The last picture of Sri Lanka week.We got up really early to visit Kumana National Park in the south east. Leaving at 4am from surfers paradise Arugam Bay.The first treat of the day was this sunrise 🌅. I highly recommend Kumana park over the others (that we also visited). Because you could be the only tourist in the park, like we were. And there is lots and lots of wildlife. We even saw a jaguar.
Time for some culture again. This is one of the temples in Anuradhapur in Sri Lanka.Among the many temples I was pleased to find this one, because it was on the front cover of the Lonely Planet I was carrying around every day.Do you judge a book by its cover normally?
Yesterday I showed you a Banyan Tree, and if there are trees there must be monkeys. Right?Well, in Sri Lanka and other south Asian countries you will find these Grey Langurs, among other species.I think they're beautiful, what do you think?
This is the Ficus Bengalensis, better known as the Banyan Tree. It's the national tree of India.But we saw this beautiful one in Sri Lanka.The tree starts it life in the crack of another tree and then grows down. Eventually it will kill the host tree.
After a couple of days of culture in Kandy and Sigiriya it was time for some R&R.So we headed to Nilaveli in the north east of Sri Lanka.As you can see, not a bad choice.
We left Colombo / Sri Lanka in our right hand side drive Toyota Prius to do some serious sightseeing.Our second stop on the island was Sigiriya, the rock you see here.The name means Lion Rock. King Kayaspa built his palace on top of it, and wanted to make it the country's capital.I guess nobody liked that idea, because after he died the site was abandoned....until the tourists came in 😀What idea of you seemed like the best idea ever, but was not met with much enthusiasm?
This week we're going to Sri Lanka.The island is some times called the tear of India, which makes sense if you look at the map of this sub-continent.On our first night, while I was bitten by a dengue mosquito, we saw this beautiful sunset in the beach destination Mount Lavinia close to the capital city Colombo.
As I left Guinea-Bissau I picked up a hitchhiker on my way to the border.Marciano is a first lieutenant and I would recommend everyone to give a ride to a police official.You've got a free bodyguard and at every checkpoint you save a hell of a lot of time. Everybody salutes you, and you're on your way.Thanks Marciano.Is the police always your friend?
As I drove back after lunch to the capital Bissau, I saw these girls coming back from the plantation after a hard days work.In the buckets they carry what looks like apples. But they are the fruits that bear cashew nuts. Most people don't know, but they are like small apples and out of the bottom sticks the nut.I never saw the fruit on sale, however I have tasted one. And they taste quite good.The nuts have to be toasted first, because they are toxic if you don't.Do you like cashew nuts?
A couple of kilometers outside of Bissau in Guinea-Bissau there's a nice restaurant by the river.They serve great seafood, which you can watch being caught right before your eyes.How cool is that?
What is your favorite seafood?
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