Kandy, Sri Lanka

Kandy is a UNESCO world heritage sight right in the center of Sri Lanka, a 3 hour train ride from the legislative capital Colombo. From the constant jostling of the train to the fruit salesmen walking the isles and the occasional pile of burning trash outside; the ride immediately gives you a sense for what level of development the Sri Lanka is. Aside from the burning stuff, the view outside is great; you can see the landscape evolve from grassland to mountainous jungle as the elevation rises toward Kandy.

Train From Ho Chi Minh to Nha Trang

After spending a couple days exploring Ho Chi Minh I decided it was time to get out of the city and find some smaller destinations in southern Vietnam. The train seamed to be the most logical route, so I made it to the train station and booked a ticket for Nha Trang, a city about 800 km north. At the train station I purchased a burger at the fast food joint Lotteria and waited around a bit for the boarding call. While I waited I determined that either all the train stations clocks were an hour behind, or all my devices clocks were an hour ahead. As it turned out, Vietnam is in a different time zone then Beijing, leaving me with another hour to wait around for the train to leave after the boarding call.

Lotteria burger

WoyWoy + Fisherman's Wharf

I had another day free during the week and found the town of WoyWoy on the train station map, it was an hour away so I figured it would be a good day trip. When I arrived I found a small core town with slim selection of establishments, 2 bars, a real estate office, and a mc donalds sums it up. I passed all these and came out the other end at the wharf, which might as well have been made from toothpicks and chewing gum.

Wollongong

After some googling and studying of the train routes around Sydney I decided to take a day-trip down to Wollongong. The ride by train is about an hour and a half, the view along the way isn't bad. I haven't been outside of Sydney till now so it's the first time I've gotten to see how lush the coastal landscape is. Looking west from the train I could see hills all the way to the horizon covered with trees, and east toward the ocean miniature beach communities sprouted from the greenery.

west

North Sydney + Obar

Today I took the train from Central Station over to North Sydney for a couple of hours. I guess this area is only really busy during the working week so due to the fact that its a holiday the place was empty. I could only find one bar open within a mile around the train station.