HE SAID... Today we were travelling inland (north-east) from Negombo to Dambulla and Sigiriya. We left Negombo around 9:30am after an early morning visit to the beach town’s fish markets and lagoon foreshore. We initially travelled north, hugging the western coastline for about an hour until we arrived in the small township of Madampe. We visited a colourful Hindu temple (Murugan Kovil) on the main road, and I was struck by the modern tin-clad structure that protected the statues from the elements. It had the feeling (to me) of a gigantic farm shed, where bales of hay could easily have been stacked from floor to ceiling. The statues themselves were very colourful and impressive, albeit a little too modern and garish. There’s a captivating charm to old stone temples… Unfortunately, this temple hadn’t captured much charm ... read more

HE SAID... Today we were travelling south from Kandy to Bogawantalawa, then north-west to Negombo. While our final destination was the coastal town of Negombo, our main destination was Bogawantalawa, a small town in Sri Lanka’s Hill Country. Famous for its tea estates, Bogawantalawa is where Ren’s mother lived as a child and where her grandfather and great-grandparents are buried. We woke at 6am, organised our packs and prepared for a long day of travel. We headed down to the hotel’s dining room and opted (horror of horrors) for the Western breakfast! The generous breakfast included fresh pineapple juice, a fruit platter, toast and jam, waffles and treacle, omelette with chilli and onion, fried mushrooms and a large pot of tea – it was fantastic. We checked out of Viyana Boutique Hotel with a hint of ... read more

HE SAID... After a comfortable flight from Singapore (just under four hours), we touched down at Bandaranaike International Airport at midnight. The airport is in Katunayake, which is 40 kilometres from Colombo. We had a reasonably quick transition through customs, although standing in a slow moving queue to get our passports checked and stamped was a little tedious in the humid midnight air. We made our way out of customs, found our pre-arranged transfer vehicle and sped off towards Colombo, arriving at our hotel (Taru Villas Lake Lodge) around 1:15am. A very tired hotel manager was waiting up for us, and after some preliminary paper work, he showed us to our room. The place was amazing, with heaps of room. We dropped our packs, showered and crashed at 2:30am. After just four hours’ sleep, we woke ... read more

We build the road and the road builds us... ~ Sri Lankan Proverb Ayubowan and Vanakkam people! It’s a well-known fact that the best way to combat the winter blues in Tasmania is to plan a trip. We had just got back from hot and sunny Mexico in June 2016, and we were really struggling with the blast of winter that Tasmania was spewing forth. On one of those cement-grey, soul-suckingly cold and sodden days, we decided that the next country we travelled to would have to be so hot that we’d only need one layer of cotton clothing at any one time! After marking its time on our travel list for the last 10 years, Sri Lanka had finally burst to the top of the shortlist. We wrestled with our shortlist more than normal this ... read more

HE SAID... Today we were leaving Mexico City and returning to Australia. We left our incredible apartment at the Red Tree House in Condesa around 11:45am, jumped into a taxi and sped towards the Benito Juarez Mexico City International Airport, arriving at 12:15pm. After trying and failing a self-check-in, we checked in at the counter and made our way through to the gate lounge. Ren picked up a pair of Frida Kahlo Converse sneakers, and we used our last remaining pesos on a blue and white ceramic plate decorated with the ubiquitous Day of the Dead skull. We boarded our flight to Los Angeles at 3:30pm. I was one of six passengers from the entire flight to be randomly selected for a security check. It wasn’t too bad, although having to virtually take my top off ... read more