Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage
Our last day in Sri Lanka took us from the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy, to the Royal Botanical Gardens, and finally the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage before heading to the airport.
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#botanical
Changed shirt, headed to botanical garden. Tropical, cactus house. Orchid house, rain, other residents taking photos of our kids. Walked out in drizzle under arbor.Palm Aves, Great circle, great lawn had a us site kouri Pines huuuuge.
Got some fun souvenirs at the Govt store: wooden tuktuk, shelled elephant, and a coffee mug shaped like an elephant foot. More rain just after we left Park and on road.
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#elephants Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage
Drove hastily to the elephant orphanage in pinnawala? Got there at 10 minutes to 2, just in time for the two o'clock parade of elephants to their bathing place. Followed the herd from the orphanage thru the town to the river, where they bathed and played. Had lunch at the "elephant park hotel" while watching the elephants cavorting in the river and the sunshine. Noted that only a few tourists crossed the chain, all we western, either to feed or touch the elephants...there are signs saying not to do that folks. After seeing one charge in Minneriya, we kept our distance. They are still wild animals. Wasn't a big fan of seeing some of them chained, but it was good to see that many of them weren't.
On the road to the airport ~3pm. Slight drizzle-heavy rain again. During one break, got a panorama of 108 monks statues, only in Sri lanka?
Arrived at airport around 5pm repacked bags after changing into clean clothes for traveling before going through first and second security screenings (bathrooms are way left just before the security screen prior to check-in at the counters). That way our bags were still secure and we could check through the dirty clothes.
The third line of security was right at the gate, but only 2 metal detectors were serving 5+ boarding flights. This was not ideal, since it resulted in long lines. we were actually told not so stand in line until the flight was called. Even so, we got to our gate right when the "now boarding" status began...but then had to wait and take a bus.
We flew back through Abu Dhabi (link), and this time we used the complementary orange baby strollers. So convenient, especially at 11pm to 2 am local time. However, waiting for our flight to Jeddah reminded us of just awaited our return, as lots of people crowded into the gate area with no really usuable seating (we sat in the spacious central terminal and monitored the flight status from there). Further, boarding was a hassle, as people inconsiderately abandoned their airport luggage carts in the boarding queue that ran between two rows of seats. So, no way for the people behind to get around.
In Jeddah, our checked bag came out with a corner SOAKED in garlic oil from someone else's broken container. It stunk up the car the whole ride home, and we didn't even bring it inside once we arrived. So, there I was in the wee hours of the morning looking up how to remove garlic oil odor from luggage. While not the best way to end the trip, it did remind us of how great the entire trip had been (link back to summary).
More posts from this trip:
Yesterday Summary
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| This photo is from the Temple of the Tooth |
Hey folks, this is still in draft right now because I'm just trying to clear out the backlog. photos are up, along wiht some notes, but no guarantees where the links go.
#kandy-temple-of-the-tooth Temple of the Tooth - Kandy
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| Our last morning in Sri Lanka |
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| Admittedly, it was clean. |
Changed shirt, headed to botanical garden. Tropical, cactus house. Orchid house, rain, other residents taking photos of our kids. Walked out in drizzle under arbor.Palm Aves, Great circle, great lawn had a us site kouri Pines huuuuge.
Got some fun souvenirs at the Govt store: wooden tuktuk, shelled elephant, and a coffee mug shaped like an elephant foot. More rain just after we left Park and on road.
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| Yeah, just pave around the roots. |
#elephants Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage
Drove hastily to the elephant orphanage in pinnawala? Got there at 10 minutes to 2, just in time for the two o'clock parade of elephants to their bathing place. Followed the herd from the orphanage thru the town to the river, where they bathed and played. Had lunch at the "elephant park hotel" while watching the elephants cavorting in the river and the sunshine. Noted that only a few tourists crossed the chain, all we western, either to feed or touch the elephants...there are signs saying not to do that folks. After seeing one charge in Minneriya, we kept our distance. They are still wild animals. Wasn't a big fan of seeing some of them chained, but it was good to see that many of them weren't.
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| Enjoying lunch while watching elephants bathe, as one does. |
The third line of security was right at the gate, but only 2 metal detectors were serving 5+ boarding flights. This was not ideal, since it resulted in long lines. we were actually told not so stand in line until the flight was called. Even so, we got to our gate right when the "now boarding" status began...but then had to wait and take a bus.
We flew back through Abu Dhabi (link), and this time we used the complementary orange baby strollers. So convenient, especially at 11pm to 2 am local time. However, waiting for our flight to Jeddah reminded us of just awaited our return, as lots of people crowded into the gate area with no really usuable seating (we sat in the spacious central terminal and monitored the flight status from there). Further, boarding was a hassle, as people inconsiderately abandoned their airport luggage carts in the boarding queue that ran between two rows of seats. So, no way for the people behind to get around.
In Jeddah, our checked bag came out with a corner SOAKED in garlic oil from someone else's broken container. It stunk up the car the whole ride home, and we didn't even bring it inside once we arrived. So, there I was in the wee hours of the morning looking up how to remove garlic oil odor from luggage. While not the best way to end the trip, it did remind us of how great the entire trip had been (link back to summary).
More posts from this trip:
Yesterday Summary
- See more posts from our TripName Trip Summary Page
- More Travel Summaries
- More posts from: Country Of interest
- More posts from: Saudi Arabia
- Our Foreign Service Experience
- On the Job as a Foreign Service Construction Engineer
- More posts about Architecture and Construction
- More posts about sports
- More posts from festivals
- More posts about art & museums
- More posts from city tours
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- More posts travel trinkets
- More posts featuring RRR (#travelRRR)
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