As all of you know I spent the week of Eid holiday in Sri Lanka. This was a trip that I went into not knowing what to expect. I planned the trip with my friend Ahmad with the priceless assistance of our work colleague Annette who lived in Sri Lanka for 14 years. In writing about this trip I will be leaving out a TON of stories. I think the best way to do it is to break the trip down into four parts. Keep in mind we traveled 1,500km during this week and were doing non-stop activities! The four parts of the trip were history/culture, adventure, wildlife, and paradise. So here goes nothin'...
Before we get to the four parts, we need to set the stage. Before arriving in Sri Lanka Ahamd and I had planned our trip very aggressively. To be able to accomplish this, we booked a driver named Aruna. Aruna was Annette's driver when she lived in Sri Lanka and was one of the most amazing people I have ever met. He was incredibly patient, informative, and served as a father figure during the trip. The other major character in this trip is Jon Campbell. Jon is a first grade teacher in Kuwait but grew up in Canada. He was traveling solo but we met him on the flight to Sri Lanka over glasses of red wine in the back of the flight. Oh, and by the way, we literally had a party in the air on the back of the plane on the way! During said party Ahmad and I invited Jon to join us for our trip. He couldn't think of a reason not to so our trip went from 2 to 3 people in a matter of minutes. He was a GREAT addition to the trip and we're hoping to travel together in the future.
On the left, Aruna and our car for the week.
On the right, Jon Campbell during our wildlife safari. That vest cost him $2USD.
So let's begin with Part 1: History and Culture. We started the trip by heading to the cultural triangle which includes the Rock Temple in Dambulla, the ancient city of Polonnaruwa, and Sigiriya Rock. The two big highlights for me were Polonnaruwa and Sigiriya. Polonnaruwa was the second capital of Sri Lanka, there have been nine in total. This was a massive civilization that was abandoned due to wars. There are incredible ruins there including many temples. We spent the afternoon exploring the various ruins with our tour guide Vicky. He gave us great information and even though it was raining (as it did for most of our trip) it did not stop of from getting an education in the culture of Sri Lanka. The following day we woke up early to hike Sigiriya rock. This massive rock is considered by many to be the 8th Wonder of the World. On the top of the rock, there is an ancient mansion of which only ruins remain. There are many different stories about the history of the rock. Our guide, Milton, shared with us that the temple was built by one of the royal families' sons. He built it to avoid the rest of the family and his brother who was trying to kill him. The grounds were incredible and the ruins on top of the rock were just amazing. It is considered to be a crucial part of the Sri Lanka culture.
Part 2 of the trip was Adventure. This included a treacherous drive to the top of a mountain in the tea country, white water rafting, and a terrifying trip to Adam's Peak. During our visit to Sri Lanka, it was the rainy season. We saw sun on the first day and then it kind of felt like Forest Gump, "One day it started raining, and it didn't quit for four months." It wasn't quite four months, but it was all week! So in the middle of our trip we had booked a Bed and Breakfast up in the mountains area. Because of the rainy season the fog, clouds, and rain roll in around 5:00pm. We spent about 3 hours driving up a mountain to reach our Bed and Breakfast through powerful winds, rain, and nearly zero visibility. All through this, Aruna had a smile on his face...what a guy! After our B&B night, we spent the next afternoon White Water rafting (which cost us $15USD each). From rafting we wanted to stay at the bottom of Adam's Peak. Adam's Peak is a hike that consists of the most consecutive stairs in the world. It has over 5,000 steps each way! It is considered by many in Sri Lanka to be a sacred site and it was something all three of us desperately wanted to do. Since it was rainy season, the weather in that part of the country was VERY dangerous. On the road to Adam's Peak we were met by trees blocking the road, downed power lines, and pouring rain. The hike Adam's Peak it is recommended to go at 2:00am to be there for sunrise. Once we finally reached our hotel, which had no power for the night, we woke up at 2:00, 3:00, 4:00, and 5:00 hoping the rains would slow but they did not. We ended up not being able to hike the trail but it gives us something to go back for!
Part 3 of the trip was Wildlife. Although we saw a lot of wildlife through the trip (ie. gangs of monkeys, elephants crossing the road, etc), I will concentrate on our wildlife safari in Udawalawe National Park. Udawalawe is known for its' elephants. In total there are over 400 in the park as well as many birds, deer, jackals, gators, water buffalo, and more. We were able to find a guide easily when we arrived at the park and went out in an old school land rover. The trip was incredibly exciting, although a bit of rain slowed our adventure a bit. There are no roads in the park, just dirt travels. Many of these trails are met by water crossings. During the dry season this is no issue but in the rainy season there are a few more obstacles. As we approached one river to cross, our car entered from the bank and immediately died. We tried to start it a few times to no avail. We called for someone to pull us out, but that's when the rain started. Within minutes the river level started rising and now the car was nearly completely under water! Another truck came to pull us out and was unable to move us even an inch. We had to wait on a tractor to pull the car from the water, which took about 2 hours in total. After waiting in the part for 2 hours, we got on the back of the other car and headed out of the part. No more than 5 minutes later, THAT truck breaks down. Now we are stuck in the middle of the park with two broken down vehicles and a tractor. What do we do? Attach both vehicles to the tractor and get pulled out of the park. We had a caravan through the park and even stopped to see elephants, deer, and birds on the way! It was an unbelievable experience and frustrating in the moment but hilarious looking back on it now. The safari was supposed to be 2.5 hours...ours was over 5!
The final part of the trip can be known as paradise. Sri Lanka is known for its' beaches, unfortunately we were there at the wrong time of the year for that. We spent our last day at Unawatuna beach, which was just amazing. The sun FINALLY came out and we were able to sit by the beach all day before heading to Colombo and getting ready to leave. I wish we had more time there, but with the weather we were just happy to have one day of sunshine! It would definitely be work a repeat trip to spend time in some of the sleepy beach towns in the south of Sri Lanka.
Overall, Sri Lanka was an amazing trip. It was quite an adventure and in many ways, the complete opposite of Doha. On the trip we saw rain, wildlife, jungles, agriculture, experienced rural poverty, ancient cultural history, hiking, and much much more. It was a refreshing and energizing trip. I feel very lucky to have had such a great experience and credit much of that to Aruna, Jon, and Ahmad for being great travel partners. As I mentioned earlier, this is not even half of the stories that I could share from the trip but it gives some sort of idea of what we got ourselves into. Check out a wider selection of pictures on Facebook and I look forward to sharing more stories with all of you soon!
Before we get to the four parts, we need to set the stage. Before arriving in Sri Lanka Ahamd and I had planned our trip very aggressively. To be able to accomplish this, we booked a driver named Aruna. Aruna was Annette's driver when she lived in Sri Lanka and was one of the most amazing people I have ever met. He was incredibly patient, informative, and served as a father figure during the trip. The other major character in this trip is Jon Campbell. Jon is a first grade teacher in Kuwait but grew up in Canada. He was traveling solo but we met him on the flight to Sri Lanka over glasses of red wine in the back of the flight. Oh, and by the way, we literally had a party in the air on the back of the plane on the way! During said party Ahmad and I invited Jon to join us for our trip. He couldn't think of a reason not to so our trip went from 2 to 3 people in a matter of minutes. He was a GREAT addition to the trip and we're hoping to travel together in the future.
On the left, Aruna and our car for the week.On the right, Jon Campbell during our wildlife safari. That vest cost him $2USD.
So let's begin with Part 1: History and Culture. We started the trip by heading to the cultural triangle which includes the Rock Temple in Dambulla, the ancient city of Polonnaruwa, and Sigiriya Rock. The two big highlights for me were Polonnaruwa and Sigiriya. Polonnaruwa was the second capital of Sri Lanka, there have been nine in total. This was a massive civilization that was abandoned due to wars. There are incredible ruins there including many temples. We spent the afternoon exploring the various ruins with our tour guide Vicky. He gave us great information and even though it was raining (as it did for most of our trip) it did not stop of from getting an education in the culture of Sri Lanka. The following day we woke up early to hike Sigiriya rock. This massive rock is considered by many to be the 8th Wonder of the World. On the top of the rock, there is an ancient mansion of which only ruins remain. There are many different stories about the history of the rock. Our guide, Milton, shared with us that the temple was built by one of the royal families' sons. He built it to avoid the rest of the family and his brother who was trying to kill him. The grounds were incredible and the ruins on top of the rock were just amazing. It is considered to be a crucial part of the Sri Lanka culture.
Part 2 of the trip was Adventure. This included a treacherous drive to the top of a mountain in the tea country, white water rafting, and a terrifying trip to Adam's Peak. During our visit to Sri Lanka, it was the rainy season. We saw sun on the first day and then it kind of felt like Forest Gump, "One day it started raining, and it didn't quit for four months." It wasn't quite four months, but it was all week! So in the middle of our trip we had booked a Bed and Breakfast up in the mountains area. Because of the rainy season the fog, clouds, and rain roll in around 5:00pm. We spent about 3 hours driving up a mountain to reach our Bed and Breakfast through powerful winds, rain, and nearly zero visibility. All through this, Aruna had a smile on his face...what a guy! After our B&B night, we spent the next afternoon White Water rafting (which cost us $15USD each). From rafting we wanted to stay at the bottom of Adam's Peak. Adam's Peak is a hike that consists of the most consecutive stairs in the world. It has over 5,000 steps each way! It is considered by many in Sri Lanka to be a sacred site and it was something all three of us desperately wanted to do. Since it was rainy season, the weather in that part of the country was VERY dangerous. On the road to Adam's Peak we were met by trees blocking the road, downed power lines, and pouring rain. The hike Adam's Peak it is recommended to go at 2:00am to be there for sunrise. Once we finally reached our hotel, which had no power for the night, we woke up at 2:00, 3:00, 4:00, and 5:00 hoping the rains would slow but they did not. We ended up not being able to hike the trail but it gives us something to go back for!
Part 3 of the trip was Wildlife. Although we saw a lot of wildlife through the trip (ie. gangs of monkeys, elephants crossing the road, etc), I will concentrate on our wildlife safari in Udawalawe National Park. Udawalawe is known for its' elephants. In total there are over 400 in the park as well as many birds, deer, jackals, gators, water buffalo, and more. We were able to find a guide easily when we arrived at the park and went out in an old school land rover. The trip was incredibly exciting, although a bit of rain slowed our adventure a bit. There are no roads in the park, just dirt travels. Many of these trails are met by water crossings. During the dry season this is no issue but in the rainy season there are a few more obstacles. As we approached one river to cross, our car entered from the bank and immediately died. We tried to start it a few times to no avail. We called for someone to pull us out, but that's when the rain started. Within minutes the river level started rising and now the car was nearly completely under water! Another truck came to pull us out and was unable to move us even an inch. We had to wait on a tractor to pull the car from the water, which took about 2 hours in total. After waiting in the part for 2 hours, we got on the back of the other car and headed out of the part. No more than 5 minutes later, THAT truck breaks down. Now we are stuck in the middle of the park with two broken down vehicles and a tractor. What do we do? Attach both vehicles to the tractor and get pulled out of the park. We had a caravan through the park and even stopped to see elephants, deer, and birds on the way! It was an unbelievable experience and frustrating in the moment but hilarious looking back on it now. The safari was supposed to be 2.5 hours...ours was over 5!
The final part of the trip can be known as paradise. Sri Lanka is known for its' beaches, unfortunately we were there at the wrong time of the year for that. We spent our last day at Unawatuna beach, which was just amazing. The sun FINALLY came out and we were able to sit by the beach all day before heading to Colombo and getting ready to leave. I wish we had more time there, but with the weather we were just happy to have one day of sunshine! It would definitely be work a repeat trip to spend time in some of the sleepy beach towns in the south of Sri Lanka.
Overall, Sri Lanka was an amazing trip. It was quite an adventure and in many ways, the complete opposite of Doha. On the trip we saw rain, wildlife, jungles, agriculture, experienced rural poverty, ancient cultural history, hiking, and much much more. It was a refreshing and energizing trip. I feel very lucky to have had such a great experience and credit much of that to Aruna, Jon, and Ahmad for being great travel partners. As I mentioned earlier, this is not even half of the stories that I could share from the trip but it gives some sort of idea of what we got ourselves into. Check out a wider selection of pictures on Facebook and I look forward to sharing more stories with all of you soon!
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