Matara – Fergy's Rambles.

Tuk-tuk trekking in Tangalle- SL#24.

Hello there and welcome to another post in my Sri Lanka 2014 tour with the usual advice to new readers that if they wish to read the entire story from the beginning they can do so here.

If you have read previous entries you will know that the plan for today was to leave Matara where I had spent such an enjoyable time and move somewhere but as Robert Burns noted, “The best laid plans of mice and men gang aft agley”. I had not quite decided where or definitively even if I would get out of town so if you want to find the answers, please read on.

Shine a light – SL#23.

Greetings and salutations, dear readers and welcome to yet another post in my Sri Lanka 2014 series which has somewhat surprised me by attracting quite a few readers and some lovely comments which are very much appreciated.

A quick line for any new readers is that if you read the entire saga, for that is what it is turning into and we are not yet one third of the way through, then you can do so here.

With that out of the way, let’s see what we can discover today.

A big, big Buddha – SL#22.

Having done it so often, I find myself running out of new ways to welcome you to the latest post in this series regarding my 2014 Sri Lankan trip and it is becoming equally difficult to find an original method of advising new readers that it may be useful to start the series from the beginning which they can do here. Please consider both things done and believe me, my greeting is sincere and my suggestion well-intentioned.

Let’s get on and see what we can find next.

The Fort and beyond – SL#21.

Welcome back or welcome for the first time to my series about my 2014 trip to Sri Lanka and I do hope you are enjoying it or will do so. If you are a new reader, and I do seem to be getting readers from new countries on a regular basis for which many thanks, then I shall give you my usual little tip which is that if you want to start the story at the beginning you can do so here.

It seems I am passing a few milestones recently. The previous post was the 20th in the series and this one marks a rather more obscure, self-defined goal.

A few posts ago I remarked that I was writing these posts in January 2021 and they referred to January 2014 although I was lamenting the fact that I was always a bit behind e.g. writing about the 15th of the month on the 20th. I wondered if I would ever “catch myself up” and it appears that I have albeit somewhat by default.

I am composing this entry about the 8th February on the 7th of the equivalent month seven years on. I also noticed that I had somehow managed to publish three posts in one day which is a first for me as I am not normally that productive. I probably won’t do that again as I literally had to go and have a lie down after. Well, I had been up for well over 24 hours. Marilyn Monroe informed us that diamonds are a girl’s best friend and I can assure you that insomnia is a blogger’s!

As you will know if you have read through the default I mentioned, and which has led to this situation, is that I did absolutely nothing for 6th and 7th of the month, at least nothing I can remember. I promised that I would actually get out and do a bit of exploring in this episode and that is exactly what I intend to do.

If you want to see what happens then please read on.

Marine magic in Mirissa – SL#20.

Hello again and welcome as always to my blog series about a 2014 trip to Sri Lanka, my first of three to that lovely country so far. If you wish to read the whole series from the beginning, you can do so here.

I do hope you enjoyed my previous post about the wonderful time I had experienced at the Independence Day celebrations and where I promised you I had somehow managed to top it the day after. This was not hyperbole and if you want to find out what I did then please read on.

Let’s all celebrate – SL#19.

Hello again to all my lovely readers old and new and welcome to the big day I promised you. This is the 4th February which is National Day / Independence Day, the terms are interchangeable. I had been previously told about it by my new friends in the Nawathana Hotel, I had read about it in my guidebook and all opinion was that it was a big deal and not to be missed.

I most certainly did not intend to miss it and you can join me just as soon as I get my usual housekeeping out of the way by telling new readers that this post is one of a series regarding my 2014 trip to Sri Lanka and everything will make a lot more sense if you start at the beginning.

Right, now that is done, let’s go and celebrate!

Lazing by the Laccadive Sea – SL#18.

There you all are again, good to see you. I hope you are all doing well and not too down-hearted at the thought of another one of my Sri Lanka 2014 trip posts which is going to be slightly unusual but, then again, aren’t all my posts?

If you have read my previous efforts you will know that I had arrived in Matara and was staying at the excellent Nawathana Hotel and if you haven’t read them I shall sneak in my usual piece of advice here and suggest that you may want to read the whole story from the beginning.

What is strange about this is not the fact that I slipped into a routine of doing absolutely nothing of note but the fact that it lasted so long. I promise I am not going to start about “BOGOF” deals and Fergy special offers as that would be flagellating a demised Equus caballus, go on, work that one out!

I do promise that we are rapidly approaching probably the biggest day of my whole trip so I shall whizz through this quickly as I like my series to be complete. Please read on.

I make a move to Matara – SL#17.

Hello again and welcome to what appears to be a veritable production line of posts about my first trip to Sri Lanka in early 2014, the 17th instalment in as many days. At this rate I shall catch myself up and be writing about the same date exactly seven years on from the events reported and I really wish I would stop having these daft notions as I’ll probably have to make that happen now but I have a couple of months to catch up.

just my usual quick one-liner before we get cracking and it is aimed at new readers who have stumbled on this page other than part of the series and that is advice that this post will make more sense if you start from the beginning.

Please read on.

Mooching in Matara – SL#15.

Welcome again to everybody and the latest in my series of posts about my first ever trip to Sri Lanka in early 2014. Thankfully it was to prove to be the first of several and it has become one of my more frequent travel destinations, not least because it is absolutely brilliant and I love everything about it which is as good a reason as I can think of for returning.

What I wish I could also say in these preambles to each episode is something new and possibly even interesting but after 200+ posts, which amazes me as I did not think I was that productive, it becomes a little difficult. It is almost as difficult as finding new ways to write what I am going to put down next and which my many regular readers will no doubt groan at. It is my standard advice to new / accidental readers to read the whole adventure from the beginning, which you can do here.