Tom – On our walk this morning – the soldier found a duck egg next to the lake that he was going to eat.
The water monitor appears to be eyeing a meal of ducks.
I did a three hour workshop on resistance training today for about 35 faculty/staff and other interested community people.
I designed an exercise plan and recording chart for a health-related physical fitness program utilizing the equipment available in their gymnasium area and their 400 m track. It went well.
April Fools Day! – Helen – Back to our routine, walk around the lake and then French toast for breakfast, even Shenani had some. Her husband is in Japan this week for a conference so she has been sharing our meals with us. After Tom left for school, we decided to have a shopping spree. We took a three wheeler to a small nearby town and went through two antique shops. The first had a lot of neat old jewelry and I put several pieces on hold so that Tom could see them next Monday, and the second shop was just a waste of time with overpriced repro pieces. We then took the bus back to town and had fish sandwiches in some sorry little place with the greatest fish buns!!! Visited a few little shops and then to the famous Food City for a few things which I couldn’t buy yesterday because I ran out of money!!! We were really tired by now so decided it was worth the $1.50 for the three wheeler home where we showered and took short naps.
While cooking dinner, I went outside to open the gate for Tom to park because it looked like rain. I noticed a zip lock bag on the ground that looked as though it had been chewed open. I thought it’s the monkeys but couldn’t think what was in the bag and where it came from. I mentioned it to Shenani and she asked if I had left the kitchen door open (which we do when we cook) and unattended and I answered no.
Helen – Monday, Monday!!!! We didn’t walk around the lake because our legs were still wobbly. So after coffee and toast (our cupboards were bear because we went away), Tom went to the office and didn’t return until 7:30. Meanwhile I went grocery shopping but took the three wheeler home with all the bags!!! Next was laundry and cooking and before I went to bed I had to work on the Fitness Walking presentation on the computer since Tom takes it to school every day and I don’t have a chance to work on it when he is not here.
Tom – I took a picture of a laundry establishment today. Note the clothes lines and the wagon full of fire wood that is used for heating the water.
Tom – Sri Pada or Adam’s Peak (7,359 ft) is a sacred site for the world’s four major religions. Sri Pada means Holy Footprint in Singhalese and there is a stone footprint now enclosed in a temple on top of the mountain. According to the Buddhists this is the sacred footprint of Buddha as he headed for paradise. The Hindus believe it is the footprint of Lord Shiva. According to Muslims and some Christians, it is where Adam first set foot on earth when he was cast out of the Garden of Eden. So, all four religions have pilgrims going up the mountain. The pilgrimage season is from Poya Day (full moon) in December to the Vesak festival, which is a two day Poya festival that commemorates the birth, enlightenment, and death of Buddha in May. During this period the fluorescent lights spread out along the trail are lit all the way up the mountain. We didn’t even need our headlamps!
We were up at 2am and on the “trail” at 2:15. Early on we gave a monk at a Buddhist shrine a donation for a blessing/chant and the tying of a white string around each of our right wrists. We also had to make a wish and ring a bell.
The trail/stairs where easy early on but as we moved higher the stairs became continuous.
The stones and stairs are not regular and range in height from about five inches to more than a foot so you had to be careful with each step.
The trail/stairs route is 4.5 miles to the summit with a vertical ascent of 3,280 ft. There were railings on the very steep sections near the top which really helped.
We only carried our Gore Tex suits and a long sleeve top for the climb. When we reached the top (5:15am), we put on our Gore Tex jackets and that provided sufficient protection while awaiting the sunrise. No need for any supplies because there are “rest houses” and concessions all the way up the mountain! We again rang a bell on top and then filed passed the sacred footprint depositing an expected donation. Irene (maid at Ruki’s in Colombo) had given me a 50 rupee bill that she wanted me to donate for her as well.
It was somewhat cloudy in the east but we were able to see the sunrise before it clouded in and prevented us from seeing the famous pyramid shadow on the west side of the mountain that races back toward the mountain as the sun rises.
We started down at 6:30
We took a side trail to a Japanese Buddhist Dagoba (Stupa) and monastery near the bottom
Start of trail in daylight
Many stalls and things for sale on the way back to the center of town
We reached our guesthouse at 9:00, showered while breakfast was prepared and ate outside in the small front garden overlooking the start of the trail. Brenda said that our 3 hours up and 2.5 hours down was pretty good and that most people take much longer, however, she can still get to the top in 3.5 hours barefoot!!! She is really one spry lady with a lot of energy.
It was a four hour drive back to Kandy; here is a photo of the mountain as we were driving away.
We were both tired and cranky (especially Helen!) by the time we arrived. After much indecision about dinner, Helen found some problem in everything I suggested, she made some noodles with tomato sauce, toast and a small salad. She was off to bed by 5:30 and I followed about 8:30.
Tom – We left after breakfast and headed for Sri Pada (Adam’s Peak). The only stop of note along the way was in Kitulgala where we took a short hike to the Kelaniya Ganga (river) and the location for filming the movie the “Bridge on the River Kwai.”
A woman followed us and gave us a little history on the film and mentioned that her husband had a small role in the film when he was nine years old. His mother was also in the film, in fact, they were the only Sri Lankans. All that remains are the holes for the bridge supports (see picture).
The movie was released in 1957 and won seven Oscars including best picture. It is about the British blowing up a bridge in Indochina during World War II. We’ll have to see it again when we get back to the U.S. Parts were also filmed at the Mt Lavina Hotel outside Colombo (we had dinner there) and the Peradeniya Botanical Gardens, which are across the road from the university.
We also looked at an 85 year old tea estate bungalow in Kitugala/
We had lunch at the Plantation Hotel. It was a five star accommodation, very nice, but seemed totally out of place for the poverty that surrounds it. As we continued on A7 we somehow missed the turn off to our destination. Try as we might, driving back and forth, we could not find it – not too surprising given that signs in general are lacking and many signs are only in Singhalese. I did take a picture of a billboard advertising the mountain along the way.
We decided to drive to Hatton, another access point, and approach the mountain from a different direction.
When we arrived the sky opened up with a huge downpour. It did not look good for a climb but we decided to go to Dalhousie at the foot of the mountain where we had a reservation in the Green House guesthouse and just hope for the best. After some phone calls Brenda (a worker) met us at the bus station and had us drive to a little parking area among all the stalls catering to the pilgrims that come to climb the mountain. Brenda is 80 and has climbed the peak 72 times! She is planning on another trip up in May. I paid my dollar parking (security) fee and we carried our luggage about a quarter mile across the river and up some steep stairs to the Green House.
The traditional pot of tea was waiting for us when we arrived at the Green House. There were six rooms and we had #1, there was no one else there. The owner’s wife and servants prepared an excellent Sri Lankan dinner with mild curries for our western palate.
Afterward, we walked down to the start of the trail where there is one of many Buddhist shrines/statues. The weather was still cloudy and threatening rain.
One Month to Go! Helen – This morning as we were eating breakfast and telling Ruki about Tom’s scrape with the three-wheeler; she got her driver/caretaker to use some rubbing compound on the red paint and got it off. I can’t believe it looks good as new. He was happy with the $2 that Tom gave him.
Tom- I had a really busy day today – picked up our China visas ($135 each!), paid our last month rental on the car ($374), bought a Lonely Planet China book ($35), did a withdrawal at Hatton National Bank, spent an hour online at the Fulbright office and drove back to Ruki’s in the morning. I picked up Helen for lunch, made some wrong turns, and ended up at Ranjan’s framing store. We paid him for the two paintings he framed (elephant and lion fish $82) and he provided chicken rolls and iced coffee for lunch. We then spent another hour on the Fulbright computers and returned to the guesthouse. We ended the day by taking Ruki out to dinner at the Commons on Flower Road. I had a club sandwich and fries, Ruki had something called kottu rotti which was pretty good and Helen just had a chicken wrap, which was the most meager of the three. Helen and I shared their specialty – a Mango Milkshake! This was the first full day that I ventured out in Colombo traffic!
Helen – We went to church at 8:15 for the English mass and then spent most of the day repacking our things, deciding what to leave here and what to take with us to our new location. Tom made dinner reservations at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel (a really plush and beautiful place) for the Lagoon Restaurant. They have a very large pond filled with beautiful large carp and two outdoor restaurants, one on each side of the lagoon. The setting is especially charming at night and after you order your drinks and starter, you go into the restaurant to the fresh fish table and pick out your dinner and how you wish to have it prepared. We shared a delicious dessert and then went inside to the grand lobby to listen to the band. They played current music and we even jitterbugged to one song. Afterwards, several people said we were very good!!
Tom – the pictures are of VJ cutting grass,
Irene cooking on a wood fired clay stove,
Ciani smoking for mosquitoes,
and Ruki going out.
Helen – We took Tracy and her daughter Charya to dinner for being so nice with the transportation to and from the airport for our India trip. Mano, her husband, couldn’t make it and Charya chose a Chinese restaurant named Kinjou which is her favorite dining place.
Tom – I took a walk this morning and passed the Sport Ministry Badminton center. They had a couple of cool Badminton billboards – see picture.
Tom – Travel day, in van at 6am, flight to Mumbai (Bombay) on Jet Airways India (1.5 hours), 5 hour layover.
Our flight to Colombo on Sri Lankan Airlines (2.5 hours), arrived about 6pm, bought 2 liters ($31.50 each) of Johnnie Walker Black Label Scotch for Ruki at duty free store (got free travel bag). Mano & Traci’s driver picked us up at the airport with their van and dropped us off at Ruki’s about 7:30pm. Irene had dinner for us at 9pm, we showered and Helen was in bed by 9:30. I spent another hour copying photos to a DVD with the hope of mailing two DVDs with all of our pictures/movies (to date) to Stacy for safe keeping. On past trips cameras have been stolen and we have lost all of our photos (e.g. southeast Europe trip a couple of years ago).
Helen – We asked for a 5:45 am wakeup call but received it at 4:45!!! Go figure!! I heard Tom repeat the time several times the night before, so we just dosed the next hour before we got up. I was ready to go in a few minutes so made coffee while Tom packed his suitcase. We were in the lobby on time eating the last of the tangerines with the others because we were not going to get any breakfast.
Helen – Our group decided to play hooky today and go into town to see the sights and shop rather than attend the conference. There are seven members in our group and only six could fit into the rented taxi so Tom and I ventured out on our own. We walked out to the main gate and thought we would be able to grab a cab there. NO. There are no cabs or three-wheelers outside the resort because we are so far from town. Not wanting to wait while we ordered a taxi, we decided to take the local bus. The gate keeper told us to take the #11 and as one came up he put us on and gave directions to the conductor to let us off at Amber Fort. We paid the 12.5 cent fare per person and commented that this wasn’t so bad. The bus was the size of the 10 seater van we used the other day except now the seats ran along the sides of the bus and had overhead railings to hold on to. We took our seats and smiled as everyone looked at us. In a matter of minutes the bus got pretty crowded and we gave up our seats to an old woman and a young mother with a small child. We now were getting pretty well squeezed into the back of the bus and after about a half hour they told us we had reached our stop. As we got off, everyone watched us as we looked around for the fort. We couldn’t find it and the people on the bus were pointing out of the windows trying to tell us something. We looked around again, still didn’t see anything, the bus waited, the people pointed, and finally we understood that we were to now take a three-wheeler for the rest of the way.
The first one asked for $25 but the next young man was very nice and said that he would do it for $5 (200 Indian rupees). This seemed reasonable since we still had about 7 miles to go. He was also very accommodating and stopped several times for Tom to take pictures along the way. The first stop was the city gate as we passed through Jaipur.
Tom – The “Old City” part of Jaipur is known as the Pink City, which can be readily seen from the pictures. It was founded in 1727 when Sawai Jai Singh II moved his capital here from the Amber Fort. It is laid out in a grid like pattern replicating sacred Hindu principles. It was colored pink in 1853 to celebrate the visit of Prince Albert. It reminds me of when I was a kid and we would call a store and ask if they had Prince Albert in a can (chewing tobacco). They would say “Yes.” We would then say, “Well, you better take him out!”
Helen – Driving out of town, we passed the Water Fort; and as the name suggests, it was in the middle of a big lake with the water level just below the window sills!! When we finally got to the Amber Fort, he asked if we wanted to take the jeep ride to the top since it was a long steep road. We said no, we would rather walk.
Then he drove to where the elephants were; people paid $15 /person to ride them to the top. We just got out, thanked and paid him and not knowing any better starting walking the road with the elephants. It was a pretty narrow road, two elephants wide with one line going up and the other coming down, and we walked wherever we found a space (dangerous!!). We notice that there were not any other walkers but thought they were either taking the jeeps or the elephants.
It was pretty messy and smelly and finally near the top someone yells down to us and says, “take the stairs, it is shorter!” When we got on the steps we discovered the walking trail for the pedestrians and felt pretty stupid for walking with the elephants! The fort was amazing and had a golden glow in the morning light. It is painted a pale mustard color and was quite large with an ornate wall around it. We toured without a guide and just climbed, walked, and looked. It was nice to be at our own pace and not be responsible for anyone else. They always have a section at the end where local merchants want to sell their wares and two men were playing their flutes to get the cobras out of the baskets. View from near the top of the fort –
Tom – Amber City (Amber Fort) was the capital of the Kuccdhwaha Rajputs from 1037 to 1727. From the ramparts you can see fragments of an 18 km wall that encircled both Amber Fort and Jaigarh Fort. There are several contiguous palaces (e.g. Man Singh Palace, Summer Palace and Monsoon Palace) as well as courtyards and gardens within the fort. The Summer Palace had a room called the Jai Mahal where the maharaja went to escape the heat. There was an intricate lattice screen on the east and the west side was open to take advantage of the west wind. There were water tanks on the roof that funneled water through a copper pipe to Khus-Khus mats that covered the west entrance. So, when the wind blew, it would produce a cool breeze. The Man Singh Palace had an area that is called the Zenana Mahal where the maharaja had rooms for his 12 wives. A secret passage circling the 12 rooms allowed Man Singh to enter each private chamber without the other wives being aware of his movements. Of course this doesn’t even come close to the 2,000 concubines (plus 4 wives) that Shah Jahan had in Agra!
Palace ceiling
One view from fort toward other fortifications
At the bottom we hired another tri-shaw to take us back into town to tour the City Palace.
Helen – We were glad that we decided to pay the fee and tour it because it had a great museum showing fabulous old palace carpets, old manuscripts which were hand painted, the warrior/weapons room, big crystal chandeliers, royal costumes, and the world’s largest silver urns which were unbelievable.
Now it was time for the bazaar and some shopping.
We got fried bread, a hot stuffed something or other, and fresh squeezed pineapple/orange juice from the street vendors for lunch. The bazaar was overwhelming (can you believe I just said that??) and not being able to ask or read for directions we just wandered up and down the streets in a pattern.
Street vendor selling freshly squeezed sugar cane juice.
I had a list of things that I wanted to look for including material, leather purse and shoes, jewelry, and shawls.
You had to watch out for the cows!
We found all the shops but I didn’t find anything that I really had to have except in the jewelry area. I discovered two little shops where the owners were not “pushy” and bought 4 silver chains from one and a lovely turquoise/silver pendant, piece of turquoise to repair a ring back home, and another interesting chain from the second. I also bought two pashema shawls, and material for a sari. I also bought two small packets of saffron. It doesn’t sound like much but I looked at the bangle bracelets, old locks and keys, tried on shoes and much to Tom’s amazement declined on it all.
So about 5:30 I said I was ready to return to the complex, he shook his head and said he expected me to close the bazaar at 9. He found us a three-wheeler and home we went. Another view of ethnic village –
That evening the conference had arranged another outdoor eating event with a DJ and dancing. We had a chance to talk to the many friends we made and exchange email addresses. I hope that Alenka and I stay in touch. We then ate and danced the night away. I guess the music was a little strange for the locals because they were looking over the wall and from the trees as we danced and carried on. Tom even jitterbugged a dance or two with me when we could find a beat!! Back in the room I packed my bags while Tom worked on the pictures and I fell asleep long before he came to bed.
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