Time to say goodbye!

As it was time to head off from the beach and leave its peace and serenity behind, we wanted to have a soft landing back to the buzzing city life of Sri Lanka. We had read and heard that The Galle Fort, UNESCO World Heritage Site, would be a relaxed spot to visit and filled with nice restaurants, so we took a two-hour bus ride to Galle and stayed there for two nights.

Galle was a port on the island in the 16^th century and was developed to its full capacity in the 18^th century during the Dutch colonial times. Even though the fort is the largest remaining fortress in Asia built by European occupiers and has strong walls, the 2004 tsunami caused a lot of damage to the houses and people. As there is a desire to retain its historical feel and architecture, the Ministry of Cultural Affairs has launched a project to protect the Fort.

Overall, we had an extremely pleasant stay at the helm of the Fort as the pace of life is relaxed and  the atmosphere is, have to say, quite European. The streets are almost entirely reserved for pedestrians as most of them are too narrow for cars. To our pleasure, the restaurants provided a much-needed shelter from hot days and a nice change for traditional Sri Lankan cuisine. A perfect place for reading a book and enjoying a cup of coffee.

From Galle we continued by train to our last stop in Colombo before our flight back home. We visited the local market area of Pettah, which was an experience of its own. People carrying huge boxes over their heads and pulling strolls full of stuff to the shops that seem to have problems to storage even their current products!

The list of things we have experienced and done during these seven weeks is almost endless and is definitely something to be grateful of. We both are absolutely sure that the memories will last and this has brought new perspective to our everyday life, and also a lot of appreciation towards life in Finland. Perhaps the small challenges we'll face in life will feel even smaller in the future, as there are so many good memories to turn to.

This journey was a huge step to take, even more so because of our upcoming move to Geneva, which is waiting for us in January. And whilst it's not yet clear what the new year will bring with it, we are more than ready for it!

Relaxation, relaxation, relaxation

Sri Lanka is filled with the most beautiful beaches in the world, but finding a suitable one might be a harder task. Many of the beaches are nowadays full of accommodation options and a serene atmosphere may be hard to find. Since we had been travelling already quite a bit and it had taken its toll on us, we had a peaceful beach on mind where we could just rest and relax. After some research, we decided to head to Marakolliya beach, which is located a few kilometres east from Tangalle. First we were a bit afraid of how we're able to settle down for a few days without being immediately bored, but it turned out to be a pointless fear. Just listening to the sound of the waves in a hammock with a cold, fresh fruit juice in hand was enough excitement for a day, and we ended up staying there for a whole week. We would highly recommend this stretch of a beach to anyone travelling to Sri Lanka!

One of the best parts of our week on the beach were the early-morning HIIT-workouts followed by a swim in the ocean. Golden!

Two accommodation tips: the Hideaway Lodge and these Shiva's Beach Cabanas

Culture in Kandy, hiking in Ella

Kandy, the former capital, is one of the biggest cities in Sri Lanka. Nowadays it is famous for its culture and religious events. As it is located in the Hill Country the climate is cooler than in other parts of Sri Lanka. The streets in Kandy are busy and traffic is chaotic and air is thick of exhaust fumes, like in almost every city in Sri Lanka, but after few days you don't pay any attention to it anymore. 

At the second evening we visited one of the numerous dance halls that have a daily show, mainly for tourists. Originally only males were permitted to train as dancers, but luckily there has been some progress and now there is a lot of female dancers as well. As the Kandyan dance is normally performed with only percussions, the costumes take control of the stage. There is bling bling and masks on everyone, and anklets that rattle at each step and jump.

Kandy holds the Temple of the Tooth Relic, which is one of the most sacred places of the Buddhist world. Our visit to this World Heritage site didn’t go as planned, as one of us nearly fainted during the holy tooth relic ceremony! Fortunately, we got help from a local Buddhist, who knew which nerve points to press, so we were able to go back to the temple and see a glimpse of the place where the tooth is kept. After this we headed straight to the hotel to get some rest. During the night we discovered that both of us had got a traditional stomach flu, which kept us at bay for one more day in Kandy, before we jumped on the train heading deeper into Hill Country, towards Ella.

The train ride from Kandy to Ella is appreciated as one of the most beautiful rides in the world and evidently locals are also keen to it as well. We noticed this when trying to buy tickets, and heard that all tickets are sold out for the whole of December! Apparently this is the local holiday season, but luckily they reserve a small share of tickets for each train to be sold at the same day, so we only had to be on time at the station to get on the train.

Ella is located in the most beautiful Hill Country of Sri Lanka, and you're able to see it has a tourism-oriented spirit and economy. As the climate is optimal for tea plantations, there is one in every other hill side. Half an hour from Ella, in the town of Haputale, is one plantation that we all have heard of, Lipton's Seat. We gave a visit to these hills and did a tour in the Dambatenne tea factory. Now we know how bulk tea is made - they produce it around 5 tons a day!

One tea-leaf picker collects around 30 kilos of tealeaves daily.

As Ella is very popular among tourists, it was no surprise that there you'll find almost all western menu options in restaurants and coffee lounges aimed to quite exclusively to tourists. And the amount of guest houses, phew.. What the town of Ella itself may lack in sights to see, the views and the surrounding nature make up that loss! 

As we missed the famous pilgrim destination, Adam’s Peak (and it's 5000 steps up the mountain), because we got ill, we got to do the small one instead. And even this Little Adam's Peak had stunning views down to the valley, and it left us wondering, what we may have missed.

     

 

…and welcome Sri Lanka!

Life in Sri Lanka in general is almost an opposite to the peace and quiet of Namibia: people zigzag in the busy streets, air is filled with smog and honking sounds from tuktuks and buses. Everywhere you look you see people with a smile on their face, and a curry stand in every other corner. Welcome to Asia!

It might not be the best idea to travel 5 hours to Dambulla in a local bus after a 20-hour flight, but we wanted to have a more peaceful option to Colombo, so we just had to bear it, and it turned out to be a great way to experience the local way of living and traveling.

Buses run regularly from Colombo’s main station to almost every corner of the country at the most reasonable price (from 0,3 € to 3 € for a 6-hour bus ride!), but there is a hidden side for the cheap cost. Busses are very crowded and you are lucky to have a seat, so it’s good to get on the bus from the first station. The traffic in Sri Lanka is an experience of its own, so it might be better to sit in a seat without visibility to the road, as sometimes you are almost scared to death! But, you can usually count on having a local Karaoke show playing on the bus TV or radio, so it won’t get boring. Somehow the locals manage in the traffic, and you can always honk your horn if otherwise it’s difficult to get pass the three vehicles already blocking the road side by side.

After a well-earned rest in a beautiful Golden Rainbow Guest House we headed to the magnificent UNESCO World Heritage Site, Dambulla cave temples, which have five different-sized temples carved inside caves, and more than 80 documented caves in the surrounding area. The Dambulla cave monastery is still functional and remains the best-preserved ancient edifice in the country. The temple caves have been built under a massive overhanging rock, which even has a drip line to keep the interiors dry - it must have been a state of art engineering work during the first century BCE.

Tempel guards - cute, but steal your food whenever possible

The murals cover an area of 2,100 square metres

There is also another UNESCO World Heritage Site close by, Sigiriya, so it was obvious to pay a visit there as well. This ancient rock fortress, which was built, according to a legend, by King Kasyapa to form his new capital, is also known as the Lion Rock, as there is a gateway inside in the form of an enormous lion. As the weather was quite misty, we decided to climb to the nearby Pidurangala rock instead, from which we were able to witness the same stunning views with a tenth of the cost.