Page 9 of Wadey1966 Travel Blog Posts


Asia » Sri Lanka » Sabaragamuwa Province » Udawalawae NP September 12th 2017

Crikey, day 10 already! Must be time to move on too as we've been in this place for THREE whole nights. The people have been lovely but the bathroom doesn't drain properly so you have more sand in your feet when you come out than when you went in. Also the fan is crap and nights have been very hot-during another power cut last night the room would have baked bread. But the breakfasts were good and plentiful and included in the bargain price of just over £6 per night. No haggling, no pretending to know English, just £6 a night. The other day our tuk tuk driver had introduced us to his son who had a tuk tuk too. Quelle surprise! He had offered to take us to Uda Walawe for 5000lkr in under 2 ... read more
IMG_3048
IMG_3049
IMG_3050

Asia » Sri Lanka » Southern Province » Weligama September 11th 2017

I had researched whalewatching before we came to Sri Lanka and the general concensus was that this was not the best time of year to see whales in Mirissa. We looked at going to Tricomalee but it would have been a hell of a diversion just to do that one activity, so Mirissa it was. Further investigation highlighted Raja and The Whales as the original and best company to go with. They stick to the guidelines to protect the whales and are good at what they do....or so the majority of people say.... I have now joined that majority. We were picked up by tuk tuk at 5:55am and taken to their office where we were given seasick pills and a bottle of water to take them with. Claire used the facilities and was very ... read more
IMG_3014
IMG_3015
IMG_3045

Asia » Sri Lanka » Southern Province » Koggala September 10th 2017

So what did you do this morning? We set out just to do a tea plantation and ended up doing a whole lot more. Tripadvisor and Lonely Planet both recommended the same tea plantation Hundungona so we commandeered a tuk tuk driver to take us there, wait for us and bring us back for 2500lkr. We headed off and it soon became clear that our driver didn't know where he was going. He kept having to ask people and in the end I put google maps on so we eventually ended up at the right place. Sorry....just need to backtrack....last night, I'm asleep and I feel something on my wrist. In the half dark I see something about an inch long, I shake it off and turn on the light but see nothing. I look under ... read more
IMG_3002
IMG_3003
IMG_3005

Asia » Sri Lanka » Southern Province » Weligama September 9th 2017

A veritable lie in until 5:45 was followed by packing up as we were on the move again. We don't often spend three nights in one place so we were beginning to feel like we'd moved in. Lion Lodge comes recommended; it's expensive compared to some places but it's clean, the staff are great and you get the room you booked at the price you booked at. Thuminda picked us up at 7 and we set off on what google maps estimated to be a 7 1/2 hour journey to Mirissa. Our first stop was for a puncture. People had been pointing this out so Thuminda stopped and saw a rear tyre was going down. Somehow we were right opposite a tyre place! Actually that brings me to something I've been thinking about mentioning. They used ... read more
IMG_2996
IMG_2997
IMG_2998

Asia » Sri Lanka » Central Province » Sigiriya September 8th 2017

Sri Lanka day 6: A safari, a village tour, a peckerhead, a mountain and more The day has broken, there is an elephant about 100 metres away, you want to photograph it....would you: a. Set the camera to auto, it's light enough so you don't have to worry about the flash going off and potentially scaring the elephant away. b. Set the appropriate ISO on your camera and maybe shoot in aperture priority so the camera sorts the shutter speed for you. c. Slap a bloody great flash gun on the top of your camera which will make no difference whatsoever to the picture as you're so far away but it may still startle the elephant? If you chose c you join the ranks of peckerhead first class and join the idiot we saw this morning ... read more
IMG_2983
IMG_2985
IMG_2986

Asia » Sri Lanka » Central Province » Sigiriya September 7th 2017

Yes we're trying to cram as much as possible into one day again and the only let down was the first thing that happened, or didn't happen actually. Claire let me lie in until 5:15 and then we tried to catch sunrise and Sigirya in the same shot. Sadly the sunrise let us down and was devoid of any colour whatsoever so we went back to our room for half an hour to get ready. There are lots of dogs here, most of them strays and most of the time they don't bother you, well apart from lying in the road. But this morning us walking down the road seemed to set every dog off barking which made us feel a tad guilty as it was still dark. Just a tad mind. Sigiriya opens at 7am ... read more
IMG_2967
IMG_2968
IMG_2969

Asia » Sri Lanka » North Central Province » Anuradhapura September 6th 2017

As seems to be the norm in Sri Lanka the day began with confusion. Firstly we came to pay and, as the price had gone up when we got here, we hadn't changed enough rupees... And we haven't seen anywhere to get more but somehow we managed to pay some in pounds and the rest in rupees. Manuel checked this on the phone with his manager in Kandy who said it was okay and then asked to speak to me. He asked if we'd had a nice stay and asked for a good recommendation on booking.com. I told him about the room price change and he asked me to give a good review on booking.com. I'm not sure he understood me... And then Manuel asked us to sign his visitors' book.... He has really tried to ... read more
IMG_2957
IMG_2958
IMG_2960

Asia » Sri Lanka » Sabaragamuwa Province » Kegalle September 4th 2017

Sri Lanka day 3 Two safaris, thunder, lightning and communication problems After 3 1/2 hours sleep I didn't hear either of the alarms we had set but luckily Claire did and we were soon up and ready to be collected for our first sfari of the day. I had booked and paid for two safaris via Tripadvisor and we re due to be collected at 5:30am. We tried and tried to explain this to Manuel (for he adopteth similar posturing to the character from Fawlty Towers) but he kept offering us tea and coffee and getting his mate to take us instead. He insisted on waiting for us at the end of the drive and kept telling us the jeep was late and asking 'jeep coming?' By 5:40 we were getting agitated more with him than ... read more
IMG_2948
IMG_2950
IMG_2952

Asia » Sri Lanka » Sabaragamuwa Province » Kegalle September 4th 2017

Sri Lanka day 2 From a big pile of dung to washing elephants in the river Today was mostly about an elephant called Seetha. And the big pile of poo was at a dung factory. Yes, after breakfast, we started our day with a visit to a dung factory which surprisingly didn't stink. That may have something to do with elephant poo being 90% fibre but I'm not sure. What I do know is that this place turns elephant poo into paper, book covers, greetings cards etc. They export to many countries yet still use old equipment and do things mainly by hand. It was quite a fleeting visit but we got to hold and sniff elephant poo which had only gone through stage one of the process so who can complain? Despite it saying the ... read more
IMG_2914
IMG_2916
IMG_2919

Asia » Sri Lanka » Sabaragamuwa Province » Kegalle September 3rd 2017

mmmm We've just been to the Maldives.....by mistake...... Apparently we're not the first and we undoubtedly won't be the last. Why is it never simple getting somewhere?? The trip began with roadworks and those dear numpties who love delaying people closing the mororway exit we needed to exit at. Luckily I like to get to the airport early and felt fully justified setting off early by the evil monster that is the M6. At the airport Claire had a pint of cheap lager, I had a coffee, it came to £9.35, I questioned it, it was apparently right. It's not right at all mate! We used their plug sockets to charge things and hopefully cost them a bit more. Gits. Istanbul airport is huge and we were getting our steps etc up as our Apple watches ... read more
IMG_2904
IMG_2905
IMG_2906




Tot: 0.225s; Tpl: 0.008s; cc: 11; qc: 107; dbt: 0.1479s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.3mb