7/22/2014 - On Top of the World in Dubai

Laziness, inertia, travel and flat out lack of time have conspired to cause another break in our updates.  So much so that I am writing this post from our hotel room in Singapore, only 4 and 1/2 hours away from the flight that will take us back to new lives in the U.S.  Looks like the full documentation of our life on the far side of the world will wrap up in what previously was and will be again familiar territory.  Such is life.

After our Sri Lankan adventures we regrouped in Singapore for a few days, did some laundry, repacked, woke up early to watch the US mens soccer team nearly beat Portugal and then took another red-eye flight, this time to Dubai.  We thought the past 2 years had prepared us for any kind of heat that could be thrown at us, but the 95 degree temp at 6 AM, before the sun was even up, threw all that training right out the window.  Nevertheless, we were quickly whisked into a taxi for our first stop, the JW Marriott Marquis (thanks Marriott Rewards Points) the tallest hotel in the world.  They even have the Guinness World Records plaque to prove it.   Of course the tallest hotel in the world couldn't even hold up to the Burj Khalifa that we could see out the window, but that was a stop for later in the day.

Shower, coffee, the first of waaaaaaaay too much hummus, pita and olives and then off to the Sheik Mohammed Centre for Cultural Learning and Understanding.  Pretty intense name.  We had signed up for a traditional, cultural lunch with a Q&A lead by a local Emirati.  Since we knew next to nothing about the country, it seemed fitting.  Over a meal of Arab coffee, dates, rice and different meat dishes we learned about traditional dress, family customs and that only 15% of the UAE was actually Emirati.  And we thought Singapore had a lot of expats.  Maybe we would be welcomed here next?

Feeling sufficiently enlightened we took a taxi to the other side of the city.  We had watched too many 'Amazing Race' episodes back home and if a city in the desert that reminded me of Phoenix with a skyline (temperature 115 degrees by now) had an indoor ski mountain in a mall, well we better at least check it out.  The Mall of the Emirates was just another mall, but Ski Dubai did not disappoint.  No, we did not pay $100 to play in snow that we will be seeing only too soon, but the irony and discrepancy between indoor and outdoor temperatures were crazy.  Curiosity sated, we were off to the top of the world.

The Burj Khalifa is huuuuuuuuge.  It dominates everything in the city skyline.  I mean, its over 2700 feet tall, over half a mile!  What I'm saying is superlatives mean nothing and you essentially just know that it is massive.  The elevator itself is practically an attraction, its like a rocket ship to the top.  Unfortunately, it was a hazy, muggy, summer day so the views from the observation deck were limited, but it was cooler and still provided great views of the city.  Exhausted and wiped, we retired to our worlds tallest structure..... at about half the size of the Burj.

Our last day in the city was spent shopping in the old quarter.  We hopped from the gold souk to the spice souk to the general, seems to have everything under the sun, souk (open air markets) for a few hours.  No gold was procured, but after having multiple spice salesmen ask us "whats up? upon learning we were American (I think the Budweiser commercials got here late) we popped in for an introductory spice lesson.  20 minutes later we were walking out with coffee, pepper and saffron!  We may not have gotten actual gold, but at least we can now make delicious, gold rice.  That was enough heat for 2 days and knowing we were heading out into the true desert next, we conceded the day to the sun and holed up in the air con until the following morning.

7/8/2014 - Tea time in Sri Lanka

It was quite comforting, albeit a little sad, to exit the open air jeep for the last time and climb into a nice, cool, air conditioned van.  We were full of grit and dirt, but happy about everything we had seen.  I caught a glimpse of myself in the rear view mirror and grinned at my hair that looked like I had been standing in a wind tunnel for the past few days.  Soon, we would be back in relative civilization and were on our way down the road.  Quickly the vegetation turned from drought stricken to tropical jungle again and a few hours later we were winding our way up a steep, tea plant laden hillside to the Niyagama House, our final Sri Lanka stop.

We only had about 30 hours before it was back to Colombo to fly home, but we intended to make the most of them.  First things first, clean up a bit and then hit the pool!  The small, boutique hotel had an incredible infinity pool overlooking the tea plantation and the surrounding jungle hillsides.  The effect was even more dramatic given the brown scenery we had been staring at the past few days.  Once we were sufficiently refreshed, we enjoyed another pot of tea with a side of bananas foster.  We may have been glamping before, but we had somehow unintentionally found ourselves in the true lap of luxury.  An early curry sampler dinner was followed by an early bed time. Our new comfy bed had an even bigger safety net around it than at the campsite, and after sleeping on cots the past few nights, we were asleep before our heads hit the pillows. Good thing too, busy day ahead of us tomorrow.

After a filling Sri Lankan breakfast we began the day with a leisurely stroll around the tea plantation, learning that the workers could pick 20-25kg of tea leaves each day.  They had to have had mountain goat ancestors at some point with how steep the hillsides were.  Next, we decided to work up a sweat, going on a guided, white knuckle bicycle ride around the area.  It had rained in the morning, so the rocky dirt path was even more slippery than usual.  Our bicycles, although comfortable, looked more like something out of the Wizard of Oz vs. the mountain bikes that would have been put to better use.  After traversing up and down hillsides, seeing local houses and cruising through rice paddies we were dripping with perspiration.  Of course our guide, wearing pants and a button up shirt looked like he was just out for a Sunday stroll.  2 years we've been here and apparently still not fully acclimated.



The following to do on the agenda was a tuk-tuk ride around the area, how could a trip to Sri Lanka be complete without one?  First up was a centuries old Buddhist temple carved into a towering rock formation.  The local monk practically looked as old as the temple itself.  We gave a donation, which must have been enough as he smiled and waved at us as we walked out, hopefully spreading happy thoughts our way.  The second stop on the tour was the Virgin White Tea plantation.  This place was famous for its namesake tea in which they only picked the top leaf of the plant while using white gloves.  Apparently the oil from your fingers can impact the flavor. Since its pretty labor intensive and the tea leaves are tiny it costs $1500 per kg.  Needless to say, we were hoping for a free sample, but that was about it.  After a quick stroll through the grounds and a few cups of tea we got to see the 150 year old tea processing equipment and then the game was on for tea tasting.  Over 30 different types of teas, all laid out in 2 rows.  The virgin tea was good, others were better, but after about 10 they kind of blended together. All in all, a highly caffeinated, enjoyable experience.

Our last stop was Galle fort, super imposing on the water and now filled with shops and restaurants. We spent a few hours walking the walls of the fort, watching the crashing surf and even taking in an impromptu cricket match on part of the fort's grounds.  It also seemed like every school group in the area was on an evening tour as masses upon masses of uniformed students were walking around, saying hello and pointing at the tall foreigner.  As the sun went down, we hopped back in our tuk-tuk and made our way up the hill for a final dinner overlooking the tea leaves before our red-eye flight back to Singapore.  Another country off the checklist, another location that we would love to return to at some point.  Spread the word, Sri Lanka should be on everyone's bucket list.