Blogs from Colombo, Western Province, Sri Lanka, Asia - page 18

Geo: 6.9155, 79.8572From the southwest shores of India, our journey took us beyond the tip of India, southeast to the teardrop-shaped country of Sri Lanka (formally known as "Ceylon"). Its biggest claim to fame is tea and chances are, if you are drinking a nice hot mug of tea right now, it probably came from this heavenly land.We had a short two-hour hop on Sri Lankan Airways and arrived 30 miles north of the capital city of Colombo. We describe Sri Lanka as "India-lite" since it didn't have the chaos and intensity of India (which, for us, definitely gave India its charm). The root of this basic difference seemed to be, at least to us, the huge difference in population - 20 million versus India's 1.5 billion! Probably the best part about Sri Lanka was that ... read more

Well its been and interesting three weeks, but now tis time to move on... But before we do that, we'd better update you on wot we've been up to for the last week, as we have been so busy and too knackered to write!!! It turns out that this tour round Sri Lanka was a lot more physically challenging than we'd first anticipated. Steve was fine of course, dont know where he gets the energy, but Rozi was flagging a little climbing hills in 30 degree heat, having had virtually no sleep the night before thanks to geckos. So glad we dont have them at home. They look cute, but believe me they are noisy!!! We did a 2 day hike up in the highlands in the middle of the island around a national park and ... read more

SINHARAJAH TO COLOMBO As we descended the mountain and left the tranquil forests behind, we traveled through rural areas for several kilometers. But all too soon the road got wider, the buildings got denser, and we reached the Gaul Highway. Wow! Many lanes of traffic. What's this? A traffic light! Soon we began to notice piles of garbage in front of many buildings. Apparently this isn't normal; there seems to be some dispute about municipal garbage pickup, with the result that the garbage is not collected too often. On the way to Colombo, we stopped at a Buddhist Temple which is unique because of the hollow stupa (domed building). Most stupas enclose relics. Inside of this one, the walls are covered with a series of paintings depicting important events in the life of Buddha. It took ... read more

We arrived after a long and tiring flight at around 4:30pm and were promptly picked up by one of the workers from the hotel, the Tropic Inn. Along with another guest, Dave, we screeched, beeped, swerved and veered our way the 50 or so kilometres from the airport to our accommodation. What’s this? We’re going to be staying in another hotel down the road? Does this remind anyone of our first day in Africa? Being moved from one hotel to another? Well, it’s true, from the hotel with cable TV, WiFi and restaurant to a bog standard one with no facilities. Its OK, it’s only temporary and we were to be moved the following morning, other than that it was a warm (and very humid) welcome to Sri Lanka. ... read more

The only surprise waiting for me in Colombo when I arrived was how routine it all seemed. Rukman's father, Mahinda, and his sister, Kanchana, were waiting for me as I cleared customs. On the way to their house Kanchana accidentally drove through an army checkpoint. I saw the sentry un-sling his rifle and point it at us. The thought of a bullet whistling through the passenger compartment gave me a weird thrill. Kanchana slammed on the breaks. She explained to the soldiers that she was a big attorney and there would be trouble if they detained us. They let us go. Apparently there have been some recent clashes between the army and the LTTE (a.k.a. Tamil Tigers) so roadblocks are once again part of the daily routine. At the house Rukman's mother had a five-course meal ... read more