I apologize for the title, but it was far too easy. I could have also called it the land where human flesh is candy, as I suspect the beautiful lake here (which reminds me of Sun Moon Lake in Taiwan) is a breeding ground for mosquitos. I'm already itching away at five of them so far, and it's been only a few days, two of which were rainy and windy!
My morning in Colombo was rather trivial. I talked the hotel staff into letting me stay til 2:30 p.m. without extra fees, though the final price of my room with taxes made me feel like I'd earned the extra time regardless! My big morning adventure was a haircut. I thought I'd had a crazy experience in Thailand, where they tried to make my hair look like a Thai lady's...though I think they did the Sri Lankan number on me here a bit. My hairdresser said he'd been cutting hair for nine years, which seemed rather strange to me, unless he'd started when he was eight. Perhaps...I was a bit skeptical as he took clumps of hair in his fists and somewhat unevenly cut them. At the end I was starting to look a bit like a tea cup shih-tzu had sat on my head. I had him even out some areas, and tried to think back to my supposed "worst haircut" in Paris with a student who the teacher actually cussed out in French and was told she'd screwed up...that haircut ended up being one of my best ever. Anyway, he evened the do out. When he brought up the blowdryer to start styling and steaming (aka burning) away, I made him stop. He asked me if I'd ever colored my hair. If my hair was naturally this color. And finally, why did I have black hair? Why didn't I have blond hair? "Don't Americans have blonde hair?"...
They really do not get many Americans here.
I got to the station at 3:15 p.m. for my 3:30 p.m. train ride. The station master called me on my cell just then to check on me and make sure all was good. He said if I needed any tickets later or had problems to let him know. I really appreciated it. Side note: Mosquitoes are eating the heck out of me right now in the hotel lobby. OUCH.
It was time to find my seat on the train, and a man in a uniform of sorts directed me over to my car and my seat. Not talking, but using hand signals. The rickety train was packed. I was in "first class"--aka the "observation" area. The conditions made me wonder exactly what second and third class was like. Let's just say it was clear if something went wrong there would be lots of carnage. No air con, obviously. Rickety, bumpy, smelly, hot, windows open (so thankfully the weather was calm, unlike the last couple rainy days)...People just walk the tracks, women in beautiful saris, and young men, all along the countryside. There are no warnings when trains are coming and going, you have to look. And the countryside is very lush and green, with beautiful trees, and tea plants, all over the place, tunnels, and big green hills. But I digress. I was finally seated by this uniformed silent man next to the only other Westerner in the place, an Englishman named Mike Staples. He has a daughter about my age, and we chatted most of the trip. A retired civil litigation attorney, he was in town to donate a large amount (one ton!) of cricket equipment to poor Sri Lankan villagers. He told me some interesting stories and gave me some good advice. When we got into town he got us both a taxi and had the driver check out a couple of the guesthouses I'd been looking at, before we headed to the Queens Hotel, where he was staying for the night. This hotel is supposedly the best value for money here, and well, more importantly it has television and Internet. He had a "special rate" going with the hotel staff because he had helped the parent company's finance director get some medications to his son in England. And so, he helped get me the same rate. I decided I'd stay one night, try and watch the Laker game (which is this morning at 5:30 a.m. local time) and then find another more budget place tomorrow. I now doubt that I will be able to watch the game, as no channels look like they'll be showing it. The entire city shuts down at 10:30 p.m./11 p.m. as there seems to be a general curfew through much of the country. Imposed? I'm not so sure, but maybe now it's a regular part of life for most everywhere except Colombo.
I decided to go grab dinner at the Flower Song Chinese Restaurant nearby. While there I ended up meeting another Englishman, this one from London, named Richard. He had recently quit his job as an antitrust lawyer with the European Union ("soul-less," he said), and was now having a "mid-life" (but closer to quarter-life crisis). "I can't decide if I should be meditating and trying to see if something will just hit me, or if I should be carefully considering my career path."--to paraphrase him. He had been traveilng for a few months now and would be traveling some more, he said, before heading back to London to figure out his life. I thought it was a rather good plan. We ran into each other in my hotel lobby (well, more like I spotted him and he spotted me), and then I saw him walk into the restaurant I was eating at 20 minutes after I got there. We ended up chatting through dinner, then going to a nearby pub for a drink (mango juice!) before I headed back to the hotel. I was very glad to have run into him, if not for the fact that the blocks of street were very dark and deserted. Which reminds me, I need to remember to pop my knife in my bag. He walked me back to my hotel, and I came in to purchase Internet. We exchanged info and will meet again tomorrow for dinner. After dark planning, sounds like a plan.
I was thankfully able to get the hotel to provide three days of Internet service for the price of one. I hope they're still cool with that once they realize I'm probably not going to remain their guest...given the pricing. That said, I wonder if I'll use the net as much if I'm on a totally different side of the lake and will have to walk over with my backpack.
Plans for tomorrow include temple viewing, probably some swimming, if possible, and trying to avoid mosquito bites. Oh yeah, and figuring out where I'm going from here, eventually. Oof, I am tired.
Nighty night.
IJW
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