A Taste Of Sri Lanka

 My really great university friend Isaac and I decided to go to Sri Lanka for our Christmas break! It was very expensive to fly home and we only had 2 weeks off. What could be better than going to a new country we had both never been to before.

We managed to book a really nice tour at the tour agency at the Colombo train station. We honestly didn’t know what to expect and what options we had. It turned out to be amazing. We booked a driver for 7 days with accommodations, driving, gas all included. Our driver took us wherever we wanted and also he knew where the great places were so we were set for our first week in Sri Lanka. The second week we arrived at the beach and we trained and bused our way up the coast back to Colombo. It was awesome! Of course you would be reading pages and pages if I gave detail to everything I did. So I have picked a few of the highlights and have shared a few stories below of my experiences in Sri Lanka.

The Rip off

We are walking towards the beach and this guy comes up behind us and says he works at the Hilton and that he was going to a Buddhist celebration. We had just had a Corona at the Hilton and I guess he walked out with us. That sounded kind of cool but before we could maybe agree to it, he pulled over a Tuk Tuk and said ‘get in!’ Well, he seemed like a pretty legit guy. So we got to this temple and  he gave  us a special tour around. It was especially decorated (maybe, maybe not) with elephant tusks, old money, very small Buddhas that you had to look through a magnifying glass to see, and other religious trinkets. It was quite amazing actually. And an important thing he said was ‘keep your ticket.’ We finished touring through the temple and he asked ‘you have your ticket?’ Yes, of course we do. He took us to a gem place down this small alleyway. Gem stones are very popular in Sri Lanka and produce a pretty major export, other than tea. He said ‘with this ticket you get 25% off special Sri Lankan gems.’  He asked me if I had any siblings and I said one sister. He said, ‘oh yes, you have 3 choices for gifts…..mother, sister and yourself.’  And then asked Isaac, ‘you have sister?’ Isaac said ‘no, 1 brother.’ Of course that answer helped Isaac in the number of gifts he could get for a woman in the family. Lucky him. So we checked out the gems and yes they were very beautiful but we were so tired from our overnight plane ride as well as hungry that we really weren’t interested. We said ‘thank you but we will look other places too.’ We really needed to eat. So we asked the guy for a good restaurant and he told the Tuk Tuk driver where to go. And then of course he said ‘it is my birthday!’ Assuming that we would give him a little something, we said ‘great, happy birthday.’ He was not very impressed. Then the Tuk Tuk driver said 3,000 rupees which is around $30. We said , ‘way too expensive!’ I managed to bring the price down even though he was trying to tell me it was a good price. But honestly we had no idea how much Tuk Tuks were. But I know they were not 30 bucks for the time we had him. Anyways he dropped us off on a road that apparently had lots of restaurants, well we walked and walked and walked and finally found one. We did get to check out the beach while we were walking but we were not impressed. Colombo is not known for their beaches. Oh well…everyone has a rip off somewhere. We were really pleased with the temple though and enjoyed our first Tuk Tuk ride ever.

 

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Kandy

We had a beautiful train ride from Colombo to Kandy. Our ticket cost a total of 400 rupees, which is roughly $2 each person. The train took 3 hours. Our driver was scheduled to pick us up at the train station, however, no one showed up. We called the tour agency and the man apologized and before we knew it, there were 3 different people at the train station to make sure we were picked up. We knew that we were in good hands for the remainder of the tour. Kandy is the second largest city in Sri Lanka. The Temple of the Golden Tooth lies right on a small lake located in central Kandy. Our tour of Kandy included of walking through a botanical garden where we saw monkeys eating berries, thousands of bats hanging from trees, a swimming lizard and of course many romantic couples holding hands through the park. Kandy is where we also rode and bathed elephants, a major highlight. We also toured around a Herb and Spice garden where the tour guide told us about this amazing concoction of herbs and spices that worked apparently better than Viagra! Isaac and I just started laughing. First of all Isaac and I are friends and second of all, who needs Viagra when they are 25? Haha. It was quite hilarious. Anyways, lastly we enjoyed some cultural dancing and men walking on fire! We wanted to check out the Temple of the Golden Tooth however, Isaac was wearing shorts and so this guy came up and said 500 rupees to rent a sauri. No way! So we didn’t go inside. We looked online to see what we were missing and it really wasn’t that exciting. To us it just looked like another Buddhist temple that we had seen already.

Temple of the Golden Tooth

A view of Kandy

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Tea Factory

Tea is the number 1 export in Sri Lanka. We had a tour of a black tea factory. It was great. Everything is machine based but they still have workers moving tubs around to the different steps. First there is a fan the blows the leaves dry. Then the leaves are mushed to get the water out even more. Then the leaves go through many filtering processes to get the fibers out. Finally the leaves become so dry and ferment to a brownish colour. It was great to see the processes. Boy, was it hot in there. We were drenched! We then proceeded to taste 4 different kinds of tea! I think I had about 7 cups of tea!

Tea plantations run for miles and miles through the mountains. They were beautiful.

Adam’s Peak Hike

On Christmas day we arrived in a small town located at the base of Adam’s peak.  Isaac and I were super excited for our climb. The big season opening ceremony for Adam’s peak was on the 27^th of December so all the shops were working hard to get ready for the big day. I guess that this is kind of like a pilgrimage for many people in Sri Lanka. There is a beautiful temple surrounded by rock faces on the way up to the mountain and a small temple on top of the mountain. I would think that this is a trip many Buddhists would take. We climbed the mountain on the early morning of Boxing day. We woke up at 2:15am so that we could start climbing by 2:30am. Of course, because this was the big day before the official opening of the mountain, many shopkeepers were still hammering away throughout the night to make sure everything was ready. Guess who was trying to sleep? I think we got about 2 hours of sleep before we were on the trail. I was thinking that this trail was going to be a dirt/rock trail. With my lack of research, I really wasn’t aware of what I was getting myself into. There were 5,200 steps all the way to the top. And they were very steep. We borrowed our drivers flashlight. Thank goodness because it was pitch black, obviously it was the middle of the night. We then had to buy our driver another flashlight as Isaac left it on the top of the mountain. Good job Isaac. Us being amazingly fit PE teachers made it up to the top in 2 hours. Guess what? It was only 4:30 in the morning. We still had to wait over and hour for the sunrise. It was misty, windy and cold and we were sweaty, exhausted and sleep deprived. Our legs started seizing so we kept walking around. I am so glad that I brought my warm jacket. Even though this was the only time I ever wore a jacket on the whole trip, it was the best decision to lug it up the mountain.

After what had seemed like hours waiting for the sunrise, in the distance came the first  ray of sun! Boy, was it gorgeous. Everyone raced over to one side of the mountain. Slowly the land lit up and more terrain was visible. Then we said ‘we climbed that?? Wow!’ We were reading what other people had written about Adam’s peak and they worked so hard climbing up 5,200 steps all to see FOG at the top. We were so lucky that it was clear and the rain held up. 

                    

On the way back down we saw many policemen carrying big bags up the mountain. We were wondering why there were so many policemen hiking up the mountain in sandals. We asked our driver after and he said that they were getting ready for the opening day. They were stationed there for 3 months during the hiking season and that they were security! I really wonder how busy it gets during the actual season.

Walking down the stairs our legs felt like jelly and I could barely control my muscles. Everytime I stopped to take a picture, my legs were shaking uncontrollably. I don’t know if it was because we hadn’t eaten yet or if we were on lack of sleep, but I could not believe it. I felt that at any moment my legs would give and I would be rolling down the mountain. I disliked the sound of walking up any stair after this hike!

There was a beautiful temple on the way up to the mountain that we checked out on our decent. The mist was just starting to set in and there were many women carrying goods on their heads walking to the temple. This whole town relies on the hikers and they have shops quite high up the mountain trail. It was a really neat village and everyone was so friendly. This was one of my favorite experiences in Sri Lanka.

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Sri Lanka’s Finest Massage

So of course after our Adam’s Peak hike, what could be more enjoyable than a Sri Lanka massage to help with the muscles. We drove for about 7 hours on switch back roads through the valleys and hills of the tea plantations until we arrived in Ella. Not only did we have about 2 hours of sleep, we were also feeling sick because of the windy roads. Saman (our driver) took us to a massage place and although Isaac just wanted to sleep, I convinced him that a massage would be good for us and that it was way cheaper than in Canada. Being a guy he really had no idea how expensive massages were. First they told us to strip into only our underwear. Well I guess they thought we were together because they didn’t give us separate rooms. Basically everyone thought we were a couple. We both had our massage in the same room so that we could be done at the same time. But this massage was nothing like the ones in Canada. They started off giving both of us a head massage but they put a whole bunch of oil on our heads and rubbed it in with their hands. It smelled like eucalyptus but it was some special herb, of course. Then we lay on the bed and started off with a regular back massage. It felt amazing. They pulled our fingers in a really interesting way so that their fingers snapped and our fingers pinched. I really didn’t understand how they did it. The best part was the calves and foot massage. Those were most sore from the hike. She asked me to turn over. The next thing I noticed was she had pulled the towel off my front and started massaging my stomach. Very interesting. Then she moved up and started massaging my breasts. Of course it was kind of awkward because Isaac was lying next to me in the other bed but he was passed out enjoying his massage. The massage ended with a facial making my skin feel so soft. Just another experience in Sri Lanka!!

Waterfall in Ella

 Just south of Ella. A main attraction waterfall. A man with gems and rocks kept trying to put one in my hand. I said no because he would obviously want me to pay. And I kept trying to give him back the rock and kept pulling his basket away so I couldn't. I was basically arguing with him that I didn't want it. He said 'no money!' Like I was going to fall for that. He pulled out some Euro coins and he asked where I was from. I said 'Canada.' He said 'Canada coins.' Why would I have Canadian coins in Sri Lanka! He got mad and took the rocks from me. Thank you! I didn't want them anyways!

Monkeys by the waterfall. They were just waiting around for food from the tourists. I had a bag of garbage to put in the garbage and I was attacked!!!

Amazing rock Buddha carvings

Beautiful rice fields with temple in Tissa. This is where everyone does safaris through Yala National Park but it was pretty expensive and nothing will top the safari I went on in Kenya and Tanzania.

Lake in Tissa

Drinking and eating coconut using the shell of the coconut

Beach in Marissa. This was our favorite beach because there was actually beach to walk on. The other beaches barely had a walking area. We would be at a restaurant and all of a sudden a huge wave would come up to our feet while we were eating our meal! The hotels were built too close to the water., even after the tsunami.

 We went to a Turtle Hatchery. It was awesome. They have released over a million turtles from this hatchery. We got to hold babies that were only a week old!

Galle

Galle I think was one of the other major highlights. This is the old Galle fort that was first occupied by the Portuguese and then more established by the Dutch. There are many churches within this fort. Even though it has become a major tourist area, it is located right near the water. It was gorgeous! The small alleyways really make it interesting to walk around. We rented bikes from out guest house and toured around for a few hours all through the fort. Even though biking through crazy Galle traffic was a bit terrifying, it was so worth the adventure. Plus I am used to the crazy driving!

A church built by the Dutch

Isaac and I for New Years. We spent it on one of the main beaches and it was a gong show. There were dance floors and fireworks everywhere!

Cows crossing the train tracks.

Beach sunset in Wadduwa

The only pink Tuk Tuk that I saw! Pretty sweet

I am now sitting on my floor close to my small electric heater with 3 pairs of pants on and 4 tops on just wishing I was back in Sri Lanka! It was so hot there. What a change in temperature. How can a house not have any central heating in it? Thank god for my electric heaters and hot water bottles. I think it is actually colder in my house than outside! It is day 2 back at school and I have realized that 3 pairs of pants will suffice for teaching outside.

Hugs and Kisses!

Kim