바보의 거위 the sillygoose blog

We arrived into Colombo, Sri Lanka very late a night so we stayed at a hotel near the airport. In the morning we hired a driver to take us for the 4 hour drive to a city called Kandy. On the way, we stopped at an elephant orphanage which was a neat experience. We were able to observe elephants of all ages roam around the property. There were no fences or barriers that obstructed our view; we were truly standing amongst the elephants.

We arrived at our hotel in Kandy in the evening. It was on the outskirts of the city and surrounded by a plethora of tea plantations. It was a relaxing place to unwind and take in the beautiful scenery. We ate breakfast at the hotel while monkeys came out of the jungle and hung out. They made a surreal backdrop for an unforgettable breakfast.

After a couple relaxing days in Kandy, we took the train south back to Colombo. The ride was beautiful. We went through dense jungle and observed beautiful vistas. After arriving in Colombo we caught a shuttle bus to a city in the south called Galle. The bus ride was terrifying because everybody drives so aggressively in SL. We took a taxi from Galle to our beach-front hotel in an area called Unawatuna. We ate great food and enjoyed swimming in the hotel pool.

The next day we took a tuk-tuk for a 30 minute ride down the coast to a town called Hikaduwa where we stayed for 2 nights. We again enjoyed the beach, pool and beautiful landscape. It was interesting to note the devestation that still plagued the south from the Tsunami 7 years ago that killed 60, 000 Sri Lankans. Most things had been rebuilt, yet there were several buildings and structures that clearly hadn’t been fixed.

Sri Lanka impressed us with it’s beauty and authenticity. Due to the tsunami and the now resolved civil-war, SL hasn’t seen too many tourists. The few that do visit certainly enjoy a more fulfilling tourist experience than going to a place like Thailand. It was truly an unbelievable place.

We arrived in Singapore after a long day of traveling. We were lucky to fly out of Busan (which is near Pohang), but we had a transfer in Shanghai.

Singapore is a beautiful place with incredible architecture and food. We saw most of the things worth seeing within one day. On day two, we took a ferry to the Indonesian island of Batam. We roamed the small island and had the chance to sample Indonesian delicacies including saté and local beers.

We returned from Batam in the evening and caught an overnight train heading towards Kuala Lampur, Malaysia. Dan has a friend in KL that he met while working for the government one summer. ‘G’ lived in a resort-style dwelling in central KL; we stayed with him for one night while enjoying his comforting hospitality and nice house with a swimming pool.

Unfortunately, two days before we arrived at G’s house, he acquired chicken pox. He was feeling under the weather and wasn’t able to show us around. Instead he had a friend show us the sites and take us to some great restaurants. We ate some of the best food we’ve ever had including our favourite, Laksa.

The most interesting attraction we saw in KL was a Hindu temple on the side of a mountain called Batu caves. To access the caves, we walked up several stairs to access the main area. It was neat because it was on the edge of the city, so monkeys lived around the cave and they were hanging out all around us. We took a walking tour where we walked for an hour through the caves while looking at bats and admiring other bugs and animals that lived in the cave.

After two fun filled days with G, his wife and best friend – we boarded a flight to Sri Lanka.

We left Korea on November 1st. It was an emotional departure for us, because we made some really great friends while living there- plus we’re going to miss the kids. The silver lining of the departure was the opportunity to travel for the next six weeks and see our friends and family in time for Christmas.