White Monkey - Dias Rest Nuwara Eliya

... annuals and perennials. Farms were neat with tidy, tiered areas all growing corps in a variety of growth stages. Lush, rich, loamy soil, along with the climate, seemed to guarantee success, as nothing was wilting here!

This was one trip in SL I’d been particularly looking forward to. Horton Plains is a beautiful national park, with stunning views stretching many miles in places. Two of SL’s 3 largest mountains feature here (Kirigalpotta 2 ...

... off." I didn't really feel like anything was really massaged, just glossed over with tons and tons of oil. When she was done I tried to towel off some of the oil since it was practically dripping off me. I have to say I was pretty disappointed in the massage though parts of it did feel nice. Pix and Videos: Adam's Peak and Ella http://www.flickr.com/photos/greggoodma n/sets/72157617163028154/ Adam's Peak - Greg gets blessed http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkmM0oyH 1BU

After that incredible train ride I arrived in Nuwara Eliya, population 26,000 and elevation of 6,000 feet. It's a very cold town for not being that high up in the mountains. I actually had to wear my fleece to bed! It's actually one of THE places for residents to vacation in Sri Lanka. It has a definite British feel to it with lovely gardens, a golf course ...

... by 3 hours of afternoon rain, we spent the rest of the day relaxing after the journey. 12th October The reason we had come to such a tourist trap as Nuwara Eliya was to visit Hortons Plains National Park. To do this we needed to arrange a jeep through our guesthouse, at quite a fee, as the roads to the park are massively uphill and in quite a state. As the park is over 2000metres we needed to get there early before the clouds descended and blocked ...

... a top sheet a lot of the time. Just past World's End there is a further platform which apparently around 10 young couples have commited suicide together - think something to do with religion and SL traditional beliefs. We were just in time to admire the view for about 15 mins when a thick mist came in and you couldn't really see a thing - so was all very lucky. Wasn't quite so lucky for the European family we passed ...

... when he took us to the meat market and we legged it... there were camel heads, goats heads, cow heads.... you name it all on display.... hung up for the world to see and it stunk- yuck, not really what a vege wants to see!! Kandy is the 2nd biggest city in Sri Lanka and it's very busy at the moment as the new year dawns near, everyone is out shopping to buy themselves new clothes! It's a traditional thing, they start the new year with the a new outfit.... people after my own ...

... their gopurams rising out of a sea of green - many of the tea workers are tamils imported from southern India -- always a good move, youd have thought that wed have learned our lesson in Ireland wouldnt you? Its stunning walking country and Im putting in the miles strolling through the plantations exchanging hellos with betel stained old nonnas and impish kids. At Haputale I visited a Catholic monastery build out ...

... we hit a patch of oil and careered into the barrier protecting us from the long drop to the rocky coast and sea. The barrier took most of the blow but buckled so we were hanging from the edge, our pursuer (on a moped) skidded into the barrier and flew over the handlebars, luckily (for him) he managed to catch the bumper of the van and held on for his life, leaving the van teetering over the edge with it's occupants staring into certain death ... or is it?

... here with a suit on! The other shots were in a cafe and at a swiming pool. Ill try and upload them as soon as i can!. By the time of the weekend it was time for all the work we have been doing for the past two months to be put into action at the International Conference on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP8). www.icaap8.lk It all began on Saturday with the Youth Forum with the purpose to share ideas and experiances on how to takle the HIV virus and stop its spread. There ...

... Guide so I was more than little surprised to find the back of the café (that does excellent cakes by the way) was now a dining area and the internet café was no more. The staff said it was closed but did not say why. it seemed very odd as it was always full , had good connection speeds by Sri Lankan standards ( 128KB ) and the machines were fairly new and most of them ran XP which made uploading photos possible. As I did not have time to look for any other ...