Author Archives: jayterwilligerii

Taipei trip: Day 3 (11 June 2025)

Hey there everyone, thanks for once more taking the time to follow along with my overly verbose thoughts on travel. Whereas Day 2 was all about travelling around to different tourist sites, mostly outside the city itself, Day 3 was calmer, but I think quite typical of a visit to a new city.

I left Haowen´s apartment near Nangang MRT station at 8:55 AM but decided to try taking the bus today. Google maps quickly directed me to several possible stops, and at 9:03 AM I was already on the R25. I used the same metro card as the day before, tapping in an obvious spot as I entered and quickly taking a seat. While there wasn´t a huge amount of seating available, I still had no problem snagging a spot. The bus was comfortable and cool.

At 9:11 AM I tapped out of the first bus and walked towards my connecting spot. While there, I bought a simple street sandwich for 50 NTD ($1.69) and continued waiting for the BL7 at Zhomei village 1 stop. There are these electronic signs that tell you the number of the buses and also when they are arriving. From what I could see, they tell you the one arriving next, and the one which will arrive after. So, I was waiting for the BL7, and it showed the time of the one which the most convenient, and also the following BL7 arrival time, should I miss the first one. I checked it against Google maps, and the times appeared to closely coincide.

At 9:31 AM I was on the BL7, which had arrived just one minute after when it said it would on the LED sign. Again, the bus was clean and comfortable, but even less crowded than the first one. An important practical and cultural note is that there is no eating nor drinking allowed on any of the public transport in Taipei. From yesterday you will also remember that while street food is abundant, there usually isn´t an obvious place to eat it. So, you either take it along with you until you find a place or sneakily gulp it down right there.

At 10:10 AM the bus stopped right in front of the National Palace Museum. Right near the entrance, there was a sign for some black tea ice-cream, something which sounded not at all appealing, but they had a sign with all sorts of culinary rewards. It was only 150 NTD ($5.06 USD), so I figured why not? There was no line, and the woman suggested that rather than sitting at the very sunny concrete tables which were sort of positioned near the ice cream joint, I should instead go into the Museum gardens which had free entry and would be much more comfortable.

At 10:31 AM I had finished up and headed into the museum. Rather than walking up the imposing main steps, I decided to walk up the wheelchair accessible ramp which was in the shade. There were also benches frequently placed as one continued up the ramp, but I didn´t really see how the whole wheelchair accessible thing would work, since the ramp didn´t go all the way up. However, there was a button clearly marked to ask for wheelchair assistance when the ramp ended, so maybe they just send several strong people out to carry the person inside? I clearly did not try out that theory, so it is just a supposition.

At 10:40 AM I was already in the museum. There was a line to pay a person and also several eTicket machines. I opted for the machine option, and as a foreign tourist paid 350 NTD ($11.81 USD) using my international credit card from India. That is significant, since most places in Taiwan don´t seem to take cards, and if they do, they are only local cards. There was also a sign to rent audio guides for 150 NTD, but checking online it seemed that there was also a free version one could use on one’s own phone, so I opted to go for free.

Like everywhere I had been in Taipei, the air conditioning was strong and as one would expect from a national museum, it was impeccably clean. Again, unsurprisingly, seems seemed very well organized, so I headed into room 102, the orientation room at 10:48 AM. The collection wall was interesting but seemed a bit pointless . . . why have an electronic, touchscreen wall to show the exhibits of a museum where you were physically already visiting? Anyway, it was there, but I wasn´t all that interested.

Nearby was room 101 “Connotation and wisdom: religious scriptural arts”. There were many bronze Buddha statues, but it wasn´t cluttered nor overpowering, and the emphasis seemed to be more on artistic placement than on quantity. At 11:04 I saw something which was a first for me, a “Buddha” holding a child. They had what I thought would be helpful signs to indicate when audio guidance was available for an exhibit, but I quickly discovered that it was far from a perfect system, as the number of the exhibits frequently didn’t match up with the numbers on the app. It may however be that the numbers correspond to the paid guide, and free app users just have to make do. Still, it was helpful, if imperfect.

As I walked out at 11:23 on my way towards 104, I saw that there were several conveniently placed resting benches as well as well-accommodated washrooms. However, 104 was temporarily closed, so I instead made my way to room 106 “Garland of Treasures”. Of course, there was a lot of interesting stuff in here, but the first thing that really caught my attention was a conjoined, painted enamel jar with a lid. I did not really see how making it that way added any utility, so I assume it had just been an artistic decision. Again, the mismatch between the audio guidance numbers and the images in the app was a bit frustrating but still have more context than breezing through without any context given on the exhibits. Of course, there was also quite a bit of written support, but that tended to be for general collections rather than individual exhibits. For instance, after hunting though the images on the app, I learned that eastern pearls (freshwater pearls from northeastern China) used to be a very big deal.

As I continued along, at 11:53 AM I was a bit overwhelmed with all of the rules etc . . . associated with court jewellery and dress. Who would have the time to understand all of that, let alone actually learn it in the first place. The answer of course, obviously being really rich members of noble families and their various hordes of servants who were no doubt the ones actually in charge of making sure everything was setup properly. Looking at the various fancy hairpins at 11:58 AM, I thought that at least these seemed to have a practical purpose for people with long hair, but still, lots of complicated rules about what materials, how to wear them, etc . . .

While this is not particularly insightful, it drew my attention at 12:02 PM that based on what I was seeing here and also my experiences in other parts of the world, prayer beads are definitely not exclusive to any major (or even non-major) religion.

But what was the deal with the 10 cm long fingernail guards? To begin with, was that ALL of their fingernails that were that long? If so, how did they do anything practical with their hands? I mean even just the most basic needs of going to the toilet seemed like it would be a bit of a challenge. However, they no doubt had their system. To be fair, while 10 cm is definitely over the top these days, I also wonder the same thing when I see some of the absurdly long fingernails worn by modern contemporaries in some parts of the world.

From what I could tell, pretty much everything in this room was from the Qing court, even though a lot of it was much older than that time. Maybe that was just the last court in China?

At 12:15 PM I was a bit impressed with all of the different types of carving which had been done with different materials. People usually think of ancient sculptures being made from elephant tusks, but they also had a lot of carved rhinoceroses’ horns, carved bamboo roots, different types of seeds and bone, and even tiny seeds!

I exited that room at 12:28 PM and headed towards 107 “Special exhibits.” On that day at least it just seemed to be lots of fancy use of technology . . . nice for kids and maybe for frequent visitors who want to see something different, but I decided to skip it and head up to the third floor and then work my way down to the second before heading out. At 12:40 PM, I decided to also give room 301 a pass, but at 12:46 PM I was in 302. This is the room to go if you just want to see the two main “trophy pieces” of the museum, the carved jadeite cabbage (Bok choy) and the carved piece of pork. The cabbage really was amazing when one considers that they achieved all of that affect from carving a single piece of natural stone, but for whatever reason, the “meat shaped stone” was not on display that day.

At 12:28 PM I went into 303 “Inkstones”. Yes, there was A LOT of information about different types of inkstones, way more than any average person would reasonably want, but if that’s your thing, then get ready for a delightful visit to room 303. I however exited at 1:07 PM and went into 305 “Masterpieces of bronze”.

I guess that I had never really thought about it before, which I also guess is sort of the point of museums, but it makes sense that in 1500 BC and for a very long period afterwards, bronze items would have been highly valued. Staying within the same theme, at 1:18 PM I found out that in the 11th century BC, the Ya-ch’oy Clan were a big deal since they used many square bronze vessels rather than round ones . . . Who knew?

Again, not particularly insightful, but at 1:24 PM I was struck by the fact that many of these pieces had actually been prized archeological finds which had been discovered in times which we now would consider the far distant past. It turns out that humans have been around for way longer than most of us can actually appreciate, and that in at least many parts of the world, were also way more advanced than most of us generally realize.

At 1:26 PM I also realized that I had previously had no idea that wine was such a big deal in ancient China, as evidenced by the prized collection of ancient wine vessels. Maybe that was rice wine rather than grape wine, or maybe it was something else entirely? For sure, I was fairly certain it was some sort of at least partially fermented drink. The fact that they already had a well-established writing system really helps to identify pieces and their purpose. I also rather enjoyed that many otherwise simple decorative pieces also carried important political, legal or even moral messages.

Moving on to 306 “Jade Masterpieces” I reflected that I had always just sort of thought of Jade as being used more for decoration. So, it was interesting to see that between two and three thousand years ago, it was frequently used to make practical tools, but maybe many of those had more of a ceremonial nature? I am sure that with a minimum amount of investigation I could learn more, but that is a project for another day.

Again, even 5000 years ago, the level of fairly well-documented cultural and political development in China was crazy. I mean I had never even heard of the Hongshan, but then I am also not incredibly well-read, so maybe for you it is all just common knowledge? I also learned that nephrite is the more technical term for the jade more commonly associated with truly ancient China; whereas jadeite is the more brightly colored and shiny red and green stone which most of us think of today. There was a lot more to see, but I was already experiencing museum fatigue, so I headed down to the second floor at 2:01 PM.

One side of the second floor is mostly paintings and calligraphy, and the other side is ceramics. The paintings were all very exquisite, but they were difficult for me to properly appreciate since I didn´t know much about the style. Similarly, there were also some amazing, embroidered pieces. The roles on which most of these works were mounted seemed very practical, as that would easily aid in the process of storage and transport, not without its own limitations, but in my opinion, far more practical than canvas mounted on a wooden frame. I could have spent far longer in the painting and calligraphy area, but at 2:12 PM I headed over to the ceramics side.

One thing that probably shouldn’t have impressed me as much as it did around 2:15 PM was when I saw that even as early as 200 BC, they even were using pottery to make animal decorations. However, I believe much more rightfully impressive was the fact that so much of this pottery, many of it very large pieces, had been taken care of well-enough to still not be broken after more than 2000 years! I mean I frequently can’t manage to keep a delicate piece of porcelain from being chipped for 5 years . . .

As I said earlier, museum fatigue is real, so despite all the amazing things left to see, at 2:30 PM I was ready to tap out. Thinking about it objectively, one should dedicate a single day to each floor, planning on spending between 3 and 4 hours on each floor. That way one will be mentally fresh for each floor and will actually appreciate things more. I did not have three days, so that’s not what I did, but I was still glad that I had come, but also glad to exit the building at 2:50 PM.

Since it looked like from here the only option would be bus, I decided to walk a bit to find a place to recharge the metro card which Haowen had lent me. I think I read somewhere that it is possible to pay with coins on the bus, but I certainly hadn’t seen anyone do that. Fortunately, it’s easy to recharge the card at any convenience store, which is what I did at a nearby Family Mart at 3:10 PM, this time putting 200 NTD ($6.75 USD) on the card, and then moving on to wait for bus 957 at the CMPC movie city bus station headed towards Tamsui district.

At 3:24 PM I got on and immediately found a comfortable seat. There were a couple of suggested faster routes which had come up on Google Maps, but by just staying on the 957 I would be able to get there without changing to any other buses or subway and it would only be a ten minute later arrival. Furthermore, as I had only been on a single bus, when I got off the bus in Tamsui at 4:20 PM, I saw that the total cost of the ride had only been 15 NTD ($0.51 USD), and it would be a 15 minute walk to the Santo Domingo Fort.

Unfortunately, when I arrived at 4:44 PM, they said that even though it was open until 5:00 PM, the last people in had to enter no later than 4:30 PM, so I did not get to visit there. However, this whole area was quite nice just to wander around, so that’s what I did.

At 5:13 PM I found myself walking along the seaside, where I ended up just relaxing and sightseeing in different areas along the edge of the water. As the sun was about to finish setting at 6:25 PM, with the sound of the river next to me and the pleasant wind on my face, I was truly and fully thankfully grateful to be alive just to experience life at that one particular moment.

Having finished the whole sunset experience, I went walking toward old street and at 7:04 PM decided to buy some fried cuttlefish (squid) and fried king mushroom. These two purchases were 300 NTD ($10.13 USD). Both of these were delicious as I sat in a sort of park area, and I was sorry that I did not live in an area where king mushroom and quality squid was easily and affordably available, but then also reflected that I would probably not appreciate it as much if it were something I could get all the time without much effort.

Despite how much I was enjoying myself just being in the moment, at 8:19 PM, having finished the leisurely meal of my tasty street food, I headed towards the nearby subway station where I was once more in motion at 8:28 PM. The 42-minute MRT (subway) ride to Taipei main station resulted in a 50 NTD ($1.69 USD) deduction from the transit card. Having already had some mishaps with MRT vs local train to Nangang, I decided to go old school and ask for help, which was quickly and politely given in perfect English.

At 9:16 PM I was at the platform waiting for the 4248 train to Yilan, which I was to ride for two stops. However, as had happened to me earlier with the local trains, I once again got confused, partially because the 4248 was late and partially because I was just a bit clueless, so at 9:48 PM I ended up asking for help again and was immediately put on some other random train in which the next stop was Nangang, arriving at 9:55 PM. This little mishap could have been frustrating, but I tend to be easygoing with such things while travelling, especially when not working with a set timetable. Nevertheless, it is worth noting that the local trains seem more difficult to navigate than the MRT (subway lines).

It was pleasant when I reached the street level exit at 10:01 PM and given that I had earlier not had anything to drink besides some plain drinking water from a public drinking fountain, I bought an oat milk and a sugar free Sprite for 49 NTD ($1.65 USD) before arriving back to the apartment at 10:18 PM.

Thus, my second full day in Taipei was finished. It was quite different from the first full day, but I had still really enjoyed myself. What about you? Did you like yesterday better or today? Let me know in the comment section below and also let me know if you have any additional questions. Finally, if you like what you have seen so far, keep a lookout for the Day 4 entry, and if you REALLY like it, consider scrolling backwards to checkout earlier trips over the past few years. Whatever you decide, I hope that you have found something of value in today’s entry and I hope you will read more in the future!

Taipei trip: Day 2 (10 June 2025)

Hey there everyone, thanks for choosing to continue to follow along with my travels to Taipei. I know that yesterday was not very exciting, but I think you will find today to be much more in line with your general expectations of travel adventure.

As I think I had mentioned earlier, for this trip I was staying at my friend Haowen’s place, which is very conveniently located near Nangang MRT station. So, using public transportation was a cinch. Haowen had lent me a transit card, but if you are coming on your own, it is very easy to get your own for just 100 NTD ($3.39 USD) at any convenience store or even right there in a metro station. Similarly, it’s quick and easy to reload the card at the same locations. Unless you are wed to the idea of going around in taxis everywhere, I suggest you do this the first thing you get off the plane. The card is for any urban public transport: local train, subway, bus or even bike share, and Google maps works great for suggesting the best routes at any time of the day. Furthermore, throughout my trip, I found all of the public transport options to be clean, comfortable, quiet and not really all that crowded . . . in short, an urban commuter’s dream.

For today’s adventure, I had once again decided to use the tour aggregator GetYourGuide. I have used this service in several countries and have never been disappointed; although, I do take the time to read comments and ratings before booking. For this time around, I had chosen the highly popular Shipen, Jiufen and Yehliu Guided Day Trip with a cost of $45 USD. As much as I use this aggregator, and also write fairly positive reviews, I feel like these folks should as a minimum be giving me a discount, but so far that hasn’t happened. Maybe I should ask them?

So, I will spare you the MRT (subway) details, but given my confusion the previous evening, I had left a bit early, thus arriving at 8:18 AM to Taipei Main Station, M3 exit, just as I had been directed by the tour operator. I wasn’t too sure about the food situation for the day and still had almost thirty minutes until the designated meeting time; thus, I bought 2 pork buns, 2 cabbage buns and a simple drink for 100 NTD ($3.39 USD) right near the exit.

Eating it was a bit awkward, since there was no obvious place to sit nearby, but the food was tasty and filling, so no complaints on that score. While this was in a permanent stand, I think this might classify as “street food,” and this seems to be quite common in Taipei. Similarly, I had already noticed that there frequently was no obvious place to sit to eat the food. I am guessing that most local buy this either on their way to work, school or home and then eat it once they get there. Nevertheless, nobody seemed to be mad at me for eating it right there on the street.

At 8:38 AM, just as I had been informed, I saw our tour guide for the day, Anne, in a bright yellow shirt, and at 8:43 I was already sitting in the comfortable Pullman style bus. Although the trip had been advertised as being sold out, the bus definitely wasn’t crowded, and I had two seats to myself. Also, I wasn’t sure, but most of my fellow tourists seemed to be Taiwanese, a couple Japanese and a small scattering of mixed European/North Americans.

Again, ever prompt, at 9:00 AM Anne apologized for us not taking off on time but asked if it would be okay if we were to wait a maximum of five more minutes for a latecomer, who arrived at 9:04 AM, and we were off on our adventure. I was particularly impressed that Anne asked us to fasten our seatbelts, walked through checking, and then showed an incredibly informative safety video just like on an airplane. I could see how this might get old but given that this was the first time in my life I had actually seen a bus safety video, I was actually tempted to take some notes. In case you are curious, there are all sorts of disasters which might happen when riding on a bus, if one catches fire while you are on it, the first 60 seconds are crucial to getting off safely. The video itself was in Mandarin with English subtitles.

At 9:17 AM Anne started to do her spiel. It seemed like she was simultaneously doing everything in Chinese, English and Japanese. Furthermore, she seemed quite confident in all three languages. Facilitating things for the upcoming trip, she mentioned that the first place we would be visiting was Shifen waterfall. Evidently, that area was first developed as a coal mining region, but it was unclear to me if that is still continuing today. For those who want to, while in that area we would have the option to send up traditional Chinese lanterns, but this had an additional cost of 200 NTD ($6.77 USD). Furthermore, a big food specialty of this spot is a sort of stuffed chicken wing and some sort of ice-cream with peanut; these two items could also be advance ordered for 130 NTD ($4.40 USD). I didn’t think that I was particularly keen on the lantern, but I definitely put my name down for the food.

At 9:51 AM we exited a 2 km long tunnel. Throughout, the scenery had been beautiful, the road smooth, the ride comfortable, and the driving extremely safe. As an added tidbit, Anne mentioned that certain local residents would go gather the fallen lanterns for recycling, getting 12 NTD ($0.41 USD) each from the local government. I wondered how difficult it would be to recover these, but it seemed like a fairly good motivation to do so. Anyway, we arrived at the first stop at 9:57 AM, and she told us that we had to be back to the bus at 10:50 AM sharp.

As quickly became apparent, this was just the “nature location” and it seemed fairly popular as a stopover point for many people, but it definitely didn’t feel crowded. I thought that the whole “waterfall thing” was a bit oversold, but it was still a pleasant stop along the way. If this were your only location for the day, it might be a bit of a disappointment, but as part of a larger day-tour package, it seemed more than adequate.

The suspension bridge was a bit shaky, so be warned if that is going to bother you. However, it definitely seemed completely safe.
Like the guide had said, coal was what fueled the development of this area.
Yep, you can get food here if you want, and it looked like it would be a pleasant experience.
It is a very low waterfall, but it is still pretty.
For people with reduced mobility, there was a conveniently located observation deck which required much less effort to access.
Everybody loves koi, or at least I do.
I think she said that this row of horses represented something in the government, but I could be making that up.

At 10:44 AM I was back on the bus. Coming without a group, this stop could maybe have been drawn out to 3 hours, but that would only be if also getting a meal. Certainly, it seemed like an easily accessible daytrip location for nearby local residents. However, an average solo visitor would definitely not spend more than 90 minutes here, regardless of how much they wanted to stare at “the waterfall”. The bus started going again at 10:57 AM, but we were once again off at 10:59 AM. As I had opted to not release a lantern, I was told that I had until 12:00 PM to wander around on my own. Releasing lanterns seemed to be the main draw of this village, and it was definitely possible to do so without an advance reservation/purchase, but it was a picturesque spot to visit, and there were of course plenty of souvenir and food options as well.

I am not sure why “the thing” was to release the lanterns while standing on the train tracks.
These lantern shops were all along the tracks, and they all seemed to have the same prices.
Yay! An old train station!
I definitely approve of these murals which seem to be painted all over. It’s a simple way to beautify an otherwise drab wall.
Why pay when I could take pictures of someone else?

At 12:00 PM I met back up with the rest of the group and received my stuffed chicken wing and ice-cream burrito from Anne. Both were nice, but the chicken wing seemed to be particularly satisfying. As far as I could tell, it was made by removing the larger bones of the wing, stuffing the extra area with seasoned sticky rice, and then roasting it in some way. I could tell it required some degree of preparation time, but I wondered why it would be more of a specialty to this particular area rather than being more widespread . . . I mean I would eat it fairly regularly if it were available. The ice-cream seemed sort of like a very thin, but glutinous crepe wrapping around very cold ice-cream with a bit of lightly sugared peanut dust

As we got on the bus again at 12:08 PM, Anne mentioned that a typhoon was supposed to be arriving either Thursday or Friday, and I wondered if that might affect my flight. However, she mentioned that it seemed that this would mainly be an issue for southern Taiwan. I suppose it was insensitive for me to just be worrying about my travel plans, but nobody else seemed particularly concerned either. I am guessing that typhoons here are fairly common. As we were headed to the village of Jiufen, Anne explained it’s three major claims to fame. The first is a 92-year-old theatre which was apparently constructed during a gold rush. The second was because of a movie called “A Chinese Ghost Story” which had been filmed there in the 1980s in which some big movie star named Tony Liang had starred. And the final one was that one of the well-known buildings in the town seems to appear in the 2001 movie “Spirited Away”. Evidently there will be a lot of stairs here, so I am guessing not the best location for those with mobility issues, but maybe they have some workaround for that?

We arrived at 12:48 AM, and Anne said that we needed to be back on the bus at 2:50 PM. We started walking up as a group, and she had a small speaker in her bag to amplify her voice, as she pointed out some of the main locations. The first stop, which was about ten minutes later, was the famous theatre.

I can’t say that I was all that impressed by the theatre, but I suppose one has to put things in historical context. I do however think that it might have been enjoyable to see a movie there. Continuing up the stairs about five minutes later was the Amei Tea House which many people claim was the basis for the main building in “Spirited Away”. As is indicated in the name, this is evidently a great place to have tea, but as far as I could tell, nobody in my group was particularly interested in that. However, EVERYONE was quite excited about taking pictures of the exterior of the house. I suppose if I had come only to Jiufen, I probably would have had tea there, even though there were clearly plenty of other options for food and drink as well.

At 1:12 PM we all sort of continued exploring on our own. I really had no idea what to expect, but I was on vacation, and it all seemed pretty enough, so there were no complaints from me. It did become clear rather quickly that the main reasons for coming here were threefold: looking at pretty buildings, buying souvenirs (from absurdly tacky to rather fine jewellery) and of course eating.

As I wandered around, I bought a Taro milk tea (bubble tea) for 60 NTD ($2.03 USD) and one duck gizzard for 40 NTD ($1.35 USD). The gizzard was even tastier than expected, but the tea was not particularly impressive. However, to be fair, I’m not generally a huge fan of bubble tea . . . it is a bit of a novelty, but I don’t really understand what it adds to the experience. I do like the texture of the bubbles, but they seem a bit tasteless, so there is always that to consider.

At 2:45 PM we were back in the bus headed towards Yehliu Geopark, where we arrived at 3:40 PM. The tour planners had scheduled things wisely, since this was clearly the highlight of the day. Like most of natural formations which “look like” something, you many times have to sort of squint your eyes and tilt your head sideways to “see it,” but even without the “natural sculptures” the park was a definite must-see site, and the other locations would have been a bit of a downer had the order of events been reversed. So, good planning on the part of the tour organizers.

The “Queen’s head” is the most famous formation at the park.
The “leopard” was probably my favorite, but honestly, it was all good.

At 4:44 PM I was back on the bus, and at 4:51 PM we headed back to Taipei, with the plan to leave us at Raohe night market. I hadn’t realized it when I was there yesterday, but that market is considered a big tourist destination for the city. With today’s clear sky, I guessed that it might be more interesting than the previous evening. As we were arriving at 5:31 PM, we said goodbye to Anne Haowen so we could get together for dinner at a spot she had in mind.

However, I got a bit sidetracked, as a woman who was on the tour had no internet on her phone and needed to get transport back to her hotel with all of her luggage. After a combination of me calling Haowen, and a very kind random woman stopping to help us, we finally figured out both how to flag her down a taxi and figure out the location of her hotel so that the driver would know where to go. I was very happy to help, but it also made me realize how many of us have become overly dependent on our internet connected phones as we travel around the world. For instance, had I dropped and broken my phone, I would have had no way to contact Haowen, and wouldn’t even have been certain of how to get back to her apartment. This is an important cautionary tale that I need to keep in mind.

Fortunately, though, that had not happened, and at 6:02 PM as I was walking towards where Haowen had suggested, I marveled at the beautiful weather.

I arrived at the Teppanyaki place that Haowen had chosen at 6:20 PM and the food was amazing. The name was only in Chinese, but I got the map link; I definitely recommend it if you find yourself in the area. For both of us, it was 1250 NTD ($42.32 USD) and definitely worth it!

We left there at 7:24 PM, and I took advantage of a nearby ATM at 7:35 PM to get another 3300 NTD out in cash from my Indian bank account. Then at 7:50 PM Haowen asked me if I was up for cycling, and I was game, so we took Ubikes around for awhile until 8:16 PM and interestingly enough, there was no charge! I should clarify that Haowen actually had a destination in mind, but as I didn’t know it, it just seemed like fun.

Interestingly when we went into the nearby Xiangshan park MRT station for Haowen to use the washroom, they gave her a special token so she could go through to the washrooms without using the MRT. While I was waiting for her, I also noticed that there were special rental umbrellas for people as they were coming out of the subway; that seemed like a good idea, particularly in a place where I guess it seems to rain rather frequently.

From there we went walking up Elephant Mountain Trail, reaching the main viewpoint at 8:53 PM. It was definitely worth the view, but the steps were a bit brutal, so keep that in mind if you think about doing the same.

Once again, I was very thankful to Haowen, both for hosting me and also for thinking of all of these wonderful things for us to do. We hung out just chatting and looking at the view until finally deciding to walk down at 9:30 PM, shortly thereafter arriving to an absolutely amazing, shaved ice dessert place where we had refreshing and delicious snacks for only 80 NTD ($2.71 USD) each.

If you don’t know about it, you probably think this looks disgusting, but I found it to be amazing, especially on a hot day.

From there, we headed out again at 10:09 PM, once more taking Ubikes until 11:36 PM, this time paying 20 NTD ($0.68 USD) each for the rental, and we were finally back in the apartment at 11:40 PM.

So, I don’t know what you think, but for me, this was an absolutely perfect day. Wherever you are, and whatever you are doing, I hope that you also have recently had a day this amazing! Let me see your comments and questions in the section below and keep following along to see what happened on Day 3.

Taipei trip: Day 1 (7-9 June 2025)

Hey there folks. How have you been doing since I last posted an entry? I know you might have noticed that just like with my Argentina trip, I didn’t actually finish the entries for my Sri Lankan trip in December, but I still have my notes and eventually will get around to finishing both of those . . . Or at any rate, that’s the plan.

For this Taipei trip, I will be jumping around a bit at times, just hitting the highlights which I think that you might find to be either interesting or helpful. For my regular readers, I know many of you prefer the detailed entries, but don’t worry if I leave out something important. If there was something else you were hoping to know about, just drop a note in the comments, and I promise to give more details.

The first detail of interest was that I had booked this trip on Batik Air, an Indonesian airline, which appears to be somehow connected to Malindo Air, from Malaysia. I was a bit concerned about quality, since it’s a budget airline, and I only paid 19,000 INR ($222 USD) for a one-way ticket from Bengaluru to Taipei, with one checked bag and carry-on luggage included. However, the reason frequent flyer miles are lost on me is that I almost always just book the cheapest, reasonable looking flight . . . and that’s what I did this time as well. Unlike many online check-ins these days, I couldn’t do it until exactly 24 hours ahead of time, so that’s what I was doing at 11:16 PM on June 7th. To my pleasant surprise, I was able to choose my seats on both flights without being charged, thus securing my preferred aisle seats for free (which is of course the way it should always be). So, one point for Batik Air.

As soon as I had checked in, I had to decide how to get to the airport. Most of you know that I was an earlier adopter and big fan of BluSmart, but they have unfortunately stopped operating due to financial problems of their parent company. Using the logic that if one electrical cab company were good, then another might also be good, a few weeks ago I had booked with Shoffr for airport pickup and drop-off, being quite pleased both times. Hopefully this new company will fare better, since they are a bit more expensive, but also ONLY have very nice cars. Still, it was only 1120 INR ($12.99 USD) for the 26 km trip, which given the semi-luxury service, is still definitely a bargain.

As appears to be the norm, the fancy BYD e6 driver of the car was waiting in front of my apartment to pick me up 10 minutes before my scheduled pickup time, but I didn’t go down to the car until 7:57 PM on June 8th. Unsurprisingly, the ride was extremely comfortable and the driver excellent, with us arriving to Terminal 2 of the Bengaluru airport at 8:38 PM. Despite not having the much-pushed DigiYatra service, by 8:41 PM I was already in the door, heading straight to security, where I arrived at 8:42 PM. However, there, much to my surprise, they told me that I had to have a physical boarding pass, so would need to go to the check-in counter . . .what’s the point of an electronic boarding pass if you can’t use it?

The whole physical thing at the Malindo Air counter took much longer than anticipated, but that sort of thing frequently happens when I fly out of India, so maybe I should just change my expectations. When I finally did get my turn at the counter, they were very reticent about believing that I didn’t need a visa to visit Taiwan. They also wanted to know the next two countries I would be going to, insisting on seeing the tickets, and also insisting on seeing my ticket for my return trip to India . . . I wondered, If I hadn’t had a return ticket to India, would they still have let me have a boarding pass? I finished up there at 9:30 PM.

As I had promised to be more succinct this time around, I won’t give the full details of getting through immigration and security. If you are reading this, there is a good chance that you already know that this frequently takes a very long time in India, but despite needing to give my entire trip itinerary to the immigration officer, things still went very smoothly, and I was done with the whole process at 9:49 PM. With boarding scheduled in less than an hour, I decided to just head straight to the waiting area rather than going to the lounge.

With the new significantly discounted cost of international roaming with Airtel I was tempted to just do that this time around. I was going to be in 5 different countries over the next few weeks, and juggling the eSIMs, can get a bit daunting. If I had been able to get the 30-day package for only 3999 INR, that is probably what I would have done, but my trip was going to be a bit longer, meaning I would need the 90-day package for 5999 INR ($69.55 USD) which includes 40 GB of data across 189 countries. At this point, for most travellers who live in India, this is probably the best choice, especially if you are going to multiple countries. However, I am already used to juggling multiple eSIMs and even have a dual eSIM phone, so I took the wait time to buy a six gigabyte 6-day data only eSIM for Taiwan from Nomad for just $9.00 USD (774 INR).

My whole boarding process started at 10:40 PM, and despite having by passport and boarding pass checked three times, I was already seated on the first plane at 10:53 PM. I had two approximately 4-hour flights, with a layover in Kuala Lumpur. The seats on both flights were reasonably comfortable on both flights, being made of some sort of faux leather material, but needed just a little more padding. Furthermore, the interiors of both planes were also new looking and the flight attendants polite. As to be expected on this sort of budget flight, they didn’t even give water without paying, but the available snacks and drinks were not exorbitantly priced. Nevertheless, I decided to wait until my short layover in KL to buy a VERY hearty sandwich for 36.43 MYR ($8.58 USD). In Malaysia, I appreciated the convenience of their newer Rapiscan scanners, rather than the older ones which appear to still be the norm in India, and I was back on the next plane at 7:06 AM on June 9th. Whereas the first flight had been full, this time I had a whole row to myself, so while the seat itself was not better, at least I was not as cramped. Still, for flights less than 5 hours, I would recommend this airline.

The flight touched down in Taipei at 12:11 PM, and my Nomad eSIM immediately connected. Like many, if not most countries, before going through immigration, I had to do an arrival card, but this could be facilitated by doing it on one’s phone. As far as i could tell, that is what everyone was doing. The entire process from stepping off the plane to finishing with immigration was incredibly smooth, and I was finished with all of that at 1:00 PM. For those of you who don’t like to get fingerprinted, do note that you will get electronically fingerprinted in Taiwan, but if you are squeamish about that sort of thing in this day and age, you should probably just stay home.

Haowen had recommended me to exchange $200-$300 USD at the airport, but that seemed a bit excessive to me, so I only exchanged $100 USD for 296 NTD, right there at one of the multiple currency exchange counters. Note, unlike most other countries, if you are going to exchange cash, you should just do it at the airport. The rates are all strictly controlled by the government, and you don’t get ripped off. Of course, you can also just get money out of the ATM, but depending upon your personal bank, there might be a less favorable exchange rate. I had read online, and Haowen had also told me to expect to pay cash for pretty much everything, but I still had my doubts, which was why I didn’t exchange more right off. Spoiler alert, even though I was staying at Haowen’s apartment, a couple days into the trip I still found myself taking more money out of the ATM. Nevertheless, the bank fees also didn’t seem excessive, so don’t worry too much if you forget to bring a major currency which you can exchange.

As Haowen had offered to pick me up from the airport, I didn’t check transport options, but it seemed well-connected. Her beautiful, modern apartment which was located near Nangang MRT station was clearly very conveniently located. After sharing a nice meal together, I indicated that I would like to walk around a bit, so at 5:29 PM Haowen left me on the nearby left bank of the Keelung River, and I went walking towards Raohe night market.

The riverbank served as a sort of park and exercise path area.

This snail was huge! Would I see many more like this?
At least along the riverbank walkway, I really liked the way they had either painted or put tile images on what would otherwise have just been concrete walls.

After a leisurely stroll, with the sun beginning to set, I arrived at the market area at 6:13 PM. This early in the evening, and perhaps also deterred by the light drizzle, the market was not that busy, but there appeared to be all sorts of tasty looking food items. In addition, I noticed that at least here at this particular night market, claw machines and fortune tellers seemed to be in high demand.

At the end of the market, I saw Songschanciyou temple, which seemed to be an active place of worship.

I had intentionally not packed an umbrella, but at 7:01 PM I bought a tiny little automatic opening and closing umbrella which was just barely small enough to fit alright in my small messenger bag. It was laughably small by Costa Rican standards, but it was only 130 NTD ($4.34 USD) cash. Furthermore, looking around me, that seemed to be the size which most people had here, so maybe the rain usually is limited to this sort of a drizzle, which would mean that this size would be just perfect.

As I wasn’t really interested in buying anything else, I decided I could use this as an opportunity to try using the public transport system to go back to Haowen’s place. Haowen had lent me a public transport card and had said I could easily top it up as needed at any subway station. Thus, at 7:10 PM I entered the Songshan MRT station.

By 7:21 PM, within going one stop, I realized that I had evidently taken the wrong subway line. Sure enough, I was on the green line and needed to be on the blue line. This did not stress me out too much. Furthermore, to my eyes, at least for local transport, both the local train and the subway looked and seemed to operate exactly the same, but they aren’t. To add to the confusion, the local transit card also works perfectly on both the train and the subway. Getting turned around wasn’t a tragedy, since I wasn’t in a big hurry, but I realized I needed to pay closer attention to this for future trips around the city. I THINK that one time I took a local train and one time I took the subway, and the cost was similar both times, around 25 NTD ($0.85 USD). When I finally exited the train/subway station at 7:55 PM, I went to the attendant window and added 100 NTD to the card so that I would be ready for the next morning. I think you can also add money using one of the multiple machines in the station, but since there was a person there available, that’s the way I did it.

It was a short walk from there back to Haowen’s apartment, but I went ahead and grabbed a simple 49 NTD ($1.66 USD) ice cream stick at the nearby convenience store before heading into the apartment for the night.

Despite my bumbling, I was already impressed with the public transport system, and I also found the city to be very clean and orderly with many interesting sites along the way. In short, things seemed to be off to a good start. Keep reading along if you want to see how things went with my first full day in Taiwan. Finally, as always, don’t hesitate to leave your questions and comments in the section provided below.

Sri Lanka trip: Day 12 (25 December 2024)

Hey there folks, based on the date, I bet you were expecting something more exciting for Day 12 in Sri Lanka, but before you get too disappointed, you should also remember that a key reason why I chose to stay in Negombo my last two full days here was because I wanted to just get in some relaxation, and also to start getting caught up on the backlog of blog entries which had accumulated over the previous few months. Thus, the good news is that there was plenty of relaxation and catching up with the blog, but the bad news is that you probably won’t find it very exciting to read. However, there was still a bit of an interesting cultural snapshot which happened in the early evening, so if you feel like pushing yourself to read, you still might find something of interest.

Many of you will recall that I had gone to bed rather late the previous day, so I guess it isn’t that surprising that I didn’t get up, shower and head out more or less across the street to get the first meal of the day until 12:40 PM. Having noted that most of these places along the beach seemed similar, just like in Mirissa, I decided to just go into a place which was very close by, in this case, Oasis Fish & Lobster. In defense of many of these coastal places, especially with one that has the name “lobster” in the name, I’m highly allergic to crustaceans, so I didn’t really give them much of a chance to show off their skills with shrimp or lobster. Honestly, I don’t even remember exactly what I ate, but it was something with pork. The food was “perfectly adequate” yet uninspiring, with a cost of 4290 LKR ($14.49 USD). The one saving grace was that at least it was fast, and at 1:19 PM I had already finished eating.

I made a very minimal attempt to walk around a bit in the immediate area, but I wasn’t really into it, so at 1:47 PM I was already back in the room working on my travel blog. This became a bit of a marathon session, and I continued writing up until 5:21 PM. I felt good with that, since I finished an incomplete entry from earlier on, got it posted, and completely finished another entry which I would then be able to post later on. Some might argue that this seemed like it was turning into an unpaid job, but lots of people read or play games for several hours while on vacation, so why couldn’t I work on a personal travel blog?

Still, I WAS at a beach town, and even though I am not particularly fond of actually hanging out there for extended periods of time, those of you who have been following along have probably guessed that given the hour, there was a good chance that I was about to head back to the beach. Sure enough, at 5:30 PM I left the room to watch the sunset on the ocean, arriving at 5:42 PM. Today’s experience was a bit different from the previous days I had done this, since there was a quite a carnival atmosphere. At least in Negombo, the beach is clearly the place to be on Christmas day.

At 5:57 PM I once again caught the sun just as it disappeared, and once again I reconfirmed that this could easily become a peaceful, daily routine.

Now that I was there, I figured that I may as well make a bit of an effort to see if there was anything else of note, and there actually was! Check out some of the pics of this rather large, abandoned water park! I wondered what had happened here. Did people just lose interest? Was there some problem with the water supply? Had there been some horrible tragedy?! It looked like it might have been a rather fun place, but its new function seemed to be an informal gathering spot for young men to drink . . . but that may have just been for today.

At 6:10 PM, probably because it was a lot cooler now than during the day, I felt a bit more inspired to leave the beach area and go out walking for a bit.

However, simply walking up and down the street lost its charm after a short time, and at 7:23 PM I stopped in at some random restaurant to order fish curry coconut with rice, a tomato salad and a beer. Just as I was starting to get frustrated with the mosquitos despite using my repellant, the server came and put a mosquito coil next to me, and that mostly dealt with the problem. Unfortunately, it turned out that the “tomato” salad was at least 50% raw onion, which I really do not like, but as they had not specified that, I felt no compunction about returning it to the kitchen. But then while reading some news while I was eating, at 8:16 PM I read that just five days earlier the central government of India had reimposed the requirement to have a Protected Area Permit (PAP) to visit Manipur, effective immediately. So, it looked like my trip to Manipur the following week was most likely no longer going to happen . . . being preoccupied with this latest bit of news, I didn’t note down exactly when I left, but the bill was 2500 LKR ($8.50 USD).

I didn’t want to let a potential upcoming trip cancellation sour the end of my current vacation. So, on my way back to the room at 9:03 PM, I made sure to get a prepackaged ice-cream cone along with 100 grams of peanuts and my daily bottle of drinking water for a total of 760 LKR ($2.53 USD). At least I could have ice-cream! Back in the room at 9:16 PM, and still feeling a bit tired from yesterday, I was already in bed at 9:35 PM.

What more can I say? Not a lot happened on Day 12. Sometimes it happens that way, and sometimes that’s not really a bad thing. Your thoughts?

Sri Lanka trip: Day 11 (24 December 2024)

Hey there readers, as this has been one of my longer trips, if you have kept going since Day 1, then congratulations for your stamina. If you are however just starting out, I encourage you to look back at some of the earlier entries, not only about Sri Lanka, but also about some of the other places I’ve been able to visit over the past couple of years. Chances are fairly good that you will find something useful, and if not, then it’s almost guaranteed that you will find something to laugh about. With that out of the way, let’s get straight into Day 11 of my recent trip to Sri Lanka.

Unlike the previous evening, there had been quite a lot of noise coming into the room the night before. Clearly there had been some sort of a party nearby, and I think that the noise of the vehicles was also a bit more noticeable last night. However, with the wall unit air conditioner on, it functioned sort of like a sleep machine and also kept the room at a perfect temperature for sleeping. So, despite the noise from earlier in the evening, when I first woke up at 7:05 AM, I felt very rested. Yes, I was still a bit sad that I didn’t get to do the snorkeling with sea turtles, but that also allowed me to stay in bed later without any stress.

Still, I certainly didn’t want to hang out in bed all morning, so at 7:52 AM I got up, showered, and packed, then leaving the hotel at 9:17 AM. The location of the hotel was perfect for travel, so at 9:25 AM I was already in the bus headed back to Galle. This was a bit of entertainment in itself, as it appeared that I had got onto a disco bus. It probably would get old if doing it on a daily basis, but I rather enjoyed the music and the decorations which were included with my 200 LKR ($0.67 USD) bus trip back to where I would get my next bus for the day. Similar to when I had come here, I also noted that there were great views outside the window, as the road went right along the coast.

As the ride continued, at 9:59 AM I started to think that I could see the attraction of just hopping around some of these different villages between Mirissa and Galle. So many of the areas looked like nice places to be for a few days, especially if one is a beach person. I also wondered if these other villages were slightly less expensive than Mirissa, since Mirissa seemed to be the main beach town on the southern coast. Going back to the music, at 10:04 AM I also reflected on how I thought it was good that they were clearly playing local groups rather than international music. I also liked that the videos were not overproduced; for the most part, it was just images of the musicians themselves and some landscape. This made me think that there might be a greater appreciation here for actual music, rather than over the top costumes and fancy dancing. However, this might have just been the preference of this particular bus driver.

Up until 10:11 AM everything had been going along perfectly, but then we hit some sort of a snag. I wasn’t really fully sure of what was going on, but it seemed to be a problem with the engine. Regardless, the other passengers (almost all of whom appeared to be local) did not seem overly concerned, so I reasoned that maybe the engine just needed to cool down a bit? I don’t know what actually happened, but one way or another the bus was again in motion at 10:19 AM.

I had already been thinking that in a pinch, since I only had a maximum size carry on backpack as luggage, I could probably get off the bus and somehow easily get alternative transport to Galle. However, that was not needed, and at 10:21 AM, based on the signs, we were already technically in Galle, and then at 10:36 AM I got off the bus right near Galle fort along with the other final stragglers. Once more, as we had come through Galle, I thought that while staying in the fort itself had been nice, were I to come back on my own, I would probably stay in the actual city/town. I was sure it also had a lot to offer, and lodging would probably be cheaper for comparable quality.

Since I had arrived with a bit of extra time before catching my next bus, I went out wandering a bit with the vague notion that I would try to get something simple to eat for breakfast. I had been right that there were other interesting to see things in Galle, but my time was still limited, so at 10:58 AM I stopped a bit at Aravinda Food Cabin where I got some simple items to munch on for 500 LKR ($1.69 USD). They had more substantial food items available as well, but I just wanted something quick. Still, despite having paid only 500 LKR, I felt completely satisfied, and the food had also tasted pretty good.

At 11:21 AM I finished my food and started walking back towards the area of the main bus stop, intentionally following a slightly different route. Whenever I get a chance while traveling, and for that matter even when I have time at home, I try to switch things up a bit when I have the time in order to have new experiences. One never knows what might be seen along the way, and that was the case for instance when I saw this rather large dedicated “chest clinic” at 11:29 AM. I thought it a bit odd that such a large place in a relatively small city would be dedicated only to chest issues, but maybe it serves all of southern Sri Lanka or something like that? I suppose it may also just be a name which doesn’t mean much beyond the “clinic” part.

I arrived at 11:45 AM on the dot, as had been programmed when I booked the bus ticket with 12Go, and their representative Mr. Herbert was already there waiting along with another client. We set off walking and just three minutes later I was already on the bus; it had been waiting only for the two of us in order to leave. So, I guess that is what I get with the VIP assistance I had paid for, when I paid a total of $9.33 USD for the bus ticket. As mentioned earlier, I am sure that I could manage it on my own in the future, but if only using the service occasionally, the peace of mind bought by using this service, even having the bus wait for us, was more than enough to justify the cost. Doing a bit of investigating, I discovered that the local company provider for 12Go is Stef Lanka tours. Based on the limited interaction I had experienced with their workers, I would definitely contact them as an option to help me should I plan a future partially guided trip to Sri Lanka.

At 12:15 PM, just like when I came here from Colombo, a guy started going through charging people cash for the ride. Again, the same as last time, he didn’t even glance at me, even though I did not have a printed ticket to show this time. Those of you who have been reading along regularly know that the real cost of this bus trip is $2.66 USD, and it looks like most people just come, get in line, and then pay on the bus. Still, even at $9.33 USD, I considered what I had paid to be a bargain. I had complete peace of mind, and this comfortable air-conditioned bus still was much faster than going by train, as well as having many more departure time options. Like I said, it was fast, so at 1:15 PM we arrived at Makumbura bus station. From here I would need to get to Negombo, and I had not fully planned out how to do that.

However, I was at a central transport hub, so it seemed that it couldn’t be all that difficult to manage. Once again, I had the name of a recommended bus which I should take to the next bus destination in central Colombo. However, when I asked at the help desk, they just said “No” and pointed me to some other random line. I said, “So, I should take that bus?” This time there was no vocalization but just sort of a shooing direction towards the bus line. I figured that it was unlikely they weren’t going “away from” Colombo, and if it appeared that they were, I could always just get off at a nearby stop and take a cab or rickshaw.

So, at 1:17 PM I was in the random bus paying my 100 LKR ($0.34 USD) when the guy came around to charge us. This was perhaps pushing being adventuresome a bit far, but looking at Google maps to see our progress, we appeared to be going in the correct direction. Then at 1:22 PM a woman sat down next to me and when I asked if this bus was going to the Colombo fort area, she said yes. Thus, it seemed that all was going well. Furthermore, the bus was clean and reasonably well maintained. Unlike the other local bus I had seen a couple of days ago, this one seemed to have both buttons and a rope to pull in order to alert the driver when a stop was requested. Furthermore, it also seemed that people had the habit of using them. With that in mind, while I was certainly not “traveling in style at that moment,” I reflected that were I to return here, I would try to use local buses even more. Of course, that only makes sense if one is traveling with very limited luggage.

Providence was on my side, and at 2:29 PM I was off the bus at the central bus station and trying to follow the less than perfectly reliable Google map directions to the Negombo buses. I asked several people as I was walking, getting some significant variations in answers, but at 2:44 PM I was on the rather tiny Negombo AC express. Up until this moment, this definitely the most uncomfortable transport I had used during this trip, and had there not been AC, it would have been unbearable. The bus did not actually take off until 2:56 PM, picking up a few more people along the way, until we were completely packed in, including 6 people who were standing in the passageway at 3:13 PM. I suspected that they would have kept stuffing people in had there been the opportunity, but by that time we were on the highway.

Especially for such a full ride as this one, when the money collector started coming through at 3:16 PM, I thought it really would have made much more sense to charge people as they got on the bus. It was 310 LKR ($1.05 USD) for the ride, so I guess in financial terms it was still a bargain despite how cramped I was. Of course, had it been a longer trip, I would have thought otherwise, but at 3:48 PM I was already out of the bus at the main Negombo bus terminal. I could have taken a rickshaw or taxi to the hotel from there, but at that point I really wanted to stretch my legs a bit. Additionally, walking allowed me to see more of the city/town which I had not seen the last time I was here. I wasn’t lollygagging but also not rushing, and at 4:50 PM I arrived at the reception of Village Inn Resort.

Unlike the first two lodging choices I had paid for directly during this trip, this place wanted full cash payment up front. Using local currency, I paid the equivalent of $53.46 USD for three nights. The entryway to the rooms was well-maintained and sort of pretty, but there were clearly mosquitos. Once inside, I thought that the room was adequate, certainly nothing to really complain about at that cost, but also certainly nothing to celebrate. Oddly enough, there was a television in the room, but there appeared to be no way to plug it in, but it was certainly a large space, especially for just one person. At the end of the day, as long as it was clean, safe and reasonably comfortable for sleeping, that was fine with me.

At 5:13 PM I was back out on the street headed towards St. Mary’s Church Pitipana. Several days earlier I had seen on AllEvents that there was an annual Christmas Carol service scheduled there at 6:00 PM. It had actually been for this specific reason, that I had chosen these particular travel times to go from Mirissa to Negombo, since I understood that Christmas was supposed to be a big deal here, and I thought getting an early start at 6:00 PM would be ideal. In my mind it had made sense that there would be only one “St. Mary’s” church in Negombo, but just to be sure, I checked Google Maps and realized that it seemed to be much further away than the St. Mary’s church I had seen when I had been in Negombo a little over a week ago. It would be impossible to walk there by 6:00 PM, so at 5:21 PM I used the PickMe app to get a tuk-tuk, which arrived almost immediately.

We pulled up outside the church at 5:40 PM, and I paid the driver 650 LKR ($2.21 USD) even through the app said 541. I walked over towards the church, which was pretty enough, and thought that it did not look like there was much going on for a big Christmas event which was supposed to start in twenty minutes. However, there were a couple of people around, and I asked them, thinking maybe that 6:00 PM was a general start time, but in reality, it would be more like 6:30 PM or even 7:00 PM. Well, those of you who know about Negombo already figured out that the post on AllEvents was wrong. Their New Year’s Eve service was scheduled to begin at 11:45 PM.

I considered just hanging out in that area since it looked like a different sort of locale to explore, but on the off chance that the wrong St. Mary’s had been indicated, at 6:02 PM I again got another PickMe tuk-tuk to St. Mary’s grand street, arriving at 6:10 PM. The bill was 400 LKR ($1.36 USD).

Yes, you’ve guessed it, this was becoming a bit of a comedy of errors, but I had already suspected something like this. It appears that any rando can put things on these event apps, or at least on the AllEvents app. At the next church I spoke to one of the priests, and he told me that at 11:00 PM they would have Christmas Carols, with a special mass at 11:45 PM. I could have used this realization to be annoyed with myself for not having left Mirissa a bit later, thus having been able to do the snorkeling with sea turtles at 8:00 AM, but I was still glad that I had arrived and got checked into my hotel in Negombo with minimal stress before it was dark out. It probably doesn’t actually make a big difference, but especially when there is a degree of uncertainty involved with travel, doing it in the daylight always feels more secure than doing it at night . . . or at least that is the case with me.

So, now what would I do? I wasn’t thrilled about being up so late, but I had also specifically come back to Negombo to experience Christmas there. With no other plan in mind, at 6:15 PM I set off walking, thinking that at some point I would find a place to get some dinner. As I wandered, I had ended up in a mostly residential area, so there were not a lot of options, but at 6:47 PM I decided to try some random little local place.

I had two dosas, an egg omelette, and some small local fizzy drink for a total of 400 LKR ($1.36 USD). The dosas were actually quite tasty, and for the first time ever, I ate them with just my right hand and no utensils. None had been offered, and I figured I may as well try, once I had properly washed my hands and the prominently placed sink. So between this meal and what I had eaten earlier in the day, it looks like my earlier question about the cost of “everyday food” in Sri Lanka had been answered. You may remember that most of the meals I had eaten before this day had cost about 3500 LKR each. While those meals had been decent, and in many cases had even been buffets, I would not say they had been almost nine times better than the two meals I had eaten today. Clearly, I had been paying for and eating “tourist food”. While there was nothing the matter with that, it was nice knowing that I had the option to eat simpler, yet still tasty food for significantly less.

Although they had made the dosas and the omelette right when I ordered, this was a bit of an express eating situation, and at 7:10 PM there was no longer any reason for me to be there. However, I still had several hours before 11:00 PM. How would I fill the time? Well, one thing that had been missing from my express dosa meal had been something sweet, so at 7:15 PM I stopped in at another little local place, this one specializing in ice cream. There I ordered Badam milk ice cream for 200 LKR ($0.68 USD). The second place had a bit more of a “hang out here” vibe, and they even offered me tea or coffee, so I definitely could have dragged things out longer, but at 7:41 PM I was once more out on the street.

Sticking with the food and drink theme, at 8:41 PM I bought a large bottle of water and a rather large bottle of Coke Zero from a mini mart for 350 LKR ($1.18 USD) since I had not seen any bottled water nor water purifier in the hotel, and regardless of whether or not the tap water was considered safe, I did not want to take any chances with just a couple more days in the country. Having exhausted my interest in just “wandering around” I was back in the hotel room at 9:10 PM where I resolved to rest for a bit, and that is what I did until 10:00 PM.

After a bit of internal debate, I decided it was healthier for me to walk to St. Mary’s Church Grand Street. Also, even though I had already seen many of them, I thought it would be nice to once again see the frequent nativity scenes alongside the road and just take advantage of having no obligations to do anything else at the moment. After all, it was Christmas, and some allowances had to be made. I arrived outside the church at 10:44 PM, and as it was almost entirely empty, decided to just sit on the “Jesus bench” awhile and wait until other people started to show up.

It didn’t take too long for people to start wandering that way, and I wanted a good seat, so I entered at 10:50 PM. To their credit, at 11:00 PM sharp the church bells started to ring, and right after that they moved on to the Christmas songs and a special sermon. Despite not understanding anything, I was glad that I had come. It was especially interesting for me to hear “Christmas carols” which seemed to have no relation to those which I had heard before. I did however think it a bit odd that the only ones who sang were those in the choir, even though they put the words up on easy to see screens throughout the church. Maybe the custom here is just to listen?

Yes, I was happy I had come, but I was also happy to finally slip out at 1:16 PM while everyone was going up for communion. The church and the grounds outside were full, but everyone was behaving in a very orderly fashion. Maybe I would have stayed through until the end, but as I was tired and did not actually understand anything which was being said nor sung.

So, 45 minutes later, having completed my final comfortable walk of the evening, or my first one of the next day depending on your point of view, I was safely back in the hotel room at 2:00 AM. And that was how I spent Christmas Eve in Sri Lanka. Some might say that it was a bit lonely, but over the years I have grown accustomed both to being alone on Christmas and to being in places where Christmas isn’t really celebrated. Thus, being in a place where it was celebrated with such vigor was a very welcome treat. For those of you who celebrate Christmas, would you have felt bad about a Christmas Eve like I had, or would you have enjoyed the adventure? As always, thanks for reading along and let me know your questions and comments in the section provided below.

Sri Lanka trip: Day 10 (23 December 2024)

Hey there readers. I hope things have been going well for you. I have actually just now finished my first week back at work, but I am determined to keep pushing ahead with these Sri Lanka entries so that this does not become either another unfinished trip report like when I was in Argentina (Yes, I hope to still circle back to that one.) or simply a very delayed report like when I was in Beijing. Incidentally, did I ever tell you that even the fastest of these entries takes me at least ninety minutes, and sometimes as long as four hours? So that means that I am either a very slow writer, (please no negative comments about the quality of the writing in addition to the tardiness 🤣) or writing is just really a lot harder than most people realize.

So, on Day 10 I was up at 5:00 AM, and happy to report that despite the balcony opening out on the main road, I had not found it hard to sleep at all. Given that this was still a vacation day, you might wonder why I would get up so early. Well, while I was trying hard to keep my expectations low, one of the big reasons I had come to southern Sri Lanka was to go out on a whale watching tour. Like most day trips which I select while traveling, this one had been booked through GetYourGuide, in this particular case costing $67.32 USD. I had always wanted to do one of these tours in Costa Rica but had found them too expensive. With that in mind though, I also suspected that this might be a case of you get what you pay for. Still, if nothing else, it would probably be a pleasant trip out on the ocean. Again though, anytime when booking something involving wildlife or weather, be prepared to be disappointed.

Nevertheless, I admit that right before I headed out the door at 5:58 AM, I was quite sad to see that my 6:00 AM “snorkeling with sea turtles” trip for the next morning had been cancelled, as the company was now saying that there were not a lot of turtles around at 6:00 AM, so it was better to move it to 8:00 AM. This did not seem to make sense, because the previous day I had been told by the same company that early morning was the best time, since after early morning feeding, most of them would head out to deeper waters. In reality, I suspect that they simply did not have enough signups at 6:00 AM, so they wanted to move it to 8:00 AM. Yes, I probably could have done the later tour, but that would have made it almost impossible to safely arrive for my bus trip from Galle to Colombo at 12:00 PM . . . so, I guess it wasn’t in the cards. Still, the main reason for me coming to Mirissa had been to do this whale watching tour, so I thought that I should just focus on enjoying what was already in motion.

Really it was a bit silly that the rickshaw driver had been scheduled to pick me up at 5:58 AM. The ride itself wasn’t even five minutes, and I was the first to arrive at the dock. On the plus side, I had no problem getting what I figured would be a prime seat. As more participants started arriving, at 6:14 AM the organizers started serving tea, which I politely declined. By 6:31 AM, I was starting to think that there really were quite a few people on this boat. In fact, it looked like it might already be near to full. There was both an upper and lower observation deck, both with comfortable chairs. Near us, I could see several other similar boats, doubtless preparing for the same sort of outing. It wasn’t until 7:00 AM that we finally pulled out of the dock; however, I wasn’t annoyed by the wait.

At 7:08 AM I noted that there had been a crying baby almost the entire time. This wasn’t such a big deal for me, but some of the German speaking passengers near me were clearly bothered. As a teacher, I guess I am just pretty good at cancelling out unwanted background noise. As we moved out to the open sea, different from when closer to coastal waters, one really appreciates the constant crests and troughs, even when the water was is quite calm like it was on Day 10.

Right at 7:18 AM, no doubt going with the strategy of “keep them fed to keep them happy” a guy came around passing out sandwiches, one of which I accepted. Unfortunately, it had tiny raw onion bits on it that were impossible to remove, so after just nibbling a bit on some of the bread, I wrapped it back up and put it in my bag to be disposed of later on. Evidently distracted or simply happy to have the sandwich, the constantly crying toddler stopped crying for a bit. Keeping us guessing though, he started up again with the wails at 7:24 AM. I did sort of wonder if it made sense to take such a little kid on this sort of a trip, since there were several others who also did not seem particularly interested nor pleased with the experience, but maybe it comes down to individual personalities. While it was pleasant to just watch the sea, there wasn’t really much to do as we headed out to deeper waters aside from observe those around me and engage in personal musings.

So here come more random thoughts and observations. As there were at least 100 passengers on this boat, and presumably most paid a similar fee to what I had paid, that meant that this outing had cost more than $6000 USD. Having noted that there were several other similar boats, the implication was clear. This is a big business. At 7:37 AM, after being enveloped in the cloud of vapor for at least the 10th time, my attention kept being drawn back to the two British woman in front of me who were constantly puffing on their sickly strawberry scented vapes the entire trip. Maybe this was better than constantly breathing in burning tobacco, but I’m actually not sure. As of 7:45 AM, all we had seen were other boats, fellow passengers, and of course water, but in the far distance I could see a line of 8 boats which appeared to be stationary. I suspected that those were other whale watching boats and that was the place to be, but I wasn’t exactly an expert on the topic.

So, it appeared that I was right about the other boats, since at 8:07 AM we pulled up in the general area of the other seven double decker boats and a couple of smaller speed boats. At 8:12 AM I did “sort of see” a few dolphins breaking the surface of the water. Like I said, when on a “nature tour” you get what you get. Still, while my logic may have been wrong, I thought that with so many of these boats, maybe the dolphins and whales don’t like to come close. Then at 8:25 AM I DEFINITELY did see several dolphins in the distance, and I tried to get a video, but with so many people it was very easy to have the view blocked. Furthermore, the sightings tended to be just glimpses, so if you blinked then you missed it.

Then at 8:35 AM I heard one of the boat hands say that we wouldn’t see any whales in these waters, since the water was not deep enough. I thought, fair enough, so wouldn’t it be more honest to call it a “dolphin watching” tour? But then I had to shortly thereafter eat my internal words, since at 8:56 AM we were clearly moving in a fixed direction further out into deeper waters. No doubt dolphins are an easy crowd pleaser, so it’s best to at least make sure that happens before heading out to deeper waters where whales were far less probable to emerge. As we were moving, I reflected on the fact that while there was no doubt that we were clearly “chasing” these animals, if your goal was to get as close as possible, the smaller speed boats had a clear advantage with the dolphins, but I was not sure how that would play out with the deeper waters. I wondered, just how far out could the smaller boats go?

At 9:06 AM a woman with a different crying kid sat down next to me, but he mercifully quickly quieted down. Then at 9:16 AM, as we seemed to have no clear destination in mind, just deeper water, I wondered if that was the strategy. Hang out in deep water on the offhand chance that there would be a whale? Then as an added bonus, at 9:21 AM we saw a massive container ship passing by. Maybe they should have added that to the tour description? I mean it really was rather impressive to see in person out on the ocean, maybe even as impressive as a whale? However, despite the excellent image quality, certainly it was not as photo worthy.

Then at 9:27 AM in the distance I could see about 4 boats in the distance which seemed to sort of be parked. I suspected that several more would come together to join a fleet of whale watching tourists, and that is exactly what had happened at 10:02 AM. We were 19 boats in total, 9 of them similar in size to the one I was on, and 8 being smaller crafts. So as mentioned earlier, this whole “whale watching” thing is definitely big business. While I was resigned to the fact that I probably would not see any whales, at 10:12 AM some people saw something which could have been a whale. Even I thought I saw something which might have been a whale blowing water out, but frankly it could have just been sea spray for all I know. Nevertheless, everyone was quite excited. The boat operators told us that it would be another 10-15 minutes before there might be a chance of the whale coming up to breathe again.

Knowing that I had at least 10 minutes, I decided to focus on other things, and once again noticed this long line of something sort of yellow floating on the surface of the ocean. I had seen it several times during the trip and had assumed that it was some sort of sea life, but I figured it could also be a type of pollution. Noting though that we were still seeing it this far out, I decided to ask and was a bit surprised by the answer. The boat worker told me that the yellow was mud, since when it rains a lot (which you will remember it had been doing) when the river runs into the ocean it takes a lot of mud which stays on the surface of the ocean for quite some time before eventually mixing in and sinking down.

At 10:25 AM the fleet was on the move again, presumably heading towards a spot where someone’s sonar had picked up a whale? Just in case, I decided to stand up for a bit to see if there might be a better chance of seeing something. However, by 10:50 AM it seemed to me that we might be heading back to the shore. Then, at 11:00 AM, for a tiny moment I saw something break the surface which I thought was probably a dolphin, but the boat hands claimed was a whale. Yes, I DID see it for sure, but don’t fool yourself, it was more of a tiny glimpse rather than anything clearly noticeable. Nevertheless, reenergized, they went in pursuit again, and at 11:15 AM I actually was fully confident that in the distance I did see a tiny bit of a whale’s back as it breached the surface and then sprayed out water. Again though, this wasn’t a National Geographic photography moment . . . still, it was a bit satisfying.

Then at 11:19 AM it was clear that we were on a mission to get back to the dock as soon as possible. So, things had been about what I expected, although I did secretly admit that I had hoped for a bit more. Yes, I had definitely seen several wild dolphins off in the distance, and I am “fairly confident” that I had sort of seen glimpses of a whale a couple of times. However, as I had mentioned before starting the tour, if you decide to do something similar in Sri Lanka, temper your expectations A LOT. There were however a lot of pluses which merit mentioning.

The boat seats were very comfortable, and whether or not I actually was, I felt completely safe at all times. Furthermore, while the sunny weather meant the sea had been calm and the sun strong, the covered roof of the boat along with the constant breeze coming off the ocean meant that I was comfortable throughout. However, since sunlight reflects off water, I had been extra cautious about wearing my sunhat and even reapplying sunscreen during the trip, and it seemed that my caution had paid off. There were also the multiple times that food was cleverly distributed, despite the fact that it was not always of the most notable quality: the tea at 6:14 AM, the unpleasant (for me) sandwiches at 7:18 AM, the slices of watermelon at 11:25 AM, and the cheap yellow cake and tiny bananas at 11:45 AM. Especially leaning into the cheap food strategy near the end of the trip was smart, since people will tend to remember that even if the tour itself did not otherwise meet expectations. Of course, there were also many nice views along the way, in particular if like me, you do not usually live on the coast nor frequently go out on a boat.

At 12:16 PM I was stepping off the boat and a short walk later, I reached my lodging where I paid 10,000 LKR total in cash for both nights ($33.80 USD). As with my lodging in Galle, I had booked on Booking.com, but it seems to be quite normal in Sri Lanka that one pays in cash once one arrives. They had not been pressuring me to pay nor anything like that, but I wasn’t sure when I would leave in the morning and also did not want to have to hunt around for someone to pay the next morning. I actually was a bit hungry since I had only eaten one tiny banana and a very small piece of cake, but it seemed to me that the sun was too strong for me to go out wandering around. Thus, I resolved to work on my blog for a few hours and then go out later once things had cooled down a bit.

At 4:12 PM I had finally finished the Day 4 post for my October-November trip to Beijing and got it posted. It would have been faster, but the internet was quite slow with uploading photos. So, between today and the previous day I had spent five hours working on my writing. One might debate about whether or not that was the best use of my time, since I am definitely not writing Pulitzer Prize winning content, but it filled my time and still allowed me to get into a different “vacation zone” while making me feel that I had done something productive and personally fulfilling as I waited for the weather to get a bit cooler. When I decided to leave the room at 4:51 PM, I was a bit cautious since I really had been very comfortable working in my artificially cooled room the last few hours, but the previous day I had made a resolution to try to see the sunset again. It turns out, my fears were completely unjustified.

At 5:01 PM when I stepped outside of the comfortably lit cocoon of cool which was my hotel room, I was extremely pleased to find that the temperature outside was just perfect! Given that I had a bit of time before wanting to be on the beach once more for the sunset, I wandered around a bit on a couple of the interior roads of Mirissa, and it was not until 5:37 PM that I arrived once more near parrot rock.

Of course, the previous day had certainly not been unpleasant, but at 6:02 PM I was a bit giddy since I had been able to see the entire uninterrupted sunset on the water. I remembered an old colleague Molly Schneider who I had visited quite a few years ago when we were both working on a mutual project between our two universities. She worked at University of California at Irvine, and when I was visiting there in order to promote the program in 2007 (I think), she had told me that she tried to finish each day watching the sunset on the beach. I had thought this seemed a bit silly, but I was starting to see the attraction. During the time we were working together to setup the program, it had been such a big deal for me, and I had even passed up an invitation to be principal at a school I really admired in Costa Rica in order to finish the project and make sure it was running smoothly. At the time it had almost seemed like a legacy for me . . .I wondered if the program was still running all these years later, but I suspected that it wasn’t. However, the sunset on the beach was certainly just as impactful as it had been all those years ago.

Enough memories of an old guy. The moment the sun disappeared; I headed back to the side roads of Mirissa to see a bit more of life off the beaten tourist track before it became too dark to be prudent to be walking around the mostly unlit streets. I was not able to get photos, but at 6:26 PM I saw two gigantic bats fly over as I was walking. They really do have massive wingspans!

Back on the main street at 6:39 PM and looking at all the restaurants and various smaller shops, most of which only took cash payment, and otherwise required a 3% service charge to pay with card, I reflected on how it was interesting to see how Sri Lanka appeared to be an almost entirely cash based economy, at least for tourism related things. I suppose that shouldn’t have surprised me that much since not long ago it was the norm everywhere, but it did. Also, as I decided to enter Big Belly restaurant at 6:40 PM, I reflected on how quickly it had become completely pitch-black outside in such a short time. Anyway, I ended up ordering a Lion Lager and at the suggestion of the waiter, garlic mushrooms with white rice. Similar to where I had eaten the night before, the food arrived after only twenty minutes, and in general was something I would recommend.

A7 7:42 PM it seemed that if I wanted to pay anytime soon, I would have to just go downstairs, so that’s what I did. They certainly don’t hassle you to pay and leave here. The bill was 3740 LKR ($12.79) which seemed a bit expensive for mushrooms and rice, but it had tasted decent and given that it was the only meal I had eaten that day, I was happy to have had it. Deciding to repeat my same routine of the previous evening, at 7:47 PM I left to go get another ice cream stick and soda from the same little shop from the day before, paying 400 LKR ($1.35 USD) for both. Then after a short walk, I was back in the hotel at 8:05 PM.

I get that today was probably not the extravaganza of humpback whales leaping from the ocean which you had been hoping for, and sure, even I had entertained a few fantasies of something similar. Regardless, I had been relaxed, done something different, and been able to get a bit introspective throughout the day. Does that seem like something you would also like, or are you more in line for the jam-packed adventures of my earlier days in Sri Lanka? Let me know your thoughts in the comment section below.

Sri Lanka trip: Day 9 (22 December 2024)

Hey there readers, so as those of you who have been following along regularly know, Day 8 did not end up in an ideal fashion, but it certainly could have been worse. No doubt partially as a result of that, I woke up at 5:00 AM and couldn’t really get to sleep again until about 6:30 AM. Then at 7:52 AM, I was fully awake once again and resolved to start dealing with whatever the day might have in store. At 8:19 AM I was out of the door, but it took a couple of minutes before anyone noticed me and then handed me a bill for my lodging in Mirissa. You may remember that I had booked with Booking.com, but like many places in Sri Lanka, you have to pay in cash after you arrive. Finally, at 8:25 AM someone noticed me, and I was given a bill for 9065 LKR ($30.91 USD), which means that for the second night which I had cancelled due to weather, they only charged me a $3.91 USD cancellation fee, which I understood was simply the commission which they would need to pay Booking.com. Honestly, I had been expecting to pay the entire $27 USD for the unused night, so only paying $3.91 USD was a much-appreciated good start to the day.

Walking out of the guesthouse at 8:27 AM, I was thankful that my only luggage was my maximum carry-on size backpack which really was quite comfortable. This meant it would be easy for me to wander around a bit before figuring out how to head over to Mirissa.

I had a general idea that I wanted to see a tiny bit of the actual city of Galle, get more cash out of the ATM just in case the smaller beach town of Mirissa did not have plenty of ATM machines, and perhaps also go to the Rumassala area. After getting cash out at 9:01 AM, I soon discovered that PickMe does not work as well in Galle as it does in Colombo, and I also had a very hard time making drivers understand where I wanted to go. I decided to take that as a sign to just look around a bit more before trying again.

Thus, when I saw Arpico Super Center at 9:32 AM, I thought that it might be a place I could get some simple sandals. Unfortunately, they only had flip flops, which I find very uncomfortable to wear, so I ended up just buying a small black umbrella for 1190 LKR ($4.02 USD). On my way out I checked again with PickMe to see the projected cost to go the Japanese Peace Pagoda – Rumassala, and the app said it should be 300 LKR. So, when a random tuk-tuk driver asked me where I wanted to go, and he said that he knew the place, I thought it would be fine until he told me it would cost 2000! Keeping in mind that it might just be worth it to get there and be done with it, I offered 1000, but he refused until I just said no thank you and walked away. At which point he begged me to let him take me for 1000, but I completely ignored him and kept walking. Yeah, I don’t do bargaining well . . . I mean I ALWAYS give a decent tip to drivers, but it really upsets me when I feel like they are trying to take advantage of me. So again, I took that as a sign to keep walking, and sure enough, I came upon a little stand selling the slider type sandals which I wanted for the low cost of only 1000 LKR ($3.38 USD).

Encouraged by my success with the sandals, I tried the PickMe app again at 9:53 AM. This time it worked, and I was on my way at 9:58 AM. When we arrived at 10:09 AM, the stated bill was 270 LKR, but I paid him 500 LKR ($1.69 USD). The driver at first thought I did not understand the correct price and kept trying to give me the change, but then I was able to explain to him that I was grateful for his honesty, but that I really did not want to give him something extra due to his excellent driving and great service. Thus, he earned a 46% tip, and we were both very happy with the transaction. Going up, I also saw that it while it would have been possible, the to reach the pagoda would have taken way longer than I wanted, and I would also have arrived rather worn out had I simply decided to walk the whole way. The pagoda itself was pleasant enough, as was the view from that general area.

I could have also gone down to a nice beach from there, but I had really only wanted to see the view from the spot before figuring out how to get to Mirissa. So, at 10:31 AM I started walking down to the main road where I had a vague idea that I would either try to get a taxi from there or if possible, maybe even just flag down a local bus. As I walked down, I reflected that if I were to return, I would probably not actually stay inside the fort. There would still be plenty to see, with even the possibility of going to walk around in the fort at night, and it would also be less expensive. It would have been possible to get a vehicle down to the main road, but I felt that I needed the exercise, and most of this road always had good shade where I could walk.

According to Google Maps (admittedly not always the best source of information) and a couple of other sites I had read online, near the road heading up to the Peace Pagoda from the main road, there would be a bus stop where I could wait for bus #350 heading to Mirissa. I however quickly realized that a flaw in my plan was that most of the buses either did not have numbers, or did not have numbers that I could read. Nevertheless, it all worked out since at 11:10 AM a random bus going by sort of slowed down a bit and when I called out Mirissa, the guy hanging out the door motioned that I should jump on, which I did without the bus ever actually having stopped. Once I had sat down, the same guy came to charge me 200 LKR ($0.68 USD) and even gave me an automatically printed little ticket from a machine on his belt. Looking at the route on Google Maps, it seemed that as long as we stayed on the main coastal road, we would get to Mirissa, but I resolved to look periodically just in case. The bus itself was clean, comfortable and not at all crowded. There was even a convenient rack to put my backpack.

It looked like it would be around 45 minutes until Mirissa, so I decided to get a head start checking how I would get back to Negombo on the 24th. Unfortunately, it appeared that there was no way to easily go directly from Mirissa with the times that I wanted, so I decided to go ahead and once more use 12Go to book an express bus back from Galle at 12 PM on the 24th. I had been pleased with their service before. This time, as I really wanted to make sure that there would be no issues with me getting back to Negombo before 5 PM on the 24th, I decided to pay a bit more and get “premium support” whatever that means. The cost for the bus back to Colombo had a cost of $8.98 USD, which I happily paid, remembering how well the company had handled things on my way here the day before. With a 12 PM departure on the 24th, it also meant that if all went well, I would be able to squeeze in early morning snorkeling with sea turtles in Mirissa on the same day.

It is kind of fun making travel decisions on the fly like this, but it is certainly not a luxury afforded to everyone. As we passed Welligama on Matara Road at 11:55 AM, I saw a really amazing huge tree which appeared to be growing right out of the ocean, but I unfortunately could not get a picture. In general, it was a rather scenic route, and with the windows open, it was perfectly comfortable in the bus. However, as my stop neared at 12:01 PM I started to become a bit unsure how I was supposed to signal that I wanted to stop. There were what appeared to be signal buttons on the roof, but nobody seemed to be using them, and the driver was definitely not stopping at all of “the stops” which appeared on the map.

Whether or not the button actually did anything, I pressed it at 12:05 PM, and one way or another the driver got the message, and I was off the bus almost immediately in front of my lodging in Mirissa at 12:07 PM. Similar, to the boarding process, it was more of a leaping off rather than a leisurely stop and step down, but I was used to that from travelling on local buses in much of Latin America. My initial impression of Isindu Sky Lodge was very positive, despite the less than stellar ratings on Tripadvisor. I was a bit nervous about noise from the street, since it I had a balcony facing the main road, but the room itself looked great.

After getting fully settled in, at 12:33 PM I decided to go try to find some food, as I had not eaten anything since my exorbitantly priced yet elegant “cream tea” of the previous day. As I stepped outside, I noticed that there was also a local school nearby, which had what appeared to be a large pool of stagnant water next to it. I hoped that it was something temporary which would drain very soon, as it would otherwise be a big mosquito risk for the students, and those who were staying nearby (including myself).

There seemed to be quite a few options for food, but after a short walk, at 12:50 PM I decided to give K40 Mirissa Restaurant a try. The place looked simple but pleasant, and I decided to order Rice and Fish Curry with Ambarella Juice.

I had already learned that unless getting a buffet, Sri Lankan restaurants appear to generally cook meals from scratch, so I was not surprised nor upset that it was not until 1:34 PM that my food arrived. The meal was tasty and also tasted great. When I paid and headed out at 2:23 PM, the bill was 2000 LKR ($6.84 USD).

Walking back towards the hotel, at 2:35 PM, I was a bit surprised to see these graves so close to the beach. My initial thought was that maybe they were from the tsunami of 2004, but I then decided that was probably wrong, since they seemed to have different dates, and the plot did not look particularly well cared for.

It was a bit hot out, so from 2:58 PM to 5:23 PM I stayed in my hotel room working on my travel blog. I thought it might have cooled down a bit, and I had also read that nearby parrot rock was the best place to see the sunset. As I reached the general recommended area at 5:38 PM, I saw that going up on the actual rock was not something that made sense for me with my shoes, and frankly also did not seem necessary. However, the beach itself was beautiful, and I resolved that as long as it was not an undue burden, I would make sunsets on the beach part of my routine for the rest of my days in Sri Lanka.

Parrot rock is there to the left.

As I waited and watched, I noticed that despite having put on SPF sunblock on my face and neck in the morning, moving to the shade whenever possible and also always wear a sunhat, I clearly had quite a bit of red on my face and of course also my arms, where I had neglected to put any sunblock. I decided that I would need to be a bit more careful the next day, also putting sunblock on my arms and reapplying to my face and neck every three hours. I certainly did not want to have an unpleasant sunburn for my final days in Sri Lanka! As there were some clouds in the distance, I didn’t get to see the sun as it touched the water, but I did catch it in the final moment as it appeared to sink into the clouds at 5:50 PM.

I left the beach at 6:06 PM and walked a bit more until arriving at Maggie’s Roti Shop at 6:20 PM where upon the same being suggested by the server, I ordered Fish Devilled and Mango Juice. The food came out much quicker than I had expected, and I was finished at 7:00 PM. While I had “liked” the food, I did not find it to be fabulous. Notably, I had told them to please use a “normal/standard” amount of chili, since I was used to the same, but I did not find it to be spicy at all. The bill was 2400 LKR ($8.11 USD), and while I personally did not find this to be a huge amount, I was starting to wonder if this was how much average Sri Lankans would always pay when eating out. I had intentionally tried to find “simpler looking” places the last couple times I had eaten, and while this was definitely not expensive for a foreign tourist, based on what I knew of earnings in Sri Lanka, it seemed to me that it might seem quite expensive to common people. Of course, so far, I had always been eating in what I guess would be considered “tourist” places, so maybe that was the reason?

On my walk back to the hotel, I bought a small soft drink, a bottle of bottled water and a standard ice cream on a stick from a simple looking place, arriving back to the hotel room at 7:36 PM.

I had seen these “bakery rickshaws” a few times during the trip.

After showering and putting out clothes for the next day, I was in bed at 8:30 PM, since the following morning I was supposed to have a rather early pickup from the hotel, and I definitely did not want to miss the tour which I had planned. All in all, I felt that it had been a very successful Day 9 in Sri Lanka. A big part of my plan this second week had been to have more relaxation time, but I also had wanted to still see some interesting things along the way. What do you think? Would you have liked this first full day in southern Sri Lanka, or do you think I should have tried to do more? Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.

Sri Lanka trip: Day 8 (21 December 2024)

Hi again everyone. I hope you have been enjoying finding out a bit more about Sri Lanka. So, as I think I had mentioned before, up until today I was on a pre-packaged tour deal with had been set up by Mai Global Travels. While I was mostly happy with the experiences which had been planned, I do actually think it was a bit more expensive than it needed to be, in particular since we were in a triple room throughout. However, maybe our driver Erik was getting paid very well . . .? if so, then I think it is okay, but I have my doubts about him getting even $100 USD a day. In addition to the $695 USD with each of us had paid . . .meaning it was right at $100 USD a night per person, at the end of the trip when all of our other expenses had been added up, I had spent 70994.50 LKR additional in total for the first seven nights, for an additional $242 USD. So, the cost per night had been $133 USD. The main advantage of the planned trip had been having Erik available to just take us around all over the place, and except for the time in Hatton, that had been especially useful. However, if you come with two weeks, I suspect you can spend that same amount, still have good food and more than acceptable lodging, and do everything which we had done in seven nights. Of course, that was all supposition, but I was going to find out a little of what it would be like to manage things on my own over the next few days.

After Dorothee and I had our last breakfast together at 8:30 AM, Erik arrived at 10:10 AM to take Dorothee to the airport, and we said our goodbyes at that time, with the three of us together leaving Erik with a tip of 30,000 LKR ($102.31 USD). I then used the PickMe app to get a rickshaw to the Makumbura transport hub on the outskirts of Colombo. The rickshaw picked me up at 10:21 AM, and we arrived quite early to the station at 11:05 AM. The cost of the ride had been 1100 LKR ($3.75 USD). The station was very clean, and while a bit busy, did not seem all that chaotic.

My bus was not actually scheduled until 1:00 PM, but I was supposed to meet my contact from 12Go at 12:45 PM and given that I wasn’t really sure how things worked here, I had decided that I would prefer to arrive very early and just wait at the station. Given that the station itself was perfectly comfortable, I thought this had been a good decision. From 11:15 AM to 12:15 PM I did Duolingo on my phone. Then looking around again, I reflected that I wasn’t really sure why I needed to have a contact from the booking agency, since it seemed that I should just be able to be told the gate number and go from there, but for whatever reason, this was the system they had put in place. I had been informed that I was supposed to meet the contact in front of the nearby Pizza Hut at 12:45 PM, so that is where I headed at 12:30 PM, right after I had paid 20 LKR ($0.07 USD) to use a very clean public restroom at the station.

I was getting a tiny bit nervous at 12:42 PM, but when I sent a message to the company via WhatsApp, they apologized and said that due to the high number of travellers today, the on the ground contact needed me to change spaces, going back to the station. There Ranga met me, apologized for the inconvenience and showed me a place to sit, while he said he would take finish taking care of everything and make sure that I got on the bus without any problems. As far as I can make out, in reality they do not actually have a “reserved seating” system on these buses. Rather, people just come, stand in line, and then get on the bus. The extra amount I had paid, had been in order to get someone to stand in the correct line for me, and then to assure that I actually got on the right bus. This really did seem like five-star treatment. Yes, there were a LOT of people waiting for the bus to Galle, but it didn’t appear to be a disaster. Still, the extra assistance was much appreciated, and given how little I had paid, it certainly seemed to be a bargain for me to not have to stress about anything.

At 1:25 PM I was in the very comfortable bus going to Galle. I seemed to be the only person who was obviously not South Asian, but that was perfectly fine. It appears that the “real cost” of the bus was only 780 LKR ($2.66 USD) but I had paid $8.76 USD at 12Go, which means that I had paid $6.10 USD for all the handholding, having someone put my bag below for me, not having to wait in line (which had certainly been a plus) and of course not having to find the correct bus line on my own. No doubt a local person would find this additional cost to be absurd, But I felt that this was a bargain, and still much cheaper and faster than the first-class train to Galle, which was the only option available when I had decided to book about a week before. Maybe I had missed out on some of the “authentic experience,” but I was perfectly happy with the peace of mind which had been bought with my six dollars.

At 1:36 PM I put on my audiobook and sat back to relax for the ride. A guy came through charging everyone else cash, since I seemed to be the only one to actually have a ticket ahead of time, but he didn’t even ask to see my ticket. Presumably, with the extra treatment I had paid for, he was clearly aware that I was the crazy foreigner who had paid 4 times more than necessary, but I was a happy foreigner, so that was just perfect for me. As we travelled, I noted that the highway was in excellent repair and the ride very smooth. Similarly, while the view from the bus window was not of the ocean, it was nice looking nature. At 2:58 PM we arrived right outside the front of Galle Fort, and I headed in walking to find my lodging for the night at Nisala Guest House, where I had booked 2 nights on Booking.com for a cost of $54 USD in total.

Upon arrival, I was greeted and offered a nice glass of passion fruit juice. After just a few minutes to drop off my things, I decided to go out and wander around Galle Fort while there was still daylight.

As luck would have it, at 5:18 PM there was an absurdly strong cloudburst, and the first place I could duck into was an extremely fancy hotel. I strongly suspect it may be the most expensive place in Galle. While the workers had not pressured me to buy anything, I felt a bit guilty just sitting in their lobby waiting for the heavy rain to stop, so I went ahead and asked for a menu and ended up ordering “afternoon cream tea” for a cost of 5200 LKR ($17.78 USD). This consisted of two scones, clotted cream, delicious jam and of course very good black tea. It was by far the most expensive thing I had eaten so far in Sri Lanka, but I really did have to admit that the place was extremely elegant and the service outstanding.

As it was still raining, and I also wanted to further justify the cost of the “cream tea,” I stayed there until 6:46 PM. The rain was a bit less than it had been, but it continued coming down, and I still had no umbrella, not that an umbrella would have done much with the initial heavy rain. Still, the whole point of staying in Galle Fort had been to have access to the evening shops, cafes, etc . . . so I decided to go out and try walking a bit more. I did have the opportunity to briefly see the rather picturesque Dutch Reformed Church at 6:56 PM.

Unfortunately, very soon after that, it started raining quite heavily once again, and I took refuge under the awning of a clothing shop. Then much to my surprise, even though I had not gone into the store, the shopkeeper kindly offered me a chair to sit on at 7:20 PM. One hour later, the rain was still coming down quite heavily, and I was still in the same chair. It was then that I started to reevaluate whether or not Galle was a good place for me to spend two nights. It was all very beautiful etc . . . and no doubt I would have enjoyed it even more with a companion or two, but the whole point of coming to Galle Fort was supposed to be wandering around the streets at night. Whether or not the forecast was accurate (Who could say?), but when I checked, heavy rains were also projected for the following evening. Thus, at 9:20 PM, still in my same hiding place outside the shop, I decided that I would instead go to Mirissa the next day, booking a whale watching tour via GetYourGuide on December 23rd for a cost of $67.32 USD. This meant that I would “lose” $27 USD for the unused night at the hotel in Galle, but if it was just going to be raining like this again in the evening, I was fine with that.

At 9:25 PM, despite the rain which was still relatively heavy, I decided that I had better try to get back to my lodging or risk spending the entire night in the same chair. Dodging under different awnings etc . . . I was able to get back to the homestay at 9:37 PM, take a shower and hang my clothes to dry, and then get in bed at 10:04 PM. In conclusion, that was my first solo night in Sri Lanka. While things had not gone exactly as planned, I had at least been able to see a bit of Galle Fort, and I acknowledged that it really was something which I was glad that I had at least made an effort to explore. The rain had been a bit annoying, but the weather is going to do what it is going to do. I reasoned that even if it were to be raining a lot in Mirissa, at least I would still be able to do the whale watching tour, and if things went well, I might even be able to squeeze in snorkeling with sea turtles. Of course, for the most part I was just trying to take things as they came and just enjoy a few days of relaxation.

Do you have any guesses about how things went for the following days? Or do you think it is best to just wait and see? Let me know what you think in the comments section below.

Sri Lanka trip: Day 7 (20 December 2024)

Hey there virtual travellers, jumping right into Day 7, in the morning we had a breakfast at the hotel at 8:30 AM and then were picked up by Erik at 9:40 AM.

We made a stop at 9:57 AM to wander around Independence Square in Colombo 7, but were quickly back in the car after around 25 minutes.

Having spent around 25 minutes wandering around, we then took a short trip in the van to get to Gangaramaya temple at 10:31 AM. The cost of entry was 400 LKR ($1.36 USD) per person. Again, we of course had to take our shoes off. Note, if wearing socks, it is better to also take socks off since throughout many of these temples there will be damp rugs which I think are meant to help keep things a bit cooler. As we walked around, I once more noted that they are definitely not shy about displaying ivory tusks here, at least not in a religious context.

At 11:03 AM I was thinking to myself that it was very odd (for me at least) the way they had so many random old items mixed in with obvious religious symbols. I wondered if anyone had done any work to actually catalogue and study the items, since it seemed that quite a bit of history could be gleaned from some of them. While this perhaps reads as unkind, at times I sort of felt like this was just a dumping ground for stuff when someone’s grandparents died. No doubt many, if not most of the donations on display had been made with true devotion, but others really just seemed rather haphazard.

At 11:13 AM I especially wondered what the significance of clocks and watches was. There were so many there, many of them obviously just cheap LCD watches, and there was no obvious attempt to display them in any sort of a nice way.

Extra points for anyone who notices the item in the upper right-hand corner of this picture.

From there we walked to another nearby religious site (yep, shoes off again despite it being in the direct sunlight), this one being on one of Sri Lanka’s approximately 34,500 manmade lakes.

At 11:37 AM we were back in the vehicle headed over to a different area of the city where we arrived at 11:53 AM. There they had a very interesting mosque which is open to be viewed by tourists, but not until 4:00 PM, so we missed that. Still, the general area around there was nice, and I thought it might be good to wander around there a bit more.

Then at 12:17 PM we went into a very fancy looking “ayurvedic” skin care shop where Laurianne seemed to be in her element. Although I did not want to buy anything, it certainly was pretty inside.

A short walk from there we arrived at a pleasant seafood restaurant at 12:54 PM.

The bill at the restaurant was 14000 LKR ($47.74 USD) and a short trip later, Dorothee and I were left at Barefoot to do some shopping (meaning Dorothee would buy, and I would wander around) at 2:30 PM and Erik took Laurianne back to the hotel before heading to the airport for her flight back to Shanghai. I was sorry to see Laurianne, as I really did feel that she had become a nice friend during our time travelling together . . .

There actually was quite a bit to see at Barefoot, and we even had a couple of simple drinks in the cafe for a cost of 1400 LKR ($4.77 USD) for the two of us. We stayed there until 4:07 PM and then I got a PickMe rickshaw for 400 LKR ($1.36 USD) which left us at the hotel at 4:20 PM. We rested briefly, and then I convinced Dorothee to go out for an evening walk from 5:11 PM to 7:25 PM. For one direction we stayed on the beach, but on the way back we walked along the street, since there were no lights on the beach. I think it was a bit more than Dorothee had bargained for, but she was a good sport about the whole thing.

Having already been out much of the day, Dorothee and I decided to have our final dinner together in the hotel restaurant at 8:40 PM, and that was the end of Day 7.

Dorothee would be leaving the next morning, but I had decided to stay on in Sri Lanka on my own for another week. While it had not been the sort of travel which I would have normally chosen to do on my own, I will admit that it had been nice to change things up a bit. Certainly, it had been pleasant sharing with Dorothee in a non-work setting and also getting to start to make friends with Laurianne. On a separate note, earlier in the evening I had booked a bus ticket to Galle with 12Go, but I was a bit uncertain as to how well it was all actually going to work out. Of course, if you want to know what happened, you will just have to keep reading when Day 8 comes out.

Sri Lanka trip: Day 6 (19 December 2024)

Hey there everyone, considering how I had kept you hanging while I finished by entries about the trip to Beijing, if you have actually kept up with reading all of these entries about Sri Lanka, then you are definitely to be congratulated for your stamina. Anyway, I will just jump straight ahead into Day 6.

I think we were all awake no later than 7:00 AM, but Laurianne got up much earlier and even saw the sunrise. However, as there was no rush to do anything, I stayed in bed until 7:40 AM, then having a light breakfast at the hotel before departing in the van with Erik at 9:38 AM. From there, it was a relatively short trip to Tea Castle St Clair where we arrived at 9:58 AM.

While I can’t say that I am particularly interested in the topic, I was still very impressed with the crazy variety of teas. However, for someone who is really into it, I wonder if this would have been seen as a “cheap” tourist attraction or as something which was really special. For instance, what would Beth Johns’ mom have thought? I wonder.

Then at 10:18 AM we had a special tea presentation in which we learned (or at any rate heard) about the general characteristics of different types of tea. Evidently white tea, in general terms, is considered “the fanciest” but she also said that green tea was very special. One thing that distinguishes white tea is that there is no fermentation process. Honestly, for me, the white tea was so mild that I could have believed I was just drinking oddly flavored water; I guess I’m not very cultured. The only one that I categorically did NOT like was the gunpowder tea . . . the name gives a bit of a hint as to why.

Many of these places would have been displeased had I been visiting by myself, but Dorothee and Laurianne made up for my lack of purchases.

As far as the plants go, I was interested to learn that every 12 months, they completely cut away all of the green, leaving only the wood, but then the green grows back and they once again harvest the tea leaves.

We left around 10:45 AM but then stopped at a lookout spot to see Devon Falls in the distance at 10:58 AM. Evidently it is possible to take a trail up close to the waterfalls, but most people just stop where we did and look from a distance.

We were only there for a couple of minutes before driving on a bit more to stop at the viewpoint to see St Clair’s Falls at 11:02 AM.

Again, it was all very beautiful, but after looking around for a few minutes we were all ready to move on, and that is what we did at 11:09 AM, with the next stop being Christ Church Warleigh where we arrived at 11:48 AM. This really was incredibly charming, both inside and out, but there were no pictures allowed inside.

This is still a fully functioning church for the nearby community, and I thought it would be quite nice to go there for a service. However, despite all of its charm, there wasn’t a huge amount to see once one had walked around a couple of times. Shortly thereafter we were off once again to see if we could visit the dam, but it was evidently not possible that day. So, we just stopped to take a couple more pictures at 12:20 PM before getting back in the vehicle again at 12:23 PM.

Believe it or not, that was the only thing that was scheduled today, which was a bit of a shock as we started heading back to the hotel for our last night in Hatton. We had some discussion of things to possibly do . . . certainly at some point we would get lunch? The most interesting idea on the table was to go to the city/town of Hatton and just wander up and down the streets for a bit, but there was nothing of known note to do there. Then at 12:47 PM we made the decision to just leave right then and have an extra night in Colombo rather than spending two nights in Hatton. This would mean that we would “lose” the night already paid in Hatton and also would have to pay an additional night in Colombo, but it seemed worth it. Even Erik said he had never understood why we were scheduled for two nights in Hatton.

Yes, it was very pretty in Hatton, and for me at least the temperature was perfect, but it was also a bit boring, especially when thinking how there was so much to see and do in Colombo. While this might seem like a glitch or a downside of the trip, it is actually really liberating to make a decision like this. That’s another bit of my travel wisdom; when following an itinerary, even if you have already paid for something, it really is okay to change your mind and do something else instead. We were back at the hotel to gather our things at 1:18 PM, and thankfully my laundry which I had left to be washed the day before for a cost of 1000 LKR ($3.41 USD) was mostly dry. I put the lightly damp socks aside in my lightweight, cloth laundry bag as we got in the van once again at 1:44 PM and headed to Colombo. This time I switched things up a bit and decided to sit in the front passenger seat.

We stopped at 2:52 PM at a place I think called The Bridge Restaurant for lunch. It certainly had a beautiful view from the balcony, and there was even a live guitarist/singer. Frankly, he did not play/sing very well, but he was trying to entertain. The food also was also not particularly impressive, but more than adequate. However, the view and the general setting was very nice. The total cost of the buffet for all of us was 10500 LKR ($35.81 USD). We left there at 3:46 PM, with me once more riding in front with Erik.

As we continued on our way to Colombo, I noted that the seat in front was not quite as comfortable as in the back, but the improved view really did make my general trip more pleasant, which was important, because it was not until 6:57 PM that we finally arrived at our lodging for the evening, Sayura House.

Wanting to take advantage of our last evening in which all three of us would be together, at 7:29 PM we were out walking and went to the highly recommended Barracuda club which was nearby. There was a live band which sounded okay, but we found it too loud; although, we appreciated the background music as we sat out on the beach having our various snacks and drinks. We definitely made the most of our last night out together, and the final bill of 30,000 LKR ($102.31 USD) reflected the same. While that does seem like a lot of money, we had a very nice time, and it was not until 11: 30 PM that we headed back to the hotel for the night, so I think it was worth it.

So, things had clearly not gone exactly as originally had been planned, but I think that it was still a very good Day 6 of our trip. I was also VERY happy that we had traveled all of those hours on a day in which we otherwise would not really have been able “to do anything” in the afternoon, as that meant we would be able to take better advantage of the next day in Colombo before Laurianne would have to take an early evening flight back to Shanghai. What do you think? Did we make the right decision? Would you have just stayed another night in Hatton even though there really wasn’t anything more to do? Have you ever changed your travel plans like this on the spur of the moment? If so, how did it go for you? If you have answers to any of these questions you would like to share, or maybe you have some of your own questions, you can put all of that right there in the comments section below.