Sri Lanka

On the evening of Thursday, November 13, I flew from Jaipur to Mumbai. After a layover in Mumbai, my plane departed for Sri Lanka around 2 am on November 14. I arrived in Colombo (the largest city, but no longer the capitol) around 5:30 in the morning, completely exhausted. Fortunately, Shanti from Amber Tours arranged for a driver to pick me up from the airport so I did not have to think about anything. I had been sick the last few days in Jaipur and was still feeling weak (although the doctor had cleared me to travel), so I fell asleep for awhile in the car. The driver was friendly and pointed out some nice sights along the three-hour drive (when I was awake) to my destination: Tangelle.

The first thing I noticed about Sri Lanka is how completely different it is from India. I don't know what I expected having very little prior knowledge of this tiny country, but I guess I thought it would be like India shrunken into an island. I could not have been more wrong! Everyone who follows this blog knows that I am completely in love with India, the people, the culture, the sights, etc., and I rarely write about problems in the country because I am so overwhelmed by its beauty. But, for the record, there is one HUGE problem with India: it is dirty. By dirty, I mean heavy pollution in the air and water, trash piled on streets and sidewalks, and sickly animals running the streets and leaving feces behind. This is just a fact of life in India, and the Indian people want the government to clean up the country (and there is hope that PM Modi will make some improvements, particularly with water sanitation and sewage systems). Just to be clear, while the cities are shockingly dirty to Westerners, the Indian people are not dirty. In fact, the people are so clean that they eat with their hands. (I know I personally don't wash my hands as frequently as they do). I've heard Westerners make offensive comments about Indians smelling bad, which is just plain ignorant. Indians fill their homes with fresh flowers and jasmine incense. They use the sweetest smelling natural perfumes and oils on their skin. One of the things I missed most last time I came home from India was the smell. Yes, the trash stinks, but that's universal - who's s&*t smells like roses? (Cue Outkast...)

So, major difference in Sri Lanka: It is clean! The streets are cleared of litter and people can actually go running on the sidewalks without falling over a heap of trash. This was a refreshing sight, for sure. There is less traffic, since the population of the entire country is only 19 million (equal to the population of Delhi, India's third largest city), and less obvious pollution. The skies are clear.

My driver said that the urban landscape has improved significantly since the Tsunami in 2004. Over 40,000 Sri Lankans lost their lives in the Tsunami (50,000 by some estimates); they had to rebuild basically half the country.

After a nice drive from Colombo to the Southern Province, we arrived at my resort: Palm Paradise Cabanas  in Tangalle (aka "Tangalla"). I had originally booked an open air cabana on stilts with mosquito netting around the bed but no A/C (about $25 USD per night) because I'm broke and a seasoned traveler - who needs A/C anyway?

Me, as it turns out. After sweating it out for about 20 minutes, I walked to reception and asked about the Villas on the hill. For $60 USD more per night, you get A/C, glass windows and free wi-fi in your villa. Suddenly, I didn't feel so broke...

The cabanas are actually really neat, but not for someone recovering from being sick and exhausted from weeks of traveling.

So I moved from here...

   Cabana Video

to here...

Villa Video

...and then I was happy.

Here's a video of the walkway to the beach.

Tangelle is not on the above map of Sri Lanka, but it is located near Hambantota is on the southeast tip. It is definitely the most naturally beautiful place I have ever seen. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves...

Goyambokka Beach, Tangelle, Sri Lanka

Happiness

Another photo of the beautiful beach at my resort

Drinking coconut water from an orange coconut - naturally filtered!

Lone fisherman - I watch him every morning.

Buddhist altar on a narrow green spot jutting out into the Ocean. A vast majority (over 80%) of Sri Lankans are Buddhist; about 18% are Hindu.

Exploring another beach in Tangelle

Thanks for reading! More to follow...

On Traveling Solo

When folks hear that I’m planning to travel alone to a foreign country, they typically ask one or both of the following questions:

1. Aren’t you scared?

2. What will you do all by yourself?

My answer to the first question is simply, “No.” I rarely feel the need to elaborate because I don’t think I could explain why I am not scared to someone who would think to ask the question. I’m not criticizing the question – I get it. I understand why some people, especially people who have not traveled alone, would think of it as frightening. The reason why I am not scared is difficult to explain because it is so much a part of who I am. I have been traveling in foreign countries over half my life, and most of those trips have been either solo or with one other person.

Only once, when I was fifteen years old, did I travel with a group. It was my first time overseas and I went with a group of about twenty students from around the US on a 3-week tour of the Mediterranean. I enjoyed the tour immensely, but even then my favorite moments were those precious hours of “free time” where I was free to explore a city by myself. It seemed magical, disappearing in a crowd of locals, essentially invisible and free to watch people without them noticing that I was a stranger in a foreign land. Once, when I had wandered off during free time in Rome, I came upon a crowd of people lining up outside a beautiful church. They seemed excited, so I jumped in the line with them, having absolutely no idea what we were lining up for.

Suddenly, the doors of the church opened and the most elegant and fashionably dressed woman emerged with a group of people also dressed in gorgeous dresses and suits. The people in the line cheered as the woman and her entourage proceeded down the line, shaking hands with the people. When she reached me, I stuck out my hand and smiled. She smiled gently, gracefully, and took my hand in hers. I shivered when I felt her soft skin – her hands were as smooth as a newborn child’s – these were the hands of a woman who had never washed clothes, done the dishes, scrubbed a bathroom floor. “Who is she?” I wondered, “And who are the people following her, also shaking my hand and smiling?” They couldn’t be movie stars – I would have recognized them, and there would be a bigger crowd forming. As they drove away, I wondered whether I would ever find out the answer to those questions.

Later that day, when I returned to the tour group, our guide made an exciting announcement: “The Queen of Spain was here in Rome today, visiting a church with the princess and her fiance. You can see her on the television!”

I had shaken hands with Queen Sofia of Spain.

Queen Sofia

Would this have happened if I had been traveling with the group? Probably not. If I had been traveling with another person? Perhaps, depending on whether that person was willing to stand in a line that was not moving for half an hour for no apparent reason. You see, when you are alone, you make all the decisions. That brings me to my usual response to the second question.


What do I do when I’m traveling alone?

Whatever I want.


***
Side Note: I also shook hands with Princess Cristina and her fiance, Olympic athlete Inaki Urdangarin, who married about a year later in Barcelona.

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Another Side Note: Admittedly, there is one person who I enjoy traveling with just as much as I enjoy traveling alone - perhaps more - my bestie Nancy Rhinehart DeVetter. Here we are on our two-month backpacking trip around Europe after we graduated from high school in 1999:

Some of the best moments of my life have been those spent with Nancy. Both of us feel like that trip in particular was a life-changing experience. A few years later, we returned to Europe to study abroad - I spent the year in Besancon, France and Nancy studied in Salamanca, Spain, but we managed to find several opportunities to travel together that year as well.

Right before I left for this trip to India and Sri Lanka, I received a package in the mail from Nancy: a USB drive with a collection of songs about traveling and enjoying life. I often feel like Nancy is with me when I venture out into the world.