We just got back on Friday from a nine-day vacation in Sri Lanka. What a fantastic experience. I need to think about how to document because I don't really know how to put it into words. I think I'll do the entries in four parts: going, the cultural triangle, the southern beach, and coming home.
To start, let me be candid. We were both excited and nervous about taking the family to Sri Lanka. It takes more balls than I typically have to bring the kids to a country with malaria, dengue fever, separatist violence, and tsunami devastation. We went back and forth a couple of times between "this is a bad idea" and "but it sounds so cool!" Obviously, cool won out. What did it for Daddy-O was the elephants. He really wanted to see elephants. For me, it was the ancient ruins and knowledge that this is a one-chance opportunity. How many people do I know who have seen Sri Lanka? How many Americans can even find it on a map?
After copious research, we realized that fewer civilians have been injured by the Tamil Tigers than by terrorists in London recently, and London didn't feel too risky. Sri Lanka didn't look any more dangerous than other alternatives like Petra (ancient ruins in Jordan) or Egypt. We decided to get out of the Middle East and go someplace green. As an added bonus, the dollar is strong in Sri Lanka, so the trip was a great value.
We registered with CMU and the American Embassy, downed our malaria tablets, and bought the tickets. We used Red Dot Tours as a travel agent - RTM found them online and they set us up with a great trip complete with fancy hotels, a custom itinerary, and a van with a guide / driver just for us.
Early Thursday morning (that's October 11) the cab came to take us to the airport and we weren't so pleased to see it. I don't think it's possible to schedule a minivan cab in Doha, despite their availability, despite valiant efforts on RTM's part, and despite the cab company's assurances that they're sending a minivan. You just can't get it through to them that you really do want seat belts for all the passengers. Call us crazy Americans. Anyhow, off to the airport with A on my lap, praying that Red Dot Tours got the memo because we can relax our standards for one early morning trip but an entire week in Sri Lanka with six people (including the driver) crammed in a sedan would not be fun.
I was relieved to find that I haven't gotten any speeding tickets. There are cameras along the roads in Doha that check your speed and ticket you for speeding. Catch is, you aren't really notified. You have to look it up yourself online, and you aren't allowed to leave the country with outstanding tickets. Every time I drive by one of those suckers I go "doh!" and pray the speed limit isn't 80 kph because I'm going 95.
So now my mom's going "Stop. What was that middle part? The one about separatist violence? Talk to me about that." OK. Pretty much the only thing you've seen from Sri Lanka in the news is about the tsunami (more on that later) and the Tamil Tigers. The word is that the fighting is ongoing in the North and pretty darn tense in the East, although that area has been claimed as recaptured by the Sri Lankan army. The State Department travel advisory ("Travel advisory? NOW I hear about a travel advisory?" Sorry, Mom.) is to stay away from the North and East, and exercise caution in other areas especially near military bases. Now, they didn't note that the military is frickin' everywhere in Sri Lanka but that turns out to be a lesser issue. The important thing is that the Tigers, although actively fighting to separate from Sri Lanka, have never targeted tourists or tourist areas. With one little exception on October 15 but we were nowhere Yala National Park and no civilians were involved.
OK, I'll be candid again. Sri Lanka was a fantastic experience (I've said it before and I'll say it again before we're through this episode) but I think I found my risk threshold. I'm so glad we went but I think our next adventure will be a little more tame. That's all the balls I got.
