Vesak Colombo Sri Lanka

 

A great aspect of living near Gangaramaya Temple is that the Buddhist events are a short walk away. This weekend was the celebration of Vesak. The streets near us were filled with festive lights and displays.

Bentota Sri Lanka

 

Bentota is about 2 hours south of Colombo in Sri Lanka. It's a perfect spot for a 3-day weekend. We explored Bawa gardens and houses, went kayaking through the mangroves, and enjoyed the sunsets on the Indian Ocean.

Hong Kong

 

Our sixth and final port of the cruise was in Hong Kong. The nice thing about this port was docking in the middle of the city for easy access to things around the cruise terminal. Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China. It's an interesting city with a separate operating framework from mainland China. For example, they still use the Hong Kong Dollar.

Ha Long Bay Vietnam - Day 2

 

We had an included excursion for the second day which would have been on a tour boat which took the same route as the boat that took us kayaking. We canceled that and went to town on our own instead, which was much better than wasting a day on a repeated experience. Fortunately we figured this out on our own.

Ha Long Bay Vietnam - Day 1

 

Our fifth port with the cruise was the absolutely amazing Hạ Long Bay Vietnam. I couldn't get enough of the scenary with these islets. There's so many pictures here that I'll break this up into two posts. 

Da Nang Vietnam

The fourth port of our two week cruise had us in Da Nang Vietnam. It was just a one day included excursion but it was a really good one. It included a museum with old stone statues, a huge store with new marble statues, the huge Lady Buddha statue in the Monkey Mountains (distant pic above), back to the My Khe Beach (pic above), and some pictures of the Dragon Bridge before heading back to the cruise ship. It was a great day! 

Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) Vietnam

 

Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) was a wonderful city to visit for three days. One of our booked excursions was canceled, which thankfully gave us a free day to explore on our own and visit the fine arts museum. You get a different perspective and feeling about a place through their art and this city's art museum was a really good one.

Sihanoukville Cambodia

 

The second port of our cruise from Bangkok to Hong Kong was in Sihanoukville Cambodia. We were disappointed with the cruise's Bangkok excursion, but the two days and excursions in Cambodia were much better.

Bangkok Thailand

 

We started in Bangkok for a two week cruise to Hong Kong. The cruise didn't start until Monday, so we took the weekend to explore Bangkok on our own. We also visited with some friends from previous embassies who are now working in Bangkok. I think we barely scratched the surface of this big city.

Viking Cruise Fails

TL;DR Don't expect Viking Cruises to keep you in the cabin you booked back in December for an April cruise. If you pick a cabin based on the location and potential view from your balcony, then that doesn't matter. If you don't receive the email informing you of this last-minute change, then don't worry, someone will get back to you after the cruise is done to address your perception of a problem.

Colombo Hindu Temples

 

Here's some pictures of two nearby Hindu temples in Colombo. We've seen all kinds of cathedrals, churches, mosques, and temples around the world, so it's interesting to finally see some Hindu temples. I hadn't experienced this before now. Sri Lanka is an amazing country with all of the major religions living together.

Ramble On - Robert Plant with Saving Grace

 Another great version of the song which inspired the name of this blog.

The Farm Resorts Dickoya Sri Lanka

 

Sri Lanka can be hot and humid like any tropical island nation, but the tea country is another story. What a wonderful story it is in the cooler mountains. We spent the latest long weekend having a driver take us about 4-5 hours away to higher elevations. The Farm Resorts is a quiet refuge with comfortable rooms, amazing views, and a delicious little restaurant. It was a great break from the humid seaside city of Colombo.

Dambulla Village Tour & Temples

 

The Dambulla Village Tour is an immersive cultural experience in Sri Lanka’s Cultural Triangle, highlighting traditional rural life. The tour features a scenic bullock cart ride (cart drawn by oxen), a traditional catamaran boat trip, chena cultivation visits (slash-and-burn cultivation), and a home-cooked Sri Lankan lunch. (Google)

Hurulu Eco Park Sri Lanka

 

Hurulu Eco Park in Habarana, Sri Lanka, is a prominent 10,000-hectare biosphere reserve, famous for hosting jeep safaris that offer intimate, often less-crowded sightings of wild Sri Lankan elephants. As a crucial dry-zone habitat, it provides a crucial, year-round alternative to neighboring parks like Minneriya and Kaudulla. (Google)

Sigiriya Lion Rock Sri Lanka

Sigiriya Lion Rock is a 5th-century ancient rock fortress and palace complex in central Sri Lanka, recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and often called the "eighth wonder of the world". It features a 200-meter-high granite monolith topped with ruins, featuring landscaped gardens, ancient frescoes, and colossal carved lion paws. (Google)

Habarana Cultural Centre Dance Show

 

The Habarana Cultural Centre hosts a nightly 1-hour show featuring traditional Sri Lankan Kandyan dancing, drumming, and vibrant, acrobatic, and fire performances. Held in a 700-seat, eco-friendly theatre with a natural grass roof, the show features over 35 performers, including skilled female dancers, and offers an authentic cultural experience near Sigiriya. (Google)

Dambulla Cave Rock Temple Sri Lanka

 

The Dambulla Cave Temple (or Golden Rock Temple) is a 1st-century B.C. UNESCO World Heritage site in Sri Lanka, renowned as the largest and best-preserved cave temple complex in the country. Located on a 160-meter high rock, it features five main caves adorned with over 150 Buddha statues, intricate paintings, and 2,100 square meters of murals. (Google)

Navam Maha Perahera in Colombo Sri Lanka

 

We see one of the most important Buddhist temples in Colombo from our apartment. We're fortunate to be close enough to walk just a little bit to see a major festival procession. I took about 700 photos, but I've picked out about 200 to share some images of the entire procession.

Mal Perahera (Flower Procession) in Colombo Sri Lanka

 

I thought this procession was practice for the big Navam Maha Perahera since they did it all through the week. It was actually Mal Perahera. This was a unique sight to unexpectably stumble upon while walking home from work.

Ella to Mirissa Sri Lanka

 

We started the day in the cool mountains of Ella. Our trip concluded with a lovely beach sunset in Mirissa. It could have been remarkably hotter, but it was an overcast day with some rain. It didn't end up being that drastic of a change in environments on this tropical island nation.

Train to Ella Sri Lanka

 

That's some other people hanging out at the open door of the train, but it shows a good overview of a magical train ride. We kept hearing about taking a scenic segment of the train line to Ella. This was probably the best day of our trip to the mountain interior of Sri Lanka. It was a great way to start the first day of the new year. We're fortunate to live in this beautiful country.

 

Year's End at World's End - Horton Plains National Park Sri Lanka

 

We spent the last day of the year at the end of the world. We went before dawn to the Horton Plains National Park to arrive when it opened and hike out to the Mini World's End and Greater World End's overlooks before they were obscured by clouds. We succeeded for one by not the other.

Kandy to Nuwara Eliya Sri Lanka

 

This continues our trip through central Sri Lanka. We started with the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy. We toured a tea factory and had a tea tasting in the heart of tea country. The day ended in Nuwara Eliya.

Trip to Kandy Sri Lanka

 

We hired a tour company to take us around the popular parts of Sri Lanka for a week. We started by heading to Kandy in the central mountain area for the first night. We saw an elephant sanctuary along the way and a traditional dance show on arrival in Kandy. The amazing view above was from our room after a long day of driving and seeing stuff.

Colombo Buddhist Temples

 

If you pay to enter the Seema Malaka Buddhist Temple on Biera Lake then you can use your ticket to visit the nearby Gangaramaya Temple which is also interesting. We also visited the Aśōkārāma Temple in another part of the city. I'm told it's a more typical temple. I've collected pictures of both here to compare the two.