Day 171 and 172: Tea and Heaven

Day 171

We are having breakfast at our place this morning before taking a tuk-tuk to L&A's hotel. The family completely over feed us with scrambed egg, roti, toast, ham and onion sambal which looks yummy but raw onion ain't my thing. Once we've stuffed ourselves silly, we check out their new panorama room that's not yet finished and then head up to the hotel.

We've got another longish drive, this time to Nuwara Eliya which is up in the mountains and the views are we drive up are starting to get incredible. The hills get taller and taller, and are covered with the most beautiful tea plantations and thick clouds which cause the most beautiful waterfalls.

It's about lunch time when we arrive and none of us can spot any local eateries so Sivah, the driver, takes us to the strangest restaurant. Its inside an old country house that wouldn't look out of place in an small english village. It's styled inside on a 1970's men's club compete with an ageing picture of the Queen on coronation day and hideous floral furniture, I love it. The waiter is also a bit odd but when the food finally comes its yummy and kind of makes up for the weirdness.

We had planned to do a tea factory today but its a little late so after our 2 hour lunch, we head off to find lovers leap, which is meant to be a lovely walk and waterfall. The drive is treacherous to start and I think several times the car isn't going to make it as we start to slide backwards but we do. The walk isn't much better than the drive and there's no set path but the waterfall is pretty and it's nice to have a little explore.

We head back now and get dropped off at our odd little hotel for the next two nights, the rooms chilly and the place seems dead but it has a brilliantly warm blanket and who doesn't like being cosy?

Day 172

We are up nice and early as we all want to go to see World's End which is a cliff that looks over all the tea plantations and far beyond. We have been told by a chap at the hotel that we need to be there by 5am if we wanted to get a clear view but the same message didn't get told to our driver or Lee and Angela so we don't leave until gone 8am. Me and Ben both don't think we are going to make it to the top before it mists over but don't want to be party poopers, besides it would be a nice walk anyway. As we drive up, I am blown away by the scenery, its just incredible, the rolling green hills of the tea plantations, next to sheer cliffs and tiny railways. I am in love.

We keep moving on further up the steep hill and the weather has already started to change, clouds are covering everything and its no better once we are at the top. Once we park up, we all stare gloomily out of the window and asses our outfits for the icky weather. Me and Ben are wearing all of our bags including hats and ponchos and even Angela has a rain mac on but we realise Lee isn't the best dressed for the cold damp weather. This isn't looking good and it gets the final nail in the coffin when its £12.50 to go and we all decide a misty view isn't worth it. So we head back down which is no hardship for me as I get to see all the gorgeous scenery again. We stop and get snaps at different points and I've decided I'm going to buy a house and move up here, its just stunning.

We now head to a tea factory that we were going to look at yesterday but it was closed as it was Sunday. This place is awesome, its not fully working as because of the day off yesterday there is no tea to be processed but we can see some drying that was picked this morning and then the rest of the factory which I'm quite glad isn't working as I reckon it would be so so loud. The guy is really informative and we get to try some at the end which is always nice.

We've all got a bit hungry now so head to a truck cafe (literally a truck turned into a cafe) and its as always too spicy for me to eat but looks delicious. We part ways not and me and Ben go and sit down by the lake front, I thought this might be the time Ben would finally get his pedalo ride but we couldn't afford it so just mooched our way back to another chilled evening (literally) until Ben wakes up at 2am with a bad stomach, eek. 

Day 169 and 170: Elephants, Spice and Teeth

Day 169

Lee and Angela are so generous this morning and pay for us to have breakfast at their place today which is amazing as its a buffet, when is a buffet ever not amazing? I've had an urge for gherkins and cheese for a few weeks now and this hotel must have heard my call and I fill a plate full. I say full, as much as my tiny, ill tummy can handle but it's so darn good. We have a jam packed day ahead of us today and our first stop is Sigiriya.

Conscious of yesterday's near faint, I prepare with water and a lolly pop so fingers crossed I'll keep the sugar level up but I don't have to worry about it for a while as we get lost, and I mean really lost. The driver and his mate are lovely but don't really seem to know what they are doing and after a while of driving round in circles, cutting trees down with machetes, we turn up exactly where we started, they finally ask for directions and we arrive at Sigiriya. Me and Ben are a little shocked by the price to get in ($30 which is the same as 3 days in Ankor) but again Lee and Angela are really generous and pay for us again. 

Sigriya is an ancient city site which is based around the huge rock that catches your eye from miles away. The rock has caves and temples inside whilst on the ground it's surrounded by water gardens which we wander round first. It's only early in the day but man it's hot, and I'm glad it's not just me struggling with it. We make our way to the rock and climb a set of spiral stairs to see the ancient cave paintings inside. These are beautiful and incredibly clear seeing as they are many years old. Next we go down another set of stairs and walk past the ancient graffiti wall which is said to have scrawlings from the 7th century but they are all pretty faded and some look a lot more recent than that. The wind up here is amazing and I'm almost blown over by the speed of it. The next bit of Sigiriya is its most famous which is its carved lion foot which guards the stairs up to the top where the foundations of a temple are. The stairs are quite steep up but wow, the scenery is worth it. I don't think I've been disappointed with any views in Sri Lanka so far. 

We clamber down, checking out all the naff souvenirs for sale at the bottom and Ben feeds a cute puppy water and we try and work out if we can fit him in our bag. We then set off for the part of the day I have most been looking forward to, the elephant safari! We drive about 30 minutes where we arrive at a deserted park entrance and we all feel  little sceptical till a guide comes out and explains we've come at the wrong park of the day, if we come back in a couple of hours, nearer sun set, we will see more elephants. We head back to the hotel for a quick snack, how they make egg mayo sandwiches hot I will never know and then we go back.

I'm so nervous we won't see anything in the safari like the one in Thailand we went to but my fears are quickly quashed. Our truck is small but it has an open top which is great as it means we can all stand up in it. We haven't been driving for 10 minutes when we spot a family of 3 with a cute and tiny baby elephant and we are all in awe. Well maybe not all of us, Rarjah the drivers friend seems to think we are all getting excited about a butterfly. Odd man. We slip around a corner and another family appear, this time with 4 and I'm so chuffed. At least we've definitely seen some. We carry on driving and head towards a huge lake watering hole, we are driving towards it when to our left we spot a huge family of about 10 elephants in the distance and we speed over to them. It's so incredible to see them up front, they are so majestic and it's fun to watch them play fighting. 

We stay here for about half an hour till we spot a large family moving across the watering hole and join the throng of cars heading there way there which caused a bit of a traffic jam which got even more complicated as the elephants started moving forward faster than everyone thought they would, turns out they are quite protective. Of what you might ask? Oh just 4 day old elephants, nothing incredibly beautiful or interesting at all. This has got to be one of the most awesome things we've done all trip. After the jam to get out we move back round the watering hole where we spot a baby elephant limping who is trying to be captured by the ranger truck, who have an ingenious plan. If you tranquillise the baby, the mummy will never let you close, so they zap her and then the baby will stay, which is a pretty cool thing to see.

We head back now and are all buzzing with how amazing that was when I get back to find a million missed calls from my mum. Turns out my tenant in my flat left his glasses in the window and burnt the place out. This has exactly been the most normal of days.

Day 170

After spending quite a lot of last night in shock, I'm all groovy this morning. Mindfulness helps a lot and I think people are finding it a bit odd I'm so calm about it but honestly, what can I do 3000 miles away? 

Lee and Angela get us breakfast again and I manage even more buffet, progress :) We are leaving Dambulla today to go to Kandy so spend the morning lounging in the pool and spotting the wild life. Ben spots some cheeky Langar monkeys lounging around the hotel and we even catch a macaque trying to get into the pool. The drive to Kandy is only meant to take 2 hours but we hit traffic just outside the city and crawl in, which takes an extra few hours. We first go to L and A's hotel to drop off their bags off and then in theory go to ours bit the driver gets the wrong road and we drive around for ages till the owner appears on the moterbike and we go like the clappers to keep up with him.

This place is a little homestay and its really cute. It has no fan or A/C but the air seems cooler here and its got a 4 poster bed, bliss. We don't stay long though as we want to go exploring. We get dropped off outside the Buddha Tooth Temple which is really pretty. You can't see the tooth as its in a covered temple but the building and the surrounding ones are incredible. There is a section which explains how the tooth got from Buddha to here which is really interesting. We all get a little peckish now so after spotting a church that wouldn't look out of place in Debham, we go grab some food which is L and A's first taste of non hotel food and although it's way too hot for me (no surprise there) everyone loves it! We got for a little explore around the cute town before we remember we haven't actually checked in yet so we part ways. The family are so lovely and I sleep soundly apart from being occasionally being woken by their over cautious dog.