At the end of our week of 'Cultural Immersion' we passed through the city of Kandy.  Dubbed Sri Lanka's Art and Culture Capital, Kandy is full of temples, markets and dodgy people trying to scam you.  One guy offered me the sweet deal of getting my "the best quality hashish", if I bought him some also.  I politely declined. 2 hours later after dinner I realised he was sitting behind our table, he smiled and waved at me. Creep.

A hindu temple.  I hope the time, effort and manpower needed to pull off something like this was recognised by their hundreds of Gods.

The surf went pretty much flat so we decided to indulge in some cultural immersion for the week.  Drove into the 'Hill Country' to look at some more primitive villages and mind-blowing landscapes.  Here's five photos from the trip into the heartlands of Sri Lanka.

Misty morning in the town of God-Knows-Where.  The quiet filling the air hangs only for a brief moment before the sound of tuk tuk engines, hawkers and the normal hustle and bustle sets in. Click on the link to read more.

Cruising around Sri Lanka now before I finally make my way back to Sydney.  Pretty cool place I gotta say.  Geographically it could be compared to Tasmania.  The island hanging off the end of India is a primarily Buddhist nation and is proud to have its own history and heritage.  Its been colonised by both Britain and the Dutch and has countless coconut tree fringed beaches.  The above photo is of the tourist filled Hikkaduwa beach.  Small shitty waves but I never expected it to be pumping anyway.

The photos in this post are of the are and surrounds. Click the link to read more.

My last 4 days in Singapore with the Maker family.  Mum and Dad are chillers by nature, they were gobsmacked by the Lion City and the amount of movement (people and money) going on here.  Above is a shot from the Sky Car to Sentosa Island.  Dubbed "Resorts World" its a multi billion dollar investment by the Singapore goverment to make a small city of luxury hotels and theme parks.  Pretty crazy.  Not for me.

Another shot about 1 minute after the above.  Looks like this place is getting some sort of moat and a palm tree garden.  There are areas the size of entire suburbs that look like this.

Back in Singapore for a few days before I head off to Sri Lanka.  The Maker family was hanging around and the parents were keen to get their tourist on.  We hit up Singapore Zoo, apparently highly rated in the International Zoological Garden Index (IZGI?), which was an experience that never occurred to me during my exchange here.  It was a great opportunity to play around with my camera and its ridiculous array of settings.  I shot these with a Lumix G3 + Vario 45-200mm O.I.S. lens. Animals are cool. Cages are not.