Cave temples, elephants and the most beautiful train journey in the world

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“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.” - Helen Keller

14^th January

There is nothing worse than your alarm clock not going off. The panic when you realise you slept in – whether you’ve got to catch a train, plane or be somewhere at a certain time. With an 8am departure scheduled for today to head into Dambulla to visit the Dambulla cave temples, a loud thudding at my door at 810am woke me from my slumber. My alarm had failed and everyone was waiting for me….. Rather impressively (even if I do say so myself, it took me 12 mins exactly to be ready and on the bus with Ella. That’s right – from both of us asleep to ready to climb another mountain in 12 minutes). Carlie had kindly got the hotel to put aside some breakfast boxes for us so we munched on mini bananas and pancakes as the bus headed towards Dambulla.

This cave temple complex is thought to be the largest and best-preserved in Sri Lanka. Inside there are magnificent Buddha images and rock paintings of vivid colours and shapes constructed and painted from around 2nd Century BC (Anuradhapura era ) continuing up to the Kandyan era of the 18th Century. The rock towers 160 m over the surrounding plains and of course, the only way up is on foot. With the temperature already up into the late 20’s, we staggered up the 1kms worth of steps, sweating profusely stopping to catch our breath and admire the views behind us.

It was a breezy, bustling affair at the top with visitors jostling to pass their shoes over to the Shoekeepers (no shoes allowed in the temples) and arrange clothing so shoulders and ankles were covered. We has been pre briefed to dress appropriately but I had mistakenly (and you’ll understand why imminently) worn my Thai Fisherman’s Pants which have a slightly elaborate way of tying round one’s waist.

Once inside the complex, monkeys played against the sides of the rock above the caves – leaping off the vertical face into the trees and as we entered the second cave - The Maharaja Lena - The Cave of ' Great Kings ', I felt an uncomfortable bubbling in my bowels. It may have only taken me 12 minutes from slumber to seat on bus but this hadn't included my usual morning ablutions.

I promised you travelling creates great Poo stories. Well, now I had to take the Poo accident baton from Ella as I felt myself becoming increasingly uneasy. Sweating, anxious and feeling like all of last night’s biryani was about to shoot uncontrollably out of me, I clutched at Evie to see if she knew if there was a toilet accessible. She referred me to a Guide and judging by the look of growing panic on my face, he realised assistance was needed immediately. I thrust Ella at one of my fellow Mumpackers and shot after him. Could the toilet have been any further from the Cave? Winding through porticos, colonnades, waterlilly ponds and groups of tourists he took me through locked gates and down steps and then gestured to a shack around the corner on the side of the rock. This was evidently not a bog for the tourists. I was honoured and appalled in equal measures. But I was in no state to fuss over the fetid ceramic hole in the ground, the walls flecked with dried faeces or the floor awash with a combination of water and no doubt urine. Heck, I wasnt even in a position to worry about an absence of loo paper but it was going to be an impossibility to crouch over the hole in my Thai Fisherman Pants without them getting filthy. Once the waist tie is undone, there is no way of holding them up and hence they would have just fallen to the floor into the floating debris left by previous incumbents of the toilet. So I stripped down outside, ensuing there were no Buddhist Monks in view and tentatively, naked from the waist down stepped my bare feet into this Sri Lankan cesspit.

In my 12 minute dash from slumber to seat, I had also forgotten my regular stash of emergency bog role and indeed hand sanitiser so I had no option but to go completely native. After Id emptied the contents of my bowls into the gaping hole beneath me, I filled the bucket with water and slooshed myself and the toilet…..whilst being aware that red faced monkeys were far too close to the open door for my liking. It’s hard to explain the mixture of relief and revulsion…. My toilet OCD has definitely got worse with age (and motherhood ) so to find myself barefoot in a pool of poo filled water wasnt exactly one of the highlights of the day.

Feeling 5 kgs lighter, I retraced my steps and caught up with everyone else. We ducked in and out of the cave temples admiring frescoes and statues , spotting petite turtles in the water lilly pools and Ella had her first introduction to a real buddhist monk, resplendent in billowing ochre robes. In fact, as we descended the rock past the Golden Buddha, she exclaimed “ Mummy – goodness me. Look at that giant buddha!”. Not many opportunities in New Malden for exposure to a 100 foot high dazzling gold painted enormous Budhha so moments like this are what make travelling with a small person so gratifying. Those moments where you realise they have absorbed something, learnt something and will carry that piece of knowledge with them.

Back at The Hideout, it was straight into the pool and followed by some enforced quiet time. Ella dropped her afternoon nap well over a year ago but with the high temperatures and the fact that we are doing a lot every day and bedtime is not at the usual 7-730pm, Ive been that ensuring she gets downtime and even a mini power siesta makes the afternoons into evening transition completely doable.

This afternoon was a drive out of Sigyria to Kaudalla National Park for an elephant safari. After volunteering at the Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai back in 2011, Ive always had a bit of a thing for elephants. Sadly the Asian elephant is on the verge of extinction with only 35-40000 left in the wild so this National Park is an amazing space for them to roam free. Herds of happy elephants lumbering through the grass, munching and masticating. It is obviously a well trodden path for the jeeps as there were quite a few of them doing the Kaudalla circuit but Ella’s face when the first behemoth was spotted was something I wont even forget. By the lakeside, in the distance a family of three including the teeniest tiniest baby came marching along to join the rest of the herd. Magical. Wild peacocks courted and fought in the grass and I discovered that peacocks can actually fly. Fact!

15^th January

After 3 very comfortable nights in The Hideout, it was time to move on this morning with a 3hr drive to Kandy stopping at a batique making workshop on the way. I had no idea the skill involved to create designs and the days of work involved – wax dripping, dyeing, washing, fixing.

With only 1 night in Kandy it was a bit of a manic few hours to see some of the city – a bustling, noisy, polluted affair. On my own, I would liked to have wandered the streets looking at the markets but the heat and hecticness of the streets made it hard to to relax with small people in tow. We visited a start-up cafe where all profits are going to helping street children of the city – what was once a real issue has really been dealt with by this incredible charity - http://www.childactionlanka.org/ whose purpose is to enable disadvantaged children to realize the possibilities for themselves and change their own lives for the better by offering daycare and educational opportunities for families living on the streets. Gradually the parents can earn money and get themselves into accommodation and get the children out of begging and the associated cycles of neglect, abuse, hunger and exploitation Streetkids are a bigger issue in the capital of Colombo where the begging often originates from organised gangs. and amazingly in Kandy, the problem seems to have been contained by the incredible work of this charity .

Kate and her son Skip and myself & Ella decided to head straight to the Temple of the Tooth as we could see our children were fading. Heading back to the hotel, The Kandyan - http://thekandyans.com - first to then come back out didnt work for us so we whizzed round this sacred place narrowly missing a classic Ella meltdown. She did not want to leave the flowers she had collected as an “offering”. It took a lot of hushed persuading before she eventually succumbed and got to appreciate the concept of karma as more were given to her when we left. Not sure if these moments will stay with her – possibly she’ll remember the ice lolly in the tuk tuk all the way back up the hill to our lovely hotel with a pool and sweeping views of the valley – away from the ferocious heat and energy of the city.

16^th January

Another exciting day on this very full trip…with the famous train ride from Kandy to Ella today. Considered one of the most spectacular train journey’s in the world, I would have to agree that the 6+ hours spent trundling through the hill country of this beautiful country really was glorious. Tickets for this train journey are notoriously hard to get with seats only released 30 days ahead of the date and once sold, the remainder are sold on the day involving large queues and lots of disappointment.

With her Sri Lankan contacts, Carlie had managed to secure everyone reserved seats in 3^rd class which actually was fine. Spartan but comfortable enough with forward and backward facing seats and tables. The journey from Kandy to Nuwara Eliya was lovely as we had the whole carriage just to ourselves. It got a lot more crowded after that point with seats having been overbooked, and even triple booked much to the consternation of the late arrivals. 1^st class offers air conditioning whereas second and third class its windows down, doors open and the air flows through the carriages freely. Its a popular thing to sit in the doorway of the carriages, letting your legs trail down , the breeze between your toes and watch the scenery unfold in front of you as the train meanders its way through the tea plantation clad mountainous central province. I sat for a little in the doorway with Ella clutched firmly in my lap as we chugged through 45’ degree slopes stepped in bushes and bushes of Ceylon tea. Competition for the much coveted door spot is fierce (especially from Evie & Emmie as this is their favourite thing to do in Sri Lanka) so I was happy to have had a taste of the ride from the doorway only. Dull maybe but safety first!

Considering the length of the journey, the kids were pretty brilliant – I had come armed with entertainment as staring out the window admiring the views has a finite appeal for small people. Plus there was the usual continuous supply of snacks and fruit. Hawkers appeared at windows in the hill stations with baskets of nuts, or slices of fruit for sale and whilst the train did seem to be predominately tourists, there were also a lot of Sri Lankans using it to get from a to b. I wonder if they still appreciate the beauty of their commute if they travel all the time or if the countryside is taken for granted.

So around 3ish Ella arrived in Ella and much fuss was made and many photos were taken. At 3,415ft above sea level, it was little cooler and although the town itself is nothing more than a main street with a collection of bars, restaurants, souvenir shops, its position surrounded by vistas of jagged green mountains, is really beautiful. It has a bit of a backpapacker, hippy vibe which I feel very removed from these days and I wasnt really that into the “groovy” chill bars with inflated prices but the scenery, oh the scenery. One could sit and gaze for hours. Our hotel, The Ella Flower Garden Resort - https://www.ellaresort.com - could have been brilliant except for the fact that it was actually a building site. Renovations were taking place and the air was thick with concrete dust whilst tarpaulin and girders were the backdrop alongside the stunning views. We were all none too impressed but with no other options, we settled in for 2 nights and the food and settling were superlative. Little Adam's Peak at 1141m was our challenge for the next day.....

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