Josh1990

As of a wait for my Vietnam visa to activate in 4 days time I bus east to savvanakhet the following day, a pleasant mini city with good eating options and a picturesque downtown area, return to Phin and crawling 20k onto xepon via a few off beat village diversions, a cheerful food market in xepon fit with curbside piglet sales in the morning time! a local tip leads to a lazy half day washing clothes in a set of nearby rapid/waterfalls. A night in the town known as dong, after seeing a few trucks in town with dudes dancing to loud pop tunes I find a vibrant party atmosphere and festivities at a local wat on a random excursion, greeted with a cup of cold beer and flowers pinned on my shirt I buy some ... read more

Tavel south to via Puttalam to chilaw for a very enjoyable stay with couchsurfing host Roshan and his dear mum; a lovely home in a pleasant town. 03/04/16 I venture back 10k north to Anawilundawa and charm myself someone's bicycle for an enjoyable morning roll around the lesser known listed wetland. Very pretty and pleasingly heavy with birdlife, I return to Roshan's house until after a tasty lunch and head on my way via Kurunegala to Kagalle for a nights stay. 04/04/16 bus to Pinnawala and swing by to learn more of the nearby millennium elephant foundation (slightly construed ethics - essentially a heavily funded elephant riding park lol ) then after lunch dodging the mammoth entrance fee wonder down & watch the Pinnawala herd bath in the river. I bus south onto Ratnapura, 05/04/16 enjoy ... read more

Sri Lanka family road trip 18/03/16 meet up with Tom & Amy after their delayed arrival; get our drivers licence permit visit the attractive Buddhist temple complex 7k from town, stroll the national museum and later tuck into a finger licking crab & prawn supper @ "ministry of crab" restaurant. 19/03/16 catch our pre booked 9am train to Kandy; 3 hours of scenic mountain track through forest. Clock into Kandy and tuk to a guest house near the lake, grab a tasty curry lunch and whip around town struggling to find self drive car hire, lots of shaky heads and thumbs down due to a holiday weekend but eventually track down a winner and loosely arrange a mystery car for the following morning. 20/03/16 Visit the impressive botanical gardens in the morning and fetch our Nissan ... read more

28/02/16 arriving an hour early @ 4am but still manage to seamlessly connect to Pollachi where I enjoy morning chai until meeting up with Harish (couch surfing host) to spend a morning at his tennis club with a great crowd & super breakfast, I get to see Harish's side business venture producing artisan chocolate from their own crop. After a catch up on sleep and town stroll before an enlightening visit to one of his impressive bio diverse spice & coconut plantation. Route back via local cattle market before an awesome evening with Harish & his lovely wife. Tasty food, farming chat & a manutd win on the box. 29/02/16 a morning lie in and with my new friend's assistance jump on the bus south to Topslip for some further time in the wild. Anamalai tiger ... read more

16/02/16, in hind sight an overnight bus was the better option, though a scenic train track through the heights of tropical forest however being one of the standing sardines in a thickly packed out second class coach (fit with crazy man lock & chained to a bar) for a delayed 8 hours wasn't so romantic as planned! Cruise into Hampi by local bus from station and enjoy a further 3 full days foot & cycle exploring not just a monolithic pick'n mix of temples, structures and grand enclosures yet a fully qualified horizon gulping landscape of river, rock and ruin. switching 300 rupee digs daily to spend the first exploring the temples north of the water with the latter two exploring all major sights by foot & bike in the south. 20/02/16 after my first night ... read more