We were met at the airport by the host of the Airbnb in Negombo late on the 28th of February. He drove us back to his place where we quickly hit the hay. The place was actually a home share or private bedroom with a private bathroom next door. Another guest left during that night so we were the only ones staying there. We spent the first day walking the streets and dodging traffic. We walked a few kilometers popping in and out of a few stores. It is a very dirty city pollution wise, both the air quality and the streets were not especially clean. 
We did find a lovely little cafe selling tea and coffee where we stepped in for a spot of tea. I had the lemon grass tea and Nadine had chai tea. The owner was an expat from Australia.
The next day we found the beach where we had a look and decided not to go in as it had a very strong oily smell. We did manage to find a nice restaurant where we wanted to have supper there that night. Because of the distance we walked and the heat of the day we took a tuk tuk back to the room. We did have adequate internet but the aircon was only in the bedroom and not in the living room or dining room area. The hosts made a supper one night for $16usd it was a local dish.
We were up and took an Uber to Colombo on the 3rd of March. We were in a tiny car but the driver managed to get both of our suitcases in the front seat, and we held out backpacks on our laps. The apartment in Colombo was very large but again the air conditioner was only in the bedroom. We had a very comfortable bedroom. We were in a fairly nice area near some of the embassies and felt comfortable walking there at night.
We found another nice local restaurant where they served roti, kottu and hoppers. We just had to try them.
The kottu was a mix of vegetables, chicken and a type of naan bread all chopped into little pieces. The challenge with the chicken kottu we ordered was the chicken bones were still in it. We walked to a highly recommended market called the Pettah Market but it wasn’t worth the effort. We continued to walk around and a guy started to chat us up saying he worked in an embassy. We chatted and walked and then he suggested we go see a famous temple. It was on our list so we thought why not, he hailed us a tuk tuk and said it had a meter. When we got to the temple a couple of minutes later he told us the fair would be 2,500 rupees and I thought Nadine was going to loose it. We ended up paying him 220 rupees. There are quite a few scam artists on the go in Sri Lanka.
The Gangaramaya temple was very nice and well worth the visit.
We got another Uber to take us to the train station in Colombo Fort and we were on our way to Kandy. We were met by a tuk tuk driver that was sent by Tony our host. A little confusing but we made it.
The apartment in Kandy was very nice however it was a home stay and the owners had access to our kitchen and living room area. The only time we saw anyone was when the maid did the Landry, which was in the kitchen area. We had a bedroom and bathroom that locked so added some security. We slept under a mosquito net because we left the windows wide open be because we did not want to pay $10 a day for the air con.
Kandy was a noisy, not so clean city and the traffic was worse. We walked over two kilometers to get to the downtown area and it was like an obstacle course. 
We saw the tourist spots around the city including the tooth relic. Supposedly one of Buddha’s teeth is in the temple in Kandy. The walk around the lake was pleasant for the most part, some construction slowed us down a bit. We found a nice little cafe where we visited almost every day. They had a nice cup of coffee. We also had lunch the one day and I had the best vegetarian burger ever.
On the 13th of March we ventured off with a car and driver to see the Royal Cave temple in Dambulla. It was quite impressive. There are hundreds of Buddha statues standing, laying down and sitting. All different sizes. It was extremely hot that day and even hotter in the caves. We had to take off our sandals and it was extremely hot in the sun. It was a bit of a walk up to the caves but well worth the effort. We also went to see Sigiriya but we did not climb the rock fortress which was over 600 feet high.
We spent the next couple of days back in Kandy and the on the 16th we rented another car and driver (actually the same person as before) who drove us to Nuwara Eliya. 
We stopped in a very large tea plantation and had a tour on one of the factories. Sri Lanka sells tea all over the world. It is quite an impressive operation, we saw the people picking the leaves right up to the drying and packaging. Part of the tour included a cup of tea, which was very nice. We finished the drive and we were dropped off at our sketchy hotel room. Not my best room.
We walked around the town and went for high tea at the Grand Palace Hotel. It was a very nice afternoon. The town has a few British styled buildings left over from the days of the British rule. We grabbed a good pizza from Pizza Hut took it back to our room and called it a night.
The next morning we booked a tuk tuk to take us to the train station which was about eight kilometers away. 
It is so easy traveling with just a small backpack. We took the four hour train to Ella which is supposedly one of the most scenic train rides in the world. I am sure there are a few people that would beg to differ, but it was a great train ride nonetheless. We booked into our room, which was a bit better than the last one… the host was a great help telling us things to do and where to go.
While in Ella we crossed over the nine arch bridge and climbed most of the way up Little Adam’s Peak to see the sunrise. We also had a wonderful meal and wine in the town.
The next morning we took the train back to Kandy. It was about a seven hour ride. We met a few people on the train and had a good time.
Near the end of our stay in Kandy we took the opportunity to grab a local bus and go to the Royal Botanical Garden in Kandy. We spend the better part of the day there and enjoyed every minute of it. Lots of bamboo stands and many varieties of palm trees. There also thousands of bats sleeping in the trees. This species is known as “flying fox”. The trees were full of them, the whole day was amazing. We spent the next couple of days packing up and saying goodbye to Kandy. We enjoyed our time there but were glad to move on to Galle.
We rented a car and driver from a company called Broom Broom and the service was excellent. We drove through small towns and on major highways. It was a long day but we made it to our Airbnb which is just outside the Galle fort area. Our host met us at the apartment and took our bags up the two flights of stairs. We had a nice big room and an outside kitchen and a small deck where we ate our meals. We found a very small “grocery store” and the beer store so we were able to setup the kitchen. We brought a bottle of wine with us so Nadine was happy.
We went to the Galle fort on the second day and spent the day looking for souvenirs the fort was a great place to walk around in because there were not many cars trying to run you down. We were able to walk part way around the walls and took lots of pictures. They had a light house at the end of the fort. We had a very nice lunch in this quaint little restaurant where they had lots of old relics like motorcycles and bicycles.
We spent most of our time in the Galle area at the beach and walking around the area. We started our morning walk at 6:00am and got bad usually around 7:30am. We tried to get back before the sun got to hot. We always ran into motorcycles, tuk tuks, bicycles and vans taken the children to school very early. They attend school between 7:00 and 1:30ish.
One day we rented beach chairs at a local hotel where we ate two nights before. They charged us 3,000 rupees for the two chairs or $12.00 each. We spent the day lounging around and in and out of the water. They waves were quite high much like DaNang’s beach but we were able to walk to a nice protected area with no waves. We found one restaurant on the main street where they served very nice pizzas. One pizza, a glass of wine and two beer came to about $25.00. The sun set was outstanding. This was a touristy area so nowhere was serving cheap food. We ate there four times, it must have been good. We did find a couple of other places to eat and another spot where we rented chairs again only this time it only cost $4.00 each for the chairs.
While there we went to a local wood carving place and watched them carve wooded pieces all by hand. Buddha heads, elephants, masks, you name it they can carve it. They used mahogany, ebony and teak for their products. We picked up some souvenirs while we were there.
We spent a week in the Galle area and I must say it was a lovely spot where we stayed and nice and relaxing at the beach. I would recommend anyone staying there check out the Airbnb, Jungle View Apartment. We asked our host to book a driver for us to take us to the airport outside Colombo. I am glad we were not in a hurry as it took over three hours for a two hour drive. Two flights to Bali via Kuala Lumpur, it was a long day and a half.
A couple of days later we booked another trip with the same tour company and did a full day excursion to Chiang Rai and Laos. On February 23rd we were pick up outside our apartment around 7:30am and spent three hours driving in a van with seven or eight others. We had a pit stop at a hot springs which was a couple of wells with very hot water spouting out of them. Some people were cooking eggs in the water.
Vietnam wouldn’t be complete without a cooking class. We found a place on line and walked into the old city to book the full day class. It was an organic farm and our first stop was to a local market for the guide to explain the different spices and vegetables we will be cooking. There were eight of us in the class which worked out very well. We also received a cook book as a parting gift with all of the recipes we made. It was a very tasty day.
We also got to the Sunday night market which too was packed. It was shoulder to shoulder most of the time, see the picture. We found a nice coffee shop along the way where we had been a couple of other times while in the old part of town. We even hid a note for Emily and Mason at the coffee shop which I hope they find while they are in Chiang Mai this month.
