New trip photo galleries added to our site

[stuny]

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We've added photos from our late December through mid January visit to Sri Lanka and parts of India.

The primary purpose of our trip was to visit Sri Lanka, but since we had to travel there via India we decided to visit some places which we had not seen on our previous Indian tour: Khajuraho, a World Heritage Site with many fabulously carved Hindu temples dating from the 10th century AD and where we caught an entertaining program of regional dances; Bandavgarh National Park, where we saw 7 tigers in the wild among other wildlife. We spent New Year’s Eve in Bandavgarh celebrating with a sumptuous outdoor feast highlighted by indigenous music and dancing; and (on the way home from Sri Lanka) Mumbai, where we visited the magnificent cave temple on Elephanta Island and had a fascinating city tour that included local markets and neighborhoods off the tourist track. The Indian billionaire Ambani (of the infamous $1.9m home) and his family happened to be staying at the same lodge as us in Bandavgarh and we saw his over-the-top house while in Mumbai (though we didn’t drop in for a drink J).

In Sri Lanka we covered a good part of the country and most of the prime tourist areas, relaxing on stunning beaches, touring the splendid ruins of the ancient capitals of Yapawwa, Polonnaruwa, Anuradhapura, Sigiriya, Dambulla and Kandy in the Cultural Triangle, hiking through tea plantations in the mountainous interior, camping in scenic Udawalawe National Park, where we viewed numerous herds of elephants and other wildlife on our game drives, marveling at the skill of the stilt fishermen, soaking in the low-key charm of Galle Fort and visiting various workshops of traditional crafts (wood carving, batik, dance masks, rope making).

You’ll find all of the India photos from this trip in the Asia gallery on our site named “India - Delhi, Bandhavgarth, Khajuraho & Mumbai - 12/10 -1/11.” You’ll find the Sri Lanka photos spread across five galleries, arranged chronologically. There hasn’t been time to write the detailed trip notes yet, but you’ll find an itinerary which notes the key highlights in each location and includes reviews of the hotels and restaurants that we frequented in the Trip Notes section of the site. The Trip Maps section of the site shows our air and land routes (red lines = flights, blue lines = drives), including our unexpected diversion to Hyderabad on our way to Delhi.