• Jo Goldblatt
  • Anelle De Klerk
  • Jo Goldblatt
  • Anelle De Klerk

An & Jo’s Adventures

Uma 81aventura de um dia na Jo Goldblatt & Anelle Leia mais
  • Inicio da viagem
    20 de abril de 2018

    Cape Town International Airport

    20 de abril de 2018, África do Sul ⋅ 🌙 9 °C

    We are on our way!
    Destination: Joburg
    #FlightCount1
    #CityCount1

    First stop - Emma's 4th birthday 🎂

  • Sandton Shmanton Gautrain...

    26 de abril de 2018, África do Sul ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    Okay, here we go...so super excited about ‘ONLY ONE BAG BETWEEN US’....turns out it’s bladdy heavy...and super huge 🤦🏼‍♀️

    Trekking down the 7million escalators at Sandton Gautrain station has taken us just about as long as it will take for us to get from here to the airport...but thats okay - even if we only flying in 4hours...seems like a good enough amount of time to have a few beers 🍻...Leia mais

  • Dubai, Terminal...the last one!

    27 de abril de 2018, Emirados Árabes Unidos ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

    Destination: Phuket, Thailand
    #CityCount2
    #FlightCount2

    So our stop-over at Dubai was super uneventful...after not managing to sleep much on the plane, we got to Dubai, took the train to the other terminal...and then walked to like the end of the terminal just about...whoohooo 10000steps for the day at 5am - nailed it!

    Then we pretty much hit the ground...literally...found a spot and passed out. Best 3hours of sleep EVER!!!!

    Grabbed a coffee from Costa...and a R40 Norwegian Water....I know...and now waiting to board our next flight to Phuket. Kapkunka!
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  • Thailand Baby! Phuket - all smiles!

    27 de abril de 2018, Tailândia ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C

    Destination: Phuket, Thailand
    #CityCount: 3
    #FlightCount: 3

    Landed! Whoop whoop. So after printing out every application for visas known to man, even after I have actually been to Thailand a few times 🤦🏼‍♀️...I realize we don’t need the photos, don’t need the cash and don’t need the forms...serious brainfade 😊

    BUT as promised Lekker long queues for immigration - we dying to get to our hotel in Patong beach so we can go for a swim - whoohoo!

    Just gotta find a orange bus now...I think it’s orange, or maybe it was yellow...mmm...just NOT the shortbus- we don’t need a shortbus...yet!

    2hours later...🙄

    So we found the bus 😊...and were off the Patong Beach 🏖 Checked into our hotel, dropped off our bags - and went on the hunt for a Thai Green Curry and a beer!

    Bangla Road 😉🍻🍛!
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  • Patong Beach...getting our beach on!

    28 de abril de 2018, Tailândia ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    So we not really the types who love to go to the beach and just lie there...all day...but if we have something to do we’ll go, and stay!

    We hired our loungers and umbrella, went swimming and “played catch” for a while too!

    Good times, Cocktails and SUN!!
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  • Fish feet b4 our airport run

    29 de abril de 2018, Tailândia ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Patong Beach, Phuket - Day 2 😊

    So after a little bit of a sleep in we decided to head out and find the second hand book shop to get a book or 2...didn’t find it, all this while it was pouring with rain and still 29degrees - so running around in shorts and a t-shirt...and an umbrella.

    After no success finding the book shop we stopped to do that whole fish eat your feet thing - it was awesome!!! 😬...first time for me.

    And the just before we headed to the airport to leave for Sri Lanka - we grabbed some lunch on the beach 🏖 x
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  • Kuala Lumpur...Capsule Hotel

    30 de abril de 2018, Malásia ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Destination: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
    #CityCount: 4
    #FlightCount: 4

    So we landed around 12pm at night - after gaining an hour....6hours ahead from home, and were prepared to settle in for an 8h30min lay-over.

    So...we decided let’s find something in Kuala Lumpur to get some sleep 😊...missions around, got lost a bit in the airport but eventually got through immigration and then headed for accomm. Not 1st, or 2nd hotel had space 🙄...by then An was over it...and I was frustrated...we tried 1 more, and Thank you goodness, they had space.
    3am...we got to sleep at 3 am, in a container. Literally!

    Was def quite an experience - and worth it to get some sleep!

    Sri Lanka flight out was at 8.35am, so we had a shower, Change of clothes, through immigration and back to the airport in time to board!

    3 different time zones, 3 countries, in 1 day!!!
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  • Colombo, Sri Lanka

    30 de abril de 2018, Sri Lanka ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C

    Destination: Colombo, Sri Lanka
    #CityCount: 5
    #FlightCount: 5.

    Finally! While Patong was awesome it was really just a drop in, Sri Lanka is our real first Dora-Explorer dirt-leg. 3h30min flight from Kuala Lumpur, and we gained 2h30mins...awesome! Must say this time we slept through the whole flight mostly...revved up to explore Sri Lanka.......and we find out it’s a holiday here today 🤦🏼‍♀️...

    Anyways...got to the hotel, got room upgraded, OBVIOUSLY...and then headed out to get our train tickets for Kandy tomorrow, because if you don’t get them early enough you get 3rd class tickets...and it’s a bit rough in that carriage.

    Grabbed a tuk-tuk and got our 2nd class tickets, with the help of a nice Sri Lankan lady who works in Kandy.

    Then we asked our Tuk-Tuk driver to take us to a restaurant or place where there’s really good Sri Lankan food. Boom! Best Chicken Briyani EVER!

    😬
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  • Kandy train ride

    1 de maio de 2018, Sri Lanka ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    So after getting ourselves to Colombo Forte station, luckily we got the 2nd class reserved seats 😊 - we boarded and were waiting with pretty high expectations for this trip. It cost us 560Rp for both of us - so that’s about - R44....

    And Jip - our expectations were met.

    The 116km ride takes just over 3hours long, and with the fans on the train and all the windows down it’s really actually quite a pleasant trip 😊!
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  • Bus to Dambulla and the Sandaras Hotel

    2 de maio de 2018, Sri Lanka

    Our bus trip from Kandy to Dambulla took about another 2 hours - by this stage we were a little bit over it, and looking forward to the pool and aircon room!

    When we finally got there, we were welcomed by some super friendly people and looked after quickly...its wasnt exactly our room in Colombo, but we were glad to finally be there, and there was aircon - Yay!

    That eve we went down to the hotel restaurant and had some incredible curries and other cuisine as well. it was freaken amazing!
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  • Dambulla Cave Temple

    2 de maio de 2018, Sri Lanka

    Destination: Dambulla, Sri Lanka
    #CityCount: 6
    #FlightCount: 5

    Our first full day in Dambulla, we decided to mozy up to the Dambulla Cave Temple...it was fairly hot, but we needed to cover up for the temple so long pants, longish tops...we were quite impressed with ourselves, finding the entrance pretty easily organizing a tuk-tuk to fetch us afterwards...only to get there and realize that we don’t have enough cash to get in 🤦🏼‍♀️...so back in the tuk-tuk to draw some cash!

    We then started the somewhat tough but fairly short trip up the stairs to the temple. After getting up there and losing the shoes, we were wow’ed by the temple built into a caves - especially all the painted ceilings...next level!

    Then we made our way down to the giant golden Buddha...and I mean giant, before our tuk tuk driver picked us up and took us to lunch at Mango Mango in Dambulla City centre...😊
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  • 5am Pidurangula Hike

    3 de maio de 2018, Sri Lanka

    What an amazing experience - we had to start this at 4.30am however, up and ready to leave by 4.45am in the morning...flip...but it was totally worth it.

    We climbed into one of those Safari vibe trucks and hit the road - the plan was to first hike up Pidurangula - which would give you a really great view of the said “star of the show - Sigiriya” then to drive to Sigiriya...we had already decided though $30 each to climb up the stairs to the top was a bit steep - and we were totally stoked when we got to the top of Pidurangula and had an amazing view of Sigiriya - and it only cost 500Rupees = R40...as apposed to the R370.

    The hike was mostly in the dark up - the last bit the sun was starting to show and it made it easier, but the last day 100m was a proper climb...there were a few, head shakes, and some stern words to each other...and of course plenty of “you’ve got this” (more from An than Jo).

    When we got to the top the views were absolutely breathtaking - with the sun rising on the one side and Sigiriya on the other!

    It was definitely the highlight of our Dambulla stay that hike 😊

    After that we headed to a spot where we could get a great view of Sigiriya from the ground and we drove past the biggest pile of poo EVER - turns out there were elephants all around us in the jungle 😊...didn’t see one, but just knowing we walking around and and elephant can just pop up in front of you was kinda cool!

    Lastly we drove past this huge lake, Lake Kandalama which also was amazing with the early sunrise!
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  • One Night in Kandy!

    3 de maio de 2018, Sri Lanka

    Destination: Kandy, Sri Lanka
    #CityCount: 7
    #FlightCount: 5

    So we headed back to Kandy for one night before going more south, initially we were going to spend 2 days in Kandy, but after speaking to a German girl who had just finished traveling a bit of Sri Lanka, she advised that if we didn’t like Colombo, we should skip Kandy...we decided to go halfway...so we lugged all our bags to the opposite side of the road outside our Hotel - luckily we were on the main Kandy road, and waited for an AC bus....for like 45mins...with one of the poor tour guides from the resort helping us flag the bus down. He could for the life of us, not understand why we kept saying no to like 12 buses going passed - we didn’t REALLY need AC he said...we stood firm and thank goodness we did, we took a non-AC bus trip later on in the trip and OMW...Scariest experience EVER!

    So we headed to Kandy with all intentions of doing plenty of sightseeing etc. 🙈...4am wake-up call hit us HARD! We were starving so we were off looking for some more local food, and had an amazing meal of, well we not so sure 😉 feel like they sort of made it up just for us. Still was good!

    Then we decided a walk on the lake would be a great way to end the day...and not pay a fortune to get into any temples or sights...

    It was pretty cool - it’s an artificial lake...but there was nothing fake about it...really was spectacular and there were LOADS of fresh water turtles in the lake...We didn’t know that there were fresh water turtles till Kandy!!

    Then it started to drizzle and we were like aaaah so amazing in the rain, while it’s hot...till it wasn’t a drizzle anymore 🙈...and that’s when we called it. Back to the hotel and had an early night!

    We picked up our train tickets on the way and headed off to sleep 😴
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  • Train ride: Kandy to Nuwara Eliya

    4 de maio de 2018, Sri Lanka

    Destination: Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka
    #CityCount: 8
    #FlightCount: still 5 😊

    We left at 8.30am on the train to Nuwaraeliya, time and time again we were told to take this train trip and man were we wow’ed. - As one of the most beautiful train trips in Sri Lanka it was next level!

    Couldn’t sleep at all - was too scared we would miss something on the way! Really was pretty epic. Also the temperature drop dramatically - Nuwaraeliya is 2000m above see level, so the 65km trip takes double the amount of time it took from Colombo to Kandy...because we just climbed and climbed and climbed. Temp went from 37degrees to 19degrees.
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  • Nuwara Eliya, Pigeons Nest Homestay

    4 de maio de 2018, Sri Lanka ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    So we checked into Pigeons Nest Homestay last night, our first experience of a Homestay, we were really impressed by how nice they were. Akram, Prince’s son fetched us from the train station and talked us through a few things we could do during our 4 nights stay in Nuwaraeliya. It was raining when we arrived.

    Nuwara Eliya means Royal City - because when Sri Lanka was still under British rule, only the Royal family along with other prestigious peeps of the empire were allowed to live in this area, they stayed here because it was a relief from the heat around the rest of Sri Lanka.

    The roads are crazy windy and we are just completely surrounded by tea plantations - where you look there’s tea.

    They organized the 4 day stay for us - where to go, what to see how to get there etc
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  • Ramboda Falls, Nuwara Eliya

    5 de maio de 2018, Sri Lanka

    So first thing the following morning - are a traditional breakfast, Akram took us to Ramboda Falls, there were 2 sites of the waterfall - the first through hotel lower down, and then the bigger one higher up. There was a 500m walk, well more like 500m UP of steps 🙈...it was definitely tough, but short enough to not feel like we were too buggered. And what we experienced at the top was so so worth it!

    The waterfall was so amazing...HUGE! Really something to experience. It cost us 50Rupees each to get up there...so not even R5 each.

    Definitely one of the highlights of our stay in Nuwaraeliya.
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  • Tea Tasting ☕️...

    5 de maio de 2018, Sri Lanka ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    So after our incredible hike up to the Ramboda Falls we headed to two tea plantations with Akram to learn all about the tea process - which was an eye opener, new found respect for tea ad how its made. Hand-picked, every time, and then the process it goes through to eventually get to us in those little tea bags - :) the first was Damro and then Blue Fields Plantation...Still struggling to drink tea without any milk though...but still quite an experience.Leia mais

  • High Tea @ The Grand Hotel - photos

    6 de maio de 2018, Sri Lanka ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    WOW! So not necessarily our scene - but what an experience, we felt super lanie with our canapes and the choice of as much tea as we wanted, which wasn't very hard seeing as there were 97 different flavored teas to choose from. We really loved it, obviously the sandwiches and eats were super tiny so we ate super slowly :) but enjoyed it!Leia mais