Tuesday 21 May 2013

Sri Lanka: More steps than a bad 90s pop group.

On Sunday we left the disappointingly average Colombo and headed for Kandy. Surely a place bearing the name "Kandy" is obligated to live up to the expectations that comes with it. Having said that, Sunshine in Melbourne does a fantastic job at contradicting this theory.

At 8:40am we entered the busy Colombo station and bought first class tickets for 500 rupees, which equates to just under $5. First class isn't as special as it sounds. Basically you sit in the same type of carriage as everyone else, but get a fancy (make that grimey and unclean) viewing window that looks out the back of the train (we were in the last carriage). You're also only sharing with about 17 other people as opposed to 300 and several goats. The train is a rusty old diesel engine that could be as old as Sri Lanka itself. Considering how bumpy the ride is, I'm surprised the old thing manages to stay in one piece.

The train left Colombo on schedule and as we had previously read, the journey did not disappoint. The train sneaks between kilometers of dense green rainforests, occasionally clearing so that you get a glimpse of the breathtaking Sri Lankan countryside. It's quite surprising just how mountainous this island is. We left our seats in first class to go check out the view from the storage cabin which had its loading doors opened wide allowing us to get a better look. Workplace Safety isn't a high priority in Sri Lanka. We sat in the door way and dangled our legs out the side of the train as we bounced along the countryside. After a couple of near misses, which would have most certainly ended in me becoming a double amputee, I decided it would be probably best if I returned to my seat.
A Sri Lankan cattle wagon (train) 


We got to Kandy after roughly three hours and set off on the increasingly frustrating task of finding a hostel or guest house. We had pre-decided on one particular guest house to avoid having to wander around the streets of a country which has yet to embrace tourism, but this still didn't help our plight. Sri Lanka is the first country I have been to where taxi and tuk tuk drivers don't have the faintest idea where anything is. This is despite us showing them numerous maps and addresses. We even managed to somehow get an off duty policeman drive us to our destination and he barely bad a clue.

After a couple frustrating hours we finally arrived at our guest house. We were pleasantly surprised to find another couple of backpackers staying there. These guys were a cool couple from Sydney who were starting the beginning of a seven month trip and Sri Lanka was their first destination. They had just come from the south so it was nice to get some info on where to go, which meant our itinerary changed for 40th time.

We did some exploring around Kandy and we're relieved to find it an awesome little city with a great vibe. There's a nice big lake in the middle and pretty cool temple which apparently possesses a tooth of Buddha that has super powers. Apparently it floats and stuff, but you don't get to see it. Lame.
Don't mess with the hornets 


The next day we decided to pay a driver to take us out to a place called sigiriya which has a massive Uluru type rock with a temple on top of it. For some reason Sri Lankans enjoy ripping off tourists and had set the entry fee at $30, which seems to be standard practice throughout the country. It'd be nice if they recognised that we're not all wealthy tea barons who wear monocles and play croquet. Despite the steep cost, the place was actually pretty awesome. It's about 1500 steps to the summit and it's worth it just for the view from the top. Just make sure you don't get attacked by the hornets at the bottom. There's not much left of the temple that was originally built on the top of the rock, but the view of the surrounding countryside is pretty damn impressive. After shaking a bloke who wanted a tip for following us half way up the rock we headed for home.
The view from sigiriya 


We hadn't eaten for the entire day meaning I could eat the arse out of a low flying duck. Thankfully it didn't come to that and we had the pleasure of cooking with our guest house host. She put on an amazing spread of local Sri Lankan food which to call amazing would be an insult. It was easily the best food we'd had. The food here is a bit of a combination of Indian and Chinese food and is actually solid unlike Indian. Thankfully my stomach has coped quite well with it and I haven't experienced any Delhi belly just yet.

After much deliberating with the help of our new Sydney side friends, we decided to join them and head for Adams peak. Adams peak is a 5000 step monster mountain with a temple on the top. We didn't really know what we were getting ourselves into when we signed up.

The journey would begin the morning after at 2am and we would arrive at the summit just for sunrise. This place is nestled in Sri Lanka's highlands so the temperature is bloody cold. If the 2am start was enough for you, it wouldn't have mattered if you started this climb at 11 in the morning after 3 red bulls and 4 cups of the coffee. The ascent lulls you into a false sense of security with some nice low gradient inclines and friendly steps before smashing you with cobbled platforms and near vertical sections. By the half way point I was keeling over in total exhaustion. 

We finally managed to hit the top at about 5:30 just in time for the sun to rise. The ascent is almost completely in darkness, only illuminated by the occasional light to guide your path. This means you have no idea what to expect when the sun finally pokes from behind the thick mist and clouds which envelope the peak. We joined the throng of shivering tourists and waited for the moment. I can honestly say that when it happened it was one the most amazing experiences I've ever had. You are literally above the clouds and it looks almost exactly like it does when you look out the window of a plane. On this particular day the clouds were too thick to see the ground, but it was still very surreal.
It might look heavenly, but the walk up was hell


We made the descent back to our hostel which was much more enjoyable than the ascent. The entire mountain is surrounded by view after view of amazing scenery and it makes the climb well worth the pain. Currently I feel as though I have developed parkinsons disease or something as I can't even hold my legs still. I don't even want to think about how painful tomorrow will be.
One of many amazing views


So now I'm going to have a nap, hopefully wake up, drink some local rum and figure out the next stupid thing to do.

Sunday 19 May 2013

Sri Lanka - insane or ingenious trip?

So as a few you have probably found out, I have taken an impromptu trip to Sri Lanka. For those of you who don't know, my former employer was nice enough to cut me loose three weeks before the end of my notice period (I resigned) and agree to continue paying me until the end of the month! A rare showing of generosity indeed! So after a solid 17 seconds of consideration once the good news had been delivered, I decided that rather then start my new job early and earn some nice double pay, I'd rather spend my time sweating buckets and arguing with tuk tuk drivers. I must have a slight masochistic streak. It seems I'm not the only one though. In bizarre circumstances, I have managed to recruit someone to join me on this poorly organised trip to the sub-sub continent. A young lady by the name of Carla has decided to partake in my laissez-faire, and sans-plan style journeying and will probably never speak to me again by the end of it. Poor decision? We'll certainly find out. Less than 48 hours later we found ourselves on a Singapore airlines A380 headed  for Sri Lanka. Some of you are also probably asking "why Sri Lanka"? Well never having ventured further than the Colombo airport, I can't really answer that question either. Apparently there's some nice beaches here, but I'll get back to you on that.

After a pleasant 14 hour journey over the indochine, we arrived at Colombo airport. Everything had gone incredibly smoothly up until this point. A little too smoothly. We didn't miss our flights, I got the chicken on the inflight meal and an under booked flight meant I got to use an empty row of seats as a couch. Of course this meant that something had to go wrong at some point. Well I basically got to the finish line before some smug Sri Lankan border guard decided he would rain on my parade. So after watching Carla pass seamlessly past the guard, I assumed I would also slide past into freedom innocuously. Sri Lanka has a system where you apply for a visa online, which is basically approved on the spot. It's a pointless piece of beurocracy, no doubt put in place simply to line the government's pockets. All you do is submit your passport number and $35 of your hard earned. Now you're free do whatever you want in Sri Lanka. You're probably all aware of that mysterious letter that precedes your passport number that you're never required list on anything. Well that little letter was the difference between me entering Sri Lanka and me not. As I had not noted the number on my application, despite it being approved, the border guard decided he would not let let me pass. I even tried to bribe the bastard 30 cold hard USD and he still wouldn't budge. I found myself being directed to an immigration office filled with extremely questionable looking native gentleman while Carla looked on from her position of freedom confused. After sitting there watching the immigration head honcho stairing at a clock for 15 minutes, not processing a single query, I decided there must be another way. I walked over to the visa on arrival desk and purchased another visa for $35. This time with the letter M. Bizarrely enough this is all it took to get into the country. What a waste of 45 minutes of my life.

This morning we arrived at our first Colombo hostel. It's an amazing villa style mansion in an extremely affluent neighbourhood (the UN headquarters and French consulate is next door) which has been converted into a b&b/hostel. It's run by an old woman who clearly takes great pride in looking after her guests. Unfortunately she suffers from alzheimers meaning we've had the same conversation with her about 18 times. I was kind of worried we'd leave the hostel and not be let back in!

Colombo itself is a bit of a shit hole. It's pretty similar to any other Indian city, yet cleaner and less chaotic. The Sri Lankans actually know the difference between a red and green traffic light and can use bins. It's refreshing to say the least. Apart from that, there's really nothing to do here except eat. Carla has had a pretty good introduction to what it's like being a white female in India/Sri Lanka. She's probably already had her head super imposed on to several different porn pictures. The amount of ogling foreign women cop here is unbelievable. We have only seen about five other Westerners since arriving, so that may have something to do with it, but in all honesty, you'd think women were an endangered species here. Anyway, I'm pretty sure Carla is contemplating picking up a Burka at the next mosque we pass.

That is one thing that has really struck me though in Colombo, the lack of tourists! I'm not sure if it's because it's low season, or because everyone comes here an immediately leaves due to its overwhelming drabness.

The tuk tuk drivers here are as bad as any other Asian city and require serious haggling. Thanks to the advent of google maps and cheap foreign data plans, I can call bullshit on them when they try to tell me a five minute drive is a 28kms away. This makes life so much easier. On a positive note though, the first tastes we've had of Sri Lankan food have been excellent and I'm looking forward to delving further into the many tastes on offer. We ate in a food court here and it was better than your local Indian joint by a country mile.

Tomorrow we take the train to a place called Kandy. With a name like that it has to be good. Apparently the train route is supposed to be incredible, so we're looking forward to that. The overall route we have decided on taking is to start in the country's highlands and then make our way down south to the beaches.

Thanks for reading! Hopefully my next entry will be more interesting!