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Mirissa, Sri Lanka
Hey everyone! Sorry it's taken me a while to update this, but it's been crazy busy over here! The flight was surprisingly good and we landed on time, unfortunately in the rain...! Our tour leader, a local called Bruno, is really lovely and gives us so much information on everything we do. The group is six girls (including Lynsey and myself) and we all get on really well which is a blessing - wouldn't want any drama!
So - we left Negombo on the morning of the second day towards Anuradhapura - and stopped off at a coconut plantation where they showed us 'toddi tapping' where they climb up the palm trees (with no safety precautions at all!) shimmy across ropes between the trees and get a liquid from the coconut flowers which is 7% alcohol. It was fascinating to watch and it tasted a lot like cheap white wine..! When we arrived in Anuradhapura we wandered around the hotel grounds - where there were some lovely trees - and were told to make sure all our windows were closed because of all the monkeys. That afternoon we went to Mihintale, where Buddhism originated in Sri Lanka, and saw the temple ruins and the monk baths and watched the sun set on the edge of a temple which was 400 metres high! With no railings! It was really beautiful. In the evening we went to a local restaurant and ate rotti and hoppas - pancakey type things with egg and vegetables. Our entire meal cost us only 300 rupees - insanely cheap!
We started our bicycle tour of Anuradhapura the next morning to cycle round all the temple ruins and to see the largest brick building in the world - the dagoba. It was boiling hot - 34 degrees in the shade when we got back that afternoon - so cycling from place to place was a chore and a half! We also saw the largest bathing pool in Sri Lanka - the Elephant Pond, which was the size of six olympic swimming pools! We had lunch on top of a series of huge rocks looking over the temple ruins which was lovely. We ended our bicycle tour with the bo tree that was grown from a cutting of the one which Buddha gained enlightenment under.
The next day we travelled to Polonnaruwa (leaving at the ridiculous hour of 7.30!) by public bus.. which was an experience, to say the least! As its the holidays here in Sri Lanka, the bus was completely crowded and while we got seats we still had no room to breathe! We got to our destination after 6 long hours, and set off that afternoon for another bicycle tour - but this time it was raining on and off so it was much more tolerable heat! We visited lots mroe temple ruins, all of which were stunning - in much better condition than the ones in Anuradhapura. we saw a huge monitor lizard on the side of the road when we cycling between destinations - terrifying. The curry we had that night for dinner was amazing - the food here in general is always delicious (and cheap!) and I'm especially loving the aubergine curries and the daal.
We travelled to Dambulla the next day on another public bus, but this time for only two and a half hours, and it was much less crowded at the back of the bus where we were sitting. When we arrived we set off immediately for the cave temples by tuktuk, which were astonishing. The walk to get the caves was really difficult - steep climbing in the heat, we kept having to stop for water breaks. They were smaller than I'd imagined, but the floors, walls and ceilings were covered, every inch, with intricate drawings and paintings which were beautiful. The Buddhas were huge and in perfect condition, too. When we were climbing down, Lyns and I were eating some custard cream biscuits we'd bought on the way, and I almost got attcked by a monkey who wanted my biscuit so I panicked and threw it in the bushes haha. They are pretty terrifying. We went back to the hotel for lunch, and then 5 of us set off in the afternoon to get a traditional Sri Lankan massage - Lynsey and I had never had a massage before but it was lovely, and definitely something we'd do again! Especially after all that climbing in the morning!
On the Friday 10th, we headed for Kandy, but before that we got up at 5.50am (!) to go and climb Sigirya rock before it got busy and before the sun became too strong - considering we had to climb up the equivalent of 7 stories worth of steps and steep slopes. It was exhausting, even without the sun, but when we reached the top the views were phenomenal, definitely worth the effort! We climbed back down after a while taking photos (when Lyns and I had our photo taken perching on the edge of a wall, we almost got attacked by some monkeys again which were climbing over the edge!) On the way to Kandy, we stopped off at a spice and herb garden where they showed us all the olants and tress for various things, and gave us free drinks of cocoa powder with hot water and banana essence - which was delicious! It was really interesting and it was nice to be out of the bus for a while to stretch our legs. We got to our hotel in the afternoon, which was the nicest one yet, with a pool and a rooftop restaurant overlooking the city from the mountains - absolutely stunning. We left that evening to see a traditional Kandyean dance show and then rushed off as quickly as we could to see the temple of the tooth - where Buddhas tooth is kept in a gold, ornate casket. The temple was only open for an hour so we had to be quick - the buildings were stunning, all gold covered and painted intricately. We saw the crystal buddha there, too, and the paintings of the story concernign Buddha and his life, and the significance of the tooth.
The next morning we got up reasonably early to travel to the Pinnewalla elephant orphanage - which now holds 90 elephants, of all different ages. There was a one week old baby there which was adorable! Our driver rushed off as soon as we got there and managed to get us all a ticket (out of ten available ones) to feed the orphaned baby elephants their milk! It was adorable. We then went to the river and sat on the edge of a cafe and watched as forty or so of the elephants bathed and played in the water. That afternoon we had free so we wandered into town and had dinner in a local restaurant with everyone which was lovely.
On the 12th we left our lovely hotel :( to travel to Bandarawele which took us seven hours... At least we had a private van this time! We tried to stop at a tea factory on the way but everyone in sri lanka was on holiday due to their celebration of the new year so everything was closed. We saw lots of mountains and waterfalls on the way though, which were stunning. we went into the town that afternoon when we arrived and everyone wanted to say hello and talk to us which was strange at first, but they were all really nice, and spoke amazingly good English! We went to Bruno's friends house for dinner that night, where they showed us how to prepare the curries and let us join in with making them, which was really good fun. The food was delicious and while we were having our fruit Bruno explained to us what our trek in the mountains over the next two days would be like - walking 14km a day..
We left the next morning and started our walk on the train tracks (which was safe because only two trains a day run on them and they travel really slowly). We got to a village where we stopped for tea and then carried on through the thick foliage and had to negotiate walking over streams and be careful not to slip. it was really fun and we just chatted along the way, it wasn't too hot in the mountains so the walk was bearable. We passed through a little village where all the children ran up to us to hold our hands and wanted their photos taken with us which was sweet.
we got to our guesthouse where we were so high that there were literally clouds coming through the windows!
The next day we set off down the mountain, but it was much sunnier than the day before and so felt more exhausting. When we got the bottom we saw the largest waterfall in sri lanka - but didn't go to the bottom because there were apparently too many leeches. We left for Haputale where in the afternoon we learned how to drive tuktuks which was really good fun! We drove around the local park and we got given certificates at the end! There were ltos of children there that wanted to talk to us, so we spent a couple of hours playing cricket and it and other games with them, which was fun, and then headed back to the hotel for dinner.
We left yesterday to come here - Mirissa - where the beach is tunning! It's boiling hot and the sea is lovely, though the waves are so strong they pull you under if you're not careful! We had a barbecue by the beach last night and walked along it at night, but had to turn back because Lynsey was petrified of all the crabs scuttling around! Today we don't have anything planned so we're just reading in the sunshine and relaxing. It really has been great the entire time, I can't believe we're here half the time!
I'll update this again when we're in Delhi next week - and hopefully get some photos up here too, but it takes a long time on these slow internet connections!
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