My trip to Sri Lanka

Yesterday I returned from a very pleasant four-day trip to Sri Lanka. I went to see my girlfirend, who is working there for a month with some friends.

We visited Colombo, which has some impressive Hindu and Buddhist temples, including one where they keep an elephant. We made our way down the coast to the southern tip of the country and stayed near a place called Galle. The sandy beaches are beautiful, lined with palm trees, and brilliant for sunsets. It was interesting to see those scenes contrasted with some of the devastation from the Tsunami, but there seemed to be some good progress in rebuilding communities, at least where we were. We briefly visited the old fort at Galle and stood on its high walls overlooking the ocean as the sun set on the horizon.

We also visited a turtle hatchery, where we saw turtles that were only hours old and I held a massive turtle that was many years old. We also visited some of the cultural sites, such as Brief Garden, which used to be the home of Sri Lanka's most renowned architect, and the Martin Wickramasinghe Folk Art Museum, which includes the house of the Sri Lankan author.

The trip was rounded off nicely with a surprise early birthday celebration for me, as my girlfriend gave me a big Birthday cake to share with our hosts. So yet another good trip. The heat and the mozzies were the only bad things. Sri Lankan mozzies are vicious!

(Picture from www.srilankatourism.org of beach we passed on way to Galle. )