Waiting for the train to pull out of the station at Colombo Fort.

Highlight of the day was meeting this school group and their teachers over on Galle Fort walls at sunset. They traveled 10 hours by bus to visit this Dutch colonial city.

An afternoon on the railroad tracks outside Colombo.

View from the train ride up the west coast of Sri Lanka from Galle to Colombo.

A massive parade in the small town of Dambulla, complete with fire twirlers, school kids carrying flags, dancers, musicians, and dressed-up elephants. All this to celebrate Vesak (Buddha’s Birthday)!

Learned a little bit about Sri Lanka’s stimulant of choice (Betel leaf and Areca nut) from this guy. Here he is cutting open the Areca nut.

First elephant spotted in Sri Lanka! [In Habarana Eco Park]

Touring the Danbatenne Tea Factory, which Sir Tomas Lipton himself built back in 1890. It is a real factory and the tour was a very raw experience (touched the tea right on the conveyor belt, wore no hair net, etc.)–we saw all stages of production, met some employees and got some cool shots.

This is about as good as it gets for the digital nomad. Runaway Juno working on our guesthouse balcony up in the hill country village of Ella.

The King Coconut is one of the pleasures of traveling Sri Lanka. They cost about 40 cents and you get a cool guy like this to slice open the top with a big knife. After you drink the water inside, he’ll split it open and you can eat the meat inside.

For me, visiting a wholesale produce market was better than a tourist attraction.

From the mountains to the shore. [Ella to Arugam Bay] Sri Lanka has varied topography and geography.

An old photo from the tea museum in Kandy.