It was another early morning and back on the bus to go and visit Dambulla and Matale on our way to the city of Kandy. We stopped at the Golden Rock Temple in Dambulla and were amazed by the ruins of this once huge city in the middle of the jungle. The King definitely knew how to live with his own personal lake, palace, swimming pool, all complete with indoor plumbing and a whole house full of concubines. It was getting very hot and we were longing for some air ...

We were up early to climb some hills and visit some temples today and were feeling much more rested and energetic after our sleep deprivation from the previous day. We climbed to the top of a Buddhist temple in Sigirya and had an amazing view of the jungle below. After that it was off for another climb to the top of the second-highest rock-temple in the area with stunning views of the Sigirya Rock Fortress. It was a tough climb for all of us but the views at t...

Today was our first day in Sri Lanka. We had an overnight flight that lasted only 4.5 hours and with the time change we were very tired but also very excited to start our tour of this sub-Indian country. We met our guide, Kumar and our driver, Amulete and boarded the bus to head up to Sigirya which is in the heart of the Sri Lankan jungle which is home to many wild elephants. Our first stop was at the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage where we got to see baby elephant...

Today we left the apartment at 8:30 and got on the bus with Hamed, the Vice Principal, and 21 other staff members from AIS (our school). Our first stop was the Seeb Fish Market. We could smell it before the door opened on the bus. The smell in the parking lot was unbearable to Layla so she headed back onto the bus and waited for us there. Once in the market, the smell was tolerable enough to have a look around and watch all of the locals dickering over prices o...

Today was our first official trip to the beach. I woke up early and went to the Carrefour to buy an umbrella and some sunscreen and a cooler and was a little anxious, as it was already 35 degrees at 9:00. Daryl met us at 10:30 and led us to the beach with all of the folks from our building. We arrived at 'The Wave', an upscale ex-pat area of Muscat where we unloaded the car and walked on the scorching sand down to the water. The blue waters of the Gulf of Oman ...