My super fantastic Israeli-Arugam Bay Birthday

This morning we are in Kandy again, waiting, again, for our Indian visas to be processed. It's cloudy and raining on and off here today, so we're going to overwhelm you with two posts (which I'm sure you're super excited to read).

Dave's post finished with our new friends leaving the Sea Rider, headed back to their real lives and grown up jobs. It was lonely without them for a few hours, but luckily that afternoon at yoga I met Hannah, aka "billy no mates" who became my beach best friend for the week. We spent everyday drinking coffee and eating sandwiches, laying on the beach baking ourselves, going to yoga and gossiping about boys. It's just like having Kris or Korey around-heaven.

Hannah and I celebrating my birthday

We went back to Arugam Bay because it was my birthday on the 17th, and, sitting around eating biscuits and playing cards a few weeks ago, Dave asked where I wanted to spend my birthday. The beach of course, I replied, so back we went.

The night of the 16th we celebrated my birthday with Hannah and our Israeli friends- apparently in Israel you wish someone happy birthday at midnight the night before, the day after isn't as important. Surrounded by people from Israel, England, Australia and Scotland I felt like the whole world was wishing me happy birthday. The next day was very quiet in Arugam Bay, since it was Yom Kippur, and many of the surfers are Jewish. In Israel, according to our friends, everyone gets Yom Kippur off and spends the day walking, talking, thinking and walking more. Some of our new friends were fasting, others just took the day off from surfing. I spent the day irritating Dave by bouncing around like a six year old yelling "it's my birthday, it's my birthday, I'm at the beach and it's my birthday"- he was very hungover from the night before so I think my spinning around was particularily overwhelming. I didn't have cake, but I did have a particularily good banana pancake with chocolate, coconut and honey.

Dave, Ori, Me and Lee

Many people visit Arugam Bay for weeks or months at a time to surf, watch other people surf, eat, drink and sit in the sun. About 70% of the people are Israeli, and about 60% of that 70% are male. The local population is also primarily male. Last time we were in Arugam Bay we spent almost all our time with Janine, Eddie and Roded, and were therefore somewhat oblivious to the tension and conflicts between locals and Israelis and the Israelis themselves. This time however, we became very aware of the situation- probably made worse by the fact that the season was coming to an end and everyone was tired, sick of each other and ready to leave. The tensions are mainly over waves and girls- the locals feel a sense of entitlement to both, while the Israelis feel both should be shared. Several times during the week the tensions erupted, particularily between the Israelis- at one point, playing pool, a firecracker was set off by a group of guys walking by, causing the girls I was with to jump up and scream in Hebrew, while the boys hurled beer bottles in the direction of the road. Later we heard that karma had taken care of the instigator, he had been cut by the fin of his board quite badly and couldn't surf. Apparently this guy really had it coming, since the week beofre he had lit a pair of underwear of fire and thrown it into the shower his friend was using- resulting in a massive burn on the other guy's shoulder which got bigger and uglier the more time he spent in the ocean.

The week in Arugam Bay was incredible, and I wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else on my birthday- even with the tension. However, there was one dark spot to the week, the morning we left for Kandy. I woke up to the sound of Ralph sweeping- not unusual, since he has the annoying habit of sweeping the whole place, very loudly, between about 5:30 and 7:30 am. I checked my watch and realised my alarm hadn't gone off 15 minutes before. I jumped out of bed, cursing Dave for moving my phone in the night to somewhere I couldn't hear it, panicing a little about having my stuff packed in time for our 7:45am bus. I started shoving things in my bag, again silently blaming Dave for moving around and messing up my things on a table below the window. I noticed the door was cracked open as well, and really started to wonder what he had being doing in the night. When he finally woke up, I asked irritably where he had moved my phone too, to which he replied he hadn't touched it for days- then it all started to make sense. The missing phone, open door, things all moved around... somehow in the night, while we were inside sleeping, someone had come through the window, stolen our things and gone out the door. I was upset, but not eccessively so, since it was just a phone and a little money that had been lying around. Then I realised my camera was gone and I fell to pieces- I don't think I stopped crying until the end of our first bus ride that day. Of course, I can see that we were lucky, our passports, the majority of our money, credit and debit cards, my ipod (which was safely under my pillow), and Dave's camera weren't taken, nor were we hurt- but I felt stupid for not being more careful and not saving my pictures more often. Lesson learned I guess. The pictures aren't really replaceable, but between Dave's pictures and the pillaging I'm going to do of friend's albums on facebook, I will be able to piece together the last few weeks. Unfortunatley however, the video Dave took of me dancing like a nut on my birthday is gone forever. According to Dave, the video was so hilariously ridiculous it would have made people say "wow, I used to like her and think she was cool- until this came along." Maybe it's better that it's gone.

Bye for now, comment would ya?
xoxo Dallas

Polonnaruwa, Sigiriya, Dambulla, Arugam Bay

From Kandy we traveled to Polonnaruwa, one of Sri Lanka's ancient capitals. Polonnaruwa was inhabited over 1000 years ago by a succession of Singhala and Chola (Indian) kings, who each built their own palaces, bathing pools and temples. We rented bikes from Mr Badulla the night we arrived and spent the next day touring the ruins. We spent most of the morning in the archaeological museum, which had interesting pictures of the restoration work that had been done and some great models of what the structures might have looked like in the past. However, the written information was a bit convoluted and probably would have benefited from a more skilled translator (ie. a 12 year old). The sights were beautiful, Dave's favorite was the 'Gal Vihara', a group of four Buddha images carved into one giant strip of granite. Mine was the 'Kiri Vihara', an enormous stupa which, after 700 years of neglect, was cleared of trees and found to still have it's original plaster exterior intact. There were dozens of other interesting structures, many were deserted (except for a German couple we saw everywhere we went- they're even here, in Arugam Bay-who we didn't make friends with). Near the end of the day, with two sights left, it started to pour with rain. Dave and I took shelter in a security hut and were just taking out our cards to resume our ongoing crib tournament when Mr Badulla appeared, driving a tuk tuk with a British couple in the back. He informed us the the rain wouldn't be stopping anytime soon, and that it was best we abandon the bikes and get a ride with him. We crammed into the tuk tuk, saw the remaining sights and were taken to a shop selling wood carvings for tea and a sales pitch. Despite the temptation of a large wooden elephant for my bedroom, we left without buying anything. While drinking tea we noticed that Mr Badulla was stomping around, throwing things and yelling- we learned later that he was upset because a man on a motorcycle, in an attempt to earn a commission at the carving shop, had punctured the tires on the German couple's bike, knowing they would have to stop at the shop before being able to return to Polonnaruwa. Fortunately, the couple was able to use our bikes and Mr Badulla reported the motorcycle driver to the tourist police.

A council chamber of one of the kings of Polonnaruwa-the lion was his throne

My favorite site at Polonnaruwa, 'Kiri Vihara'

Dave's favorite, the 'Gal Vihara'

The next day we took a bus to Sigiriya, an incredible rock mass that rises out of the flat fields and jungle. Sigiriya is believed to have been the ancient capital of King Kassapa (AD 477-495) who fled from Anuradhapura after murdering his own father. Others believe that Sigiriya was inhabited much earlier (the 3rd century BC) by monks who used it as a mountain hermitage, and was an important Mahayana and Theravada monastery by the 10th century AD. Either way, the complex was abandoned after the 14th century, and was only officially rediscovered in 1898 by a British archeologist. We spent time in the museum, which, opened only last year with financial assistance from Japan, is filled with interesting, clearly written information and artifacts-really well airconditioned too. The site is absolutely amazing- there are symmetrical water gardens in front of the rock, along with terraced and boulder gardens; halfway up the rock (at the top of a terrifying set of stairs) there are frescoes painted on a long sheltered wall; nearby, a long stretch of rock has been carved out, creating a smooth, polished wall which is covered with graffiti written between the 6th and 14th century. Further up another set of stairs, a giant set of lion paws guard the final ascent to the top of the rock. At one time the lion was complete, the mouth forming an arch which visitors would have walked through. On top of the rock there were the remains of various structures, a palace and bathing pools (incredible to think how they got water to the top). Dave and I did a crossword puzzle and ate biscuits before we were swarmed by local men who all wanted a picture with us (mostly Dave actually- they, like everyone else we meet, were fascinated by his tattoo). We were finally able to climb down the rock, and took a bus to Dambulla- a side trip with the sole purpose of finding chop suey. The guide book suggested a place, we searched up and down, only to find out, as we were about to die of hunger that the restaurant had been converted into a "communications shop". We did, eventually, find food, and after eating took another bus back to Polonnaruwa.

Sigiriya

One of the paintings at Sigiriya

The lion's paws and final staircase

On top of the rock

Also on top of the rock

The next morning we again boarded a bus, this time headed for our favorite beach in Sri Lanka, Arugam Bay. Unlike our last trip there, from Polonnaruwa it was a "quick" 8 hour journey on 3 different buses.

However, the story ends there because today is my birthday and the last thing I want to be doing is writing an essay on the history of Sri Lanka. Thanks for reading, we'll post pictures one day. Maybe soon.

xoxo Dallas

Arugam Bay Flashbacks

Sitting eating chop suey (which seems to be the official dish of Kandy-apart from cake of course) tonight, Dave and I realized we had forgotten to write about several important things connected to our last post.

First, our second hotel in Arugam Bay (run by muscle man/ cosmetics collector Ralph) was also home to a small puppy named John. John was under the care of Ralph. Unfortunately, Ralph's excessive grooming routine did not extend to his dog. John had a terrible case of fleas, or, as described by Ralph "John is very itchy." The poor dog couldn't take more than two steps without scratching himself, according to Dave, not unlike professional baseball players or the average American male football fan.

We mentioned that we were either locked in or out of our hotel most of the time, because of Ralph's concern for security, but we neglected to mention the explaination he gave for the lock down. When asked, Ralph would assume a very serious face, start shaking his head and say, "bad men, you know? Bad men around. Ali Baba. Bad men." Thanks to Ralph's explanation, "Ali Baba" has become synonomous with bad men. Despite all Ralph's security measures, Roded's cigarettes fell victim to Ali Baba and his devious ways.

Ralph

The Sea Rider

Also in Arugam Bay, back at our favorite restaurant, Ruwangi's, we were sitting eating dinner (or lunch, who knows), watching two children running around (mostly naked) between the tables and the kitchen, where their mother was attempting to prepare food. One of the children started howling, and Ruwangi emerged from the kitchen to announce, "big one tried to eat little one". Janine, Eddie, Roded, Dave and I looked at each other, assuming he meant the larger child had bitten the smaller one, otherwise there were stranger things than the bong going on at Ruwangi's. Perhaps cannabalism is alive and well in Sri Lanka?

On one of my long bike rides in Arugam Bay, I cycled to Crocodile Lake. To get to the lake, you first go to the village of Panama, about 20km from Arugam Bay, then down a deserted dirt track for another 2.5km. The lake was beautiful, full of birds, surrounded by trees and was devoid of human activity. I sat down beside the lake to eat some crackers (delicious Munchee biscuits, a favorite of all Sri Lankans), and enjoy some quiet time away from Dave. I had barely sat down when a man appeared on a bicycle. He went through the round of questions I am now very familiar with, "what is your country? What is your name? Are you married? Are you pregnant? Where you go? You like Sri Lanka?" (These questions typically go on until they exhaust their English or I say something like, "yes, I'm married, have children, a taxi, I'm pregnant and I don't need accomodation"). The man on the bike finished his speel, but didn't leave. He just sat there, watching me eat crackers! Then two more guys on bikes appeared. Suddenly my peaceful lunch in an isolated spot was a party of four. The guys, in very broken English, asked me if I would like to have a boat ride across the lake. I weighed the risks, me, alone, on an isolated lake-full of crocodiles-with three strange men, and decided, no, I didn't need a boat ride. Finishing my crackers, I packed up, said goodbye and continued my ride around the lake. I got off at one point to take pictures of some birds in the water, and was quickly approached by another man-this one however, didn't speak any English, so I avoided having to tell him my life story. He made hand motions indicating a crocodile, and gesture to further along the shore. We walked together, him making chomping motions, me nodding, along the beach toward a group of birds. He explained, using more gestures, that there were no crocodiles on the shore, since the birds felt safe enough to sit there. He made boat gestures, pointing to himself, then to me. Comforted by the fact that there would be only one strange man and a lake full of crocodiles, I agreed (sorry mum). We hopped in his narrow outrigger and he paddled me to the far end of the lake and along the other shore- I saw several crocodiles- before he returned me, in one piece, to my bike.

More to come about Kandy and our adventures here (it's mostly, but not all, cake eating-we have done some stuff).

Nuwara Eliya to Arugam Bay

We are now in Arugam Bay, a beautiful beach on the east coast of Sri Lanka. We arrived here two nights ago from Nuwara Eliya, where I convinced Dave we needed to spend an extra night. We spent the extra day in Nuwara Eliya attempting to climb Mt Pedro, the highest hill in the area, but we couldn't find the trail so we spent three hours walking around looking instead.

The road to Arugam Bay couldn't have been more than 250km, but it took over 8 hours by bus to get here as there was construction (the road winds through the hill country and was only really wide enough for one vehicle on the corners-so even without construction it would have been a long trip). One particularly large jolt sent us at least six inches out of our seats.

Arugam Bay is my new favorite beach- the sand is perfect, the waves are small so it's easy to just float around in the water, there are people here, but not too many, the food is great, nobody tries to sell you a carved wooden statue, sarong, bracelet, bows and arrows or anything else useless you don't need anywhere, especially on the beach- and it's not humid- just hot, sunny and perfect.

We are, again, staying very close to a mosque. I'm not sure if, because of Ramadan, the calls to prayer are starting at 4:44am, or if this is a regular occurrence in Arugam Bay, but Dave and I wake up every morning, while it's still dark, to the loudest, most forceful calls I've heard yet. The worst part is, when the wailing stops the roosters wake up and start their own calls, shortly followed by a variety of birds that nest in the trees right outside our door.

We had thought about going surfing today, but stayed up all night dancing, so we slept in too late to go. Tomorrow we'll make more of an effort. On the plus side, Dave lay in the sun all day and developed only a minor sunburn on his back.