Our much anticipated trip to Sri Lanka got off to a bad start even before leaving the house. After I got home from the KPMG cricket tournament, I got my first stomach bug in India and 2 hours before having to leave for the airport, I was throwing up everything I had eaten in the last two days. I wasn't going to let that get in the way of our trip so we headed to the airport and thankfully I was able to hold it down for the short 1 hour 30 min flight. The stomach bug only last a few hours.
We arrived in Colombo, Sri Lanka and got the hotel late Saturday night. We woke up to a great view of the Indian Ocean and headed in the car to Pinnawala. We made our first stop at a privately owned elephant park and Julie and I rode and elephant. While walking through the water, the elephant gave us a spray with his trunk. Next we went to the elephant orphanage and got to see some amazing things - baby elephants, elephants walking in a herd, and elephants bathing (RTR). That night we drove to Kandy and went to a local arts show, which had cultural dancing, singing, and a fire performances.
The next day we toured the city of Kandy and went to the Temple of the Tooth, Sri Lanka Botanical Gardens, a natural medicine office, and tea gardens and tea factory. We got to see a lot of the local culture in Kandy. After touring Kandy, we drove through the hills of Sri Lanka to the city of Hatton.
That night we arrived in Hatton, which is home to Adam's Peak. Adam's Peak is a 7,539 foot high mountain which in Buddhist tradition held the foot of Budda, in Hindu tradition the foot of Shiva, and for Muslims and Christians the footprint of Adam. We stayed in $20/night guest house which we were both nervous about. No website for formal booking just a phone call with the owner promising us a room, but to call him when we got to Sri Lanka to remind him. We arrived at the White House Guest House and were totally taken by surprise. The Guest House was a little place with 8 other people staying there. A guy from Belgium, a girl from Canada, and 3 couples from Europe (France, England, and Holland). The hotel was run by the man, his helper, and their dogs. It was our favorite hotel of the trip thus far. The night before the climb they cooked us a home-made dinner along with some Lion Lagers, and we were in bed for 9:00.
Our alarm went off for 2:00am and we left the hotel at 2:30 in complete darkness with just our flashlights. It was a daunting challenge that lied ahead of us and we could see the peak of the mountain illuminated by lights on the path in the sky. The first hour of the climb was easy as our adrenaline and excitement got us through it. The 2nd part was probably the hardest part. We had no idea how long we had left, just that every turn when we thought we might be getting close, we would just look up and see an endless amount of lights. Along the way to the top we passed all sorts of people but mostly locals on pilgrimages, many who were above 60 years old. The last 1/3 of the climb was brutal on our legs as the steps got steeper and the alititude made it hader to breathe. We finally made it to the top at about 5:45, 15 minutes before sunrise. I can't really do it justice on just how incredible it was to be up there at sunrise. For a little perspective, one hippie girl was crying when she made it to the top and started crying again at sunrise. At the top there were Buddhists and Hindus there for religious reasons, and 1/3 of the 300 or so were tourists. The Buddhists and Hindus were doing all sorts of religious things which was really cool to see. We stayed at the top for about 2 hours then headed down which was way harder then expected. We got back to the White House for a nice breakfast and shower then it was off to Yala.
Tuesday evening we made it to Yala National Park. We stayed at a really nice hotel and slept in a jungle chalet. We had to have an escort to and from our room because there could be wild animals along the way. The next morning we left the hotel at 5:00am for our safari. We rode around the Park all day and saw all sorts of animals - elephants, crocodiles, monkeys, mongooses, monitor lizards, peacocks, water buffalo, deer, bats and wild boar just to name a few. For lunch we ate on a beach, where the Tsunami touched down a few years ago. There was a little memorial for the victims. We had a little rain in the morning so we didn't get to see a leopard, but overall it was really fun.
The last few days of our trip were spent at Unawatuna Beach. On the beach we did some relaxing, snorkeling, pole fishing, and a trip to the turtle farm. Unawatuna is right on the shores of the Indian Ocean and we got to eat some great seafood. It was the perfect way to wind down after all of our activities earlier in the week. It was a great first vacation. Malaysia and Singapore are next.
