Blogs from Kandy, Central Province, Sri Lanka, Asia - page 11

by Jan We entered the new year, the one with 366 days, and it was time to move on. Our holidays in Chiang Mai came to an end and it was time to get back to 'work' (travelling). We took the night bus to Bangkok, spent the day at the airport watching movies and in the evening boarded a flight to Colombo, Sri Lanka – our next destination. Upon arriving we were in for an unpleasant surprise. From the beginning of the year Sri Lanka started charging $25 per Visa on Arrival. If we arrived just two days before we could enter the country for free, but not any more. We paid the fees, got the receipt and were sent to the immigration counter. There we got our passports stamped. I love passports stamps, I am ... read more

We only did a couple of things in Kandy. We were feeling pretty lazy, and Ash has been increasingly under the weather. We saw a pretty incompetent doctor. Bit of a windbag, really, who seemed to think that Ash's nausea and exastion (which she had had for over a week at that point) were due to dietary issues, even though we explained that no, she hadn't been eating spicy food, and this had started in Turkey, so it can't just be Sri Lankan cooking. His suggestion was to pop 6 Aspirin a day for muscle pain (which she doesn't have). Hopefully we can get better care elsewhere. Anyway, we saw the Tooth Temple (where the Buddha's tooth is currently stored), which was really stunning, replete with lavish wood and stone carvings, and a lot of intricate ... read more

Edellispäivänä Nuwara Eliyassa tosiaan kuultiin, että koneet Perthiin on ihan täynnä eikä tulla pääsemään. Harmittaa ihan sikana, kun oltiin ihan valmistauduttu siihen, että tämän rypemisen jälkeen pääsee oikeaan kaupunkiin. Haluais olla muutaman päivän yhdessä sellaisessa paikassa, jossa on tarpeeksi tekemistä ilman että pitää koko ajan olla menossa johonkin suuntaan, muttei pitkästy totaalisesti. Tuntuu, että koko ajan on joku tuputtamassa jotain ostettavaksi tai jonnekin lähtemistä. Voisko ihan vaan olla omassa rauhassa, hiljaa paikallaan ja katsella?!?!?Eikä olis pahitteeksi nähdä vaihteeksi jotain kaunista ja puhdasta... On tullut toivottua jopa Starbucksia paikalle, pelottavaa!(tämä siis vain ilmastoinnin ja wifin takia) On tämä maa tainnut sitten aika voimille ottaa. Ensimmäinen S:n paniikkireaktio tuli eilen lauantaina Nanu Oyan juna-asemalla, kun yritettiin päästä Nuwara Eliy... read more

The Flights Our flight from Australia to Singapore to Kuala Lumpur to Sri Lanka was a really long journey. We slept at the airport in Singapore (a nice lady told us where we could find a quiet, out-of-the-way area to set up camp. I felt like a refugee, camping on the floor with about 50 others overnight! I had a good sleep though, she was right, there was nobody around other then our fellow campers! In KL we had an afternoon and evening to wait, so we got a hotel room to sleep. Our flight was at 5am, but we ended up sleeping until 7am, instead of waking up at 3 to go to the airport. Well. That was nice. I guess that's what happens when you try to travel for 48 hours non-stop. Neither Trung ... read more

Last night's decision to appoint Genty as team dietician sparked controversy as there were more obvious candidates for the job. With our last morning at the hotel in Kandy we were surprised by the early arrivals to the meeting of Barron, Bertie and Ellwood. At 8.45am we left for Colombo. On the journey to Colombo we stopped off at an elephant orphanage where we had the chance to ride and bath the elephants. Barron's face of terror and Connor's "this one's got reverse" comment were the highlights of the visit. After that we got back on the bus where everyone got a powernap only to be ruined by the immaturity of captain Ed Fricker, who thought it was funny to throw a foam rugby ball up and down the bus hitting a certain Tom Edwards in ... read more