Archive for January, 2009
Hard Work
By Tony on January 29, 2009 | 3 Comments »
Life is hard on the road. We don’t want you thinking that we just sit on our butts and luxuriate all day on the beach. Being a Contemporary Nomad pushes the limits of endurance to the breaking point. Physical exhaustion is a real potential danger. Just click on the thumbnails below to read about our harrowing challenges.
Jeepers Creepers!
By Thomas on January 27, 2009 | No Comments »
As beautiful as the rainforest walk in Sinharaja was, we spent the first couple of hours shaking off the kind of creepers we are not too keen on – jungle leeches. Only after they turned Tony’s foot into a bloody mess and me into a convulsing wreck, did our guide share his precious Ayurvedic leech repellent with us. The sticky paste was applied around the soles of our shoes and kept the suckers at leeches’ length and wiggling with disgust. Now why didn’t he give us that stuff right at the beginning?!?
For those of you who venture into the south Asian jungles, get ahold of some of that stuff before you start your treks. It can be bought at many road-side hole-in-the-wall shops throughout the country. We’ll definitely be looking for it in the future.
Sinharaja – A Day in the Rainforest
By Tony on January 25, 2009 | No Comments »
Taking a break from our lazing on the beach, Thomas and I decided to head into the hill country to check out the Sinharaja Rainforest Reserve, the country’s relatively large stretch of rainforest.
Bandula, our knowledgeable guide from Sinharaja Rest Guest House in Deniyaya, made the day by locating a host of creatures that we never would have spotted on our own. We thought the day was such a success that it was worth its own pictorial. By the way, the giant tree snail was over three inches in diameter.
Secret Beach 360 View
By Tony on January 23, 2009 | No Comments »
Take a second to click into a 360 view of a beautiful secret jungle beach near Mirissa. This is Sri Lanka at its undeveloped best.
A Different World
By Thomas on January 21, 2009 | No Comments »
Ten minutes in the country and I couldn’t get over how different Sri Lanka was from India. Why would I even compare the two, you might ask. Well, Sri Lanka and India have close ties, the people superficially look the same, and the countries are neighbors. In fact, the flight from Trivandrum in southern India to Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo only takes 45 minutes. You have to understand that a 20-kilometer bus ride in India takes about this much time. So it was natural for me to assume (and maybe a little ignorant) that Sri Lanka was only an extension of India’s southern states Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
Clearly, I was mistaken. The first difference I noticed was how » Continue reading this post »
