Anuradhapura, as I mentioned in my previous post, Is Sri Lanka's oldest capital, and the birthplace of Buddhism in Sri Lanka. The old city, which is quite impressive in size, contains one of South Asia's best collections of archaeological and architectural wonders. The massive site, a UNESCO Heritage site - spans several square kilometres, and contains crumbling ruins of Temples, huge dagobas, tall brick towers, ancient pools/ponds, statues and stone carvings dating back 2000+ years. The city itself was named capital way back in 340 BC… Yes it has been that long… In the years 247-207 BC, Buddhism gained traction on the island, and Anuradhapura became a great, glamourous city. The city fell several times to invaders, but held onto its importance for about 500 years, when it was finally replaced by Polonnaruwa in the East. ... read more

Nuwara Eliya is quite a bit cooler due to its high altitude at 2000m... it doesn’t seem like 12 degrees would be cold, but add high humidity and it chills you to the bone! I thought I was a hardy Canadian, but I have to say - I was thoroughly chilled, with the only way to warm up being to go for a brisk walk or snuggle under a warm blanket. As I mentioned, there was no heat in our guesthouse and hot water wasn’t the greatest either. Anyway - after we arrived - it had just finished raining, so add that to the mix - Barry had no sweater or warmer clothes with him... he decided he didn’t want to carry extra weight, so opted to shed everything at the airport in Edmonton. He had ... read more

Sooo - In my last blog - I mentioned that Barry wasn't feeling 100% and that he had a cough… Well I MADE him go see a Dr as it sounded like it was getting deeper into his lungs…. We asked the owner of our guesthouse, Arman- If he could recommend a good doctor in Galle… well not only did he recommend one, but he drove Barry to to the Dr. and waited for him! How is that for hospitality… We were hoping for just an address and we would catch a Tuk Tuk. The owner is Sri Lankan, but has a German wife, so they spend time between Sri Lanka and Germany. This is the third time that someone has gone above and beyond for us this trip… In our guesthouse in Bentota, they offered ... read more

Yesterday's bike part search was a success! Barry managed to get his bike fixed, and we managed to improvise a part for my handlebar bag so we are all good to go! We had a walking tour scheduled for 4pm, so we decided to head out early, have some lunch (Which was amazing btw - Barry was almost embarrassing to sit with as he was having a "relationship" with his meal) then over to the Dutch Hospital that dates back to the early to mid 1600's (where the tour starts). The Dutch Hospital is one of the only remaining examples of Dutch architecture in Colombo. As I mentioned in my previous blog, the Fort in Colombo went through the Portuguese, Dutch and the British, all whom had differing opinions as to what the Fort should look ... read more

Well we made it!! 780 Km of cycling came to an end today when we landed in central Sofia... It was not without a struggle.... Leaving Sandanski, the skies were still sketchy.. it had stormed all night, the streets were wet, and it was still cloudy. We actually waited to see if the skies would break up... We finally pulled out around 8:30 and hoped for the best... while the sun wasn’t shining, it was a vast improvement from the previous day. It wasn't raining. We took a back road in lieu of the single lane highway for the first 25Km.. the road was quiet and scenic, but not in the best shape. We got lost in two towns, and in some of the towns, the roads were mud... so we got pretty dirty, which pissed ... read more