Villa Araliya Negombo

... we do not shirk it. The Sunday Leader has never sought safety by unquestioningly articulating the majority view. Let's face it, that is the way to sell newspapers. On the contrary, as our opinion pieces over the years amply demonstrate, we often voice ideas that many people find distasteful. For instance, we have consistently espoused the view that while separatist terrorism must be eradicated, it is more important to address the root causes of ...

... I tend to not do in case I offend, but our guide spoke to them and they were happy to pose. From the top of the rock you got an amazing 360º view including the coast and it was a lovely clear day. It is quite interesting because at these type of attractions where not many tourists visit, they are so not geared up on a health and safety point of view - ie no safety barrier and actually really quite dangerous when you see where ...

Tonight is New Year's. I can't believe it. I get to celebrate it twice in one year. Does that mean two years have gone by? It sure feels like it. Anyway, here is the recap for all of you who are keeping up. I left Singapore and arrived in Colombo nearly four weeks ago. A horrific taxi ride got me to a surf town on the west coast called Hikkaduwa. That's when things got interesting. I found out that a night's stay on the beach should only ...

... Matara and the same is true all the way inland to Welawaya. Our bus out of the mountains was stopped twice and most people alighted to have their papers checked; we were left on the bus with the older women and clergy and only on the second occasion were our passports checked. The search of cargo was cursory on the first occasion and better on the second but none of the hundreds of pottery curd pots were even looked at. The only bomb scare during our visit was a package opened by a ...

... troublemakers they were looking for and were often just waved on through. Racial profiling anyone? Well, I just sat and wrote for two more hours then pressed some key by accident and lost it all! So needless to say, I'm extremely frustrated and not up to writing it all over again. I'll post some pictures instead and tell the stories in person when we get home. Highlights from the trip: * The train ride from Colombo to the hills of Kandy - so ...

... all our flight times have changed. This is *really* annoying, as we had already booked (and paid for) a train from Paris back to Rotterdam that we are now going to miss because of the change in schedule. On top of that, we were supposed to have a stopover of about 10 hours during the day. We could've chosen to have a 3 hour stopover in Colombo but we figured it'd be fun to check out the city and we opted for the longer stopover. Now with the changes in schedule our ...

... a race through the town centre & market to the Pub, a thrill a second rollercoaster ride, which had us all hooked! Next day we travelled into the relative coolness of the Highlands, through the Tea plantations, stopping at a tea factory to purchase some of the local brew, before ...

I am very fortunate this trip to be staying the night in Sri Lanka, courtesy of Sri Lankan airlines. They give you a free 3 star hotel, with 2 meals, refreshments and transfers included. It was only a 90 minutes flight from Goa direct to Colombo, everything went smoothly (but the food was not good). Before I went through ...

... be seen as a right. When we deal with abortion as a tragic moral situation it is not about just good and evil but more so about what would reduce suffering. Y-Lan: pro - life or pro-choice shares a common ground: love of life and respect for women. Vietnam, single mothers fear the loss of face in their family. Poverty is also a reason for abortion. Not only women are involved but also the family's attitude. We need the dialogue and the community to be ...

... restaurant. He had just arrived from Australia. He is originally from Guatemala and has been travelling now for 5 years only going home very year for 5 - 6 months (dont worry mum, i dont think I'll be doing that!). He has some great stories to tell from India where he spent 2 months in a Buddhist monastery meditating and praying. After dinner we went for a walk to see what was around and got absolutely soaking wet from the torrential rain. Once we got back to the guest house we sat on ...