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AH Sri Lanka! We've been busy on the road here. We started out in the Capital City of Columbo.Nothing out of the ordinary there
loads of traffic and beeping horns. We were put up in the Cinnamon Grand Hotel a 5 star place that only costs $140 a night. First
Class this place was! The evening was welcomed by a quartet three Violins and a Chello playing the music they played onboard
the Titanic as she was sinking,well at least in the movie I saw it a dozen times I know this one. Three Baby Grand Pianos in the lobby
and a Doorman that greeted us everytime we walked through the door as if we owned the place. A posh coffee shop right there serving
scones and other rich people food. Then we saw it! No shorts or sandals in the dinning rooms after seven, well count us out.
Sure we have a little class but we are on vacation and it's hot. So we did tidy up a little and poked around the dining rooms
just in case they weren't enforcing this ban on white trash, but nope everybody was dress to the nines and looked as if they were
attending the Oscars.So where do we go from here, wait a minute what about the Mall next door with the food court and free Wifi?
If that isn't classy I don't know what is.So for three bucks Joy had a chicken sandwich with fries and a Coke and I had for seven bucks
a slice of Pizza Hut pizza and some Thai noodles. But hey we do have class upstairs there is a place called Footrub and they have
$10 dollar foot rubs by smiling faced Sri Lankin women,sign me up!
Now I don't like massages, I don't think there is a person on the planet that wakes up and wants to touch me!Even if they are paid,
so my way of thinking is that a foot rub is about as far away from me as you can get and still touch me so I have conviced myself
that they (footrub) are okay and I can relax. Joy can relax to anybody buit me giving her a massage anywhere anytime. So I see these
prying eyes from behind the sliding door look my direction and I convince myself that I see regret in her eyes of her choosen
profession. However she comes out with a big smile and starts giving me a great foot rub. Now heres where I go wrong.Unlike Burma
the chair is very comfortable and the music is relaxing.Now what do I do? DO I watch her give me a footrub or lay back and enjoy?
I can't see anybody else to take a hint from so I decide on the watch and close my eyes method. Not great but I feel dopey sitting there
with my eyes open and guilty with them closed.Crap! Well it was $10 dollars and I feel great but am slipping in my sandals as I
walk out the door.Happy feet we call it a night on the town Columbo and march off to bed.
Ding dong goes the alarm and we are off. A new guide as our old one called in sick our new one drives alot better. Now it's been
a month since I have driven anything and I have a hard time not calling out orders from the passenger seat but our new guide was
very safe until he got a phone call, then we were ducking and diving buses and other vehicles but lucky for us again cell phone service
is expensive and calls are short, maybe that's what the good old USA needs higher cell phone bills? Well we spent a better part of the
day trying not to become a smokey bus hood ordament stopped by the Pine Apple Village and a quick pee stop here and there. Those
need to be planned ahead of time for Joy's sake as she could be in a outhouse or a hole in the middle of a cement floor now for me
and any other Guy the world is our bathroom and anything about four foot tall makes for cover.Finally we arrived at our next stop
a hotel built like a fortress in the Jungle.It was really nice and I hope the pictures I put up show hows it's made. Not the cheapest
place but nice and jeans and sandals got us into dinner.
Elaphants! I like Elaphants. And when given a chance I take a ride on them.Okay seeing an Elaphant chained to a tree doesn't make me
feel great about myself and climbing aboard one does't either theres nothing going to change here and the Elaphants need to earn a
living to pay for all that food they eat. I'm sure given a choice a horse would rather be running free across an open field but that
doesn't happen either so bear with me on my Elaphant riding. As always it's a little ruff on top of one of these guys or in our case
girl but she seemed okay with us and we fed her bannanas as we strode through our Elaphant Safari (also known as dirt road).
The highlight was all of us went into the lake about five feet deep and she posed for a couple of pictures in the end we took a picture as
she wrapped her trunk around us.I hope she is okay with us sitting there on her SUV roof rack as we had a blast.
Well the next morning we had a thought, we were sceduled to climb to the top of the Temple (1600 steps) but in our room was a card
for a ballon ride. Hmmm, let me think. I always wanted to fly in a balloon or should I say we? Anyway we passed on the 1600 stairs
and signed up for the balloon flight and man what a rush. The basket was big and held 16 people but we were only 10 people.
and with a huge blast of heat from the burners we were airborne flying just high enough to clear the trees. Sunrise happening
as we lifted off we were treated to the peaceful quiet interupted occationally by the blast of the burners keeping us from plowing
into the trees just feet below. Funny thing is that you could here the dogs below having a fit as we passed over at first we thought it
was the burners noise but our Captain said it's the balloon it's self that the noise gets their attention and the balloon spooks them.
Well as we passed over people lives as they woke up they stared skyward at us exporers of the sky and gave us their best waves. We could hear
them below saying hello and we back at them.Again it was like being a movie star. Well after a long hour that seemed like 15 minutes
we looked for a safe place to set down.At first try we landed in a small field but soon learned that the buses sent to retrive us and the balloon
could not get to us so after talking with some locals they pushed us with their wide smiles back into the open and a couple quick blasts
and we were airborne again. Once we spotted our support crew below we looked for a spot again. How he picks them must come with experience as he
told us to get into landing postion (also known as duck) and we did a controlled crash into another field and tree line.
The family that lived here were quite excited to host us and everything was great until their four year old witnessed our balloon
being deflated and he ran crying back to the house.Luckly there was a birthday onboard and we got him back with a piece of cake.Well it's been
a month and we had just had the highlite of the trip.Sure there were others but te Elaphant followed by the balloon it's been
a good two days. Back in our car we traveled back south eading towards the town of Kandy and our night here. We are road weary
and got in late. My Knee hurts from the 1000 stairs we climbed today but we are a good tired.Tommorrow we venture even farther south heading
into the mountains and a stop at the only horse race track in Sri Lanka. Hopfully our New York Racing liscenses get us on the grounds if not
I guess we will have to wait until we get home to get our horse fix. I miss my four legged friends they are a big part of what makes
me want to get going in the morning. Luckly I took a picture of Sweetness Butter Cup before I left and have that to look at when ever I need
a horse picture.If you don't know who Sweetness Butter Cup is then your never around me at Fairhill. Someone give her a mint but
watch it she'll bite you afterword. Well we set our sails south from here next up date from Taj Exotica,what ever that is.
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