Our first full day in Sri Lanka (yesterday totally doesn’t
count seeing as we were asleep for most of it!) and it was jammed packed of fun
stuff!Given we didn’t do it yesterday,
we were up early ready to depart at 6.30am for our hike up Sigiriya Rock.Here’s
the description of it from our little tour book:
“The Sigiriya Rock
rises majestically from the jungle floor.It is famous for its “mirror wall”, so called because of its highly-polished
surface.Halfway up there are frescoes
in brilliant tempura.Sigiriya dates
from the 5th century AD.Sigiriya is also renowned for its ancient paintings, which are
reminiscent of the Ajanta caves of India.It is one of the seven World Heritage Sites of Sri Lanka.Sigiriya may have been inhabited through
prehistoric times.It was used as a rock
shelter mountain monastery, with caves prepared and donated by devotees to the
Buddhist Sangha.
At the entrance to Sigiriya Rock and the
water gardens
According to the
chronicles of Mahavamsa, the entire complex was built by King Kashyapa (AD 477-
495) and after the king’s death, it was used as a Buddhist monastery until the
14th century”
Following the instructions to the letter at the Water Garden
Again, the day was overcast – but not raining, so it was
actually perfect for the hike and climb up 1,000 steps!Because we were there early, it wasn’t too
crowded.The Rock itself is only part of
the complex – its surrounded by beautiful water gardens, incredibly well
preserved with gravity-powered fountains that still work after heavy
rains!We strolled through the gardens,
taking care not to walk on top of the ancient walls as per the signage (unlike some
other tourists who obviously decided that it didn’t apply to them). After the
water gardens, the Boulder Gardens – with various pools and caves built into
these massive lumps of rock.
Part of the Boulder Garden
And then it
was time to ascend Lion’s Rock – so named because of the huge carved lion that
used to guard the entrance – all that remains now are its feet – but you can
just imagine how incredible it must have been.The Rock is the highest point around and ManpanionTM was mildly obsessed
with how the King must have been to have decided that was where he wanted to build his palace complex.On top of the highest rock for miles and
miles.It would be an impressive feat of
engineering today, but back in the 5th century AD??There must have been some seriously clever
people to have figured it all out back then.Apparently it took about 14 years to build (how do the archeologists
know this kind of stuff??) and the King lived in it for about 17 years with his
court and harem of 1,000 women.The
famous fresco paintings (unfortunately wasn’t allowed to take a pic) were all
of amply-breasted and bejeweled ladies – painted directly into the plaster when
it was wet, so the colors were remarkably vibrant given they are well over a thousand
years old! The King had a reputation of
being a playboy, so I guess covering a huge rock with pictures of semi-naked
women was par for the course back then.
Yikes.
After quite the workout, up lots of steps and metal
staircases with see-through steps (don’t look down!), we reached the top.The sun was still hidden behind the clouds,
but the humidity had already started to rise (it was just past 8am by this
point), so we’d definitely worked up quite a sweat!Unfortunately, though, we couldn’t really see
very far from the top because of the clouds – it reminded me of my previous
trip to Bhutan when we’d driven to the highest point in the country – and could
see eff all then too!But the structures
on the top of the rock were very impressive – particularly the multiple swimming
pools (on the top of a rock!!! How???).Anyway, after wandering round for a bit, we headed back down – saying hello
to some monkeys along the way and avoiding any run-ins with killer wasps or
bees.We headed back to the hotel for
some well-earned breakfast!
Lions Gate
About to ascend....
Slightly misty but impressive view of the
Water Gardens
One of many bathing pools on the rock
King's throne where he used to watch his harem perform for him
Cobra Rock
Breakfast menu at The Water Garden - YUM!
Office at the Ayurvedic spa
After breakfast, we had a choice for how to structure the rest of our day.We were booked to do an elephant safari in the afternoon, so needed to decide whether we wanted to try and squeeze in another excursion beforehand to an ancient ruined city, about an hour’s drive away.We decided to pass on the drive to Polonnaruwa ruins in favor of getting a super authentic Ayurvedic massage treatment instead.Rather than just get a massage in the hotel spa, instead Kingsley took us to this place in the middle of the jungle, used by both tourists and locals alike.Unfortunately I wasn’t able to take many pics because we had to lock all our valuables away, but think “mud hut with reed roof” and you’re there.We chose to have a treatment with a 60 min massage, then 45 mins of hot oil being drizzled on your forehead, followed by 20mins in a steam room (think small mud hut, reed roof and leaves on floor).It was fabulous.The massage was super relaxing – especially with the sound of the rain pitter-pattering on the roof above with a few drops occasionally squeaking through.Matt didn’t really care for the oil treatment as I did (its supposed to open your third eye) but he loved his massage, so we both enjoyed the overall experience.It was a great way to continue to decompress from the long journey and the morning’s exertions.
By thetime the treatments were over and we’d showered and dressed, it was about 2pm so time to go directly to meet our guide for our Elephant safari experience.Here’s the blurb from our book:
Oscar P on safari
“The amazing Minneriya National Park is renowned for its elephant populations and beautiful scenery.Enjoy a safari drive in search of the Asian elephant, a highlight for many during their tour through this fascinating tear-drop isle.Minneriya National Park is situated in the North Central Province of Sri Lanka.The park affords the opportunity to sight herds of elephants throughout the year, however August and September are the best time to view the famous gathering of the wide elephants, the largest known meeting place of Asian elephants in the world.There are also monkeys, deer and lots of different bird species.
As Minneriya is pretty much the only national park you can visit without having to stay there, it does mean it can get busy and it also means the jeeps and guides are not as polished or professional as you may find in other places”
It was crazy!!We met our jeep and guide and headed over to the park – where there were literally dozens of jeeps waiting to get in!It was controlled chaos!For the next 2hrs, we bounced our way on muddy trails (occasionally veering off into the dense foliage!) tracking down elephants – along with everyone else!But somehow, it all seemed to work fine – I guess the jeep drivers are very well practiced at not getting too much in each other’s way – and there did seem to be somewhat of a democracy at work, with the drivers continually moving and shifting so to allow everyone to get their turn at the best view and photos.I’d been up close and personal with elephants on my brief trip to Laos (sorry – I know I didn’t blog that one) but it was cool to see them out in the wild.The weather was co-operating and, though it was still overcast, it wasn’t raining so our driver rolled back the canvas hood so that we could stand up in the back of the jeep for a better view.
After about 2hrs of being bashed around in the back (I will have bruises on the side of my hips tomorrow!), it was time to head home.It was only a short drive back to the hotel where we said goodbye to Kingsley for the evening and, somehow, actually managed to stay awake enough for dinner! Tomorrow, we say goodbye to Sigiriya and the Water Garden hotel and embark on the next leg of our travels – we’re heading to Tea Country!!!
Finally!! After MONTHS of waiting, its finally here!!! Its vacation time!!
So we left Chicago at 8pm on a
Friday night – and finally landed in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka at 8.30am
on Sunday.All in all, the journey was
very smooth and uneventful – if very long – the first leg was from Chicago to
Dubai, then Dubai to Colombo.We’d
treated ourselves to Bizmouse Class on Emirates, so we were certainly traveling
in comfort.I’d been on the wagon for
the last 6 weeks, so that first glass of champagne in the lounge was
delicious! As we had a fairly long
layover in Dubai, we qualified for a free stay in the local airport Meridien
hotel, so that was nice and broke the trip up nicely.We got to the hotel around 8pm and left just
after midnight, so just enough time to lie down for an hour or so, and grab a
surprisingly delicious dinner at their (rather kitschy) Irish pub
restaurant.I had the Shepherd’s pie and
ManpanionTM had a chicken and mushroom pie that was excellent!The trip back to the airport was easy and it
was surprisingly busy for 2am!Our
second flight was just over 4hrs long, so enough time for a film and breakfast
before finally landing in Sri Lanka.Fortunately I hadn’t effed up the visas, so that was all OK – and one of
our first impressions of the island was the multiple stores selling household
appliances at the airport duty free!!Want a washing machine at Bandalinke airport with your Toblerone gift
pack? You got it, lady!Refrigerator?No problem!
No eye mask. Full on spotlight. Proof - if any
were needed - that ManpanionTM can sleep
anywhere, any time, under any conditions
On arrival, after collecting our bags, we were met by our driver and guide for
our time in Sri Lanka – a lovely chap called Kingsley.It was a 4-hour drive from Colombo to our
first stop in Sigiriya so plenty of time to watch the island unfold around
us.A few things stood out in my jet
lagged brain as we wound our way northwards, up into the center of the island.One was how clean the island is and how
little trash there was littering the roads – a stark contrast to Vietnam and
Cambodia.Also the sidewalks were in
good condition too – nice and even and intact – not broken up and uneven like
in Vietnam.This pleased ManpanionTM
greatly.The only thing really
littering the road were cheerful looking dogs – loads and loads of them – all
pretty much identical and completely nonplused by the traffic zooming past their
noses!It was amazing how they didn’t get
squashed given their snoozing place of choice was quite literally in the middle
of the road – everyone seemed to accept this as completely normal and just drive
around them, not honk their horns or get annoyed. Fascinating.
Sigiriya Water Gardens
Also very curious was the choice of advertising material on
the billboards lining the roads – after about an hour, I noticed there seemed to
be a disproportionate focus on – wait for it – cream crackers!!That and
Nippon Concrete.Why?Why cream crackers??It was all very strange – but there seemed
to be a cream cracker advertising war going on with at least 4 different brands
battling it out for supremacy.We even
had a packet of cream crackers in the little snack box that Kingsley had
prepped for us in the car.I can’t
remember the last time I’d had a cream cracker – but there we were nibbling on
cream crackers, looking at billboards of cream crackers whilst in the back of
the car – yes – cream crackered!! All very lovely.
The countryside itself was as you’d expect – extremely lush
and verdant with bushy palms and stringy tall coconut trees, with clusters of
bright orange king coconuts clustered at the top.I’d been obsessively watching the weather and
had been a bit worried by the preponderance of little lightening symbols in the
10 day forecast. We were in the “inter-monsoon”
season – so not full-on rain, but not the dry season either (which starts in
December).Basically it was very
overcast – which, on one hand was good in that it kept the heat down, but it
was a bit gloomy.Occasionally it would
brighten up for a bit and the sun would break through – and then it would cloud
over again and then break out into spectacularly energetic rain!
After a couple of hours, we stopped for a restroom break and
to get a cup of tea – our first proper cup of Ceylon tea – delicious!Very light and refreshing – and piping
hot!Just the way tea should be!!After another couple of hours – the last 20
mins of which were on dirt roads, reminiscent of our bike trip through Cambodia
– we finally arrived at our hotel in Sigiriya, the Water Gardens.By this time, we were so jetlagged and exhausted,
we could barely keep our eyes open.Kingsley, sensing our deep fatigue, suggested moving our scheduled trip
for the afternoon – a hike up Lion’s Rock – to first thing tomorrow.Thank god!I could barely make it from the car to the room, so going for a hike up
a very large rock with 1,000 steps would have been torture!So, we checked in and were driven by buggy to
our villa, where we barely registered how gorgeous it was, before crawling into
bed and crashing out.Waking up a couple
of hours later, we decided to skip getting up and going to dinner, instead
favoring room service and going straight back to bed! Tomorrow, after our 14hr nap, vacation can
start in earnest!!Good night!
Here's what I've learnt during my 48hrs so far in Dubai.
Its very shiny.
Its good to be an Emirati.
It's eye-wateringly expensive.
OK, OK - I've learned a bit more than that - but I am very jetlagged and I have been awake since 4am, so you'll have to give me a bit of a break! So I'm here in Dubai as part of a 10-day business trip in Asia. Its now Tuesday (I think) and my colleague and I head off to Thailand on Thursday for meetings there next week. I'm about 6 months into my new job (the last one, alas, didn't work out as the company decided to re-org everyone out - including yours truly!) and this is my first big meeting with some of the regional head honchos, so there is some degree of work pressure involved! (lest you think its all fun!)
Anyway, I've not been to the UAE before, so its fun to be able to check another country off the bucket list. I have to say its not one that's been particularly high up on my personal bucket list - given the reputation it has as basically being one giant shopping mall. Well, yes, there are a TON of ENORMOUS malls and everything is eye-squintingly shiny and ostentatious, but there is a little more to it than that, so I'm enjoying the time I've spent here so far.
Ginormous room. And with a little plaque on the ceiling pointing
to the proper direction for praying!
So I'm here with a work colleague and we traveled together from Chicago, leaving Saturday late afternoon, flying through Zurich and finally arriving in Dubai at around 9pm on Sunday night. I was sick last week and was behind on work stuff and prep for this meeting, so worked for a good portion of the flight - no Wonder Woman in-flight movie for me this time! (see? its not all glamorous!). Dubai is a 10hr time difference to Chicago, so by the time we got through the arrivals process (pretty straight forward, thanks to a Fast Track pass from Swiss Air), got a taxi and navigated our way to the hotel, it was 10pm - and I was WIDE AWAKE! Driving from the airport, got my first look at the city - there were some fun light sculptures, a dinosaur garden, plus an ENORMOUS rectangular structure I later found out is called The Frame which, like its name suggests, is a giant picture frame that you can go inside and then walk along the top arm, giving you great views of the city. Its a bit weird, but hey! why not? http://www.thedubaiframe.com/ I can only imagine the retail opportunities in the gift shop....
We arrive at our hotel and its very nice - again, fancy and rather overstated but everyone is very friendly and welcoming. http://www.hhoteldubai.com/ My room is on the 14th floor and is enormous - but it has all the essentials I need (ie a kettle and some tea). After checking-in, my colleague and I decided to decompress from the travel with a well-earned nightcap at the rooftop bar of the hotel - perched on the 40th floor, accessible by a separate entrance and elevator (manned by a fairly bored looking guy with an entirely unnecessary velvet rope). I think the velvet rope is there to stop people's wallets screaming in pain when they see the prices and making a run for the door! It was RIDICULOUSLY expensive. The kind of place where your menu choice isn't made on a "hmm...what do I fancy to eat that looks good and its reasonably healthy?" basis but rather a "holy shit - what is the least expensive thing on this menu that I'll be able to even have a shot at getting approved on my expense report?" basis. A basic burger was at least $30. The most basic chicken dish was $40. One glass of basic white wine was $20. Yikes.
So we didn't stay long at the bar after our food - it was actually surprisingly chilly. So after about a half hour or so, we headed back down the ostentatious elevator and puttered off to bed.
I did not sleep well.
I woke up coughing at 3am (have been getting over a severe sore throat and cough for the last 3 weeks) and couldn't get back to sleep again. I farted about on my phone, reading the news, and drinking tea until about 5.30am when I finally got up, got dressed and WENT TO THE GYM!!! OMG!!! I really did!!! My work colleague is a hard core exercise fiend who works out every morning, so I guess it rubbed off on me a bit - that combined with the fact that the gym had Peloton bikes!! I splurged on a Peloton for myself at home a few months ago and LOVE it (basically its a fancy-pants spinning bike with state of the art live streamed classes that you can join remotely - like Soul Cycle but without the hassle of having to go to a studio!), so it was actually fun to be in Dubai and able to log into my account and notch up a ride with my favorite instructor! (I did it again the next day too!). Feeling suitably smug, I went back to my room, showered and changed and headed down to breakfast.
YUM! It was a fantastic spread, with lots of beautifully sweet fresh fruit (I particularly loved the watermelon, cut to look like a slice of pizza), various breads and pastries, different flavors of labneh (like a yogurt spread thing), and an international array of hot foods including Western style brekkie stuff as well as Indian curries and dahl. I overindulged on various bread products (naan!) so it was just as well I'd burned a few calories earlier to compensate!
Yummy 65 degree eggs!
So today (Monday) was a free day before our meeting was due to start tomorrow. We got in a day early to allow us to recover from the journey - and to give us just a bit of time to explore and see the sights! I'd booked a couple of tours for the day so that we could maximize our time in Dubai (my first time) - the first excursion was a trip to see the Burj Khalifa - the tallest building in the world!! You have to book your slot in advance (you can't just rock on up) so we'd got a 10am admission time. We took at cab from the hotel and slogged our way through the crazy Dubai traffic, and got there a bit early, so beat the crowds and went straight on up! It was very similar to the Empire State Building, the way you were herded and shepherded through the building - with exhibits as you go about how the building was constructed. If you are interested in learning more about the tallest, shiniest, pointiest building in the world, have a look here: http://www.burjkhalifa.ae/en/index.aspxhttp://www.burjkhalifa.ae/en/index.aspx
We had a ticket to take us to the main observation level on the 124th floor. You can go all the way up to the 160th floor, but those tickets were exorbitantly priced (more than 3 times the price!) so we were content to see the view from the 124th floor. Quite high enough, in my opinion! It was a bit busy but not too bad - there were lots of Indian visitors who, to my amusement I'm ashamed to admit, had no idea how a revolving door worked! So there were a few bottlenecks as they figured it out - but otherwise it was a remarkably fast easy glide up in the super express elevator. I can't remember exactly how many seconds it took us to go 124 floors, but I think it was about 12 or so. Crazy balls.
The view from the 124th floor, looking up at the
very top of the building, all 160 stories.
Fake lake with fab fountain show
Finally figured out a camera angle to get the whole
thing in!!
Cool wall sculptures in the mall
Tall. Shiny. And not in the least phallic.
The second tour of the day was a few hours later, picking us up at around 3pm from the hotel - and I'd booked us a desert Jeep safari tour! It turns out that the tourist company is owned by a cousin of one of the (many) Princes - but despite that, these guys knew what they were doing as we had an excellent time!! Here are the details of the tour we went on: https://www.platinum-heritage.com/heritage-collection-desert-safari/heritage-desert-safari
Deserted!!
Experience the most awarded Desert Safari in Dubai. Take a step back in time and experience Dubai as it was 50 years ago. Your professional guide will escort you on a fascinating Dubai desert safari in a museum quality, vintage 1950’s Land Rover. Recognised by the prestigious World Travel Awards as The Middle East’s Leading Desert Safari and the Number 1 Desert Safari in Dubai on TripAdvisor.
These Series 1 Land Rovers were extensively used in the 1950’s and since then have become part of the UAE history. No other vehicle offers a more authentic desert safari experience to spot exotic local wildlife within the pristine Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve.
Not quite deserted desert.... if you look carefully
on the ridge of the hill, you'll see some Arabian
onyx!
Watch the sun drop under the horizon as you watch a falcon soar around you. Your Bedouin camp, lit with the gentle flames of traditional lamps is nestled inside a private Royal desert retreat. We will demonstrate cultural activities such as henna tattoos, music, dance and bread and Arabic coffee making before enjoying a scrumptious dinner under the stars. History comes to life in this once in a lifetime desert safari in Dubai.
It was great fun! We drove for about an hour outside of Dubai to a place called Murquab, so it was fun to escape the craziness of the city for a while. En route, we passed a TON of camels being trained for racing - when they race the camels, they actually have little robots with electronic whips mounted onto the camels in place of human riders (no joke!). Previously young kids were used as the jockeys but after a few instances where they fell off and got trampled to death, it was outlawed in UAE hence the tech solution instead! We also passed the Dubai Camel Hospital - its a serious business out here!! Also, other tidbits I learned about life in the UAE - if you are an Emirati citizen, then you receive big dolloping handouts from the government. You get free housing, free healthcare and $50,000 a year for doing nothing! For each child you have, you get another $50K!! You are free to marry whoever you like (and up to 4 wives) BUT if you marry a non UAE citizen, then you lose all the government benefits. They really want you to keep it in the UAE family.
The beautifully desolate Desert reserve.
When we got to Murquab, we transferred out of our transit van (there were 8 of us) and decamped into these very cool vintage Jeeps! There was some initial confusion as our guide thought we'd signed up for the camel version of the tour (we hadn't) but before too long, we were given souvenir water bottles, a canvas bag to keep them in, plus a headscarf which our guide expertly tied around our heads to provide shade and shelter from the sun and sand. We looked COOL. We hopped into the jeeps and were taken into the Desert Preserve for about an hour to explore and see if we could see any desert wildlife. Almost immediately we saw some Arabian Onyx - massive antelopey animals with the very distinctive long curved horns. Just beautiful. We saw some smaller antelopes too (can't remember their name) so we checked that off the list almost immediately!! We drove around the dunes for a while (sticking on the "road" as they want to preserve the dunes) and stopped for a few minutes to get out and take pictures. We'd been advised to wear closed shoes, preferably sneakers - and I think this was because those are the shoes that allow you to collect maximum sand inside them in the shortest period of time. All that lovely expensive mesh type fabric that lets sweat out and air in when you are running is just a perfect sieve for Dubai sand! I had to empty them multiple times - and when I got back to the hotel room later that night, even then I left a little pile of sand by the bed when I took my shoes off!! Presumably the hotel cleaning staff is used to it.....
Mysterious desert graffiti
After about 20mins wandering around taking pics, it was time to hop back into the jeeps and head over to the next item on the agenda - Falconry!! There were loads of cushions and mats all set out on the sand (again, very well organized) and, as we filed in, we were given a nice chilled glass of sparkling apple juice (obviously no alcohol). As we sipped on our drink, this Australian chap (who's name I cant remember) who talked to us about the art and practice of falconry - how its been a practice in the UAE for hundreds of years and was used by the Bedouin for hunting. How a relationship with a peregrine falcon is based solely on food. No food, no relationship (sounds like one of my ex's). You don't have falcons as pets! And also the origin of the expression "out of sight, out of mind" - its from when you stick the little hood on the falcon's head - basically it immediately puts them in a "powersave" mode!
The display was very impressive - the falcon trainer had some bait on the end of a long rope so swung it round his head for the falcon to try and catch. This bird was fast as hell!! After a few swoops, the trainer allowed the bird to catch it - and the show was over. But it was cool while it lasted. By the time it was over, the sun had set (rather unemphatically, if truth be told) and it was on to the next part of the tour - heading to a "traditional" desert compound where we were to be served dinner and entertained with traditional dancing, music and demonstrations of henna painting, coffee making and bread making. It was all very well done - very well organized and the food was plentiful and delicious. As we arrived in the compound, we were handed a tiny cup of coffee and some dates - a traditional Emirati welcome. Over the course of the evening, we were served multiple courses of food - starting first with some delicious lentil soup, with a nice cumin spice flavor - and providing some very welcome warmth! After the sun had set, it got cold! (well, durrr). Then there was a platter of various salads and breads and dips, followed by more food - some very delicious slow-braised lamb, chicken kebabs and lamb rice. There was dessert (in the desert!) but by that stage, I was completely stuffed, so instead found a spot by the bonfire to sit and toast, while watching the traditional display of um... rifle dancing.
My colleague and I both got little henna tattoos - and then spent the rest of the evening trying not to smudge them before they were fully dry! Right at the end of the evening, when dinner was over and the dancing was done, they turned out all the lights for a few minutes, so that we could all gaze upwards and look at the stars. It was a lovely way to finish the evening. Then, it was back to the jeeps and a transfer back to our van, before driving back into the city. As with all journeys, it didn't seem to take as long to drive back (weird that, right?) so we were back at the hotel by just after 10pm. It was a great day - tomorrow, our work meeting was due to start, so it was definitely nice to get some R&R in beforehand.
My final take on Dubai - its not a place that has ever been on my bucket list to come and visit but I'm glad I got to see it and its been a fun experience. There's a little video below that the tour company made during our visit (see if you can spot me!), so I hope you enjoy watching it and get a feel of the desert too!!
Next stop, Thailand and Phuket!!
Loopy!!! Camels!!!!
Chap with bird
Somewhat underwhelming sunset, if I'm honest. But - hey! -
I'm watching from a desert in Dubai, so its not all bad!!
