watching over us. :)
There was an entire Buddhist complex around the Big Buddha. This one was different then the two I visited in Kandy. Of course there were some similarities, but the ones in Kandy seemed to have more Hindu influence and the one I went to today seemed more hard core Buddhist. Well what I would consider more hard core Buddhist.
There were more monks here then I saw in Kandy as well. These monks were really young but Manoj was explaining to me that there is no age requirement to become a monk-you decide when you feel ready/when Buddha wants you/calls you to be a monk.
They had an elephant at the temple as well-this is the last Sri Lankan Elephant pic I promise. :)
Oh and I am wearing a sweater not because it was cold, but because you have to cover your shoulders and knees when at a Buddhist Temple. Normally I would have had them covered in order to cover my G's but because I ended up wearing my swimsuit and a sundress the whole day.......hence the sweater. It is interesting to me how so many religions have an emphasis on modesty. I've discovered this through my travels, but I don't know that I would have come to know it otherwise.
I forgot the exact measurments of the Buddha, but it is the biggest in the world so that is enough about that. I asked Manoj if he wanted his picture in front of it--thinking it would be meaningful to him where he is an actual Buddhist, but he quickly informed me that it was seen as very disrespectful for a Buddhist to stand with their back towards any statue of Buddha. I think he said something about, "it is fine for you people" but I still didn't test it.
On the way home we stopped by a place to see some of Manoj's friends. They were mostly the other dive team crew member from the hotel-they were really nice as well, but I'm glad we didn't spend to much time there. Mostly because I really wanted to go shower.
After going back to the hotel and showering (with warm water this time because I figured out how to work it properly) I went on what I am pretty sure was a Sri Lankan date. No, I'm sure it was a date now, but when we were first leaving I didn't really know. Manoj took me out to dinner at an Indian restaurant. Oh the irony. The food was good though and of course the company was good too. In some ways it felt exactly like a date at home, he planned it and paid for it, etc. Only instead of picking me up in a car he picked me up in a tuk tuk--which was perfect considering my life right now. It just made sense. The restaurant had TV's that were turned on to a cricket match and Manoj watched some but to be fair he actually did pretty good at not zoning out in front of it. We just talked about life, our families, our dreams--the usual. The biggest difference was that I got a little bit of a scolding for not finishing all my food--not like "oh don't be an annoying girl and not eat in front of me" but more along the lines of "don't be so wasteful! If you have chicken in front of you and you don't finish it that is extremely rude". I can see how that would be offense in certain parts of the world, but I didn't register it at all--I was just thinking I was full.
It was raining before dinner and was still raining after dinner--but we wanted to go down to the beach and look for sea turtles. We borrowed an umbrella from the hotel and went searching but we didn't find any. We did find some older men fishing though, and they were so funny. Not that I could understand what they were saying but they were making me laugh and we were helping them out for a bit. We walked on but then we heard them yelling so we went back. Turns out one of them had caught a lion fish. Although it looks really cool, lion fish are actually pretty poisonous. I watched and laughed as the three grown men tried to get the hook out of the lion fish, while trying not to get stung and being startled every time the little poison ball so much as wiggled--which was often.
I only had my phone (and it was night and it was a lot of movement and it was raining) so I didn't get awesome pics but it's pretty engrained in my mind simply because it was so authentic and so entertaining. And yes, they were able to succeed in retrieving their hook without getting stung. They ever returned the fish back to to water--but it showed up again later on-floating around on the surface. Buddha won't hold that against them since they valiantly tried not to kill it right? Then again, they were fishing so yeah-----I don't know how that works really.
I was entirely greased up and sweaty by the time I was done, but because I was still hoping for the clouds to part I didn't want to shower just to get in the ocean at some point in the next couple of hours so I ate an amazing lunch of chicken kabobs and fresh salad and set out with Manoj to visit a turtle hatchery. They seem to be a big deal around here. Our visit was short and the place itself really lacked luster. In some ways, it felt like a scam to get you to donate money to their cause-BUT-it was good for seeing sea turtles which is why I went in the first place. I got to hold the little ones-who have strong little flippers might I add. I was very surprised!
Besides the newborns, they had other unique turtles as well-such as the albino turtle,
the missing one arm fin and one leg fin turtle,
and the lover turtles who where nuzzling all over the place. It was precious but seeing them made me think of a Youtube video I saw on mating turtles once-which made me chuckle to myself a bit. I probably looked crazy laughing at "nothing" but who cares. Life is short-laugh. Even if it is at yourself and no one else knows why.
Here a few more of my favorite pics from the turtle hatchery:
I know it looks like a painting but that is a real turtle, I swear!
My guide and Manoj. I think they guide was mad at me because I didn't donate anything other then my entrance fee-but of well I guess, you can't please everyone.
The weather still kind of blah so rather then beach time we went on a boat ride up the river. Initially, I wasn't so jazzed about this-not that it didn't sound fun, I just really wanted beach time! Turns out Manoj use to be a river guide so I had special privileges for the event-aka my own boat with two seasoned river/tree animal scouts.
They didn't disappoint either. I could not believe the things they spotted. Some were more obvious, like the bright blue birds-but one of them spotted this green snake (from far away too) while I was staring right at it for a couple of minutes trying and still not being able to see it. In my defense though, I assumed when they said snake they meant large brown python snake-not a perfectly camouflaged medium sized guy.
There were a lot of these nasty snake/crocodile looking things (both dead and alive),
even more bats,
and of course this man who let us hold his baby crocodile.
This may sound weird but it looks a lot more sharp and scary then it really way, but it was a little intimidating to hold it simply because of what it was. Of course I didn't try to touch its teeth but I was curious to know if they were razor sharp yet or just appeared that way--like how some puppy's teeth are. We saw other lizards and creatures that got away before I could get a good pic, and honestly my camera was having a hard time focusing on some of them because they blended in so well. Overall it was a cool experience, even though we didn't see any adult crocodiles.
I had given up on the beach at this point so after the river we went to see the biggest Buddha in the world. I got way better pics then this one, but I thought it would be cool to gets some pics approaching it, so you can see its hugeness in relation to its surroundings. It was going well until this cow walked right out in front of the tuk tuk and we just about hit it. But don't worry, the cow and the tuk tuk both escaped unscathed, and a successful pic was taken. Obviously Buddha was watching over us. :)
There was an entire Buddhist complex around the Big Buddha. This one was different then the two I visited in Kandy. Of course there were some similarities, but the ones in Kandy seemed to have more Hindu influence and the one I went to today seemed more hard core Buddhist. Well what I would consider more hard core Buddhist.
There were more monks here then I saw in Kandy as well. These monks were really young but Manoj was explaining to me that there is no age requirement to become a monk-you decide when you feel ready/when Buddha wants you/calls you to be a monk.
They had an elephant at the temple as well-this is the last Sri Lankan Elephant pic I promise. :)
Oh and I am wearing a sweater not because it was cold, but because you have to cover your shoulders and knees when at a Buddhist Temple. Normally I would have had them covered in order to cover my G's but because I ended up wearing my swimsuit and a sundress the whole day.......hence the sweater. It is interesting to me how so many religions have an emphasis on modesty. I've discovered this through my travels, but I don't know that I would have come to know it otherwise.
I forgot the exact measurments of the Buddha, but it is the biggest in the world so that is enough about that. I asked Manoj if he wanted his picture in front of it--thinking it would be meaningful to him where he is an actual Buddhist, but he quickly informed me that it was seen as very disrespectful for a Buddhist to stand with their back towards any statue of Buddha. I think he said something about, "it is fine for you people" but I still didn't test it.
On the way home we stopped by a place to see some of Manoj's friends. They were mostly the other dive team crew member from the hotel-they were really nice as well, but I'm glad we didn't spend to much time there. Mostly because I really wanted to go shower.
After going back to the hotel and showering (with warm water this time because I figured out how to work it properly) I went on what I am pretty sure was a Sri Lankan date. No, I'm sure it was a date now, but when we were first leaving I didn't really know. Manoj took me out to dinner at an Indian restaurant. Oh the irony. The food was good though and of course the company was good too. In some ways it felt exactly like a date at home, he planned it and paid for it, etc. Only instead of picking me up in a car he picked me up in a tuk tuk--which was perfect considering my life right now. It just made sense. The restaurant had TV's that were turned on to a cricket match and Manoj watched some but to be fair he actually did pretty good at not zoning out in front of it. We just talked about life, our families, our dreams--the usual. The biggest difference was that I got a little bit of a scolding for not finishing all my food--not like "oh don't be an annoying girl and not eat in front of me" but more along the lines of "don't be so wasteful! If you have chicken in front of you and you don't finish it that is extremely rude". I can see how that would be offense in certain parts of the world, but I didn't register it at all--I was just thinking I was full.
It was raining before dinner and was still raining after dinner--but we wanted to go down to the beach and look for sea turtles. We borrowed an umbrella from the hotel and went searching but we didn't find any. We did find some older men fishing though, and they were so funny. Not that I could understand what they were saying but they were making me laugh and we were helping them out for a bit. We walked on but then we heard them yelling so we went back. Turns out one of them had caught a lion fish. Although it looks really cool, lion fish are actually pretty poisonous. I watched and laughed as the three grown men tried to get the hook out of the lion fish, while trying not to get stung and being startled every time the little poison ball so much as wiggled--which was often.
I only had my phone (and it was night and it was a lot of movement and it was raining) so I didn't get awesome pics but it's pretty engrained in my mind simply because it was so authentic and so entertaining. And yes, they were able to succeed in retrieving their hook without getting stung. They ever returned the fish back to to water--but it showed up again later on-floating around on the surface. Buddha won't hold that against them since they valiantly tried not to kill it right? Then again, they were fishing so yeah-----I don't know how that works really.
