Nara (continued) In the morning I took another stroll around Nara enjoying its contemporary and traditional architecture. One mysterious building had almost no windows, a small entrance door and no sign of what it is. Horyiji is a place close Nara with the world oldest surviving wooden structures. Some were built in the 6th – […]
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Nara In Nara’s center, city maps with marked attractions and signs to them are everywhere but if you step away from the center everything including street names is in Japanese only. I was glad to see that many new private houses are built in the traditional Japanese style with fancy roof tiles as on the
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The Black Sea in Byala, Bulgaria, was stormy when I was leaving it. Regardless of that, my 2 friends and I spent two lovely weeks in my apartment. After saying goodbye to them, I sorted out my belongings. A small portion of them was going with me on a 1-month trip to 5 countries in
From Colombo, Sri Lanka we flew to Singapore via Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. My husband Sergey spotted on the Internet cheap tickets Kuala Lumpur – Singapore ($87/round-trip ticket) and we decided to add it to our South Asian trip. Singapore is a sovereign state that consists of just one city situated on the main island and
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Unawatuna Unawatuna is close to a much bigger city called Galle. The Portuguese built there a fort that was later expanded by the Dutch and British. We took the bus from Unawatuna to visit Galle Fort. I tried hard to enjoy sightseeing in Sri Lankan heat and humidity, but it was difficult. The Lonely Planet
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Kandy – Ella – Unawatuna Unawatuna is a town stretched along the Indian Ocean coast. We arrived in it late afternoon, hungry and sweaty after two bus rides that took practically all day. The heat was sweltering and the buses were not air-conditioned. We were now only 6° above the equator. It felt like being
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Kandy – Sigiriya – Kandy The Kandy to Ella journey by train is often described as the most scenic ride in the world and it truly is. Even those who are not interested in visiting tea plantations will enjoy the ride. It can also be a cheap way to see the country. The train slowly
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Colombo to Kandy In spite of the conditions in which we spent the night I woke up rested. Both of us showed no ill effects from eating the local food. Our breakfast consisted of power bars and tea from the same glasses that we used the day before. Our goal was to visit Sigiriya, an
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Colombo to Kandy From Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia we flew to Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka. This island country was first partially occupied by the Portuguese in the 16th century, then in the 17th century by the Dutch. In the early 19th century the British seized the entire island, made it a British colony and
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In spring 2016 we planned to have a driving vacation. The Death Valley, Zion, Bruce Canyon and Capitol Reef National Parks were on our bucket list for several years. We were dead serious about going there this time. One day my husband Sergey came home from work and said that he saw online cheap tickets
