Last day

Hong Kong

Last full day in Hong Kong so after a surprisingly nice coffee near our hotel we did some shopping. In the area where we were staying everywhere you look it's shops shops and more shops and as it was raining steadily we joined everyone else. The service in the shops was noticeably good, very different from home, and we both ended up buying some clothes.

Back to the hotel to rest for a while after all that shopping, and later that afternoon we headed back to Lan Kwai Fong for a happy hour drink and then a nice meal at an Italian restaurant.

After that we revisited the Temple St Market, this time it was open but as it turned out the merchandise wasn't much different to what we'd seen at the Ladies Market, so we came away with nothing. 

After a night's rest it was up early to check out, then take an Uber to the airport, followed by a 9 hour flight back to Melbourne and the ridiculously cold temperatures we'd managed to avoid for the last 10 weeks! We thought that the cold might be a welcome relief after experiencing some incredibly hot and humid weather, but after standing outside Melbourne Airport in the cold for about 30 seconds we realised we were 100% wrong about that!    

Too early

Hong Kong

In the morning we went over to Hong Kong Island again to visit an artist share space with lots of little studios called PMQ. There wasn't much of interest, although M picked up a cheap Mr. Men coffee mug.

Back on Kowloon we went to the Temple St. market to find everything was closed (we were way too early), so we then went to the Ladies market. It was open, but it was also a little disappointing as it was mostly just Hong Kong souvenirs and assorted junk that we could get back home at a $2 shop.

We ended the day at a small, tasty Indian restaurant, which for some reason thought that loud live music in such a tiny venue would improve the atmosphere, thankfully we only had to endure a couple of songs.

Too busy!

Hong Kong (and Macau)

Online information said the fast boat to Macau left every 15 minutes but we arrived at the ferry terminal to discover it's only every hour. Unfortunately it was very overcast so that even though we had window seats for the hour trip across the bay visibility was poor.

On arrival we took the free shuttle bus to the Grand Lisboa casino and walked to Senado Square.

From there we headed to the famous façade of St Paul's church. It was incredible how many people were there, we think most of them would have been Chinese mainlanders. The streets were cobblestone like Portugal, there were a lot of shops, many of them selling beef jerky which seemed to be incredibly popular. 

The crowds were overwhelming so we headed back to the Grand Lisboa to get another shuttle, our goal being to visit one of the larger casinos on Taipa Island, about 30 minutes away. It wasn't clear where we should catch the shuttle from, after asking for assistance we discovered that to get a free shuttle ticket back to the port you had to enter the casino part of the complex, take the escalators down to the basement, go to the opposite back corner and collect your ticket, after which you need to fight your way back through the crowds, go around to the side of the building,  join the queue and wait for a bus. Talk about making it difficult!

Once back at the port we took another free shuttle to the Venetian. The casinos are heavily modelled on the Las Vegas ones, including a replica of the Eiffel Tower at the Parisian, and a copy of Big Ben and the houses of Parliament at The Londoner. The Venetian was also like what we'd seen in Las Vegas with a fake blue sky painted on the ceiling, and an indoor river with gondoliers. 

We had ended up in what was pretty much a massive shopping mall full of designer shops. Quickly we decided we'd had enough of the crowds and the commercialism and found our way back out to head for the ferry terminal. We had hoped to make the 6pm boat but the earliest tickets available were for 7pm.    

We finally made it back to our hotel, we practically made it all the way from the ferry terminal on HK Island to our hotel in Kowloon travelling by train and walking underground without needing to go outside, exposed only for the last 20 metres or so when we had to cross a road to get to our hotel! 

Taking a peak

Hong Kong

We caught the train under the harbour to Central Station on Hong Kong Island, so we could join a free walking tour at 11am. Unfortunately it was sunny and very hot which wasn't ideal.

The walking tour was interesting, we picked up a bit of information on history, notable buildings, architecture, religion and food, and also took a trip on part of the longest outdoor escalator in the world.

Back to the hotel by train for a short break from the heat, then we ventured out again to Victoria Peak. Hong Kong has a huge problem with smog due to coal fired industries so we needed to take advantage of the reasonably cloudless day while we could.

This time instead of the train to HK Island we took the Star Ferry, and from the other side jumped onto a double decker bus that would take us up to the peak.

It was very busy but seeing the amount of unused infrastructure for queue management it must have been a "quiet" day. Although still a little smoggy the views were good and gave us a good idea how large and picturesque the harbour is. 

We caught the tram back down, which was a lot quicker than the bus, but the views we'd seen from the bus were superior to the tram. From the tram stop we walked to the Lan Kwai Fong area. we'd been told that this was a famous street with lots of bars, though it was quiet when we arrived. After a (still expensive) happy hour drink we had dinner at nearby restaurant then took the train back to Tim Sha Tsui and our hotel. 

Inching homewards

Bangkok (Thailand) to Hong Kong (Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China) 

K hadn't been to Hong Kong since 1981 and M has never been so it seemed a good option for a final stopover on the way home, especially as it's was only a two and a half hour flight from Bangkok.

The hotel were very nice when we checked out early and gave us coffees and some take away breakfast while we waited for our Grab to arrive, then it was off to the airport and another couple of hours in the lounge.

At the Hong Kong end we exited the airport into more heat and humidity. The red taxis waiting outside all looked pretty old, nevertheless we jumped into one after grabbing a bit of paper with the estimated fare to Tim Sha Tsui in Kowloon (as it turned out that the estimate was very close).

It was early evening by the time we checked in to our hotel, so after settling in we briefly explored the immediate area, around the harbour and Star Ferry terminal, before having dinner at a (believe it or not) Irish pub!

    

Have you seen Mary Jane?

Bangkok 

(Sunday) We've been to Bangkok many times as it's our preferred stop over for longer trips so we know it's best to have accommodation near the Sky Train.

As it was Sunday we took a trip to the Chatuchak Weekend Market. K went looking for some ceramics but couldn't really find much of interest after making our way through the mass of stalls selling clothes, snacks and cheap knick-knacks.    

Then it was back to the massive Siam shopping area for lunch. While K returned to the hotel, M ventured to the Panthip area to see if the Panthip Plaza we used to visit in the early 2000's to buy software and movies was still there, but as the area seemed to have been replaced by food stalls, he walked back to the hotel.

We ventured out again in the evening for dinner. We were heading for a restaurant/bar in the Nana area, but the weekend was a Buddhist holiday where the sale of alcohol was forbidden, so finding it closed we had a decent meal at a nearby restaurant.      

(Monday) A fairly quiet day, a sleep in then a nice coffee at a bakery/café not far from the hotel. 

That afternoon we went to Jack's bar right on the edge of the river near Saphin Taskin, then we caught a ferry to the crowded Asiatique, a reasonably new and modern shopping and bar complex on the river where we ended up having dinner. From there we took a Grab back to the hotel and called it a night. 

(Tuesday) We had read about the Erawan Museum so we decided to check it out, but we discovered that the word "museum" was used very loosely. It's more of a mini theme park with some elephant focused religion on the side. The massive three headed elephant statue was worth a look, and the place was quite well kept and nice enough, but we didn't think it was worth the entry fee.

In the evening we headed to the Patpong area for dinner and the market before heading home to pack. One of the big differences we've noticed is the proliferation of of shops selling cannabis and related products, they are everywhere in Bangkok and always open, which doesn't quite gel with not us being able to have alcohol with our meals back on the previous weekend!

    

It's better if we leave now

Alifushi (Maldives) to Bangkok (Thailand)

We're quite sad to be leaving as our stay in the Maldives exceeded our expectations, and as the exceptional food was a major factor in this, it's probably best we leave for our health, though one thing we won't miss about our stay is the lousy internet.

We were booked on the 9.15am boat to Male airport, and during breakfast we received a message saying that our flight was delayed by an hour. This was probably related to the "blue screen" outage that had occurred the previous day, so we were lucky we hadn't planned to fly out a day earlier.

The flight to Bangkok was pretty easy and we picked up a Grab (their version of Uber) which had us at our accommodation fairly quickly. Because of the flight duration and the time difference it was evening by the time we settled in, and we walked to a cheap restaurant nearby for a basic meal.

 

Overeating hazard

Alifushi

(Wednesday) We woke to a view of the ocean and the sound of waves, and now that it was daylight we could take in the view, although the ocean looked rougher than we expected, a legacy of last night's storm. 

We walked down to breakfast to find the largest array of breakfast cuisines that we had ever seen - Indian, Maldivian, Asian and Western. Best of all the food was actually hot, very appreciated after the lukewarm food of Sri Lanka. M was pleased to see some nice Indian curries and breads, while K availed herself of the more traditional breakfast options. 

Walking back to our villa it was very humid, and as the sun was beating down it was quite uncomfortable. We ventured for a swim from the steps of our villa, and alternated between laying on our veranda until we overheated, and moving indoors to air conditioning. Our biggest decisions of the day were when to have lunch, when to head to the bar for a pre dinner drink, and when to have dinner. 

(Thursday) We followed the same template as yesterday, though we did learn that it's best to have dinner at least an hour into the session to avoid the peak time with families and children.

(Friday) We decided to spend some time by the nice beach and pool area, as the swimming area by our villa was quite rocky and K found that it was better to swim with shoes. Our food lesson of the day is that where you have three buffet meals a day with decent quality food, then even though you know you should be careful it's way too easy to eat too much. 

Rough seas

Galle (Sri Lanka) to Alifushi (Maldives) 

Overnight there had been a ferocious storm, water had even washed under the external door into our room. Fortunately though it had cleared by daybreak, and we collected by Sam one last time for the two hour drive to Colombo. 

We arrived at Colombo airport with plenty of time (as usual), checked in, then headed to the Lotus Lounge. It wasn't long before we were notified that our flight had been delayed by three hours, we think this may have been related to the storm.  As boring as the delay was, at least we had comfortable lounge access. Our flight finally left for the one hour trip to Male at 4.15pm, we were meant to be checked in and swimming by now!

We finally arrived at Male three hours late at 5.15pm and were met by a rep from our resort who tagged our bags, then gave us the bad news that we had to wait for others to arrive from other flights before we could take the boat to the resort, with an expected wait time of up to 90 minutes. The airport is right on the edge of an island, you just walk out of the airport and cross the road to get onto a boat. While we were waiting we could very dark clouds in the distance, and shortly afterwards day turned to night and there was a massive storm with torrential rain.

Just before 7pm we were told we could take the 15 minute speed boat ride to our resort. The seas were quite  rough and the boat had trouble docking so we had to walk to another spot.  We made it onto the boat with our luggage as the waves constantly slammed the sides. In the dark safety jackets were put over our heads with no explanation on how to fasten them, no safety check, in fact no words at all, just a paper sick bag pushed into our hands while we gripped the rails. 

We took off in the dark with massive waves and the boat crashing continually up and down, one poor lady was almost hysterical, it was a frightening trip that that lasted for 30 minutes, at one point they stopped the boat and told us to move to the back, we can see it would have been quite terrifying for someone who couldn't swim or wasn't used to speed boats. K had some ceramics in her cases so she was also worried about how they'd fared on the trip.

We finally pulled up to a jetty and were greeted by smiling helpful staff who informed us that this wasn't our island, as we couldn't dock there because of the weather. We were bundled into a jeep and we thought we were heading for another boat, but after about 10 minutes crossing a few bridges we reached our resort.

Arriving at night can be quite disorienting, we really had no idea where we were, but after a short orientation from the staff we were taken to our nice water villa. Once our luggage arrived we headed to the resort restaurant for the first (of many) nice buffet meals.

One last visit to the beach

Yala to Galle

An 11am start today for the drive to Galle, with a stop at the beachside town of Mirissa for lunch. Mirissa in December is idyllic with calm blue seas but in July it's rough surf with high tides that leave little available sand. However we had a lovely stop right on the edge of the beach before resuming our trip to Galle for our final night in Sri Lanka. The coastal drive between Mirissa and Galle passed lots of beachside hotels and resorts, and it looked like it would be a nice area to visit, especially in better weather.

We stayed in a hotel just outside, and within easy walking distance, of the old Dutch fort. The fort area was interesting but also quite touristy, with lots of shops selling gems and spices, as well as tea houses and ice cream shops. We walked along the fort walls then found a nice place for dinner before heading back to sort out or luggage for the flight to the Maldives the next day.

Traffic jam

Ella to Yala

We were sorry to leave our tree top home with the flying squirrels but pleased to see the back of the treacherous steps. We stopped off at Ravana Waterfall where some local men were having a great natural shower with strong water pressure even though it was probably very cold.

As we approached Yala we rechecked the reviews of the hotel we'd planned to stay at and started having second thoughts about the place. Fortunately we were able to cancel for free so we changed to a nicer place for the same cost, though it was a little further from Yala National Park. They were also gracious enough to let us check in early. 

Sam returned with a safari jeep and a driver just after 2pm to take us to Yala National Park, the home of the Sri Lankan leopard. We stopped at the office to buy the entrance ticket and before we knew it a man in uniform had climbed into the back of the jeep saying he was our guide. We thought this was just a standard thing for this national park, but we then saw that none of the other jeeps had guides in them. K asked him if we needed to pay extra for him, he replied that we did. By this point we were confused, no-one had told us we'd have a guide or that there were more costs involved, and on top of that he was pretty useless, as both he and the driver were pointing out animals, many of which we'd already spotted ourselves. We took it up with Sam and suddenly we didn't have to pay, all very strange. 

Yala was overcrowded and noisy, wherever you looked there was a bunch of jeeps, it was like a massive traffic jam. Just when you thought it couldn't get worse large machinery came past, loads of portable toilets on trucks, tractors on trucks, caravans, the entire thing was ridiculous. What kind of animal would be stupid enough to choose to be near a freeway running through its home? 

No-one we spoke in the other jeeps had seen a leopard, in fact not much had been seen at all. We thought we were wasting our time in this noisy place with very poor roads, so we said we'd  had enough and wanted to leave. On the way out we came across a few groups of elephants with babies of different sizes, some mongoose, a jackal and some black faced monkeys. 

Overall it was quite a disappointing visit, there need to be restrictions on how many vehicles can enter the national park at one time as it really detracted from the experience and most likely scared away the animals we had hoped to see.

A room with a view

Ella   

M woke early at 6am to hike to Little Adam's Peak, and had the top to himself for a while. 

Breakfast was served on our cute veranda looking over the jungle at 9am. The last few steps to get to our hut are huge and uneven, so without hand rails it makes it a little treacherous to get to but the view from our bed is wonderful.

Sam collected us at 11am to drive us to the start of the 20 minute walk to the famous Ella Nine Arch Bridge. The walk was pretty easy and when we arrived there were lots of tourists hanging around on either side of the railway track as it goes over the bridge, and also in the nearby tunnel. We'd only been there a short while when we could hear the toot of a train horn, everyone scrambled off the tracks and on to the side and we watched people on the train hanging off the side to get their own perfect instagram shot.

We were almost at the van when it started raining, and as it grew heavier we pulled the pin on any further sightseeing and asked Sam to drop us back in town. Ella was originally just a small railway town in the mountains, but in the last 10 years it has exploded with a growth in tourism to the area, and now looks like it was built for the tourist trade, and quite similar in many ways to places like Bali, 

After a nice lunch and a wander up and down along the small main street we walked back to our villa just before some really heavy rain started. Dinner was at the same place we had lunch, seeing as we had enjoyed it so much. 

The "lava" part isn't supposed to be taken literally!

Nuwara Eliya to Ella

We woke up to the good news that the train strike had been called off at midnight so we would be able to catch the train from Nanuoya to Ella at 1.15pm as planned. Sam picked us up at 11 and we stopped by a temple (still under construction) overlooking Nurawa Eliya, and a nearby waterfall, before stopping for tea and cake at the Edinburgh Tea Stop. 

K selected the hot lava cake, we were waiting for it for quite a while before we smelt something burning. It turns out the person who served us didn't know how to work the microwave and inserted a lava cake still in foil then set the timer on high for 10 minutes. K's chances of getting that lave cake were now zero, yet there was still an attempt to charge us for it!

The train arrived at Nanuoya station only a few minutes late, we boarded (along with the hundred of other tourists) and then didn't move from the station for another hour, maybe the driver took his lunch break? There were some nice views during the three hour trip, and we were also entertained by watching all the people lining up, mainly girls with their pretty dresses, hair and makeup done, to hang out the doorway for Instagram photos. This had us then wondering about the rates of accidents and a quick google search revealed a number of deaths, mainly from hitting their heads on approaching tunnels. Ouch!

Sam was there at Ella station to collect us and drive us to our hillside villa in Ella overlooking the jungle, a nice quiet spot surprisingly close to the main road which had lots of bars, shops and restaurants very much targeted at tourists.

Anyone for tea?

Kandy to Nuwara Eliya

Today we headed to Nuwara Eliya in the mountains, home to tea plantations and buildings from the British colonial era. Our plan was to drive the next day from there to Nanuoya to get the train to Ella, however we had heard that the railways were on strike so weren't sure whether the train would even be running.

We stopped at the Damro tea plantation for a quick tour of the tea factory and a free cuppa. It was a very busy place as it was apparently the only factory in the area that offers a free tour. 

It was still very interesting though, we saw how the tea leaves were picked, dried, processed and packed, and also learnt about the different kinds of tea, some of which (like golden tea) we'd never heard of.

As our driver Sam was originally from Nuwara Eliya he gave us a tour of the town before taking us to our very old fashioned hotel, with a nice garden view. This was the only place we'd stayed at the didn't have air conditioning, as the weather in Nuwara Eliya is much milder than the lower parts of the country.   

We walked into town and had a drink and a snack at a "pub", in a great location with a nice beer garden but with possibly the worst drink selection and service we'd ever experienced. When we asked for the bill we waited for quite some time before K went to investigate, only to find the girl behind the register asleep! We also made the mistake of hanging around talking to someone after we paid the bill, which meant we were still there when they came to tell us that they'd forgotten to charge us for our chips.

We returned to our hotel where we ate in their very formal dining room of our hotel, in the slippers they insisted we wear at all times while inside. 

K day

Kandy

We started off with a visit to the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, where the left canine tooth of Buddha is enshrined, this is the same tooth that used to be kept in the ancient temples in Polonnaruwa. Our guide rattled off a bunch of facts and figures as we walked through the grounds and into the temple, just in time for the tooth ceremony where they remove the tooth for people to see. 

As they started opening the chamber where the tooth was stored the huge crowd surged, the devout buddhists in the crowd pushed to get a glimpse of the tooth. We managed to get a view of the gold chamber where the tooth was stored before being swept onwards. It was an interesting experience but not really enjoyable due to the crowd, and it was a bit weird having a bunch of tourists who didn't really understand the significance of the relic taking up prime viewing positions from the faithful locals.

K had missed out on quite a few attractions in Sri Lanka as a result of being sick, but for the rest of the day we were finally going to focus on her interests. 

We visited a gem and jewellery specialist in Kandy, as Sri Lanka is the home of the Ceylon Sapphire. We watched a very interesting video about how the sapphire mines are constructed, then given a tour of the workshop where they they even cleaned K's rings for her. In the shop we were shown samples of all sorts of precious and semi-precious stones, then left to browse all of the jewellery that was for sale. We managed to leave without spending a cent (fortunately).

From there we drove another hour to the small town of Molagoda, and stopped at the government run Molagoda Pottery Crafts Training Center. We were given a demo of throwing then a tour through the rest of the studio and the kiln. We finished off in their small shop with quite a range of very cheap ceramics and examples of other crafts. We were not able to leave this place without spending a cent (unfortunately).

Back in Kandy M was dropped off at the  Royal Botanic Gardens Peradeniya while K returned to our room. The gardens were quite extensive and interesting, with many varieties of tropical plants as well as a nice orchid collection. 

Are you ready to rock?

Sigiriya to Kandy

M woke early and was picked up by Sam at 6am to go and climb Lion Rock. It's recommended that the climb is done early in the day to avoid the heat, since there are about 1200 steps to climb.

There were plenty of people around but it wasn't like Pidurangala the evening before, the only choke point this morning was the spiral steps leading up to the famous rock paintings.

After getting to the top, exploring the ruins and admiring the view it was back to the guest house for a traditional Sri Lankan breakfast of curry, samosas, pancakes, hoppers and fruit.

We left for Kandy after breakfast, with a few stops along the way. First was the Dambulla Cave Temple. This had quite a few steps, but even though K hadn't quite recovered from her illness she managed to make it all the way. There must have been hundreds of Buddha statues here, in different rooms cut into the rock.

Next was Nalanda Gedige, known as Sri Lanka's central point, where there was a small  Hindu temple from around the 8th century.

Sri Lanka is famous for spices so we were looking forward to the next stop at a spice farm to learn about how they were grown and harvested. However this was really just one of many "spice farms" tourist traps along this road. There was a small demo garden with examples of many spice plants, such as cardamon, cinnamon, and pepper, but the focus of the guide and the tour was on the medicinal properties of the plants and trying to sell natural ayurvedic remedies and a "miracle" hair removal cream. This was quite disappointing, and in checking the online reviews once we'd left we found that we weren't alone in thinking that way.

We finally made it to our hotel in Kandy, in a nice room with views of the surrounding area, but still not too far from town. We did have to exchange pleasantries with the host for about 15 minutes, who wanted to tell us all about his network engineer son that used to work for Telstra. M cracked a couple of jokes about this but they fell quite flat for some reason.

We used the Pick Me app to book a tuk tuk to take us to a nice restaurant overlooking Kandy Lake for dinner. 

I don't think you're going to fit

Trincomalee to Sigiriya

K was feeling bit better after a few days of rest as we left Trinco and headed to the remains of the ancient city of Polonnaruwa, an old capital like Anuradhapura (which we had to miss) but apparently in better condition and more compact. As we drove we often had to move to the other side of the road to avoid rice that had been laid out to dry, this is supposedly illegal but it was quite common regardless.

At Polonnaruwa we had a guide take us through the remains of the old king's palace, explaining the history of the site and also the significance of the tooth relic, supposedly one of Buddha's teeth that remained after he was cremated. Whoever holds the tooth is the king of Sri Lanka, and it was held by multiple kings in different temples at the site during its heyday in the 11th century. As well as the ruins of the ancient palace, the site also has the famous Gal Vihara rock temple, with four very impressive Buddha statues carved into a single rock.  

We were taken for lunch to what was supposed to be an authentic Sri Lankan meal, but it was very obviously a tourist trap. It was a buffet with lots of different (cold) vegetables and a few meats, interesting in its own way and tasty enough, but also very expensive at around $34 for the two of us, disappointing after the tasty and inexpensive meal we had back on our first driving day.

It was then on to our final destination of Sigirya. We checked into a nice villa in what was effectively our host's back yard, and while K rested, M went off with Sam to Pidurangala Rock. 

M climbed up along with a lot of other tourists who were planning to view the sunset, past some large Buddha statues about halfway up. Near the top as the path narrowed and scrambling over rocks was required there was a traffic jam, with many factors contributing to the blockage. Some people were trying to climb that didn't seem to be cut out for it, so there were people pushing and pulling them up over the rocks. Others were trying to crawl through small gaps with their pack still on their back, while the narrowness meant that people going in opposite directions had to wait their turn.

Once M finally reached the top, he explored for a while and admired the view of Lion Rock before heading back down, trying to get ahead of the mass of people that would all be exiting as soon as the sun had set.

Back at the villa our gracious host served us a home cooked Sri Lankan meal of chicken and vegetable curries and rice in the beautiful back garden. 

Two days of recovery and a lobster

Trincomalee

(Friday) The night was a bad one for K as she was up and down to the toilet constantly, and the following morning she wasn't well enough to head out. The staff at the villa were really helpful, bringing breakfast to our veranda. K slept most of the day while M went and explored the beach to the north, which had quite a few hotels, restaurants and also the upmarket Trinco Blu resort.

That afternoon Sam collected M late in the afternoon for a visit to Thirukoneswaram temple, which was located at the end of a small peninsula near the Fort Frederic. 

(Saturday) We had originally chosen three nights at Trinco to hopefully see a blue whale and swim with the whale sharks but when we inquired we were told that we were too late as the sharks had passed through a couple of months earlier. This was just as well since K was still unwell the next day, and needed a little more time to recuperate. 

While K stayed back, M spent the morning exploring the southern part of the beach, which had a lot less in the way of restaurants and resorts but had more fishing boats and a small Hindu temple on the beach.

 

Later on Sam took M to visit the Kanniya Hot Water Springs, which although quite small were well frequented by locals bathing and washing themselves.

By the evening K felt well enough to go down to the beach for dinner, where she was brave enough to eat more seafood, this time though having a freshly grilled lobster.