That was buttercrunch!! That was Sri Lanka!!

Wow, we’ve got a lot of catching up to do. So, Greg, Aparna, and Dave have all come and gone and Drew and I have left Sri Lanka for Nepal! We were sad to see them go and they were sad to leave beautiful and ultra friendly Sri Lanka for the east coast snowpacalype (well, not Greg because he went back to California). So, where were we? Ah yes, Greg arrived and two days later Dave and Aparna flew in and joined us in Unawatuna. It was a good thing they did, as the day before arriving I started feeling sick (fever, chills, nausea, etc.) Dr. Aparna to the rescue! Drew and Aparna went to Galle and hit up the pharmacy and scored me everything I needed for a speedy recovery. I did wind up laying in bed for nearly 3 days while the rest of them went snorkeling and diving, Dave and Aparna did a discovery dive (scuba dive for those that aren’t certified), ate delicious curries, and took in the sun. Every few hours they would check on me in our room and hang out for a bit, which was super sweet. I started getting better so we decided to pack our bags for the hill country of Kitugala.

Kitugala brought cooler temperatures at night, beautiful lush green foliage, and a crazy long river called Kelaniya Ganga. The gang (minus myself) decided to swim in the river and came out covered in gross black worms. Ugh. We stayed at a place called Rafters Retreat, which was comprised of 11 cabins overlooking the river. The owner is a man named Channa who looks like crocodile Dundee, grows his own cinnamon, tea and rubber trees, and hand built everything. His grandfather built the house he lives in, which is also on the property and is insanely awesome. Initially Dave and Aparna were the only ones to score a cabin because they booked in advance and the rest were full, but when a bus tour of older folks decided the cabins were to “natural” we scored big time and got our own. Poor Greg had a hard time sleeping in his though because he found a huge cave spider with long pinchers in his bathroom sink! We woke early the next morning and did some white water rafting. The rapids which were levels 2 to 3, had names like “butter crunch” “back breaker” and “killer falls” and really weren’t anything too major. We looked like pros in the boat while paddling but as soon as rapids approached and things got a little rough, arms, paddles, and bodies went flying. It was a little chaotic and our boating instructor got a kick out of it. We laughed the entire time. It was a great way to start the morning, being the only boat on the water watching beautiful birds and being surrounded by really neat trees. At one point our instructor gave us the thumbs up to hop out of the boat and take a quick dip in the water. I didn’t think it was a good idea because I didn’t know what was lurking in those waters. Everyone had a good time and got back in the boat while moments later we saw the hugest monitor lizard swimming around. I could’ve sworn it was a crocodile by how big it was!

After finishing our boating trip we decided we would high tail it north towards our final destination. We took a taxi to Kandy, another city in the hill country, and along the way visited two waterfalls and mountain terraced tea plantations. We hadn’t planned on visiting Kandy but figured it was a good stopping point for the night. Kandy’s most famous temple holds Buddha’s tooth, which Dave, Aparna, and Greg visited while Drew and I walked around. It actually was a great city and the guesthouse we stayed in, called Green Woods, was super cute with really friendly owners. It sat across from a nature preserve with colorful tropical birds, and occasionally the monkeys would come out and sit on their balcony. So fun! The next morning we woke and took another taxi to Dambulla, a city in the ancient cities region of Sri Lanka, to check in to the Heritance Kandalama Hotel. We had booked this hotel months ago as a treat. It is always nice to intersperse the trip with high-end accommodations to sorta recharge your batteries. The Kandalama is apparently the world’s first “green building” built in 1994. It is built into the base of a mountain, sits on the edge of an ancient lake, and has loads of monkeys, wild boar, and elephants roaming freely around it, not to mention great clean swimming pools. Speaking of monkeys, our first morning there we woke to probably 20 monkeys sitting on our balcony watching us sleep through our sliding glass doors. The best part of the hotel in my opinion was the food. For breakfast and dinner they had a gigantic buffet filled with both Sri Lankan and western dishes. The first evening we scarfed so much food it was ridiculous! It was the first time in what felt like forever that I saw salad! At this point I was feeling better but I still had a weird sensation in my belly from being sick. The food did the trick and allowed me to get totally back on “track”. It was a spectacular place but like most fancy hotels everything is over priced and they nickel and dime you, and on a 3-month long trip you can’t go crazy with stuff like that.

It was at the Kandalama that Drew hopped online to find his checking account completely drained by fraudulent jewelry purchases in India, we hadn’t even been to India yet aside from Airports! We’re still working on getting that cleared up with his bank, but it just goes to show how easy it can happen! At that point we’d only used our cards maybe 3 times at ATM’s (which are scarce in Sri Lanka) and for no major purchases! Scary stuff! Thankfully the bulk of his money was in his savings account.

The main tourist attractions in Dambulla are Sigiriya and the Cave Temples. Sigiriya is pretty hard to explain so I’ll tell you what Lonely Plant has to say about it. “From a geological point of view it is the hardened magma plug of an extinct volcano that long ago eroded away. Peppered with natural cave shelters and overhangs… probably inhabited in prehistoric times. Popular myth says that the formation served royal and military functions during the reign of King Kassapa (AD 477-495). A new theory, supported by archeological evidence instead of local legend, suggest that it was never a fortress or palace, but rather a long-standing Theravada and Mahayana Buddhist monastery built several centuries before King Kassapa. Monks were using it as a mountain hermitage by the 3rd century BC.” Whatever the case may be, Sigiriya was nothing less than breathtaking! It wasn’t as long of a trip up as I had though but I certainly got scared towards the top (I don’t do well with heights!) once on top of the rock, looking out over all the land, it was spectacular! It was definitely the next best thing to Angkor Wat in Cambodia that I’ve ever seen.

Next we ventured to 5 Cave Temples that housed beautiful Buddha statues that date back to the 1st century BC. They are said to have been a haven for King Valagamba when he was driven out of power. When he regained his throne he had the caves carved into temples as a gift, which were later improved upon by future kings. In all there are 150 images of Buddha within the caves and they were all very, very magnificent! We spent our last night together having our way with a bottle of arrack. “Of course” it enabled a 3 hour conversation about the
inexistence of human free will… I am definitely blaming the arrack, Greg is blaming Dave and Aparna. LOVE YOU GUYS!!!

The next morning Dave and Aparna headed straight for the airport to fly back to Baltimore, MD and Drew, Greg, and I took a bus to a town called Negombo that sits just north of Colombo near the airport. The three of us cruised around there for two days, biding our time before our respective flights. Greg was traveling home and Drew and I were traveling north to Nepal. Unfortunately we had two layovers in India where we had a really hard time with our visas (exactly what happened on the way to Sri Lanka) and now have to visit the Indian embassy here in Katmandu to get permission AGAIN to travel into India since for some ludicrous reason changing planes in India counts as use of your visa. Ugh. If for some reason we get denied this time around Drew and I are already scheming for other countries to see… Maldives anyone?? We should say that Sri Lanka was one of the most friendly and beautiful countries we have ever had the privilege of visiting. From gorgeous relaxing beaches to cool breath-taking mountains, for such a small country, it has a wealth to offer. For now, we’re in Bahktapur, Nepal loving life to the fullest! Nepal is absolutely stunning and may even top the list as the best country we’ve ever been to, and we are only on day two, but that’s saved for the next entry…

View our photos of Sri Lanka!!!

See Greg’s excellent photos of Sri Lanka!!!

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