Sri Lanka

Thursday 28th April 2016 – At 7:30am mum, Alysa and I squeezed into the back of a tuk tuk on a bumpy 40 minute ride to Sinharaja rainforest while dad stayed at the hotel to do some sketches of the view from the veranda. Our driver pointed out a pretty yellow bird as we drove along and Alysa and mum thinking this was our guide for the day asked him what it was. When the reply came back “yellow bird” they thought we might have a rubbish guide; in fact they needn’t have worried – our actual guide, waiting for us at the entrance to Sinharaja was excellent. We walked along muddy paths criss-crossed with buttressed tree roots deep into the humidity of the rainforest. We saw macaques, purple faced leaf monkeys, kangaroo lizards, a western giant squirrel, myriad butterflies, hump-nosed lizards, huge colourful spiders and large black millipedes. At intervals leeches would attach themselves to us, biting through our socks which proved no barrier to their voracity. Best of all though was the green pit viper poised motionless on a tree trunk not 2 metres from the path. Amazingly well camouflaged, these snakes will wait in ambush for days, ready to strike at any small animal that comes within range. After lunch at a waterfall in the forest we returned, hot and sweaty to the hotel. Dad, meanwhile had got chatting to Daniel, a young Sri Lankan chap staying at the hotel. It turned out we had been to the same sixth form college in Wales more than a decade apart – small world. That afternoon we said goodbye to Daniel and drove to Uda Walawe, home to a large population of Indian elephants. In this rural area accommodation was sparse and dad quickly gave up on air-con as a pipe dream, settling for a room with a fan and mosquito net. No sooner had we arrived than a power cut stripped dad of his only source of cooling and we were forced from our oven-like rooms onto the porch where a mixture of cold beer and iced drinks from the attentive staff kept everyone in good spirits until the power returned an hour later. That evening we booked a game drive into Uda Walawe National Park for 5:30am the next morning.

Friday 29th April 2016 – After a pre-dawn cup of tea we hopped into an open sided 4wd and watched the sun rise as we sped towards the park. Mum, normally stoic in adversity confessed their room had been a bit warm overnight which reading between the lines means they almost expired in there. From now on we would book separate hotels; comfort for mum and dad and economical for us. The game drive began unpromisingly with occasional obscured views of elephants in the dense vegetation. However as the morning drew on we saw more and more animals; elephants of all sizes and ages, spotted deer, water buffalo, troops of mischievous macaques, herons, pelicans, kingfishers, eagles, cormorants, egrets etc. At one point we were even fortunate enough to see a huge cobra racing away from the path, its strikingly patterned hood unmistakeable in the short grass. After a lunch of curry and rice back at the hotel Kandula drove us to Kandy. Our route took us through some scenic countryside; past manicured green hills of tea plantations, picturesque waterfalls, Buddha statues and brightly coloured Hindu temples. At Kandy we stopped at the Queens Hotel which mum and dad liked the look of although Dad became borderline apoplectic when the hotel receptionist quoted a room price of $145 where it was $60 online; soon resolved as you stand there and make the booking on your phone in front of them. With mum and dad sorted Alysa and I looked at a few uninviting options down dark streets in central Kandy before giving up and finding somewhere nicer but less central.

Saturday 30th April 2016 – Today with mum and dad doing their own thing in Kandy we had Kandula all to ourselves. First we visited a tea factory. We were shown round a working factory with each stage explained in order which was very informative; as avid tea drinkers we were amazed how little we knew about our favourite non-alcoholic tipple. After the tour we were given a complimentary cup of tea before inevitably being directed to the overpriced shop where bus loads of Japanese tourists were buying tea by the armful.
Next we visited two temples just outside Kandy; Galadaniya and Lankatilake. The former was Alysa’s favourite – she loved its spirituality and simplicity. The latter was objectively more impressive (an image of the temple features on the 500 rupee banknote) and unusual (the shrine combines strong elements of both Buddhism and Hinduism). As we travelled back into Kandy an elephant standing in full view on an open sided truck passed in the other direction. Kandula explained this was a temple elephant on its way to a smaller temple; when minor temples are having a festival they are sent an elephant by one of the bigger temples. In the afternoon we visited Sri Lanka’s most revered shrine, the Temple of the Tooth which is believed to contain one of Buddahs teeth. The tooth is the centrepiece of an entire ten day festival, the Esala Perahera that takes place annually in Kandy. We loved the temple; despite the throngs of foreign visitors it was primarily a place of worship and felt more special for that. Around 6pm, just as we were about to leave we heard drums and were able to watch one of the daily ceremonies. At the end of the ceremony people queue to file past the room containing the tooth. We stepped out of the brightly lit temple into the dark night feeling a bit more spiritual than when we arrived. That evening I booked 4 flights to Bangkok for the 4th May. I thought I had done well until Alysa noticed I had booked her ticket under her maiden name which led to a corporate style system of checks and double checks being implemented to avoid repeat incidents.