Blogs from Western Province, Sri Lanka, Asia - page 6

As the Sri Lankan adventure slowly moves towards finishing so to has my timeliness with this blog. I am now two days behind and writing this on the morning of our final day. There is an unspoken rule amongst us blog writers that all blogs must be completed prior to disembarking in your home country. Hence the two days covered here and what will probably be two days in the next posting. After our trip to Galle we decided upon a quieter day so a trip to the beach followed by a cooking class and dinner in the guest house. Tuk tuks to Polhena beach which was about 6km from Marissa so 15minutes by tuk. The staff at guest house said this was a beach favoured by local folk not so much by tourists but was ... read more

With an evening flight we had one day to see Colombo. Our host made us breakfast and waxed lyrical about his vinyl collection and his 1960 mini and Morris Minor and we were serenaded by Elvis playing on an antique record player while we ate. He also guided us on where to go today and called us a tuk tuk that wouldn't rip us off. Just 180lkr later we were in Independence Square and wee had a wander round there and the surrounding gardens and memorial which were all very nice. Once you get on the streets though about a million tuk tuks will offer you their services and try and rip you off. We had been warned that we would be offered the chance to go to a Buddhist festival that was only happening today ... read more

Here are the photos from Negombo... read more

Our Travel Day – Monday, 4 September to Colombo We departed Brisbane at 2.30pm on our flight to Sri Lanka arriving at the Colombo International Airport at 11.45pm local time which is 4 ½ behind Australia. We had 2 hours in Singapore on the way. It was a dry, balmy night when we arrived and had no problems catching a recognised taxi to our Hotel which was in Colombo 1 district, about 35 minutes from the airport. A bit about Sri Lanka before we start: Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an island country located southeast of the Republic of India and northeast of the Maldives. Its current existence is due to the merger of several empires present on the island under European colonial rule. The island is home to many ... read more

Well after a really hectic couple of weeks we were finally on our way for another adventure with travel buddies, Chris (or Crice as he is know in Nepal) and Donna. Drive to the airport and checkin departure etc uneventful and by midnight we're safely belted into our seats and off to Singapore. Skipped dinner. Eleven, somewhat uncomfortable, hours with a reasonable sleep for me and practically none for dear Marie and we arrive for a short stopover. During the flight both I and Chris showed signs of nose/throat infections so that started a couple of days of us harassing pharmacists for drugs without the requisite prescriptions(more developments to come). Alas no antibiotics available at Changi but Chris did get some nasal spray, albeit so expensive he's going to keep it in room safes for the ... read more