Sri Lanka
2012 – Our first travel far away was towards Sri Lanka. It was also the first time we would travel longer than 9 to 10 days. Back in the time Marie-Claire was not yet convinced it would be something for her, but boy, what was she wrong 🙂
We decided to take a safe approach both from organisational and destination point of view. We joined a group travel from Shoestring towards Sri Lank. Looking back at it, this was a good and safe choice. Sri Lanka is quite civilized and the travel ritme was quite comfortable. So where the hotels, the roads, the daily distance to cover, … and many more.
Day 1: Amsterdam – Colombo
Day 2: Colombo – Marawila
Day 3: Marawila
Day 4: Marawila – Sigirya
Day 5: Sigirya – Polonnaruwa
Day 6: Polonnaruwa (Anuradhapura & Mihitale)
Day 7: Plonnaruwa – Dambulla – Spice Garden – Kandy
Day 8: Kandy
Day 9: Kandy – Nuwara Eliya
Day 10: Nuwara Eliya – Bandarawella
Day 11: Bandarawella
Day 12: Bandarawella – Kataragama – Tissamaharama
Day 13: Tissamaharama – Hikkaduwa Beach
Day 14: Hikkaduwa Beach
Day 15: Hikkaduwa Beach – Negombo
Day 16: Katunayake – Colombo – Amsterdam
Day 1: Amsterdam
Yes! We leave towards Sri Lanka. From Schiphol we fly over Dubai to Katunayake, the main airport of Sri Lanka.
Day 2: Colombo – Marawila
From the airport we have a bus trip of about 1 hour (40 km) towards Marawila which lies at a long quiet beach in a tropical environment. It’s a relaxed area which is not yet discovered by tourists. Here we taste from day one the real Sri Lanka.
We stay in a nice hotel with swimming pool, where we take the time to meet the other group members while having a local Lion Beer. We stayed in rooms at the pool side. Each room was a small separate building with a bed and bathroom. Luckily there was airco as well. In the evening we were able to observe from a distance a local marriage party going on in the hotel.
Day 3: Marawila
Today we explored the “Dutch Channels” with a small motorboat. We go in small creeks, see palm trees, remote small houses, woman that do laundry, illegal Arrack distilleries. We tried the Arrack, but it was not that special.
In the afternoon we headed to Negombo to visit a local fish market which is nothing to be compared with European fish market. They don’t have ice, freezers and that in combination with the heat, it smells like hell. At the beach they were drying the fish, which was smelly as well.
End of the day we came back at the hotel, which had next to the beach also access to a mangrove where you can water ski. Ideally to check number 9 on Tom his bucket list. The mangrove was the perfect place to learn to water ski as the waves are acceptable and the water was perfect of temperature. It did not take us long before we were effectively skiing.
The European guide starts with some brief technical explanation and then you have to do some exercises on the dry. You learn the movement to get up from in the water to a standing position. When you did a few time, you are ready to go into the water. There is a bar next to the boat to which you hold yourself and when the boats accelerates you can see to get up. As the bar is next to the boat, you don’t have waves and it’s rather easy. Depending on your skills the guide will decide whether you stay at the bar next to the boat or that you can try the real thing. Trying to stand behind the boat is not that difficult according to us, but maybe it was linked to our snowboard and ski skills. It is also a big difference if you stay on the “table wave” behind the boat or if you cross the real waves. As beginner it’s better to take it easy. At the end of our session we were able to make a 180 degree turn behind the boat on the river. Like that you don’t have to stop in the water, waiting till the boat turn and get back up again. For a fist session we made quite some progress and I still cherish this moment. It was cool to water ski. Although it were just the basics, conclusion is the same: we did it! 🙂
Day 4: Marawila – Sigirya
Today we have a trip of about 5 hours (180 km) through tropical plantations towards Sigiriya. This place is famous for its rock fort (aka Lion rock). At the feet of the real fort two giant lion paws guard the fort. Through spiral stairs you can go to the top while passing some fresco’s of King Kasyapa. These stairs are quite busy as you have a constant flow of people going up and going down. Mostly you can safely pass each other, but sometimes you can only go in one single direction. With the temperature and the humidity it was quite a climb. But you should not worry too much Everyone can make it. The view from the top is magnificent. One of the things you can’t catch on the camera.
Day 5: Sigirya – Polonnaruwa
Today we have a 1 hour 30 minutes drive (72 km) towards Polonnaruwa, where you can visit the old ruins. We visited the ruins by bike which where delivered to our hotel and with a gentle ride we arrived at the main entrance of the site. Polonnaruwa, the second most ancient of Sri Lanka’s kingdoms, was established in 10th century. The Ancient City of Polonnaruwa has been declared a World Heritage Site. As the buildings are some distance away from each other, exploring the site by bike is really the best you can do.
Day 6: Polonnaruwa (Anuradhapura)
Today we visit Anuradhapura (I still like this name, say it strong and quick, it sounds like cursing), which might have been the most beautiful city 2000 years ago. Next to the huge stupa’s you have the Bodhi tree which is one of the most sacred Buddhist places.
Day 7: Plonnaruwa – Dambulla – Spice Garden – Kandy
Luckily we moved on rather quickly on to our next stop before reaching Kandy. The Aluvihare Rock Temple is a not te be missed place. It’s not like any other as there are terrifying depictions of the hellish afterlife that awaits people who commit sins. It are not the typical things you see when visiting temples.
We visited the elephant orphanage in Pinnawala. I remember back then that we were impressed by looking at the elephants seeing them take a “bath” in the river, being fed and some could run freely. On the other hand, we also saw quite some which were on a chain. While writing this with quite a delay (2024) I’m not convinced anymore on this kind of places. Nowadays we try to avoid places where animals are kept in captivity. It’s claimed to be an orphanage and take care of injured elephants, but still, it’s targeted on tourists at the same time.
Later that day we visited the Royal Botanical Gardens, Peradeniya and had a stroll through the garden. This was pre our Strava usage, so I can’t say how long our hike was. We also visited another local garden where we were able to observe a marriage photo shooting.
We ended the day with some food and attending some typical local dancing before heading to Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic. It is stated that this temple houses the relic of the tooth of the Buddha. I still remember we had to queue quite some time to catch a glimps of the relic, but it was almost impossible to take a decent picture of it.
Day 9: Kandy – Nuwara Eliya
On a rainy transfer day we visited Tea Castle St. Clair after exploring the plantations and observing how people are harvesting the leaves for the tea. There is a small exhibition and a shop in the castle, but in the end it’s not such a big thing. I assume they have a good deal with tour operators to provide them with a good flow of tourists. What I remember is that we stayed in a very small and older hotel where we were able to follow the cycling race Paris – Roubaix via limited wifi which ended with an impressive Win for Tom Boonen.
Day 10: Nuwara Eliya – Bandarawella
World’s End and Little’s World End are located within the Horton Plains National Park in Nuwara Eliya District. The walk to both of them is not to be underestimated but doable. World’s End is a straight drop of 1.200 meters. This is a famous point, but as we were early, we got the place for ourselves. At that moment, back in 2012, it was strange to see there was no single form of protection. In Europe that would have been impossible, but here you could go to the ledge. We laid ourselves on our belly to look safely over the ledge. In the same park you also can find Baker’s Falls which should not be missed. It’s maybe not the biggest waterfall but still a very nice one.
We ended the day with a train ride from Nanuoya to Bandarawela. This was a unique experience as again, you couldn’t imagine something like this in Europe. The doors of the train are open, people are hanging out while you ride over bridges over gorges, pass centimeters away from rocks and many other dangerous situations. We luckily had reserved spaces as it was quite busy on the train.
Day 12: Bandarawella – Kataragama – Tissamaharama
Another day, another temple was the motto in Sri Lanka and hence we visited the Kataragama temple. Not that special and we were glad we quickly moved on to our hotel, for a relaxing day. We had yet again a more luxurious hotel with a swimming pool. By the time that we were checked-in, unpacked and were about to lay down at the pool, there was a change in atmosphere. We saw people starting to run around, talking to each other and befroe we knew, we were ordered to immediate grab our stuff and go to the bus within 5 minutes. There was a Tsunami Alarm! We were rushed onto the bus and then we were transferred to an inland hotel. This was a very intense experience. Once we arrived in the hotel, things got calmer and we were happy to be able to play some badminton to pass the hours of waiting. Very late in the evening, we were able to go back to the hotel when it became clear things were not as serious as a couple of years ago.
Day 14: Hikkaduwa Beach
It is always nice to end a travel with some relaxation at the beach. We had the sea, could snorkle and we also had a nice pool. We spend the day enjoying the sun, have a walk on the beach to find some place to have lunch and continued relaxing before heading to The Vibe, a famous outdoor dance & night club. We partied the night away before heading back to the Hikkaduwa Beach Hotel.
Day 15: Hikkaduwa Beach – Negombo
Probably the most boring travel day in our entire career. We left our beach hotel to a hotel in Negombo, where we could eat and spend the day at the pool to relax before taking the plane back to Amsterdam. However, the weather was still instable and we had mostly rainy weather which made we were stuck waiting before heading to the airport by the end of the day to take a flight towards Amsterdam with an overlay in Dubai.
Day 16: Katunayake – Colombo – Amsterdam
Arrival in Amsterdam and heading back to Belgium to end our first far away travel. We didn’t knew at that moment that many more crazy adventures would follow.
Trucks
In Sri Lanka you have the typical colorful trucks. I really liked them. You have mainly 2 different types of trucks, with or without nose. You see them everywhere and mostly they are honking a lot, certainly when they need to pass or overtake. But overall, traffic was normal and acceptible. Nothing to compare to other countries where we have been, like Nepal (Kathmandu) or India (Hyderabad).
