Yesterday, I came back to Hotel Ali and after having a much needed proper shower after two days, walked about did my emailing and went to bed around 1230am...it was good to see Nouri again who was going to leave the day before but as most relaxed slow traveller are, he was still there... I, woke up around 815am did the three S's had breakfast and called Aziz's friend in Marak, Hussain and he said he will meet me in 1.5hrs. I went to email and burn a dvd in the meantime. Its 3 days being in Morocco and I have [View Full Entry]

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Woke up at 930am after the late night out and went back to the hotel. Wanted to go to the Portugese fort but it was shut. Instead climbed a few building to get good panoramic views of the city. The best view of Essaouira is from the terrace of Majestic hotel which I came across quite by chance. The only building taller than this is the mosque and obviously you can’t et there. Only the loudspeakers are fixed there. I called one of the friends I met yesterday Aziz as promised and we were going to meet at 1pm. I work [View Full Entry]

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Woke up around 830am had the hotel breakfast which is included in the price of the dorm...they served bread, omlette, creps, yogurt, orange juice and coffee. Afterwards I put my backpack into a locker room and left to Essaouira which took approx 3.5hrs. The guy at the bus station said its Dhm45 and then i said the guidebook says 35 then he said thats without luggage and i said i dont have luggage hence I paid 35. In Moroccon buses you pay for your ticket and if you have luggage you got to pay separately to the guy who puts the [View Full Entry]

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Ryan air flight got to Marrakech at 930am. I met Daniel an American doing a Ph.D. at LSE in London at the Luton airport. We took a bus from the airport to the medina. The return ticket cost me Dhm30 valid for 2 weeks while a single was Dhm20. The bus ride took about 15mins. I had booked a hostel from hostelworld but that was very poorly rated. The only reason I booked it was so that I had an accomodation confirmation to show the Moroccan embassy in London. This was the cheapest hostel on the web for Marakesh. Daniel said [View Full Entry]

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I have finally reached my destination london and my trip Colombo - London in 50 days has finally ended. Visited Countries Map Thank you for everyones input, Take care and all the best !!! Be Happy !!!!! Vaj [View Full Entry]

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I went for the Depeche Mode concert and the atmosphere was absolutely amaying......here are the pictures.... [View Full Entry]

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Long distance buses Iran’s long distance buses are of two types. The older and the newer buses: The older buses are by Mercedes Benz and the newer once are from Volvo, Scania and MAN buses. The Benz is about half the price as the other 3 but much slower. Comfort wise as well the other 3 looks better than the Benz. You go to the terminal and tell them where you want to go and by the ticket. In Esfahan the price seemed constant however in Tehran you can negotiate. First I was told the Volvo bus from Tehran to Istanbul [View Full Entry]

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Woke up at 6:30am and hurried to the Bank Melli Central branch only to find out that they don’t change TC's. Well now my only hope is the good old Sri Lankan embassy. Mehdi had the address in his diary and we went there. To see they have shifted. They had shifted 2 years ago but information wasn't updated in the Tehran direct inquiries. Then we stopped by at the Syrian embassy and asked them if they knew the new address of the Sri Lankan embassy. I figured that if an embassy is to move they should at least notify the [View Full Entry]

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Woke up around 7:30am, had Lavash, Nutella, Honey and Butter for breakfast. Mehdi and I went to the National History Museum. Mehdi showed his pass as he is doing Tourism planning for his degree and only told them that I was a student and they gave a 50% discount. Even though I am not much of a museum fan, there were a few impressive things. I liked the Iranian Salt Man, some of the old characters and statues. Some palatial ruins like artefacts which reminded me of Anuradhapura. Where you have the wooden columns in this instance like the stone columns [View Full Entry]

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Woke up around 7:30am, went across the street bought some Barbari (one of the four types of bread in Iran) came back to my dorm and ate it with cheese and Nutella. Afterwards checked my email at the hostel and called Beyruse. He said he will come at about 11am. I checked out of the hotel and put my luggage in Beyruse’s car and went roaming around the city centre. Afterwards Beyruse took me to the Soffeh bus terminal and I took the 1pm bus to Tehran. Once in the bus I continued to read Pet Semetary and then I suddenly [View Full Entry]

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