SRI LANKA ROAD TRIP

You gotta be brave to drive in Sri Lanka. 

The traffic gets intense and everybody is driving on the wrong side of the road (British left).

I’m in my first tuk-tuk. It’s a three wheeled vehicle.  The name is onomatopoetic given the sound coming from the small motor.  

There are more than 1.2 million tuk-tuks on the island with a population of about 1.2 million.  

Wow, so many.  Take a look...It's as if you are here.

Beep beep, here we come. 

 We weave through traffic often with less than 12 inches between our fender and the next. 

One lane streets become three lane highways as tuk-tuks slice between cars and vans and motor cycles squeeze into the gaps. 

I want to squeeze my eyes shut.

Jenny checks plans with our driver

My niece, Jenny, and husband, Shannon, have arranged a grand road trip to see the sights of Sri Lanka.  Aidan, my Great Nephew, will join us too.

Our driver is Priyantha.  He arrives in a mini-van. He’s a native and I'm hoping he's accustomed to the driving style here. 

Off we go...

The Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage

Started in 1975, the Orphanage provides safe space for 60 elephants of all sizes. It’s an important breeding site with its second generation of elephants.

The rainy season is late and water levels are quite low

In the morning and afternoon, they are free to roam a wide swath of the river bed. 

Around noon they are guided up a hill past rows of souvenir shops to an area where they are fed.

We eat lunch on a veranda overlooking the elephants

It’s not elephants in the wild, but then again it’s not a small zoo. We get to see the elephants and babies up close.  It's wonderful.  

They appear relatively free and well cared for.

Fresh Paper

I discover a shop where they are making paper from elephant poop. That’s right, poop! 

Slurry made from
 elephant poop 

Since elephants eat a high fiber diet, their poop can be dried, sifted and boiled into a slurry pulp. 

From there it’s made into paper.

We watch the entire process.

I pick up a package of the elephant "poop paper."

 No, it does not smell. It looks to be of high quality. I intend to use it in a watercolor or for some other art project.

Examples are for sale throughout the shops.

Mountains and Vistas

“Are we there yet.” As children we wail these words from the back seat. But as adults we soak in the sights hoping for lasting inspiration.  I'm not disappointed.

Leaving the coastal plain of Colombo, we travel into the Hill Region. The road is single lane and winds around mountains and through valley plains.  There are steep curves with many nearly 360 degrees.  Thrilling and more than a little scary...I must say! 

Look out the window.  What do you see? 

Sunny skies

Cascading water falls everywhere

Rolling hills and mountains

Tea plants terraced up a hillside

About 25% of the world's tea  grows in Sri Lanka

Inspiration for a watercolor

Roadside Hindu Shrine

Kandy – Cultural and Spiritual Center

As we drive into Kandy, the transmission on our van acts up.

Not fully aware of the problem, we take a spin around a beautiful lake in the town center.

Before the Brits took over in 1815, the last King, 
 Sri Wickrama Rajasinghe, construct a lake from a marshy area. It was an extravagant project showcasing the adjacent ancient Temple of the Sacred Buddha Tooth which is considered the source of all ruling power in Sri Lanka.

 We walk towards a pavilion where a cultural program takes place. 
 Immersed in ancient mythologies, drummers pound out rhythms while dancers introduce us to their culture. 

It’s mesmerizing especially when lit torches are juggled and fire eaters perform. 

How do they do that?

Afterwards, we face a big problem.  Our struggling van has finally whimpered to a stop.  

Yikes!  After some worry, maybe a lot, we’re rescued by tuk-tuks.  

Imagine that!  Our driver arranges for two tuk-tuks to take us to our hotel.  We climb into the backseats and take a wild ride. 

Meanwhile, our driver makes arrangements to get a new vehicle from Colombo.  

As they say, "Alls well that ends well."  We all agree that our van troubles will become one of those stories to tell and re-tell.  

The next morning I’m up before dawn. I take time to watch the sunrise through the mountain mist. 

It’s so delicate, thought provoking and inspiring...a great way to greet a new day.

The adventure continues....

ANOTHER ADVENTURE - SRI LANKA and VIETNAM

I’m not OCD or at least I don’t think so.  But there are times when a good list can help.  This is one of those times.

This 74 year old is going on a Far-East Odyssey to Sri Lanka and then on to Hanoi, Vietnam.  My niece Jenny and her family recently relocated to Sri Lanka and I’m taking advantage of this family connection to visit.  

If you’re like me, you may not be clear about the location of Sri Lanka.  It’s an island Country. It’s beyond the Mediterranean Sea, beyond the Middle East and sits on the point of India nearly on the equator. It’s halfway around the world from Washington, DC. 

Please take a moment to learn more.

With my list in hand, I’m getting organized.  Clothing folded. Shoes and sandals. Check. Electronics categorized and art supplies readied.  Check again. Do I have too much…not enough? What’s missing? It’s the usual self-doubt I get before a new adventure.  

And then taking a break, I begin thinking.…

Why do I welcome adventures? Often people who read my Blog ask me this question. I wonder why...

Since retiring, there’s been Peace Corps service...twice, teaching English in Mexico and lots of travel in Europe, the Balkans, Alaska, Japan as well as numerous trips to visit my grand-kids and their wonderful parents. 

Indeed, I've developed a proclivity for adventure.

It’s not always been like that.  I come from an ordinary American family.  My parents lived in the same community all their lives. But we children moved away from coast to coast and in-between.

We have our love for one another as well as our dysfunctions.  And for me early on, life threw a big challenge.

As an 11 year old, I struggled with a dislocated hip that needed to be pinned back into place. Healing took a long time. It required three years on crutches just as I was entering Junior High.

Yikes. No fun. In a way, I felt like a cripple and I was.

Even when I got fixed, the negative self-image lingered.  Like a lot of kids, if not many, I stumbled through teen years.

Of course, what you face as a teen is not necessarily what you can become.  Out of feeling broken, I developed empathy for the marginalized in society.

No wonder, I joined the War on Poverty and served in the barrios of El Paso Texas.  I found meaning and purpose.

I was drawn to Seminary during a time for social change. I read Liberation Theology, learned about the biblical roots for the “Social Gospel” and discovered Saul Alinsky as my hero for community organizing.  

Seminary in the 60s was a place for free and challenging thinking.  I was growing and beginning to find myself.

Along the way, I picked up self-help books because I didn’t want to get stuck.  

A book entitled, The Artist Way, was most valuable.  It provided a structure of “Morning Pages” to dialogue with myself.  It encouraged wholeness, creativity and spirituality in all aspects of living.

Each morning I wrote 3 pages of free association - whatever came to mind.  Soon I was discovering hidden facets of my personality.  I was coming out to my strengths and dealing with weaknesses.  

I discovered a very active self-critic – an internal voice that’s quite good at limiting life.  

The critic says,  “NO, NO! You’ve never done that before.  You’re not capable. You’ll probably fail” and so forth.  I was accumulating a lot of hesitancy and regret.

But slowly I managed to quiet the negativity. I overcame fears and discovered the wonders of stepping "outside the box" - a cliche for sure, but not without its truth.

Taming the critic meant saying, “YES, this is going to be an adventure.  I don’t know what will happen, but it’ll be an experience not to miss.”  I found myself becoming less “risk averse” and more empowered.

A dear friend introduced me to Mind Mapping as a tool for more self discovery. I used it to clarify "what I really wanted" in living. Now I'll turn to it when I'm feeling stuck and want to move on.

You might want to give it a try.
Learn more about Mind Mapping here.

So here I am again. I'm on a plane and this time to Sri Lanka.  I’ve been on row 31F for a night and half-a-day.  It’s a long long trip.

Out the window, dawn is breaking over Dubai complete with a morning star. Beautiful.   

I begin imaging...

Opportunities for meeting locals, discovering the culture of a new country and welcoming the adventures of each new day.  All of this and more awaits me.

I smile to myself. This 74 year old is doing it and I've got a pretty good list to show for it....