This week we are traveling from Thailand to Sri Lanka. We wrap up our time in our incredible Airbnb, I lose access to the gym I love, and we’re leaving behind the best food we’ve had all year. Sri Lanka ends up being a bit of a shock to the system (days 238-240), and the flights were the most confusing that we’ve had (day 238).

Travel Log: Day 234 (2/16), Thailand

Normal gym and school routine. JC is feeling a little under the weather.

In the afternoon I decided to stop thinking about doing a teeth cleaning and actually get it scheduled. I walked over to a nearby dentist that got great reviews. I exchanged my shoes outside for slippers and then asked to make an appointment. It didn’t totally catch me off guard when they said they could take me back right away. I had already brushed my teeth anticipating that. I filled out a form and they took me back for the cleaning.

The cleaning itself reminded me of a 1980’s style cleaning, meaning they used what sounded like an angle grinder and it hurt. They also put this little blanket over my face with just a mouth hole. It made it hard for me to participate by opening my mouth when necessary, or knowing when I could close my mouth to swallow. To add to the torture, they had a constant stream of water going into my mouth and suction. After talking it through with Copilot, it sounds like they used an ultrasonic scaler, which my dentist back in CO never uses. That’s where the water was coming from, and the tool was so big that I sometimes had to open really wide. That caused water to sneak down my throat and up into my nose.

The whole experience was pretty miserable. I guess my teeth are clean now, but I think people who come to Thailand for medical services are fooling themselves if they think they are getting US quality care.

In the afternoon I watched some junk on our temporary Peacock streaming service just to tune out for a bit. That’s unusual for me; I was probably just worn out by being tensed up during the cleaning. In the evening we watched olympics, and I messed with blog settings.

Travel Log: Day 235 (2/17), Thailand

There was nothing special going on today except for lunch at Srifaa’s. The kids and I watched Stranger Things, and I spent the rest of the day working on a post documenting our communication and data tools that we are using this year.

Travel Log: Day 236 (2/18), Thailand

We had a normal morning again with school and the gym. JC and I started looking into Europe more to see if we want to do anything besides our original plan of Croatia, Spain, and Portugal. We considered a couple alternatives with more stops, but ultimately landed back at the original plan for cost and ease of travel.

In the afternoon I cracked open the beer I had in the fridge and started watching some youtube. I had no idea that doing that would drastically alter our Sri Lanka plans. We ended up watching the Rhett and Claire where they traveled through Sri Lanka, and they had a section on Hikkaduwa where we were scheduled to stay. They noted how sewage is dumped into the sea there, and the locals treat the turtles very unethically by bating them, feeding them, and dragging them toward shore.

Not wanting to swim in shit water or be part of harassing turtles, we looked to see what we could still cancel. To our surprise everything could still be cancelled. We cancelled the Airbnb, hotel nights, and shuttles. In place of that we booked an Airbnb in Colombo and we’ll stay there for the two weeks, exploring Colombo and taking day trips most likely. Not an ideal situation, and I can’t believe we only discovered this just now.

Travel Log: Day 237 (2/19), Thailand

Normal school day, and my final day at The Wall fitness center. I’m really going to miss that place, and it’s too bad I’ve put on all this muscle only to watch it go away over the coming weeks. I’m hoping to find a gym in South Africa and Europe.

We ate T-Ten for dinner because we are out of food at home. I had Pad Thai just so I could say I had that in Thailand. It’s not something I would normally choose over curry.

Travel Log: Day 238 (2/20), Tailand to Sri Lanka

Today we slept in and got ready to travel to Sri Lanka. We packed and left the condo right at the 11am checkout time.

We took a nauseating car ride to the airport. It was a really nice large EV but the guy was doing the pumping thing with the pedal that so many people seem to love to do. In an EV that has worse effects than a gas car. JC was on the verge of puking even though it was a short 15 minute ride.

Chiang Mai International Airport

We had a lot of time to kill at the airport since we got there about five hours ahead of takeoff. We went to McDonalds and ate lunch, and then just sat there for a long time. After that we went and sat down in the international arrivals area.

Checkin for our flight, and the series of things after that were confusing. We had to check in at the domestic counter, since our first leg was domestic. Then they sent us upstairs for passport control. We went initially to the domestic line, but they told us to go to the international line. It took about 20 minutes to get through the line. We checked with a guy as we reached the end make sure we were at the right spot. That sent us through passport control, and then security was another 20 minute wait after that.

When we got to our gate we still weren’t entirely sure we were in the right area. Our flight wasn’t on the airport flight board, and it wasn’t on the gate’s display either. JC tried to get an answer about our flight but the staff just brushed her off and told her to wait without looking at her ticket.

JC saw another lady appearing to have the same issue. She was from China and went and talked to the staff as well, and JC went and talked to her after she walked away also looking confused. They told her to just wait without really explaining anything. Ultimately our flight was at that gate, but they didn’t even show a hint of the flight being there until after the final boarding time. We didn’t board until after the flight was supposed to have left.

Bangkok International Airport

As we exited the plane at Bangkok, we saw staff holding a sign for connecting flights, which we anticipated. They moved us off to the side and then escorted us to an immigration area just for the ten or so of us connecting internationally. We also had to go through security again which we didn’t understand, still being airside. That was all a quick process and we were off to our gate. We found some stuff to eat and filled up our water bottles.

Sri Lanka International Airport (Bandaranaike)

After landing we made it through Sri Lankan immigration in about 10 minutes, and our bags came very quickly too. We hit one of the preferred ATMs on our list and got about $150 worth of rupees.

A taxi guy intercepted us and I let him quote me a price, which came in at about 7K rupees ($22.58). I already knew that was a little high because I had just looked at both Grab and PickMe and they were around 5.5K rupees. He tried to tell us if we leave, we can’t get back in and there is no taxi stand out there. He was lying about both things.

Outside I booked a PickMe, and after a few failed calls with our driver, we got instructions of where to go. It was chaos at the pickup area and difficult to find him. I got separated from JC and the kids trying to look for him, but we eventually all got back together at the car. The car sounded like shit, a Prius with wheel bearing issues. It made it through the one hour drive to our condo though.

Airbnb

The caretaker was on the ball and opened the garage door right as we got there. He speaks virtually no english but gave us a tour of the essentials, and he was very kind. We did the bare minimum like setting up charging, checking out the water filter machine, getting ACs running, etc. Then we were off to bed.

First impressions of the Airbnb were not good, but that’s not uncommon with most Airbnbs. It’s really only the Thailand Airbnb that looked awesome in the pictures and was even more awesome when we got there. This place is just kind of grimy looking at the walls and the kitchen cabinets. There are fast little ants just about everywhere, and the kitchen equipment is sparse. I think in the morning we’ll feel somewhat better about it.

Travel Log: Day 239 (2/21), Sri Lanka

None of us besides BC slept well last night. JC and I both got about 4-5 hours. We didn’t get to bed until almost 2am in Sri Lanka, which is 3:30am in Thailand. It just jacked up our schedules too much and we couldn’t really recover. In the afternoon I took a 30 minute nap.

Our first order of business was hitting the grocery store. JC and I went alone and got just the basics such as toilet paper, napkins, breakfast stuff, coffee, and not a lot beyond that. Getting that first run out of the way is a big mental relief. Having food and water in the condo and knowing how to get more is a simple and big win at any new place.

Settling into our condo I’m starting to like it more. It even seems like there are fewer ants today but that’s probably just a perspective shift.

For lunch we went back to the grocery store and got freshly made items that have to be ordered from a counter. I got a rice and curry with chicken meal. I fumbled trying to understand the guy asking a question, and luckily JC heard it. He was asking take away or dine in, which wasn’t on my radar as a possible question. Had I ordered it for eat in, I’m not sure where I would have done that. I guess sitting on the floor in the aisle.

We made egg sandwiches for lunch and saved our grocery store items for dinner. My food was really good, and at a very high but good spice level.

JC and I went back to the grocery store a third time and got a few drinks for FAC. I had a strong beer that was really good, and a second beer that I dumped most of, not wanting to drink any more. JC had a sake drink that she liked, but I thought tasted like puke.

We watched the movie that BC picked and then finished the last 30 minutes of a Stranger Things episode we started watching.

Travel Log: Day 240 (2/22), Sri Lanka

JC and I made a grocery run to round out our initial groceries here in our condo. We are struggling here more than anywhere else with groceries. Nearly everything is in english so that isn’t a problem, but the grocery store has the fewest things we normally eat. While it’s a decently medium sized store, a glaring percentage of the aisles are lost to pet stuff, cleaning supplies, and other non-food stuff. We did our best to put together things to eat, but you know we’re struggling for ideas when one idea that made the list is cheese and crackers.

For dinner we decided to order something through PickMe. The food was from a place called Paan Paan. We had vegetable samosas and some other samosa-like things, and BC had two mini hotdogs. The food was good and it was under $10, so we’ll be doing more of that.

We watched the USA men’s hockey team win gold live in the evening.

Europe Prep

Through the day JC and I tried to get further with booking Europe. I keep struggling, not wanting to go to Croatia for some reason, but also Europe more generally. In reality I think I’m just having travel fatigue, combined with the Europe prep requiring more thought.

Asia feels like second nature to prepare for now, and oddly going where we fit in more is going present different challenges. In southeast Asia we don’t speak the languages and everyone knows that just looking at us. That turned out to be a huge advantage because locals would go right into mime mode or speak in english if they knew how. In Europe locals will default to Croatian, Spanish, and Portuguese when they see us. We’re going to have to lead with english, or constantly be asking people if they speak english.

In addition to that, restaurants and ride shares are going to be more expensive. We can’t just willy nilly ride everywhere we want and eat countless meals away from home. It will be good prep for returning to the US I guess, where that’s also true.