Day 5- Dambulla to Kandy

We said goodbye to our wonderful hosts in Dambulla and continued on our adventure heading towards Kandy. Our first stop was Aluvihare temple in Matale. It is a rock temple but is known as the place that the doctorine of Budda was written. We were shown how they used palm leaves and a needle to write the book and were given a souvenir palm leaf with our names on it to take home. Next stop was a Hindu temple Sri Mathumariamman. We were super excited about visiting a Hindu temple as we loved all the Hindu temples in India but after arriving we quickly realized this was a little different. It was very brightly coloured and a bit kitch for our liking. We walked around the temple and then headed out to the main road in Matale and it was very busy. We found Jerome doing some shopping and I quickly lost Rudi who had run across the road for some photos. Jerome told us this was the longest road in Sri Lanka! Next stop was a spice garden where we were taken around and shown the different trees and plants and got to test out a few, smelling, tasting, head shaking!! We learnt what different spices are good for and their uses. We then got a free massage which Rudi and I got the giggles throughout. Was very relaxing though except for the finger cracking! Rudi tested out the hair removal cream so now has a bald patch on his hand! We visited their shop and bought some massage oil and citronella spray! Back on the road and as always I needed the toilet so we headed for Kandy and decided to have lunch and a toilet break. We went up a few flights of stairs and were seated on a balcony over looking a river. Right in front of us was a man probably 3 stories up on two thin planks of wood rendering a patch of wall. It was interesting to watch but also a little scary. He gave us a few cheeky smiles as he worked away soaked as it started to pour rain! There was no Sri Lankan rice and curry on the menu so we opted for a vegetable biryani and Rudi the chicken biryani. When it came out it looked like KFC chicken...it smelt like KFC chicken and according to Rudi it tasted like KFC chicken! There was a KFC just down the road so we discussed whether they got yesterday's left overs! Haha. Let's just say it was the worst meal we had so far. Jerome then took us to a gem factory where we watched a video to see how the gems were mined, walked around the museum looking at the different gems and cuts, walked through a replica mine and then into the shop...Rudis worst nightmare! Jerome was on my side saying that if he loved his wife he should buy me something but we left empty handed but enjoyed admiring the beautiful jewellery...not so much the hassling to buy! Our day had been busy but we decided to go to the Botanical gardens for a couple of hours to finish off the day. Jerome dropped us and about 30mins into the gardens it started to pour. We had no umbrella or no raincoats. The trees sheltered us quite a bit so we wandered around taking photos of the biggest bamboo we have ever seen, some amazing shaped trees that looked like they could come alive and wrap you up in their branches at any minute and a monkey stampede as they seeked shelter from the rain. We decided we couldn't hide from the rain any longer so we wandered back getting absolutely soaked but since it wasn't cold it was ok. We found our way back to the car and Jerome was there waiting for us laughing at the drowned rats he saw before him. "Did you not have an umbrella, I have one here in the car!" Some help that was! Anyway we headed off in the dark thinking we were going to our hotel but when we pulled up it didn't look like a hotel. We got out unsure of what was going on and Jerome told us this was his house! We were welcomed inside by Jerome, his wife and daughter. We then met his mother and father in law. We talked for awhile but his daughter was very shy. They then told us to sit at the table and uncovered a spread of Sri Lankan sweets! Expecting them to join us we sat down but no one else did. They told us what all the food was and said it was all for us! I'm sure it was enough to feed a family of 6!!!! We tried a bit of everything and it was all very yummy... I have no idea what we ate except Rudi had the giggles when I clarified one sweet with them called something like 'assme!' It was slightly uncomfortable being watched by 5 strangers as we ate the unknown but they were so happy to have us in their home and refused many requests to sit and eat with us. They made us the best pot of tea...very sweet and packed us doggy bags to take back with us to the hotel! It was quite late now so we said goodbye and Ayubowan to Jerome's mother and father in law and got back in the van with his wife and daughter who came along for the ride! We drove through the city centre which was quite busy and lit up and up a windy road to our hotel. We dropped off our bags and headed upstairs to check out the rooftop view, waited over half an hour to order a beer and then gave up and went to bed! What a busy day!

Day 4 - Safari + Sigiriya

We had an early start today for our safari meeting our driver at 5am. We set off in the dark with a little drizzle and actually felt a little cold for the first time whilst here. About a 20 odd minute drive later we met our safari driver and picked up our jeep which didn't really look like it could do much against an elephant honestly but hey im sure we could out run it! With the vinyl roof pulled back and the wind in our hair we set off to Habarana Eco park. The forest is a lush green and quite dense in areas, with the clearing covered by high grass. We had a slight fog for most of the morning but we didn't mind as it kept the hot sun off our backs. Initially we saw a fox but Bec and I only saw it once it was running away (our eyes obviously not as good as the locals) next we saw a few birds - peacocks being the most interesting which until today I didn't know can actually fly quite well! It wasn't long before we came across our first wild Elephant! who I'm pretty sure was having a lot of fun teasing us by hiding behind large bushes... He was very relaxed and enjoying his breakfast. We watched him for a while and took a few pictures and then moved on. Not much further down the track our driver decided to turn around and come back (there was a fair bit of mud so not sure if he was worried about getting stuck) funnily enough though we had just driven through quite a bit of mud and on the way back sure enough we got bogged... we were quite lucky here for 2 reasons - 1 as I said earlier our jeep was only probably good for outrunning an elephant so its good there were none coming at us and 2nd there was another jeep just behind us to pull us out! Soon enough we were out, on the move and dodging quite a few over hanging branches (also spiderwebs), then just after crossing a small stream we came upon 4-5 more elephants!! again they were happily strolling along at a snails pace and chowing down on the many green plants on offer. It was awesome to see them so relaxed and simply doing what they do not even batting an eyelid at us, our guide told us there are around 300 elephants in this park and approx 6000 in Sri Lanka. Next we pulled up to a big rocky hill which we climbed up to the top and then up some stairs to the top of a little wooden lookout to see the view - which was beautiful! nothing but forest as far as the eye could see not even a single electrical pole! such a nice change to our lives! We jumped back in the jeep and headed back home, we both had a lot of fun standing and enjoying the wind as we sped along. Then not long after being back on the main road we came across... more elephants! both sides of the road 4-5 on one and a little more on the other, one of them with a fairly big baby elephant! which stuck to its mother very closely, after admiring all the elephants and many photos later we headed back to drop off the jeep and onto our next adventure at Sigiriya. So Sigiriya is a huge rock onto which King Kasyapa built a palace over 1500 years ago! quite impressive! Jerome dropped us at the gates and advised us not to get a guide (which was good cos we sure didn't need one) we headed over got our tickets and walked through what once must have been some beautiful gardens - medium sized pools to the sides and plenty of trees everywhere and in the backdrop the huge rock Sigiriya is built on - quite imposing as it is really straight up! would have been very easy to defend before air power. It wasn't long before we came across the many steps we needed to climb to get to the top... luckily we picked a good day to do it as it was a little overcast so not as hot, also the stairs were fairly shaded for most of the walk so wasn't bad! As you walk up it isn't long before you get beautiful views of the surrounding countryside and mountains in the distance - everything is so beautifully green here! About 1/3rd of the way up there is a cut into the rock where there are some surviving frescoes mostly of ceremonial women. Then you passed the mirror wall which was supposedly in ancient times so highly polished the king could see his reflection in it. A fair few steps later - some of which aren't trusty old ones but dodgy looking steel new ones (a little scary when you think if it gives way its you and the side of a cliff face) is the lion staircase which once was a huge statue of a lion with stairs heading up in between its outstretched front paws, unfortunately all that remains now is those front paws - it must have been damn impressive in its day! once you pass these its a push for the top, and once there the view is amazing! 360 degree view of mostly beautiful green forest and some amazing mountains in the distance to top it off - oh and some ruins of the kings palace to top it off! it really all is quite spectacular! not surprising as to why someone would choose it to propose I guess! Not long after getting up to the top we heard a little yelling and screaming as the friends of the happy couple found out the good news. After exploring the top and taking many a photo and watching all the Russian tourists feed all their junk food to the monkeys we made our way down to the bottom met up with Jerome and headed back to town stopping off at a dodgy massage place which was filthy so we gave it a miss. We asked Jerome to join us for a few beers before lunch and had a good chat with him about life before having another awesome Sri Lanken meal. We finished today a little earlier then normal as its been a full on couple of days so we headed back to the hotel around 3 and relaxed the afternoon away.

Day 3 - Anuradhapura

After a lovely breakfast we met our driver at the front gate about 8:30. It was a bit of a drive from Dambulla but Jerome took is off track a little to show us a few hidden secrets. We first stopped bast a huge lake that was built by the king. It went as far as you could see in all directions and was surrounded on 3 sides my mountains. We stopped on the side of the road for some photos and Rudi went walking to find the perfect spot. We came across a man fixing his canoe that was damaged in the floods they had only a week or so before. We took some photos and then headed off to find a beautiful Buddha statue Jerome wanted us to see. After driving for some time we came to an abrupt stop...the road/bridge we needed to cross was flooded as they had opened up the gate from the dam to let water out and we could not cross! We back tracked a little and stopped to ask some guys on the side of the road. They said they knew a way we could get there so we left the car on the side of the road and headed on foot. Was a nice walk through a local village, along the train tracks and up into the jungle to the Aukana Buddha. It was incredible. Very beautiful standing at 12 metres tall, carved out of the boulder and dating back to the 5th century. We walked back through the village, tipped the local man a few hundred rupees for showing is the way and then headed back on the road for Anuradhapura. We stopped just outside of the ancient city and Jerome organised a guide for us. We went on our way to explore the 40km2 city. It was a full moon day so it was a special celebration and there were people everywhere. Our first stop was Ruwanwelisaya Chethiya the largest Stupa in Anuradhapura. We had to take off our shoes at the front gate so we had to make a bit of a mad dash on the hot ground to the next piece of shade. After we walked around the stupa we headed back to the car and decided to have a lunch break and escape the heat for a little while. We went to a nice restaurant called the Grand Hotel and there was a wedding party there. The car was decked out with a large red bouquet on the front, smaller bouquets on the mirrors and bows on all the doors! We sat for lunch listening to the dance music and festivities if the wedding downstairs. We were offered drinks and when we said yes to a beer the guy came up close and in a quiet voice said it's a special day today and we are not allowed to serve you beer but I'll serve you some 'tea!' We said we were fine to get something else as we did not want to be disrespectful but he insisted. Sure enough out came our beer in a teapot with two tea cups. Our waiter said "can I pour you a tea?" With a big cheeky grin on his face! When he asked later how the tea was I told him a little cold! Anyway after a long slow lunch we found our driver and guide spying on the festivities downstairs and headed back to explore. There was just so much to see, guard stones, moon stones, elephant pond and twin ponds just to name a few. We particularly liked the moonstone and the symbolism of it. That in order to escape the sufferings of everyday life then we need to live a simple life. We got followed on our way out to buy their stone pieces and Fudi started bartering. After telling mehe wasn't going to budge from 300 rupees we walked away empty handed only to be followed to the car where Rudi gave in and bought it for 500. We drove our guide back to his home about 20kms away and then headed home ourselves. It was dark now and we were pretty exhausted. We had a lovely dinner again at the guesthouse with a few beers and got an early night.

Day 2: Negombo to Dambulla

We woke early from a well needed good nights sleep! We packed out bags back up and headed up stairs for some breaky. The view was quite nice across the rooftops and really tall palms scattered throughout! The temperature was very warm already and it was only 7:30! After breaky we met our driver downstairs and headed off four our 2.5-3hr drive that was more like 4.5hrs! The countryside was a mix of green palms and tropical landscapes to busy and dusty cities! It was quite interesting but after a few hours of bumping along I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer and dozed off! Rudi enjoyed some political chats with Jerome and we learnt our first Sinhalese words Ayubowan a greeting for long life, stuti is thankyou and  epa stuti for no thankyou! Jerome took us to a beautiful place for lunch where we declined the all you can eat buffet for 1100 rupees and decided on some vegetable curry and rice which turned out to be all you could eat as the wIter tried to refill our bowls when we finished! We had to tell him to stop and we rolled out of there very full. We then met the owner of the driver company we booked through who put the guilt trip on us that the hotels we had booked at didn't have accomodation for our driver and we needed to ask them for a room for him. After politely telling him that we had already paid for his rooms in the price we paid he left us and we continued on our way. We checked in to our next home for a few days at Dignity villas down a very bumpy dirt road! We are given a cold towel to cool off with and an orange looking fruit juice that we had no idea what it was but drank anyway... Not sick so was safe I think! We got changed into some walking gear and headed to the Dambulla Rock Temple! It was stinking hot and we had all broken a sweat after walking a couple of metres from the van! We headed up many stairs, stopping to admire the mountains and scenery and also to catch our breath! At the top there was 5 different cave temples filled with over 167 Buddha statues and 2100 square metres of Buddhist murals. After removing our shoes before entering we ran across the scorching hot stones to find shade in the temples. They were very impressive with Buddhas of all sizes. The painted ceilings and walls were amazing. The cave temples started off small and grew as we entered the next. After many photos we got our shoes back from the old shoe keeper man for 25 rs each and headed back down the stairs. We cranked up the aircon and headed back into town to find our driver somewhere to sleep. No luck as yet as he said they were too expensive. We came back to our homestay and had a lovely chat to the owner Daniel and he offered us his very last beer...priding he would scoot off on his motorbike to buy us some more! We sat outside most of the evening, Tudi trying to complete one side of a rubric cube and me being eaten alive by mosquitos! We were made a delightful home cooked Sri Lankan rice and curry and Daniel proceeded to show me the correct way to eat it...thought I was going to be fed!!! It was delicious and soon after I headed for bed...so full and absolutely exhausted.

Sri Lanka Honeymoon Day 1!

After a crazy few months...well actually a crazy year we are finally able to relax and enjoy some time together! Nothing like some last minute packing and I do mean last minute we made it to the airport about 10:30pm to join a huge line waiting to check in! We had some last minute shopping to do but by the time we checked in the shops had shit so Rudi was heading to Sri Lanka without a toothbrush and me without a camera! First flight was about 8 hrs to KL and we were both absolutely exhausted so slept on and off for most of the flight! Then we were delayed in KL but finally made it to Sri Lanka safely. If anyone needs a new fridge fly to Sri Lanka! We met our driver Jerome who had been waiting patiently for a couple of hours as our plane was delayed. He helped us get a sim for our phone change some money and we were off in a very nice big van...plenty of room for Rudi's legs and the a/c was amazing! After stopping several times to ask for directions we found out hotel Shanith Guest house and checked in. We got changed and took a short stroll down to the beach! The sun was very hot and the beach packed mainly with locals trying to cool off! Rudi braved the waves first as I sat sheltering under his tshirt then I attempted a swim but only got waist deep and was a little afraid I would be swept out to sea!  The water was the warmest water I have ever been in, was just like a bath. Not so good for cooling off but beautiful all the same! By this time it was well past beer o'clock so we headed for the closest beach bar and ordered a special brew...8.8% beer! We were approached by some beach vendors and Rudi tested out his haggling skills only to get upset when I interrupted at the end and gave the guy an extra 100 rupees! Then we got swamped by other people trying to sell us and a very persistent old lady but I stayed string and didn't give in. Beach vendors 1: Bec and Rudi 1!!! From there we wandered back along the main road to the Sherry Bar and drank a couple if lion megas! 1.5l jugs whilst enjoying some Sri Lankan curry and rice! Both a little tipsy we wandered back to our room, enjoyed cold showers and settled in for the night!

Bangkok

We woke up just before 7 today to get ready as we were being picked up between 7.15-7.30, about 2 minutes after our alarm went off reception called to tell us our bus was here! So we scrambled to get dressed and ready and we were out by 15 past, our driver was already a little pissed off, too bad for him he had to wait another 20-30 minutes at our hotel for 1 other girl! As you can guess he was very pissed off by that stage. He zoomed through the city streets like a psycho to the first of many bus changes for us today, so bus change #1, we were split into different groups and off we went again. Fast forward about 3 hours and we arrived at the bridge over the river Kwai, here we went into probably the lamest museum ive ever been in and then walked over the bridge, a quick drive away we stopped at a war cemetery for about 10 minutes and then off again to have some lunch, after lunch was our 2nd bus change and off we went to a small waterfall, looked around here for about 15 or so minutes and swapped to our 3rd bus and headed to the tiger temple. Once there we quickly ran inside as we only had about an hour to look around, we first came upon the larger tigers which were in a canyon and most were asleep, they were chained up but to be fair they did look in good condition and all of them were in the shade out of the scorching hot sun, here we individually were given the chance to walk around with one of the escorts who told you where you could go/sit/stand and then took photos of you with the tigers. It was all over very quickly and so we moved on to the younger tigers, these tigers were about 7 months old and probably a little smaller then ½ the size of the adults. The younger tigers have an enclosure similar to one you would see at Melbourne zoo and they were very active and playing with each other in the pool they have, there were 2 tigers out of the enclosure that you could pat and sit with for a little while and take some photos, they were absolutely stunning animals, near here was a little nursery where 6 or so cubs were sleeping these tiny little cats were only 7 days old! So cute but hard to see behind all the bars. We didn’t want to leave but our short hour quickly came to an end and we headed back to the bus for our 4th change and next stop, a ride on the Thai - Burma railway, we were only on for 4 stops but it was well and truly enough (neither of us are interested in anyway in trains) and we were both very fed up by the rushed and disorganized tour by this stage (in all honesty we only wanted to see the tigers!). 5th bus change and we were on our way home, 2 and a half hours later we stopped for petrol and to stretch our legs, we all cram back in only to stop 5 minutes later for our 6th bus change which luckily was the last one! 2 couples asked to be dropped off first as they had flights to catch, the driver dropped the first couple off but forgot about the second! Whom then started complaining, the poor driver was so stressed by the end of it he was cursing the traffic and making mistakes like taking us to the wrong hotel, we ended up giving him a tip and told him we hoped his night would get better, it seemed to cheer him up but im guessing the last couple who were the ones complaining and the last on the bus probably gave him a hard time after we had left. So that was pretty much our day, bad tour just trying to squeeze way too much into the day which meant you had no time to enjoy anything really! We went out for dinner and walked back through the market stalls on the way home.

Bangkok

Well it was bye to Koh Samui bright and early. Our hotel drove us to the airport for an expensive fee and we were off to Bangkok. The flight was only about 1hr so pretty short. When we got to Bangkok we got a taxi to the hotel and it was pink! I was very excited! Anyway for some stupid reason I booked a hostel and it is very expensive the most we have paid anywhere except Koh Samui and it isn’t very good! Anyway it will do, its clean just very plain for the price we are paying. Anyway we had to wait like 2 ½ hrs before they would let us check in which was ridiculous but we just sat on the couch and vegged. We had a little rest once we got our room then headed to a huge shopping centre/market across the road. It is the craziest place. We didn’t buy anything though! We had some dinner and then headed back to the hotel as I was sick AGAIN! After a short rest we headed into Patpong Night Bazaar, another market selling fake everything! It is also one of the red light districts in Bangkok and we were constantly harassed into coming into one of the bars to see a ping pong show. We eventually said ok to one after he assured us there was no cover charge and we just had to buy a beer each for 100 baht. We went in and got our beer and we were swamped by girls in bikinis massaging us and talking to us and bringing drinks over and cheersing us. Then the drinks piled up in front of us and after we told them to stop another scary lady came over with the bill for our drinks and instead of the 200 baht we were told for our two beers the bill was 2200 baht! We cracked the shits and after a short argument with them we stormed out with our almost full beers and left 200 baht for them! We didn’t see any ping pong balls! A few shooting balloons and some bday candles being blown out but our Bangkok Ping Pong Show experience only lasted a disappointing 5 minutes. After that we were not game to try another place so we headed to Mc.D’s for a light snack and then got a Tuk Tuk back to near the hotel. We walked through more market stalls and some were just setting up at 10pm at night! Crazy place! Anyway we just booked a tour for our last day tomorrow and we are off to the Tiger Temple along with many other places so a big day ahead!

ps. sorry about the photo, we took about 4 photos today!