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Hungry Like The Wolf

settembre - ottobre 2023
Singapore + Tracing Duran Duran’s Video Sites + My 13th Layover in Tokyo Leggi altro

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  • ViaggiatoreHungry Like The Wolf

    Save A Prayer... For The Stilt Fishermen

    2 ottobre 2023, Sri Lanka ⋅ 🌧 28 °C

    Duran Duran’s video for Save A Prayer (https://youtu.be/6Uxc9eFcZyM?si=2zrefUgQpngZMKZL) featured Sri Lanka’s famed stilt fishermen around the 2:00 mark. Nowadays, the fishermen are mostly there for show, extracting payment from tourists for photo opportunities. We snuck a few photos from a distance, and we chose not to reenact the scene from the video because we probably would have had to pay off all the fishermen in the area.

    After our covert photography session, we beat a quick retreat to Galle amidst dark clouds. Thanks to Ganatha’s skilled driving, we avoided most of the rain. The skies did open up along the way and we had to close the flaps to avoid getting wet.

    Back at Seagreen Guesthouse, we went out for an afternoon snack, then we retired to our verandah to hang out and watch the people walking along the fort walls. It rained on an off for the remainder of the day and evening.

    In the evening, we ventured out to dinner intending to dine again at Hula Hula Cafe. Unfortunately, they were closed. We ate at another restaurant where I had rice and curry and Jeff has pasta.    Leggi altro

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  • ViaggiatoreHungry Like The Wolf
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    Hungry Like The (Swimming) Wolf

    3 ottobre 2023, Sri Lanka ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    Our quest to hit Duran Duran's film sites within a limited time frame meant a few long and costly car journeys. During our last evening in Galle, I fretted about snagging an Intercity Uber ride for the 4.5 hour drive to Sigiriya. On the app, I noticed that there was an available driver around the corner, and, interestingly, he was still around the next morning. When I requested our ride, he responded immediately and he came by within five minutes.

    When our driver arrived, he immediately requested that we cancel the ride and pay him in cash for the amount Uber quoted us. Per his explanation, Uber takes some time to pay him, and he needed cash immediately for fuel. I reluctantly agreed as the 32,000 rupee cash fare would make a dent on our precarious cash situation. I also learned from this experience that Uber Intercity drivers may take a fare to one town, and they stay overnight in that town if they don't book a same day ride back in the general direction of their home.

    Our drive first took up northward up the expressway to the outskirts of Colombo, and then we headed east to the outskirts of Kandy. From there, it was surface roads all the way to Roy's Villa. I was concerned that our driver would get tried and sleepy, but he remained alert throughout. We declined his suggestion to stop at a elephant rescue, but we did finally stop about 25 minutes away from our destination for a smoothie and bathroom break.

    We chose to stay in the Sigiriya area because it was a good location to hit three film sites: Sigiriya Rock, Polonnaruwa, and a national park with elephants. Researching places to stay, I settled on Roy's Villa because of the positive reviews and also because they organize trips to these sites.

    We arrived at Roy's around 2pm. The Lonely Planet mentioned that Roy was quite a character, and I am happy to report that it was not an exaggeration. Roy took us under his wing and before long we had a rough itinerary, subject, of course, to Sri Lankan time.

    Our first activity after checking in was to go on a free excursion to a local lake. There, we took the opportunity to reenact the scene from 2:16 to 2:19 in Hungry Like the Wolf (video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJL-lCzEXgI) where one of the band members (presumably Simon Le Bon) emerges from a body of water.    Leggi altro

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  • ViaggiatoreHungry Like The Wolf
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    Save A Prayer...For The Lion Rock

    4 ottobre 2023, Sri Lanka ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    Duran Duran filmed part of their Save A Prayer video at the UNESCO listed Sigiriya Rock, also known as Lion Rock. We therefore included a climb to the top of the rock to our itinerary.

    Roy's Villa's typical itinerary involves shuttling their guests to climb a hill at 4.45am to watch the sunrise over Sigiriya Rock, and then the hikers are brought to Sigiriya Rock itself. We declined this option as we wanted to focus on reenacting the scene from Save a Prayer. Besides, we didn't want to piss of our fellow hostel mates by taking a long time filming at the summit of Sigiriya Rock. So, we requested a tuk tuk from Roy's. We set off at 6.15am to beat the crowds and the heat. Ravi, Roy's brother, drove us there via tuk tuk and he told us to send him a WhatsApp message when we decide to descend.

    The rock itself was awe inspiring as we approached it. We started our climb up some concrete stone steps. After the first set of steps, we hit the iconic lion's paws. We continued on stone steps, transitioned to a metal staircase, and then went to back to climbing concrete steps again before hitting the summit. The rock itself is about 600 feet high, and there were over 1,000 steps. We didn't take more than 20 minutes to get to the summit.

    At the summit, we busied ourselves with recreating the scenes from the video. Duran Duran filmed their scene there with the help of a helicopter. We obviously didn’t have a helicopter at our disposal, and we didn’t have a drone either (they were banned at the summit anyway) so we made our own interpretation of the scene from ground level. After that, we wandered around the summit admiring the view and the palace ruins before descending and returning to Roy's Villa for a well earned breakfast. The descent included a diversion up a spiral staircase to view frescoes of mostly bare breasted women. Photos of the frescoes were not allowed 🚫.

    https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/sigiriya    Leggi altro

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  • ViaggiatoreHungry Like The Wolf

    Save A Prayer… For The Elephants

    4 ottobre 2023, Sri Lanka ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C

    Duran Duran's Save A Prayer video included several sequences with the band riding elephants. Jeff and I are wary of the ethical implications of this practice, so we did not seek out opportunities to ride pachyderms. Instead, we opted to admire them in their natural habitat from a distance. So, there are no video recreations in this entry. Besides, it would have been very unwise to disembark from our jeep while we were among wild elephants.

    In the afternoon, us and four other guests from Roy's Villa - Chris and Becky from the UK, and an Israeli couple - loaded ourselves onto a jeep and headed northwest for 45 minutes to Kaudulla National Park. There, we were treated to the awe inspiring sight of well over 100 elephants, along with water buffalo, monkeys, mongoose, and various birds.

    Drama and chaos ensued towards the end of our safari when an amorous suitor approached a herd we were observing. The dominant male from the herd chased the sexually frustrated youngster away, but in doing so, he got among the vehicles. There were well over a dozen jeeps, and they all had to maneuver themselves away from the angry beast. We nearly crashed into another jeep while reversing, and the male did in fact have a staring contest with the occupants of another jeep before he walked away.

    This was a great day out, but we were tired by the end of the day, and we even told the driver to take us back when he attempted to stop for one last herd sighting outside the park. I was impressed that the driver could spot elephants among the roadside vegetation in the fading light of day.

    This trip cost is the equivalent of $45 each in cash. It made yet another dent to our cash situation.    Leggi altro

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  • ViaggiatoreHungry Like The Wolf
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    Polonnaruwa: Sacred Quadrangle

    5 ottobre 2023, Sri Lanka ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C

    Our goal for the day was to reenact two scenes from Save A Prayer that were filmed at the ancient city of Polonnaruwa, a UNESCO World Heritage site. To get there, we joined a trip organized by Roy's Villa. We did this trip with two German backpackers.

    The drive to Polonnaruwa took about 1 hour 15 minutes, at which time Ravi, deposited us at a bicycle rental stand. The bicycle rental shop owner then escorted up on our bikes for about 1km to the visitor center where we purchased our tickets for $25 each. After purchasing our tickets, we cycled into the southern end of the large and sprawling complex.

    Our first stop was the Sacred Quadrangle, which housed some beautiful ruins. Duran Duran did not film here, so our visit was relatively short. The most spectacular sight here was the Vatadage, a circular structure with Buddha statues inside.    Leggi altro

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  • ViaggiatoreHungry Like The Wolf

    Polonnaruwa: Rankot Vihara

    5 ottobre 2023, Sri Lanka ⋅ ☁️ 32 °C

    Our next stop, Rankot Vehara, was also a short one as it wasn't a film site. Here, we admired a beautiful dome, which was made even more atmospheric by a visiting school group dressed in starched white uniforms.Leggi altro

  • ViaggiatoreHungry Like The Wolf

    Save A Prayer… For Lankathilaka

    5 ottobre 2023, Sri Lanka ⋅ ☁️ 32 °C

    Our next stop, Lankathilaka, features a headless Buddha statue encased in a brick enclosure, along with a white stupa and several brick stupas. Duran Duran filmed the closing scene from Save A Prayer here.

    For this scene from Save A Prayer, Jeff paid great attention to mimicking Simon Le Bon's body movements as he walked from a set of pillars and into the enclosure with the headless Buddha. This was our longest recreation, so we spent a fair amount of time here.    Leggi altro

  • ViaggiatoreHungry Like The Wolf

    Save A Prayer… For Gal Vihara

    5 ottobre 2023, Sri Lanka ⋅ ☁️ 32 °C

    Our final stop in Polonnaruwa was Gal Vihara has three Buddha images - one sitting, one standing, and one reclining - carved from the same stone outcrop. Here, we recreated yet another scene from Save A Prayer. We, did, however, have to improvise as there were signs forbidding people to pose with Buddha images in photos, whereas the original video had the band pictured with the Buddha statues here.

    After exiting the compound, we met up with Ravi who drove us back. Upon our return, I looked up the Polonnaruwa map and realized we missed the ruins of the Royal Palace. Ah well, nevermind; we had a fun day out regardless.    Leggi altro

  • ViaggiatoreHungry Like The Wolf

    Roy's Villa

    5 ottobre 2023, Sri Lanka ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    I can't say enough good things about Roy's Villa. We had an enjoyable time here. Roy himself was a great host, and with the help of his brothers and various other childhood friends who run the facility with him, they made it easy for us to sightsee and engage in other fun activities. As the hostel was in a remote area, they had a captive audience for meals, but the meals were prepared with love. We had good food, good company, and the atmosphere was great too. The only drawback was they did not accept credit cards. Fortunately, we were able to pay them in USD.Leggi altro

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  • ViaggiatoreHungry Like The Wolf

    Kandy

    6 ottobre 2023, Sri Lanka ⋅ 🌧 25 °C

    After taking our leave from Roy's Villa, once again lucked out when we snagged a Uber ride to get us to Kandy. I groaned when the driver asked me to cancel the ride and pay him in cash, but I did so because I wasn't sure if we would find another ride. Our driver was from Colombo and he was heading home. The ride to Kandy took about two hours.

    After checking in at the Viyana Boutique Hotel by Kandy Lake, we sought out the Lonely Planet recommended Empire Cafe for lunch. There, we enjoyed lunch on the verandah, which was next to the entrance to the Temple of the Sacred Tooth.

    After lunch, we circumnavigated Kandy Lake. We especially enjoyed observing the ducks and the monitor lizards at the lake.

    In the evening, we walked a short distance to the Slightly Chilled Restaurant and Bar for food and drinks with Becky and Chris, whom we met at Roy's Villa, and their friends - a brother and sister duo named Charlie and Tracy - who were also traveling through Sri Lanka. We had an enjoyable time chatting and eating at the rooftop bar. There. we were treated to a fireworks display in the distance.    Leggi altro

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