We've been left speechless by the Phillipines, but dead-gunnit we're gonna try and capture it. A 'country' made up of over 7000 islands, teaming with wildlife (not to mention little thin deadly snakes sniggling among your beach camping area), electrically vibrant greenery, and surrounded by clear waters with an abundance of water-life. Plonk in an A-Grade collaboration of people, the most local fish available - Tuna, a fine local beer, ridiculous beaches, sailing catama.... sod the summary, let's go.
Another action packed 2 weeks have passed, squeezing in what we understand to be the key spots in Cambodia. And what a country. Beautiful sights, beautiful people (I can see why Angelina bagged a few littleness from her trips), but another that's not without a rather brutal recent history that certainly wasn't covered in our history lessons. We've also managed to pull ashore two middle eastern goats for a week.
Thickly slathered with gert lush green rice paddies. A plethora of oriental treats like roasted pork and pickle-filled crunchy baguettes, and aromatic noodle soups. And probably the cheapest beer in the world, a mere 30p a glass. Good day to you Vietnam.
All the ingredients were in the mixer. Lob the headline acts of Tom and Lucy in there for 3 of the 5 weeks we had here, and we had a show on our hands.
India - a country of contrasts. In summary. It'll serenade your senses with its spice-rich curries that melt you to your undersized stool, then punch you square in the stomach, serving up 20-a-day Diarrhoea (just in time for a 30 hour train). It will teach you the positive ways Buddhism leads people to treat other beings, yet rip up that rule book when you see a stray dog being booted by a shop owner. And what would an India summary be without a smel-aphor, it'll shower you with incense smoke and lotus flower aromas, then regurgitate cow and human shit across every street, with often no smellual respite. Yup, it's been the most colourful part of our journey, and we'll miss it as much as we won't.
Shifting from Latin America to South Asia was a big change that we were actually really ready for. Sri Lanka being known for its stunning tea plantations and mountainous landscapes, friendly people and of course, coconut fuelled curries, were just three of many selling points that would breathe life into newly set sails for the second half of our trip.
Stopover number one from NYC, in China (trying to look as weird as possible, don't be too alarmed)
A Mole attempting to bed down on turmeric infused (look and smell) carpet in Delhi airport.
On with the show. Another major change in life on the road for us was the abandonment of just that - roads. See you LATER buses. You hear so much of the trains in Sri Lanka and they do not disappoint.
The track from Kandy to Ella totally lives up to the hype. A 7 hour train journey that neither of us needed any other entertainment than simply gawping at the rolling hills as the train snaked over and around them.
Hold me Jack!
The food has of course been a particularly welcome change of flavours, moving from largely rice and beans, to some of the most delicious 'Indian' food we've had, and contrary to what we'd thought, really simple in how it's made.
This is a typical Sri Lankan breakfast of Dal, Coconut Samba (pretty much spiced desiccated coconut), tangy onions and chappatis - an other worldly way to start the day.
Breakfast was of course washed down with a pot of locally picked and brewed Ceylon tea (Ceylon is the former name of Sri Lanka).
A popular lunch meal is the Dosa, some of you may have had these before. Essentially it's a giant pancake with various filling options, our pick being the Aloo Masala. This always comes with curry and a coconut sauce to rip and dip into. Killer.
Also available in Chocolate and Banana : )
To whip up your own, truly authentic and super easy Sri Lankan curry assortment - in a mere hour and a half, check out Grandma Daya's recipe that I wrote up on the main site - www.themockingbird.me
Food and travel aside, Sri Lanka has totally ticked every travellers, or holiday makers box. Tourism here, believe it or not, is still in its relative infancy, with the brutal civil war only having ended in 2009. This means that the beautiful, overwhelmingly kind and warm people here have not yet been morally beaten down by tourists. What I mean by that is that the places we've been so far that are significantly more touristy, generally tend to have locals that are much more money grabbing and uninterested in you other than for your money. The amount the Sri Lankan people smile is off the charts, and if you show an interest in them, you'll be rewarded with what feels like a lifelong
friendship.
From a travelling perspective, getting around is cheap and easy (that 7 hour train through paradise was £2 each...), and most people speak sufficient English. Having come from places like Bolivia, where we'd spend night buses riddled with worry trying to memorise a 7 word Spanish phrase to make sure we're let off at the right place, you can waltz in to most travel days with minimal research and you will always be helped by locals or the station staff.
Here's an array of photo highlights from our 2 weeks here.
Sri Lanka has a big Buddhist population, of course meaning it's people are very peaceful, and it's temples enchanting.
Our first ever safari, in Udawalawe national park - a vast area of wild land that boasts the highest density of elephants in Asia. Fair play.
Seeing phanties in the wild is a really magnificent experience and a sure highlight of Sri Lanka.
Go on son.
Mum helping her baby to snorkel across one of the lakes. Heart warming stuff. They made it btw.
After our safari we went to the Elephant Transit House, an orphanage for elephants that are brought up to full strength from babies before being released into the park. This is a truly ethical system that's not just there for show. Elephants here are treated very well and visitor times are limited to half an hour each day. Refreshingly positive to see and contrast with some of the setups in Thailand.
Good eggs.
No trip here would be complete without a visit to a tea plantation and factory. We found some women picking leaves on our walk there.
Tea pickers taking their brimming sacks for weighing. Sorry, weird phrasing. Bulging bags. Nope, it's impossible.
Being showed around the factory. Every square inch was taken up by boxes of tea leaves and the whiff was bloody fantastic.
And the tasting. My God is it good to drink proper tea again.
We did home stays throughout our time in Sri Lanka and it is absolutely the way to do it. This was the gorgeous family we stayed with in Mirissa down on the South coast.
The backwaters of Mirissa. A sunrise start that Moles can't adjust too quickly to.
A Water Monitor. Pretty eery seeing a lizard swimming.
Cinammon leaves! Actually really bitter and boog but interesting to see and smell in the flesh.
And last, but certainly not least. February to April is prime time to see the Blue Whale off the south coast. Yes we'd been to see humpbacks in Peru, but the opportunity to see the largest mammal on earth just couldn't be passed up.
I still vividly remember watching Blue Planet with Ali after work at The Fox one night and hearing those wisdom filled dulcet tones introducing it at the start of the episode- 'This. Is a 30, metre, Blue Whale'. Shit. Off.
The best way to show and tell this is through the means of the H[oo]D... (change quality to high)
And that, is what 2 weeks in Sri Lanka looks like. I've not given much detail on where we went throughout this but if you're thinking of planning a trip here, which you really really should, let us know and we can give you an itinerary. Big thanks to Kate Mahone and her Dad for lots of the places we went : )
After being forced to stay in the home of Spring Break (the Yucatan peninsula in Mehico) over New Year, you'd expect us to have wanted to be as far away from The States as possible come the end of January. But landing in proper Christmassy temperatures and hearing 'English' was a surprisingly welcome western hug that we were all too ready to hurl ourselves into. And actually, one we may not completely let go of...
Bienvenidos indeed, to what has to immediately be called out as the culinary climax of the front 5 months of our trip. The prospect of eating tacos and quesadillas every mealtime for the 3 weeks we spent in Mexico was willy quivering, and knew from my Dad's trip further south of here, that we'd be getting variations of comida mehicano throughout our 6 week Central American leg. Here we go.
