Sri Lanka
Arrival
After three flights (Edinburgh to Heathrow to Doha to Columbo we arrived in Sri Lanka at 9am when it was already 20 C warmer than it was in Falkirk when we left. We were at our hotel (30 minutes from the airport) at 11 am. Lovely views of the beach from our room. Having missed breakfast we had a light lunch in the hotel before going out to find a shop selling bottles of water. Leaving the hotel we were met by a a Tuk Tuk driver trying to get us to employ him to give us a tour. He wanted 20 euros but when we said we were British and didn’t have euros he said it would accept £20 instead. He drove us around for a couple of hours, showing us a couple of churches, Hindu temples and a Bhuddist temple. We saw the fish market and a very smelly field full of fish drying in the sun for a few days (popular snack here apparently). We saw the lagoon with all the fishing boats, a canal built by the Portuguese and the old post office complete with two Victorian British post boxes.
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Day 2 – Move to the Cultural Triangle
After an early breakfast we started on a 4 hour journey to our next hotel at Jetwing Lake. ( https://jetwingtravels.com/hotel/jetwing-lake/ ) The drive was through lush green vegetation and we saw coconut and pineapple plantations and saw rice being harvested in the paddy fields. The harvester was followed by a number of birds (egrets) who were feasting on the earth warms bought up to the surface by the harvester. We arrived at the hotel in time for lunch and a break before our mid afternoon tour which took us to the Dambulla Cave Temples. The caves were carved out of solid rock in the 1st century BCE when a king took refuge here after being expelled from his homeland. The walk up to the temples included 364 steps but we had an alternative way up a steep sloping path – we’re saving the steps for tomorrow when we have 1200 to climb. There were 5 caves to visit and a small Hindu temple. The Insides of the caves are covered with paintings in bright colours and contain 153 statues of Buddha as well as of Sri Lankan kings. The first of the caves has a 14 metre long reclining Buddha which was carved out of a single rock. I sense was scenting the caves and some of the people were chanting and praying.. in the grounds of the temple complex we could watch some rather aggressive monkeys grooming each other. Finally we climbed down the steps to return to the coach and back to the hotel for tea and a beer – we still need to adjust to walking and climbing steps in this heat! 32c
Day 3 – Sigiriya Rock (Lion Rock)
Just time for a quick breakfast before boarding the bus a 8am for a short drive to the Lion rock. This is a massive piece of rock with shear sides and rising up from the surrounding forest to a height of 200m. King Kasyapa killed his father to take the throne in 477 and fearing that his half brother would try to kill him built an impregnable fortress on top of the rock. At the base of the rock were landscaped garden watered by an elaborate irrigation system. At the end of these was the foot of the rock and the start of our climb of 1200 steps. We did the climb in several stages some steeper than others to reach the remains of the palace at the top, with the throne and a terrace where the king could watch the sun set. The views from here were tremendous. We retraced our steps to about a quarter of the way down before a traverse of the face of the cliff taking us past the mirror wall (visitors from the 7th to the 13th century posted graffiti on it. A metal spiral staircase attached to to rock took us up to a cave with 5th century paintings on the wall (half naked women , either goddesses or the king’s concubines) these paintings were done directly on to a wet surface which rapidly absorbed the paint so any errors could not be corrected. Our guide showed us three mistakes in the paintings, a misplaced hand, a woman with two thumbs and a woman with a third nipple. Back down another spiral staircase with open views of the ground below and continued to descend to the forest. On the way saw a cave with the overhanging rock looking like the head of a cobra.
A 90 minute drive took us to our stop for much needed lunch. We were shown the kitchens with the women preparing our meal and then sat round a large table. The women brought out a succession of bowls with different curries and rice, probably about 20 different dishes mostly vegetarian and with the main ingredient displayed in front of the bowl. It was a lovely meal with lots of different flavours and we all ate too much. From here we were taken to another site – the ancient city of Polonnaruwa which was the second capital of Sri Lanka. It was destroyed by invaders in the 10 century and rebuilt by the king in the 12th century- constructing palaces, monuments and parks. The palace with its thick walls was believed to have been 7 stories high, but only the base remains, we could see rocks melted by the heat of the fire which destroyed the building. We also saw the kings audience hall and his bathing pool. Also in this area were a series of Buddhist temple built by a succession of kings each trying to outdo his predecessor. In one of the temples was the remains of a statue of Buddha, the statue originally had sapphires for its eyes and a window on the opposite wall would have directed sunlight onto the jewels. Our final stop for the day before another 90 minute drive back to the hotel was to Gal Vihara. Here there were four large statues of Buddha carved out of a single piece of rock.
Day 4 – Wasagauwa National Park
An early morning today so we set the alarm for 4 am, picked up a packed breakfast and joined the coach for a 5am departure. the name of the park means Forrest of the sloth bear. We had a four hour jeep tour of the park during which we saw many peacocks, a couple of eagles and many other birds. We also saw elephants, a crocodile swimming in a lake, some lizards and some deer. We got back to the hotel in time for a late curry for lunch and a free afternoon. Tomorrow it’s up sticks and off to the next hotel
Day 5 – Kandy
A more relaxed breakfast as we were due to depart at 8,30. A drive of an hour or so took us to our destination for tonight – Kandy. When we left there were heavy dark clouds but this cleared as we travelled. We passed by more paddy fields and areas for the cultivation of spice producing trees, such as cloves. Our first visit in Kandy was to the Botanic gardens. We saw the orchid house and then were driven round the gardens by a guide who showed us some of the collection of plants and trees. We had lunch in the gardens and while there we heard that there had been heavy rain at the town we had left this morning, but it was still hot and sunny in Kandy. After this we visited the local market and saw the variety of produce on sale and took the opportunity to buy some of the spices. Then it was on to visit the Temple of the Tooth. When Buddha died he was cremated, but one of his teeth was recovered from his ashes and in the 4th century was brought from India to Sri Lanka concealed in the hair of a princess. The tooth was placed in the protection of the king and got passed from king to king eventually ending up in Kandy. The shrine was built in the 16th century. Every August there is a big 10 day festival in which the tooth, carried on the back of an elephant is paraded through the streets. Traditionally the last day of the festival it rains as the start of the rainy season. When the British took over the island, the British governor decreed that the parade should no longer happen. They then followed several years of drought until the Governor was persuaded to allow the festival to continue. At the end of the end of the re-instituted festival there was tree tidal rain and the British headquarters flooded. One elephant carried the tooth every year from 50 years and when he died his body was preserved and we saw that too!
Day 6 – Train Ride to Nuwara Elliya
Back to a later start this morning (just as well after the cocktails we enjoyed last night). Left the hotel at 9.30 for a short drive down to Kandy railway station. The journey was described to us as one of the world’s most picturesque routes. The day started over cast and with spots of rain, but it was still warm, by the time our train was due to depart we had blue skies. We bought a few snacks to have during the four and a half hour trip. During the ride various traders came through the carriage offering us chai tea, hot nuts, samosas, donuts and fruit, the nuts and samosas were very tasty. The highlights of the journey came as we moved into the tea growing regions. As we gained height the train circled round and as we climbed we could look down onto the track which we had just passed over. A really enjoyable journey. We arrived in a rainy Nuwara Elliya in the late afternoon. This is in an area referred to as Little England although the first thing we saw was a tea picker with the basket on her back saying Edinburgh which we saw from a prominent sign was the name of the tea plantation. We had a quick tour of the town and saw that many of the buildings were styled on the British colonial houses. Our welcoming drink at the hotel was a much appreciated cup of pumpkin soup instead of the usual fruit juice! There was also a welcoming tray of treats in the room for us to enjoy later.
Day 7 – Trek to World’s End
Heavy rain continued through the night and it was still raining when we got up at 4am. A quick coffee and collection of our breakfast bags and we were off at 5am for an hour’s drive. The distance to the Horton Plains National Park wasn’t far but we were driven along narrow roads up a steep, bumpy, potholed and winding path (lots of sharp bends and a driver who had difficulties keeping his hand on the steering wheel). An indication of the state of the road was that I had a message from my watch telling me that I had completed my 30 minute exercise for the day – not bad for just sitting on a bus! Once we reached the park and were checked for prohibited substances (plastics) by the park rangers we started our walk, not sure if we would be able to complete it because of the weather conditions. The hike took us on an undulating circular loop of the park, only about 9km (5 and a half miles) but very strenuous with some steep climbs. Our first stop was at the lesser World’s End viewing point and fortunately the rain had stopped and the mist was clearing so we decided to continue the trip. By the time we reached the Worlds’ End itself it was considerably clearer and we were lucky to have a good view although not clear enough to see the Indian Ocean. The park has a wide variety of animals and plants but because of the conditions we were limited in what we viewed but we did see deer, a chipmunk, crabs and some particularly noisy frogs. By the time we got back to the bus the mist and rain had returned. Back to the hotel in time for lunch but it will take a day or two before our shoes are dry.
Day 8 – Tea plantation and journey to Yale
The day started out overcast and drizzly. We were at a height of 2000metres ( for the walk yesterday between 6000 and 7000 ft) , which didn’t seem much but was enough to lower noticeably the amount of oxygen carried in the blood and make a short walk a little harder. Today’s drive was to take us back to sea level. A short drive took us to one of the tea plantations and the oldest in Sri Lanka. We have visited tea plantations before but this was to be our first visit to a tea factory. We had a guided tour of the facility led by one of the women workers. She started with a description of the work of the tea pickers. These women aim to collect 18kg of leaves a day, if they collect less their pay is reduced. The payment for this is the equivalent of £3.60 a day. At intervals along the day they take their harvest to be weighed. Most of the processing occurs during the night so when we looked round the factory a lot of the equipment was being cleaned for the next night, but the later drying processes were still in progress. We saw some of the different grade of the cut tea and finally got to taste the product.
Continuing the journey in increasingly wet conditions we arrived at a very touristy town called Ella. Here we had lunch in a restaurant which has been described as the second best in the world (on instagram!). The food could be described as a biriyani wrapped in a banana leaf and was very good. From here we drove along a winding road on the side of a mountain. With a big drop down the side. By the side of the road were big boulders which had washed down the hillside and in one place the side of the road had been washed away. We arrived safely at a waterfall for a brief stop. The final part of the journey was slow due to the atrocious driving conditions in very heavy rain. When we eventually arrived at the hotel it was straight to dinner and the to bed.
Day 9 – Yala safari
The heavy rain continued overnight, but it was drier and warmer (23 degrees by 6am). We were up at 4am in time for a quick coffee and to collect our breakfast bag for later. We were going for a safari in Yala National Park. This has the world’s greatest concentration of leopards, which would be great to encounter. Entering the park we saw our first of several elephants by the side of the road trying to get food of the passing Land rovers. Similarly a group of creaky monkeys at our first stop were trying to grab people’s breakfast from out of their vehicles. During the day we saw many of the monkey carrying very young babies. We saw a few crocodiles and monitor lizards, a lot of spotted dear, a mongoose and wild water buffalo. The bird life was varied, highlights included some of the lager birds such as the varieties of eagles ( we saw one breeding pair in the nest feeding their chicks). There were also lots of wading birds catching fish and shelling oysters and a variety of colourful bird such as kingfishers and bee-eaters.. we stopped for a while in the hope of spotting a leopard as one of a pair had been seen crossing one of the rods, but it was not to be. We left the park briefly to get lunch returning for a second safari. The afternoon started with more rain showers which eventually turned into a heavy downpour, so it was time to return to the hotel. Our final elephant sighting of the day was at the hotel- an elephant found its way onto the hotel property and was waking along the pathway beside the hotel rooms, causing a lot of surprise and amusement to people in their rooms.
DAY 10 – TRAVELLING TO THE BEACH
A lovely sunny hot morning with a late departure from the hotel at 8.30. A very bumpy and slowly travelled road from the hotel before we got to the main road, but a chance to watch the birds on the lakes by the side of the road, many of them familiar to us after yesterday’s safari. We also saw someone hand milking his cow in the field by the side of the road. It was about a 3 hour drive to the last stop of the tour part of the holiday. This was a visit to the town of Galle. On our way in we watched the fishermen hauling in their nets from the seashore and could see their catch. We also saw an interesting tree, the fruit of which contains a toxin which can be used to anaesthetise the fish and make them easier to catch. The highlight of the town is its fort with its enclosed colonial buildings constructed in the 17th century when the town was captured by the Dutch, the British taking over in 1796. We explored the ramparts and saw their defensive cannons. We could look over the walls to see their defensive Galle International cricket stadium. We also saw the light house, a church which along the way became a mosque, and various of the colonial buildings. We intended to see more of the town but a late lunch with rather slow service meant the it was a quick return to the bus. At this point the weather changed with dark clouds, heavy rain and thunder which lasted for the hour it took to reach our final hotel. We are now at the beach resort where we will stay for the next few days until our return flight. Hope to get some time in the sea, maybe a boat trip and a chance to catch up on some sleep!
Day 11 and 12 – Bentota
Two days to relax at a beach resort. Both days were warm and dry but very humid with lots of cloud cover. The days started with the latest breakfasts we had all holiday (7.30) and our last chance to eat curry for the first meal of the day. We spent the days swimming in the Indian Ocean where the water temperature was 29 degrees or the hotel pool, just one degree warmer. We took a Tuk Tuk ride into the local town and supported the local economy in a few shops (more spices). We had thought about going whale watching as this is the right time and place for this, but would have meant an early start of 3.30 am – not a good idea when we are flying back tomorrow. Will be up at 5-30am to get to the airport and will arrive back in Heathrow at 10pm local time, back to Edinburgh on Thursday afternoon.
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