Swanky Sri Lanky

Its hard to believe that I have been off and away for more than a month. Running around India has been so 'full' that I almost forgot that my itinerary included another country; I am almost embarrassed to say that as we sat in our seats on the flight from Chennai to Colombo, this time I really didn't know what to expect. I thought, 'well the food will be spicier and the weather will be hotter', but that is about as far as my imagination took me.
Our trusty 'Lonely Planet', along with some warnings from Sundar (my little tag along from Hyderabad...) said to be careful of being ripped off. I left the airport with my guard up, but by the time we had been kindly directed to the public bus to take us to Negembo, and cab drivers respectfully backed off when we responded 'no thank you' to their offers of a ride, I tossed whatever guard I had at the airport (I'll pick it up for my flight back to India)!
Sri Lanka instantly won me over and i do love it here. We decided to start our trip in Kandy. We took a public bus for practically pennies and arrived in the dark and rain in town. In the morning we acquainted ourselves with this pleasant town. It surrounds a lake, which has some turtles and what look like mini 'gators that loll about on loose logs and branches. The town has a really fantastic bazaar and we spent some time weaving around on the streets of Kandy. Our first day was pretty lazy. In the evening though, while running around in the rain trying to look for a resto we'd read about, 'Kandy Muslim Hotel' a man sauntered over and told us that our umbrella was far too small for the two of us, let alone three, and he nudged his way in. His English was excellent and as he told us about his love for Sri Lanka and what would we like to know about fine country? We asked where the restaurant was, and turns out we stood right in front of it. We invited him for supper with us. His name is Mike Johnson - that's right folks, the most patriotic and prideful Sri Lankan I've met and his name is Mike Johnson - and he runs the gift shop at the Ceylon Tea Museum. He was a real gem of a man and we enjoyed his company. The next day as we wandered the market hoping to find him, a bunch of his friends found us, knowing that we'd be around and gave us the full tour of the market, filling our bellies with 5 different varieties of mangoes and bananas. It was delicious. Speaking of delicious, can we talk about food for a minute here? Its amazing. And spicy, but not too crazy spicy. Perfect spicy.

Kandy was rainy and we left for Ella. The drive there was spectacular. We climbed through winding switch bac roads, past waterfalls and through tea plantations that have been carved like stairs into the sides of the hills. In Ella, we decided to splurge and stay in the nice room in Hill Top Guesthouse. The view from our front door was of 'Ella gap'; a valley between the two mountains. On a clear morning we could see to the ocean. On the right 'Ella Rock' towered with clouds constantly breezing by and to the left there is 'Little Adam's Peak' - It was really spectacular. We climbed Ella Rock our first day and it was quite the adventure. Wandering through tea plantations, across train tracks, over bridges, and through jungle-esque forest before reaching the ecalyptus trees that line the tops of the mountains. We had a guide take us through the rambling trail and once we reached the top (after saving me from leeches!! twice!) we wandered to a small construction in the distance. At this point, the clouds were beginning to surround us, like we were in the cloud. We came across what I assume is a father-son duo working on building a temple at the top of the mountain. We took some photographs and he asked us to bring them to him the next day. On our way down we stopped at the little house of our guide, had a really fantastic cup of tea, met his daughters and played with their puppies (tarzan and lucky). We decided the next morning would be dedicated to printing photos, getting the girls some school pens and notebooks and colored pencils to bring to them the next day. And that's what we did, then had yet another cup of delicious tea.
Its hard to try and sum up what happened, already it seems like I have missed out important details but when so much happens, in such a different place, its hard to remember it all and then transform it into words. With that said...
We came from Ella, the land of amazing mountains and beautiful curries to Unawatuna yesterday afternoon. Now we are in the south coast. In Hill Country we were 1041m above msl and now we are back at the beach. It feels different to be back to close to the ocean, the air is hotter and salty, but the food is just as tasty.

The difference between Sri Lanka and India is a lot greater than I had expected, although as I admitted before, I really didn't know what to expect. For one, the streets are cleaner and people are friendlier. They don't seem to have the same garbage issues here. And when people look at you they smile, instead of just staring. In general SL seems to be free of some of the social and environmental problems that India suffers from, but I know that SL has its own strife. However, Sri lankans seems to really love their country. A few people have mentioned that the political upheavals here has kept people away, and the tsunami kept beach tourism at bay in the last years, but no ones spirit seems to be dampered too greatly. So, in all, I love Sri Lanka.
I wish i could get this computer to read my camera so I could upload some photos but I don't think its gonna happen this time around.

Until next time!