Stairway to Heaven
Door: Niels
31 Augustus 2015 | Sri Lanka, Colombo
My Sri Lankan adventures are almost over. I'm in Colombo now. Tomorrow evening a 16 hour journey awaits me. Let me tell you something about last week.
During the weekdays, I still teach at the temple. The afternoon I spend most of my time in Kandy or at the guesthouse, playing cards and other games with my fellow travellers. Last week I was trying to avoid the city of Kandy as much as possible. Due to Perahera, it's so crowded in the city. Even though the festival starts in the evening, people start camping in the streets around noon. And traffic is just crazy. Crossing the streets is like playing with your life, since traffic lights are purely decorative.
The weekend of the 21 of September, I went rafting and canyoning at the Kitulgala river. It was absolutely amazing! It is at this river that the movie The Bridge on the river Kwai was shot, while the actual bridge on the river Kwai is in Thailand.
That same evening we decided to climb Adam's Peak. This peak, just south of Kandy, has been the focus of pilgrimage for centuries. It is believed that Adam first set foot here after being cast out of paradise. The same place is also known as Sri Pada, the sacred footprint. Buddhists believe that Buddha left his final footprint here before reaching Nirvana. Samanalakande is perhaps its most poetic name; The Butterfly Mountain, where butterflies come to die.
So, we decided to climb this little peak with only 5600 steps. We took a cab at 10 o'clock that evening and came back at approximately 10.30 that morning.
To climb this mountain was no walk in the park. We started out in good spirit in the dark with our flashlights. But than it started pouring rain. At the horizon we could see some lightning. But no thunder. At this point the group broke. 5 people decided to return to the taxi and sleep in the car, while the other 5 decided to climb.
So we climbed and climbed in the pouring rain. Fortunately I bought a rain jacket just the day before at the local market in Kandy. Around 6 o'clock we made it to the top. There were many travellers with the same idea about climbing. Fortunately it stopped raining, but it was still foggy. We couldn't see the sunrise. It was very cold at the top and we were soaked.
The walk down was nice though. It was still misty but now we were able to see the incredible surroundings. At the way to the top we could only make out the steps in front of us.
The day after, my legs were concrete and my throat was sore. But I have no regrets about this trip. So that Monday after teaching the Monks, I decided to get a so called "Ayurveda", a Kandian heeling massage. The man who ran the place was half Dutch.
So this was my last week as a volunteer. I still taught the monks in the morning and in the afternoon I decided to join the others at Temple Renovation. At Temple Renovation you basically just paint a temple. Now some of my clothes are covered with paint spatter.
Thursday the whole guesthouse was invited by the Minister of Tourism to join a cultural celebration in Kandy, which was nice. We saw all kinds of traditional dances.
Friday was my last day in Kandy, so I had to say goodbye to the monks and my fellow volunteers. During my last few days in Sri Lanka I was travelling on my own. Saturday morning, I took the 5am train to Galle, a city in the south. After the 6 hour crazy train ride I arrived there. Galle is a really nice colonial city in the south of the country. The Portugese, the Dutch and the British had been here. The old city of Galle is in a old Dutch fort right at the ocean. It is here were I found my hostel. I also met my roommate from Kandy here by coincidence. How crazy is that?!
I was taking the historic walk to the fort the Lonely Planet described, when a man started talking to me. After a little chat I went on, but he kept following me. He was sitting next to me when he grabbed my arm and asked me if he could go back with me to my hostel. I quickly went away and after a while the guy stopped following me. That was wired!
That evening I had dinner with my roommate from Kandy and a bunch of other people.
While my roommate left the next day for Colombo, I still had one more day in Galle. Compared to Kandy, Galle is really quiet. I slept late, had some breakfast and just wandered about. Went to the Lighthouse and the Clock Tower, went to a museum (which was just random old stuff), and did some souvenir shopping. I ended the day in an almost empty club, drinking gin tonics and chatting with the bartender.
The next day I took the 11 o'clock train to Colombo, which took about 3 hours. This time I had to sit on the floor. But the route is nice. The train tracks are just beside the ocean.
In Colombo, I met my roommate again. This time it was not a coincidence. Had some lunch today and tried to figure out the bus to the airport at the bus station. Colombo is madness!
During the weekdays, I still teach at the temple. The afternoon I spend most of my time in Kandy or at the guesthouse, playing cards and other games with my fellow travellers. Last week I was trying to avoid the city of Kandy as much as possible. Due to Perahera, it's so crowded in the city. Even though the festival starts in the evening, people start camping in the streets around noon. And traffic is just crazy. Crossing the streets is like playing with your life, since traffic lights are purely decorative.
The weekend of the 21 of September, I went rafting and canyoning at the Kitulgala river. It was absolutely amazing! It is at this river that the movie The Bridge on the river Kwai was shot, while the actual bridge on the river Kwai is in Thailand.
That same evening we decided to climb Adam's Peak. This peak, just south of Kandy, has been the focus of pilgrimage for centuries. It is believed that Adam first set foot here after being cast out of paradise. The same place is also known as Sri Pada, the sacred footprint. Buddhists believe that Buddha left his final footprint here before reaching Nirvana. Samanalakande is perhaps its most poetic name; The Butterfly Mountain, where butterflies come to die.
So, we decided to climb this little peak with only 5600 steps. We took a cab at 10 o'clock that evening and came back at approximately 10.30 that morning.
To climb this mountain was no walk in the park. We started out in good spirit in the dark with our flashlights. But than it started pouring rain. At the horizon we could see some lightning. But no thunder. At this point the group broke. 5 people decided to return to the taxi and sleep in the car, while the other 5 decided to climb.
So we climbed and climbed in the pouring rain. Fortunately I bought a rain jacket just the day before at the local market in Kandy. Around 6 o'clock we made it to the top. There were many travellers with the same idea about climbing. Fortunately it stopped raining, but it was still foggy. We couldn't see the sunrise. It was very cold at the top and we were soaked.
The walk down was nice though. It was still misty but now we were able to see the incredible surroundings. At the way to the top we could only make out the steps in front of us.
The day after, my legs were concrete and my throat was sore. But I have no regrets about this trip. So that Monday after teaching the Monks, I decided to get a so called "Ayurveda", a Kandian heeling massage. The man who ran the place was half Dutch.
So this was my last week as a volunteer. I still taught the monks in the morning and in the afternoon I decided to join the others at Temple Renovation. At Temple Renovation you basically just paint a temple. Now some of my clothes are covered with paint spatter.
Thursday the whole guesthouse was invited by the Minister of Tourism to join a cultural celebration in Kandy, which was nice. We saw all kinds of traditional dances.
Friday was my last day in Kandy, so I had to say goodbye to the monks and my fellow volunteers. During my last few days in Sri Lanka I was travelling on my own. Saturday morning, I took the 5am train to Galle, a city in the south. After the 6 hour crazy train ride I arrived there. Galle is a really nice colonial city in the south of the country. The Portugese, the Dutch and the British had been here. The old city of Galle is in a old Dutch fort right at the ocean. It is here were I found my hostel. I also met my roommate from Kandy here by coincidence. How crazy is that?!
I was taking the historic walk to the fort the Lonely Planet described, when a man started talking to me. After a little chat I went on, but he kept following me. He was sitting next to me when he grabbed my arm and asked me if he could go back with me to my hostel. I quickly went away and after a while the guy stopped following me. That was wired!
That evening I had dinner with my roommate from Kandy and a bunch of other people.
While my roommate left the next day for Colombo, I still had one more day in Galle. Compared to Kandy, Galle is really quiet. I slept late, had some breakfast and just wandered about. Went to the Lighthouse and the Clock Tower, went to a museum (which was just random old stuff), and did some souvenir shopping. I ended the day in an almost empty club, drinking gin tonics and chatting with the bartender.
The next day I took the 11 o'clock train to Colombo, which took about 3 hours. This time I had to sit on the floor. But the route is nice. The train tracks are just beside the ocean.
In Colombo, I met my roommate again. This time it was not a coincidence. Had some lunch today and tried to figure out the bus to the airport at the bus station. Colombo is madness!
Reageer op dit reisverslag
Je kunt nu ook Smileys gebruiken. Via de toolbar, toetsenbord of door eerst : te typen en dan een woord bijvoorbeeld :smiley
