Nuwara Eliya

From Udawalawe it was a 6 hour car ride north into the mountains and tea-growing region, to the city of Nuwara Eliya. The roads were very winding and very narrow, barely wide enough for one lane in each direction. Watching the driver navigate the roads while passing slow tuk-tuks and trucks, with on-coming traffic on the narrow road, often blind because of the corners, was nerve-racking at first and then kind of interesting. The approach of all the drivers is actually co-operative. For example, our driver would honk when about to pass,  not only to signal to the car being passed, but also as a message to any car that might be coming around the corner. When we started to pass, other cars pulled over to make room. And if a car was coming from the other way, they would slow down and pull over a bit as well. We'd then make it through with inches to spare. This kind of thing happened every few minutes, all the way to Nuwara Eliya.

As we climbed into the mountains the vegetation got even greener, and the air a bit cooler. There were people walking on the side of the road, and lots of little stands selling food. The houses we passed seemed very nice, on good plots of land. The steep hillsides were terraced for rice, or covered with the dark green, low level bushes of tea leaves. It started to rain off and on during the drive.

We arrived at Nuwara Eliya in the early afternoon. There are a lot of English style colonial houses and gardens here. I read that because of the temperate climate it is referred to as a 'little piece of England in Sri Lanka'.

After settling in we went for a walk in town. We didn't go far, as it started to pour rain. Apparently the weather pattern at this time of year is to be nice and sunny in the morning, and heavy rain all afternoon. The town is actually relatively small, and we didn't need much time to see it. I noticed a bit of a cultural change compared to the coastal area. The pace seems faster. The people walk fast on the sidewalk and there is more jostling.

We stopped by a little fruit market. There were king-coconuts there, an orange coconut you often see sold at the side of the road. The vender cuts off the top and you drink the milk, which has  nice light taste.

The next day we caught a tuk-tuk up into the hills to a local attraction called Lover's Leap waterfall. A steep ride of the hill and then a 15 minute walk through tea bushes.

From the waterfall there were great views of the valley.

Next we went to the Pedro Tea Factory for a tour. This is an active tea plantation, and produces many types of tea that are auctioned to the big tea companies around the world. The tour led us through all the steps of tea production. In picking leaves from the bushes,  only the two or three youngest leaves are picked, and the rest are left to fall. Each person picks several kilograms of leaves per day.

I learned some interesting things from the tour. For example, I didn't know that fermentation was involved in making black tea, and the difference between light tea that you don't take with milk, and dark strong tea that you take with milk, was the length of the fermentation. Also how finely the fermented, dried leaves are cut also affects the strength of the tea.

After the tour we were served tea in the lounge, and took in the scenery of the plantation.

By this time the heavy rain had started, so we went back to the hotel.

Udawalawe Park

The morning we left Ranna Beach it was pouring rain with thunder and lightening. Looks like the rainy season has really started. Fortunately the rain stopped later in the morning so our plans for the day were not affected. If anything the temperature was cooler which made it more pleasant.

From Ranna Beach we headed north a couple of hours to Udawalawe. This is a large natural park with a lot of wildlife, but is mainly known for seeing wild elephants. We hired a jeep and headed into the park in the late afternoon.

The first thing to strike you when you enter the park is the vastness of it. The mainly low level vegetation stretches on forever, with the odd tree here and there, and the mountians to the north form a background.

The travel was over rough dirt roads. 

While the park is known mainly for elephants, I think it would also be a bird-watchers paradise. Even though I don't know anything about it, I was fascinated by the number of different colourful birds that I saw.

And peacocks were everywhere.

We saw other animals like a wildcat, and waterbuffalo that had wandered into the park. But much of time was spent watching wild elephants. Apparently the females stay in groups with the young, and we saw a few of these. 

The tour ended with a stop at a lake where there were more birds, and people fishing.

Mulgirigala temple

From the resort at Ranna Beach we did a day trip to Mulgirigala temple, about an hour by tuk-tuk. The weather turned out to be hot and humid, although it had rained over night. Mulgirigala temple is built on a steep rock out-cropping about 200m high, with natural caves in the rock face.

When we arrived at the parking lot there were lots of people selling lotus flowers and incense, to use as offerings at the temple, as well as people offering tours. We went along with it and bought the offerings and the tour.

The bottom of the temple is an active monastery with about 30 boy monks. Once past the monastery you start to climb the steep steps upward.

There are monkeys everywhere.

There are several natural caves, and each of them has a lying Buddha statue.  While they all looked similar, there were various symbols to indicate if the Buddha being represented was sleeping or in  paranirvana. 

At the Buddha statues we made our offerings of flowers.

At the very top there was a small shrine, and from the edge there was a great view of the green landscape. 

Ranna Beach

We continued along the south coast. From Polhena Beach it was only an hour or so to Ranna, just past the town of Tangalle.

We arrive at our hotel without problem. It is a resort on the beach. We spent the rest of the day just relaxing at the resort and walking along the beach.

The weather is still very hot most of the time - it gets to about 35 C in the afternoon sun. Lately, though, there has been some cloud which cools things somewhat. I guess that is why this is the low season.

I've never seen sand like this before. It is an orange colour, and a little course. Makes for a beautiful contrast with the blue of the ocean water. The beach at the resort stretches on for quite a while, making for a very good walk.

Along the beach there were other resorts, which seemed very quiet because of the low season. At one point, though, it looked like there were fisherman that lived there.

Polhena Beach

From Galle we headed along the south coast. We spent one night at Polhena Beach, near the town of Matara.

The drive to Polhena Beach from Galle was interesting. The first part was on a highway, and then through the town of Matara. The towns have this colourful chaotic look: narrow streets with the sides packed with irregularly spaced shops up and down, covered with colourful signs.

To get the hotel near Polhena Beach from the town, however, involved navigating a maze of dirt roads and the driver wasn't familiar with the area. We used the GPS on our phones but the limited accuracy only got us so far. There were no signs at any of the intersections, and no direction signs to the beach or the hotels. Eventually we called the hotel and let them direct the driver there. Even with that, we passed the hotel a couple of times before finding it.

It is the start of low season on the south coast now so it is very quiet. It looked like we were the only ones in the hotel. After settling in we walked to the small beach and up the road, and stopped for a snack and a drink at a small restaurant. The restaurant was open to the ocean with a great view.  There were poles standing up in the water with little thin platforms, which are used by fishermen.

In the morning we got up early, borrowed snorkeling masks from the hotel, and went to beach. This is the time that sea turtles come close to shore, and you can see them in the shallow water. There were a few people out. 

We went into the water and it wasn't long before we saw large leatherback sea turtles a few feet beneath us. Even if we stood up in the water, they didn't scare away. Just kept feeding on the floor. Very cool. Once I stood up and one bumped into me. 

We stayed for an hour or so and then went back to the hotel for breakfast. Then caught our ride to our next stop.

Galle

We hired a driver to take us to Galle, which is a couple of hours south of Colombo. Galle is on the south coast, and it is a major tourist stop in Sri Lanka. Jutting into the water from the main city is Galle Fort, which is the location of a Dutch fort from the 1600's. It is an area that is several blocks in size, and is surrounded by stone walls. The very narrow old streets are very quaint and there are lots of small hotels, and shops.

It is a nice walk around Galle Fort along the walls, with the old town on one side and the water on the other.

Galle Fort is home to a couple of large old churches: a Catholic one and a Dutch reform one. There is also a Muslim quarter with a mosque. At the end of Galle Fort that is closest to the city, there are the remains of a large fortification, and a clock tower.

Early in the morning I'd go for a walk, and at this time - about 7:00 am - you can see the school children in their white uniforms going to school. 

Colombo

A 13 hour flight from Vancouver to Hong Kong, 6 hour layover in Hong Kong, and a 5 hour flight to Colombo.  A long travel time, but the Cathay Pacific flights are reasonably comfortable, and I managed to catch an hour of sleep now and then.

Arrival at the airport in Colombo was a crash course in patience and learning to slow down. Several flights had arrived at once, and the line-up at the immigration counters seemed like they were a hundred people long and not moving. Eventually more counters were opened and I got through after about an hour. I arrived at the hotel about 1:00 am local time, and just crashed.

The next morning after breakfast, Celene and I started out on a walk to explore the city, but in the 35 C heat we quickly realized that was not a good idea. There was no shortage of tuk-tuk drivers and one approached us, so we hopped in and he took us on a little tour.

We stopped for much needed coffee, and then checked out a jewelry store. Sri Lanka is known for its gems, like sapphires, and Celene wanted to have a look.

From there we went to the popular Gangaramaya temple, an important Buddhist temple in Colombo. Our driver showed us around the place, and we took part in things like making offerings of water to the Banyen tree.

As it turns out, the important Vesak festival was taking place at this time. This is a celebration of the Buddha's birth, enlightenment, and death, and is the equivalent of the Christmas - New Year's holiday in North America. A lot of shops are closed for several days, and many people go to their home towns. Fortunately for us, this meant a lot less traffic in Colombo and we got around quite easily.

After the temple we saw a few different sights around Colombo, like the Independence Square, commemorating the independence from Britain in 1948.

Finally, we stopped at Galle Face Green, a walkway by the waterfront which seems like a very popular spot for Sri Lankans to hang out.

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As part of the Vesak celebrations, there are lanterns all over the city that are lit up at night. One of the centers of the festivities is Beira Lake, and we checked it out that night. The roads around the lake were closed to traffic, there were lots of food stalls, and stalls showing lanterns that people have made. And it was packed with people. Apparently the tradition of Buddhists celebrating the festival is to wear white:

and the lights around the lake itself were spectacular.

Finally we went back to the Gangaramaya temple, which in the evening was in full festval mode with people worshipping in different parts the temple, lighting incense, hitting gongs, etc.