Arrived in Bangkok after a very long flight from Boston through Seoul, made our way to the airport hotel, spent the night, and after the massive breakfast buffet, went to the Jim Thompson House/Museum.
Jim Thompson was an American who moved to Thailand after WWII, fell in love with the country and the culture, became very wealthy as a silk exporter, and was presumed dead after going missing while on a walk in Malaysia in 1967.
This is the house he built in Bangkok in 1958.
We only had one full day in Bangkok, so after our second night and a second massive breakfast buffet, we flew to Chiang Mai where the Loy Krathong Festival was going on. Unfortunately, our Airbnb in Chiang Mai had been cancelled the night before we arrived, and after a very frustrating second booking that also fell through, we ended up at the super-fancy Marriott, paying four times the going rate due to the festival.
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For what we were paying at the Marriott, we didn't feel compelled to leave it, but on the first night, we did walk into town to a hole-in-the-wall vegetarian restaurant where we had a fantastic dinner (for about $10). On day two we figured we should do something in Chiang Mai so after another massive breakfast buffet, we took a tuk-tuk to the outskirts of town to the Royal Park Rajapruek, which is a massive botanical garden and which was practically deserted.
After Chiang Mai, we flew to Phuket and after a long taxi ride from the airport, arrived in Patong, a town I can't imagine visiting twice although we had another lovely hotel room and another huge breakfast buffet.
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| We did find a charming cafe for our first morning in Patong, but after realizing there was not much for us to do in the town, spent most of our time at the pool. Next two mornings: hotel breakfast buffet. |
And then, the big event...
The next day, off to Sri Lanka.
First excursion was taking the train to Kandy.
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| View from our hotel room. |
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| View of Kandy Lake. |
Then a day-trip to Sigiryia and Dumbulla Temple.
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| remnants of the fortress dating back to the 5th century. |
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| I didn't have it in me to climb to the top this time |
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| but Greg made the trek up. |
Dumbulla Cave Temple
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| dates back to the first century. |
Next excursion was to Nuwara Eliya to see the tea plantations.
Lake Gregory
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| Returning to Colombo from Kandy - Colombo Fort Train Station |
Back to Colombo, then on to Hikkaduwa.
and then to Udawalawe.
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| Mansala Safari House near Udawalawe National Park. This is a family home with rooms for rent -- lovely hosts and great food. |
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| We stayed in this bungalow next to the big house. |
Our Airbnb host in Colombo was the daughter of a fairly famous Sri Lankan nature photographer and conservationist. There was a documentary about his life being screened while we were there which gave us great exposure to his work.
