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Published: November 26th 2013
We left beautiful Tangalle early Sunday morning, again before Dawn… While it is pitch dark, and a bit scary even with our super-duper 5000 lumens headlamps, it really is a special time to be out on the roads… We are now turing inland, and we started our day on a VERY quiet secondary highway… The first hour or so on days like these is so special - without all the heavy traffic - you can listen to the world slowly wake up from its soft slumber… All the morning sounds.. the birds, the crows (let me tell you about crows later), bats, roosters, dogs (And PEACOCKS!?) - all became one harmonious song as we rode along… Watching the sun slowly wake in the horizon letting the world know a new day is upon us. It had rained quite heavily the night before and the roads were still wet… normally this doesn't sit well with me - basically wet roads are the same as riding in the rain. You still get soaked… but there is something about riding in the rain in the tropics, the bit of dampness is actually welcome as it cools you down somewhat. After several days of braving
the blazing heat, with a bit of heat rash/sunburm, it was actually a welcome feeling (for my arms especially 😊. The day started out with a bit of cloud cover, which also made the day's ride that much more enjoyable. We tried to stop along the way for some breakfast, but all we could find initially was some fruit stalls… Barry asked the guy for 100 Rupees ($0.80) worth of mini bananas and he nearly cut down the entire bunch! Things are quite a bit cheaper out here in the countryside. We told the guy we actually wanted half, we paid 50 rupees ($0.40) and the guys still gave us back 20 Rupees!
We carried on after our short break, riding along the rolling hills - actually I should mention that this is the first time we were actually climbing - I think 250m in total… but it wasn't too bad as our distance was a short one. One thing I have noted in Sri Lanka, is that there is an extraordinary number of dogs! The are all very friendly - not like the evil dogs of Greece, but they are EVERYWHERE and they seem to own the place…
every 100m or so - on the highway, there is a dog sunning himself.. the cars just seem to drive around them, but unfortunately, we have seen a few that were not so lucky… Very strange indeed!
The other surprise wildlife we saw on this ride came out of nowhere and scared the S&*t out of me! This animal darted out of the woods - it had a low profile and a VERY long tail - from a distance - this thing looked like a velociraptor!! Anyway - it ran out on the road in front of us, and after a few moments of wondering what the F this thing was, we figured out from it's brilliant blue feathers, that it was indeed a Peacock! Apparently Peacocks are wild here in Sri Lanka… While native to India, Sri Lanka also has their fair share of Peacocks - good to know…. The weird what I like to call "cat strangulation sounds" that we had heard early that morning, were definitely from the Peacocks.
After the Peacock scare, we pushed on and managed to find an actual sit-down restaurant in the next town. WE had a Sri Lankan style buffet
and carried on with our bellies FULL. Another 15km to go and we made it to our destination - Udawalawe junction. the hotel we had booked for the night, was WAY more than we had paid any other evening ($150 USD). But it was a resort and we wanted to treat ourselves. The hotel and the service was again second to none. The arranged our safari for the following morning, as well, booked our ride into the hill country…Yes - I should tell you that we decided to change our itinerary somewhat… After half a dozen people telling us we shouldn't leave Sri Lanka without seeing hill country - we decided to book a van and cycle DOWN the hills instead of UP. our original plan was to go around. I will tell you about our journey in a bit.
Unfortunately - It rained quite heavily in the afternoon, so we ere pretty much confined to the hotel, but again, very nice facility so we didn't mind much - we got a great nap in anyway 😊 I should mention that we are in Sri Lank during the off-season, we are just at the tail end of their rainy
season and things get REALLY crazy mid December. Most of the hotels we have stayed in have literally been empty - including this one… Of 60+ rooms, only 4 were full - so we pretty much had the run of the place 😊 Our original plan was to stay 2 nights, but the hotel was actual full (tour group) the next day, so goo thing we had changed our itinerary 😊
We were up EARLY again today - this time not because we had to ride our bikes, but we were going on a safari! Udawalawe National Park was established in the early 1970's - it used to be a Teak plantation, but now is home to over 500 elephants, water buffalo, crocodiles and many more species… the safari is by far THE highlight of the trip so far… we saw TONS of elephants, buffalo, birds, peacocks, crocodiles, monkeys, lizards and even a jackal! The elephants came within feet of our vehicle… it was a bit tense when the bull elephants (in the middle of mating season) walked within feet of the jeep - but it was all good 😊 we got some great photos! If any of you
come to Sri Lanka - this is a must-see!
After the safari - we had a ENOURMOUS breakfast at the hotel that was included in our room rate, then headed off in our hired van with our bikes for the hill country! Travel by van is definitely the way to travel lol! Much more civilized that biking hahahaha! Anyway - I would NOT have liked to have climbed theses roads on a bike - it was INSANITY in a van - let alone a bike - Barry said of he was by himself he would have done it… yeah - i'm good… It was only 170Km to Nuwara Eliya, but our journey took 4 hours due to the steep hills and twisty, windy roads. The views were absolutely STUNNING. Most of the tea plantations in Sri Lanka are in the hills and the tiered rows of tea plants are picturesque against the mist in the mountains. I just about had a heart attack when our driver appeared to whip out a bottle of vodka in the midst of our journey (on the side of a cliff)… turns out it was just water (Barry did question him on it haha)
- they like using vodka bottles of their water… go figure.
We arrived in Nuwara Eliya around 4pm - it had just finished raining… we are about 2000 meters above sea level and the temperatures reflect that. It is quite chilly. Barry just went out to buy a sweater. Daytime highs reach about 18-20 degrees and it dips down to 12 over night - people around here wear toques and parkas haha! Needless to say - I am thankful for my hoodie and yoga pants I wore on the plane 😊 There is no heat in the room - but there is a big fleece blanket - so hopefully we will be OK… the cool temps are actually a welcome change from the heat. it will give my sun-scathed skin a chance to rest 😊 the plan is to spend 2 nights here, then we set out for the ancient city of Kandy. It will be pretty much downhill, a 1500 m descent... save for a small 150m climb out if Nuwara Eliya. I'm really looking forward to seeing the sights here tomorrow and Kandy…
Just a general comment about crows here.... They are like something out of
the Alfred Hitchcock movie "The Birds"... Clearly they have no natural predators on this island. Murders upon murders of crows... They scare me.... That is all....
laters!
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RENanDREW
Ren & Andrew
Crows are evil!
I laughed when I read your comment about the crows because I feel the same way about them. Really enjoying following your Sri Lankan trip, especially the descriptions of the food! Safe travels. Cheers Ren