We left Muscat on Oman Air at 10:20 and arrived three and a
half hours later in Colombo, Sri Lanka, where we got our visa and picked up our
bags and were outside of customs before our plane was even due to land! Quite efficient! Our driver-guide (named Chandi)
was not there yet, so we texted him and he showed up a few minutes later. We
left the airport a little after 4:30 PM and reached Sigiriya at about 9:00PM, with a
stop for supper en route. The hotel, Eden Garden, had a bus parked outside,
which we judged was a bad sign. The room
was large and basic, had a weak air conditioner that lowered temperature
somewhat, and clean sheets on the beds. We slept very well after the long
travel day. Leslie had last been to Sri Lanka, then Ceylon with her family back
in the mid 1960s and David had last been here in 1973 when he was looking for a
sea shell his father wanted, the Murex Palmarosa.
All the signage here is in Singhalese, Tamil and English
which is great for us tourists to see what buildings and shops are along the
road. The common form of public transportation here is the tuk-tuk like in
Thailand, but the base frame is a Vespa motor scooter from India. We are in a
large Toyota 10 person van with AC so traveling very comfortably. Most tours in Sri Lanka are using these vans, which can go up to a 15 person van.
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