Blogs from Kandy, Central Province, Sri Lanka, Asia - page 16

MERRY CHRISTMAS. Hey everyone, well we reached kandy yesterday, which bizarrely reminds me of wales due to the hilly landscape. We paid the equivalent of 90p to travel for 5 hours on the bus, puts our transport system to shame, everyone was very helpful and friendly and made sure that we got on the right bus. The scenery was fantasticand would definately recommend it even if we were covered with dust by the time we arrived. We had to haggle like mad for a tuk tuk, they are notorious here for inflated costs for tourists but managed to get one for 150 ruppees about 70p, to get us to the guesthouse. We are staying at a place run by a german and sri lankan family, and its lovely and clean and airy. Its on the top ... read more

FRENCH Il y a des policiers et des soldats de l'armée srilankaise partout dans la ville, postés à peu près tous les 20 mètres les uns des autres, avec ici et là des barrages routiers et des postes de contrôle... Pourtant, paradoxalement(?), on ne se sent pas vraiment en sécurité quand on marche dans les rues de Colombo... La propagande qu'on a pu lire récemment dans les journaux alimentant davantage la paranoïa, on marche le long de la en éspérant que les tigres du LTTE ne décident pas d'assiéger la chaîne de télé nationale dans les 30 secondes à venir... On....Il n'y a pas de plus car le ordinateur ete mal! Desolee! ... read more

So Folks here we are again, another week over, where is the time going? Today, 4th February is Independence Day here in Sri Lanka, so ‘Happy Independence Day Sri Lanka’, but more importantly it’s my nephew birthday no matter what country you are in, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY WARREN xxxx Last weekend took me to Kandy, a lovely small city (or large town not sure which). It is famous and holds real esteem for Buddhists because of the ‘Temple of the Tooth’, this is to Buddhists what the Vatican is to Catholics and Mecca is to Muslims and I had a very special tour round the place. The High Priest of the Temple is the very guy that founded Vagira (the Home I am placed at) and because we let him know we were there we were ... read more

Relaxing at the Kandy House Heading off south from Sigiriya to Kandy, we stopped about 20km from Dambulla at the Nalanda Gedige, a little-visited temple (Ervin had never been there) that, uniquely, blends the design of south-Indian Hindu temples with traditional Sri Lankan Buddhist architecture. It is a thousand or more years old, very beautifully proportioned, and sits in a delightful spot on a peninsular jutting into a large artificial lake. Some sources say that the gedige (image house) is also built at the geographical centre of the island, but very little appears to be known about it. Carrying on south we stopped to explore one of the many spice gardens along this road where Lisa made several purchases of Ayurvedic potions and we had a "light lunch" of rice and nine different curries; it was ... read more

We last left you in Singapore, and when we left Singapore it was in an absolute frenzy - so much so that we almost missed our plane and we probably would have had they not called for us over the airport PA system. It all started with Suz's lost journal that contained the tickets, phone numbers, and other important details that are required when embarking on a seven month trip. Luckily we were on e-tickets so not too much drama there, the rush came from mucking around the airport trying to track down the lost diary (which we realised we'd left at the little India post office) and taking paparazzi snaps with Paris Hilton! Oh, and as a side note the nice lady at Singapore customs gave us lollies ... service with a smile and sweets! ... read more