Today I took the bus from Hikkaduwa to Colombo; it was easier than the train … I only had to walk out to the hotel gate and hail one down as opposed to having to take a tuktuk to the railway station at additional cost. It seemed too easy because I got on an air-conditioned […]

This morning I took the bus down to Galle (pronounced “Gawl” in English but “Gaal-le” locally) which is less than half hour away.  Things are very cheap here … the bus ride is about USD0.20 and meals are less than USD1 each. Galle has an old Fort dating back to the Portuguese, then Dutch then […]

Sri Lanka Again Today I’m off on my second visit to Sri Lanka.  There are a few reasons for my visit: Even though I’ve travelled extensively around Sri Lanka, I don’t have the true feel of the country and its people.  We were in a rush as it was a 6-day stopover on the way […]

Above: Chance encounter with a Vel procession. Look at the hooks on his back and thighs. Today our exploration of Sri Lanka comes to an end as we head back to Colombo. We drove from Nuwara Eliya back to the capital via the bridge where the movie Bridge on the River Kwai was filmed. But […]

After a good buffet breakfast we drove up to a viewpoint to get a panorama of Kandy Lake, the Temple and the town. We continued to a gem museum. The place wasn’t as flash or polished as in Chiang Mai but they were very informative about different stones. As we emerged from the museum a […]

Climbing Sigiriya Today is the day I’ve been anticipating, as this is the day we are visiting Sigiriya.  It is an ancient fortress built on top of a huge rock.  We will visit it on our move to Kandy. We had to wake early and was at breakfast before 0700. Text continues after this gallery. […]

Visiting Polonnaruwa The air-con had iced-up overnight and stopped cooling. That was our priority before leaving on our excursions this morning. We organised a room change after a breakfast of eggs any style, fruit, toast, jam and coffee/tea. Today we visit Polonnaruwa, the second most ancient kingdom after their invasion of the prior kingdom of […]

Setting off Our hotel at Negombo beach, near Colombo’s airport, included a buffet breakfast. It was a small spread of food which included a potato curry and a chicken curry. We took a look at Negombo Beach, made use of the hotel pool before getting picked up at 1000.     Shortly after starting our […]