Just About Everything

Dambulla, the Golden temple Dambulla cave temple complex (the Golden Temple) in Sri Lanka is a World Heritage Site dating back to the  first century BCE. Dambulla has one of the best preserved cave temples in Sri Lanka. The five main caves have exquisite paintings and beautiful statues. Dambulla is located around 160 km from Colombo, and is well connected by road. It took us around 5 hours to reach Dambulla by road. After resting a bit we set off to see the cave temple complex. Our plan was to do Dambulla caves first, and Sigiriya first thing in the morning the next day. We started for the caves around 5 pm which was quite late.The temple complex is open until 7 pm, but it is best to do the caves during daylight hours since climbing down may get a bit difficult with less or no light. This place is a must visit if you like ancient structures, paintings, and sculptures. There is a bit of climb involved...around 360+ steps to reach the caves, but believe me you wo...

Sri Lanka was a wonderful experience! Even though we went on a short 5 day trip, we managed to see quite a bit of Sri Lanka and loved every bit of it. Loved the beautiful island and the warm and friendly people. The trip was l planned and organized by our Sri Lankan classmate, who had planned every bit of our travel, and courtesy him we got a taste of the local culture and cuisine! What an experience! This was what we planned to cover in the 5 days after landing at Colombo: 1. Dambulla (caves and Sigiriya rock) 2. Anuradhapura 3. Kandy 4. Nuwara Eliya 5. Back to Colom bo We landed in Colombo a little after midnight. The next day we started for Dambulla, it took us around 5 hours to reach Dambulla by road (inclusive of breaks). Our plan was to do Sigriya rock so we stayed at Dambulla which is the closest place to stay (around 20 km) if you are visiting Sigiriya. Sigiriya (Lion Rock) is a UNESCO listed World Heritage Site. It used to be a monastery dating back to 1...

The Great rift Valley, Kenya I am ending my Kenya trip diary with this one last post on  the Great Rift Valley. *from Wikipedia ( Today  the term is most often used to refer to the valley of the  East African Rift , the divergent  plate boundary  which extends from the  Afar Triple Junction  southward across  eastern Africa , and is in the process of splitting the  African Plate  into two new separate plates. Geologists generally refer to these incipient plates as the  Nubian Plate  and the  Somali Plate ) We did the Great rift valley on our way from Naivasha to Amboseli . This place is quite close to Nairobi. I loved Kenya. If you love nature, especially wildlife,  Kenya is a must do. It leaves a lasting impression, and one yearns to go back again and again:) The place from where we got these shots Y ou may like the following posts on Kenya: Amboseli National Park, Kenya; One of ...