The excuse for this outing was a bit convoluted, but it "worked." Sally, a friend of Sabina's via post doctoral work at NYU was getting married to Dulip in England. Sally is English and Dulip is from Sri Lanka but his family lived in England for much of his growing up time. We interacted with them at a couple of Sabina's gang's parties and they informally invited us to the wedding. To which we/Dawna responded that it would be a lot more tempting if the wedding were in Sri Lanka; and Sally responded that there would also be a ceremony there (called a Homecoming) to which we would be most welcome (even providing a couple of known/Caucasian faces given that her folks weren't going to go to Sri Lanka). So we said, sure - sounds like an adventure and something we'd not get to do "normally." This was then followed up by an invitation from Dulip's parents to stay at their house. Although we didn't like causing them the extra stress we couldn't pass up the chance to get that much closer to the action/culture; and accepted.

In booking the tickets it turned out that we'd have to have a layover on the return - in London was the plan but we/Dawna said isn't there somewhere more interesting to spend the night and the answer was Oman, but that would cost extra and require a visa and all that. Sounded interesting so we scheduled a couple of days there. Meanwhile, picked up a trusty Lonely Planet Travel Survival Kit for Sri Lanka and got literature on both places from the library, from their respective Embassies here in DC, and over the Internet. Also got connected with a travel agency in Sri Lanka over the Internet. After various exchanges with them/him we booked our initial items through them so we could hit the ground/island "running." Also connected with a hotel in Oman (listed over the Net but it took a fax to make the connection real), so we'd be set when we first got there as well.

Friday-1: Left the apartment prior to 4 PM, arrived Dulles by 5 PM in order to be two hours before flight time and upon checking in bumped into two "problems." First, they were only allowing one small carry-on per person (security was the claim) so we had to check our large carry-on bags. This always worries me for if the bags get lost it plays havoc with one's plans. Also, although I remembered to remove the bottle of Scotch (present for Dulip's parent's) from one bag we forgot to remove the bottle of wine and the container of Manhattans from the other bag. When we remembered this an hour later it gave us something to worry about while flying half way around the world. Second, we had not been assigned seats with our tickets and hadn't noticed that fact (some world travelers!). So, we had to wait until they began reassigning seats to people a half hour before flight time in order to get ours. Worked out fine as we got a window+isle two seat deal. Oh, yes, the other mistake worked out OK too in that neither of the booze items broke. And for that matter our bags got there just fine and it was nice not having to lug them around the airports between here and Sri Lanka. So, all was off to a good start. Not perfect, however, since the plane left 40 minutes late due to some confusion about whether a standby person's luggage got loaded or not even though there wasn't a spot for the individual on the plane. We were flying on Virgin Atlantic and it was a very nice plane (airbus) with quite good service. Watched a movie, had some drinks, had some meals, got to London after about 7 hours in the air which meant early morning local time.

Saturday-1: Had about a 4 hour layover at Heathrowe which wasn't too bad and at least meant we were early for checking in on Gulf Airlines and thus got a good pair of seats. The next leg of the flight was a bit longer than the first (like 7.5 hours) landing in Oman. The flight was fine, with the plane not too crowded but the darn rows were very close together so not much leg room to put it mildly. The plane also had a smoking section, but not much drifted to us. Couple hours absorbed changing to our next Gulf Airline plane and then 3.5 hours or so of flight time to Colombo, Sri Lanka where we arrived at about 6 AM in the morning. This meant we had passed through two nights on airplanes with them being shortened by time zones. During these two nights and one (again shortened) day, we had a variety of meals and drinks and naps and movies and readings and such. Felt tired but not terrible upon arrival.

Sunday-1: Took awhile to get our bags and to get local money but pretty soon we were through customs and finding the driver who was to meet us at the airport to begin our journey; which we did. Was nice to not have to think about what to do at this point in time nor to hassle with anyone trying to convince you to do this or that. Although we knew we'd be a bit beat upon arrival we had decided that rather than collapse in Colombo (which actually meant going into this major city) we'd head off for our first objective (Kandy) and collapse there. Good decision it turned out and also we weren't too out of it and since we had an air conditioned car and a driver and a game plan it didn't require a lot of alertness or effort. So, off toward Kandy we went, driving on the wrong/left side of the road like in England and India. First along some back roads from the airport to the main Colombo-Kandy road and then on it, which was basically a paved country road by our standards. Looking out the window and soaking it up of course ..... tropical/jungle surroundings, villages to go through, etc. We had made it clear that we wanted to stop at the Pinnewala Elephant Orphanage along the way (yes, a place where they raise elephants that have been abandoned in the wild), about 2/3rds the way to Kandy. First, however, we stopped for some tea and a bit to eat (savorys) which helped pick us up. At the Orphanage we watched them take the elephants down to the river for their twice a day bath, watched the action in the water, took some pictures, had a fine time; including Dawna having her picture taken with a big snake (bull constrictor?) wrapped around her neck (a tourist thing but what the heck). We made two other stops at the recommendation of the driver both of which were interesting and catered to such tourist carrying cars or busses. First a tea factory. Since it was Sunday they weren't running the machinery in earnest but they ran things for us as they gave us a mini tour. The equipment is quite old (about 135 years) and now runs by electricity rather than water power but neat/original drive shafts and belts and gears and "stuff." The other stop was a spice garden. Very extensive selection of spices that you are told about as you are guided around and then end up in a shop where you can buy things. We did a bit - herbal mixed tooth powder to whiten teeth and sandalwood oil (Dawna loves the scent). By now we were getting up into the hill country a bit and saw a variety of things along the way including porcupines on leashes, water buffalo plowing the fields in earnest (lots of rice being grown), areas that sold items made of cane, stands selling cashews, many palm trees and coconuts, etc.

Arrived Kandy a bit after lunch and checked into our pre-arranged hotel - the Queens, an old colonial hotel that was fancy once and is a bit run down now but still pretty nice and definitely right in the center of the action. Explained several times to our driver that we didn't want him to take us around town that afternoon nor did we want him to take us places on the following day, so off he went back to Colombo and we went to the room and took a nap. Kandy is the second largest city in Sri Lanka, at some periods of time it was the capital city, and it is considered by most to be the nicest city since it has a great setting in the mountains (1500 ft high so really not mountains and actually called Hill Country). After our nap we went walking, basically checking things out as we walked around the small lake, saw folks picnicking and playing cricket (everywhere in Sri Lanka that is The Game), went through a market (bought a couple of things), and generally got our bearings. Had dinner at a quite good Chinese place with DSW having squid and CJW having fish; plus the local beer (Lion) which is a reasonable lager. TO BED AND A GOOD SLEEP.

Monday-1: Breakfast (comes with the room) and we chose the Sri Lankan version which was quite reasonable although we were disappointed that they were out of the curried potatoes (did have curried fish and curried beef and string hoppers/noodles). Crossed the street to the Temple of the Tooth (Dalada Maligawa) which is the major attraction of Kandy ("houses Sri Lanka's most important Buddhist relic - the sacred tooth of the Buddha" according to our book). We let one of the guides show us through it semi-rapidly (for a price) and then redid it slowly ourselves watching a morning ceremony, looking at the artistic items more slowly, etc. Oh, yes, there had been a bombing there only half a year ago so everything was under high security. After that we hit the tourist bureau for a bit of information (nice lady), and did a walk up into the Udawattekele Sanctuary (preserve) on the edge of town. Good to stretch our legs with a modest hike and nice flora to observe - most notable were tremendous vines on some of the trees and the large trees/ jungle feeling itself. It was hot for all of this and we repeatably retreated to our room between activities to cool off with the air-conditioning and have a drink. By now we were making our "safe water" with iodine crystals even though they claimed we were being given OK water by the hotel. The central location of our old/colonial hotel was very convenient to this approach of doing things. Walked across the street (again) and struck up a deal with a driver over there to take care of our next couple of days plans. Bought a phone card and used the phone to make a hotel reservation as well. A couple of Manhattans in the room (w/o ice) and then off (short walk) to the cultural center for a performance of Kandian folk dancers that ended with fire swallowing and fire walking and things like that. Dinner at an Indian restaurant that was OK but not great (and didn't have a beer license). What else that day - guess we went to a spot to see local crafts but they weren't great. Good night's sleep although not as good as the night before.

Tuesday-1: Breakfast in the hotel again, this time choosing the English/American version with scrambled eggs and bacon/sausage (chicken). And off we went with our hired-yesterday driver. Better deal for the money than the fellow from the airport but the car wasn't air conditioned and the driver didn't speak as much English and we couldn't have arranged this sort of thing over the Internet like we did the first outing. The target was Polonnaruwa, one of the major ancient cities in Sri Lanka; with a major stop at Sigiriya (another one) along the way. Drove through jungle, various villages, had some rain, saw lots of people, many different trees, bought some honey that is made from the palm tree flower, lots of military, some road blocks - and arrived Sigiriya before noon. Had a "lunch" of french fries and beer and juice (nothing interesting on the menu) and then did the attraction. Sigiriya is "a spectacular rock fortress" and "one of Sri Lanka's major attractions." It was the capital for only a couple dozen years (around 500 BC) when folks felt they needed all this isolation/fortification and remains in quite good shape. It sits atop a 600 foot high rock and is neat to hike up to (even though hot), has a great view, contains well preserved ruins of the palace and grounds, and things like that. Also, down below the gardens and irrigation systems are quite extensive. We turned down a guide offer (with great effort) and enjoyed doing it at our own slow pace. The rock has some very steep sides upon which they've now built steps for the visitors rather than making us scale the rock with the foot holds that are still there. Joined back up with the driver and headed onward through some jungle on back roads before joining the main road to Polonnaruwa (which still wasn't a very major road). Noticed how in the back country the centrally located well for each village is the main focus of action. Humm, looking at a map I realize I forgot to mention the stop at Dambulla prior to getting to Sigiriya. There you see "the great cave temple" which is basically a man made series of caves out of a granite mountain and within the cave are a large number of carved Buddhas which are themselves carved out of the same hunk of mountain as the cave, and then plastered over and painted. Very impressive. This is 1st century BC stuff and "five separate caves containing 150 Buddha images, the largest cave being over 50m long and about six meters high. The first cave you come to has a 15m-long reclining Buddha .."

etc.

Catching back up to the flow - we arrived Polonnaruwa in mid afternoon and checked into the place we had booked - the Polonnaruwa Rest House which again was semi-fancy colonial a long time ago and now is run down but also is very convenient and has the best location (right on a lake), etc. No A/C but a fan and a mosquito net arrangement. Inexpensive but still the most costly in town ("real" tourists stay at one of a couple modern hotels located where tours can go out to Sigiriya, Polonnaruwa, and Anuradhapura but nothing is there except the hotels). Took a badly needed shower (luke warm water), had a nice breeze off the lake, learned that there were no mosquitoes out so didn't need to figure out how to work the net, and went walking around the town and along the lake. More of a spot on the road than a town, actually. Ate dinner at the Rest House and it wasn't great but it was OK and friendly and we felt we owed it to them (plus it isn't like there were many options). Geckos on the wall of the dinning room for atmosphere. Although we had hired the car/driver for the time period until we got back to Colombo we had told him we didn't need/want his services until we were ready to leave town.

Wednesday-1: Breakfast (Englishish for me but Sri Lankan for Dawna which she got by requesting the left overs from the night before and then getting quite a spread) at the hotel and then off to explore the ruins of the city which was the capital spot 1000 years ago - Anuradhapura was even older but we had decided we didn't have time to do them both and this sounded more to our liking. After a bit of fumbling we did what the book suggested and rented bikes (for almost nothing) as the ruins are so extensive that to do them by foot in this heat was a marginal concept. Plus, biking is fun. Again, forcefully turned down a hired guide and did the ruins slowly with book in hand. Very extensive, neat, much brick work, some slabs with hieroglyphics, great carvings (many, many elephants), "particularly fine guardstones", "the most concentrated collection of building you'll find in the Sri Lanka ancient cities." It was hot, we rested in the shade drinking liquid we brought with us plus some bottled (and chilled) water sold by ladies at the various sites, and generally had a fine time in this, our sort of, place. Near the end/exit of the area is "the Gal Vihara, probably the most famous group of Buddha images in Sri Lanka" which consists of four separate Buddahs cut from the same long piece of granite and are they magnificently done what with the grain of the granite being worked into the folds of the robes, and the Buddha faces, etc. And LARGE. Riding back to town we discovered Dawna's tire was flat but it had enough air to get us back to the place we rented it although with lots more effort than it should of. They pumped it back up and we went to our Rest House and collapsed for a bit - me in a chair on the porch with a cold beer in hand and Dawna in the room. The outing had been great with the only down side being people trying to sell you junk at every attraction.

After resting we got back on the bikes and rode along the lake and into the countryside a bit at which point my tire went flat. Luckily we found a person who had a pump, got it filled, and were able to ride back to town. It would have been painful to have had to walk. In "town" we tried to call Sally/Dulip in Colombo to tell them where we were and when we'd hit town the next day but couldn't get through. After returning our bikes we went to a "motel" near our place and had dinner. All alone, friendly folks, ate outside, quite nice curry, some beer, some breeze, pretty relaxing end to a full/nice day. Then to our place where we solicited help with the telephoning. Turned out we had the wrong number (one digit missing) and after some effort the Rest House person got the right number and we made contact. One item worth noting from this portion of the trip was how everyone was washing clothes in the lake just below our Rest House; as well as washing themselves - all day long it seemed. Also, there were many, many poorly maintained dogs everywhere. The overall impression we were getting was that this was not the height of the tourist time and that even at the height there probably aren't a lot of tourists. Given that fact plus how little the average wage must be, there are many, many people to wait on you at meal time, folks around always cleaning the floors of the Rest House or Hotel, etc, etc.

Thursday-1: Dawna had had a bad night with a sinus infection (probably from all the pollution/ burning) and didn't get much sleep unfortunately. Took a short before-breakfast walk around some rather nice ruins right next to our Rest House and then had our (English) breakfast and then hit the road. We had decided to go straight to Colombo/Sally&Dulips in order to get there at a decent time - and that we did. About the only stops were at a place where we saw elephant skulls sitting on a porch, at a roadside stand to buy some fruits, in a town to go to a bank for more cash, and later for a lunch. The first place was like a game warden's and our driver tried to find someone to let us go inside where he said there were various nature things on display but he failed. The lunch stop was at another Rest House. Again, like at Sigiriya the menu was dull/ English but this time rather than bail out we asked about "rice and curry" and sure enough got ushered off the porch and into a dinning room and served a quite elaborate spread of different curries and condiments along with rice; plus the/my usual beer. Very good and they kept bringing more once they saw how much we (mainly Dawna) were enjoying it. As we got near Colombo the driver began asking folks how to get to our destination house. Luckily the wedding/home-coming invitation was in Sinhalese as well as English and it became our key card to possible success. Got many different directions, managed to skirt Colombo to get to the right suburb, got deeper and deeper into this village/suburb on worse and worse roads asking over and over how to get to 51/2 Gramodaya Mawatha, Madiwela, Kotte, Colombo, Sri Lanka! Hot and humid and our driver was clearly getting irritated and feeling out of his territory. Eventually found the street and even a house at 51/1 and a neighbor assumed us that the unmarked house next door contained a person whose son was marrying an English girl so we parked ourselves in the front yard and sent our driver away (back to Kandy) with a bit of extra money. The gang arrive within 15 minutes. They consisted of Sally, Dulip, the parents (Lal and Priyanka), a brother (Hasamantha) who like Dulip and the father is also a doctor, and a sister (Daphine) plus her boyfriend (Chris, who was English). A house full and an interesting "house."

As stated it was in a suburb community that was like being in a jungle "village" to some extent. There was no air conditioning and no hot water. The regular water came from a well but they boiled it before using it. Tiny refrigerator that barely worked, and the by-now-normal mosquito netting above the bed and ceiling fan were in place. Relatively spartan and these are not poor people but rather he is a doctor and she is a nurse and he worked for the government health department before he retired a year or so ago. Oh, yes, shortly after we got there they had plumbing problems with the sink which I was able to fix well enough to stop the water and eventually a fellow came with a wrench and fixed better - yet still rather crudely. Very nice people and everyone was super friendly although clearly under the typical stress of getting ready for a wedding. They fixed our bedroom, with its new mosquito net, and we all had some drinks (finished off "my" manhattan supply which everyone enjoyed) and then dinner --- a real spread with curried crab as the highlight but also some of the by-now-routine fish (seer), some curried chicken, and on and on. Good, friendly, enjoyable and we were now one of the family. Slept well and I am really impressed with how well the ceiling fans work (as we were in Polonnaruwa) although would sure prefer air-conditioning! Oh, yes, at the time of the leaky sink, Lal was out buying some antibiotics for Dawna's sinus infection. Nice to have all these doctors; and interesting how the cost of such medication is about zero in Sri Lanka.

Friday-2: We had slept fine. Sally hadn't done so well as she/they had ants in the bed and she hates insects (not that anyone appreciates ants in the bed). This resulted in taking the bed apart and treating the wood slates and then just putting the aired-out mattress back on the floor for the rest of the time since the wood never got fully clean of ants. Yet another item (like the plumbing) to add complication to the already busy schedule of getting ready for the Homecoming reception/party. Lal took the three other kids to the train station (down town Colombo and a pain what with the traffic) so that they could head south to go to the beach and after he returned the rest of us went back to Colombo so that he and Priyanka could check out the fixings for the reception at the hotel and Sally, Dulip, Dawna and I could hit the market area. Didn't buy much but saw a bit of the "maze." Back to the house, relaxed a bit, eventually the kids called and Lal went back (3rd trip, poor fellow) and picked them up. Meanwhile, Priyanka and Dawna did a bunch of ironing and general preparation for the festivities; also some relatives showed up. Once Lal and the kids got back and the kids got cleaned up we all (12 by now) went our for dinner (our treat) at a rather nice (even air conditioned) Indian restaurant. Good meal, especially the Jogan Rosh, even if we didn't get started on it until 10 PM. So, another late night to bed.

Saturday-2: Party Day which meant a whole lot more ironing of Sari's and white shirts and suit jackets and etc. Plus S&D&L&P went shopping ==> bought Dulip a suit for the occasion even though he already had one ............ aren't parent's interesting. He did manage to stop folks from making him buy new shoes although that seems to have been a sore point in both Britain and now in Sri Lanka! In the early afternoon S&D&P&L went down to the hotel to begin getting Sally dressed (yet another trip for pop .....) as well as to check on arrangements some more. I actually spent a fair amount of time on the porch reading a book and watching a large variety of birds (including parrots and hummingbirds) feed out of a couple of bird feeders and watching some jungle-like rain come crashing down. A lady showed up to put on Dawna's and P's sari's and did D's first since P wasn't back yet - it looked quite nice. Oh, yes, the prior day, P had checked out D's outfit and approved of the sari but not the blouse that went with it and had given Dawna one of hers to wear which she felt was more appropriate - sigh. We all then piled into the van and went down town - sweating in our nice new clothes as we drove ..... The party was at a grand old colonial hotel (Galle Face) and the kids had a room there for that evening as well. So we all went to the room and hung out, took some pictures of people getting their finery on, etc. Then the activities began. S&D went out the back way and got into a car while the rest of us went down to the front door. The car pulled up, they got out, they began to slowly walk into the hotel and the rest of the family/gang filed in behind them as they were greeted by a group of Kandian dancers and drummers who were quite good/athletic and the whole procession very slowly and loudly made its way through the hotel to the reception room wherein many guests were waiting and then watching as we entered. Gradually S&D made it to the front of the room while the rest of us dropped off and they then sat in a couple of nice chairs ("thrones") as the guests came by to pay their respects. We settled into tables for dinner as did all the guests. Actually, only about half of the guests were there when we paraded in and the others wandered in for the next hour and a half; the reception was to start at 7 PM, actually started more like 7:30 PM, and it was 9 PM before everyone was there and dinner began. Oh, yes, a loud band played until dinner started. Dinner was a buffet with a variety of Western and Eastern dishes and we just figured it would be safe/clean enough and ate away; even drinking the water. No alcohol - but we managed. After dinner the band played again and there was some dancing (basically no touch and almost no partner with the majority of the dancers being male). Usual socializing throughout the evening and a bit strange to be two of the 4 (Sally and Chris being the other two) Caucasian folks in the room of 200. By the end of the night, however, Dawna was basically conducting her own "receiving" line wherein folks came up and told us (mainly Dawna) good-bye, come visit again, etc, etc. Neat. Let's see, what else - well one of the stranger things in my mind was the fact that they had gotten a wedding cake in Britain, cut it into small pieces, wrapped each piece, and brought the 200 pieces to Sri Lanka in basically a home safe sort of item ..... never did figure out why, guess they thought it was a super special cake.

By about 11:30 PM everyone had left, we said our good-byes to S&D and piled into the van and headed home .... after getting a block away someone mentioned "the presents." So, back to the hotel and sure enough some 31 presents were sitting at the front entrance and Dulip had been called to come down and pick them up. So, we transported them up to his and Sally's room; then we left. But its never over till its over - we ran out of gas 2/3rds of the way home (the van, which had been rented, had been used a lot the last few days and the gas gauge didn't work we discovered the hard way). So, eventually a three wheeler "taxi" came by and took Lal and Chris off to find an open gas station; which they finally did. They returned with gas in plastic bags since no gas can was available and we got it in by making a funnel from a box. Then the car wouldn't start so had to get to the engine and prime it. Finally got it running, finally got "home", and got to bed a bit before 2 AM!

Sunday-2: Folks woke up slowly, I spent time on the porch watching the rain and birds and also reading my novel. Eventually, everyone piled into the van and went back to town to the hotel, ourselves taking our two suitcases for we were heading off for more adventure/sightseeing. S&D opened their presents with all of us watching and we then stuffed the presents, them, and everyone but us back into the van so that Lal could drive them to a beach hotel a hour south of Colombo where S&D would stay a couple of days before going off to some islands for their real honeymoon. The others planned to swim a bit at the beach. We, put on our backpacks with a day's worth of clothing, went to the bus station, and got a bus to the bottom of Sri Lanka (Galle being the city). We had been told we could get an air conditioned intercity bus but no such thing seemed to exist so we got a non air-conditioned bus that made lots of stops. Cost basically nothing; was hot and humid and very windy since the windows had to be opened, and quite crowded. But got to see some country side and we made it to Galle a sweaty mess. Oh, forgot to mention, we left our major suitcases at the Galle Face hotel for we had reservations to stay there on Monday night.

Our accommodations in Galle were again old, colonial, well situated (only real hotel within the walls of the old city/fort), and inexpensive. The fort was built by the Dutch by the way. Again, the fan was excellent, the mosquito netting was there and not very needed, and there was no hot water. Showered/cooled off a bit and then walked around the old city, catching the sunset while standing on the western wall of the old city just the way the book says you are supposed to do it. "Galle is Sri Lanka's most historically interesting living city. Although, Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa are far older, they are effectively dead cities ...." Caught a 3 wheeler and went to a different hotel, not in the old city, where the book said the food was the best. Fine but not outstanding curried chicken and deviled pork; along with the traditional (by now) lion beer. Back to hotel and bed.

Monday-2: Walked some more in the old city. Had breakfast at the hotel - Eastern and good what with string hoppers and dahl soup and scrambled eggs and chicken curry and I forget what all else. Headed into the older portion of the regular town. Went to a government run store and bought a couple of souvenirs (like a mask to hang on our wall). The walked some more, interacted with people such as a kid who ran over to say hello from a group at a catholic school - the group were practicing for a music competition and he played drums, as well as one gentleman who picked some flowers and gave them to Dawna when he saw us looking at them; but also continually "bothered" by people who seemed to be helpful but were really trying to get you to go somewhere or buy something. Went to a place where they produce folk/local type of products and took a mini tour seeing how they make jewelry, batiks, and lace work. Then into the store part of the establishment and looked at a lot of stuff and bought a few things. Prices were high but so was the quality. Gradually walked back to our hotel in time to check out. Headed off to the train station but on the way bumped into busses one of which was intercity to Colombo with A/C and took it instead - paying more than normal in order to get priority and a seat but still close to nothing. The ride back was thus more comfortable than going down but still crowded and our seats were down the middle of the bus as extra jumper seats and the people near the windows kept the curtains fairly drawn so not much sight seeing on the return ride. Did stay cool/non sweaty however which was nice. At least twice the bus was stopped at one of the many many military check points and we all piled out, showed soldiers our papers (each Sri Lankan seems to have papers with him/her), and then got back in and continued onward. What a pain to be in a country with a civil war going on.

Got back to Colombo and walked away from the bus station towards our hotel looking to procure a bottle of the palm-oil based syrup which we liked and wanted to take home. Eventually found it. It rained hard for awhile and then stopped so we ended up walking all the way to the hotel (Galle Face) with lots of wind blowing off the ocean. Checked in, relaxed a few minutes, and took advantage of the first bathtub and hot water for awhile. Then ate dinner at one of the hotel restaurants because it was convenient and had a good menu with seafood. We had been eating so cheaply and basically that we tried to splurge this evening having a drink, lobster bisque soup, the main course (baked crab with cheese and sherry for DSW and seafood assortment for me - flat fish, cuddle fish and shrimp all in a good garlic plus other flavors sauce), and then/even deserts (flam for DSW and mousse for me). To bed but had a poor nights sleep; perhaps because we knew we had to get up so early the next day or perhaps due to the poor air conditioning and noisy fan.

Tuesday-2: Our plane was to leave at 7:30 AM and one had to be there 3 hours early rather than "just" two due to all the security which meant leaving the hotel at 3:30 AM by (expensive) taxi. The trip was easy given the lack of traffic at that time of morning but did involve another couple of stops for security checks. Moved through the security and checkin pretty efficiently so ended up killing time by drinking some coffee. Our, Gulf Air again, plane was full of Sri Lankan woman and when we got to Muscat, Oman they all headed off to a plan going to Kuwait (domestic help for rich Arabs we were told) while we went through customs. Tried to locate a bus to town and/ or a shared minivan taxi but failed so took a real taxi for about $15 after bargaining. Got to our hotel in the old port portion/town of Mutrah. From the literature and the Internet we had determined that there were three hotel sort of choices - (a) one fancy place out on the coast next to nothing, (b) typical Western hotels (Holiday Inn, Sheraton, Intercontinental, etc) in the area/town where the major businesses are, and (c) older places in the older part of town. We selected the best of the latter and it was marginal in terms of niceness but had a perfect location next to the more interesting action of the port and market (Souq), a the fish market, etc. And the A/C worked really well which counted for a lot. Made a quick trip to the Souq to find some decongestion pills for Dawna (not cheap here), and then took a cool-off nap. Got up about 3:30 PM and walked the street to a neighboring town. It was HOT and we should have stayed napping longer but such was life. Saw things, such as forts, along the way. Eventually caught a cab back to the motel. Another round of cooling off and drinking some treated water. Oh, yes, the water in Oman is supposedly safe but we treated it anyway and we had a small but efficient frig in the room so we had cold water - quite a luxury. The menu at the hotel restaurant looked more promising than anything else we had seen so we ate there but immediately found out they didn't have the prawns which we both wanted to order. So, had an order of shrimp curry and of lamb curry and shared. Then to bed in the A/C cooled room - noisy but nice to have it.

Wednesday-2: Up earlish and over to the fish market (right outside our place basically) by 7 AM. Watched the action which was a lot and the number of different type of fish was quite high as were the number of fishing boats, etc, etc. Also a produce market and even chickens (live until you buy one) and meat markets. Great. Back to the hotel for an English breakfast, which came with the room and was pretty good actually and certainly good to chow down before hitting the road; which we did next. The objective was the Oman Museum which was in a neighboring area/ town and we got there by asking one of the shared mini vans if he was going there and he said yes. The game is the vans go wherever seems profitable, picking up and dropping people off along the way and the way may be very circuitous. Neat way to see the area and the people providing you have plenty of time; and it is pretty cheap. Got off at what turned out to be about a mile further down the road than we should have and went hunting for the museum. No one seemed to know of what we spoke and we walked quite a bit and it was darn hot. Eventually found it and sure did love the A/C within the museum. Plus it was a well done small museum about Oman - history, resources, etc. Did the museum very slowly (air conditioned!) which is always nice. Walked back to the main road noting all the fancy homes out in this area (we had been too hot to see them at the end of our initial trek). Flagged down another minivan and got back to our hotel for the now normal mid day cool-off nap/rest. This time we stayed put until the Sun was almost down, killing some time with a glass or two of wine. Then hit the Souq in earnest. The literature on the middle East claimed it was the best one around and it certainly was extensive. Dawna couldn't get into buying jewelry although they had an enormous amount of it but she did buy some perfume and also a Muslim-type black coverup "thing." Walked back to the hotel, cooled down again and then went to the outdoor cafe next to the hotel and had shwarma (which is shredded lamb off a vertical roasting spit) in pita bread. Reasonable and certainly fun to eat it there looking out on the water with the fishing and commercial boats. Strolled along the water front a bit and then back to bed (with the A/C).

Thursday-2: Another English breakfast at the motel and then off to a town called Sidab about 5 km away via a taxi. Walked around it a bit and then walked from there to a town/village called Al-Bustan checking out the country side, looking for an aquarium, and getting hot. Walked Al-Bustan and then from the village to the big/fancy Al-Bustan Palace hotel. Sat it its enormous lobby a far while to cool back down, then explored the hotel and its grounds. Nice but we were glad we hadn't switched to it when we first got to town and saw that our place was a bit dumpy for it was rather sterile and far from anywhere. Caught a taxi back to the town of Muscat, walked around some more, then caught a minivan back to our "home" in Mutrah. We had waved down this minivan but he hadn't been honking to see if we wanted a ride like they generally do. Turned out it was fellow just driving between cities in his brother's minivan and he wouldn't take any money for the ride, just being nice, so we gave him some candy. Back at a stand next to the fish marked and hotel they had just started to cook some fish and we said we like some. He said it would be about 30 minutes and they'd bring it to our room; so we retired for another cool off and drink (water) period. No one showed so we went back over and the fish was just getting ready so we ate it there at an outside table - they literally set the tables up on the parking lot just behind the building/stand as soon as there is enough shade there that it is livable. Ate the majority of this huge blackened fish along with fresh orange juice and some pita bread. Finished the evening with another walk but a different route, ending up behind the Souq where the jewelry was being made rather than being sold. At 9 PM we caught a public bus (right outside our hotel yet again) to the airport. It stopped many places along the way and we got to see more of the area; especially the newer city which looked pretty much like most cities do. We were early getting to the airport so killed time actually buying some items in the duty free shop. By being early we got good seats on the plane, however.

About liquor in Oman, there is very little. When we first got to the hotel I tried for a beer and after realizing we were staying there I got one at a high cost. Other than that we couldn't find any alcohol in a store and none of the smaller eating places had any. Boy, did we enjoy that bottle of California wine that Dawna still had in her suitcase. Plus those pastachio nuts.

Friday-3: The plane left Oman for London at 1:15 AM. We tried to sleep most of the way, other than eating and drinking. Arrived London around 6 AM local, killed 5 hours there, then on to Washington DC via Virgin Atlantic. Again, this was quite a nice flight while the Gulf Air flight was again one with very close packed rows but not many people - like Dawna got a three seat middle deal to try and sleep on. The VA flight got boring as we watched movies, ate meals, drank things, and eventually got to DC around 3 PM. Went through customs, drove home in terrible beltway traffic and got to our apartment a bit jet lagged to say the least --- after two flights of 8+hours each and the 5 hour layover in London and having started all this in the middle of the local night. But we were home, which meant a nice bath, doing some washing, cooking a steak dinner, and getting to bed at a reasonable (like 8 PM) time aimed at dejetlagging. Which worked pretty well. Oh, yes, the bottle of syrup so carefully purchased in Colombo broke upon shipping but was packaged so that it didn't get on many things in my suitcase. Saturday was then spent with Dawna doing the wash/ironing and my reading 400 E-mail messages to catch up on things at work and then drafting this trip letter.

Summary/Catch All: A fun experience. The people in Sri Lanka are handsome and thin (I'd lose some weight to cope with that heat too if I were there very long) and eager to interact with us once we showed that we were friendly. The downside was one could never tell if you were being hustled or not, or at least not for awhile. Everything in Sri Lanka was cheap by our standards (not the fancy hotels/restaurants probably but we don't go to those anyway). In Oman the folks are much more reserved and only interact when we made the first gestures but then were very nice and quite helpful and no one there is hustling you. Prices are about like in the US rather than cheap. Both places were hotter than heck and should really be visited a couple months later than we did; but hey, we didn't schedule the wedding. Oman clearly has new oil money but as advertised in our book it is not super nova rich as are many of the other middle eastern countries. Sri Lanka was jungle/tropical in nature and Oman was stark mountain/desert - great bougainvillea (white, red, pink, variegated leaves, etc).

All in all a quite enjoyable outing/adventure/experience and quite relaxing in a strange/busy way. Now we have a week to catch up before going to Chicago for another wedding and then a couple of weeks before moving back to California.