Nuwara Eliya and surrounds

It's funny how the winding roads don't seem wide enough for even a small car yet in Sri Lanka two large buses will be guaranteed to pass each other on these roads. When you're in a tiny tuk-tuk passing one of these it's pretty thrilling stuff. 

Day 11 (Tuesday 5th)

We left Diyatalawa early this morning to head to Horton Plains National Park. At Horton Plains we made the 3.5km hike via the Baker's Falls to World's End. World's End is the portion of the National Park that drops at a sharp cliff edge that literally seems like the end of the earth. Not so surprising to us anymore, the views here were insanely good. It's a shame that photos just can't to justice to the height and depth of the countryside you could see but we soaked it in with our own eyes over a long rest and some bikkies. As we climbed early we got a clear view of the south east provinces of the country but being renowned for it's cloud forest the mist was beginning to settle over the tops of the trees as we were leaving. Then the 3.5km hike to loop back around to the beginning passed the Little World's End (a smaller and lower cliff face) with a stop in the museum before we headed off. It was beautiful to see there were strict policies to avoid littering of the park lands and to prevent human impact on the environment. This did however mean the tracks were not well formed and we were skipping from rock to rock and avoiding tripping on tree roots for most of the journey. A challenging walk but totally worth it. 

I look like an oaf but it was cold and these
were my only warm clothes, don't judge too harshly.

We headed into Nuwara Eliya afterwards, first having lunch and a look around the shops in the main streets then heading for a paddle in a swan on Lake Gregory. From there we checked into our hotel "The Golf Green" which precisely as it might seem, backs straight on to the famous Nuwara Eliya golf course. We had a walk around all afternoon and are about to head back out for a bite to eat. Sri Lanka food is the bomb diggity if I hadn't mentioned in any previous posts. Much to my delight they have mangosteens here which I was told were rare outside the Colombo area. If roti is king, vegetable samosas are a humble queen served in recycled paper bags (newspapers, old math text books etc.).

The Hill Country

So our train ride was over and we were in Diyatalawa after dark greeted by a friend of a friend (standard). Instantly it was noticeable that the temp had dropped nearly ten degrees in the mountains. After a few beers with dinner we were placed in our accom for the next couple of days ready to sleep off the train ride and be on our feet... a lot. 

Day 10 (Monday 4th)

This morning we first journeyed off through the endless tea fields winding our way higher and higher until we reached Lipton's Seat lookout. A massive 2km above sea level this place offered close to 360 degree views of Sri Lanka, namely, the extensive tea plantations that flood the hills.

We took a pic with the man himself, Sir Thomas Lipton and had a cuppa with a pretty darn good backdrop. A monkey nearly jumped into our tuk-tuk and took our backpack whilst we were having a feed, so it was back down and up and down and up the winding mountains to visit stacks of waterfalls. 

The first waterfall we visited was the tallest one in Sri Lanka with a sheer 260 metre drop, Bambarakanda Falls. From there it was a 2km trek to Lanka Ella Falls. This was a tiny, overgrown, ill-defined track that began in the forest and opened on to the side of a mountain winding down into the water. I would be surprised if more than 10 people were on this track each day, it was so untouched. Next was Diyaluma Falls and our tuk-tuk driver certainly challenged us to climb as high as we could to the top. Finally after winding through half the country side we finished at Rawana Ella Falls in the late afternoon. Pretty epic but challenging for a girl with a bung knee to climb, I happily watched Dav and our driver climb higher as beneath them locals were bathing in the chilly shallow waters. 

Note: the tea fields surrounding Lipton's Seat are Rainforest Alliance Certified
and had the nicest quotations (like this one) scattered throughout. 

Unwind midway

Day 7 (Friday 1st)

Friday was a day of huge travel by local bus from Minneriya to Colombo. A seven hour journey, no A/C of course, and sat next to a young Muslim boy who was very curious about everything to do with us. Most notably asking me if my freckles on my arms were a medical condition. We finished at our friends house for an early sleep. 

Day 8 (Saturday 2nd)

It was the assembly in Kalutara of all the Aussies post wedding and travel and prior to everyone (except us) leaving. We had a huge lunch feast and drank copious amounts of beer, wine and scotch with the party moving to Colombo and continuing into the evening.

Day 9 (Sunday 3rd)

Today was an even bigger day of travel into the hill country from the capital. We were on a nine hour train from Colombo to Diyatalawa and do you think we minded? Not. at. all. This train ride was frickin' epic. This time we bought first class tickets to sit in the viewing carriage. This pretty much involves travelling backwards in the last carriage looking out a giant viewing window. Fear not, first class still had the perks of hanging out the windows whilst winding through the countryside. 

So reasons why this train ride is epic... well you only need to Google it. It is considered one of the best train rides in the world. Weaving through jungles until reaching the hills, diving through the mountains via awesome tunnels beneath waterfalls, sharp turns on cliff faces and all the while the best views of the tea plantations you'll find in Sri Lanka's hill country. It may be slow but the samosas, wrapped in pages from an old math text book, we bought out the train window half way were totally worth it. 

Train, Safari, Rock.

It's absolutely ridiculous how excited two twenty-four year olds can get over catching a five hour train across a foreign country in 3rd class. But... it was totally WICKED! 

Day 5 (Wednesday 29th)

We hung out the open doors and windows of the train from the east coast, Batticaloa to the middle of Sri Lanka to stay with one of our friends (fast become best bloke of all time) at his army barracks in Minneriya. He has been the most welcoming and generous person to us, it is absolutely breath taking. With a grand room for us to stay in he fed us to the brim upon our arrival and sat up late with us having beers and answering every single one (there's been so many) of my curious cultural questions. 

Day 6 (Thursday 30th)

Today began with a tuk-tuk trip to the ancient rock fortress known as Sigiriya. The further into the heart of Sri Lanka we venture the more lush and scenic the journeys become. Sigiriya was a large maze of brick work, sculpted rock and lush green lawns, speckled throughout with water gardens and pools. As we made our way along the ancient paths, past numerous climbing monkeys we eventually reached the stairs. There were so many stairs and it was hot and we both have shoddy knees but we didn't come here to look at he rock from below. Totally worth it. We sweated our way to the top for incredible 360 degree views of Sri Lanka with a large Buddha statue and temples just a few things you could sight in the distance while standing on the top. With wobbly knees we hiked back down the stairs and rewarded ourselves with a cooling icey pole.

 

Back to our room for a freshen up and quick rest, we then head on an elephant safari tour. An open-roof Jeep is of course what navigates us through the Minneriya National Park at dusk. We first spot a lot of monkeys hanging high in the trees above us. Soon it becomes apparent that there are hundreds of different bird types in the park, peacocks being the most exciting to spot in my opinion. The water hole (or tank as they call it) is the home to crocodiles and water snakes both of which we spotted as well. But most importantly hanging around the perimeters of the water were elephants. Elephants eating grass, bathing, covering themselves with dirt, feeding their young and play fighting. We counted more than 80 in our sunset cruise and were mere metres from them in our vehicle. The youngest was estimated to be only 10 days old and the oldest almost 80. I didn't have high expectations as I'm not huge on wildlife but man-o-man it was incredible.  

Sri Lankan sun, skin, surf.

So after our big Buddhist festivities we headed to the coast, literally straight across to the other side of the country. Why, do you ask? Tis the season for the east coast. How did we get there? Overnight, local bus. Yep, left at 9pm and arrived at 5am. Nope, no A/C and no other tourists.

Day 3 and 4 (Monday 27th & Tuesday 28th)

We spent the last two days in Arugam Bay, a famous surf town on the east coast of Sri Lanka. The days pretty much comprised of: sun, that made our Australian winter skin pink; sand, that gets everywhere (absolutely everywhere) and surf, that was super salty and hard to master.

We hired a board on day 4 and attempted to hit the waves then realised we have absolutely no surfing experience and both have shitty knees. So the board ended up in the flats most the time, with us just mucking around on it. Other than that, I hit up an interesting yoga class taken by a local whose teaching standards may have steered slightly from what I've learned as a teacher in Aus. But when in Arugam Bay right?

So all in all, a coastal getaway with lots of Aussies around for surf and cocktails and just soaking up this warmer weather. A lovely time was had in Arugam Bay. Great food, good vibes and warm sea baths.

Buddhist all-nighter

The Buddhist celebrations were in honour of our friends the Weerasinghe family. We arrived at their house and soon journeyed down to the temple at 9pm with a group of brothers and friends to collect a group of local monks, musicians and dancers. We paraded back to the family home with them guided by the light of flame sticks and following the sounds of drums and a trumpet type instrument I'm not even sure I can name. The dancing was amazing and the traditional gear the four main dancers wore was beautiful. 

Upon arriving at the family home we all gathered inside to sit. I can only assume from here what we sat through was religious chanting and welcomings. We dribbled out in groups to eat some dinner and sure enough it was my first 'eat with your hand, tingle the tongue and make that upper brow sweat' kinda meal. The rituals continued on into the night but Dav and I eventually snuck off to bed to rest our eyes. Needless to say sleep was interrupted multiple times with the loud banging of drums and call and response type chanting just metres from our door (curtain). It was however a lovely welcome to the culture of Sri Lanka. 

We rose early the next day (day 2) to offer breakfast followed by gifts to the monks before taking them back to the temple. It was an absolute whirlwind experience and the family encouraged us to join in as much as we could. Some video footage I caught was certainly encouraged and will be shared at some stage I have no doubt. 

Now for some serious planning before we start to journey off for the next week or so on our own, whilst others head back home or day nap after the huge celebrations last night. 

**Note whilst writing this I asked a couple of the brothers why they chanted because in Buddhism chanting isn't seen as prayer. They said they do it in celebration and to help with concentration. So it is a meditation like process for them.** 

Welcome to Sri Lanka

Well the trip began like any other. Longer flights than anticipated, the struggle to sleep on flights (even as an Asian sized girl in an Asian sized seat) and in flight meals that I couldn't eat. But with a convenient bump into my twin brother as I leave Colombo airport I'm on my way to stay with a local friend in their beautiful house.

Day 1 (Saturday 25th)

Today began with a quick live vid to our sister to say happy birthday from abroad. We didn't get up to much today other than discovering Colombo city and getting the essentials... local sim cards. Walking through a few local shopping centres, catching tuk-tuks to numerous sights and finishing our afternoon in the beautiful Viharamahadevi Park was how the balmy 29 degree day was filled.

Then the adventure that we least expected began as we were picked up from one friends house to head to another's just south of Colombo.

Little did we know we were heading to an all night Buddhist celebration with 50+ other local family and friends.

invert

Sometimes you just have to flip your life upside down. Dig your fingers into the grass. Let your feet float near the clouds. Maybe, just maybe, something great will happen.