Please go to Sri Lanka!!!!

This weekend we went to Sri Lanka. This place is GORGEOUS! beutiful coconut-palm groves, long stretches of jungle lined beaches, the warm Indian Ocean, and some of the friendliest locals your likely to meet anywhere.
For those of you who don't know (I didn't), Sri Lanka is a teardrop shaped island off the southern tip of India. It made big headlines when it was ,unfortunately, one of the most heavily devestated countries in last years tsunami. It's hard to believe that was just 7 months ago, but it was and the island is recovering slowly but surely, which brings me to my first point...
I strongly urge ANY of you reading this to go there if you can find the means. Sri Lanka is a country that relies very heavily on tourism and after the tsunami, people have been slow to return there and the local economy is hurting. It has everything you could ask for in a tropical resort, but it's very very cheap. Imagine going to Hawaii and not having to worry about getting ripped off at every store you go to. If you can scrounge up the airfare, or get a good deal online, I promise you will not regret it.
We were only in town for 3 nights so we didn't get to see all there is to see. We decided to just take it easy this trip and lie around on the beach or at the pool, but we plan on going back the first chance we get, and then we'll do some more travelling around the country. There are national parks, elephant sactuaries, places for scuba diving, LOTS of shopping, river safaris, and tons of great food. And in the middle of the Island is a place called Kandy where within close proximity of each other are many temple ruins and natural wonders. It's not all that big of an island, but it takes a long time to get around because the roads are barely big enough for 2 way traffic so we couldn't see all of this stuff in just 3 nights, but some of our friends went and it sounds just spectacular.
I ate more seafood this weekend than I have in months. Curried, grilled, steamed, you name it. If it swims, the Sri Lankans know how to cook it. And beef! Heather has missed beef somethin' awful. Sri Lanka is mostly Buddhists so unlike the Hindus here in India, they can eat beef. I ate a little, but I think Heather had enough for the both of us.
The water was warm and the surf was not too dangerous so we swam in the ocen for hours our first day. Then we were too sunburned the next day so we swam at night.
I brought back 3 bottles of the local booze called Arrack. It's made from coconuts. I love coconuts! Candy, suntan lotion, curry, and now booze! Is there anything the coconut can't do?
I got to ride on an elephant as you can see from the pictures. He was pretty small so I thought he was a baby, but the guy said he was 23 years old. I forgot his name, but I fed him some pinaples ad went for a short ride. I would have loved to go longer, but there was no saddle. For anyone who has never riden an elephant bareback, it HURTS. There are more comfortable places to sit than along an elephant's spine. But as our friend Matt pointed out, the elephant probably didn't like it much either. One picture shows the elephant trying to help a guy get his truck out of the sand, the keeper made the elephant push a couple of times but then stopped him. I couldn't understand what was said but I think the truck was just stuck too far into the sand and the guy didn't want the elephant to hurt himself.
I loved being at the ocean again, but I think the thing I loved most about Sri Lanka, was that people don't stare at you like slack- jawed idiots the way they do here. People in Hyderabad stare at you with their mouth open and a scowl on their face and nothing you can do will discourage them. We've tried waving, smiling at them, saying hello, and even scowling back. The yokels here just keep staring. But in Sri Lanka if someone's staring, you just give them a smile and they smile right back.
Anyway, we were very sorry to have to leave to come back to Hyderabad, but we will most definitely be going back.