Blogs from Sri Lanka, Asia - page 9

Nachdem ich nun Colombo und die Gegend rund um Sigiriya erkundet hatte, wollte ich nun den Osten und den Norden Sri Lankas entdecken, also bin ich nach Trincomalee und nach Jaffna gefahren. Eigentlich hatte ich viel mehr im Osten sehen wollen, viel mehr Strände, aber Roy hat mir davon abgeraten und das war auch gut so. Im Moment ist Monsoon Zeit im Osten von Sri Lanka (komischerweise ist auf dieser kleinen Insel die Monsoon Zeit im Osten und im Westen unterschiedlich!) und somit war dort überall tote Hose, absolut nichts los, viele Läden, Restaurants und Bars geschlossen. Von Polonnaruva war es eine halbe Stunde Fahrt zurück nach Habanara und dann nochmal 2 1/2 Stunden nach Trincomalee von wo aus ich einen anderen 30 minütigen Bus zu dem Hostel nehmen musste, das ich für Eddy und mich ... read more

After travelling for ten days already, this is our last night in Sri Lanka; we have been so busy exploring this island nation that I have not had time, nor the will, to write. This little country with its beautiful name, Sri Lanka has both terribly congested cities and gorgeously beautiful landscapes that take your breath away. Colombo has little beauty; it is another overcrowded Asian city with modern signing on shops crammed next to each other on dirty city streets, plus it has the distinctive disadvantage of also having internationally known name brand stores, places I never want to shop in any country. How these expensive stores survive in poor countries is beyond understanding, but perhaps people feel that by having these expensive monstrosities their country can also partake in western culture, or at least ... read more

We saw Elephants today. We saw elephants roaming around in a wild environment. We also saw them not in the national park. I’m getting way ahead of myself here we will start at the beginning. Meg was met by a snake when she went to the toilet this morning. We THINK it was a common Krait (Dad please don’t google what a common krait is you will just freak yourself out). It backed out of the room immediately by Meg’s account. I know she wasn’t bitten because she didn’t have extreme paralysis and nearly die. So we’re all good. We hadn’t received a message from our driver as to when he would be here but he popped up at about 10am. He took us to a village safari where we would experience village life. This entailed ... read more

We were up and out of the hotel by the crack of dawn (I’m talking 6am) and at Ella train station. We were finally going to sample the world famous Sri Lankan railway system. We were travelling from Ella to Nuno Oya, which we were told was he most beautiful part of the journey, and the early time meant that whilst there were lots of tourists, there were substantially less than there would have been at half 9 which was the next available train. It may have been the early start coupled with the colossus of yesterdays expedition, but the train journey itself was a mixed bag. I will sum it up like so. The Good: 1. I know it’s a repetitive thing for Sri Lanka but again the journey itself is beautiful, it doesn’t really ... read more

After a breakfast and a second farewell to our Kandy host, we set off on the long long drive to Ella. The car meandered along steep inclines to the mountains in the centre of the island, where we stopped at Ramboda falls, which involved sneaking into the elevator of a hotel built on the cliffside (should have bought a ticket. For a lift. Don’t think so) and walking down to the view point about 10 metres above the bottom of the falls. On we continued before stopping for lunch in Nuwara Eliya, which is coincidentally where our train journey from Ella will end. The town itself is bigger than Ella and will show up first when you start zooming in on google maps. It was a lot cooler and intermittent light showers added a refreshing twist ... read more