Sri Lanka | Week Three

It came down to our final week. Our friends were leaving a few days early, and even though they were the ones leaving, it felt like we were leaving too. But we actually had an entire week left.

We had driven over from Nuwara Eliya to Negombo because the Colombo airport is actually there. We decided to get a nicer hotel for the night because we were going to have an entire day to spend with them before their flight left and we wanted a nice pool/beach/lounge area to do so in.

We all wanted to soak up plenty of heat after being up in the mountains the previous week. And boy did it feel good after coming from chilly ol’ Nuwara Eliya.

We went in search of a final veg curry for them and ended up at this place just across the street with a character of a guy who worked there. He was one of the co-owners and I don’t even know how to begin to describe his personality, but he was amazing. He had us laughing and brought us way to much food, promising even more. It’s called Scandic Restaurant if you’re in the area waiting for a flight. 

After a tearful goodbye, we parted ways. They headed to the airport in one taxi and we hurtled down the coast in another.

We arrived at our place on Ahungalla beach around 9 p.m. only to be told there’d been a mix up with our booking and they didn’t have a room for us for the full four days, but thankfully they were able to put us up that night. Disappointed we headed to our room and Michael made a phone call via Skype to try and sort out our accommodation situation for the next few nights.

We woke up, ended up finding a new place to stay, and decided it was a lucky break because in the daylight most of the patrons of that hotel were older and just laid out on beach chairs all day, secluded by the hotel walls.We packed our bags, walked out to the main road and grabbed a tuk tuk. He was the nicest guy who was actually taking his son to school but said we could ride along for no cost (we gave him money at the end of it). We talked about tourism along with other things with him. While it can be a little off-putting at first to have tuk tuk drivers constantly asking if you need a ride, don’t let that deter you. We had some of the best convos with our tuk tuk drivers. 

We spent the next three days just south of Bentota along a little unnamed beach (or I just can’t find the name). We ventured into Bentota twice, and it really reminded me of a lake town in Iowa. Very odd and not our scene. But the beach we were on was really nice, quiet and warm.

The following day we decided to venture down to Hikkaduwa to visit the tsunami museum and then further down the coast to Galle. Both of which I highly recommend. We hired a tuk tuk driver for the day to take us to both places for 3000 RP ($20USD).

The tsunami museum was sobering, but if you’re in the area or even passing through it’s a must-see. It takes about half an hour and the lady who runs it is such a sweet woman. She explains different aspects of it, answers any questions you have, shares her story of that day and even asked at one point if we were ok looking at some of the more graphic photos.

Next, we continued on to Galle which I had zero interest in visiting initially. But if you’re on the fence about visiting Galle I definitely recommend taking a day to go down there. We spent a few hours in the fort and it’s filled with cute little streets lined with shops and restaurants. It’s obviously a bit more touristy but after being deprived of food options for so long it was amazing to be able to choose between a few places.

We ended up going to Crepe-ology (a crepe place, obviously). We both got our own savory crepes and iced teas and then split a sweet crepe at the end. It was fantastic.

We spent our final day by Bentota, just hanging around our hotel. Michael worked from the room most of the day and I spent a lot of time out on the beach. It was calm, relaxing and simple. (Not to mention I didn’t have a computer or book.)

We decided to take the train from Bentota to Weligama where we were going to finish off our stay. It cost us a whopping 280rp for our two tickets, which comes to a grand total of .91 cents each. Insane.

The train ride was pretty great (especially for that price). We chugged down the coast to Galle pretty fast, but after that, we were stopped at Galle for 20 minutes and then we got stopped at another station for 30 minutes, which got us into Weligama an hour late. But still worth it at that price if you’re a bit time-flexible. 

We pulled into our final stay, Elephant Stables, and it ended up being the best accommodation of the trip. The rooms are lovely, the property is lovely, it’s on the beach and within walking distance to almost everything. What more could we ask for? 

And wow, Weligama, I was not expecting it to be so happening. We had debated between going back to Mirissa or trying out Weligama and I’m thrilled we ended up going with Weligama.

The beach was lined with places renting out surfboards and offering lessons, there were fishing boats and places to eat. Michael grabbed a surfboard for the three days we were there, which I stole for a bit on the second day.

But mostly I just legit frolicked in the sea for three days. My goal was to be outside as much as possible, and I’ll give myself an A+ on that assignment.

It was absolutely brilliant. I loved every moment of it. I remember showering and looking out the window, seeing the palm trees and just feeling giddy with gratitude.

There were countless moments on this trip where I found myself wondering how is this real life, and how is this my life?

One of the nights we grabbed a tuk tuk over to Mirissa beach for dinner and ended up getting veggie burgers at Zephyr. And we joked how we had completed our circle of the island by going to Mirissa for the second time.

Sri Lanka is much bigger than I had realized and there’s so much that we didn’t get to. There are a few different paths you can take around the island, but I think you would have to go back a few times to even get close to visiting it all.

We had an entire day on our final day being that our flight left at 2 a.m. in the morning. And of course, we decided to spend the time in Weligama instead of heading up by Negombo. Michael surfed and I grabbed a boogie board to just float around on. We had booked in for massages at Good Spa for 5 p.m. which I recommend before jumping on a long flight. You’ll still get home a bit jumbled and cramped, but it’s a much better baseline to start from. We both got 90-minute massages for around 40USD, which is pricey but cheap when you compare to prices back home.  

From there we went in search of a final full meal before heading up to the airport. We ended up on the other end of the bay at Tiki Cliff Top Restaurant & Bar. It was super chilled out and the food was delicious. Oh, not sure if I’ve mentioned this before, but don’t forget bug spray. They come out at night, and since most places to eat are outside you’re going to want some so they don’t go to town on your ankles (which they will). 

We had a taxi scheduled to pick us up from our place at 9 p.m. which is obviously more than taking the train, but then we weren’t limited to the train schedule and could squeeze out every last ounce of beach that day. We made great time on our way to the airport, and after a grueling 30+ hours of travel we arrived back home in Des Moines jetlagged, a little sick and ready for sleep.

And that finishes off our three-week adventure in Sri Lanka. I hope this has helped if you’re planning a trip there, or just like reading about travel.

Sri Lanka | Week Two

I wasn’t totally ready to leave the beach, but I was excited to see other aspects of Sri Lanka.

Michael had found and booked a safari guide for Udawalawe National Park, which was around 2/2.5 hours northeast of Talalla. We had contemplated staying a night or two in Udawalawe (maybe in a treehouse), but in the end we decided it didn’t require that much time so we planned it as a stop over between Talalla and Ella. Which was the right decision.

We woke up at 3:30 a.m. and then got a knock at our door at 3:55 a.m. from the lovely villa manager who had came in early to make us tea and coffee. Seriously, Handun Villas was one of our favorite places we stayed.

We had arranged a driver for the day to pick us up at 4:30 a.m. and wait for us while we did the safari before taking us the rest of the way to Ella.

Now, there are a few different national parks to choose to visit for a safari tour. The most popular is probably Yala, which is east of Tangalle. It’s known for its leopards, which there are still only 20 or 30 in the park. The sightings are rare and if one is spotted all the safari jeeps race to view it causing a clogged traffic jam. But if you want to see one head to Yala.

Udawalawe is the place to go to see elephants. Seriously, I was not expecting to see that many, and it was so magical to see them out in the wild instead of in some sort of enclosure. There were also a ton of beautiful birds, which I’m normally indifferent to, but our guide was really enthusiastic, knew a lot and had a great eye for picking them out. We saw water buffalo, crocodiles, a chameleon. But the best was seeing a maybe 2 week old baby elephant.

A few other places you can go and what you’ll see in Sri Lanka:

+ Wasgamuwa (NE of Kandy) — elephants

+ Sinharaja Forest (N of Mirissa) — birds

+ Minneriya (N of Dambulla and Polonnaruwa) — in Sept/Oct 300 elephants converge on the Lake

+ Horton Plains (S of Nuwara Eliya) — birds + ‘World’s End’. The train from Ella went through Horton Plains and boy oh boy it was beautiful.

+ Wilpattu (NW coast) — sloth bears and it’s the largest park

+ Knuckles (NE of Kandy) — lizards

The following day we hiked Little Adams Peak, which was such a chill hike past tea fields and ended with a stunning view of the valley and Ella Rock. We sat up there for quite some time taking it all in, and then made our way down and decided to stop for lunch at the swanky 98 Acres. The prices there are super reasonable so I suggest making that stop. We decided to hit the Nine Arches Bridge on our way back to town, and it was a fun little path to get down to it. We waited to watch the train go by and then walked along the tracks back into town.

We had planned to hike Ella Rock, which is a 3-4 hour hike (Little Adams Peak took an hour to get to, plus a little more to hang out up there). But we all woke up the next day feeling a bit iffy so we decided to hang out around town. Everything I had read about Ella was pretty misleading. Everyone said the town was crap, but to go for the surrounding area. And while the scenery did not disappoint, neither did the town. There was a little strip on the Main Street that had a ton of food and cafe options.

While in Ella I had one full body massage one day and a head and leg massage another day. Neither of them were very noteworthy. I mostly felt like I was just getting oiled up, and I always find myself wishing they would put a little more umphf into their massages, but the prices weren’t bad.

The following day we made our way on the train to Nuwara Eliya. The manager of our hotel was kind enough to go to the train station that morning to get us tickets with reserved seats. And because he got the tickets they set aside for employees they were a steal of a deal. But you can very easily get 2nd or 3rd class tickets for next to nothing, and if it’s not too busy you’ll probably get a seat. But if not find a door to hang out next to.

The train from Ella to Kandy is said to be the most beautiful train ride, and we did about half of it on our way to Nuwara Eliya. The station is actually 20 minutes away and called Nanu Oya, which confused us at first when we were looking up train schedules.

We got some veggie samosas on the train, talked to a family who were both English teachers and spent a lot of time hanging out by the open door.

Ok, so Nuwara Eliya. It’s the weirdest place we visited in Sri Lanka and possibly the weirdest town I’ve gone to. It wasn’t a town until a Brit came through and said, this reminds me of England, let’s build a town here. So, it became known as the home away from home for those visiting Sri Lanka from England. So, it’s this odd mix of Sri Lanka and England.

We had high tea at the Grand Hotel, which was my first high tea experience so I don’t have anything to compare it to, but our friends from Bristol said it could have been a lot better. I’d still recommend it, and to check out the hotel.

That night we went over to Saint Andrews Hotel, which was probably my favorite place in Nuwara Eliya. They have a 100+ year old billiards table. I’ve only ever seen pool tables and billiard tables are huge in comparison. It has all the original parts and has only been buffed. The boys decided to play a game, which I think cost like 650 rp ($4) for 45 minutes. They have a guy who’s only job is to work in the billiards room. He was awesome, and very encouraging to the guys, who started off the game a bit rough.

At one point another traveler came in, he was a professor in South Korea and informed us that the billiards table had been brought from Colombo to Nuwara Eliya by six elephants, and it took them 6 months to get there. I would love to see a drawing of that.

They also had a few fireplaces in the hotel, which felt great to curl up next to because it is noticeably chillier in Nuwara Eliya. We had to wear pants and a sweater or two to stay warm at night.

Nuwara Eliya is worth seeing, but I would only spend a day, maybe two there if I had to do it again.

Our friends had to leave a few days early so we all decided to head up to Negombo together, and ended up stopping at Bluefields Tea Factory and Ramboda Falls on the way there. Which was a much needed stop because that was by far the windiest, vomit inducing ride I’ve gone on.

The tour at Bluefields was fascinating, and free. I learned a lot. For example I didn’t know that black tea was fermented or the difference between white, green and black tea.

Ramboda Falls doesn’t look like a place you want to stop from the road. I could have easily passed it by, but Michael wanted to go for a swim. So, we made the 20 minute hike up to the top, and man I was happy we didn’t skip it.

One week left. 

Sri Lanka | Week One

I wanted to share our adventures in Sri Lanka because when I was planning our trip I looked at so many blogs trying to get a sense of what to do and where to go.  

We arrived in Sri Lanka late on January 17th, and had booked a hotel in Colombo for the night. After a few hours of sleep we all rallied and ate some breakfast near our hotel. I started off strong with a fruit plate.

We were traveling with friends from Bristol, England and their bags hadn’t made the connecting flight in Amsterdam so we had a little shopping to do courtesy of KLM.

But before we went over to the shopping center we went in search of Colombo Fort, the train station to see if we could get some seats on the train down to Matara. No such luck, but we talked to a taxi driver outside who agreed to drive us down there. Quite a bit more spendy when compared to the train ticket, which was just over $1, but it wasn’t too bad split between the four of us.

Colombo wasn’t our jam, and we were happy to leave.

Our driver’s van was older, and not very fast, but we made our way down the coast. We thought we had booked a place in Tangalle beach, but it ended up being right next door at Talalla beach, which ended up being the best mistake.

We basically had the beach to ourselves. It was magical. Just a few restaurants to choose from along the beach.

We spent five nights there at a place called Handun Villas, which I can’t recommend enough. Talalla is a great home base between Mirissa and Tangalle. And it’s a great place to rest and recharge after all that travel.

We spent the entire day of the 19th on Talalla beach and in the ocean. It was pure bliss. The boys geeked out, ordering pina coladas, and pina coladas in coconuts. We even split two orders of veg curry on our beach chairs at Sun Bay.

The following day we made the trek over to Tangalle. We set up shop in some hammocks on the beach after eating lunch...on the beach again of course. Michael found a boogie board and we spent far too long crashing around in the waves. If I had to choose one of my favorite things about this trip it would be frolicking in the waves. Seriously, I felt like a kid again most days. 

On the 20th we decided to head over to Mirissa beach, which was probably our favorite beach between there and Tangalle. There were restaurants all down the beach, a spot to surf and the water was perfect for that good ol’ playing in the waves we all loved so much.

One thing I decided I wanted to do while we were in Sri Lanka was surf, and after looking into it I decided to do a surf lesson. I’ve been surfing a handful of times, but I’m a definite beginner with almost zero confidence. We met a guy at Tangalle beach who had started his surf school not that long ago. His reviews were good and I thought, what the heck, I want to support the new guy. Tangalle Surf School

And it was awesome! We went to a quiet little place near Tangalle called Blue Beach that had some baby waves, perfect for beginners. It was great to practice my form popping up on my board and to gain that much needed confidence I was in search of.

And on top of all of that, it was just so much fun. I love surfing, I’m just not that good at it.

That pretty much sums up the excitement of our first week in Sri Lanka. Two weeks to go!

I Ruined My Laptop | Part Two

So, if you can recall I busted my laptop on the way to Sri Lanka.

I was bummed out to say the least. It was a big purchase for me two years ago, and it’s not like I have a ton of cash laying around to buy a new one (especially after our trip).

But obviously something was going to have to give because I need a computer for work.

So, while I was enjoying vacation I was also trying to come up with a solution when I got home.

I haven’t taken my laptop into Apple yet, so I’m not sure if there’s an “inexpensive” fix to it or if it’s gone for good.

Michael and I were talking about it one day and he suggested using the iPad as a temporary fix until I saved up and found a computer I wanted. He also has a MacBook with a broken screen that’s a $400 fix if I want to go that route.

In the long run I think I’ve decided I want to save up for an iMac since I work from home 85% of the time. But I need something until then and I need a portable option for when we travel.

I opted for the iPad option. We already had it from a Black Friday deal, and didn’t really use it. So, while in Sri Lanka I started researching the best way to ‘turn an iPad into a laptop’ essentially. And here’s what I’ve done.

The first thing I knew I would need was a keyboard. No question about that. So, I opted for a keyboard case instead of a keyboard and stand option so it was portable.

I also knew I needed a way to get video footage from my SD cards onto it so I could edit videos. My camera does have a WiFi option, but seeing as I didn’t want to hassle with that I decided to get a lightening to SD card adapter, which was a great options.

The first day I was using it with the keyboard I found it a bit fussy to not have a mouse or keypad so I looked into buying one of those, but for the time being I’m just using the screen, which just takes some getting used to.

It can be a bit finicky at times and has taken some time to get used to the differences, but because we already had the iPad it was a pretty inexpensive solution.

Depending on how I like it this might actually become my long term portable option after I get the iMac, which hopefully I can buy in a month or two.

Update: I’m sitting outside Apple waiting for an appointment. I’ve decided to pay the money to get Michael’s old MacBook Pro (which is the same model as mine) fixed. After trying to edit a video yesterday on the iPad I just found myself pretty frustrated. There’s an obvious difference between the iPad and the MacBook Pro, and I was beyond frazzled by the end of the day.

I was working to get a video up because I post every Tuesday and Thursday. Well, it’s still sitting on the iPad because even after I got the very simply edited video exported it now won’t upload to YouTube.

I just came to the conclusion that having a computer is too much of an intregal part of running FemmeHead. I really don’t want to see it hurt by not having a computer and I think it would be.

I think I’m still going to save up for an iMac, but for the time being having a MacBook Pro to work from will be such a treat. I’ve brought both his laptop to send in to get fixed as well as mine to see if there’s anything to be done about it or to at least get stuff off of it.

If you’re just looking to type documents, send emails and such, you can definitely do that on an iPad with a keyboard case. But when it comes to editing things, videos and such, the iPad is not made for that.

Update: I got called in for my appointment. We started by sending off Michael’s old MacBook to get repaired and mailed back to our house. That was going to cost $475, which was fine. And then he took my poor laptop to the back to open it up and look to see what sort of water damage there was.

He came back probably 10 minutes later and said, wait for it, that it looked fine inside and he wanted to plug it in and turn it on.

Wait what?

Ok, I said, as I fumbled in my bag for my charger. I plugged it and he pressed a few keys along with the power button and I holy mother of god it turned on. I about pooped myself.

I still didn’t want to get my hopes up because he said that he was going to run diagnostics on it. That took another 5-7 minutes. In the mean time I asked him why my screen looked like it was separating around the edge, and he said it was called ‘delaminating’ and we could look at repair options for that once the diagnostics finished.

And here’s the kicker, the diagnostics came back and he said it looked fine.

He said that even though my laptop was out of warranty, there was this replacement warranty thing when it came to screens delaminating because they aren’t supposed to do that. So, while it normally costs $475 to replace a screen they were going to do it for free (excuse me?!)

Then he said that my batttery wasn’t holding charge for as long as it should, and right before I could say I didn’t care about that he said he was going to try and get that replaced under the same thing as the screen...for free.

At this point I didn’t want to jinx myself, seriously, is this real life?

But I had to politely ask to cancel the repair order on Michael’s Mac because obviously if my computer had miraculously came back to life I didn’t need his as a replacement. And the Apple guy was kind enough to go grab it from the back and cancel the order.

I thanked him profusely, told him he was a rockstar and that he made my week, no the entire month for me. And then I left.

So at the moment it’s best case senario. My laptop is being sent in to essentially be spruced up, and it’s not going to cost me a thing (unless something else pops up while they have it).

But you guys! I’m over the moon right now.

I tried to turn it on after it got wet on the plane, but then my brother told me that you’re not supposed to try and turn on or charge electronics when they get wet. Not until they dry out. So I waited until a few days before we came back to try again, just for the hell of it, because I was pretty sure there was no hope. And it didn’t turn on so I thought it was toast.

There is nothing better than electronics coming back from the dead.

Viva la MacBook Pro!