Blogs from Sabaragamuwa Province, Sri Lanka, Asia - page 2

Sri Lanka day 3 Two safaris, thunder, lightning and communication problems After 3 1/2 hours sleep I didn't hear either of the alarms we had set but luckily Claire did and we were soon up and ready to be collected for our first sfari of the day. I had booked and paid for two safaris via Tripadvisor and we re due to be collected at 5:30am. We tried and tried to explain this to Manuel (for he adopteth similar posturing to the character from Fawlty Towers) but he kept offering us tea and coffee and getting his mate to take us instead. He insisted on waiting for us at the end of the drive and kept telling us the jeep was late and asking 'jeep coming?' By 5:40 we were getting agitated more with him than ... read more

mmmm We've just been to the Maldives.....by mistake...... Apparently we're not the first and we undoubtedly won't be the last. Why is it never simple getting somewhere?? The trip began with roadworks and those dear numpties who love delaying people closing the mororway exit we needed to exit at. Luckily I like to get to the airport early and felt fully justified setting off early by the evil monster that is the M6. At the airport Claire had a pint of cheap lager, I had a coffee, it came to £9.35, I questioned it, it was apparently right. It's not right at all mate! We used their plug sockets to charge things and hopefully cost them a bit more. Gits. Istanbul airport is huge and we were getting our steps etc up as our Apple watches ... read more

If you ever travel the Hill Country of Sri Lanka during the national holiday, do NOT take the train unless you have booked a seat ahead or you only go for a short ride! If you’re travelling for more than 2 hours, then take the bus! From Haputale to Hatton (Adam’s Peak), we did not expect the train to be so full, and we ended up standing 4 hours, packed like sardines, which kind of defeats the purpose of taking the train to enjoy a relaxing ride through beautiful country… In Hatton, the bus to Dalhousie, the village at the foot of Adam’s Peak, was also jam-packed, but they organized another bus within 10minutes and we got to destination around 4pm, which gave us enough time to check in and walk around town to check out ... read more

We left Kandy at mid day and hit the road for a two hour drive to Kitulgala, which is much further up in the hills of Sri Lanka. We stopped at a local place to find one woman running around serving everyone her home cooked food in a buffet style. Marc tried some of the best chicken he had ever eaten! The rain was battering down as we enjoyed lunch and we were hoping this would make white water rafting in the afternoon even better. We pulled up to the white water rafting start point to find numerous companies all beside one another with very little tourists to entertain. So we went with Chin's recommendation and got geared up for the rapids. The white water rafting was fantastic and we even did body rafting (you swim ... read more

8 avril Je quitte la paisible auberge de Ratnapura ce matin, et je mise sur Embilipitiya pour mon dernier bond au Sri Lanka. Je m'étais promis de voir des éléphants en liberté avant mon retour au Canada, et jusqu'à présent, le seul pachyderme que j'ai pu voir ne semblait plus vraiment en état de fonctionner. Voilà donc la raison de mon choix de destination: Embilipitiya, ville située à une vingtaine de kilomètres de l'entrée du fameux Udawalawe National Park. "For elephant watching, Udawalawe often surpasses many of the most famous East African national parks" que m'informe mon guide de voyage papier. Pour voir des éléphants vivants, je crois que je serai bien servit ici. ... Je débarque du bus vomitif et entre dans la confusion étouffante de la station de bus d'Empilitiya. Pêle-mêle. C'est le désordre ... read more