Archive for May, 2017
Holiday in Sri Lanka (10): Sigiriya and Polonnaruwa
May 19th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
Friday was the last proper day of the basic tour, since tomorrow Thelma and Andrea start the journey back to the airport and I commence three days alone visiting the Tamil city of Tincomalee. Although our first destination was only a quarter of an hour’s drive away (past delightful rice fields), we left the hotel […]
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Holiday in Sri Lanka (9): Anuradhapura and Mihintale
May 18th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
One of the wonders of going on holiday these days is that one can share impressions and photographs instantly with family and friends. One of my Facebook friends – a Japanese woman who has visited Sri Lanka – posted a comment suggesting that I try a local food of which I had never heard: hopper. […]
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Holiday in Sri Lanka (8): Matale and Dambulla
May 17th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
During our two days in Kandy, there were hardly any other guests at The Tourmaline Hotel but, half an hour after we departed on Wednesday morning, some 200 guests were due to attend a wedding. We moved off in our minivan at 9 am (our latest start) and travelled due north to the town of […]
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Holiday in Sri Lanka (7): more Kandy
May 16th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
In terms of sightseeing, Tuesday was the busiest day so far – and that’s how I like it. We left our hotel in Kandy at 7.30 am and travelled west to a place called Pinnawala to visit the elephant orphanage there. This is the second elephant orphanage that I have seen, the other being in […]
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Holiday in Sri Lanka (6): Kandy
May 15th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
This morning (Monday) we had an amazing train journey which was a pleasant change from all the time in our minibus and provided scenes of wonderful landscapes. Our train was a light blue affair and, thanks to the type of track and the open windows, the trip was very rattling and very noisy (an Australian […]
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Holiday in Sri Lanka (5): the road to the hill country
May 14th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
Today (Sunday) was very much a travelling day and, boy, did we travel. At 8.30 am, we left our hotel outside Yala National Park and beside the rolling waves of the Indian Ocean. We headed due north, originally on a straight road but then on a steeply winding road that rose higher and higher and […]
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Holiday in Sri Lanka (4): Yala
May 13th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
We all woke tired today (Saturday) because of a broken night’s sleep, mainly because at 4.30 am there were very loud broadcasts of religious chanting from local Hindu temples followed by miscellaneous but similarly disruptive animal noises. However, we paid our bills to a delightful gentleman who seemed to have walked straight off the set […]
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Holiday in Sri Lanka (3): Columbo and Galle
May 12th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
On number of group holidays that I have enjoyed, the arrival point in the country is not really on the tour as such. This was the case with Johannesburg in South Africa and San Jose in Costa Rica. So it proved on this holiday with Colombo being the subject of just a very quick drive-around. […]
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Holiday in Sri Lanka (2): arrival
May 11th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
As we boarded the Sri Lankan Airlines aircraft at London Heathrow, an air hostess welcomed us with palms pressed together and announced “Ayubowan” (“May you have long life”). Our Airbus A300-300 took off at 10.05 pm on a nighttime flight which lasted exactly 10 hours. Since the time in Sri Lanka is currently four and […]
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Holiday in Sri Lanka (1): introduction
May 10th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
Top of my bucket list is the wish – so long as I have reasonable health and adequate wealth – to have visited as many countries as my age. I am 69 next month and my latest holiday is to my 70th country: the island of Sri Lanka. It is a two-week organised tour with […]
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