Friday, August 12, 2011

Sri Lanka

Brian, along with two friends from work, spent last weekend in Sri Lanka; three very intense days of visual stimuli. The trip started on Wednesday night with the red eye out of Abu Dhabi. After a 4 1/2 hour flight, we landed in Colombo, Sri Lanka around 3:30 Thursday morning. We hired a driver and drove about 6 hours south along the coast to Tangalla. In Tangalla, we checked into the Ibis Guesthouse and had a lobster dinner on the beach.

We had such a good time hanging out, sightseeing, and meeting all kinds of interesting characters. One such character was Nick Buckingham, owner of the Buckingham Place resort. Nick welcomed us in and shared his thoughts on Sri Lanka over a few drinks one afternoon.

We left Tangalle on Saturday afternoon and traveled by a Tuk Tuk taxi to Matara, where we boarded the train back to Colombo. The train was at least 50 years old and I spent most of the 5 hour journey hanging out the doors watching the Sri Lankan countryside fly by. The flight back to Abu Dhabi left at 4 AM and we arrived home at 7 AM, with just enough time to change and be at work by 9 AM.