Just a quick update this time as the views from the train were pretty spectacular - I also thought I would show that we don't always get taxi's while in Sri Lanka - just nearly always it seems. Anyway, the views from the train were pretty spectacular with more lush greenery and beautiful waterfalls to pass the time from Ella to Dalhouse - very nice indeed, although the trip was jaded a little as when we got on the bus to the hotel a local woman starting screaming abuse at us in mumbo jumbo - she was clearly distressed at something and it clearly looked as if it was directed at us - especially as everyone else on the bus kept on looking at us and laughing, fortunately a group of westerners arrived to catch a ... read more

Well now we've left the beach behind us we might as well continue with more animals so we head off to Yala National Park to hopefully see elephants, leopards, water buffalo, crocodiles, deer and various other wildlife including lots of birds… So we arrive (by taxi of course) and check into our lovely cottage and venture out to the most expensive hotel we could find and enjoy a beer by the lake before settling in, unfortunately it starts to rain - bugger, not good weather for animal watching as they tend to stay "indoors" as it were when the weather is bad so we have to hope the weather clears up for tomorrows safari... What can I say - someone above must be looking down on us as we wipe the sleep from our weary eyes ... read more

Well for a start we really have to start actually backpacking and stop taking taxi's everywhere. So taking a taxi we head south along the coast and witness the after effects of the Tsunami where even after a year and half people are still without homes, on the plus side there appears to be plenty of aid under way with the Red Cross from various countries in the progress of building new homes, here's keeping our fingers crossed for a better future. So with no particular place to stay we eventually find a really nice hotel - with one shoe box room available - so we take it. Unawatuna beach is much more built up to tourism than I expected and there are plenty of hotels along the beach which also have plenty of beachside bars ... read more

Wow - even the views from the airplane were pretty spectacular as we were flying in to Port Blair which is the capital on the island of Little Andaman. When we arrived at Port Blair we thought we would have to stay a night in the "capital" as the ferries to our final destination of North Havelock Island were only in the morning - it turns out if we hurried up we could catch an afternoon boat - yippee, Chennai to North Havelock in one day. Before we left Port Blair however we managed to book the cheapest accommodation on the Island at a government run place called the Dolphin resort which was pretty nice. It didn't take us long to explore the island and to find ourselves on a stunning beach with white sands and ... read more

Well after another beautiful beach we booked a grueling 12 hour night train to Kerela just to remind ourselves that we are actually backpacking and not just on vacation. Kerela is famous for the backwaters where you can hire your own personal house boat and cruise around the canals and lakes for a day. So after sharing the lovely 2nd class train with no air conditioning with quite a few locals and of course a few cockroaches as well we decided to treat ourselves and stay at a pretty posh hotel - this is definitely not the backpacking I remember... Well after a quick dip in the pool and another beautiful sunset at the beach while amusing the locals as I try and play catch with the local kids, we pack our overnight bags for a ... read more