Cultural Experiences

 We decided not to use this tailor.

Our barbershop.

 In the shop before the shave.

 Prices with and without AC?

John getting the treatment while the owner looks on.

 Getting all in a lather.

Ahhhh.

 An uninviting back street.

 Bus cramming.

Milking a sacred cow on the street.

Saturday, February 24^th.

John and I slept in this morning and after a late breakfast we spent the whole morning and until 2pm working on our computers. I got most of the blog updated for Sri Lanka and the Maldives. It takes a lot of work and not having internet for a week really set me back.

In the afternoon we decided to go for a walk and get a haircut. I had not shaved for the whole week in the Maldives, as I did not want to be in salt water with knicks on my head or face. Yesterday the doorman took me to a hair saloon where there was just one customer and one young man working. He said it was busy and to call later, so I thought we’d go back there. When we arrived, there was an older man working on the same customer as yesterday. He told us that it is not a hair cutting saloon, but a hair replacement saloon! I jokingly asked if I qualified. He suggested another place a little way away.

We continued walking and soaking up the atmosphere of this country. It is litterly an assault on your senses. We looked around, smelled all the smells and listened to the noise of the honking horns. Finally, we found another saloon called the Lovely Saloon. We went in and talked to young men who were cutting hair. We asked how much for a haircut – 100 rupees (about a dollar and a half) and for a full shave, head and face? 150 rupees (less than 2.50). They started first with John, and without asking how he would like his haircut the barber just started with the clippers up the back of his head. Just then the owner of the shop, Dinesh, came in and we struck up a conversation. He is from Kerala, an area we are going to in a few days, and his father started this shop 50 years ago. The father has since passed on and Dinesh runs it. He was very pleasant and happy to see us. Then the other young barber started on me. A little water on the head, a massage to work it in, and then slowly and gently shave the head. The lay we back, spray water all over my face, lather up me up with the typical brush and then again a gentle shave. He went through three new blades in the whole process. It took about an hour each. John and I were both very happy with our results, and John can’t wait to tell his regular barber.

We headed back to the hotel and John met up with a guy from the hotel for a massage and I returned to the room and waited in vain for a call from Aravinth at the computer place. I called him, and he assured me he would type me an e-mail on next steps, but he never did. Meanwhile John had his 90-minute massage about ten minutes from here and got a ride back on the back of a motorcycle with no helmet from the guy at our hotel.

We decided to go out for dinner as we had seen a Domino’s Pizza on our walk to the barber. I ordered a chicken one and he had a veggie. Mine tasted like tandoori chicken on a thin naan. We were a novelty in the restaurant and a couple of people talked to us about where we were from and why we were there. Back to the room again where we had a technician fix our TV, but he didn’t know how to fix the A/C. A bit of TV and then off to sleep after a couple of cultural experiences.