Објављено: 30.05.2019
For 2 weeks, Julia, Kathi, and I were alone in the children's home. One person completely cancelled and another postponed everything by a week. During that time, we went on a tour with our trusted Tuk Tuk driver, Sujith. (L-R: Me, Julia, Kathi)
One afternoon, we went to the 'Blow Hole', 'Big Buddha', and the Rock Temple with him. The Blow Hole is a hole in the rock cliffs where water fountains occasionally shoot out.
We were lucky enough to see many (large) fountains because the waves were quite rough. This beautiful snapshot was also taken during that time.
Next, we went to the Big Buddha, which was really big. First, we walked through a tunnel that depicted how one is punished in hell for doing certain things. It was very vivid and a bit disturbing.
Then Sujith showed us the temple elephant, which was very sad (again). It was chained by its front and back feet and could only move minimally, showing the typical swaying movement. The saddest part was that our Tuk Tuk driver, despite our critical questions, wanted to excite us and said we could go to the elephant and take photos, even while it was chained, standing up and sleeping, for 20 years. The last stop was the Rock Temple. Of course...a temple complex that extends on a large rock. We were alone the whole time, except for all the monkeys hanging around.
Once we reached the top, on a rock ledge, we could enjoy a half sunset and a breathtaking view!
On Monday, May 13th, I actually celebrated my 6-month anniversary! It's crazy how quickly time flies. I can feel it especially here, the second month in Sri Lanka went by so fast! In any case, I'm very proud that 1. I have been away for so long, 2. I have been traveling alone for 4 months, and 3. I have seen and experienced so many cool things!
Three days later, another volunteer, Sarah, arrived. She didn't have time to settle in because we had a lot planned. On Sunday, we all went on a safari to Yala National Park together. Since we went on the last safari in the afternoon, we decided to take the morning tour this time. That meant we were picked up at 4 a.m. and sat in our jeep at half past five.
The special thing about Yala National Park is that it is much larger than Udawalawe National Park and has the largest population of leopards.
Due to the dryness and the corresponding heat, unfortunately, we didn't see any leopards or elephants. But we did see a beautiful landscape, water buffalo, deer, wild boars, crocodiles, and monkeys.
On Monday, we continued directly. Sarah, Johanna, and I went to Galle for 2 days after lunch. Galle has a beautiful old town built in the Dutch style and is a top tourist destination. The funny thing was that we could practically count all the tourists in the 2 days on one hand. Nevertheless, we had a wonderful time!
We also did some shopping and had an incredibly good Ayurvedic massage as a finale!
Shortly afterward - on Thursday, May 23rd - we were invited to the wedding of the gardener's daughter. Of course, we had to wear traditional saris for that.
It was so much fun!! But the days after, we all had killer muscle soreness!!! It was my first time, but hopefully not the last:)
In my last week, I also visited the associated kindergarten.
And with this picture, I say goodbye!