Sri Lanka and Maldives

Journey End,

Thu, 21 Mar 2019 08:00:00 +0000

Republic of Maldives, Maldives

Wed, 20 Mar 2019 08:00:00 +0000

The last few days I have spent in the Maldives and tomorrow I head for home. Maldives is a place to enjoy the sun, beach and peace and quiet. A place to do as much as you want or as little. In a way, tiny bit of Bali without the hassle of someone selling you something. There are 4 bars here so a pub crawl was in order. There are activities to do but they come at a price. Just to have dinner on the beach is $438 USD per couple. So we indulged in the free activities like pool, beach volley, snorkelling or on the swings. Snorkeling is cool. I didn't think I could do to it but managed to snorkel and see many underwater creatures like coral and different types of fish. Even reef sharks which I saw while walking on the beach. Most entertaining is watching the tourists. A few beach whales and a prerequisite, bikinis only on the island. Just picture, 50 year old women who are quite large all round including floaties wearing strapless bikinis. I am still surprised in how the bikini top stays on. Though the funniest was watching a group of Indian guys off a cruise line who were drinking heavily sink a canoe. 4 got in the canoe for a photo opportunity and you can predict, they all fell out and the boat sank. Then watching them swim in the pool..... Now I can understand and appreciate the work the life guards on Bondi rescue do. Indians can't swim and I have the footage

Maldives, Maldives

Sat, 16 Mar 2019 08:00:00 +0000

Arrived in the Maldives!!!! The morning started with a knock on the door saying we need bags out.... NO! We were leaving at 10am from hotel but think the tour guide told the hotel we were leaving at same time as the others. Trying to explain to the guy (hotel staff) no, we are leaving later. This place has to be the worse with the language barrier. You have to laugh or you would just cry.... Finally made it to the airport and a little strange with the check in process but we got there. Had a short flight across to Male which is the capital of the Maldives, a Muslim country. I was expecting very strict guidelines at the airport but the lady scanning our bags fell asleep, so gather not that strict even though we were warned. Finally arrived at the resort after a 30 min boat ride. Luckily I took my tablets and the ride was a little rough but all good. Now sitting by the bar having a cocktail to cool down

Negombo, Sri Lanka

Fri, 15 Mar 2019 08:00:00 +0530

Am Early my start down the hill from Kandy on the way to Negombo. Along the way we stopped at a tea plantation which was interesting to see the drying process. The old machinery used as part of the process and then some tea tasting. We had 8 varieties of tea to taste, some I liked others I didn't. The tea was nice but but expensive if I wanted to bring some home so decided to leave it behind. After the tea visit we headed for Negombo via Colombo. Had a lunch break in Colombo and then a city tour via the bus. Finally arrived in Negombo by 6.30. A long day overall of driving. Negombo me of Bali, with the restaurants and stores on the 'main road'. It is a resort place so no not much to do and warmer. We had the most brilliant view of roof tops and a church. NOT!!! Compared to the other places this hotel was a disappointment. The foyer was nice but the room was very average as we were shoved in a corner of the building with no view. The service want that great nor the breakfast. I think we were spoilt at the other hotels. Oh well, only 1 night before we head off to the Maldives

Kandy, Sri Lanka

Thu, 14 Mar 2019 08:00:00 +0530

Today was a free day to do whatever we wanted so we headed into the mountains to visit the elephant orphanage. We had our own driver who took us up. We saw the elephants feed and then headed to the river waiting for the elephants to come down for a bath. Eventually they did, full speed ahead that we had to jump out of the way. Some of these elephants were huge, though different from the ones I saw in Africa. There were a couple at the front that ran down the hill, desperately wanting the water. It was nice to see these elephants and only one people could bathe. All the others roamed free to either bathe or roll in the mud. The remainder of the day, the guide took us to the Botanical gardens and then back into the city to do a bit of shopping before heading to the mountain to the hotel. In the day light I could see the tight roads and how difficult it was for the bus to move around the corners etc.

Kandy, Sri Lanka

Wed, 13 Mar 2019 08:00:00 +0530

We left for Kandy, a city in the mountains. The scenery changed along the way, houses bigger and cooler by a couple degrees. Finally made it to the city and was told the city tour by tuk tuk was too dangerous, I don't think so. So unfortunately we missed out on a tuk tuk ride. Instead we had a speedy walking tour. Speedy is an understatement..... Let's say if we didn't keep an eye on the guide we would have lost him. He took us through the meal, two markets and then landed by the lake. We couldn't even look at anything. We then wasted am hour before the cultural dance which was ok apart from banging drums which felt like that went on forever. After the dance, another visit of a temple which instead a few of us started outside. I think we had more fun outside than the guys on the temple with bartering with one guy for sunglasses. It seemed like a long day so we were glad to head to the hotel. The hotel is on-top of a mountain, and the drive up the mountain was interesting. At night we couldn't see much but there were times that the bus had to go around tight corners. And even more interesting when a car came the other way. Eventually got up the mountain, and let me tell you. The view from the room was amazing, just stunning of the valley below.

View from the room

View from hotel room

Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka

Tue, 12 Mar 2019 08:00:00 +0530

The day started with a speedy museum visit (that is what the your guide said) but in fact it was an hour visit. Then a bike ride through the Medieval Capital City of Polonnaruwa. Just imagine, riding a rickety bike on part dirty roads, no helmet and in the heat. Lets say sweat ran down all different parts of my body. Now, my bike wasn't the best, it looked like my grandparents had it when they were young. Plus the brakes squeaked along the way, that was on replacement for not having a bell on the bike. It was actually riding along the road to sightsee ruins. I think everyone had a good time and I didn't fall. Yeah!!!! After lunch we did the jeep Safari to track down the elephants at Minneriya National Park. It is a breeding ground during the dry season for elephants. We had to drive a l little while in before finding some elephants along the water edge eating. There was a large number of elephants with their youngsters. Open jeep, wind blowing in your hair, sounds great doesn't it? It was apart from the mountain of dust in your eyes, hair and clothes..... But it was great to see and experience it all.

Sigiriya, Sri Lanka

Mon, 11 Mar 2019 08:00:00 +0530

After a restful sleep we were energized to climb the Rock..... Sigriya Rock Fortress. The fortress was built between 477 - 498 AD. It is basically a huge rock that the king built his fortress on top, well not him but his workers. The Rock is 200m high and over 1200 steps. Now looking at this Rock I thought 'shit that is a lot of steps' but when you start walking it didn't seem so bad. Leading up to the Rock is the dwelling of the king on one side and the Queen on the other side. The infrastructure is impressive as well as the well that collect the water to pump it through the gardens including the fountains. So we started the climb and so did about 20,000 other people. The reason why it wasn't so bad is because you had to stop numerous times along the way because of the traffic jam of people..... It feels like a steep climb but not too hard on the legs. Though it is easy for the monkeys up there. Now let me tell you, they have the perfect hair cut, just amazing with Mr Spock ears. Actually they Rock the hair cut. On a serious note, the view from the top is lovely and we'll with the climb. I think the best photo I took was of the Japanese tourists at the top to busy on their phones than watching the scenery. In the afternoon we took a walking tour from the hotel to a local village. We past paddy fields and visited a farmer house. The house is used when the rice is ready to harvest and they sleep overnight in his built in the trees to scare off the elephants. Along the wall we tried a couple of delights, in food and coconut milk. Plus had a motor bike ride because I stopped to talk a photo and fell behind the group. The assistant guide saw me and stopped to give me a lift. Was I lucky or what? It was an interesting walk with the hotel manager and before heading back to the hotel, stopped at a local house for some herbal tea.

Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka

Sun, 10 Mar 2019 08:30:00 +0530

After catching up on lack of sleep, we headed up to the mystic City of Anuradhapura, which is Sri Lanka's most scared town and has some of the most extensive ruins. It remained residence and royal capital for over 100 successive Sinhalese Kings for around 1500 years from 4th century BC to the 8th century BC after it was abandoned and moved. Visiting these scared sites, like the temples we had to respect the customs. Now, this is not pleasant in hot weather especially when the sun is beating down on you and the sweat is running down your back. Now all this with no shoes walking around the sites, well all I can say I think I know what it is like to walk on hot coals. All we did was jump from one shade to another scurry like little mice. As it is a Sunday here, many people travel to this place to worship from 6am to 6pm, praying with the monks. There are 8 main places which we only visited a few. Between the places you can see the ruins underneath of this ancient world. The history is enormous here. And you can feel the peace that surrounds this place.

Thinking of buying this

One of the oldest and largest temples

Sigiriya

Sat, 09 Mar 2019 08:30:00 +0530

Sri Lanka was a destination on my bucket list and finally made it. After a 10 hour drive we arrived in Colombo, got through immigration and was greeted by the transfer with a frangipani lay. Got on the bus for a 3 hours drive to our hotel. Arrived here just after 2am and of course I was wide awake. Not good! At least we didn't have an early start the next morning. The following morning we chilled out from lack of sleep before heading off in the afternoon to the Golden Cave Temples. This was built by King Walagambahu in the first 1st century BC. The 5 temples are built into the wall face of a rock creating caves in which they created spaces of worships. And of course many Buddhas on various poses, actually over 150 images. One thing to remember when walking in the temples, cover shoulders and knees, take off hat and walk barefoot. Yes barefoot on a 30 degree day in the sun over stone pathways. A new meaning to walking on hot coals.

Golden caves temples