Sri Lanka on the way home…

Day 41     Sunday   January 18th

A little jet lagged today after a long flight. Spent most of day in hotel. There was a lovely pool on the hotel rooftop and we relaxed there for the afternoon.  Fionnuala ordered afternoon tea and we enjoyed this while trying to find some shade from the sun. Went for a walk through the city later. Like Hanoi, Colombo is a busy city with all kinds of small enterprises but quite poorly developed. After many years of civil war and corruption it is slowly making economic progress. Again the traffic is chaotic and crossing the street is perilous. Instead of motorbikes, as in Hanoi, the most common form of transport is the tuk tuk. The air is filled with the noise of honking horns as drivers try to make headway on the busy roads.

Came back to hotel and had an early night’s sleep.

Day 42   Monday   January 19th 

An early breakfast this morning as we are being picked up by our driver at 8am. Ananda, is waiting in car for us. He will drive us around the country for the next 6 days. We leave Colombo amid very heavy traffic and drive towards Dambulla, a city in the centre of the country. We stop for coffee on the way. The drive takes about three hours. He brings us to our hotel, “The Occidental Paradise” and book in to our room. He later brings us to a safari, where we get in a jeep and spend three hours travelling through the jungle looking for wildlife. We saw monkeys, buffalo and elephants as well as a variety of birds. Elephants were the most plentiful and we encountered a number of herds. We drove right into the middle of the herds and stopped the jeep and sat watching these huge animals up close. There were a number of mother elephants with small baby calves. We watched and they continued grazing oblivious to us sitting among them. They just eat all the time, pulling grass with their trunks and putting it in to their mouths. 

It was late when we returned to the hotel, had a nice dinner and straight to bed. 

Day 43      Tuesday      January 20th 

Our driver Ananda picked us up after breakfast. He drove us to Sigeryia Rock, which was a palace from where the Kings ruled in the 4th to the 7th century. It later became a Buddhist monastery. Today, it contains the palace ruins and the remains of ancient gardens. It is a huge rock outcrop that dominates the landscape. There are steps up to the top and many people were climbing up. However, it takes two hours to reach the top and given the heat we decided not to climb. We then drove on to Dambulla Cave temple, which contains a Buddhist temple inside a cave. Again we had to climb many steps to get to the cave. Later we drove to Kandy, which is a large city in the centre of the country. On this drive, which took about two hours, we saw beautiful mountain scenery and got nice photographs. We stopped by a roadside side stall and purchased coconuts. We drank the coconut water and then scraped the flesh. We later stopped at a herbal garden and had a tour showing the plants growing vanilla, cardamom, ginger, aloe vera, peppercorn, cloves, nutmeg and many other spices. Arrived at our hotel in Kandy at about 5pm. Rested before enjoying a nice meal and early to bed. 

Day 44   Wednesday January 21st

This morning we visited the temple of the tooth relic in Kandy. This is one of the most important places of worship in  the Buddhist world. There were large crowds of people, some devout Budddhists coming to worship and many tourists like ourselves coming to see an UNESCO heritage site. We also visited the adjacent museum. We had a lovely lunch later in a nice hotel, then went to the Botanic gardens. This was a large park with beautiful gardens showcasing all the plants and trees of Sri Lanka. After this we visited a museum of SriLanka minerals and precious gemstones. Finally, we went to a music and dance show highlighting Sri Lankan culture. Back to hotel for dinner and bed. 

Day 45   Thursday    January 22nd

Today we drove from Kandy to NuwaraElyia. This was a long drive up the mountains with many hairpin bends. Along the way we saw many tea plantations and we stopped and walked through some of these. We had  a tour of a tea factory where we saw the various stages in picking, drying , rolling , sieving the tea and saw the many varieties such as black tea, green tea, iced tea and golden tea. The tea is picked by women in the fields and Fionnuala donned the dress and basket and had a go at picking the tea. You just pick the newest, greenest leaves at the top of the shrub and fill the basket ( 3kilos). One person would pick 20 kilos of tea in a  day-hard work in the heat. Later we stopped along the road at a huge waterfall, got some photographs before stopping for lunch. We also noticed along the road many instances of landslides after the floods experienced here in November. About 4,000 people lost their lives. We saw instances of roads and houses that were destroyed and in many areas tons of soil and rock littered the roadsides. When we arrived in NuwaraElyia we visited the post office which is a tourist attraction. Here, we bought some postcards and posted them home. Arrived at Green Hills hotel where we had a good rest before dinner. 

Day 46   Friday       January 23rd

We travelled by train to Ella today. This was a 2 hour journey across the mountains which afforded us the most spectacular views of the Sri Lankan mountain landscape. The terraced gardens up the hillsides were growing many different varieties of vegetables. Lots of people were working in the fields either tending vegetables or picking tea. When we arrived in Ella, our driver picked us up and brought us to our hotel. This accommodation was different to anything we had experienced elsewhere. The reception was just a small room, not very clean and little furniture. However, when we were shown our room we were pleasantly surprised. A small double room fronted with a glass panel looking out over a beautiful veranda with the most spectacular Mountain Views. We rested here for a little while and we’re then picked up in a tuk tuk and brought to see some of the sights of Ella, including the nine arch bridge and Little Adams peak. We had an evening meal back in the town before returning to our room for the night.

Day 47   Saturday   January 24th

Woke this morning looking out through glass panels to watch the sunrise. Before long sunlight filled the bedroom and by 7am temperatures were hitting 30 degrees. Breakfast was brought to room and we had it sitting in the veranda. When our driver arrived we left Ella for a long drive down to Galle, a coastal town which was built by Portuguese colonist and later developed by the Dutch. It is renowned for its cobbled streets, lighthouse and old fort. We spent sometime strolling through the narrow streets filled with all kinds of small touristy shops and beautiful cafes. We walked along the rampart to the old fort and sat to watch a beautiful sunset looking out to sea, before dinner and returning to our accommodation. 

Day 48   Sunday    January 25th

This is the last day with our driver Ananda. He has been very helpful during the week, telling us all about the culture and history of Sri Lanka. He took lots of photographs for us and this morning he presented us with a framed collage of photographs of the tour. He also gave us packets of cashew nuts and cinnamon- two products of Sri Lanka. We had a lovely breakfast in a nice cafe before leaving for Bentota. On the way we saw beautiful beaches all along the coast. We stopped at Hikkawadu, this was one area that was devastated by the giant tsunami wave on December 26th 2004. 50,000 Sri Lankans were killed in the flood. Signs of the damage can still be seen, over 20 years later. We went to a local museum-a small local house and spoke with the owner, Kamandu. She told us about her memories of that day. She has lots of photographs on display showing the impact of the tsunami on the village. A train had pulled into the railway station and people ran to it, thinking that they would be safe.1,500 people were killed in the train as it was swept away by the giant waves. Kamandu’s museum also tells about the civil war- her brother was killed and his grave it at the back of the museum. She has dedicated her life to promoting peace and harmony by keeping the museum. Many messages encouraging people to respect each othe and to respect nature are found along the walls. 

We later visited a Moonstone mine and a turtle sanctuary, where turtles injured by boats and fishing nets are cared for. 

Then on to hotel where we said goodbye toAnanda.

Day 49,  50,  51 Monday to Wednesday January 26th-28th

Our last three days were spent by the beach near a town called Bentota. After seven weeks of travelling we thought it would be good to have a few days rest before our flight home. We stayed in a small hotel close to the beach. There was a small pool where we spent some time resting and reading. The beach was beautiful- a tropical beach with very fine sands and long hours of sunshine. Here we relaxed before heading to Colombo airport for a flight to Doha. A short stop over here and then our return flight to a cold and rainy Dublin. Thanks to Ann for picking us up from the bus and driving us on the last leg of our journey home.

Final thoughts on Sri Lanka- a most beautiful country with amazing scenery. The inlands consists of  the most scenic mountains, waterfalls, forests safaris and hikes. The coastal areas have many fabulous beaches. This natural landscape allied to its tropical climate, gives it huge tourist potential. However, after years of corruption and civil war the infrastructure is poorly developed. The people are very enterprising- but the standard of living is poor. Stalls selling coconuts, bananas, cinnamon and all sorts of fruit are seen at every corner. Like as in Vietnam, the people are very friendly and helpful and will come up to you in the street or on the beach asking you where you are from and thanking you for coming to their country.

And so, our epic adventure comes to an end. 52 Days, 12 hotels, 4 Air b&b’s, 1 cruise, 4 Countries, 8 cities and memories and experiences to last a lifetime.