Asia

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People on hooks

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 […]

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Tea plantations

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 […]

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Sigiriya

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. […]

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Polonnaruwa

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 […]

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Elephant orphanage

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 […]

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Why Sri Lanka?

Above:  Negombo beach from our hotel near the airport. Flying to Colombo We boarded the Emirates B777-200 bound for Colombo at 0030. The flight had originated in Jakarta. It wasn’t as full as I had expected so we had some spare seats. The delicious rendang meal was served on a full-sized tray with sides by […]

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A day in the city-state

Killing a day Due to the time difference, I woke at 0430 but dozed till 0630, and then till around 0800. We have the day to kill in the city-state until our flight after midnight tonight. Jess, my step-bro’s girlfriend dropped us off in the city. We priced some electronics at Sim Lim Square and […]

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Homeward bound

We took the Star Ferry to meet Kim’s friend Chris for yum cha breakfast. He took us to a tall-ish round building with a revolving restaurant at the top. While the restaurant we went to wasn’t in the top revolving portion, it still offered a spectacular view up at about level 60. They did very […]

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Shopping

After arriving at Hong Kong’s international airport, we found the train to the city. At the city end of the ride, we had to transfer to connecting shuttle buses (included in the fare) to the Park Hotel. [Edit: in later years, we decided that the public bus is actually faster than the train if one […]

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Wash-out

Today we have the last of our tours from Chiang Mai. After breakfast, we waited over an hour for our tour pick-up. The van arrived rather late around 0900 due to heavy rain, flooding, detours and traffic jam.     The tour for the day is called Elephants at Work. When we got to the […]

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