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Published: January 8th 2015
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Sri Lanka We arrived in Sri Lanka at 9:00pm after a 3-hour flight. Our private tour guide and driver, Taranga, greets us with a tremendous grin. He then takes us to our hotel for the night. Our journey begins with Christmas carols all night long from the Church next door.
The drive to Haputale was rough. Tauranga said it would take 4 hours, but instead it was a long 6-hour drive in duration because of the storm. Along the way, we saw very cute towns and vagabond dogs. Fortunately, they were unlikely to have rabies (or as likely as Luis Suarez to have rabies). Eventually, we got there. We stayed at a bungalow called ‘Cloud Bungalow’ which was on the top of very steep ridge, overlooking the Sri Lankan highlands and tea plantations. I have to admit that the bungalow was a perfect place to relax. You could warm yourself at the fire and drink hot cocoa and tea, while outside it’s dark and windy. It was a very cozy Christmas Day.
Tea Plantation The tea plantation we visited was located near Haputale. The tea factory was called Dambatenne Tea Factory. The
factory mostly produces black tea, but it also produces white tea. We learned which leaves of the plant produce which type of tea. The black tea leaves are the largest leaves of the plant, white tea leaves are the small stems that sprout out like a green twig, and the green tea leaves are the leaves that usually surrounds the white tea stems.
Here’s how they make tea; they pluck the tea leaves, and then they use oxidation so the flavor is enhanced. They oxidize the leaves until it turns a brownish color. Then to get rid of all excess water, they dry it until its withered. This process makes the tea leaves smaller so they make less tea than the tea picked. Did you know that 5 kilos of white tea equals only 1 kilo of white tea after it’s finished being processed? After that’s done you need to dry the leaves because of the level of oxidation that was used. Once the drying is done, you have your perfect tea.
After 3 days at Cloud Bungalow, it was time to get moving again. We planned on going to Uda Walawe
safari national park. We also planned to stop at Ella along the way. We started our new journey at 10:00 am.
Ella The car ride was very adventurous. Because of the storms, mudslides had fallen on many roads. Tauranga had to keep checking the map because so many routes were closed. Tauranga found one last route. We crossed our fingers that the road wasn’t blocked. Fortunately, it wasn’t. Unfortunately, though there was a steep slippery hill that our van had to go up. After several tries, Tauranga got out and examined our plight.
Tauranga told us to get out of the van. We decided to let a car that was behind us test if it was possible and safe enough for our van to go through. The car had troubles, but eventually it got up. Then we did a test on the mini van that was also behind us. It worked perfectly fine. Behind us, a traffic jam had formed. People came out of their cars to help us. Tauranga, and some people tried to push the van up, while a bus driver, drove the van up the hill. It was quite a commotion. I
thought that our van wasn’t going to make it. Finally, with at least ten people pushing the van, it amazingly made it up the hill. I was fortunate that I brought the cookies along the drive, because after that adventure, I was famished!
1 hour after that catastrophe, we arrived at Ella. The first activity we did was hike Small Adam’s Peak. The views were amazing. You could walk the towering slope and at the same time see the gorgeous Big Adam’s Peak. I think Small Adam’s Peak is better than Big Adam’s peak because Adam’s peak is what look’s good. (Small Adam’s Peak doesn’t) So when you’re on Small Adam’s Peak, you can see the Big Adam’s Peak and it looks gorgeous.
The main tourist spot was Ella waterfall, so we visited that too. Luckily, Ella waterfall was on the way. We tarried at Ella waterfall and watched as the water fell like bullets.
Safari There are two places you can go safari watching in Sri Lanka. That’s Uda Walawe and Yalla. We went to Uda Walawe because it’s less crowded and less boisterous. So, we woke up at 6:00 am to get in our jeep and see the animals. We saw herds of elephants and water buffaloes. One time, we got to close to the elephant’s family and the female elephant threw dirt on us! We also saw 3 leopards up high on rock. Our jeep driver told us he’s never seen 3 leopards together in 8 years because there were only 8 leopards in the entire park, and the park is the size of Singapore. We encircled a small area of the park and we spotted jackals, hornbills, eagles, crocodiles, peacocks and monkeys! After awhile, we saw fewer animals because most of the animals in the park were nocturnal. We decided to head back after around 9:30 am. I recommend if your staying in Sri Lanka and you want to go on safari, you should go to Uda Walawe.
Rock Temple The Mulgirigala rock temple was located near Tangalla. We chose to go to this rock temple because the Kandy rock city was too far out of the way so we picked a smaller version of the one in Kandy. This rock temple is a temple for both Hindu and Buddhists. A villager said he could be our tour guide and we agreed. As we were walking up, he told us that there was a Bodhi tree here that was descended from the Bodhi tree that the Buddha found Enlightenment. He explained the colors of Buddhism. Blue is for purity, White is for knowledge/learning, Red is for life, Green is for youth and balance, and Yellow is for earth. He also told us the body position of sleeping Buddha. If the eyes are open, then that means the Buddha is resting. If Buddha’s eyes are closed or partially closed, then the means Buddha is dead. If Buddha’s hand and toes are clenched, then that also means Buddha is dead. If Buddha’s rag is ruffled, that means Buddha is dead too. After the tour was over, we climbed to the top of the mountain and checked out the view.
Whale Watching The next day, we had to get up at 5:00am to go whale watching. We were staying at a hotel that fortunately gave free wake up calls (as in a knock on the door!) We were all only half-awake in the tuk tuk but we managed to get on the boat. 2 hours went by… and nothing happened. We are all bored out of our gourd when suddenly, a blue whale jumped out of the water! Everyone rushed to the sides and saw the blue biggie bring forth its whole body. And behold! It’s tail! Wow, fantastic. I’ve always wanted to see a blue whale for 3 seconds. Then after that, nothing. The crew decided to turn back. When I heard that, I was so joyful that I felt like I had been paid a million dollars. On the way back, things got a bit more exciting. We saw a pod of dolphins with 100 dolphins. We also saw the back of a seal and several jumping fish.
Galle Today was our last day at Sri Lanka. Our plan was to spend the day at Galle and then at 4:00 to leave to the airport. Galle is a fort town that was built originally by the Portuguese, but expanded by the Dutch, and eventually the British. Did you know that Galle survived the 2004 tsunami because the walls protected the town from the impact of the wave but the new town was flooded? We strolled around city occasionally popping into shops and cathedrals. We walked along the fort walls and scanned the city. Almost every building had been built in the time of the Dutch, Portuguese, and British. At the end, we hopped back in the van and looked what we got from shopping. Galle felt like a good ending spot after a long trip.
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