A few words, and a lot of pics, as we well know that is what people want. :)
And a quick cultural and historical note on Sri Lanka. Its location off the southern coast of India and deep natural harbors made it a sought after colony during the silk and spice trade. First the Portuguese came, then the Dutch, then the British and they declared independence in 1948. Previously referred to as Ceylon, there are many religions, ethnicities and languages. The Sinhalese people (which Tharangi is) are the majority. The many ethnic minorities include Tamils, Muslim Moors, Burghers (people of Dutch descent), Kaffirs, Malays and the aboriginal Vedda people. You may have also heard about the country's 3-decade inter-ethnic conflict between the Sinhalese and Tamil which finally ended in 2009. Sri Lanka is one of the oldest Buddhist cultures in the world, though the Tamil in the North are Hindu. There are eight UNESCO World Heritage sites on this island, about the size of West Virginia, if I remember that right.It is very humid here and temperate, never getting overly hot or overly cold. Most of the island is jungle, with gorgeous beaches to the South and North and mountainous regions in the central area. They host elephants, monkeys, leopards, wild boars, and a whole lot of poisonous snakes - giving it the highest per capita snakebite fatality statistic in the world. A piece of data I am VERY happy I did not know til after I'd left. :)
Our flight out of Dubai was to leave at 9:30 in the evening and arrive at 4:55 am in Sri Lanka. Tharangi's dad Mahinda had arranged for a driver to pick us up, take our bags to the apartment and drop us at the train station. We had prebooked tickets on the nice air conditioned tourist train, but of course, the Travel Gods interfered.
Our flight was an hour and a half late leaving, so we missed the "nice" train and ended up at the train station with our driver trying to get rebooked. At this late date, we could get a train, but first, AND second class were already gone. So if we wanted to get to Kandy? Third class. That sent shudders down our spine, as we'd seen trains in India with hundreds of people hanging out the windows and riding on top. Not a good mental image as you're exhausted and clinging to your bags in the railway station hoping you get to your next destination. But the train was fine. I saw with 3 women, and Marsh sat next to 2 Swiss backpackers and a nice man from Kandy and his grandkids. They had a wonderful time, laughing and telling stories, and with the man encouraging his grandkids to talk to the tourists to practice their English. So we handily made it through and arrived in Kandy.
Here is a map you'll see again later, that shows the island and where we went. The red line shows the route to Unawatuna, which the last place we went. Colombo is bottom left, Kandy is central, and Pollunaruwa and Dambulla are above and to the right of that. Gives you some idea of where we will be going. :)
Day one - temples. Lots of temples. The names of which we never really got. I need to do some research on what they were, as our driver didn't speak much English and at one point we got a nice English language brochure, but he then took it away from us when we got back in the car. Maybe they only had one. :)
And the first pic is Marshall being annoyed with The Pillow. Yes, I lugged my pillow along on the whole trip. :) Hooray for feather pillows that smoosh down small!
And a quick cultural and historical note on Sri Lanka. Its location off the southern coast of India and deep natural harbors made it a sought after colony during the silk and spice trade. First the Portuguese came, then the Dutch, then the British and they declared independence in 1948. Previously referred to as Ceylon, there are many religions, ethnicities and languages. The Sinhalese people (which Tharangi is) are the majority. The many ethnic minorities include Tamils, Muslim Moors, Burghers (people of Dutch descent), Kaffirs, Malays and the aboriginal Vedda people. You may have also heard about the country's 3-decade inter-ethnic conflict between the Sinhalese and Tamil which finally ended in 2009. Sri Lanka is one of the oldest Buddhist cultures in the world, though the Tamil in the North are Hindu. There are eight UNESCO World Heritage sites on this island, about the size of West Virginia, if I remember that right.It is very humid here and temperate, never getting overly hot or overly cold. Most of the island is jungle, with gorgeous beaches to the South and North and mountainous regions in the central area. They host elephants, monkeys, leopards, wild boars, and a whole lot of poisonous snakes - giving it the highest per capita snakebite fatality statistic in the world. A piece of data I am VERY happy I did not know til after I'd left. :)
Our flight out of Dubai was to leave at 9:30 in the evening and arrive at 4:55 am in Sri Lanka. Tharangi's dad Mahinda had arranged for a driver to pick us up, take our bags to the apartment and drop us at the train station. We had prebooked tickets on the nice air conditioned tourist train, but of course, the Travel Gods interfered.
Our flight was an hour and a half late leaving, so we missed the "nice" train and ended up at the train station with our driver trying to get rebooked. At this late date, we could get a train, but first, AND second class were already gone. So if we wanted to get to Kandy? Third class. That sent shudders down our spine, as we'd seen trains in India with hundreds of people hanging out the windows and riding on top. Not a good mental image as you're exhausted and clinging to your bags in the railway station hoping you get to your next destination. But the train was fine. I saw with 3 women, and Marsh sat next to 2 Swiss backpackers and a nice man from Kandy and his grandkids. They had a wonderful time, laughing and telling stories, and with the man encouraging his grandkids to talk to the tourists to practice their English. So we handily made it through and arrived in Kandy.
Here is a map you'll see again later, that shows the island and where we went. The red line shows the route to Unawatuna, which the last place we went. Colombo is bottom left, Kandy is central, and Pollunaruwa and Dambulla are above and to the right of that. Gives you some idea of where we will be going. :)
Day one - temples. Lots of temples. The names of which we never really got. I need to do some research on what they were, as our driver didn't speak much English and at one point we got a nice English language brochure, but he then took it away from us when we got back in the car. Maybe they only had one. :)
And the first pic is Marshall being annoyed with The Pillow. Yes, I lugged my pillow along on the whole trip. :) Hooray for feather pillows that smoosh down small!
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