Greetings from Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

            Yesterday, after a pretty mellow four-hour flight from Dubai and followed by a pretty boring four-hour taxi ride, I finally made it to my destination of Hikkaduwa. Where my good friend Hannes was waiting for me. In total, it took my almost 40hours to go from San Francisco to Sri Lanka.

            Today a new word was added into my vocabulary, and it is a new word that I will never forget. The word is Tuk-Tuk, (“took-took” or “tuck-tuck”). For those of you that do not know what a Tuk-Tuk is, they are these three-wheeled taxis with the most aggressive drivers I have ever met in my life. If these guys could drive in NASCAR, I have no doubt they would win every race there is. These things are like little scooters with a covered bench in the back and with no doors. Hannes, our new English friend Jody, and I decided to go on a little adventure in search of waves. Together, the three of us headed south of Hikkaduwa, in one of these little death mobiles, towards a town whose name I cannot pronounce. What I thought was going to be a mellow 30-minute ride, turned into quite the harrowing adventure.

            First off, how more people do not die in automobile accidents is a complete mystery to me. If someone told me Sri Lanka has traffic rules, I would say they are completely lying. Driving around here is an every-man-for-themselves, winner-take-all, game of chicken. There really is no point in having painted lines in the road, because nobody stays within the lines. Normally, the Tuk-Tuks are on the bottom of this driving food chain, having to move to the shoulder to let the faster and bigger cars pass. Thankfully, our driver had a brand new Tuk-Tuk that had some zip, so we were passing all the other little death tricycles. But what really is deadly is the fact that all the roads are two lane roads. And on these roads are the craziest, most psychotic bus drivers I have ever seen. These guys drive their full-size buses, loaded with probably 50 people with reckless abandon. These buses are on a time schedule that literally makes passengers get out off without totally stopping. And when they do decide to stop, they just stop right there and block the entire road. The buses have ZERO patience for slow cars and slow Tuk-Tuks and fly into oncoming traffic in order to pass you. Let me tell you, watching one of these buses flying toward you while trying to pass a Tuk-Tuk in their lane is one of the scariest things in my life. On numerous occasions during our adventure, buses missed us by inches. Not to mention the motorcycle drivers that absolutely don’t give shit about anyone, and weave through these death dealing buses like it’s no big deal. One motorcycle actually clipped my arm as it tried to weave between us and a bus. Long story short, the waves sucked, we got some super tasty juice, hung out, played cards and headed back. By the time we arrived back, the journey felt like it took five years off my life. And tomorrow Hannes wants to get one of those death dealing buses, head south again, and check out this huge Dutch fort in the city of Galle. I can’t really say I am looking forward to it, but it should be quite the experience to say the least.

            One thing I noticed about Sri Lanka, is there are Buddha statues everywhere. These shrines hold Buddha statues ranging from 10ft to 30ft in height and are literally in every town. The biggest one I saw, is about 30ft. The statue was a gift from Japan after the big tsunami that hit here in… I think in 2006? Most of them are absolutely beautiful, and as soon as I find WIFI with enough bandwidth I will post pictures of them.

            Other than that, the food is pretty phenomenal. The fried rice, fried noodles, and curries are amazing. Sri Lanka’s national beer, Lion, is pretty shitty I am sorry to say. But their version of Coke, called Ki-ki cola is a sugary rocket fuel that is pretty tasty.

            My first in Sri Lanka consisted of a nice long yoga session, a decent surf, and tasty food. Not a bad start.

            Did I mention the water is the most beautiful shade of crystal blue I have ever seen? Pretty spectacular. Alrighty, I’m out. More updates soon! 

P.s. Bob Marley and Michael Jackson are HUGE here! who knew!?!?!

P.s.s. how the hell do you play cricket? Cricket is also HUGE here. Sri Lanka plays in the world cup final this weekend! Going to be nuts here!

Day 1: Dubai

During all my travels, I have come to accept the fact that U.S. airport security likes to pick on me. Even when flying to Mexico or El Salvador, my skin color helps me blend in for the most part, yet they still pick me out for extra searches and questioning. But this time at SFO, the first thing that struck me, actually my mom noticed it before I did.  Was that the line was predominantly full of Arabs and Indians. But of more significance was that I BLENDED IN! Almost perfectly! We all had almost the exact same hair color, skin color, height, and facial structure. It was surreal to see. For the first time I will actually blend in when checking in! In the end though, it didn’t help, I still got pulled aside for a random questioning and search right before boarding the plane. But oh well, at least I wasn’t the only one security was picking on. I had lots of company.

The 15.5hr flight was actually a piece of cake. Emirates Airlines is hands down the BEST airline I have ever had the pleasure of flying on. But, having an entire row of four seats to myself definitely didn’t hurt. I do not know how I ended up with the whole row to myself, but I definitely took advantage of it! While everybody else was piled on top of each other sleeping, I was sprawled over four seats with four blankets and four pillows. Hell, I had more space than business class!

The flight was gnarly though, despite my sweet set-up, I could not fall asleep for the life of me. Right when I was about to doze off at around 130am, I was awakened by sunlight! I thought, how can this be?? I saw the sun set a few hours ago! I then realized we were over the North Pole! I am glad it woke me up though, because it was the most surreal and amazing sunrise I have ever seen. It was strange to see the sunset, sunrise, and sunset again all during one flight.

Dubai…wow. Where to begin? This place is crazy! Upon landing in Dubai, I was not sure what to expect. Emirates has their own special terminal that is one of the ritziest, cleanest, most opulent terminals I have ever been in. At first glance, one would not guess it to be an airport terminal. From koi ponds to waterfalls, the terminal looks more like a resort.

Upon arriving to a new destination, the first thing that normally strikes me is the smell. But to my surprise, upon stepping outside of the airport and onto the high-speed rail terminal, the air smelled like…well… nothing. I am used the air smelling like a humid jungle or something, but Dubai’s air doesn’t really smell like anything. On a side note, the high-speed rail is phenomenal! Once in Dubai, I was expecting a little bit of culture shock. However, I was surprised to see that Dubai is not all that different from any other Western City. Yes, a majority of the women do wear the traditional Muslim garb that covers just about everything except their faces. And yes, the men, especially the upper-class men, wore those all-white robes.  I forget what both those things are called, but you know what I am talking about.

During my time in Dubai, my objectives were to go to the observation deck of the Burj Kahlifa, the world’s tallest building, and to explore the extravagant Dubai Mall.

Unfortunately, I was unable to get to the observation deck of the Burj Khalifa. Which was extremely disappointing. But the building itself was just awesome to look at. Unless you stand almost a mile away, you have to crane your neck all the way back just to look up enough to see the top of the building. It is one of the most magnificent buildings I have ever seen.

Up until this point I had not really experienced anything shocking, or overwhelming for that matter. That is, until I walked into the Dubai Mall. WOW! The Porches, Range Rovers, Mercedes, Maseratis (sp?), and BMWs waiting to be valet parked out front should have given it away immediately. Upon walking inside, I was immediately blown away by the opulence of the place. The Mall just screamed of wealth and extravagance. And everyone inside wasn’t afraid to show it. For the first time in my life, I genuinely felt out of place. Here I am, with jeans, a flannel, and backpack wondering through this mecca of designer fashion. All the while, men, women, and even kids! Walk around carrying bags of goods and wearing clothes that cost more than I care to know. Western style capitalism is definitely alive and well here in this consumer paradise. One would never guess from the looks of Dubal Mall that this part of the world shows any resentment of Western culture or fashion. And on top of that, the amount of people that were there! One would think a Wednesday night would not be a busy night in a mall. But think again! The place was packed!

After about an hour walking around and feeling completely overwhelmed, I sat down in a café, ordered a drink (non-alcoholic, I forgot I was in a Muslim country), and just people-watched. I paid special attention to young people around my age. What I noticed is that these kids are no different from any other American youth. I even saw hipsters!!! Imagine if Jersey Shore joined forces with The Hills or Laguna Beach. That is what the youth of Dubai look like; well at least the ones wearing western clothing. I also felt strange being the only guy in that mall without a customized shaved beard. But even the young women who wore their traditional black dressings from head to toe still were wearing high-heels and enough make-up to make a clown jealous.

In conclusion, I wish I had more time in Dubai. The place is immaculate. The nicest city I have ever been in. The people here are wealthy and they are not afraid to show it. I feel like I would need my own personal oil field just to shop in the Dubai Mall. When I make my millions I will come back and do just that. There is so much to do here, I only wish I had more time.

Sorry, if some of my grammar stinks or my paragraphs sort of ramble. It is currently 12:15am here, and I have only had about four hours of sleep. I leave for Colombo, Sri Lanka in a couple hours. Can’t wait! 

Bags are packed, everything has been checked and double-checked. My itinerary is set, everything is good to go. I wish I could say I am super excited to get this adventure started. I find myself just excited, not too high, but not too low. Sort of in the middle. Maybe it is because I will have 25hrs worth of sitting on my butt in an airplane to look forward to. But I think part of it has to do with my sub-par performance on the GMAT exam. I was fully prepared and capable of getting the score I needed on that exam. Yet for some reason I terribly mismanaged my time, panicked, and just bombed the last 10 questions in the math section. Which ultimately doomed me. I was really hoping to get the score I needed, turn in all my application material, and be done with it before I leave. Instead, I had to notify Cal Poly and SJSU to put my applications on hold, until I get back and take the GMAT again in June, which sucks, because it hurts my admission chances, due to rolling admission.

But hey, everything happens for a reason! Great triumph rarely comes without at first experiencing great disappointment. I have the will to pass that god-forsaken test. Where there's a will there is a way.  I have already learned so much from this painful experience, it has definitely humbled me.

I know once I land in Sri Lanka, all these feelings of worry will melt away in the warm morning sun. That is assuming the taxi my friend supposedly is going to send me actually is waiting for me.... But that is a story for another time!
I will enjoy my time in Asia to the fullest and I will come back refreshed and ready to slay that test!

Ok.... enough of that depressing crap. On to to the good stuff. My flight lands at 720pm Dubai time. I have decided to explore Dubai during my 7.5hr layover. I will be visiting the Burj Khalifa aka the tallest building in the world. Upon arriving there, I will promptly go straight to one of their many bars and have a cocktail....maybe two. Maybe even grab a bite to eat there as well. Then I will proceed up to the observation deck on the 124th floor and take in the sure-to-be-amazing views of the Dubai skyline. From there, I will watch Khalifa's supposedly awesome water fountain show, take some touristy pictures and just soak it all in. If I have any time left I am also going to try and head over to the Emirates mall, which is supposedly the most amazing, extravagant mall ever. Just walk around there will be awesome as well.

Now see, after just talking about it, I am getting more excited already!
My flight leaves 445pm tomorrow.
Wish me luck!