From Sri Lanka to Thailand

Oct 28 

Today we headed out to Galle, on the coast south of Colombo. I had been told that with the new highway it took an hour to get there. Well the truth is once you get to the new highway it take an hour to get to the exit. Getting to the highway took 45 minutes and getting to Galle took another 15 minutes. This cut into the time we had for sight seeing. So we didn’t get to see much. We went to the town famous for the Sri Lanka carved wooden masks. Unfortunately the driver took a wrong turn cutting into our time for sight seeing as he drove for close to 30 minutes before he realized his mistake. James bought a great mask. 

We had a date at Shilpa Children’s Home so had to get back to Colombo to eat lunch, change clothes and make a quick stop on the way. We ate lunch at 4:00. Once we arrived at Shilpa we chatted with three trustees then the girls offered a performance of signing and dance (Bollywood style!) 

Afterwards we had five of the girls who speak English come and tell us about their lives. One is a successful flight attendant flying to places like London and Paris. She has saved money in a very disciplined way and plans to buy an apartment. Another is a travel agent, one is an auditor, another is a graphic artist. All these were success stories that inspired us. What great role models for the girls who grow up in Shilpa. The fifth girl dreams of being a human right attorney and takes her A level exams soon which will determine her path.

We ate at a well known seafood restaurant and had a horrid experience. The noise level was awful and we sat near a waiter station that had a phone that rang throughout our meal with a shrill ring. It was answered only once. We couldn’t get out of there quick enough.

Oct 29

We departed for Kandy and Nuwara Eliya which is in the high country. Kandy is famous for a Buddhist temple that contains a tooth of Buddha’s. We stopped at an elephant orphanage on the way  then headed for the botanical gardens but it was filled with thousands of Sri Lankans taking advantage of poya day, a religious holiday. James opted out of seeing the gardens so we headed to lunch. James was starting to feel really bad from what he thought was a cold so we skipped seeing the temple and headed for Nuwara Eliya. It was pouring rain from a cyclone out of Bengal Bay. We checked into our hotel and James headed for bed and we headed to town to look for a jacket. They sell irregulars from the factories here. It is difficult shopping to say the least. Ron found one that was satisfactory and we went back to the hotel and ate a light meal and headed off to bed.

Oct 30

We headed back to Colombo, a six hour drive on extremely busy two lane roads. We stopped to use the bathroom at a tea house and I exited laughing from a posted sign in the toilet: Ladies please remain seated during the entire performance. Men please stand closer. It may be shorter than you think. We ate a wonderful last meal in Sri Lanka at our hotel.

Oct 31

We got up at 4:00 a.m. to catch our plane to Bangkok. James didn’t feel well so I had emailed a friend who owns a hospital in Bangkok. He offered for us to come there as soon as we landed. We grabbed a taxi and it took about an hour to get there. They were waiting for us. The parking crew spied our taxi and waved us into the garage. A nurse greeted us and escorted us into the hospital and James was seen immediately. BY now it was 4:00 and none of us had eaten since the flight breakfast around 8:30. I asked  if there was a cafeteria and she said no but we could order from the hospital. The next thing I knew three plates of chicken fried rice were delivered to us. Then doctor Krishrat arranged for a staff member to drive us to town to our hotel as the hospital is north of town.

Nov 1

It has been days since I have written so the events will be sketchy. I don’t remember what we did on Nov 1 as I am writing this on Nov 5. James got sicker with whatever has felled him. He rested on Nov 1 and Nov 2. On Nov 2 Ron and I met with a friend’s cousin’s wife who does development work in this part of the world. She was so inspirational and so dedicated to her work.

After meeting with her we had lunch with James then he went back to bed. Ron and I went to find a booking agency to try and get a refund for James as he will not be able to make the Chiang Mai trip with us. This took several hours but we accomplished our goal with the help of Dr Krishrat who wrote a medical certification for James.

That night we were to have a river dinner cruise with Duang Chai and Dr Krishrat. At 6:30 Dr Krishrat called to say the traffic was very bad and he would not be able to pick us up and for us to grab a cab. We did as instructed and shortly we too we struck in really bad traffic. The driver suggested we jump out, grab the metro then grab a cab to get to our destination in time before the boat was launched. We did as instructed. Once we emerged from the subway we couldn’t find a cab so flagged a tuk tuk, a small three wheeled vehicle which is open to the elements. Our driver was a young man and we dubbed our ride “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride” as our guy sped through the streets and made turns at full speed. I was sure we were going to tump over. Alas we arrived at our destination and I was reduced to giggles over the ride and patted the driver on the back for getting us there in time and safely.

Shortly we hooked up with our friends. Their son Om joined us. Om graduated from USC (Ron’s alma mater) about a year ago. So he spoke great English. It turned out that Dr. Krishrat had to park his car and grab a motorcycle taxi in order to get to the launch site in time. We were all lucky to have these alternatives. The cruise was lovely, seeing temples, hotels, etc all lit up. The buffet was endless and delicious.