Elephants and Whales

OK - I know I have already shown you pictures of elephants, but I can't help it - I just love these animals so you will have to put up with some more. :-)

Yesterday we paid a visit to an Elephant Orphanage, where they take care of little elephants that has ended up in trouble. They take care of them until they can release them into the wild again. On our way to the Orphanage we passed a wild elephant next to the road.  We just couldn't resist, so we stopped and fed the elephant bananas. It seemed quite happy with the attention and stood close to the bus and waited for more bananas. See picture below.

We arrived to the orphanage just in time for the feeding. It was a fantastic view to see all the little elephants run towards the "milk station". There were around 30 elephants, so it was good that they didn't release them all at the same time. That would have been rather chaotic. Some of the elephants pretended that they still hadn't been feed and tried to go for seconds, but the guard always saw them trying. They were so cute when they were casually strolling around in the effort to trick the guard.

In the late afternoon we arrived to Mirissa Beach for a day off the busy schedule. But it didn't take me long to fill up the free day. I booked a whale watching trip and a massage. 

The whale watching started early in the morning (6.15). We had quite a big boat that took around 30 people. From the harbor we drove about 2 hours out on the ocean and then the "chase" started. There were 5 boats with tourists looking for signs of blue whales and as soon as someone spotted something all boats drove in that direction. If you were lucky you got to see the whale swim around and blow some air and then dive. We saw many whales and got close to a couple of them. It was fantastic. I mean - who would not be amazed by the biggest animal on earth??

The rest of the afternoon was spent on the beach, either strolling or just hanging around.

In the late afternoon I went for the massage. As some of you know - I have enjoyed massages all around the world. So I'm quite picky. I know exactly what I like and what I don't like. That is the problem when you have a lot of experience - you start having demands. When I came to my massage appointment they told me to come back an hour later?! I wondered why, since I had booked the time. They said that someone had just walked in (without an appointment). I then told them, that since I made an appointment - the other person should leave, not I. They agreed with me, so I was happy. When I came into the massage room and put myself on the bed I realized it was wet (from the girl before), so I told them to swap the towels. Again they did as I told. The massage started and I wasn't impressed. It was no pressure, just strokes. Exactly the kind of massage I don't like. When she was finished I looked at the watch and realized that she had only given me a little bit more than 40 minutes of massage (I booked one hour). And since I'm a friend of order I told the woman about it, so she put me on a plastic chair and gave me another 15 min of massage. So in the end I got what I paid for - one hour massage at the time I had booked, but it was a struggle to get there and that disturbed the whole experience. So as a whole it was probably the worst massage I have ever got. Well - you can't win them all.

No I'm sitting Galle and it is our last night with the whole group. I can't say that I'm looking forward to go home.

Hungry elephant by the road

Hungry little elephants drinking milk

Cuddling elephants

Mirissa Beach in the morning

Mirissa Beach in the afternoon

Blue Whale Diving

Finally hiking

I'm back in civilization after 2 days of hiking. At the moment I'm sitting in the hotel reception with a view of the tea terraces. I feel really happy. We have had 2 fantastic days of hiking the tea terraces. I loved every minute of it.

But before we went for the hike we had some other interesting activities:

• Tea factory tour
• Shopping in Kandy
• A traditional dance show which included a walk on fire
• A visit to a quirky hotel called Helga's Follie where a lot of famous people have stayed

The tea factory was interesting since we got to see the working conditions (I have seen how they make tea before). I don't think that any Swedes would accept to work there. It is times like this that I'm reminded how good our life is in Sweden. We also got to test some tea and I ended up buying green and white tea. I'm looking forward to try the tea in Sweden. I mean - Sri Lanka is famous for the their tea.

I was really looking forward to the shopping in Kandy, but I was very disappointed since I didn't really see anything that I wanted to buy (strange - huh?!). In the end I only went to the supermarket and bought some yoghurt and water. Huge disappointment. So far - the only souvenirs I have bought was in the Spice Garden and the Tea factory.

In the evening we went to dance show, where they presented a lot of different dances from around Sri Lanka. I was sitting next to Annie (my room mate) which was funny, since a couple of the dancers were staring (in a nice way) in our direction. They probably stared at Annie, but I still felt somewhat included in the attention.

After our late dinner in Kandy we decided to check out the quirky Helga's Follie hotel. Some of the guys on the trip had been there during the day and loved it. So we went there for the night cap. What a fantastic place. We went around and took pictures of all the rooms (that we could go into). You can see a couple of them below.

So we finally went of on a hiking tour. It has been THE thing I have been looking forward the whole time - my highlight of the trip! I didn't get disappointed. It was a fantastic track - one of those nice forrest trails where most of the time you can't walk two persons next to each other and with a beautiful view ALL THE TIME. I absolutely loved it. As usual (except for the hike in New Zealand) I walked in the front. For me it is all about being able to walk in my own tempo and also to have a quiet hike. I know - it is ridiculous to get on a hike with a big group thinking you should have peace and quite, but it actually works if you walk a little bit a head of everyone else. It didn't hurt that I had the nice company of our very good looking local guide. We spent 2 days discussing life, relations, work, money and hiking. It was so great!

We spent the night in the the "managers bungalow" - a sort of a guesthouse with shared sleeping rooms and bathrooms. It was absolutely lovely. The nicest thing was that I had company during my shower - a cute little frog suddenly appeared and kept me company. See the picture below.

Our evening the "managers bungalow" was ended with a lot of music. Our guides played some really nice Sri Lankan (love) songs accompanied by the bongo drums. The group was supposed to answer with a song that was common for all of us (Aussies, British and one Swede). But we stank. We couldn't come up with a single song that we all knew (especially the lyrics). In the end I sang one song, but we couldn't find any common songs. 

The next day our wonderful hike continued. It was as beautiful the second day as the first, with fantastic views and nice tracks. We were soooo lucky with the weather both days - sunshine and good temperature for hiking. I couldn't ask for anything more. We finished the hike with a trip to a waterfall. Out of the whole group we were only two (I was one of them) that went into the water. Most thought it was too cold, but it was actually 22 degrees Celcius. Not bad at all.

The day finished with a visit to a Hindu temple where we got to participate in the service. Very interesting! I love this kind of activities - where you get to try or be a part of other peoples traditions.

Now we are looking forward to a visit in a elephant orphanage and some days on the beach is awaiting. It is going to be really nice.

In the tea factory

One of the dancers in the dance show, who kept flirting with us (Annie!)

Walk on fire

Helga's Follie

My shower companion

Our guides. The good looking one in the middle, if you didn't get that. ;-)

Again - the guides and me. My favorite to the right. Notice the mark on my forehead.

Me in the waterfall

The hiking trail

Ruins, Elephants and Spices

I don't know if it is good or bad when you get tired from having a vacation?! But I'm tired. :-) In a good way. We have had long days filled with lots of activities and/or transports. But I enjoy every minute of it. 

During the last days we have:

• Biked some more around ruins
• Been on a elephant safari
• Hiked to the top of big rock (Sigirya)
• Seen more Buddhas statues than I can count
• Visited a spice garden
• Had many hours of transportations

There is not that much to tell about all the temples and ruins I've seen, more than that they have been interesting and beautiful. I've learned a lot about Buddhism (or rather I was reminded of what I learned in school) and I feel a need to study it a bit more. I learned a lot about Islam while I lived in Indonesia and Malaysia and I feel I would like to know at least that much about Hinduism and Buddhism. It gives me a better understanding of the the different cultures which is very important when you are traveling a lot. Come to think about it  - I think it is always important to know more about other cultures. Don't you agree?

I have to admit that I'm not the ruin/temple kind of girl. I can take some, but I get bored quite quickly. So after 2 days of temples and ruins I really wanted to do something else. Of course I enjoyed the sightseeing a bit more doing it on a bike, but I would have preferred do to more 'just' biking. So when the option came along to go on a Elephant safari I jumped on it. I was a little bit worried that we wouldn't see any elephants at all, since you can never guarantee that you will see animals. But there was absolutely no need to be worried. We saw plenty of elephants and some very cute birds. As always I don't remember the name of the birds, but if you are good at birds take a look at the picture below.

The Sigirya is probably the best know landmark in Sri Lanka. It is the rest of the of an impressive fortress built as a royal citadel on the top of a 200 m high rock mass. You can also see some 5th century frescoes there, absolutely beautiful. Our guide kept on warning us, before we went there, how difficult the walk up would be. I was a bit confused about the warning. To walk up 200 altitude meters is not a lot or especially hard. Some of you, that have followed my blog, might remember that I walked up 1200 altitude meters in Norway last summer and that WAS hard (especially doing it in thigh deep snow), but 200 m - I mean REALLY?! But on the other hand - the walk up could be difficult due to bad steps or something. When we arrived there I saw that the steps were quite good. In fact they were a lot better than a lot of other places I have visited before. So almost everyone felt "that was it?" when we finally came up to the top. I'm not sure what is the best: to be expecting the worst (and maybe drop out the activity) and then be happily surprised how easy it was or to expect it to be easier and then struggle a little. Anyhow - the view from the top was amazing and we had our breakfast there in the morning sun.

The spice garden has been the highlight so far. Mainly because I did't have any expectations. (Sigirya and the elephant safari I had expectations on and they were met) We had a great guide that taught us a lot about the different spices and how we could use them to improve our health. As a health fanatic I listened carefully and decided to try all which I found to be extra interesting. It ended up with a bill on 1000 SEK (around 110 Euros). Maybe a little bit more than I planned, but if all goes well it will improve my time on the half marathon. And that can't be bad. The extra added value to this stop was that we all got face-, back-, arm- and leg massages so they could prove how good their different products were. Not bad, not bad at all.

Now we are in Kandy and have spent the morning in a tea factory. It was quite interesting and of course I ended up buying some tea. I went for the white tea, since that is a bit fancier. :-) Let's see what I think about it.

I don't know when I can blog again, since we are about to start hiking. We will spend 2 days hiking up in the tea plantations. I'm really looking forward to that. :-)

This is how you look when you go sightseeing on a bike.

The gang

Beautiful bird on the Elephant safari

Buddhas, Buddhas, Buddhas...

A cute little elephant

The stairs to the top of the rock

The view form the top of the rock - our breakfast view

Ahhhh... vanilla!!!

A hectic start of the trip

I have had some really nice and hectic days, like always when I'm traveling with Intrepid Travel.

Since I wrote my last blog, 2 days ago, I have:

• met the group of 12 people + the guide. We are 11 women, 1 man and a male guide
• Travelled from Negombo to  Anuradhapura (took several hours by bus)
• Swam 1000 meters two times (one time each day)
• Climbed/hiked a mountain with a monastery. It was somewhat of a challenge to my fear of heights
• Had a bike tour where we visited MANY historical religious sites, where the Bo Tree, which was grown from a cutting of the original tree in Bodhgaya under which Buddha gained the enlightenment, was the one that stood out.
• Had a cooking show
• and so on…..

I will not tell you in detail about all these things, since you can read about them in any tourist book. I think it is more interesting  for you to read about my observations. Or?! Let me know what you think?!

The group is a lovely combination of strong women used to travel the world on their own. We have one retired couple with us (hence the man in the group) who are traveling the world together. I think it is a lovely way to spend your retirement. I hope I can do that also. My room mate is the best in the group. She is a cool chick from London, a mother of two daughters and divorced. We are the same age, we have had similar family "problems", similar problems with men and we are laughing trough the night discussing these things. But we look rather funny together. I'm totally white after a winter in Sweden and my usual blond hair and Annie is totally black, skin and hair. We joke about this and I always start to sing Michael Jackson's song (it doesn't matter if your black or white) in my head while looking at us together. She is teaching me proper English language, since I'm totally destroyed from all the time I have spent in California.

The rest of the group consist of one half Aussies and one half British people. I'm the only one that don't have English as my mother tongue. And I have to say that it is sometimes hard to follow all the British and Australian expressions that I have never heard before. But it is a great group with a lot of fun.

The guide on the other hand, seems to have a complete lack of humor. He is hardly smiling and is taking himself FAR to serious. And as a super efficient Swede that wants everyone to get to the point fast - I sometimes get very bored and maybe even a bit annoyed with his way of telling us things. He repeats everything several times (yeah, I know you should repeat yourself  if you want people to fully understand, but that is not how he is doing it) in a way it feels like he is talking in circles. When you are standing in the hot sun, you have even higher requirements on how fast people should get to the essence of the subject. Our guide takes his time. And he says "do you follow (me)" every second sentence. That has a tendency to make me both smile and get annoyed. If I start to say that (do you follow) from now on - you all know where I got it from.

To ride a bike in Sri Lanka is a different experience. Especially when you drive the bike through the city traffic. You have to pay close attention to everything that happens around you and that is a LOT. To cross the street - you need help from someone that can take the role of a temporary traffic police But all in all it is an amazing way to see the sights. The wind cools you down while biking, you are good to the environment, you get a little bit of exercise and you see everything, but are still moving quite fast compared with the rest of the traffic. I wish all my trips had more biking.

One more thing - there are monkeys everywhere. And they are quite sneaky. They will take what ever they can put their hands on. They took Annie's ( my room mate's) mangosteens (a fruit that I learned to love in Malaysia) from her hand. So you better watch out here.

Tonight we are going to  Chinese restaurant. It feels a bit funny to do that in Sri Lanka, but it is a recommendation. And we have been eating local food so far….

A funny little creature that I saw

I'm on top of the mountain

Mean Monkey Grandpa

How to repaint a big globe. ;-)

Some of the girls

Arrived in Sri Lanka

I'm back in Asia. Beautiful Asia. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this part of the world. The people are friendly, the climate is wonderful, I love the nature and even the somewhat chaotic traffic. Yes, I know that not all countries in Asia are the same, but there are a lot of similarities and I love them all.

My arrival was not as smooth as I expected. I had booked a pick-up from the hotel, a luxury that I sometimes allow myself. I know that it is more expensive than to fix it on my own, but it is nice not to worry about the transport when you arrive after a long flight. But this time I ended up walking back and forth in front of all the drivers looking after a sign with my name, but even though I carefully checked every sign, not one of them had my name on it. Finally a man approched me and offered me to borrow a phone. The problem was that I didn't have any contact number. I had only the name of the hotel, no address, no contact person's name and no number to either one of them. Yes - I know. That was quite amateurish of me. But I just didn't expect to have any problems. I have travelled with Intrepid Travel so many times before and I have never had this kind of problem before. In the end the man that offered me to borrow the phone helped me to fix a ride to the hotel. When I finally arrived at my hotel, they told me that the driver was standing at the airport waiting for me. I think he was very late. I waited 20 min for him and that was enough for me. But I should have remembered that not all parts of the world are as punctual as we are in the scandinavian countries.

The hotel was a bit ashamed that I didn't get my (very expensive) pick-up, so they invited me for breakfast. Nice of them, but I will still claim for the pick-up that didn't show up. Btw - the pick up that was preordered cost 180 SEK. The one that the man at the airport arranged for me cost 75 SEK. Just so you get the whole picture. :-) 

I have had a quite a busy day so far. I:

• went for a run on the beach (just for 30 min, it was 11 o'clock so it was already quite hot and I haven't fully adapted to the heat yet)
• did some push-ups and sit-ups in the hotel room
• swam around 500 m in the pool
• had a great lunch overlooking the pool and the beach
• took a nap by the pool

In other words I had a GREAT start of my vacation.

One observation: there were a gang of young boys from Sri Lanka by the pool. They seemed to be in their 20'ies. All of them had a beer belly. Young guys don't usually have that, so no I started to wonder if the food here is fattening. Not good for me that need to get in shape for the half marathon that I will run the 18th of May. I think I have to watch out for what I eat.

To be continued….. 

Doha Airport

This is a first - I'm sitting on the Doha Airport floor writing a blog. :-) I'm not alone on the floor. There are people all around me. You see - I'm sitting next to a row of outlets. And everyone is desperatly looking for outlets so they can charge their phone or their computer. On top of that - everyone is surfing while charging since there is free wi-fi - EVERYWHERE!!! What is it with western countries that don't offer free wifi all the time? In Stockholm Arlanda I got 20 min of free wifi in the coffee shop after I registered. Here I get unlimited wifi with no registration. It should be free on ALL airports. People are bored on airports. They need wifi! I'm demanding free wifi on all airports!!!!

I tried to take a picture of this rather peculiar situation, but I didn't manage. So you just have to picture it in your head. I must look pretty funny. Only problem with this is that all the men (yeah - there are NO women) around me have taken off their shoes and let's just say that it doesn't smell like roses.

I have had my first flight with Qatar. Quite OK airline. The service wasn't too fast, but that I can survive. They also were not in total control of the special meal I had ordered. But also that I can survive. I have had worse flights. One funny thing - there was only one person that was drunk on the whole flight. That was (of course?) a Swedish guy in his 30ties. I will never understand people that like to travel without any control of their own behavior. For me traveling is serious business. So many things can happen and you have to make instant decisions that can end up to be quite expensive. And on top of that you are making a fool of yourself when you are the only drunk person among a couple of hundred sober people. So again - I don't understand…..

I have a 6 hours stop here in Doha. It was by choice. I could arrive in Sri Lanka 3 o'clock in the night and have a short stay in Doha, or arrive at 8 o'clock in the morning and have a longer stay in Doha. I chose the later. That also saved me one night of hotel expenses. Since I knew that I would have a long stay in Doha I downloaded a lot of podcasts an music. So the time has actually gone by quite fast. I have only 1,5 hour to go now.

Anyhow - I will continue at my arrival in Sri Lanka…..

Here we go again...

It's time again - to go on a trip. This time I'm heading for Sri Lanka. It is the third time I have booked this trip, but the two previous times I had to cancel the trip. First time 2010 due to work, second time 2011 due to that Lufthansa didn't have any flights there and I was planning the trip around the world with Lufthansa. Now I'm hoping that the third time is a charm.

It is a 15 day roundtrip. You can find the trip itinerary here: http://www.intrepidtravel.com/sri-lanka/circle-sri-lanka-49331/itinerary
The trip consist of quite a lot of activities including hiking, but it is not hiking trip. It is actually more biking. But there is a 2 day hike included. :-) Love that!

I have one issue though. I'm training for a half marathon. According to my training program I need to exercise at least 3 times a week. I don't know how to fit that in to the schedule of the trip. The transports around the island take a lot of time. So how do I fit my exercises between all activities and transports? I just have to wait and see if I can work around it. It will also be hot and humid. Not the best condition to run in. But still - I have to give it a go.

I'm flying with Qatar for the first time. I've heard a lot of good things about them. I hope they will live up to my expectations. But it will be the first time in years I'm flying without the privileges that I have with my Senator/Golden card at Lufthansa. I will miss it dearly. I love the possibility to use the lounges.  They are usually quite peaceful with a lot of good food and drinks. And while traveling it is so nice to have some quiet moments in between.

So tag along with me on the trip. I think it will be a blast! Hopefully I will find wi-fi at most places we stay at.

Happy Easter Everybody!