Blogs from Sri Lanka, Asia - page 3

The two hour drive was quite nice, just watching the scenery fly by! We did do a pit stop. Ashkar, the driver, suggested I needed a green tea with ginger to pull me round! We were about halfway at that point, so I was ready for a break. I am feeling so tired because I didn’t manage to sleep on the flights, which is really unusual for me. I can normally sleep anywhere! It was lovely driving into the house gardens and seeing Ella. I haven’t seen her since October, I was just sorry that I couldn’t give her the gifts that I have brought from home as they are in my case, maybe she will get them tomorrow! I got a shower whilst Ella sorted out a tee shirt and shorts for me to wear, ... read more

This trip to Sri Lanka is a return visit to a country we first came to in 2016. On that occasion we did most of the normal sights and a safari to Yala to see leopards. This time we have come in search of blue whales. We have tried previously here in Trincomalee and last year off the coast of Chile. Despite two five hour trips this time we didn't see whales of any description. So it's obviously not meant to be. On 2nd February, my 69th birthday, we arrived in Colombo about 6pm at the colonial Galle Face Hotel, a birthday treat from Chris, but boy has Colombo changed. Like many debt ridden countries it has sold its soul to China and India. A massive new Chinese built port and huge skyscraper hotels have completely ... read more

11 KASIM 2024 CUMARTESİ Sabah, denize girmeyi, gözümüz yemedi ve kahvaltıdan sonra program gereği, Galle ziyareti başladı… Galle,Colombo ya 120 km uzakta her zaman olduğu gibi çeşitli isimlerle adlandırılan önemli bir liman kenti… Tabi Dünya Miras listesinde yer alıyor… “Kimler geldi kimler geçti hayatımdan” diyen bir kent… Önce MÖ 1400 lerde Yahudi kıral Süleyman’ın ( Solomon ) Tarçın,fildişi ihtiyaçlarını karşılayan bir yermiş .. Hatta adını ibranice “baharat deposu” anlamına gelen Galle’den almış olduğu söyleniyor .. Arada, Ibn Batuta,Yunanlılar,Romalılar,İranlılar ,Çinliler,Araplar gelmiş geçmiş buralardan… Kaleyi ilk inşa edenlerin Portekizli olmasına rağmen ,Hollandalılar 1640 ta kaleyi alıyorlar ve bu günkü haline getiriyorlar .. Hollandalılara göre, buranın adı “Horoz” oluyor. Bugün dahi ... read more

9 KASIM 2023 PERŞEMBE Sabah erkenden yola çıktık… Chennai’den 9:40 uçağı ile bugün Sri Lanka ‘ya geçilecek … Chennai hava alanına zamanında vardık ve 11:30 civarında Sri Lanka’nın başkenti Colombo’ya vardık . Uçağa bindiğimiz andan itibaren bir "ayıboğan" dır gidiyor...hostesler herkese "ayıboğan" diyor .. Ben de nereden anladılar diye merak ediyorum .. Meğerse ayıboğan diye duyduğumuz "aybowan" ,günaydın,merhaba demekmiş...aklınızda olsun... Sri Lanka, Hint okyanusunda bir ada ülkesidir . 1972 de Sri Lanka adını almış daha önceki adı Ceylon ( seylan ) … Bu marka çok kuvvetli olduğundan hala bir çok ürünü ( özellikle Çay)..”Ceylon” diye pazarlıyorlar … Marka değiştirmek, belalı bir iştir …bilirim … Tarihine biraz değineceğiz ama yeri gelmişken söyleyeyim burası eskiden kahve... read more

The last place we stayed was another Heritance hotel, located south of Colombo in Ahungalla, after another beautiful drive through the mountains and jungle. This was intended to be more of a beach location and the least expensive hotel of our trip. It showed, but it was still nice! It seems mostly like it is probably a party place in normal times. They were trying to get us to join beach volleyball or water aerobics or water polo... But I think there were less than 20 people total staying the whole time we were there (4 nights). I felt a bit bad - the staff were super nice! The first day we just went to the pool bar for some nice fruity drinks and watched a few interesting guests: a couple learning to swim apparently and ... read more