This gallery contains 11 photos.
Given where we were heading for today, I just had to quote the title of a well known R.E.M. piece here … though – admittedly – I still had yesterday’s hike up Adam’s Peak in my legs and knees, so … Continue reading
We made it back to the hotel in the late morning, where (a rather late) breakfast was waiting for us. The tour continued after a quick chance to freshen up. We continued deeper into the main tea production area, heading for Nuwara Eliya (nick-named Little England). En-route we stopped at a tea factory for a quick tour through the production process; as today was a Sunday, there was not much happening here – so the focus of the tour was more on the tasting room and the (slightly over-prized) factory shop (assuming one made it through the hordes of Chinese tourists on a tea-buying mission).
After having gotten a glimpse of the production process, we made it to the Grand Hotel in Little England for the classic High Tea experience (and I still cannot believe, that my British / OZ travel companions really needed a German to actually bring that option up).
After tea there was – of course – an opportunity to check out town and get an understanding, where its nick name is coming from. For me – having been up since 1am – it was a short evening (after a long day) and I ended in bed fairly early.
This gallery contains 16 photos.
If there was one really EARLY morning on this trip – it must have been today. On the agenda today we had the climb up Adam’s Peak. The hike typically starts around 02:30am in the small village of Dalhousie – … Continue reading
This morning we spent close to two hours in the botanical garden of Kandy. Originally only open to Kandy royals, these beautiful gardens are now open to everyone.
From the gardens we continued our trip towards tea country …
Today was a free day and a welcome opportunity to sleep a slight bit longer. Most of us made it to downtown after (a late) breakfast; for me it was more sightseeing around the temple of the tooth, a walk around the lake – and the first real espresso since my transfer in Amsterdam.
We got together again in the evening for a Kandyan Dance Performance. The performance turned out fairly touristic; I am not so sure, if all that dancing was indeed Kandy or even Sri Lanka style – – – at least the part with balancing those revolving plates … I am sure, I have seen that before (maybe the acrobats in Beijing?). Anyhow – the show was entertaining enough 😉
After the show we made it to a Tamil restaurant for dinner – followed by a visit to a dodgy bar (the bar turned out completely fine … so nothing dodgy here).
This gallery contains 12 photos.
From Dambulla we continued towards Kandy. En-route we had a stop at a spice garden – where we got a good introduction into spice production, before making it over to the showroom for the sales pitch; lunch came together with … Continue reading
This gallery contains 14 photos.
This morning we had an early start once more, again to beat the crowds – this time at the Dambulla Cave Temples. The place has a history of more than two thousand years; there are a total of five caves … Continue reading
We made it to the hotel in Dambulla in the late afternoon. Most wanted a break after all that sightseeing and (even more so) after all the food.
We met up again in the evening for a visit to Dambulla’s wholesale vegetable market – to get a glimpse of Sri Lanka’s diversity, when it comes to fruit and vegetables.
As most of us were still pretty full from our late buffet lunch, many of the group joined in for a snackfood crawl in downtown Dambully. Priya here gave us an introduction to classic Sri Lankan snack foods – instead of dinner, we were essentially snacking through, trying bits here and pieces there … good flavors and just the right amount of food.
This gallery contains 16 photos.
For a good portion of the period from the 11th into the 13th century Polonnaruwa had been the capital of Sri Lanka, as well as a major commercial and religious center – – today all, what remains, is essentially a … Continue reading
This was a busy day – and it was not over yet.
After we had climbed down Sigiriya again, we made our way for a restaurant for a late lunch; after lunch we swapped our bus with 4WDs and continued for a game drive in Kaudulla National Park.
We soon discovered, what the park is famous for: the elephants. We saw hundreds of those, including many tuskers (i.e. elephants with tusks; not so easy to spot in Sri Lanka, as only about 5% of the male population have tusks here) – so very lucky. We were also lucky with the weather (as already for the whole day) – blue skies mingling with some very photogenic clouds – a perfect day for elephant watching.
The real fun part of the game drive – however – was the way back. With many of the roads in the park flooded, the way back turned into a 4WD mud fight – with loads of ups and downs beside the road and many of those downs straight into another pool of mud; driving obviously included loads of drifting (any direction) – – the experience overall felt a bit like a hectic roller coaster or log flume ride in an amusement park – not to mention, that is was great fun 😉
