Hong Kong and Sri Lanka - the start of the journey

Well, it's been a while between trips. This trip is a bit of a pilgrimage really. Krishni hasn't been back since she left at the tender age of 2. A trip to see what life would have been like if her parents hadn't moved over to the lucky country 27 years ago. It also appeals to me as I have heard such a lot about Sri Lanka and how good it is.

We started out by heading to Hong Kong. A bit out of the way but thought about spending a couple of days there on the way through just to get a taster. It was a good choice as we both loved it there. So much to do. So much to buy. One of the things that strikes me the most about the Hong Kongnese (if that is a word) is their sense of style. It was hard to see anybody that wasn't dressed like they hadn't just walked out of one of the fashion houses. I guess it happens when the only shops that are available are the ones that sell top quality items. We felt a little underdressed in comparison. Krishni soon found a few items to get her looking back to normal.

Just an example of a bargain we got. We managed to pick up 1 suit for Krishni and 7 business shirts between us for the equivalent of about $280 aussie dollars. Not bad going. In most cases things are amazingly cheap and as there is just such volume and variety there is always something there to buy.

We only spent a couple of days there but at least we did it in a little style. Krishni booked the Langham of course and it was a great place to stay - they look after people really well.

We ate at the Langham restaurant which also has 2 Michelin stars. The food was amazing and at about the same price as a normal restaurant meal back at home would cost. I think it cost us about $80 for both of us. It was so good we ended up going to the sister restaurant the following night at the other Langham further uptown. This was a beef dish with a crispy walnut side.

Didn't have time for much else but did manage to come across a statue of Bruce lee on the harbour.

The next stop was Columbo - Sri Lanka. We arrived at about 10:30pm. There are always certain customs that you pick up on when land in a new country. Something that seems normal to them but a little different to others. This stop was instead of having only the normal duty free shops of Alcohol etc, they had shops and shops full of washing machines and fridges. Just want you want when you first arrive.

We found our driver - Rangin - and headed to the hotel. Krishni booked this hotel specifically because her cousins (Charathra and Brie) had stayed there on their honeymoon and loved it. It was called the Cinnamon Grand. We arrived and it looked really good. Massive foyer, soft lights, lots of staff. We got to the desk to sign in but they said that due to "maintenance issues" our room was now unavailable. Instead we got shipped off to another hotel just down the road that wasn't really all that grand (maybe in its heyday). At 12:30am there wasn't much we could do but we did wonder if this was going to be typical of the trip to Sri Lanka. Lets just say it was a bumpy start.

The next morning we headed off to the first destination, Habarana, about 3-4 hours away. Apparently there is only one way to drive in Sri Lanka and that is to overtake at every possible chance. I lost count pretty quickly at how many times we were on the wrong side of the road heading towards a bus coming the other way only to weave back in at the last second. The rule is that if you can squeeze 3 cars on the road you do it and people will generally get out of the way. After a while you just try to forget about it and and stare out the window at a world that is pretty foreign to our current standard of living. You pass through little villages that each have their own specialties. Selling coconuts, cashews etc. We stopped at the cashew stall and stocked up for the rest of the trip. Wasn't cheap but I am a cashew nut so donated some well earned cash for organic cashews straight from the source.

On the way we also stopped off at the Elephant orphanage. We got there and they were down at the river for their daily swim.

It was quite a sight seeing them head back to the orphanage through the little street. There were some pretty big elephants in the pack.

We wandered up a little later only to come across a few stragglers heading down for their swim.

We checked out the rest of the orphanage and had the obligatory photo with one of the elephants.

Krishni loved the babies. Here is one particular one that ran up the hill after its Mum sqealling. It was quite funny.

We got to our new hotel at about 4pm and were relieved it wasn't the same scenario as the previous night. This place was the sister hotel to the Cinnamon Grand. It is called Cinnamon Lodge. The rooms were great and very spacious - a great recommendation from Charini.

It was so nice, we pretty much just chilled inside with the air con on for the rest of the day recovering from the broken sleep the night before. It wasn't until 7:30pm that we ventured down to the restaurant for a buffet dinner - mostly curries. One of many banquets put on I presume. It is such a nice place. Here is a picture from our table near the pool. This is more like it.

The next day we went to see some Ruins at Polonnaruwa which was very interesting to see how life was back for the Kingdoms in the 11th Century. They had the foresight to build massive lakes to serve as dams for their irrigation. One of the more interesting sights were the large statues of Buddha carved into the stone. Here is a really big one of Buddha on his death bed. Apparently 74% of Sri Lankan's a Buddhists.

We headed back to the hotel for a nice rest by the pool. There were a lot of Monkeys playing close by our room so I grabbed the camera and took a few shots. They spent a lot of time grooming each other as monkeys do.

I was there about 5-10 feet away for a good 20minutes taking a few photos when all of sudden there was a monkey about 2-3 feet away in the tree looking at me. I was just about to take a photo when it jumped from the tree and started towards me. I must have been mid photo as this is a blurry image of me just about to start running with a pair of Monkey paws coming after me!

In the afternoon we went for an Elephant ride. Had to be done. Expensive in Sri Lankan terms but how often do you get the chance to ride an elephant. Our Elephant was called Manika and was a female.

Later on, Krishni even managed to get up the nerve to ride up front. We had a bag of bananas and Manika would raise her trunk onto her head for us to give her one.

Just before dinner we went for a stroll and got the following couple of pictures as the sun was sitting on the adjoining lake.