Sand and Whales....and rain in Mirissa

Buses
The bus from Ella was around 4 hours. We had choices, The Galle bus is direct and goes through Mirissa, or there is the Matara bus which requires a 2nd bus or tuk tuk ride to Mirissa (20min by tuk tuk and 45 on bus). Be warned the tourist information centre does not always have the correct bus times!!! We wanted the direct bus, but as we arrived at the bus stop were told it had left 15 mins earlier and that the next bus was the Matara bus and it was over an hours wait! Not what you want to hear when you've dragged yourself out of bed at 6.30am for it!

Once in Matara we went for a tuk tuk as we were hot and wanted to get there. He also offered to help us find a room near the beach (possibly looking to make some money..but we were OK with this).

Where we stayed
We found a room about 100yds from the beach, simple but a base for 1,800lkr. Ayodya resort was family run and they have hot water and wifi...although both of which broke after our first day!
It was OK although the bathroom certainly needed a clean..my first job! And one of the members of staff was a little bit weird....

The beach
The beach was beautiful - small but perfectly formed. There were plenty of bars along the beach - all of which offered happy hour (usually 5-10pm so much longer than an hour!) So we could get cocktails and large beers for only 250LKR each!

Needless to say on our first night we ended up hanging around on the beach right through to dinner, eating fresh fish & drinking happily before heading back!
The one problem was that neither of us had any bug repellent on so the next morning we had been eaten alive and Gary had an allergic reaction!

The Bites...

So the next day we chilled, tried to stay out of the sun as it made Gary itch like crazy, he was covered! Once we got to the doctors he informed us it was likely sand fleas - that come out after its rained on the beach. Or bed bugs...the latter of which filled us with dread! So needless to say our following 2 nights were not particularly restful!

The no. 1 Rotti Shop 

We had our second nights Dinner here after seeing it was rated no.1 on trip advisor...we were not disappointed, the food was amazing...especially the sweet pudding rotti's. We ended up pre-ordering for the following night to have their rice and curry that looked amazing...which indeed it was! Probably our first spicy curry in Sri Lanka! We would definitely recommend it here, and the prices are cheap in comparison the the beach side restaurants (we spent about 1,400 both nights - although still not cheap in comparison to local restaurants)

The Rain

It seems that the south coast (which is now in low season) has different weather to most of the places so far, there is glorious sunshine a lot of the time and then short incredibly intense rainfall! But the rain seems to do nothing to help clear the air and make things cooler!

The Whales

So we did the whale trip, it was an early start at 6.30am, expensive at 2,500LKR each, but we think worth it. It includes a breakfast of an omelette roll and a sandwich with coffee, water & Juice and finishes around 10am. You are given sea sickness tablets on arrival...TAKE THEM...even if you do not usually suffer, it is a very bumpy ride and we saw soooo many people being sick!! Anyway we got to see Dolphins, Killer whales as well as another unknown whale (it moved to quick for us to identify!)

The un-lonliest lonely planet place...Ella

Sooooo....the infamous Kandy - Ella train ride
It's voted the most beautiful train journey in the world and included as an actual attraction in the lonely planet guide.
......They were right the route is stunning, with picture perfect views. But sadly it was rather difficult for us to enjoy due to having no seats for the entire 7 hrs we were on the train!

Our first impressions of Ella
Once we arrived off the platform we were bombarded by locals trying to sell us rooms. Most of them very much out of budget!
One lady however asked us what we were willing to pay - we said max 2000lkr to which she too easily said yes...leading me to think I should have said 1500!
The homestay was 'holiday homes ella' and was close to the centre, had hot water and WiFi - so not too bad, the lady seemed lovely and helped us with bus times etc for our onward travel.

The village was interesting, clearly our 1998 Sri Lanka guide that called Ella a 'quiet undiscovered village full of charming locals' was very much out of date! It clearly was a place that had been built up on the fact that travel guides rated it as somewhere to go. Now it as full of restaurants and bars that had a westener's price tag with often not a local in sight (other than the staff working there!) For once on our trip it seemed we were not in the minority...and that felt almost sad.

Dinner
Tired from our trips and hungry we decided to eat near to the homestay - but ended up being in the place voted no.1 on trip advisor! AK Bistro was a lovely clean place with a fusion of Japanese, Sri labkan and Italian foods. Gary ate pasta while I had devilled chicken (a popular sauce used over here) with boiled veg- which I was very much craving instead of rice! The food was great, it was an expensive treat in our eyes (although the whole meal still probably only coated £14 for both of us!)

Day 2 Ella
This morning we woke up and walked up little Adams peak - an easy walk to the top as there are stairs, but breathtaking views from the top. We meandered through tea fields on our way up and were even harassed by an old lady en route, who seemed to be picking tea. to take photos with her and then give her money!

After Adams peak we took a tuk tuk to a local tea factory (haptule) unfortunately it had stopped work for the day so we couldn't do the tour (due to it being dry season they finish work early) so instead we went to the rooftop cafe and had an amazing cup of tea with amazing views!
We then planned to go the the waterfall, but the heavens opened so we surcumed to 'chill bar' and I tried a lassie while Gary had a beer.

Dinner
That night we are somewhere that cooked local Sri Lankan food -(jade green)  we had to pre order in the afternoon but it was delicious and there was plenty of it! It was cheaper than the previous evening, but still not Sri Lankan prices...especially as everywhere in Ella adds a 10% service charge.

The Train

Walking up Little Adams Peak

To the hill county and the Perehera at Kandy

Bus Journey
We got the bus to Kandy from Habarana, it took about 4 hours on the bus (mostly standing) joys of the public transport here! The scenery became infinitely greener and more hilly once we were about an hour away which took our minds off of our sore feet! Gary had made friends with a local guy who had offered to help us out at the Festival and find somewhere good to sit/stand and also help us avoid being hassled too much which was kind! He seemed genuine, so Gary took his details.

Booking Train Tickets
Once in Kandy, we headed straight to the train Station in the hope of getting tickets to Ella 2 days later...However due to the Perahera Festival all reservable seats were taken, so we were simply advised to turn up early on the day to get the ticket & fight everyone else for a seat....I think if you plan on doing this journey its advisable to book at least a week in advance at either Kandy or Colombo Stations or online with one of the private companies!


Getting ready for the festival fun! 
So we went on to walk to our hotel... Thank goodness for Google maps as it was quite a walk from town and down some very narrow windy 'roads' we stayed at Satyodaya Education centre as it seemed the cheapest available with ensuite and not too far from the festival action! The rooms were clean and basic and there was good quick wifi.

After a quick shower we headed back into town to meet our new friend along with some fellow travellers- stopping for a quick sri lankan dinner String hoppers, curry & Kothu, before facing the crowds to find somewhere to sit.

Buddika (our Sri Lankan friend) was true to his word and great at getting rid of the many people trying to sell us seats to watch the parade.

We found somewhere on the main stretch of road to sit which was great, the atmosphere was great with all of the local people incredibly excited about the festival. It was a long wait for it to start, but once it did it was worth it!

The Kandy Esala Perahera 
This historical procession is held annually to pay homage to the Sacred Tooth Relic of the Lord Buddha, which is housed at a temple in Kandy. The procession started with men dancing with large whips that were swung around and made a loud bang like a gunshot once it came into contact with the ground, followed by fire dancers - some of which were very young! Then each parts of the temple had its own parade (4 in total) which included a variety of different types of musicians & dancers from different parts of Sri Lanka as well as a lot of elephants with extremely grand outfits. The whole parade was fascinating and clearly something that the people of Sri Lanka enjoy very much and is very much a symbol of the country and it's Buddhist history.

We were a little dubious about the elephants, of course they were in chains and some had even been trained to dance with the music, but it is clearly such a big part of their culture and it was very interesting to see. The festival went on to midnight so it was a very long day! 

Day 2 in Kandy

The following morning we went to the Temple of the sacred tooth, to find out more about the relic. Costing 1000LKR each. It was very interesting, we were able to learn a lot about the relic as well as see many old Buddhist artefacts & gifts in the museum. There was also a part of the museum dedicated to showing the damage that had been caused to the temple in the 1998 bombings. The tooth itself is held in a gold casket, which is held in the centre of the shrine - it was very grand and beautiful! Outside in the temple grounds there were other buildings with smaller museums - all included in the ticket price (apart from the World Buddhism Museum - extra 500LKR). You could spend a long time looking around them all - we decided to look in the Tusker museum - dedicated to an Elephant named Raja. His stuffed remains are inside - he served for the Perehara for over 50 yrs so they made the museum in his memory. I have to say it was weird seeing a stuffed Elephant!

After this we went for tea and then a walk around the lake. En route we were asked by some American travellers if we knew where they would find Helga's Folly - we hadn't heard of it but Gary pulled it up on google maps to show them. Intrigued we asked what it was and they told us it was a very eccentricly decorated hotel that is visited by many people due to how interesting it is to have a look around! So we decided to follow them and see what all the fuss was about...It was a long walk but it was certainly interesting once we got there! The hotel was more like an art gallery with the walls painted with various pictures and there being fabulously lavish furniture! The drink was certainly expensive by Sri Lankan Standards...$3 for a Sprite... but it was fun! 

After walking back we found somewhere to have some tasty Sri Lankan food....we were eating amongst tuk tuk drivers and locals...a very good sign! We tried lots of different things..I'll do a post later covering all of the culinary delights we tried in Sri Lanka and what they are!

Kandy Perehara

The top 3 photos are from google as our camera didn't manage to take many good ones due to the poor lighting!

The Scared Temple of the tooth

Seeing the cultural triangle with Habarana as a base

Transport
We left Negombo town en route to Habarana. We had to take 2 buses, one to kurunugela and then the next to habarana. It took around 5 hours, mainly due to major roadworks on the dambulla road which had us and standstill for nearly an hour. The bus journey was fun..but be warned the bus drivers here have a need for speed and love driving on the wrong side of the road towards oncoming traffic in order to get to where they want to be!
Seats can be difficult to get at times and aircon is a rarity. We learned the red buses here are government run whereas all the others are from private companies. And often the private companies will detour to drop off a friend or go massively off route in the aim of getting more passengers.

We arrived in Habarana centre and got a tuk tuk to the outskirts (Hiriwadunna)  where 'Homly Guest'....our home for the next 3 nights. When we arrived the guy seemed anxious and spoke very little English. But kept mentioning his Jeep. He helped us with our bags to our room, which looked clean, tidy and exactly as in the pictures. We changed and went to sit on the veranda with our calendar and guidebook to make a rough plan for the next few days.....where to start!

We looked at the sights of the cultural triangle and figured it would be best to do the one furthest away first. This was Anuradhapura the ancient city. The bus picked up from Habarana centre and would take around 90mins.
So we awoke early to catch the bus before it became too hot and it dropped us off in the New town at the expected time. We then had to navigate ourselves to the old sacred city to begin the sightseeing. Thankfully most people are super friendly and it only took a few awkward questions before we knew where we were going.
Turns out it is quite a walk! Especially in the heat! So we succumbed to the idea of hiring a tuk tuk to take us round all the sights, which definitely the right move (cost 1200 lkr for the day)...you can also hire bikes but like I said it was very hot! And actually the sights are actually very spaced out.
The sights are amazing - so crazy to think that in ancient times people had the capabilities to build such things!
A point to note is that as it is a Buddhist sacred city and there are lots of temples and Buddha statues - you must always have your shoulders covered and shoes and headwear off. This suddenly becomes a challenge to a poor westener like you or I, whose feet are not used to this and find walking on hot paving stones similar to walking on hot molten lava!
We had a great day and were also offered by our tuk tuk driver an additional trip to Minhitale where there is a large Buddha on the top of a big hill (additional 1,500). But by this point we were very tired and needed to just get back an relax!

The following day we went with another couple we'd met,  to Sigirya rock in the morning and Dambulla temple caves in the afternoon. Again we took the bus from Habarana - we got off at the Sigirya junction and went by tuk tuk to the rock. Sigirya rock is famous for the beautiful water gardens at the top and is another UNESCO site. We actually decided to not climb Sigirya rock itself but instead pidurangala Rock which is a third of the price (1000LKR), without the cues and you actually get to look at Sigirya properly and take photos of it. It's also much more fun to climb as there are no steps up to the top.

We then went onto Dambulla where despite the cheap gold exterior once you get inside the site is very beautiful and amazing that the caves could have been carved into temples so long ago, with such detail.  But watch out for the mischievous monkeys... If they see you opening your bag they suddenly become very interested in what your doing!!

We missed out Pollunuwara (the other sacred city) mainly because of time and that having looked at some other people's pictures it looked vaguely similar to Anuradhapura.

Anuradhapura:

Our Tuk Tuk for Anuradhapura!

Sigiriya -Climbing Pidurangala

Sigiriya Rock

Top of Sigiriya:

Dambulla - Temple Caves