ELEPHANTS!
I have left you hanging for longer than I planned, but as promised, I will now tell you about my favourite animal, ELEPHANTS! From Tangalle we took the long winded journey to Ude Walawe national park and slept breifly at our guesthouse before getting up just before sunrise to start our safari. The car we were in was a 4X4 with a raised part at the back with exposed seats for us excitable tourists and we drove, excitably, into the safari site. I have visted an African safari before, when I was quite small, in South Africa, and I found this safari to bring backward early childhood memories. The landscape itself felt like you had been transported to the African Savannah, wide open expanses with shallow lakes and impressive mountains in the distance, and dense parts of greenery concealing all sorts of wild and beautiful creautures.
We drove over bumpy, uneven land but our guide obviously knew the park like the back of his hand as he pointed out things as small as chameleons and tiny birds to us. We saw many peacocks, which are native to Sri Lanka, but are such ridculous birds that I still believe they must just be fancy party decorations for rich people. The most magical part for me was when we were driving along and we heard an almighty CRUNCH next to us. The car stopped and slowly reversed revealing to us an elephant behind a tree munching away.
We all stood up to get a better view and saw that there was another one behind it. As we stood, mouths open, watching them, they both decided to cross the road, taking our gaze with them. Moments later more elephants appeared from the bush including...a two week old tiny little bumbling baby! I would be lying if I said my eyes didn't well up. That wasn't the only amazing thing we saw that day though. There were also countless water buffalo relaxing in the mud, three types of eagles soring overhead, monitor lizards, and crocodiles sitting still and menacing by the water, no doubt with more hidden under the surface.
At one point, while sitting at the waterhole a whole drama unfurled before our eyes. We started hearing a strange noise coming from the distance and soon realised that it was coming from a little water buffalo calf running along the side of the water, soon we heard the responding voice of two adult buffalos who began to run towards the calf. Instantly we had ourselves a story which we started to energetically narrate. The calf called to its 'parents' across the water and soon jumped in and started paddling across, we saw a splash in the water, added drama, it was a crocodile! We started cheering the calf on as another buffalo jumped in to get it. The tension was high and finally the adult reached the baby and the car erupted with applause. The baby was reunited with its parents and the crocodile had to wait for another day.
After such an exciting day we finished it off with a very exciting bus ride up to Ella, in the mountains. The buses in Sri Lanka can be nail-biting even on a straight road and so up narrow road at high speeds, overtaking constantly definitely raised our heart rate, but more importantly, showed us some of the most breath-taking views so far. Huge valleys covered, completely and utterly covered in every shade of green possible and every so often the green gave way to huge gushing waterfalls cascading down into nothing. We reached Ella which is a endearing little town not adverse to backpackers and adventurous honeymoon couples with a very relaxed mood and lots of nice places to eat (very important). We found a cheap room for the four of us and had an early night after a day that had taken us from vast savannah to wet mountains.
The adventures continued the following day when we donned our trainers and set off for a walk down the train tracks, an act that makes me feel very rebellious but seems like the most normal thing in the world here.
We walked past stunning views of plantations and the surrounding mountains, men working in the sun to fix the rail track and women carrying HUGE logs on their heads (just another day at the office) until we went through a tunnel and came out the other side to see the Nine Arches Bridge, a very tall bridge with, you guessed it, nine arches.
We daringly sat on the edge of the bridge for a while and then bought a ice lolly from the well placed shop right next to the attraction before walking back to Ella. We stopped for some delicious banana and chocolate roti and caught a bus down the mountain a bit to Rawana Waterfall, which used to be considered a wonder of the world. Already in an adventurous mood Carl, Emily and I started the ascent, climbing up the rocks next to the huge waterfall, determined to reach the top (or as close to as possible). Carl raced ahead of us and Emily and I thought we had reached a dead end until a local guy found us and lead us through the jungle and right to the top where there was a very cold pool which of course, we had to jump into!
Before we had started back down again it began to rain and the local guy told us to 'hurry, hurry' as the rocks could become very slippery very fast. They lead us all the way down making sure we were keeping up and finally we reached the bottom where Hannah had been waiting for longer than expected (being asked for countless photographs by Sri Lankans).
The next day it was time to check out and after a very cheap breakfast (egg roti and a milk tea for under £1!) we jumped onto a train which Lonely Planet recommended as one of the most beautiful train journies in the world, and it did not disappoint. Winding through the mountains, towns, villages and plantations. This is a must see for anyone going to Sri Lanka!
I was amazed at the drop in temperature as we travelled and it was actually really cold when we arrived in Nuwara Eliya, a very colonial, windy town surrounded by tea, tea everywhere! We spent a while looking around for a reasonably priced guesthouse and after finding one went for some well needed rice and curry and waited for the rain to stop. That afternoon the man who worked at the guesthouse organised a trip to a local tea plantation for us, it would be a crime to leave Sri Lanka without seeing one, especially for a tea-loving Brit. We drove the snaking road down into the valley until we reached Mackwoods estate, a very well established plantation which had been started up by Mr.Mackwood, a Scottish ship captain, during the British colonisation. We were lead around the factory by a friendly woman who must have done the same tour time and time again but still managed to keep a smile on her face. We saw each stage of the drying and packaging process and learnt that on average 10-15,000 kilos of tea is picked per day by 1000 workers! The smell of the place was so so so good, Hannah, Emily and I drooled and Swedish Carl shrugged his shoulders. The tour ended with a free cup of tea and a piece of chocolate cake in the very quaint cafe area. No milk and no sugar, the tea was amazing and Carl sat with a bemused look on his face as the British girls around him talked passionately about it.
The next day, and two long, nail biting buses later we arrived at the base of Adam's Peak, a famous mountain with, what is said to be, Buddha's preserved footprint at the top. It was raining really really really hard when we arrived and the whole place dripped with moisture. We met an amazing 88 year old woman called Brenda (I very much doubt that was the name on her birth certificate) who was still working as a guide up to the peak. We then had a quick and delicious rice and curry before heading to bed, preparing ourselves for a very early start. We started the walk at 2am in the pitch black. I started removing the many unessasary layers I had bought with me pretty quickly as the path got steeper and the numerous steps started to take their toll. Aproximately 6,000 steps up to the peak, climbing 7km. It was hard work, especially for Hannah who had had a major leg operation a few years ago, but we made it! The peak was pretty unimpressive, mainly because we were in a cloud for nearly the entire ascent and so the only indication that there was a sunrise happening was that the sky around us turned a lighter shade of grey. Without much of a view to keep us amused we caught our breath and started the walk down. So many steps up had made our legs turned to jelly and so stepping downwards was uncomfortable but hilarious. On the way down the clouds started to part every so often and would reveal the amazing surroundings to us. At one point, a cloud swept past and we saw a huge waterfall cascading from a mountain opposite, which made us all gasp with delight.
By the time we had reached the base again we were absolutely shattered but happy we had managed it. I had a quick nap at the guesthouse before we jumped, well actually more like slumped, into a taxi and then ANOTHER bus. This part of our time in Sri Lanka felt like we were constantly on the move, and we weren't stopping yet.
The next destination was Kandy, the cultural capital of Sri Lanka and a bit of a disappointment to be honest. It was a large city and with every breath you could taste the pollution from the endless traffic. We checked in to our hostel, which was actually really nice, and ordered a Pizza Hut for all our hard work. We all agreed that a massage was exactly what we all wanted, so the next day we went looking for one. Now, in all the other asian countries I have been to, a massage parlour is never more than a few streets away, sometimes whole streets will have nothing on them but massage parlours but we searched high and low for anywhere and failed miserably, probably more tense than we had started. We were desperate to do something relaxing so Hannah, Carl and I went for a stroll around the botantical gardens, which turned out to be really fun and interesting, good old plants. 
As if our legs hadn't had enough of a work out we decided to undertake another mission. We met a British guy called Phil who was staying our dorm room and made a plan to visit Sigiriya, one of the wonders of the world. It is essentially a big rock, a big beautiful rock with ancient paintings and cultural significence. It took us a very long time to get there, longer than expected, but we got there in the end. The Sigiriya rock itself costs a lot of money to climb, so, being the cheap backpackers that we are, we drove the short ride in a tuk tuk to another, cheaper, rock. Luckily there were nowhere near as many steps to the top as Adam's Peak but my legs certainly weren't back to normal yet. There was a large buddha statue near the top of the rock and when we did reach the top it started to rain. It started to rain and then it started to pour and then it started to thunder and lightning. Being on the top of a high object during a thunder storm is safe right? We took cover pretty swiftly after seeing a bolt of lightning hitting the rock slightly too close for comfort.
After the storm had past, which was quickly as with most bad weather I have encountered, we climbed up to the very peak at took in the views around us. It is easy to see why it is a wonder of the world when you see the Sigiriya rock looming over the rest of the flat landscape (how did it get there?), and I was thankful that we had climbed the other rock in order to get a view of Sigiriya itself.
Lying on the beach all day was absolute bliss, I had a yummy passion fruit juice and watched the surfers and gradually more and more Sri Lankans splashing around in the sea and really did nothing else. We went for some food and then it was evening which, when you are in a sea side tourist area, means only one thing, drinking. We went to another party on a different beach but when we got there it wasn't as fun as we were hoping, so, after playing with some puppies who lived there, we all went home to bed. The next two days went pretty much the same way, chilling during the day and just enjoying feeling relaxed. On Saturday Emily, Phil and I rented mopeds and went a couple of kilometres to a beach called Peanut Farm, a secluded, chilled out surfing beach.
We had some great rice and curry there and awed at the skill of some of the surfers before heading back and going partying AGAIN. After a full day recovering we decided to give the partying a rest on Sunday night and so the next day we felt alive enough to rent ourselves our own tuk tuk and go exploring, all 5 of us squeezed in. Emily drove us all the way to Peanut Farm again but right when we were getting to the beach we had an incident with another tuk tuk. The sand road that leads to the beach is narrow and difficult so as we were passing one tuk tuk we accidently knocked their mirror off. Emily got out straight away and apologised but the driver was really angry. He picked up the mirror and fixed it back on with no problem but pushed too hard on the glass and smashed it with his thumb. He then tried to blame us for the cracked glass,even though we had all just seen him break it. Emily told him she was happy to pay for a new clamp to fix the mirror on with but refused to pay for the mirror, rightly so, but he responded by throwing the mirror on the floor and smashing with his foot (very mature). He said he would call the police and after many tuk tuk drivers coming past and intervining we ended up paying him 1000 rupee just to leave us alone. Thankfully we were able to relax on the beautiful beach afterwards to calm ourselves down again. I had a go at driving the tuk tuk but I had nearly forgotten how to use gears after driving too many automatic mopeds. We had lunch in Aragum Bay and then Hannah and I went and sat in hammocks in a cafe area on the main beach while the others ventured to a different beach in the tuk tuk.
That night was my favourite party. It was pretty quiet but we were all in a really good mood and Phil turned out to have the craziest dance moves, which of course I enjoyed! We stayed until the DJ finished but I could have stayed for longer! Our final day in Aragum Bay was spent hungover and stuffing our faces with amazing food. There were a lot of Isreali travellers there and so there was one Isreali restaurant offering AMAZING food. I had a humungous wrap with aubergine, feta, potato, boiled egg, lettuce, cucumber and tomatoes and it was glorious! We then sat with our food babies on the beach for a while until it was time to eat again. We had a fresh fish BBQ for dinner, tuna, snapper and big juicy prawns, and the best chips I have had my entire trip, they tasted just like fish&chip shop chips!! Hannah, Carl and I parted ways from Emily and Phil that evening to catch an over night coach back to Colombo, which was uncomfortable but necessary. We arrived in Colombo early in the morning and caught a bus to trusty Colombo Beach Hostel, where I had already stayed twice before. I had to take a tuk tuk to the Indian visa office to drop off my passport at 8:30am and then came back and snoozed in the communal area. When I woke up I was surrounded by people and felt very disorientated. We had some rice and curry, Hannah's final one, for lunch and then relaxed at the hostel until it was time for me and Hannah to say goodbye before her flight to Bangkok. I was really sad to see her go, we have had the most incredible month in Sri Lanka and I am so hapoy she chose to start her trip with me. I am also so excited for her and all the amazing things she is going to see and do on her 10 months away, can't wait to hear all about it :) Carl and I were very unsociable that evening and even though there was a little party going on upstairs on the hostel, chose an early night over meeting new people, but you've got to do when you've got to do!
We spent the following day on the beach, which was really lovely, although the snorkelling we very disappointing, and this is where I had my near death experience. I was lying on a towel in the shade and decided to sit up to enjoy the view when I heard a large thump behind me. Something had fallen from the coconut tree to where my head had just been, and no, it wasn't a coconut! It was a big bit of concrete!! The local guys who were sat nearby explained that the concrete had probably got stuck up there when someone had used it to try and hit a coconut down but I was still shocked that it had happened and that if it had happened a minute sooner, my face would not be the way it is. Typical, of all the things I have done on my trip, it's lying in the shade on a peaceful beach that brings me closer to doom. Carl and I went shopping after that, the perfect way to forget about your own mortality, and then caught another bus that evening back to the first place out of Colombo I had visited in Sri Lanka, Unawatuna Hostel. When we got into Unawatuna the bus was speeding so fast that when it breaked suddenly Carl was thrown forwards and ended up hanging fully out of the bus door, luckily with a local man clinging onto his shirt. I was screaming profanities but after he managed to hoist himself successfully back inside and we had got off the bus when it was stationary we both laughed and blushed with adrenalin. Crazy crazy Asia!
We got to the hostel and it felt like coming home. Bunche, the charasmatic owner was there, Emily was there and there was a new arrival, Cush, the little boxer puppy.
We made pancakes that evening and went to bed pretty early. On the 3rd a girl called Ankie from Holland and Cass, a dutch guy we had met in Aragum Bay arrived at the hostel and we all went to the beach, which was a relief because it was an especially hot day. We returned to the hostel that evening and had even more yummy rice and curry before playing a game Cass taught us called Warewolves, which I wont explain now but am definitely bringing back to the UK.
I woke up with a knot in my stomach the following morning which may have been down to nerves. Not only was I heading to India in the next couple of days but, more pressingly, Glastonbury tickets went on sale that afternoons and I was determined to get one. It was surreal being sat in a dorm room in Sri Lanka with a Swedish guy refreshing the ticket page for Glastonbury, but after much co-operation from Sri Lanka and people in the UK we managed to do it! Sally ended up getting through in the end, and I will be eternally grateful for that! More people arrived in the afternoon and we made cocktails and chilled at the hostel all day before heading to the beach to have a beach BBQ with everyone and then having a house party back at the hostel to celebrate me getting Glasto tickets but also the last night that me and Emily would be able to party before leaving Sri Lanka.
The next morning was a struggle but after a chocolate ice-cream and some monging out on the sofa, Emily and I finally got ourselves together and said goodbye to everyone, including 'Bob Marley' Carl, who I had enjoyed spending nearly all my time in Sri Lanka travelling with. We got a lift with Bunche to Galle and then a fast coach back to Colombo and good ol' Colombo Beach Hostel for one final night. We parted ways the next morning when I started on my way to the airport, but I have no doubt we will see eachother again in the not too distant future! Good luck for the rest of your travels if you are reading this Emily!
Sri Lanka has been an incredible journey, through all kinds of landscapes, doing all sorts of activities and getting to share that with some pretty awesome people. I hope to return to this brilliant country and explore more of what the north has to offer, which I hear is a hell of a lot! I am now sat in a wonderful hostel in Delhi and feeling very excited for the next two months ahead!! But I will tell you all about that in the next post!
Thanks for reading,
Emma x
anyhow, enough about you already...last week we went to Ronnie Scott's for a Julie London session - she didn't turn up tho. They did 'cry me a river' which I've kindof worked out jazz-style. you have been warned xxx
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