Odds and Ends from India

Written and Posted from Goa, India

Now where were we? That's right, we were in Sri Lanka. Except that was yesterday. Today, today we are in India. Another day, another country! Oh, but we'll be in India for almost the next six weeks, so no new countries until then. You'll have to bear with us while we explore this place in the meantime.

Some words on our first day in Goa: the day started off bright and early because we had to wake up at 2:30am in order to catch our flight. We made it to the airport with plenty of time to walk around duty free and buy some Arrack, which is a seriously strong coconut whisky. So strong, in fact, that the people at the Icebear Hotel put it in a drink they call the "Lady Wong." It's aptly named. Then we boarded our flight, settled into our seats and a breakfast of curry and rotti. And I cannot even BEGIN to express my delight over the creamer-container filled with pickle! Pickle! I took a picture of it because it delighted me so much. It will be forthcoming.

After we landed in Goa, we floundered around for a little while trying to figure out where to stay. We ended up south of the airport, south of Old Goa, in a beach town called Colva (which, for those of you with a passion for Lafayette Hill, PA, reminded my so fondly of Kolvas that just writing the word Colva makes me want soft-serve ice cream in a cone with sprinkles). We woke up from a well-deserved nap in time to make it to the beach for a few hours before sunset. Here is a list of things I didn't expect to see but did: women and men playing in the ocean, fully clothed; cows hanging out on the beach; teenagers playing cricket; and saris, oh the saris. Our plan is to spend the next 4 days here, re-grouping after the past 52 days of traveling, energizing ourselves for the next 56 days ahead. Judging by the food and the atmosphere, I think we picked a good spot.

And now for those closing thoughts on Sri Lanka that I'm sure you've all be waiting for. The only problem with Sri Lanka is that we didn't give ourselves enough time there. For a small island, there is Just.So.Much. to see there. I can't even really do a description of it any justice, because it's really hard to explain the affection that I developed for the country. Every single person that we met was nice. At the hotel we stayed in while we were in Kandy (the Kandy View Hotel for those of you who are interested -- stay there!), the owner went out of his way to DRIVE us around the town, showing us the sites. When we didn't have time to make it to an ATM before our massages, he fronted us the money and put the massages on our hotel bill. It was just so unbelievably above and beyond general hospitality, that I found myself full of affection for the whole country.

I mentioned the Sri Lankan conflict in an earlier post. I don't understand the conflict myself, so to try to explain it to you would just make me sound stupid. Every time we ask someone about it, they go all the way back to Alexander the Great, and if that doesn't give you any indication of how little I know about it, suffice it to say that I can't even remember when Alexander WAS Great. But the interesting thing about the conflict is that I really just didn't feel its presence while I was there. Sure, we avoided taking public transportation. And there was that one time when we were surrounded by busses and all felt a bit nervous. But by and large, the conflict felt far away, almost in another, less-peaceful island. The island that I was on was just beautiful -- beautiful people, beautiful food, beautiful history and religion, beautiful land. Really, I would have stayed another week if we didn't already have these tickets to Goa.

There were a few other things other than the fact of Sri Lanka that made Sri Lanka so wonderful for us. The first was that we got to have a lovely meal with a lovely family. The family is our friend Upeka's family (hi Bert!), and they invited us to share a meal with them. We drove from Negombo to Colombo to meet up with them for lunch and just had a really nice afternoon. It was so good, especially for Matt and I, to be in the company of another person's family. It made us feel cared for and well-fed! We can't thank Upeka and her family enough for being so kind and gracious.



The other thing that made Sri Lanka so incredible was the fact that we got to share it with Chris and Amanda. Though it had been a few years since we saw them last, the four of us picked right back up where we'd left off, as though time and distance meant nothing. In between the last time we saw them and now, Chris and Amanda had a beautiful little girl, and one of the highlights of spending time with them was getting to learn all about her. I don't know if everyone has a couple like this in their lives, but Chris and Amanda are the couple that we've always looked up to. They're like our older-sib couple. They do big life things before we do them, and they do those things so well that they make us want to work harder at what we have, because they make it look so great and so effortless. In short, they inspire and energize us. So seeing them in this amazing country was inspiring and energizing. We certainly wouldn't have had the same experiences if we'd gone to Sri Lanka without them, and we DEFINITELY wouldn't have navigated the ass-roads without them. In short, they really just made our week there, and we're going to miss them. For all you Tinker folks who read this blog: seriously, LET'S HAVE A REUNION! LOOK how much fun we have when we're together:


(That's an old picture, but it really does show how much fun we have when we're together. I mean, aren't we hilarious?)

Wow. I've rambled on a long time. If you're still reading this, you're probably ready for me to stop typing and get on with my trip to India. Well, so am I! We're safe and sound in this new and interesting place, and there are colors and experiences out there to soak up. Off we go.

Sorry, No Happy Endings Here

Posted from Colva Beach, Goa, India

After Lizzi's post about the girls' experience with the Ayurvedic massage, I think it's only fair that I present the guys' story. Much of it is the same. Chris and I walked into a room with two tables, two chairs, and two, strapping, young Sri Lankan men ready to oil us down. Having enjoyed massages in Thailand and Laos where you are required to keep your clothes on, I was a little surprised when our masseurs (the correct term for a male masseuse) told us to drop trou. But having spent several years in the military, we knew better than to ask questions. We kept our boxers on, because let's face it, Chris and I are close, but not quite that close, and at this point, maintaining at least a shred of dignity felt like a major victory. They directed us to the chairs, and we sat down. And the dude poured oil on my head.

At that point I closed my eyes, hummed silently to myself, and desperately searched for my happy place. The rest of the massage proceeded without incident. Of course, until Chris's masseur told him, "Now, up, and look up." So Chris did as he was told. He stood up and stared at the ceiling, thinking it was all part of the massage experience. His masseur politely corrected him that "up" meant "stand up and lie down on the table next to you", and "look up" meant "lay on your back". Frankly, I could see how Chris was confused.

Nearly an hour later the massage ended. Chris stood, wobbly-legged, and went to the shower. I followed a few minutes later. Unlike the girls, there was no awkward moment of having to shoo our masseurs out of the shower. Moreover, there were no happy endings (sorry, Go and Andy). We each took a shower, got dressed, and waited for the girls in the lobby.

Clearly, our story is less harrowing and has a paucity of "what do you do with your bits?" moments, but for the sake of completeness, I thought it would be nice to share.

"Lizzi, What are you doing with your boobs?" Musings on an Ayurvedic Massage

Written from Kandy, Sri Lanka

After contemplating the map of Sri Lanka, we decided to spend a second night in Kandy. Despite the fact that Sri Lanka has a population of nearly 20 million, and is roughly the size of Ohio, the roads are surprisingly, well, shitty. And I know this because we rented a car. And some of you may be reading this and thinking, "you rented a CAR? To DRIVE?! Are you crazy?!" Yes and no. On the crazy, I mean. We DID rent a car.

Our thinking went something like this: we have a lot to see, there are only a few days to see it in, there will be four of us, and recent events in this tiny island country make traveling via public transportation slightly undesirable. So we asked a friend, and he made driving sound do-able, and we asked the internet, which made driving sound affordable, so we went for it. But then there were those aformentioned shitty roads to contend with. And I'm not talking run-of-the-mill they-really-need-to-fix-these-potholes shitty. I mean, full-on ass-roads shitty. These roads are the black diamonds of ass-roads. Which isn't to say that all of them are like that. Some of them are quite nice with paving and enough room for cars to pass each other going the opposite direction. The problem occurs when you add in tuk-tuks, motorbikes, dogs, and pedestrians. THEN the road, even the best road, seems narrow. And when you're doing it while driving on the wrong side of the street, sitting on the wrong side of the car, accidentally turning on the windshield wipers when you meant to turn on your turn signal? Well, it's all very exhausting. So in order to minimize our driving time, we decided to stay in Kandy another night. And because I haven't gotten sidetracked enough in this post (WHY did I mention my boobs in the title?!) I should tell you that the original title for this post was going to be "Sorry Buddha, I Almost Ran Over A Monk" because a day or so ago, when we were driving from Colombo to Dambulla, we DID almost run over a monk who was sitting on the back of a motorbike that cut us off. We decided that would be the ultimate in bad karma. But I digress.

So with another day in Kandy, that meant that we could slow our pace a little bit. It meant that we didn't have to catch the elephant orphanage, the botanical gardens, and the holy site all in one day. No, we could spread the activities out, leaving ourselves time for an ayurvedic massage and a trip to the local fruit market. Of course, this being us, and it being Sri Lanka, we ended up being somewhat pressed for time, as we spent longer than we intended to spend picking out gifts for friends, and then longer than we meant to at the fruit market, and then whoops! a bit longer than we thought we would at the holy site. So we dashed into our spa appointments a wee bit breathless, anxious for some relaxation. And I should really back up here and say that "spa" isn't a totally appropriate title. It's not entirely off, as it's a place where someone does massage and generally works to make you feel more relaxed, but it's not entirely correct either, as the word "spa" typically connotes a clean place, with maybe with a little Enya playing softly in the background. This place was clean enough, but everyone knows there's a difference between spa clean and clean enough. Also? There was no Enya. But I decided I was there for the experience, and I was GOING to have it.

The experience started off by separating guys from girls. Chris and Matt one way, me and Amanda another. Okey-dokey. Then, Amanda and I were instructed to take all of our clothes off right in the middle of the room. WHAT? Yes, take your clothes off, get totally naked, not in that little room that looks suspiciously like a changing room, but right here, where your two massage-ladies are waiting for your nudity with a "sheet" that was roughly 12 inches long. After a deep breath and a measured decision to keep my underwear on, I tugged the sheet across my body, glanced at Amanda, and made my way over to the chair that the massage-lady was gesturing for me to sit in. I tried to relax as she massaged my temples with oil. And I tried to relax as she massaged my earlobes with oil. But then she parted my hair and poured oil on my scalp and that was it, there was no relaxation to be had. A woman just poured oil on my hair. My HAIR! After about 15 minutes my hair was apparently sufficiently oiled and my head sufficiently massaged. Or so I'm guessing, because that's when I was instructed to lie down on the table, first on my stomach, where massage-lady pounded and pulled at my calves and thighs, and then on my back, where she tugged off that sheet. WHAT? Yes, tugged off the sheet. Prompting me to tug the sheet back up. Which prompted her to tug it back down. Me: up. Her: down. Amanda: "Lizzi, what are you doing with your breasts?" Me: finally succumbing to hysterical laughter, pulling up the sheet, gesticulating that I wasn't letting it go, saying, "I'm holding them firmly in place with the sheet on top." "Oh good," she said, "me too."

The rest of the massage was basically uneventful. I'm incredibly ticklish so it tickled, which was embarassing. Amanda and I passed the time in a compromising but amused position. I was rubbed, head to toe, in oil, and I smelled a lot like food. I mostly hated it, counting down the minutes until I could wash the food smell off of myself. But I was also highly entertained by the whole thing -- lying on a massage table in Sri Lanka, smelling of a decent meal, near enough to touch a good friend who I never intended to see naked, while rebels are detonating bombs around this otherwise utterly peaceful and beautiful country. Oh, if my grandmother could see me now! I can't even begin to imagine what she would say, and can only guess that it would begin with "Liz, dear..."

At the very end of the massage experience, Amanda and I were led to (thankfully separate) showers so that we could rinse off. We had the exact same experience. Thinking that our massage-lady had already been a little closer to our lady parts than we intended, we both guessed that the odds of our respective massage-ladies actually staying around to wash us were quite high. Still wearing underwear, I quickly surmised that I could not bathe nor be bathed while wearing cotton panties. So with a deep breath, I took them off. At which point massage-lady respectfully stepped out of the shower and walked down the hall. Um, DUH. Why on EARTH would massage-lady bathe me? I have no idea. At the time, it didn't seem like it was outside the realm of possibility. In retrospect, she must have been thinking, "Now? NOW you're okay with being naked? Weird white girl." Yes, yes indeed.

So here I am, back at the hotel, full off a meal that smelled surprisingly like my face did just a few hours ago. Two showers later, I'm mostly clean and no longer have cardamom oil in my ears. And thank god for that, right? You were worried, I can tell.

Tomorrow we're leaving Kandy and hoping to see some elephants. More elephants! And then it's a quick drive back to Negombo, which is north of Colombo, to hopefully get to the beach. Cross your fingers that the roads will cooperate, that the rebels will stay away from wherever we want to be, and that the next person who asks me to get naked is not a perfect stranger.

Civil War Aside, Sri Lanka is Pretty Cool

Written and Posted from Kandy, Sri Lanka

It's been a long time since we've had the chance to post anything. Sorry about that. We were chugging along in Cambodia, posting to our heart's content, and then there were those few wonderful days back in Bangkok, and then we got to Sri Lanka and it's been go, go, go, with no internet connection of which to speak. Until now, obviously.

So here we are. In Sri Lanka, where the time difference is 10.5 hours different than the east coast (gotta love the .5, eh?). And yes, there really is a civil war going on. But we're fine, I promise. And so far, we've been largely unaffected by the conflict. We're doing our best to keep it that way. In the meantime, you should all know that Sri Lanka ROCKS. It's beautiful and warm and lovely, and the ancient religious sites are just amazing. So far, everyone has been unbelievably friendly and smiley. Also? The food is amazing. And I'm not just saying all of this because I happen to know a particularly sweet girl from Sri Lanka, either. It's all 100% true. Hopefully, within the next couple of days, there will be pictures and posts in greater detail to prove it.

I hope everyone at home has a great Superbowl Sunday. There's a teeny tiny part of me that wishes I could be there, eating hoagies and picking a team to root for. But there's this other part of me, the part that's totally stuffed on rice and rotti and curry, that's really happy to wake up tomorrow and just check the score!

Not a Problem...Yet

Lizzi's dad sent us another public service annoucement with an eye toward our upcoming travel to Sri Lanka:

Sri Lanka ends cease-fire with rebels

Of course, the State Department hasn't updated its travel warning yet, but that's ok, we're not concerned. It may make things a bit more exciting when we fly into Colombo in a few weeks. Don't worry we'll keep our heads down.

On a completely separate note, we arrived in Chiang Mai this morning on the night train from Bangkok. More about the night train to come...