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Published: February 13th 2011
I'm writing your from the beach resort of Bentota, where we arrived this evening, following a 4-day tour of Sri Lanka's "cultural triangle." Although the state of some roads was pretty bad, we never saw the destruction I feared seeing on the east coast. The weather has turned fine again, which is great for us, but also for all the poor people who must return to their homes and rebuild them.
There have been some mishaps on the trip: we were an hour late taking off from Paris CDG because a Palestinian forced "deportee" was making havoc and had to be removed from the plane (I was, at first, sitting across from him and the two policemen guarding him); the "group" on my tour turns out to be just 3 of us--me and a young couple in their 40's; we arrived at 3:30 in the morning local time and, after traveling for 12 hours with a stopover in Bahrein, had to immediately start driving for 5 hours; the first two nights the couple (Dominique and Sophie) were in a luxury hotel and I in a not so nice one 45 minutes away on a bad road; I found our tour guide
arrogant and "sexist"; much too much driving; no visit to Colombo; a small, rather isolated hotel in Bentota.
But there have been good things, as well: a very nice flight attendant moved me to business class on the trip from Paris to Barhein; our hotel in Kandy was beautiful; the driver (not the guide) was friendly and helpful; I did an excursion on my own to Polonnaruwa, which I loved, with a very nice taxi driver; the Cingalese people are, on the whole, friendly and smiling; I haven't seen that many mosquitoes, and it's not too hot; the Bentota beach is gorgeous and the water warm; Dominique and Sophie are very nice; I (we?) hope to take excursions to Colombo, Galle and maybe a national park.
So, all is fine. I didn't get to southern India (where I really wanted to go) this time round, but I'm enjoying the tropical climate and atmosphere of this island country. It's also interesting to be in a country that is mostly Buddhist, but with Hindu and Muslim minorities.
(Please note: there are 29 photos in all, so please click onto page 2 when you finish photo number 21)
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Paris
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Hilary, once again you are amazing! Thank you so much for sharing your journey with us, the good and the bad. My son always wanted to go to Sri Lanka and so it has always intrigued me. Hugs and hope to see you soon in Paris.