Hill Country, Sri Lanka

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Kandy

We left the capital Colombo on a beautiful rickety old red train heading towards Kandy in the hill country. It was definitely a second class train, with us as possibly the only foreigners on board. There were no seats left, so Amy and I fashioned our own bench out of our two rucksacks balanced on top of each other. We got some stares on the train, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't only due to the fact we were sitting on rucksacks! I loved the fact that the doors just never shut and people were sitting on the steps in the breeze gazing out. I on the other hand, held on tight with one hand and leaned out attempting to take photos! It did feel very free though as we whizzed past the verdant countryside with nothing between it and myself! It reminded me of some kind of movie scene...possibly less glamorous!


Our hotel in Kandy was in a beautiful location above the lake, overlooking the town from the hillside. Thankfully there were lots of three wheelers to take us up and down the hill! The only thing we had to watch out for was monkeys so we made sure we kept the balcony doors shut! We had dinner in a bustling Muslim restaurant where every waiter and tea boy and any other random asked us where we were from and they were very friendly. The Sri Lankan people quickly made a good impression on us. We had the first of many cricket conversations as well. Kandy had a great hustle and bustle atmosphere and there were still signs of British occupation quite evident. On one bank's fence there were iron thistles, lions, and shamrocks.


Upon exploring Kandy we came across a huge line of people, which it turns out was for the prison. Relatives are only allowed to visit on one day each year - on National day. The only other difference National day made was a parade we witnessed through the towns' sports ground which looked very muddy, especially for those girls from the school with white dresses, white socks and white shoes!


At the temple of the tooth - so called because the relic at this temple is believed to be buddha's tooth - we had to remove our shoes and wander round in the puddled floor, exploring the very crowded temple. Perhaps that was also due to National day. It was very popular and we found ourselves a stalker that we had to get rid of!


We had a fair few typical Sri Lankan curries naturally, which are always served with a mountain of rice. Alongside is usually a wide selection of smaller dishes such as vegetables, lentils etc and so there is always plenty! It is a nice varied meal actually.


We visited the Gadaladeniya temple which was a three wheeler drive away and was very small, so we walked to the next temple and let our three wheeler meet us there. The second temple (Lankatilaka) provided good views and was more impressive. Back to Kandy central and a cup of the national drink (tea) before we made friends with Eric who wanted to show us everything there was to see within eyesight! This got cut short thankfully by the start of the Kandyan dancing show which is a tourist show, but was still very impressive and worth going to see.

Dalihouse - Adam's Peak

We hired the same three wheeler driver from the temple drive to drive us from Kandy to Nuera Ellyia and it was a beautiful drive through the hill country and tea plantations, getting higher and higher. Having looked at the weather forecast, we changed our plans and only stopped for lunch in Nuera Ellyia because we wanted to climb Adam's peak when it was predicted not to rain and be too cloudy. So from Nuera Ellyia we took a bus to Hatton which was a bit of a funny journey due to the odd but friendly man who squeezed to the back of the narrowest bus aisle I have ever seen to sit near us. We entertained the bus with our laughter and singing I think! From Hatton we took another three wheeler to Dalihouse, stopping at a beautiful 17th century church overlooking a mystical lake. As we drove into Dalihouse we saw Adams peak come into view with a shroud of clouds and in the sunset it looked awesome....awaiting our footsteps in the middle of the night....


Up at 2am, pitch black, and we walked out into the night with a hog fleeing at the sound of our footsteps. And so the climb began. We climbed up steps and inclines for about four hours and towards the end it got pretty tough. All in the dark with only street lights to guide us on the path. Thankfully the early hours meant it was a bit cooler, and as we realized we were going to make it to the top far too early for sunrise we stopped in a little make shift tea shop. We made friends with some of the Sri Lankan navy rugby team and finished the climb with them, and surprisingly they were the ones telling us to slow down!! We watched the sunrise at the top which is actually a very religious place to go for buddhists and Sri Lankans usually make the pilgrimage at least once in their lifetime. We found it a challenge...what's more impressive are the septuagenarians and parents carrying children who made the climb.


It was impressive to watch the clouds part and our morning path became visible in the distance. On the way down we could appreciate all the views! We had an entertaining walk down, getting to know the rugby team and learning lots about Sri Lanka and it's history. Thankfully a shower and a hearty breakfast was waiting for us back in Dalihouse after our seven hour round trip.


Adams peak was the perfect way to end our time in hill country, and we were ready for a rest on the beach! We got a van all the way down to Mirissa on the south coast....to be continued in the next blog!

J

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Comments

[Mackeral]

Love these pics! I'm going to Sri Lanka on Friday & can't wait, especially having seen you pics!