Blogs from Asia - page 145

Saturday 7 March, 2020 A good nights sleep. Plan for today, try to find a cricket stadium. The England cricket team are playing two test matches against Sri Lanka in late March just after we leave. However, they are playing two warm up matches, one not to far from Negombo and the other in Colombo, while we are still here. After doing some research, we have been able to find out some details and the first game is at Katunayake stadium near the airport. The information is sketchy and not wholly encouraging me as how accurate it might be. However we thought we would at least try to find it. Stirred at 6.50 am. Left at 9.50 am. The first step was to get to Negombo. So we went to the bus stop and a blue ... read more

Udaipur to Jodhpur We had about a 2 hour drive through interesting countryside this morning, through small villages, and busy people about their daily lives. Lots going on with animals and harvesting. Also plenty of marble cutting factories and lorries piled high with all shapes and sizes of marble.A bit further was the sand stone cutting factories and mines, this is were all the Indian patio slabs come from. Stone is used for everything, even fence posts around animals. Wood is very scarce. Set in the lush green valley of the Aravalli mountain is the Ranakpur Jain Temple, which is one of the biggest and most important Jain Temple complexes with 28 halls, 80 domes supported by the 1444 marble columns, no two alike. The carvings were beautiful. Unfortunately I didn’t pay for a camera permit ... read more

Wednesday 4 March, 2020, cont'd During our walk this morning we had spotted several laundrys and many restaurants, some of which we might even like to try. There were a couple of Italian restaurants, next door to each other which caught Pat's eye. So we headed out at 6.30 pm to find a laundry and then eat. We had it in our minds that the first laundry was a little way along and then the Italian restaurants followed. We walked and walked and came to the restaurants! Well we had got that all wrong. Next we walked past the cafe and the shop we visited this morning. Both guys were out on the street and we said hello. Finally after walking even further we spotted the laundry which was up a side alley. It was a ... read more

Saturday, 7th March 2020 It was awesome to start the day with a swim at the hotel's infinity pool. From where I stood, the morning views of the city was unforgettable. At 8am, this was probably the best time of the day to be at the pool when the majority of the hotel guests were either asleep or having their breakfast. Since we had opted out from the hotel buffet, it was time to check out some breakfast options at Chinatown after the swim. Whether it was local porridge or chicken drumstick hor fun or char kuay teow, there were plenty of delicious options for us. Our gourmet journey continued to the local market where there were options for some kueh kuehs and keropok from one of the many colorful vendors around. Next, no visit to ... read more

Friday, 6th March 2020 The trip to Pekanbaru was put together some three weeks ago with H during a friend's gathering. Torn between Kuantan in Malaysia and Pekanbaru in Sumatra, we decided on the latter for a fresh perspective. We flew off on Friday afternoon and it didn't help that I was sick between Monday to Wednesday prior to the trip. Thankfully, I managed to stage a recovery on time and by Friday, we were ready to board the flight from Changi Airport. Touching down at the modern Sultan Syarif Kasim II International Airport some 50 minutes later, our hotel at the Zuri Pekanbaru was another 20 minutes away by car. Ideally situated closed to shopping facilities, the modern hotel boasts a beautiful infinity pool on level 19 of the property - a very welcoming respite ... read more