Sri Lanka Day 1

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Hi Everyone

Long time no hear from anyone. Where am I and what am I doing here? Olivia and myself have finally arrived in Sri Lanka. We both go on a trip together each fall and take turns picking the country where we want to go  on a yearly basis. This year was my year to pick. After Olivia was angry at me for going to Mongolia, but finally understood, I passed the baton to her for this year. We both looked at Cuba, but decided that most of the tourist trips there now are all about the same. Looked pretty boring. It is getting harder and harder to find places that have not been saturated by tourists yet. We then found a tour of Sri Lanka through Gate 1 travel. This is the first year they have offered this trip on a small group basis. Both of us like to explore countries and go places that have not been saturated by tourists yet, so we decided to sign up and go.

Where is Sri Lanka? Sri Lanka was a former British colony that gained its independence in 1948. The former name was Ceylon. Sri Lanka is a large island in the Indian Ocean south of India. To the left is the Indian Ocean and to the right, the Andaman Sea. I had previously swan in the Andaman Sea when I visited Myanmar about 6-7 years ago. The major religion is Buddhist. I have been to many buddhist countries and always like seeing the differences in how each buddhist country practices the religion.

We left JFK on Qatar Airways for Doha. Doha is the capital of Qatar. A 14 hour nonstop flight and seven hour time difference. Got there at 6 AM their time and left at 9 AM for Columbo. Columbo is the capital of Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is 2 and one half hours ahead of Qatar. So we are 9 and one half hours ahead of NY. Myanmar is 10 and one half hours ahead of NY. Why the half hour? Do not understand? Maybe someone can explain that to me. How can a time difference fall in the half hour?

It was dark when we finally got out of the airport and went to our hotel. The hotel is five star and appears to be on the ocean. Will find out in the morning. The currency in Sri Lanka is rupies. 150 rupies for one US dollar. Got 30,000 rupies for $200 dollars.

Am just about ready to fall over and go to sleep.

Talk to everyone soon

 

Love

Larry

 

 

 

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