Fall Break October 2015 - Sri Lanka

Kazakhstan is far from everywhere (except Kyrgyzstan).  So when deciding on a Fall Break adventure, one must be open to getting on a plane, and one must be open to spending spending quite a bit of time on that plane in order to leave Central Asia.  Tyvand's played a game of spin the globe, this time it stopped on Sri Lanka.

We rented a house (with a cabana) and a pool right on the beach in the town of Hikaduwa.  Theme of the week, relax and don't do much.  However, we did venture out of town on a couple of occasions, our first trip was to a lagoon about an hour north of us for a boat trip through the mangroves.

We made a few stops in the lagoon, one to Cinnamon Island, where the girls had their toes nibbled.

Later in the week we ventured an hour south and visited Galle Fort, first a Portuguese trading post in the 1500's and later a fortified Dutch colonial outpost from the late 1600's on.  

Most of the time we hunkered down in our rental, next door at the hotel that had a restaurant and no customers (high season started in two weeks), 800 meters up the beach surfing, boogie boarding, eating pizza and drinking beverages.  Every day though, we'd simply jump around in our pool.

The owners of the hotel next door raised rabbits and we happy to let the girls come over and play with them.

Great sunsets every night!

Jim's favorite!

All went smooth on the trip EXCEPT our flight back.  About 4 hours late leaving Sri Lanka, which means we got stuck for a day in............Abu Dhabi.  Nice, big, stale city.  Had never been before, now we have, no need to go back.

May 2015 - Sayram-Ugam National Park

Catching up on our posts!  Last spring, over a 5-day weekend in May the Tyvand clan traveled by overnight train to Sayram-Ugam National Park outside of Shymkent, Kazakhstan.  The train trip was nostalgic, as it served as the primary means of travel while both Rose and Jim served in the US Peace Corps in the late 90's.  Not much had changed, certainly not the carriages.

What trip to the Kazakh countryside would be complete without overnight accommodations in a yurt. Though the days proved to be filled with sunshine, we were greeted with viscous thunderstorms in the evenings which had the effect of creating a loud symphony over our heads as we tried to sleep.  Wouldn't have changed a thing.

The highlight of our trip was a planned 1 hour jaunt on horseback into the national park.  Often, something gets lost in the translation.  We had instead signed up for a 7 hour day trip into the national park.  Hello saddle sores.  Given that we were staying adjacent to the park, our horses were delivered to us.

We re-mount after our lunch break 4 hours into the day!

Perhaps also lost in the translation is that we were all beginner riders.  Not a problem in the Kaz, it's a learn as you go country, no silly insurance or legal issues.  By the end of the day, we were experts (non-beginners).

All smiles by the end of the day!

Early spring is also Poppy Season in the Kaz.

Tons of hiking just outside our doorstep.  This shot was taken about a 30 minute walk above our yurt.