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Ella Delights - mountains and walking

Well, what can I say, Ella was just delightful and my favourite place in Sri Lanka. Beautiful scenery, lovely weather and friendly people. We spent two nights in our 'room with a view' and could easily have done a third. We woke early both mornings and did long walks - first morning to Little Adam's Peak and second morning to the Nine Arch Bridge (a stone railway bridge that really does have nine arches). Then headed back to the little patio in front of our room for a huge Sri Lankan breakfast spread. We also climbed up to Ella Rock, a harder walk at four hours. It required some navigating via loosely marked paths but we made it thanks to some directional help from locals and other trekkers. The days past quickly and then it was time to get our safari groove on and prepare for the longest day of the trip - drive down to Tissa for an afternoon keep safari at Yala National Park and then head on to the fort city of Galle.

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Kandy and the amazing train ride to Ella.

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Finally, a train ride!

I have another geeky confession to make - I love train rides. Trains are one of my favourite forms of transport. You get to see so much and and I love watching the landscape change around you. Plus they are usually fairly comfortable and reliable. We had heard that one of the most scenic rides was to a town called Ella and that Ella was a great place to hang out for a few days so we'd booked train tickets from Kandy to Ella. We arrived at Kandy train station and noticed it was pretty tidy and relaxed. None of the chaos I've experienced at other train stations. Definitely a nice start to the experience. Boarding the train and finding our seats was quite effortless and then the 6hr train ride began. We cruised through tea plantations, around mountains and past waterfalls. We stopped at tiny but tidy stations. The scenery was just beautiful as we climbed higher and higher into the mountains and the views became more and more expansive. It was truly a glorious ride and the hours flew by. We were greeted at Ella by our guesthouse host and taken by tuktuk along narrow winding roads and then when I thought the day couldn't get any better, we were delivered to a delightful little room with the most amazing view of Ella's two landmark hills - Little Adam's Peak and Ella Rock. We both stopped and stared in wonder, delighted at our home for the next few nights. A truly wonderful day indeed.

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Sigiriyia, Dambulla Caves and the center of Sri Lanka

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Anuhadrapura & Polonnaruwa highlights

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The incident of the lost phone

Today is a special day in Kandy, it is the Poson Poya, a celebration of the arrival of Buddhism in Sri Lanka many centuries ago. The town is packed with people celebrating and worshipping Buddha. And today I had a small miracle of my own. At some point in the afternoon I realised I had lost my phone. After momentary blind panic, I realised it was either left behind in the botanic gardens or, the more likely scenario, of the backseat of the tuktuk we'd taken to get back to Kandy center. My heart sank but we jumped into another tuktuk and headed back to the botanical gardens. We tried tracing it with 'Find my Phone' on the way with no luck and started assessing the implications of what I had lost. At this point the chances of finding my phone again seemed slim to impossible. But, today was Buddha's day and he decided to smile on me. As we pulled into the botanic gardens, a driver called out from the tuktuks lined up outside the entrance. He came straight over, and as our tuktuk jerked to a stop, handed my missing phone back to us. Shaun and I thanked him profusely, shaking his hand as he told us he'd driven around trying to find us but couldn't. There was laughter all around (and bundles of relief from me) and we offered him a small donation of thanks. Phone securely in bag, Shaun and I headed back to Kandy town. As we arrived outside the Temple of the Tooth in the main part of town, we noticed a large crowd gathering along the street and after a few minutes, heard drum beating. We decided to stay and see what was happening. A parade! Whip crackers, drum beaters, dancers and elaborately dressed elephants all made there way past us and then, the most important thing, atop one of the elephants was the gold casket holding the Tooth relic. It was a wonderful spectacle and I couldn't help thinking that if I hadn't lost my phone, we wouldn't have been out in this spot at the time of the parade, we would have been back at the hotel and missed it all. A small silver lining. I have had some amazing experiences while travelling and have been touched by acts of generosity, kindness and honesty. And today I was reminded that there is so much good in the world, and the good acts and people far outweigh the bad. So tonight I am thankful for the goodness and am saying a small blessing to Buddha, as I'm sure his teachings played a part in helping reunite me with my phone today.

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Sigiriya, Dumballa Caves the center of Sri Lanka and venturing to Kandy

As I've fallen a little behind with my updates I'm going to cover two days in this one. Today we visit the rock fortress, Sigiryia, which roughly translates to Lion Fortress. The fortress is atop an impressive rock jutting out of the landscape and had been visible from our hotel for the last few days. It was steep in both entrance fee (an eye-wateringly $30USD) and climb to the top but incredibly impressive when we reached it. We battled sun, wind and crowds to make it past a large set of stone lion paws half-way up and then to the summit where the ruins of a former monastery-converted-to-fortress awaited. From there, we visited the nearby Dumballa caves. I'll admit I didn't know much about the caves other than they held statues of Buddha, so I was a little awestruck by the series of five caves we found, some smaller, some larger, all filled with sculptures and ceilings covered with images of, and images for, buddha. Our final night at our jungle hotel passed and the next day we set off for a new destination- the lakeside town of Kandy. Along the way our driver suggested there was one place worth stopping at, he said it was the exact center of Sri Lanka. Not only the center of Sri Lanka, but also a place where some of the oldest ruins in Sri Lanka were found. Impressive indeed. An arduous drive through traffic-choked streets brought us to our colonial hotel by the lake in Kandy. We farewelled Ruwan, our driver and constant companion for the last week and decided to visit Kandy's main tourist attraction - The Temple of the Tooth. It is believed that a relic of Buddha - part of his tooth- was brought to Sri Lanka for safe-keeping. It was held at various sites over the centuries before being moved to Kandy and it's remained there ever since. Kandy and the Temple of the Tooth were buzzing with people, many in town for the Poson Poya celebration - in honour of the arrival of Buddha's teachings to Sri Lanka many centuries ago. We didn't actually see a centuries old tooth, in fact we didn't even see the casket it was held in - we saw the outside of the large pagoda the casket is held in. Oh well. Our night ended back at the hotel where we partook of the buffet dinner. No sooner had we sat down than in the adjoining bar a local 'entertainer' started up. Covers of every popular western song from the 80's/90's were belted out with justo, in a slightly off-key Sri Lankan accent, accompanied by keyboard. It brought us endless amounts of entertainment trying to 'guess the song' as each new one started up. He eventually finished up around 10.30pm - a solid two and a half hours of singing.

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Mihintale highlights and Shaun's rice and curry feast

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Polonnaruwa - the real ancient city experience and a mischievous monkey encounter

Our visiting of the ancient historical sites continued. Today it was Polonnaruwa, where the center of power was moved to from Anuradhapura in the late 10th century. It’s a much more compact site, although still spread over a number of kilometers. We drove from site to site, taking in old monasteries, temples, council halls, pools and statues. Unfortunately for us, it was a hot and sweaty endeavour, with the temperature hitting 36C. Boy did we guzzle water and me being the well practiced shade-seeker that I am instinctively headed for it wherever I saw it but it was hard going. Polonnaruwa was very impressive and as we wandered the ruins, trying to picture what it was like in it’s heyday, I felt the ancient city wonder that had been missing from Anuradhapura and Mihintale. Yes, I enjoyed them, but they were both so alive with people and activity. This was truly a city that had been left to rest in relative peace. We rewarded ourselves with a swim in one of the three hotel pools when we got back, venturing first to the ‘most romantic’ pool but turning back when we found several screaming kids having a ball in it and opted for the infinity pool by the bar instead. We’d swam at this pool the day before and had a close encounter of the 'monkey-stealing’ kind. There were tons of wild monkeys living around the hotel and lots of signs warning people not to feed them or leave things on balconies. The previous day I’d taken the precaution of wedging my bag with belongings under the sun lounger but let’s face it, if a monkey wants your stuff, he’ll find a way. We were across the other side of pool when a monkey wandered over to sit 'innocently' next to the sun lounger with all my stuff. The pool attendant/monkey scarer was distracted by another set of monkeys and hadn’t noticed. But I did. And I have never swum so fast in my life. By the time I’d climbed out of the pool and made it back to the sun longer, he’d moved away, but there was a whole three minutes of panic to recover from. Needless to say, I was much more cautious on our return visit to the pool and am happy to report we made it out with all property still in our possession.

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Mihintale and finally some five star luxury

The birthplace of Buddhism in Sri Lanka, where one of the ancient kings was tested by the son of a great Indian Buddhist Emperor and, when found worthy, was rewarded with buddha's teachings. A sacred place in Sri Lanka and visited by thousands of pilgrims each year. We reached the main complex by climbing a long set of stone steps, with monkeys scurrying around either side and above. We left shoes and removed hats at the top of the stairs, a ritual we were accustomed to from our adventuring around Anuradhapura. At the top, there were several sites to explore, highlights were a large white statue of Buddha with monkeys scampering around and an impressive lookout reached by a steep, narrow barefoot climb. It was windy at the top but we were well rewarded with panoramic views. We also visited a large stupa at the top of another staircase. Exposed rocks + blazing sun + bare feet = a very hurried walk up and down to shade! There is a big festival next week with lots of preparations in progress - flags and lights and re-paving everywhere. As we headed back down to the carpark we stumbled upon an older stupa tucked away down the hill. It had beautiful carvings at four points of the building and was in a small clearing. At the edge of the clearing were fragrant frangapani trees in bloom, rustling in a gentle breeze and offering peaceful shade. We were the only ones there and I sat under the shade for awhile, listening to the sound of a flute floating up from somewhere below. It was my favourite part of the Mihintale experience. From Mihintale we headed to our next hotel, the fancy looking Heritance Kandalama. I knew we were onto a sure thing because it was recommended by a friend. The hotel was designed by a well known Sri Lankan architect to blend into the surrounding rock. As we got out of the car we were greeted by a woman who gave me a flower and were then escorted straight through to a cafe area with a beautiful view over the nearby lake. As we contemplated the view we were presented with cold towels and then a trolley with a choice of juice refreshments was wheeled to our table. Ahh, 5 star luxury, there you are. Our room, and home for the next three nights, was 'upgraded' to a suite with a jacuzzi. Such are the swings and roundabouts of travelling - sometimes you lose and sometimes you win the accommodation game. A final note that has to mentioned - Shaun's Sri Lankan rice and curry feast for dinner. With curry still off the menu for me, I watched on in amazement as a trolley of food was wheeled to our table and presented as Shaun's meal. Nine separate dishes plus rice! Even he was eventually defeated, but he definitely enjoyed the race.

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Trincomalee delights.

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Journeying to the Ancient Heartland - Anuradhapura

We left the sleepiness of Trincomalee, and thankfully my bout of food poisoning, behind as we headed off on a new sort of adventure. It was the start of several days of touring around the ancient historical sites of Sri Lanka. In the interest of full disclosure, it’s best I admit now, that I am an ancient history geek. I get a kick out of medieval too, but the further back you go, the more intrigued and wonder struck I become. If it’s got a ruined ancient city, I have to visit. Pompeii, Ephesus, Skara Brae, Machu Pichu, Petra. These are my happy places and some of my favourite traveling memories. So it was with much excitement and anticipation that we drove the few hours to Sri Lanka’s ancient city, Anuradhapura. Anuradhapura was the Sri Lankan capital for 1500 years and dates back to 380 BC. Let that sink in for a moment. As many ancient cities were, it was ‘discovered’ by an Englishman in the late 18th Century. It is a colossal site that stretches on and on. We didn’t see everything as it would have taken days to wander it all, but armed with our driver and a guide, we did see the key sites within it. We visited several large stuptas - these are still places of worship and are believed to hold various relics of Buddha, the Sri Maha Bodhi - a sacred tree, grown from a cutting of the tree Buddha found enlightenment under, and believed to be the oldest living tree in the world. We saw beautiful carvings of guard stones - to protect entry doors, and moonstones - semi-circular entryway stones inlaid in the ground. We visited pools carved from stone and visited the Samadhi Buddha - a 4th century carved image of Buddha. Many of these sites were chaotic with people, some were empty. It was blistering hot with little shade. Our guide told us how the site had been very different when he was a boy, he had grown up in the area, and that many of the ruins were hills of dirt. It was after it was designated a Unesco World Heritage site in 1982 that much of the excavation and restoration work was done. We farewelled our guide, and made a few last stops, a tiny museum with some beautiful jewellery and coins from the site, one last stupta and the Royal Pleasure Gardens, a delightful, peaceful oasis with two carved pools that were once filled with water from the nearby reservoir via underground terra-cotta irrigation pipes. Anuradhapura was definitely a feast for the senses and imagination and although it was an ancient city, it very much felt like a city still alive. The constant bustle of people, mostly pilgrims paying homage to Buddha, meant that the city was anything but forgotten. I ended the day tired but with a feeling of delighted contentment.

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A little beach town called Trincomalee

We’ve spent the last few days in a little beach town in the north-east of Sri Lanka called Trincomalee. Think long sandy beaches, crashing waves and a ramshackle assortment of beach bars, hotels and restaurants. Probably what sets it apart from other beach towns I’ve been to are the resident cows on the beach. They are pretty chilled as is everything else so a good spot for Shaun to recover from his lingering cold. To get here, we decided to hire a driver, to drive us up here and then around the northern historical sites, for a week. This is a fairly common thing to do here. We started off with Ruwan, our driver, at about 9am from our Colombo hotel and made it up here around 3.30, a fairly long and uneventful drive. The roads were busy and chaotic most of the way, but when I asked Ruwan he said it was pretty normal. We arrived at our hotel, which we’d booked based on blind faith in our lonely planet guide, where it had been highly recommended. Big mistake and a good lesson learned. We were shown to a room which frankly was one of the worst rooms I’ve ever stayed in. It was like some tin lean-to added on to the building. It was full of mosquitoes and had windows facing out onto the yard covered by flimsy curtains. The bathroom was even worse. We spoke to reception and they promised us a better room for the following two nights. So we decided to suck it up for a night. We decided to splurge on dinner and headed down the beach to the posh hotel (where we should have stayed) and had the local delicacy - Crab Curry and Rice. Messy but delicious. They even gave us crab aprons! Next morning we moved to a much better room in our hotel and saw the local sites - a hugh Hindu temple overlooking the ocean and the remains of a Dutch fort built in the 17th century. We were all set for more rest and relaxation on the beach. And then I started to feel sick. Really sick. Food poisoning sick. Arrrgghhh. My evening was spent in my room feeling pretty sorry for myself, but by later that night the stomach cramps and vomiting had stopped so it seemed like the worst had passed. Needless to say, our final day in ‘Trinco’ as the locals call it, has involved lots of sleeping and lying on the beach feeling weak. At this point I’m just trying to make sure I’m better for our next few days which are going to be jam-packed with exploring Sri Lanka’s historical sites. I can’t wait.

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What do you do when the country you've just flown into is in the midst of the worst floods for 15 years?

A question Shaun and I asked ourselves as we reclined in our business class luxury. The irony was not lost on us. So, I contacted our hotel who said everything was fine and flooding was 25kms away, which frankly seemed kind of close to me, but we were convinced Colombo seemed safe enough. And that we’d just need to work out the rest when we got there. It was teeming down with rain on the late night drive fro the airport to our hotel, but no sign of floodwater and the driver seemed pretty unfazed, telling us it was down south. I guess that meant our plan to head south in two days was definitely something we needed to re-think.

I’m sure this kind of news might cause me great deals of stress in other situations, but it’s like I had donned my magical travelling cloak that means every set back can be overcome and there’s no point worrying about it too much. I guess it’s kept me safe and got me out of traveling trouble too many times now not to trust it.

So, Shaun and I simply came up with a new plan. Beyond our first two nights in Colombo, we didn’t have anything else booked, so I guess that was the stroke of genius that meant we could change things quite easily.

We were reassured by several people that things in the North and East are fine and as these areas had been on our itinerary, albeit later in the trip, we simply booked transport to get us up there earlier.

We gave ourselves a few hours to check out the delights of Colombo - Galle Face, Gangaramaya (Buddhist) temple, Dutch hospital area and the delightful Gallery Cafe, then got an early night to start our next leg - a long drive up to the relaxed beach town of Trincomalee.

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Let the honeymoon begin!

No matter how you look at it, waking up at 3.30am hurts. Plus there’s the hours of half-sleep that precede the eventual alarm ringing, spent worrying that you’ll over-sleep said alarm, checking the time to make sure you haven’t overslept. This isn’t my first early morning departure rodeo but it’s not something that gets any easier. This time it was a bit of a kicker because we discovered as we dropped the car at long term parking that our flight was delayed by 90mins. Bugger. The only positive thing is this time we’re flying business class which means hello access to the Qantas club. Bring on the free food and comfy seats. And decent coffee, why yes, I will take a freshly made piccolo thank you very much.

I feel like I’ve already entered the strange between-time-and-place zone that comes part and parcel of flying internationally. I’m not sure if this is good or bad, but like everything in the space-time continuum that I’ve entered, it just is.

Then, to set things into a whole new gear, as we awaited our delayed departure in the lounge, someone contacted Shaun to say they'd heard about the flooding and landslides in Sri Lanka and hoped we'd be ok. Whaaaatt?? Let the honeymoon adventure begin!

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The Beautiful Blue Mountains (and understanding all the fuss)

A road trip across South Australia, Victoria, NSW and QLD in 10 days brings with it many wonderful places to explore - the Adelaide Hills, the Murray region, the NSW tablelands and North coast, the Sunshine Coast, the QLD Hinterland, even the Dog on the Tuckerbox outside Gundagai…..but this blog isn’t about any of those. It’s about the one place in Australia that has truly taken my breath away; the Blue Mountains. Somehow I wasn’t prepared for the stunning sight presented by the yawning cavern rimmed by Katoomba, Leura, Wentworth Falls and Faulconbridge. Sure, I’ve seen pictures, I even watched it when the Aussie Bachelor took one of his harem there on a date. But, when I caught sight of it from the lobby of my hotel (Mountain Heritage, with an unrivaled view) and even more so when I strolled down to Echo Point to view the Three Sisters the next morning, I was simply stunned into silence at the beauty of it. That only lasted a short while and then I started gushing like a bit of a fool, repeating over and over in a hushed voice how “breath taking” it was. I was completely captured by the magic of it. We weren’t alone of course, but we’d expected that and I’m sure the crowd of tourists at that time of the morning (just after 8am) wasn’t nearly as bad as later in the day. We stopped into the well stocked tourist information office to check on some details about our planned walk for the day, an easy 2-3hr scamper along the edge of the range, then headed along the track to get a closer view of the Three Sisters. As we continued further along the route, the number of people started to thin out. The views remained wonderous though, and the walk took us around the edge right across to Leura. We viewed the cavern from a series of different angles and came across several waterfalls. And it was a great stretch of the legs, not too strenuous but enough to get the heart rate up. We feasted that night back at the hotel and decided to visit Norman Lindsey's house the next day. It was a beautiful old house, surrounded by gorgeous gardens that only narrowly escaped the devastating fires a few years back. Thank god it did, that's all I can say. Well worth a visit to glimpse an insight into the extraordinary man and his life. A special dinner followed at a restaurant right on the rim of the mountains - Solidarity. Delicious, mouth watering food and delightful service. Unfortunately we didn't have time to take the cable car down to the base but I was also pretty confident we'd be heading back to visit the mountains again - I even whistfully pondered the possibility of moving there, but that felt more of a romantic notion than a real prospect. But gosh I can't wait to get back there again....and again....for the rest of my life because I can't imagine ever tiring of the wonder.

[kathroche]

Coffee at Eden Espresso on Glenferrie Road, Malvern. My flat white was sublime and accompanied by delicious mushrooms on toast.