Situated in the lower central hills of Sri Lanka, Badulla is the capital city of the Uva Province and the District of Badulla. The scenic route to Badulla is via a ten hour long train ride with “Podi Manike” or “Udarata Manike”. If you’re someone who is travelling for pleasure and wants to soak in the beauty of the hill country, then the train ride is definitely for you! Think the view from Kadugannawa to Peradeniya is amazing? Well then, you‘re in for a treat! The view keeps getting better and better as the engine slowly tugs the ensuing carriages up into the cold misty mountains passing the famous Demodera Station.
Architecture
Ascending to Kandy
Whilst growing up, travelling meant packing my softball cricket gear and bicycle into Thaththi’s van on the first Saturday of school vacation and heading off to Kandy. We never really went anywhere else. Come to think of it, maybe that’s why I enjoy travelling so much! Anyway, we’d leave as early as possible to avoid the traffic and to make sure that we will be at the famous “Jinadasa’s” for breakfast because Ammi just loves to eat freshly made piping hot Hoppers from the restaurant. Many years have passed, but, to this day we indulge in this ritualistic meal each time we travel along this route.
Bridge Hopping in Kandy
Kandy, the Hill Capital of Sri Lanka, a busy and compact city situated in the midst of the hills in the Kandy plateau is a booming tourist destination. Kandy is home to many historically and culturally significant locations, but today, we look at some of the lesser known, easily overlooked architecturally significant constructions that dot the greater Kandy area.
The City of Kandy is surrounded by hills. It also happens to be encircled by the Mahaveli River on three sides. Thus, if you’re on one of the main roads that lead to Kandy, you must cross the Mahaweli River at Peradeniya, Katugasthota or Tennekumbura. Don’t believe me? Take a look at an old motor map, or Google maps! The Peradeniya, Katugasthota and Tennekumbura bridges are quite popular, but did you know that there are three Suspension bridges that span the Mahaveli River as well?
Doha: The City by Day
The Doha City Tour is a complementary tour package provided to all passengers who fly with Qatar Airways and have a transit of 8 hours or more at the Hamad International Airport. The tour is free and you don’t need to have visa to enter Qatar. Bear in mind that the tour departure times are fixed; this means that even though you have a transit time of 8 hours, eligibility for the tour depends on the departure time of your next flight.
| Tour name | Your start time | Your onward flight departure must be |
| Tour 1 | 08:00 | After 13:00 |
| Tour 2 | 10:00 | After 15:00 |
| Tour 3 | 12:00 | After 17:00 |
| Tour 4 | 15:00 | After 20:00 |
| Tour 5 | 18:00 | After 23:00 |
| Tour 6 | 20:00 | After 01:00 |
Source – https://www.qatarairways.com/en/offers/doha-city-tour.html
The Doha City Scape
Frantic in Stockholm (Part II)
What threw me off the most about spring time in Stockholm was the extended day time. I woke up at around 6:00 AM and the sun was already up, I went to sleep around 10:00 PM, the sun was still up! The first few days I had mini panic attacks thinking that I’ve overslept!
Excited for the second day of sightseeing, we had breakfast and made our way towards the Tram stop! From SicklaUdde we enjoyed a nice morning tram ride to Globen and walked to the Ericsson Globe. The Ericsson Globe originally known as the Ericsson Globe Arena is the largest hemispherical building in the world! It has a diameter of 110m and an inner height of 85m with a seating capacity for an audience of 16,000 for shows and 13,850 fans during Ice Hockey games. This iconic Stockholm landmark is home to SkyView, where you can get on a gondola that departs every 10 minutes and scale up the side of the globe to get a fantastic view of Stockholm. A Swedish work colleague who interned at an elevator company told me that the gondolas on the Globe are categorized as roller-coasters because of the curved track that they move on.
Evening at the Galle Fort
18th January 2015 was a hot and humid Sunday. I was home alone killing time watching movies and reruns of the past weeks TV series. It was around 11:30 am when I made a decision to get out of the house and just go somewhere, anywhere!!
Living in Maharagama, the first thing that came to mind was to take the highway bus to Galle. I’ve never taken the highway bus before, so I had a quick shower and a change of clothes, packed my camera and was on my way. The mid day sun was screaming down and I could feel my skin burn. Jumping on the Galle bound Air Conditioned bus was such a relief. It’s said that the time taken to travel from the Kottawa Highway Entrance to the Galle Exit is about 1 hour. And it takes about 10-20 minutes to get from Maharagama to Kottawa in light traffic. When the bus entered the high way and the ride became much smoother, I decided to pass the time by catching up on some reading. The bus finally stopped just passed the entrance to the Galle Fort and so began the adventure.
Extraordinary pages of an ordinary life 