Month: December 2016

Start the day with the final early morning beach walk.

Then an 18 hour travel marathon.

With the occasional luxury …  Who says you can’t have champagne at 11 in the morning.

Nearly home …

…. with a great view – the red is the London Eye.

Geddit?  The days are getting their own rhythm, and we have the blues ‘cus it’s our last day.

Looking on the bright side, the searing heat of a few days ago has thankfully gone, to be replaced by b****y hot 😎.

So the usual early start to see the sunrise – cue photo of gorgeous sunrise!

Guess who.

Then a short trip out to our last temple of the holiday.  It was built by the Japanese in memory of the tsunami, and we can see it from our beach.

The stupa.

And on a clear day you can see Galle.

The tsunami is a very strong theme, which due entirely to our ignorance has been unexpected.  For example, we stopped to buy a coconut water – essentially a coconut with a hole and a straw.  This lady lost both her parents and survives by selling these for about 60p each – her husband climbs the trees each morning to collect them.

This is her back garden.   But her house (with husband and 5 children) is little more than a small shed.

And talking to the receptionist in our hotel – she was at school, but when she got home 3 of her family had died.  It really did affect everybody here.

So it’s home tomorrow.  Sunset from the beach …

… and the biggest and best ever seafood platter where the food miles amounted to about 10 metres, all caught today.

It’s been terrific.

As we’re getting towards the end of the holiday, it’s definitely slowing down.  Most of the sightseeing has been done and we’re winding down.

First thing (around 6.00) a saunter down to the beach – it’s definitely cooler (i.e. below 33 degrees) but no sunrise to photo this morning.

This morning a light boat ride around a nearby lagoon.

Making cinnamon on Cinnamon Island.

Another temple on an island.

Not an exciting photo, but a 400 year old book just lying around, uncovered and you can touch it.

We were visiting the south-west of the island.  It was the worst hit part in the tsunami, with over 10,000 killed, including 1,700 on a single train.  There was a little museum that we stopped at, with simple memories of survivors and photographs.  It was very moving, and difficult to get your head around 50,000 killed on this small island.

Afternoons back at the hotel, chilling (sic) before venturing out to the beach again for an aperitif …

… sunsets ….

… and Christmas decorations.

The last two days have probably been the peak experience.  Eileen was up at 5.00 and on the beach in the dark, just as it was getting light.  I was a bit later, so here is the beach a little past sunrise.

We delayed our leaving time until the last possible minute, and then headed off to Galle, our last resting place.  On the way saw the traditional pole-fisherman – I don’t show the old guy who popped up on shore to relieve us of 100 rupees (about 50p) for the pleasure of taking their photo!

And then the hotel in the rain forest and about 100 metres from the beach.  We were told quite forcibly not to leave anything on the balcony …

… as the monkeys would steal anything in a flash.  That’s the first time we’ve ever had that as part of the check-in instructions!

And it is incredibly hot and humid now.  About 32degrees an hour after sunset, and humid with it.  We’re trying for the sympathy vote here – how are we doing 😀?

Did a mooch around the old fortress late on in the afternoon …

Ending with a sunset as usual.

If we thought leopards are hard to photo, just try catching a picture of a whale.

Sunrise over the hotel and the beach for another early start – this time whale-watching.

Early morning in Mirissa as we head off.

At least leopards don’t move, even if they are a long way away.  Problem with whales (and two types of dolphin – one called a Risso which is black and white and could easily be mistaken by ignoramuses  such as me as a small Orca – sea turtles, flying fish and a magnificent Bryde whale) is that they come to the surface briefly and then disappear.

That’s the excuses – best I could do is in the top right.

On the boat for over 6 hours so some well- deserved R&R back at the hotel, including Sunday lunch.

Then Sam took us down to Mirissa beach for an evening stroll and dinner.

Happy Christmas.

And sunset – not as spectacular as yesterday.

Then select from the menu …

And as you would expect fresh and extremely delicious.

Final move tomorrow – not far down the coast to Galle.

Back to the hotel to get rid of the safari dust, then 3 hours to the south coast.  Let’s buy a bag from a bag shop.

Then to our hotel – view from the terrace.

Then a light monsoon.

Then a fabulous walk along the beach at sunset.  Here goes …

With dinner to be served on the terrace.  It’s a little bit of paradise here.

Although seriously, this is where the tsunami hit on Boxing Day 12 years ago.  Sam our driver saw it, and one of the waiters at the Morning Dew also remembered it.  Paradise suddenly turned deadly.  What was most extraordinary, though, is that there is no record of any of the wildlife in Yala being killed – somehow they all knew something was up and retreated inland and to higher ground.

Another early start tomorrow …

An interesting day.  Part 1 was amazing, but for the first time the photos don’t come close to doing it justice.  Part 2 the photos do do it justice.

So let’s start with the early morning (4.30) alarm call, to go on a safari to Yala.

We’re getting the idea – a race to the start so we can all charge in when it opens at 6.00.

You will have seen on the sign that wild leopards live in this reserve.  Well here you go within 10 minutes – the little speck on top of the Rock is a leopard just waking up.  It’s as close as we got – see David Attenborough for better close-ups, but for us fantastic to see.

This is what happens when word gets around!

So a similar theme of amazing creatures too far away to get really decent photos including peacocks,

Eagles,

Brief stop for a Loo break by the sea,

Elephants (again),

Crocodiles,

And a buffalo having a mud bath.

Plus mongooses (is that the correct plural?), wild boar, deer, pelicans jackals and so on.  Terrific memories.

We’re moving on today, but before we go another sunrise from our balcony.  Doesn’t add much as it is almost identical to yesterday, but still pretty magical.

Next I think it is important to make a formal clarification to those concerned readers.  I would like to point out that Eileen driving the Tuk Tuk was staged specifically for that photo shoot.  And more importantly, no children or animals were harmed in any way while she was in charge of it 😆.

So away from Ella and a 3 hour drive south to Tissa.  Down from the mountains and into some serious (+ 30 degree) heat.  Taking a small detour to see the largest Buddha on the island carved out of a rock face in the 10th century.

Then on to Tissa for one night.  You can’t really photograph rain, but this was the heaviest we have seen since our first day, although it only lasted 20 minutes or so.

A light lunch in the hotel …

… including some real coconut water that Eileen has been craving for about a week.

Spent the afternoon by the pool, with a view over the lake.

And “pool” should be the scary clue …

Another frighteningly early (5.00) start tomorrow morning so watch this space.

It really has been a week, and we keep having to pinch ourselves at the sheer amount we’ve seen and done.  And there’s much more to come.

Starting with the same question as yesterday – it’s sunrise from the hotel balcony.

And then about 15 minutes later.  Note the small hill on the right surrounded by the tree – more of that in a minute.

The hill is called Little Adam’s Peak, and as far as we can see is the sole reason for the existence of the town we are staying in, called Ella.  Tourists come here, climb the hill, and move on.

So I did.  Eileen recovering from yesterday’s exertions so decided to give this one a miss – and probably a good move.  However, the views from the top are stunning.

Here’s our hotel (the white building in the middle).

And then some random views in different directions

… including upwards ….

… that’s more like it!

Then on to Nine Arch Bridge.  Any guesses as to why it is so named😀?

It’s claim to “fame” is that it was built in WW2, so no steel, only bricks and wood.  And then managed to capture one of only about two trains a day that use it.

After those exertions (me only😊), off on some much gentler sightseeing in the afternoon.

First of all a lychee stall – no reason apart from very colourful (and tasty).

Then a couple of lovely little temples – much smaller than previous days, and far less crowded.  This one is about 2100 years old, and has a tunnel of 11kms through the mountain to get to another one.

Then the next …

It was a mile walk, so we hired a Tuk Tuk to get us there (and back).

And finally the waterfalls.  Shown again really to demonstrate water shortage – really I shouldn’t have been able to get this picture without being covered in spray.

But finally finally, what about a scary picture (no, not me in a pool), but Eileen driving a Tuk Tuk!

Off on our travels again tomorrow, but at a civilised time, and not too arduous.  Here’s to week 2.

What’s the difference between a sunrise and a sunset in a photo?  No, me neither.  Anyway, this is the former.  After an extremely early start (alarm set for 04.20 – and we’re supposed to be on holiday) we had an hour’s drive to the Horton Plains.

You can see its popular – this is the queue to get in just after 6.00.

So what is it?  A very famous nature reserve high up in the mountains – between 7000 and 7500 feet, so for the first time this holiday we had to dig out a jumper.  But they take conservation so seriously – this is the queue to get bags checked, and every last little piece of plastic and other potential litter is removed.  Water bottles excepted, although they are looking to change that next year as well.

Then a 9km walk.  Eileen feeling a bit under the weather, and also I think some mild altitude sickness, but she did it.  However, all photos of her were banned today!

So here we go – nothing special so far …

Until we got to the edge.  Apparently the valley is about 3000 feet, so we kept away from the edge.

And you wouldn’t believe how long we had to wait to get a clear view without all the selfie takers …

…bit like this one, although Eileen took it as my arms aren’t that long!

Then the day’s next instalment of a train ride to Ella.  Here’s a train …

And some random shots from the window.  Unremittingly green – most of it is a cloud forest which means it doesn’t rain much as the clouds don’t get especially high and so just condense when they touch the trees.

More climbing tomorrow – Eileen might decide to stay in bed after today.