Ayubowan - Sri Lanka

Here we are again, full of great impressions, new experiences and a new favorite country in our luggage. Our 9-day holiday in Sri Lanka was really incredible and we experienced a lot. The first 1.5 days we spent in the capital, Colombo. Not necessarily a gem but still worth a visit. Our luck was that on the first day we met our later guide and driver Kamal, who took us through the city in his TukTuk. Here we experienced a few highlights of the trip - for example, a visit to a Hindu temple. Here we not only received blessings ;-) but also gained an exciting insight into a culture that is very different from our own.

Most of the inhabitants of Sri Lanka are Buddhists, so all the other temples we visited during our trip were Buddha temples. Like the Gangaramaya Temple, the largest in the capital.

In Colombo, we also tried Singhalese cuisine and on the first evening - quite typically - we ate hoppers (a kind of pancake) and kottu roti.

Oh, and of course, we had to have the first beers here as well :-)

Our original plan was to continue by train to the mountains, to Kandy. Due to the change of plans and having a personal driver (which was really cheap at 50 dollars per day considering that it covered not only his time and fuel, but also drinking water and his own accommodation during the trip), Kamal picked us up the next morning at our accommodation and we headed to the mountains.

On the roadside, food and fresh fruit are sold everywhere - another advantage of having a driver, because Kamal would stop for us from time to time and we could sample a variety of fruits.

And at a tea plantation/factory. Including tasting

Then we arrived in Kandy and visited the Royal Botanical Garden

Where we (as well as in a city park in Colombo before) could admire hundreds of flying foxes hanging in the trees.

Lounging in the midday sun

After that, we went to the 'Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic'. This is probably one of the most important temples for Buddhists because supposedly the last remaining relic (a tooth) of Buddha is kept here. By chance, we happened to be passing by during a ceremony:

Flowers are 'sacrificed' to honor Buddha

The next morning, we headed north! Along the way was the famous Cave/Golden Temple in Dambulla with the highest golden Buddha statue in the world. But since the entry fee here was again outrageously high, our driver had the great tip to go to a smaller temple nearby - lower entry fee, but still a great temple built on a mountain and partly into caves - and most importantly, no other tourists except us!
However, we still visited the golden Buddha:

But our journey that day should take us to Sigiriya. There we not only visited the famous Sigiriya (Lion) Rock - more on that later - but also did an 'old village tour'. Yes, that had a bit of a touristy character: with a cart and boat ride... but then we had lunch + cooking at a hut built to imitate the living conditions of a few hundred years ago (like a small open-air museum). It was really fun to 'cook' and the food was delicious.

But then we went to the aforementioned Lion Rock. Here too, the entrance fee would have been outrageously high at 30 dollars. Fortunately, our guide immediately suggested the hidden gem that we had already read about on the internet - instead of the crowded Lion Rock, we went to the nearby Pidurangala Rock. Here, the entrance fee was 3 dollars, at the foot of the rock, there was a small temple and - most importantly - we had a great view OF the Lion Rock (which you can't see when you're standing on it yourself..)

The end of the day was a visit to an Ayurvedic spa where we indulged in massage and steam bath.
The next day was also quite relaxed. Originally, our plan for Sri Lanka was to travel by train as much as possible since the route through the mountains was said to be particularly beautiful. Some websites even promoted it as one of the most beautiful train routes in the world. However, now that we had our driver, it was almost decadent. Kamal actually transported our luggage by car to Ella, our next destination, while we took the train.

You can't imagine how beautiful a 7-hour train ride can be! We looked out the window the whole time and couldn't get enough of the green and magnificent landscape! Tea fields alternate with dense forests, and sometimes it rained quite heavily - as if the weather wanted to remind us that we were there during the monsoon season. (Interestingly, the other people often saw this as something negative - on the other hand, we were quite happy about the weather - not too hot and a few raindrops are also something nice when you come from Saudi).

In Ella (a once charming hipster place that is now a little overcrowded) we were finally able to do a bit more walking. We started the day there with a hike to the sunrise on the Small Adams Peak (the big one is further up in the mountains, there is a structure that is supposed to look like a footprint. Depending on who you ask, this is either Adam's first footprint when he came to earth or Buddha's last footprint when he left).

Our second hike of the day was a bit more sweaty as we climbed Ella Rock. In tropical heat, it was quite a challenge, but the view was definitely worth it! On the way back, Felix also refreshed himself in one of the streams (the hike was sweaty enough).

From Ella, we continued south, where the next day we visited Udawalawa National Park.
On the way, we stopped at one of the oldest Buddhist temples, the Buduruwagala temple, which probably dates from the 9th or 10th century.

Buddha and kings from the 10th century

But now to Udawalawa National Park - here is the largest population of elephants in Sri Lanka - so we were not disappointed and saw several animals (even with babies) very close to the car on our safari through the park! Again, it was nice that (whether it was because of the monsoon season or because this national park is not as famous as Yala National Park) there were few other people and everything was not so crowded.

We also got to see water buffaloes, a crocodile, monkeys, deer, and lots of birds here.
In the evening, we even got to see adorable baby animals when we went to see the feeding of the orphaned baby elephants. Elephants found orphaned on the island are transported to the national park. There, they can move freely but come together at feeding times. When they are fully grown, they are released back into the wild.

Then it got a bit more relaxed - we continued further south and spent the last two full days in the small town of Mirissa. This coastal town is famous above all for the whale watching tours that you can do here. The coast of Sri Lanka is one of the few places in the world where you can see blue whales! On the second morning, we got up early and were actually rewarded with a sighting of two whales on our tour! (+ a group of excited Chinese people who commented on every little wave with loud 'uhhh' and 'aahh', almost as if they were on a roller coaster, haha).

Except for the leopard (which you can apparently also see in Sri Lanka, but not in the national park we visited), we saw 4 of the 'Big 5' of this island: elephants, water buffaloes, crocodiles, and blue whales. Not bad for the short time we were there.
The rest of the time, we relaxed in Mirissa, went swimming, and let our souls dangle. With the great view from our hotel room/from the balcony, it wasn't difficult either.

Before we finally returned to Saudi, we, of course, had to have a few alcoholic drinks - 'it's vacation, right?'

The only slightly creepy thought was the reminder from time to time that this beautiful beach we were looking at was heavily affected by the 2004 tsunami (as was the entire coast). On our last day, we also made a short stop at a tsunami memorial, where there was a Buddha statue donated by Japan that was as tall as the wave that had swept across the island at that time (18m!)

On the way back to Colombo, we also stopped in Galle, another coastal town famous for its old Dutch fort. But the photos of it aren't particularly spectacular, so only this photo of the lighthouse (because I liked it so much).

Then our last excursion of the trip took us to the mangroves on the west coast. Also a bit touristy, but it was still pretty cool to see such large mangroves and even drive through them. On the tour, we made a brief stop at Cinnamon Island (the 'real' cinnamon, Cinnamomum verum or Ceylon cinnamon, is originally from Sri Lanka). We also visited another Buddhist temple on another island. As there was a monk there, we even got a blessed bracelet from him. The Sai Sin is a blessed white cord that belongs to a ceremony on special occasions such as house, temple or business inaugurations, weddings, or temple visits. A piece of the white cord is cut off by the monk and placed around the wrist and then blessed. It is said that the cord has a spiritual meaning and brings good luck, contentment, protection from evil spirits. In addition, you should wear the bracelet until it falls off on its own.

Before finally going to the airport, our guide Kamal invited us to have dinner at his home. We had a really great time with him, he was a really nice guy. And when he and his wife drove us to the airport after dinner, it almost felt like friends were taking us.

As you can see, we had a completely successful vacation. Sri Lanka is definitely worth a visit and I can well imagine that this was not our last visit!
Now we are already fully in work mode - Felix still has to complete his last tasks on the internship to-do list, and I am back in the lab and at the desk a lot. In less than 6 weeks, we will finally be going back to Germany! We are both really looking forward to that!
That's it for today, greetings to everyone!
Felix and Susann
(and Juergen, of course)