26 December 2019 And so today we drove back to Colombo, or more precisely Negombo which is closer to the airport. We broke the journey with one stop along the way, at the country house and gardens of the world-renowned Sri Lankan architect Geoffrey Bawa. This was one of his earliest projects, so he was » » »
Archive for January, 2020
4 January 2020
Tea and hoppers
25 December 2019 We’ve explored Galle top to bottom, so today was pretty easy going. We drove out into the country to visit a tea estate, where they take you on a free scenic and interesting hour-long tour of the estate and the tea factory. I now feel educated about tea. There’s also a complimentary » » »
4 January 2020
Weird massage
24 December 2019 Shopping day! Galle has lots of shops, although it actually seems to be the same four shops repeating themselves over and over: there’s the lifestyle shop with lots of tropical/colonial housewares and probably some printed linen, there’s the jeweller selling giant bling rings and necklaces fit for a dictator’s wife, there’s the » » »
4 January 2020
Gallewards
23 December 2019 Today we’re off to Galle, and hopefully three nights to relax in a comfy hotel room. We’ve liked the Spice Lodge though, it’s remarkably well thought-out and the family who run it are charming. Oh, and their Sri Lankan breakfast in the morning is the best so far. Lots of fruit, some » » »
4 January 2020
Nine Arch Bridge
22 December 2019 Still no rain to speak of! It definitely must have been the modest offering to the Buddha back at the Temple of the Tooth. It was literally from that point onwards that the weather improved. In fact, I got a bit sunburnt today while walking up the 230+ steps to Little Adam’s » » »
4 January 2020
Tea country
22 December 2019 We left Kandy at a lazy 10am and started down the winding mountain roads to Ella. It turns out to be an almost five hour drive, excluding breaks. This is quite different to driving in the UK or, for example, the USA because you have to keep your concentration on the road » » »
4 January 2020
Restaurant de leech
21 December 2019 My little offering to the Buddha’s tooth seems to have improved the weather. No rain today! So we wandered the Royal Botanical Gardens for hours, hoping to spot some unusual squirrels but not getting any luck. The gardens are handsome, though. We took lunch at a posh hotel up in the hills, » » »
4 January 2020
Tooth
20 December 2019 You can’t really call it rain when it looks and sounds like water is simply being dumped out of the sky in huge sheets, bouncing and leaping back off the ground and forming small rivers within minutes. This is what we woke up to. Our stuff is damper than ever as the » » »
4 January 2020
Lion rock and Buddha caves
19 December 2019 Today we walked up Sigiriya, the Lion Rock, probably the most famous cultural site in Sri Lanka these days. It’s mighty impressive from afar, and to walk up, and to be on top of. King Kapsaya was clearly both mad and brilliant. It feels a bit like he might have designed Back » » »
4 January 2020
Everything is damp
18 December 2019 Everything is damp. My feet are damp. This table is damp. My laptop is damp. Our clothes are damp. The sheets are damp. So are the pillows. It’s muggy, which is an understatement as clearly it is basically 100% humidity, and we’re staying in an open-walled treehouse in the forest near Sigiriya. » » »
Tags: accommodation, moan
4 January 2020
Are we still having fun?
17 December 2019 Phew! The guided wildlife watching part of our trip is done with! We put in a six hour night drive last night after arriving in Sigiriya, and tonight we put in a seven hour drive (curtailed when the heavens opened at 3:30am and we had to hurridly cover the jeep and chug » » »
4 January 2020
Anuradapura
16 December 2019 Today we moved from Wilpattu to Sigiriya, renowned for its UNESCO heritage status but also good for wildlife. We stopped at Anuradhapura on the way, another UNESCO site as it was the ancient capital city of Sri Lanka for more than 1400 years. The dagobas are the most impressive remains here, although » » »
4 January 2020
Chital yawn
15 December 2019 Lunch has rectified the food situation. More good daal, but this time with an astonishingly good beetroot curry and a pork curry and an okra curry and a dish of sour stir-fried veg and chunks of roasted river fish. All ace. We went out in the afternoon for another game drive, and » » »
4 January 2020
Good smells, good flavours
14 December 2019 Yesterday’s blog covered today too, but since it all passed in a bit of a blur I’m going to fill in some of the more pleasant gaps. One thing I remember is the scents of the Sri Lankan dry zone forest. So many amazing smells. My best attempt at describing some: spicy » » »
4 January 2020
What day is it?
13 December 2019… probably Long flight days are always confusing. Taking off from London on a cold Thursday afternoon. Arrive in Doha and it’s dark and apparently midnight, and we take off at 2am. Bag of cheap crisps for £3 – they take airport snacks to a new level of rip off here! And then » » »