Christmas Safari

Our trip from Nuwara Eliya to Yala National Park was another slow drive down the mountain with some very scary sheer drop-offs – all on my side of the vehicle. Those who know me know that I’m quite frightened of heights, but all I could think of was that my mother and sister, Diane, would have jumped into the driver’s lap to avoid being so close to the edge! The countryside was absolutely beautiful, and I continue to be amazed at the way they use the land. A country of 20 million people in such a small space means that the land use to sustain the population must be efficient. Farms and tea plantations are on the terraced hillsides and houses are perched precariously on the hillsides, too.

Terraced vegetable fields

The cities aren’t at all like what I consider a city to be; they are more like overgrown villages, teeming with people, and I have the hardest time understanding how all these little merchants eke out a living from their tiny shops.

We arrived at Yala National Park and our hotel for the next two nights at about 1:30. Our accommodation is separate cottages which are very comfortable and only slightly rustic. Because we are in the National Park, wild animals roam freely. Therefore, when we want to go between our cottages and the restaurant after dark, we need a staff member to accompany us to avoid encounters with the animals. Within 20 minutes of our arrival, we saw two elephants – one about 25 feet from our cottages, and the other about 15 feet from the lobby! After checking in and a quick lunch, we met our guide for a safari through the National Park. We bounced our bums across the jungle for about 3 ½ hours and saw elephants, wild boars, water buffalo, crocodiles, peacocks, deer, elk, many birds, but sadly, no leopards. They are, as you might suspect quite elusive, but some other people staying at the hotel had seen one. Here are some of the sights/animals we saw. I have great camera (a lovely parting gift from my colleagues at UofC when I retired), but it doesn't have the telephoto lens that those National Geographic photographers have.

Deer

Elephants - honest they're there on the other side of the lake!

Monkeys

The Park is right along the Indian Ocean and we were shown 3 points at which the tsunami hit the park. We stopped at one spot where there is a memorial to the victims. It was quite moving and kind of a reverent and reflective experience to be there.

Tsunami Menorial at Yala National Park

Since we arrived here on Christmas Eve, we partook of some of the festive events the hotel had planned for the evening. There was eggnog by the pool, a buffet dinner (not another buffet?!), but this time there was turkey; a raffle (none of us won), the scariest Santa I’ve ever seen,

Would your children run screaming from this man?

and country and western music by Elmo and Dante (they were reeeeeally bad – but funny bad). The view from the top of the building that has the lobby, restaurant and bars was spectacular –I’ve not seen so many stars so clearly in many, many years!

When we woke on Christmas morning, it was raining and the sound of the rain on my roof was so nice. It lulled me back to sleep, and since we did not have to travel anywhere today, it was nice to be able to be lazy . . . a bit of an unusual Christmas morning, but enjoyable nevertheless.

We have had breakfast and a walk on the beach – the Indian Ocean is about 100 meters away from my cabin. Then off to the pool – it had stopped raining – and now I am sitting on my porch and watching an elephant march around ripping leaves off a tree not 20 feet from me – amazing!

It really is different than seeing them at the zoo!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!

Sri Lanka - Days 2-5

I’m sitting in my room at the very old, colonial St. Andrew’s Hotel in Nuruwala Eliya, Sri Lanka, listening to the rain on the roof. It is such a quaint, old, lovely hotel and my room is absolutely charming. It has a hard wood floor and even has a loft! It is so cozy that I am just enjoying sitting here and writing about the experiences I have had over the past few days!

On Day 2 we left the hotel at 7:30-ish to head to Sigirya – a rock fortress built by a king in the 5th century AD. It was built on top of a mountain with both inner and outer walls and gardens at ground level and the king’s residence at the top of the mountain. It is a United Nations World Heritage Site.

Siguriya - rock fortress

Yes, I climbed all the way to the top – some of it on stairs that were built when the original palace was built and some on steel stairways added after the site was discovered and restored by archaeologists. It was quite a feeling of accomplishment to stand atop the mountain and look out over the jungle for miles and miles. It was hot and humid and I was dripping in sweat! The trip down was tricky, too, and my legs were like jell-o when we got back down to the bottom. It was totally worth it and it is an experience I will never forget. We even saw a snake charmer – complete with a cobra – as we were leaving the grounds!

I made it!

View from the top - yep, it's pretty high up there!

After we ran the phalanx of vendors trying to sell you all sorts of souvenirs, we made our way down the road a bit where we rode an elephant for about an hour. What fun that was! The elephant was an older female and kind of slow. Another elephant – a younger male – lapped us while we were on our tour!

Then we went to a batik factory where we were introduced to the whole process of batiking. What a labour-intensive process it is; but the results are beautiful. Of course, we did a bit of shopping there! So many beautiful garments, tablecloths, and wall hangings – it was hard to decide, but I managed!

Girls working in batik

After lunch we headed to the Golden Temple in Dumballa. Buddhism is the predominant religion in Sri Lanka and Buddha’s are everywhere! The Golden Temple is also a World Heritage site, and is the largest and most well-preserved cave temple in Sri Lanka. The caves are far up a mountain so we did quite a bit more climbing to get up to the caves and my legs were screaming the whole way up! Our driver/guide is very knowledgeable and he enlightened (sorry for the pun, considering this was all about Buddha) us about the Buddhist religion in Sri Lanka, the Golden Temple and the many Buddha’s we saw.

Front of the Golden Temple - the caves are at the top of a hill behind the Buddha

It was all very interesting, but it was so hot and humid, and I was so tired from all the climbing I had done that I was probably not the most receptive audience. I went outside at one point to cool off and sit down. I have noticed that the Sri Lankan people all look at my with an odd sort of look on their faces, like they have never seen anyone who is so different looking from them, but they don’t want to be rude. It’s a hard look to explain.

We then headed back to our beautiful hotel for a swim in the pool and a lovely dinner. Had a good night’s sleep to catch up from the overnight flight from Doha and lack of sleep that night.

On day 3 we checked out of our hotel and hit the road to Kandy – a 60 km, 3 hour drive! Along the way we stopped at a spice plantation and had a tour that included a head, neck and shoulder massage using the oils and herbs that they raise. We bought some pure vanilla, pure cocoa and a few other things. After lunch in Kandy, we went to a gem museum where we learned all about the gem and precious stone mining industry. It is all done by hand, and is a livelihood still handed down through families. With all the technology available it is amazing to me that it is still done this way. We learned so much and then, of course, could shop. I treated myself to a beautiful green sapphire ring. Sapphire is my birthstone, and green sapphires are only found in Sri Lanka; so I’m very pleased to have such a memento of this trip.

Our hotel in Kandy is way up a twisty mountain road with sheer drop offs. I have heard that you should do something every day that scares you . . . and the drive up to the hotel was my scary thing for that day!

Day 4 started with a rather lazy morning, not heading out until 10:00. It gave me lots of time to catch up with email and have a leisurely breakfast. Our tour of Kandy started with a drive through the University of Kandy campus which is a beautiful campus. Students were walking around and it looked very much like a North American campus in many ways. We then went to the Botanical Garden which was incredibly beautiful. We saw the cutest couple having their wedding photos taken:

Aren't they adorable?

Kathy, CJ and Lisa at Royal Botanical Garden in Kandy Sri Lanka

We then went to woodworking factory where all the work is done by hand. Sri Lanka has so many kinds of wood and they make wonderful use of it. We noticed the beautiful doors and windows/shutters on the houses all made from the readily available teak, mahogany, and ebony wood, among other types. It was so interesting to watch the craftsmen at work and to see how they also make some of the paints and stains used on the wood products.

In the evening we went to see the Kandy Dancers. There are several dance troupes that do this sort of dancing and we went to the one performed at the local cultural centre. The costumes were very elaborate and the music was drumming, flute (the snake charming sort) and a small bugle-like instrument. The two closing performances were a fire dance and fire walkers – ouch!

After that performance we headed over to the Temple of the Tooth Relic – the temple which houses a piece of Buddha’s tooth and is considered an extremely sacred site for Buddhists. It was built in the 17^th century and some of you may remember that the temple was the target of a Tamil terrorist bombing in 1998. As a result, security is very tight and we were inspected/frisked twice! There was a ceremony going on when we arrived so there was a lot of drumming going on which made it very hard to hear our guide, but I think I got the idea. And I can now say that I think I am ‘templed out!” We don’t have any more temples on our itinerary, for which I am glad, but I’m very glad to have seen the ones we have seen.

Because all of our meals to this point have been buffets in the hotels, we are also feeling a little ‘buffeted out’ and went to a local Chinese restaurant. We weren’t too sure about it because there were no other customers (not a good sign), but our driver insisted it was a good restaurant and, true to form, he was right.

Today we left Kandy at 8:00 a.m. to head to Nuruwala Eliya and the highlands of Sri Lanka that is known for it’s tea production. The road up the mountains was very curvy so progress was very slow, but we saw spectacular scenery along the way. In this area, lots of vegetables are also grown on the hillsides. The tree plantations are reminiscent to me of the wineries of California – very pristine rows of tea trees, all very well manicured fields. The tea pickers are women who wear a bag on their back and their fingers work quickly picking the tea. We toured a plantation and saw the process of drying and rolling the tea leaves. After the tour we enjoyed a cup of tea where I, who normally drinks her tea black, decided to try it with milk and sugar. I think I am a convert!

This afternoon, after checking into this lovely hotel and having a quick lunch, we headed into town where we went to the garment bazaar. The garment industry is the number one industry in Sri Lanka, followed closely by tourism. At this bazaar there were all these stalls with hawkers selling jackets – all Columbia, North Face, Burton and other well-known brands. We had so much fun trying on things and bargaining. If I was in a stall trying on a jacket and I wanted it in a colour this guy didn’t have, he’d run to one of the neighbouring stalls and come back with the color I wanted. I am very proud of my new-found bargaining skills too! It was really fun.

Tonight there was carolling in the lobby of the hotel by a local church choir. It was so cute because their accents and the rhythms they used in the carols made them sound just a little off from what we are used to. It was such a neat experience to hear it, and now I feel a little more in the Christmas spirit.

Carolers in the lobby of the St. Andrew's Hotel, Sri Lanka

Must hit the sack early tonight since we will hit the road fairly early tomorrow morning on our way to Yala National Park where we will do a night time safari! Can’t wait!

Sri Lanka - Day 1

The first experience flying out of Doha has been a real kick! The airport was very crowded because so many expats are getting out of Dodge for the holidays. First we put our checked baggage through a scanner and picked it up at the other end and headed to the airline check-in. Everything went pretty smoothly and when we got to security I couldn’t believe how lax it was – the guy on the scanning machine wasn’t even looking at the screen to check anything. I took my laptop out of the case, but that wasn’t necessary. At Doha International Airport there are no jetways so you board the planes going up the stairs. So the planes are quite a way from the terminal and you are bused out to the planes. So when you get to the gate, they put you in something like a holding pen until the buses come. It takes a long time to board planes this way.

Our flight went by way of Bahrain and arrived in Sri Lanka at about 5:15 a.m. We were very tired; and had to wait at immigration for over an hour. It was a mob scene and you really had to be pretty pushy to get to the front of the line. After that we waited over another hour to get our luggage. We were so tired, but we got to the currency exchange where I cashed in 1000 Qatari Riyals (about $300 CDN) for 29,500 rupees!!! One rupee = $0.10!We found our driver very easily – he was waiting for us with a sign with my name on it.

Then we took off for Pinnawala and the Elephant Orphanage. CJ and Lisa did some napping along the way, but I couldn’t sleep – there was too much to look at! The country is so green and lush - quite a contrast to Qatar!!

Potato plant

The streets and roads are very narrow and there is all kinds of traffic – very few cars, but lots of buses, motorbikes, bicycles, tuk-tuks (the little three wheel scooter thingies). I couldn’t believe how many people could get on a motorbike. I saw one family with the father driving, the mother on the back, a child of about 6 in front of the father, and a child of about 2 in front of the 6-year-old – and only the dad was wearing a helmet! The fastest you can go outside of the cities is about 60 km/hr so it was a slow trip – about 2.5 hours to Pinnawala; then we had another 2.5 hours to our hotel for the night. There are small villages all along the way and I loved looking at the stalls and small shops, the people in their brightly colored clothes and warm and welcoming smiles.

Typical village scene in Sri Lanka

There are dogs everywhere – even sleeping in the road – they get up and move or the traffic moves around them. I saw school children in their white uniforms. It was Saturday and there was no school, but the children go to their schools for extra tutoring from the teachers and the students wear their uniforms for that.

The elephants were so incredible. I’ll let these photos speak for themselves (although they hardly do it justice):

Our hotel for the next two nights is in on Lake Kandalama – an enormous man-made lake - and is built into the side of a hill in the jungle so you don’t even see it until you are upon it. There are monkeys that come right up on your balcony and there are signs on the balcony doors warning you not to leave the door open because the monkeys will come in and swipe your stuff! I sat out on the balcony writing in my travel journal and watching some monkeys off in the tree tops. I just can’t believe this – it’s just too amazing! I also have some wildlife in my room – a little gecko is sharing my space. I’m afraid I may name him!

Hotel on Lake Kandalama (view from lake)

View of infinity pool at hotel on Lake Kandalama

Monkeys at hotel at Lake Kandalama

It is monsoon season in the northeast part of the country and we are now staying in the central part of the country up in the hills, so the rain comes in each day late in the afternoon. It is jungle and when we arrived it had been raining and the clouds were low over the hills. It is so lovely. The pool is what is called in infinity pool. It looks like it runs right into the lake. When were in the pool we looked over the edge of the pool down toward the lake and saw an elephant with a rider passing by.

More adventures tomorrow!!

Winter in Doha

Winter has arrived in Doha – it rained the other day; complete with thunder and lightening! It was lovely to see and hear; nice to have a change from the never-ending sunshine (yeah, cry me a river). Because Doha has no drainage, the result is streets that were still submerged 24 hours after the rain stopped.

The street in front of my apartment building after the rain

One of my co-workers was driving back to the University after a visit to a local high school and saw the aftermath of a street actually collapsing under the deluge of water; she said a truck just flipped over and slid into the desert! Of course, the drivers here don’t make any adjustments to their driving habits when it rains (much like the first snowstorms in Canada)! It is cooler here now, but still not so cold that you need a coat, although some Canadians wear sweaters and pashminas. I've seen locals in hoodies with the hoods up and heavy jackets. It is really funny to see heavy sweaters, toques, coats and boots in the stores. I mean, really . . . I understand it will get colder in January and have been warned to buy a heater now before they sell out – so I picked one up a couple of days ago. I hope I don’t need it, but at least I’m prepared.

Work is becoming so much fun. I’m getting acquainted with the students – actually even remembering their names! It is a busy time and it is making things at work much more enjoyable. Our staff Holiday party was Sunday night at the Intercontinental Hotel. The food was amazing! There was so much seafood including a beautiful paella and everything from sushi to turkey, steak, chicken, tons of salads, vegetables and fruit; and of course, amazing desserts! Children and families of staff were invited so there were lot of kids (including my new friends from the desert, Janna, Julie and Abdalla, among others) and some parents of staff members too! It is so cool that the extended family is so important in this culture. All staff received a lovely gift – a leather wallet with the UofC coat of arms embossed on it and some chocolates. There was singing, Santa and draws for prizes. It was a great evening.

Only a few more sleeps until I’m off to Sri Lanka and I’m so excited. It will be my first time flying out of here. I had to get an exit visa (yes, we are held captive here – can’t leave the country without permission); the process is very slick - I had it an hour after I submitted my on-line application.

The other day someone asked me what I miss about Canada which led me to think about the things I like and dislike about Doha; so I made a list:

Things I miss about Canada/home

• Family and friends
• Water pressure (my shower is more of a dribble)
• Greenery (but I guess there’s not much of that at this time of year in Calgary)
• Walking in my neighborhood
• My house and yard
• Good bookstores/public library
• Bacon!!!
• Water aerobics class
• Comfortable furniture
• Drinking tap water
• Rules of the road

Things I like about Doha:

• The weather (but I haven’t been here when it’s been ridiculously hot yet)
• Opportunity to travel – Doha is a great jumping-off spot for so many destinations
• New friends
• My work
• Being surprised everyday by some craziness here – learning about a new culture
• Cheap mani/pedi’s
• The challenge to think differently about so many things
• Great inexpensive food
• Not having to put on heavy coats and boots
• Funny exchanges with people as a result of language (e.g., a Qatari was telling a staff member who had just had a haircut and was wearing a new outfit that she looked good. She said “You look nice; too much sex!” What she meant was that she looked sexy!)
• Slower pace of life – although it does take some getting used to; no one is in a hurry to get anywhere or to get things done.
• Smaller city – although the traffic is crazy here, it doesn’t take long to get anywhere and it’s almost impossible to get lost – who knew navigation by landmarks was so easy?

I'm sure the list will change over time, and it'll be interesting to see what things are added to them.

I've been approved to attend a professional conference in Chicago in March. Since my mother's 90th birthday is in February, she is going to come to Chicago when I am there to celebrate this milestone birthday with the whole family. One sister lives in Chicago, one sister lives in the Detroit area; they and their kids are all in the mid west; Ian, Ayn and their families will fly down to join the party. It will also give Ian, Ayn and myself the opportunity to visit with my sisters-in-law who also live in the Chicago area. I'm looking forward to this reunion with family, but also excited about the opportunity to attend this major conference for student services professionals. It will be the first time I've attended a conference of this magnitude.

This weekend Qatar will be celebrating their National Day (December 18th). There are a ton of celebratory activities going on all over the city. You see cars festooned with Qatari flags - like the Flames flags that you see on people's cars during hockey playoffs. This morning I was reading on my balcony when I heard a thunderous noise. Looking up I saw three Qatari Air Force jets scream by tailing the maroon and white colours of the flag. There were about more groups that flew over - I think it was all rehearsal for the big day on Friday. Janna and Abdallah came to the office the other day dressed in their national dress for the celebrations at their school:

Janna and Abdallah Gilal in Qatari national dress

I am having a hard time believing Christmas is about a week away - I've done nothing to decorate my apartment or do anything special for the season; and I have to honestly say I'm not missing it.

However, I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and all good things in 2010!

Desert Trip

At 3:15 AM today I stumbled back toward my tent at the oasis where we stayed the night and was in awe of all the wonderful experiences I had in the last 12 hours. I feel inadequate in trying to describe it to you, but I never in my wildest dreams thought I would ever have a day and night like this.

A group of 12 of us headed out at about 2:00 in the afternoon on a desert camping trip. We loaded into 2 Toyota Landcruisers and one Nissan Armada, the Armada belonging to the family of Iman Galal, one of the staff members in Public Affairs at UCQ. Her family included Iman, her husband, Mohammed, daughter Janna (7 ½ - that ½ being very important) and son Abdallah (6). We left Doha and less than an hour later we turned off the road onto the dunes. For about ¾ of an hour we did some “dune busting” – riding up and down and sliding sideways down some of the miles and miles of sand dunes, speeding along some of flatter areas to get momentum to climb the higher dunes.

Heading down a dune! Note how deep into the sand the tires are.

One time we were actually airborne and came crashing down – my head hit the roof of the vehicle and all of us were laughing with nervous relief. I believe our driver, Ibrahim, who is a police officer in Doha, and has driven these tours for 12 years without ever having had an accident, was a very skilled driver, and he also loved showing us a thrilling time – a bit more so than the other driver! Our vehicle did some amazing climbs and descents! I remember riding the sand dunes at Indiana Dunes State Park as a kid, but it was nothing even close to this experience!

We then arrived at our oasis for the night where we unloaded our bags into our Bedoin tents and set off to explore the area. Granted, this was a tourist oasis, but we were the only group there. It was obviously an oasis used as a day area as well, because there was only sleeping room for about a couple of dozen people, but outdoor eating and mingling space for a couple of hundred! It is located right on the Arabian Gulf and the water was warm and beautiful. It didn’t take long for the camels to appear and we all took a turn riding the camel. Poor camel – reminded me of the sad pony giving rides to kids at Stampede, but we simply couldn’t pass up the opportunity! The camels were both very docile – neither one spit as I’ve heard camels will do, and they had the loveliest long eyelashes! The camel kneels and then lies down for you to mount up; the getting up and getting back down are the most interesting and fun parts of the ride!

Kathy's camel ride

The camels call it a day!

Since the Bedoin lifestyle (and all of the Middle East, for that matter) is very slow and laid back, we spent a lot of time wandering around the oasis and the shore, chatting, enjoying the scenery, and relaxing. As the sun set, it cooled off a bit, and for the first time in Qatar, I put on a fleece vest! Iman and her family were all freezing, but they are from Egypt and have lived in Doha for a number of years – not hearty Canadians!

Dinner was served and, although it was billed as typical Arabian food, I was surprised to find cole slaw on the menu! We also had green salad, hummous (you get that everywhere here – and it’s usually really good), pita, mutton stew, barbequed chicken and Kofta (lamb kababs with some very good spices), and rice. Since it was Cathy’s birthday, Jenny and Arun had stopped and picked up some birthday cake; so we all sang and enjoyed this delicious honey (dripping in honey) cake!

After dinner, the adults retired to the majilis tent where you lounge on these cushions and enjoy Turkish coffee and smoke the shisha pipe. Shisha is tobacco that is way more moist than what is smoked in cigarettes and cigars and it is flavoured. Women generally prefer the fruitier flavours, men the muskier flavours. Iman says women generally do not inhale the smoke but the men often will. I didn’t partake at all, wishing not to make myself ill out in the middle of the desert. Yes, I’m a big chicken!

Inside the majilis tent

All the while this was going on, Iman’s children, Janna (who is a pure show person), Abdallah (the fastest 6-year-old boy I’ve ever seen), and 7 year-old Julie (the daughter of another couple on the trip, Brad and Brigitte) were busy creating and delivering handwritten invitations to each of the adults to attend their disco. The 'disco' involved Janna singing Miley Cyrus songs with all the choreography, while Abdallah and Julie twirled flashlights around to simulate a disco ball- with the rest of the lights off, of course. Janna is quite the performer and it reminded me of all the silly shows we put on when we were children for our parents, and my kids put on for me . . . it’s the same all over the world and from generation-to-generation!

A fire in the fire pit ended the evening. Iman had brought along marshmallows (yes, they roast those here too!) and I had a good giggle watching them being roasted in an enormous fire on shiskabab skewers (yow! talk about burning your fingers:

One of the guys on the trip, Arran, has been learning Arabic and wrote some of our names in the sand in Arabic. Here's what my name looks like in Arabic:

Most of us headed to bed at about 10:00 because we were getting up at dawn to watch the sun rise. We slept in sleeping bags on the floor of the tent – rather hard and completely uncomfortable. As I lay awake, I wondered if I was in a tent with very quiet sleepers (no snoring or heavy breathing) or if no one else was sleeping either! As mentioned above, I was up at about 3:00 and I stayed outside for a while just absorbing the beauty of the desert under the full moon, and marveling at the fact that I was there at all. It was all so beautiful!

I said "most of us headed to bed" because Mohammed and Iman went fishing until about 1:00 a.m.. They had some success:

Janna and Abdallah with Dad's fish catch

We all stumbled out of our tents at dawn after having listened to a rooster for about an hour. The sunrise was short of stunning, but lovely nevertheless.

Dawn over the Arabian Gulf

Sun rises over the Arabian Gulf

We had something they called breakfast – you don’t go on this trip for the food – and then headed back to Doha. Even tho Ibrahim told us we would be taking the ‘flat road’ out, he made sure he threw in a few more dunes to leave us with a thrilling end to the trip.

Actually, the trip on the highway was quite thrilling, too, since the highway was full of slow moving trucks and Ibrahim is an expert in passing in a way that has you wondering how close you are going to come to a head-on collision!

I’m home and exhausted, but have fantastic memories and lots of photos! Here's part of the happy group:

Arran Fisher, Jenny Conway-Fisher, Brad and Brigitte Johnson, me, Cathy Whitehead and Ryan Tanner

And here's a video of some dune-busting. I have a way to go in film production, but you'll get the idea! It may seem a bit boring, but stick with it (I know, it's 5 1/2 minutes of your life you'll never get back, but . . . ). You'll see we slowed down and sped up intermittently; that was to get the momentum for climbing the dunes. The parts where the camera is bouncing all over the place are when it was so rough that I was bouncing all over the place and couldn't keep the camera pointed in any one direction. This was shot on the second day as we were leaving the oasis and heading home; the stuff we did the previous day was rougher and scarier.

Enjoy!