Hi all, It's been a busy few days. Since our last update, we've spent a night in a tree house in the jungle, gone early morning (6am) bird watching, tried to find the ancient ruins of Kaludiyapokuna and failed (our driver didn't want to drive his car into the site as the road was too bumpy), watched the sun set over the lake (as locals washed their clothes and bathed), visited a spice garden in Matale and the botanical gardens in Kandy, attended a Sri Lankan dance performance, ate dinner at KFC, and of course climbed more stairs to see more temples. We are now in Kandy, home to the famous Kandy Festival held in August. During this time, 200 elephants are dressed up and decorated with lights for the 10 day celebration. Would be a ... read more

Climbing the 1200 steps to the top of Sigiriya took over an hour. Sigiriya was the palace and administration site for King Kasyapa during the late 400's. He reigned here for 18 years before committing suicide. If I were King Kasyapa or his queen, I could have been carried up the white marble stairs to the top. Oh well, got my exercise for the day. The entrance fee for tourist is $30 USD. Locals pay Rs50 (less than 50 cents). There were many school children at the site today, several of them were fascinated by our camera and white skin.... read more

Dear Family and Friends, Hope all is well with everyone. We are having a great time checking out the sights of Sri Lanka. The weather has been hot and muggy with the odd bit of rain. Saw our first elephants today walking along side the road/highway. Was very exciting! I finally figured out how to post the blog entries so everyone can view them, so if you please, there are three other blogs from this trip posted previously you can read. Take care. Love to all. B & K... read more

We arrived at Nilaveli Beach Resort after a long and bumpy drive from the ancient capital city of Anuradhapura. The resort is situated on the Indian Ocean with white sand beaches and crystal clear water. It over looked Pigeon Island, a small nature reserve. We took a boat to Pigeon Island for a couple hours of snorkeling. On the east side of the island is a bay filled with many different kinds of colourful tropical fish...no nemos (clown fish) but angel fish the size of your hand, eels and striped and spotted fish of every colour. On the west side of the island are coral reefs. It was like swimming in an aquarium and the water was even warm enough for me!! After returning back to the main land, we spent a couple of hours lounging ... read more

What a long flight! After leaving home we were on the go for almost 40 hours before finding a bed to crash in. It just so happened that bed was located in a mud house in the middle of the Sri Lankan "jungle". check out their website at www.themudhouse.lk It was very cool - sleeping in an open air hut under a mosquito net. The hotel restaurant was located a kilometer away so we had to ride bikes to get there. The food was great. Brad has been enjoying all the weird spicy foods. I'm not as adventurous. The last two days have been spent touring around various temples and archeological sites. The people and the sights have been fabulous. More updates to follow...when internet permits. Tomorrow we are off the the east coast of Sri ... read more