Blogs from Sri Lanka, Asia - page 129

The Ancient Cities An early 6am start to my day and my driver Anish was ready and excited about the 2 day trip that he had planned for me. A few days before l had approached a few taxi drivers that operate around the hotel area, with a list of places that l wanted the see whilst in Sri Lanka. After being quoted some of the funniest prices for this trip, l spotted Anish who had taken me a few times into town. I give him the list and his quote, with a hotel room for the night including evening meal and breakfast was still expensive compared to India but in the previous week l had learnt that Sri Lanka is not India and nor are there prices. Our first stop after a 3 hour ... read more

Dear friends, Please find attached some pictures illustrating my visit to Sri Lanka from October 21 to November 7, 2008. Basically, I visited Steffi in Colombo (she's woring for GTZ there) and travelled around with her and her boyfriend Daniel who flew in from Geneva. Was great fun!!! The route: Colombo - Kandy - Rangala - Nuwara Eliya (-- Horton Plains) - Tissamaharama (-- Yala National Park) - Hambantota - Polhena (Matara) - Unawatuna - Colombo. Unfortunately, the gouvernement intensed their war activities against the LTTE (aka Tamil Tigers) during our stay, resulting in a counter-attack on Colombo (whilst we were in Nuwara Eliya) in form of an air-strike. In general, Colombo was a bit mind-troubling, having Army check points every 50 meters and to being checked by them ever once in a while... However, the ... read more

I’d made the decision to end my big Asian adventure with a month in Sri Lanka for a number of reasons. First and foremost was to soak up paradise and get some waves after a long absence from the surf life and it was also a chance for Lisa to have some time to acclimatise to home after over a year and a half away from Sweden. It was everything I could have hoped for and more. I had some fantastic surfs, met some lovely people and saw some beautiful things. I completed my first official pilgrimage, climbing the 2243m Adam’s Peak, a sacred site for Buddhists, Muslims and Christians alike. The climb takes around 4 and a half hours from the base camp and is a tough slog despite having steps the whole way. Just ... read more

Although half way across the world, getting here wasn't all that traumatic. There was some confusion over how I managed to check into my London flight at Aberdeen airport (and thus whether or not my luggage would be transfered through) but I was just happy not to have missed the flight. The London to Colombo (via the Maldives) flight was alright, generously paid for by the 'Wood Family Trust'. 10 hours without air conditioning sitting beside a guy with a tendancy to cough all over me wasn't so good, but this was redeemed with all the free food and drink, not to mention SEATBACK TV's (!). Although after watching 'Kung Fu Panda' 3 or so times in a row I challenge anyone not to find Jack Blacks voice a little grating... I'm spending the rest of ... read more

Tour - Day One We started our tour of Sri Lanka on Saturday. We left the house at 4.30am so we could get to Pinawela Elephant Orphanage in time for the morning feed. We arrived at about 9.30am and the park was really busy; with tourists but also locals as it was a Saturday. There was also lots of military present as the Indian High Commissioner was visiting that day, so security was extremely high. I didn’t really like the elephant orphanage. Well I didn’t like it at all! The staff seemed to treat the elephants really cruelly, hitting them and shouting at them all the time and they were also chained up really tightly. I know they have to keep them under control, but it seemed a little excessive from where I was standing. One ... read more