2017

Last day of our journey around Sri Lanka.
The plan of this day was to tour the capital city of Colombo, before getting on a flight early next morning back home.

Towards the end of our tour of Sri Lanka as we planned to take an another train ride back to Colombo. But before that, since we had time, we decided to take another visit to Galle Fort first.

Twelfth day of our tour of Sri Lanka as we continued our journey on the Southern shore of Sri Lanka.

 

Eleventh day of our tour of Sri Lanka as we planned to visit Yala wildlife zoo National Park today.

Winter break of 2017.
For reasons out of my control, this could be the only holiday that I could (or at least, willing to) spend with my parents who lived in China, who had been yearning for my visit ever since I left for graduate school in the states. Well, partly that's because my mom had some major surgeries during the last summer, and I happened to be away during all of them, the oh-it's-tomorrow-but-I'm-booked-on-flights-today sort. And, it turned out that my winter break would be much longer than I expected. I was looking for a two-week official winter break, only to be told that at University of Maryland, this was followed by another two weeks of winter semester, during which nothing happens. So to forward goodwill with my mom, and to bring to the states all my online shoppings of 2017 (I know two checked bags for my first trip were never enough for years of study), I decided to spend this winter break in China.

A bright sunny day as woke up in the town of Ella. The plan of the day was to hike Ella's Little Adam's Peak, and visiting Nine Arch Railway Bridge in the afternoon before heading to Tissamaharama in the evening.

 

Ninth day of our Sri Lanka trip as we planned to hike the Horton Plains and take a train to Ella for the day.

 

Eighth day of our Sri Lanka trip as we left the beautiful city of Kandy.
The plan of the day was to drive to Nuwara Eliya, a city on plain nicknamed "Little England" for its climate, which made perfect sanctuary for British settlers. On the way there, we would be passing the major tea production region of Sri Lanka.

A typical Autumn weekend day in the US, with midterms and stuff done, I went on this journey to Shenandoah National Park with some of my friends.

Seventh day of our Sri Lanka trip.
We would be staying in Kandy for the whole day, visiting the Temple of the Tooth and other temples scattered around the city and enjoying the amenities of a modern city that we haven't really experienced before in our visit to Sri Lanka.