Sri Lankakakakakakaka!

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Geo: 7.20934, 79.8341

We've had a great 2 weeks in Sri Lanka! The first week was manic as we had to fit in so many things in a short amount of time but we did it!
So... Firstly we took a 5 hour train to dambulla cave temple which is a buddhist temple carved into and out of a mountain. We had to climb quite a few stairs in order to get there in the blistering heat but it was pretty cool once we got there! Then we rushed to Sigirya or 'lion rock' to (again) climb the stairs to the ancient palace ruins at the top and to see probably the most spectacular sunset/ view we have ever seen. The next day we travelled another few hours to Kandy where the following day we got on the 7 hour train to Ella which has been dubbed the most beautiful train ride in the world. Chugging through tea plantations as far as the eye could see, rolling hills, past waterfalls, rivers and lakes, it was definitely spectacular. Ella sits just over 1000 meters (around 3400 ft) above sea level so this was the first night since we've left that we were actually cold! The next day we went on a small hike (yes, more stairs) up 'little adam's peak' to more spectacular views (Sri Lanka is very green and extremely stunning to look at from most angles). We got lost a couple of times which set us back time-wise, despite having a gps map right in our hands pretty much telling us exactly where to go. So we partly walked, partly shuffled, partly ran and sometimes fell back down little adams peak in order to reach the 'nine arch bridge' in time for the 10.56am train to cross for that extra special photo... We missed it. Only just. Then we walked along the track back to our accommodation and caught the next bus down to Mirissa. This is where we went whale watching! We were offered the opportunity to go the morning after we arrived (at 6am) with some of the other guests but we just wanted to relax and spend some time on the beach so we decided to go the day after. Mark and Susie (our neighbours) came back raving that they'd seen all sorts (including 3 different whales) so we were hyped up to go the next day. Long story short, we saw one blue whale, a pair of turtles 'getting it on' and Sooz spent most of the time with her head in between her legs or over the railings of the boat. Disappointed, yes. But we did see a blue whale which was pretty cool. Feeling pretty sorry for ourselves and tired we were just about to go for a nap when Susie and Mark asked us if we wanted to go with them to a national park. We'd previously decided not to go to a national park as we couldn't justify spending the money on 'maybe' seeing some elephants. However now we couldn't justify not sharing the cost and possibly seeing some elephants over having a moody midday nap!
It was probably half way there that we discovered that our driver had never been to Uduwalawe national park before and the 'short cut' that he was taking us didn't seem that short! He kept stopping for directions and at one point we had to redirect him ourselves but bless-his-little-cotton-socks he got us there eventually and most importantly before it closed! He handed us over to his safari jeep driving friend and guide and we were whisked away to the park. We were blown away. Elephants, water buffalo, pelicans, moongoose (moongeese? Mongi?), monkeys, crocs, peacocks (or phesants 😉😉, kingfishers, and other amazing looking birds, we almost didn't notice in our euphoria that our driver had pissed off one of the male elephants and he started chasing us! (yes, we've moved from cows to elephants). We kept out of harms way long enough for him to lose interest thank goodness. On a complete high we left Mirissa the next day and pretty much skipped along the South-West coast catching sun and surf, snorkelling and swimming with sea turtles until our flight out of Colombo snuck up on us like a stealthy elephant. We've had an amazing couple of weeks here, thanks to Zoe for the recommendations and advice and Susie and Mark for probably the best afternoon we've had so far on our trip.
2 months already?! Only 9 left to go! Lets see what adventures are in store for us in Thailand...

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Comments

[Ann Carroll]

Sounds amazing Guys!!! So ur destined to annoy big animals?? Lol how different is Sri Lanka's food and population characteristics to India ? Xxx

[Christopher Carroll]

Sounds amazing, I am now officially jealous! Are you sure it was the driver and not Sooze giving the elephant one of her 'looks.' You will have to try to see how many countries you can be chased by an animal in! Lucky you are not going to A
frica, the lions and rhinos are probably best left alone.

[phil_susie]

Mum, Sri Lankan food was quite hit and miss in our experience. We were surprised when we got there after hearing people raving about Sri Lankan food that all everyone offered was a 'rice and curry'. Still we ordered one on our first day any
way and what came out was an array of vegetable dishes, daal, poppadoms, curry and rice! More often than not it was disappointing though unfortunately. Usually served luke warm, not cooked fresh unless you got it from the little lady who owns the guest house you're staying at! There were a couple of dishes though that we'll be trying to recreate at home! Population wise it's actually more populated than we thought! We looked it up and Sri Lanka is roughly the same size as the Republic and Northern Ireland together but Sri Lanka has roughly 3 times the population which surprised us. Still it doesn't compare to India! Large animal-wise, we were thinking of going back to see some whales to see if we can piss any of them off and maybe we'll get to see some more! ;-)Dad... What do you think we 'illegally' spent the money on?! Food! :-D As soon as the money was rendered worthless you weren't allowed to spend it at all. We tried our luck in a restaurant and they took it! Also our accommodation guy took a load of it. Nothing sinister I'm afraid!

[Liz Cahill]

Wow, I'm definitely jealous! Everything sounds amazing! I can even nearly understand why and how one could become a "foodie"!! I'm salivating with your descriptions of the food!What an animal to pick to have an altercation with!! Maybe you
should skip the elephant- ride in Chiang Mai!!? Seriously though, the National Park sounds amazing!No doubt you'll have loads of equally fantastic experiences in your next three chosen countries, all of which are really exotic and fascinating!Do you know yet where you'll be spending Christmas?xxx

[Christopher Carroll]

Love the pictures! Sooze living on the edge, as usual, on the nine arch bridge! (such an imaginative name!)

[Ann Carroll]

Great photos guys! It looks beautiful there. Xx

[Ron Carroll]

What a great adventure. You will both be super fit after your exercise climbing stairs! Thank you for allowing us to share your experiences. It is wonderful to find out about these exhotic places.

[Ron Carroll]

What a pleasure it is to read about your great adventures. The exotic places you are visiting sound wonderful. Thank you for sharing your information with us, we are delighted that you and Phil are having such an inspiring trip. Any more
stairs and you will be in heaven!!