Travel Photos of the Day

Wanting to see the ancient ruins of the Cultural Triangle and the Hill country, adventurous RealTraveler Marshall headed for Sri Lanka. Anyone familiar with Marshall’s blogs knows he’s a great resource to folks interested in finding excellent botanical gardens on their travels, and his blog from Sri Lanka does not disappoint. In Bandarawela, a scenic town of pretty blue mountains and lush greenery, Marshall strolled through The Hakgala Botanic Gardens, which he describes in his travel blog, Quiet Town in the Hill Country:

“Tea is grown in at least three settings .. traditional terraces with highly uniform rows which look like a maze from a distance as they wrap around hills ; some lower level beds cut into chevron shapes and finally, random plants interspersed with trees. In addition to irrigation channels there are small streams coming down from the mountains, often over smooth rock with small waterfalls - this is a striking place. The sight I enjoyed the most was the tulip tree in the midst of tea plants .. this is the African tree which grows to great heights here. Its hot orange red flowers stand out against the dark green tea plants…

The field patterns are far more erratic than in the tea plantations and this gives the hills a patchwork look which is pleasant. The small towns had no tourist facilities ; there was the occasional isolated guest house or sign for Rooms. This is not particularly a tourist zone. The Hakgala Botanic Gardens are built on the lower slope of a mountain dominated by a huge rock.

The real delight of the place is in following the trails which weave their way up the hillside through magnificent trees. in a landscape strewn with lichen covered huge boulders. It really feels like a natural forest through which paths have been cut…” (more…)

Learn about more the botanical gardens, monastery’s and fortresses, and local culture of Sri Lanka in Marshall’s travel journal, Sri Lanka - Pearl of the Indian Ocean.

More Useful Links:
Sri Lanka Travel Guide
Sri Lanka Travel Blogs
Sri Lanka Pictures

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Dubai has become famous for its resorts, appealing to all kinds of travelers around the world. Realtraveler cessna152 visited there recently and, along with snapping the above photo of the day, wrote about it in his blog:

“To escape the temperatures, we walked to a nearby shopping mall called Madinat Jumeirah. On the way we couldn’t miss the world-famous Burj Al-Arab Hotel, a self-proclaimed seven-star hotel shaped like a traditional Middle-Eastern sailing boat known as a dhow. It certainly looked magnificent, but we headed onwards to the mall.
Re-created in the style of old Arabia, Angela and I wandered its souqs and galleries, before stopping for a drink in a waterfront café…

We decided to wander down to Dubai Creek, an inlet of the Arabian Sea that bisects the city down the middle. There were very few people about, only the water taxi drivers. “You want tour of Creek? Yes! I give you tour! Only 100 Dirham!” We decided to take him up on the offer, especially since we had to get across the Creek anyhow. So for the next thirty minutes, Angela and I had a tour of the creek aboard a rickety open-sided water taxi called an abra…the headwind on the water made the journey very pleasurable, a highlight of the trip in fact. And being the only passengers, we had the freedom to roam the small vessel at will, crossing side to side to see the best sights. Eventually we were dropped off on the other side, at a jetty near the Bastakiya district, our next port of call.

Up until the mid-90s, Bastakiya was a run down area with foreign workers crammed into poor accommodation. In 1996, restoration work began, transforming the area into a quaint little art district. Its wind towers are a famous feature, some rising to a height of almost 50ft. The open sides of the towers catch the wind, sending breezes into the rooms below. They were an early form of air conditioning…” (more…)

Read more of cessna152’s reflections on his many travels on his travel page, and visit these useful links to plan your own trip to Dubai:

Dubai Travel Guide
Dubai Hotels
Dubai Travel Deals
Middle East Travel Blogs

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