Blogs from Colombo, Western Province, Sri Lanka, Asia - page 9

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Asia » Sri Lanka » Western Province » Colombo April 13th 2013

Colombo is Sri Lanka’s largest city and former capitol before the government moved its administrative offices down the road to a new site. Most government bureaus remain in Colombo including the army and navy and foreign consulates. Our tour in modern buses begins at the Kelaniya Buddhist Temple where we see a variety of Buddha’s, including a large reclining one, and wonderfully decorated walls and ceilings in shoeless feet. Our city tour passes by the famous Clock Tower, Pettah Bazaar, Colombo Fort, and British built Old Parliament Building, President House and Town Hall. We passed through the residential district of Cinnamon Gardens and the large campus of the University of Colombo plus Independence Square enroute to the National Museum. The museum has a vast collection of early religious idols and other artifacts. Our sumptuous lunch at ... read more

Asia » Sri Lanka » Western Province » Colombo April 11th 2013

COLOMBO, SRI LANKA AND AT SEA—Wednesday and Thursday, April 10-11, 2013 Colombo, Sri Lanka (Formerly Ceylon, an island nation off the eastern coast of India)--Wednesday, April 10, Day 6 Before we left home, we had booked only three guided excursions and on this day were scheduled to be driven by tour bus south to the very tip of Sri Lanka to the old Dutch Colonial Port of Galle. It was planned to run for 8.5 hours and we thought it would be a couple hours to drive down and then have plenty of time to explore the folklore museum, see stilt fishermen, and visit the old walled fort that is a world heritage site before having to return to the ship for an 8:30 departure. We had no inkling of the traffic and congestion we would ... read more
1304-104 Just like the States--one or two workers, 9-12 supervisors
1304-105 One of the main streets by the port
1304-106 Typical female dress

Asia » Sri Lanka » Western Province » Colombo March 5th 2013

WANT TO LOOSE WEIGHT? 1. Don't join weight Watchers, where you have to count calories and go for those embarrassing weekly weigh ins, only to find that you have been gaining weight, instead of loosing any. Then you have to listen to some smiling Skinny Minnie telling you to count your calories, and try harder this week, cause "We know you can do it!" 2. Don't join Herbal Magic, where you spend thousands of dollars on herbal supplements and prepared meals that you will never cook for yourself once you are off the program and begin gaining your weight back. 3. Don't join a health club. Who in their right mind wants to spend hundreds of dollars on a membership, buy expensive running gear, run for miles and get all smelly, just to find out that ... read more

Asia » Sri Lanka » Western Province » Colombo February 26th 2013

Having had the fear of god put into us by the Sri Lanka tourist book about travelling on public transport we had decided today was the day. With warnings of grabbing, gropping and rapes, we took necessary precautions. Dressed from head to toe in big baggy clothes, padlocked rucksacks & appropriate running shoes to flee from the baddies, we were feeling pretty confident in our armour for our battle with the bus. As we got on the empty bus, now overdressed, hot and carrying the weight of a small elephant on our backs, we sat guiltily as old grannies, school children and the nice folk of Sri Lanka got on after us. The bus went slow enough to catch a look at the locals chatting on the streets, the mixture of shops (some advertising "All imported ... read more

Asia » Sri Lanka » Western Province » Colombo January 23rd 2013

"AYUBUWON" Through this blog I will try to provide as much information as I can to describe the majestic beauty of Sri Lanka and the A to Z of travel to Sri Lanka. Let me describe the word "AYUBUWON" that I mentioned in the begining of the blog.It means "Hello","Welcome" in Sinhalese(local language of Sri Lanka). Let us start with all pre requisites for travelling to Sri Lanka. After booking the tickets, we need to apply for the visa.Actually its an "Electronic Travel authorization (ETA)".ETA is not required for residents of Maldives and Singapore.Residents of all other countries need to apply for an ETA. Applying for ETA is not a big deal as we can easily log into the site "http://www.eta.gov.lk/slvisa/ ",fill in our details,pay the necessary fees and submit.Usually within 24 hours ETA approval is ... read more
Colombo night view....from Galle Face Green
Colombo port.....North Gate
View from Ligh house.....Colombo

Asia » Sri Lanka » Western Province » Colombo January 23rd 2013

January 15…We arrived at the hotel in Weligama in the early afternoon after an uneventful drive down from Ella. The scenery definitely evolved as we came down from the higher elevation (Ella sits at approx. 1,000 meters, about the same as Calgary). It would have been nice to spend some additional time in Ella, as there are numerous hiking opportunities in the surrounding area. Something to do next time, I guess. The coastal regions of Sri Lanka were heavily damaged by the tsunami in late December 2004. I don’t remember hearing all that much about the impact here, likely because the civil war was still ongoing. 50,000 people died in various places along the coast and thousands more were impacted by the damage wrought by the sea. There is still much reconstruction to undertake in certain ... read more
Back of a Bus - Matara
Grafitti - Mirissa Beach
Sunrise Weligama Bay 1

Asia » Sri Lanka » Western Province » Colombo January 5th 2013

January 5...I'm at my uncle George's apartment, overlooking the Galle Face Green park and the ocean in Colombo. It's a bit gloomy and mostly overcast, but hot and humid outside, much like yesterday but without the persisitent drizzle. Apparently the rain that Colombo has been experiencing recently is somewhat unusual for this time of year. The journey from Calgary to Colombo was long but uneventful. The travel gods were smiling, as the flight from Los Angeles to Singapore (with a 2 hour layover in Tokyo) was not full and there was an empty seat between myself and the next passenger in my row. It was unexpected to have a bit more elbow room but very welcome when trying to manoeuver into a comfortable sleeping position. (a note for Dean W. - the plane was an Airbus ... read more
Butterfly Garden 2
Butterfly Garden 3
Butterfly Garden 4

Asia » Sri Lanka » Western Province » Colombo October 2nd 2012

Bright and early we were back on the wild Sri Lankan buses – heading to the ancient city of Anaradhaphuda as a diversion from the cricket for a few days. The journey was pretty standard, hot & sweaty, with even more heavy acceleration and braking than usual. On arrival we treated ourselves to rice & curry before searching out a place to stay that could offer us local trips (as well as the cricket on TV for Mark). We found a great place to stay that had all this and more – that meant a 4am start the next morning for our second safari day in Sri Lanka, this time in the Wilapattu National Park. We were looking forward to an exciting morning so the hour in a bumpy tuk tuk before we switched to the ... read more
Stupa & Tiny Tina
Bodhi tree
Galle face green cannons

Asia » Sri Lanka » Western Province » Colombo September 6th 2012

Firstly, apologies for being quiet on the blog front for a few days - the past couple of days have consisted primarily of 5am starts and full day coach journeys, which will be explained in more detail towards the end of this blog! Having been introduced to Colombo on an unusually quiet day, it was decided that we needed to be thrown in to the deep end, and shown how busy the streets normally are. So on Saturday, we were taken to Pettah, an enormous wholesale market in the middle of Colombo. However, the day didn't start too well, with Nick and Kirsty getting lost because their tuk-tuk driver didn't know where the clocktower at the market was - a tribute to the sheer size and intricacy of Pettah's streets! When the group was eventually reunited, ... read more

Asia » Sri Lanka » Western Province » Colombo August 31st 2012

After 24 hours of travel, including a brief stop in Dubai we finally arrived in Colombo. We were quickly initiated into the sticky Sri Lankan weather and the crazy roads as we took a 1 hour taxi journey to the hotel. Despite the tiredness everyone was in a good mood and we have quickly settled into our hotel, which we can't really fault. After dropping our bags Alex somehow deemed in necessary to go for a run in the 28'C heat, while the rest of us chilled. A short walk to the beach lead us to crashing waves, and plenty of bars and restaurants from which to choose. The cocktails and local Lion beer went down well and the food was fantastic. By this point everyone was ready for bed except for Tom who was "too ... read more




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