Sri Lanka - Day 6

When we checked into our hotel room in Kandy we thought these signs on the doors were so funny!

The next morning we definitely understood why the signs were posted all over the room. At about 5:30 a.m. we noticed a commotion on the balcony and as soon as we opened the curtains we were greeted by about 10 monkeys sitting on our patio. It was so awesome to be so close to them. There were lots of different ages of monkeys and they played and climbed and swung all over the patio for a couple hours. It was fascinating to watch them. They interacted with us a ton and would mimic some of our gestures. The kids had the best time watching them and we could barely tear them away to get onto the days activities.

Our favorites were the two nursing babies that rode on their moms backs and played and wrestled together. The kids thought it was funny to watch them nurse.

As we were walking to breakfast in the hotel we noticed a wedding party having their pictures taken. Their attire was so beautiful and intricate. I didn't want to seem weird taking pictures of them but now I wish I would have asked them to pose for me so we could see the dresses better. The little girls had exact replicas of the bridesmaids dresses.

The groom and men of the wedding party:

After breakfast we hopped into the car and headed to the elephant orphanage. This was the other thing I really wanted to see in Sri Lanka and even though it was a bit of a haul it was well worth the effort. The orphanage houses elephants whose parents have been killed for ivory. Once at the the orphanage they stay there for the duration of their lives. We especially LOVED watching the babies being fed. They are fed huge bottles of cows milk (about a 1.5 gallons per bottle) and can down the entire thing in about 30 seconds. We were so close to the babies and got to pet and touch them a lot. This little guy loved my big girls. He kept feeling Addie with his trunk and wrapping his trunk around Makenna's legs. It was so so amazing.

Right at the end of the feeding time our family was invited up to feed this little guy and I'm so thrilled we were able to get this picture. We were continually surprised at how hairy elephants are. The hair is very bristly and was uncomfortable to touch.

After the feeding we walked around to see the elephants in their habitats. They are able to roam freely and live close to how they would in the wild

We headed over to the river to watch the elephants be bathed. I though they would have a few elephants taking baths and that is what happened at first.

However, after a few minutes the workers come through and clear out the path to bring all 85 elephants down to the river. It was a breathtaking sight watch these magnificent creatures.

I took hundreds of pictures and every time I look through them I feel like I need to pinch myself that we were actually there and witnessed such an amazing thing. It was so fun to watch the elephants splash and play in the water and get their baths in something so close to their natural habitat!

I laugh when I see these pictures because it almost looks like we are standing in front of a fake mural or something but I assure you that it was real.

After several hours we very reluctantly left the elephant orphanage to head to the airport. We needed to stop somewhere for lunch and we were all kind of tired of Sri Lankan food and looked for an American chain to stop at. Since the country is predominantly Buddhist (who don't eat beef) there are no hamburger places but we did finally find a Pizza Hut. The kids were so excited and we got a big kick out the funny things on the menu (diced mutton pizza, anyone?) We played it safe with cheese and pepperoni and pizza has never tasted so good!

Our last day was a perfect way to wrap up our amazing trip. We saw and experienced so many things that I never imagined. I recently found this quote about traveling: 

“Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.” – Miriam Beard

This is how I feel about our trip to Sri Lanka. Our perceptions are changing as we experience more of the world and see the different ways that people live. Seeing the extreme poverty of some of the people was revealing to ourselves and our kids. Seeing how happy the Sri Lankans are with a much simpler and quieter life than we live was extremely humbling. I am so grateful every day for the opportunity to expand my own understanding of the world we live in and especially grateful that I am able to share it with my children.

Sri Lanka - Day 5

Our 5th day in Sri Lanka was a long day of traveling and stopping lots of places along the way. Sri Lanka is a pretty underdeveloped country so there is no good infrastructure in place and traveling anywhere takes a long time. They are building their first highway in the country but it isn't open yet so we spent a lot of time winding through little towns and villages to get where we needed to go. We opted to spend a couple of days in Kandy, which is near the center of the island. Luckily there were tons of interesting things to see along the way. 

Our first stop was at a spice farm. They grew tons of different spices and the air was so fragrant. We could spell many of the spices distinctly in air. Nutmeg and cinnamon were the most fragrant. It smelled so yummy!

Vanilla beans:

Carter and Makenna with a cacao bean. They couldn't believe that chocolate comes from this plant!

 In the grove:

Our next stop was a rubber plantation. These are rubber trees and the workers strip off little pieces of bark and the juice of the tree is collected in the little bowls that you see near the base. It would be tedious, hard work to work on the rubber plantation:

Next we stopped by a tea plantation and processing factory. When Sri Lanka was  a British colony, tea was introduced and many varieties are still produced there. Tea leaves in the drying process:

 Sri Lanka is REALLY hot and humid but we were astounded by the high temperatures of the tea factory. It was about 120 degrees inside where they were drying the leaves. We about died. It was fascinating to see how the tea was processed and separated after it was dry. The more refined the leaves, the more expensive the tea.

Tea plantation:

When we finally arrived in Kandy we drove straight to the temple of the tooth where we were met by a tour guide. There are vendors lined up outside of all the Buddhist temples selling flowers to be used as offerings. The flowers were so fragrant and beautiful. It is tradition to offer jasmine or lotus flowers.

Emery was hot and exhausted by the time we got to Kandy:

 Our family outside the temple. You can't tell in this picture but the temple required us to be completely covered. Luckily Allen had packed a pair of pants and I had to wear my abaya from the KSA because I had nothing else to wear. Makenna wrapped Emery's blanket around her waist and we were able to go in:

 The legend surrounding the temple of the tooth is that princess Hemamali and her husband smuggled Buddha's tooth from India to Sri Lanka in her hair. There was beautiful artwork all over the temple depicted the prince and princess with the tooth.

This was a huge, gorgeous sand painting of the prince and princess:

 Inside the temple is a shrine built to the tooth. The doors are only opened every 5-6 years and the tooth is removed, and the temple has a huge festival to celebrate. The flags outside the shrine represent Buddhism in Sri Lanka. Each of the different colors represent a different body part.

More beautiful paintings inside the temple:

The room that housed the Buddha statues was my favorite. There were about 20 different statues int eh room and all of them were gifts from other Buddhist countries. It was incredible to see the variety of materials and workmanship in the different statues.

After visiting the temple we headed to our hotel for the night. It was a long and hot day and we were so excited to eat and then go to bed.

Sri Lanka- Day 4

On the way to the beach on Day 4 we stopped and toured a local sea turtle hatchery. It was so fun to see so many varieties of turtles in all their different stages. This hatchery is non-profit and sits right on the beach so they are able to release the turtles into the wild after they hatch. The director of the hatchery uses donated money and money from admission to the hatchery to buy turtle eggs from fishermen who find and sell them. They hatch the eggs and then release them into the wild after a few days. Several of the 7 species that are native to this area are endangered so they are doing a great work.

Seeing turtle eggs. They are kind of squishy and about the size of a ping pong ball.

1 day old turtles! They are already able to swim and crawl at 1 day.

The turtles are kept in big tanks that are covered by wire mesh to keep the birds from eating them.

Allen holding a bottle-nose turtle. All of a us took a turn holding him but he flapped his fins so hard and fast that it was impossible to get a photo that looked like a turtle instead of a blur.

 Right outside the hatchery was a guy harvesting juice from the coconut flower. All throughout the island you can see coconut trees with ropes strung between them that the workers walk across to harvest the juice. The juice is made into an alcoholic drink called toddy that is expensive because of the amount of juice required to make it. The workers walk between the trees with their buckets and fill them with the juice. We stood and watched them harvest for a long time and I tried not to feel nervous as the man walked across the ropes. Can you spot him in the pictures below?

 Just a pretty view of the beach:

Sri Lanka - Day 3

We spent days 3 & 4 of our trip at the beach. Sri Lanka has beautiful beaches with BIG waves. I was pretty nervous being there with the kids because we were literally being knocked off our feet with some of the waves coming through. After playing for awhile the driver walked us a little ways down the beach and showed us an inlet that is protected by a coral reef so the waves are much smaller. It worked out perfectly for us. The water temperature was great and very comfortable without being too warm.  T

The water in the cove was actually quite deep and had an abrupt drop off so we all started doing tricks off the drop off and had a blast. The locals thought we were hilarious.

We are such beach lovers and have no problem killing an entire day swimming and digging and playing! 

These are a large fruit that look similar to pineapples but are poisonous to humans. These trees were all over the beach. It was also interesting that the locals approached most of the tourists on the beach to sell items or to beg for money but steered clear of us. When I asked the driver about it later he said it was because he stayed with us for the entire time and they knew not to bother us when we had a local guide. It was awesome that our driver took such good care of us during the week and did all the tipping and negotiating with the locals for us.

On the way home we stopped at the markets to get some food for dinner. It was interesting to us that we had to stop at 4 or 5 places to get all the food we needed. One stall only sold fruit and veggies, another stall for bread, a different stall for meat and still another for milk. The markets were so colorful and filled with so much variety and so inexpensive!

Some kinds of curry are made from this fruit:

 On the way home the driver stopped to get us some "Sri Lankan apples." We each popped one in our mouths and they were SO SPICY. These are actually peppercorns and they grow wild all over the country. When they reach maturity they are picked and then dried in the sun to be ground into pepper. I was amused to find out that white pepper which is so expensive and in so many fancy recipes, is simply peppercorns that have their husks soaked off before they are dried. Same flavor, only the color is different.

We headed home for naps and more time in the pool for the rest of the afternoon. Here's Emery sleeping under the mosquito nets.