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Ayubovan (Are-you-bo-won) - I wish you good health (Sinhalese). It's Laura writing this final Sri lankan blog. We have absolutely loved every second of being in Sri lanka and cannot believe how quickly it has gone. The country is beautiful and the people are very firendly. Our tour guide (Bruno) was fantastic and we had the opportunity to see the traditional side of Sri lankan life (aswell as the touristy and beach resort side!!)
We have done so much this week since visiting the elephant orphanage at Pinnewala. The following day (sunday 17th) we got up early to take a 7 hour train journey from kandy to Bandarawela. The journey flew by. Lily, Jenny (a girl from the tour) and I sat in one compartment, watched the beautiful scenery go by, ate an array of snacks that were being sold by passing vendors, chatted and caught up on some reading. That evening we had the opportunity to sample some traditional Sri Lankan cooking. We were welcomed with open arms into Bruno's friend Jihan's family home. We were taken through a demonstration of traditional rice and curry cooking and we each participated in some of the food prep.
Nothing could have prepared us for the following two days! We had to pack a daysack with everything we would need for an overnight stay and set off from Bruno's home in Haputale on a (just under) 30km hike. Day one of the trek involved climbing alot of remote and steep terrain in the heat of the day and it really was exhausting. After 6 hours we reached out guesthouse. It was up in the hills in a truely remote area. We had dinner and etertained ourselves by playing card games before getting an early night ready for day two of the hike. Day two was not as hard work. We had many stops along the way where we were able to interact with locals. It was such a lovely experience. We went into a school where all of the kids were playing outside as the teacher had abandoned them for the day. When we asked why they stayed at school Bruno said that they would be punished if they had been caught bunking off. We also visited a creche. The children had no toys to play with which was upsetting to see. The babies hung in tiny hammocks sleeping, the toddlers sat in empty cots and the elder children (too young for school) sat on a step watching and waiting for their mothers to finish a grueling day picking tea, a fate that the majority of these children were facing due to a lack of further education inthis remote area.
Our trek ended back in Haputale where we had the opportunity to drive a tuk tuk (owned by Bruno's friemd) around a field which was not as easy as it looked!
Our next stop was Mirissa beach. We were there for two days and it was a great opportunity to relax. Our hotel was located on the beach, you could still clearly see some areas which had been affected by the Tsunami. Our days consisted of lying on the beach and eating! One unfortunate incident occurred when a particularly rough wave hit us and washed away all of our stuff. I turned to see Lilys bag floating away which i ran after. Other people saved our less important items such as flip flops and the only casualty was Lilys pen (although i think this may have been a contributing factor to the demise of my camera :'-( ). We also took the opportunity to do some body boarding which was fun.
Our final two days in Sri Lanka were spent in Galle and Colombo. Our accomodation was ocated within Galle fort and we spent the afternoon sightseeing (and shopping!). The group all met to watch the sun set from the fort walls. We got the train to Colobo and if i'm honest this was the first time that i felt unsure about being in Sri Lanka. We were fairly releaved to leave Comobo after one day of shopping, even though this was the end of an amazing tour. We had our final meal and Lily, Jenny, Bruno and I left the rest of the group in colombo to continue our journeys (Lily and I to China, Jenny to India and Bruno to start his next tour).
Oh yes i almost forgot to mention our detour via our first hotel in Negombo for Lily to pick up her beloved Ladybug teddy that she had left behind on our first night in Sri lanka. She is very lukcy to have had it returned safely! Bruno had to make some frantic phonecalls to (his friend) the deputy manager in order to organise this pick up. I get the feeling she is going to take extra special care of it now!!
Now for our next adventure in China!
With lots of love from Laura and Lily xx
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