Blogs from Central Province, Sri Lanka, Asia - page 9

Up early and a run around the lake, great seeing the town as it awakens and gets ready for another day. A lot of school children on their way to school (7.00am so school day must start early)and busses and other traffic gridlocked around the lake front. Came across Chris who was out having a walk. Breakfast in the guest house was good and included small rolled up pancakes with a coconut, caramelised sugar and cardamom paste inside. Really tasty and refreshing. One thing that was a bit off putting was the staff standing around watching and trying a little too hard to please, we understand they are doing there best and probably in the Sri Lankan culture it is ok but we found it uncomfortable. The lady who owns the guest house (and I would ... read more

Up early and leave at 6.30am to climb Lion Rock. Marie and Donna decided to stay at the bottom and look at the ruins and gardens there while Chris and I went to the top. A great walk up, mix of stone stairs, steel stairs hanging off sheer faces, a couple of spiral staircases. On the way up you pass through an area with a rock overhang and the back wall has the remain of a number of ancient paintings. The top was spectacular, 360deg views and because we were so early and made good time up there was only a handful of people there. Even managed to spot the girls down on the flat! After a quick look around the museum returned to hotel and breakfast and into another van for a ride to Kandy. ... read more

Via een tussenstop aan de Cave Temples in Dambulla (vijf grotten met ongeveer 150 Boeddhabeeldjes en muurschilderingen) en een spice garden wat verderop (waar we niet enkel uitleg kregen bij een hele resem kruiden, maar ook een massage voor Yves en Ella) bereikten we Kandy, thé place to be tijdens de jaarlijkse festiviteiten van de Perahera. We namen zonder al te veel spijt afscheid van Su. Vanaf hier zouden we ons met het openbaar vervoer verplaatsen. Dat privévervoer is bij nader inzien toch niet aan ons besteed; de onvoorspelbaarheid van elke dag ontbrak, we hadden zelfs heimwee naar de vaak oncomfortabele ritten en misten het om plakkerig op de bus te staan (of in het beste geval zitten) met de plaatselijke bevolking, om de geuren en kleuren van het land op te snuiven en om de ... read more

Driving through the tea plantations in Nuwara Eliya is something I won’t forget in a long time from my holiday to Sri Lanka. The roads wind along the gentle hills which are completely carpeted with lush tea plantations for as far as the eye can see. Spotted throughout the plantations is the occasional waterfall and you can see the occasional tea picker out in the fields going about their work. On Day 10 we arrived at a tea factory where we learnt about the tea making process and the history of the tea production on the island (first started by us Brits). We then went on to tour Nuwara Eliya which you can definitely see the British influence in the various buildings that used to house the colonials. I also distinctly remember the temperature here was ... read more

Day 7 of my Sri Lankan holidaydidn’t quite match the previous days in terms of excitement, although this may be because I’m much more interested in visiting the historic sites in Sri Lanka and learning about its history. We first visited the elephant orphanage in Pinnewala which looks after a few dozen orphaned wild elephants. Some may find this enjoyable, but seeing some of the elephants with chains around their ankles and how some of the keepers wanted tips for people to touch the animals made me think twice. I’d much prefer to see animals in the wild and leave what are meant to be sanctuaries behind closed doors so there’s not a possibly perceived conflict between animal welfare and profit. Maybe I’m being unfair, but personally this didn’t sit right for me. After making our ... read more