This place has it all—mountains, trekking, world-class safaris and surfing, amazing beaches, tea plantations, friendly people, rich culture, and a deep history.

On the flight from the Maldives to Sri Lanka, I got a surprise upgrade to Business Class, Seat 1A. It made me in a great mood to start my Sri Lankan adventure. Jenna and I arrived in Colombo late evening, and negotiated with the tuk tuk to take us to the Colombo train station, so that we could immediately transfer by bus or train to the town of Kandy (approximately three hours away). Our tuk tuk driver was friendly and chatty, and it was a pleasant night out. He kept trying to get us to allow him to take us to Kandy, but we kept refusing. That’s a long ways for a tuk tuk. After probably seven times of us declining him, he had the price so low we started to consider it. He guaranteed we’d be there in three hours, telling us that by the time we transferred it would be much later the other way. Given the fact that we liked him, it was a good price, the wind in the face felt nice, and there was a picture of Jesus plastered across the back of his tuk tuk, we took him up on his offer as long as he was safe. Along the way, he pointed things out to us in the light of the full moon. He told us he was a retired Sri Lankan military man, and by his size I didn’t second guess that. On one of the stops, we met a man that tried to be my Facebook friend and give us free avocados. Along the way, Jenna found a place in the Lonely Planet for us to sleep in Kandy, and I called to book it.

Kandy
Our place called Lakshmi Guest House in Kandy was up on the hill overlooking the lake. The owner, his wife, and his twin girls were very friendly, and the place was decent. When he found out where I lived, he asked if I lived on the Missouri or Kansas side which completely surprised me. At the look of my shock, he said, “Go Jayhawks!” and then told me he studied nursing at the University of Kansas a few years prior. He returned to Sri Lanka and decided to open a hotel because he said nursing in Sri Lanka wouldn’t provide for his family. We had a breakfast of tea, an omelet, and coconut roti with onions while we sat on the balcony overlooking the town. While in Kandy, we visited the Botanical Gardens, walked around the lake, a tea factory (not worth it), and a spice garden (definitely not worth it, just a ploy to get you to buy stuff). The Botanical Gardens were nice, although we hit some rain. At our hotel, we met a friend named Peter from Washington DC. He was traveling alone, so he joined us. We made our way to visit some Kandian dancing, but got caught in the rain again. We stepped into a place for dinner, and ended up missing a good chunk of the show (although we made it in time for the fire walking). After that we made to Kandy’s most popular temple, Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic. Locals flocked to the temple for the evening ceremony dressed from head to toe in all white. The temple is said to house Buddha’s tooth. It was extremely crowded and families brought flowers as offerings. Although the number of people made it rather unpleasant, the scene as a whole was quite beautiful—all white with flowers.

Hatton, Dalhousie, Adam’s Peak (Sri Pada)
The next morning, the three of us (Jenna, Peter, and I) took the famous train through Sri Lanka’s hill country to Hatton to transfer to complete the world-known pilgrimage of Adam’s Peak. The train had the old time romantic feel, and it chugged through some jaw-dropping scenery full of tea plantations. We arrived in Hatton and transferred by minibus through more unbelievable roads to Dalhousie, the starting off point for Adam’s Peak. We found a place to place our bags and rest before starting our 2:00 AM journey up the mountain to see the sunrise. We heard the top of the mountain gets extremely cold, so we packed warm gear, rain gear, and flashlights and headed out to the darkness and rain. Call us crazy, but everything I read said it was totally worth it. Some Christians and Muslims believe that Adam’s Peak is said to be the place where Adam first stepped foot when he was thrown out of the Garden of Eden (many connecting the idea that Sri Lanka was the original Eden, which I could definitely believe after my visit (source: Wikipedia)). The sunrise was supposed to happen at 6:00 AM, so we had four hours to get there. I was expecting a slow and pleasant climb to the top with some flat spots. I was wrong. It was straight up, all stairs. They were well built and safe, but they were straight up…the whole way. Alongside me I had Jenna, a girl that runs everyday (even on our trip), and Peter, a marathon runner. Next to them, my body decided to reject me and non-existent knee pain decided to remind me that it was still a part of my all too close past. About an hour and a half into the stairs, I had them go on without me because I could tell they were still full of energy, and I wanted to slow my pace. After much insisting on my part, they finally skipped ahead. I slowed my pace, and I felt much better. I knew I still had time to get to the top, but I had no idea how far away I was because it was still dark and extremely cloudy. I could probably only see about ten feet in front of me. I met people along the way, some struggling like me, and some full of life like Jenna and Peter. Hikers that were better prepared would tell me how far I had left, although after the trek I don’t think I believed them. I made it to the top by 5:30 AM with plenty of time to see the sunrise. I found out later that it was 5,200 steps to the top and double that to go back down. The distance isn’t far (14 kilometers round trip from Dalhousie), but oh the steps…  As told, the top was freezing. I hadn’t noticed it was cold until I stopped moving, and it was extremely wet on top of the mountain because we were literally in a cloud. Aladdin sure made clouds look more enjoyable. So we waited for the famous sunrise and triangle shadow that appears (our reward), and we waited, and waited…6:00 AM, 6:30 AM, 6:40 AM. Nothing. For about ten seconds, we saw one hole of sky, and the entire group squealed thinking we would see the sun…but nothing. I heard a guide next to us saying he’d done the trek 38 times and only not seen the sunrise for three of the times. That made me feel loads better. The journey down was a completely different type of pain. It was now the wobbly legs and knee pain, but it was so much easier on the heart rate. However, it was still 5,200 steps down. Jenna and Peter ran ahead and got us breakfast ordered at the hotel. I wobbled in after them thinking to myself that I better have lost a few pounds after that workout. It’s the sense of accomplishment that makes it all worth it, and I guess we’re officially pilgrims now. It ended up being a seven hour journey round trip (for me), including quite awhile waiting at the top. We showered and rested for about an hour before taking the minibus back to the train station. It was another wonderful train ride to Ella through tea plantations, smiling people, lakes, and waterfalls.

 “It’s a pilgrimage, not a joyride.” Ven. Dharmapala Seelananda, trustee of Sri Pada Mountain (The Sacred Footprint of Sri Lanka)

Ella
Ella was a nice town, very easy and convenient, set up particularly for tourists. We found a cheap place with a good view of Ella Rock and made our way to dinner and foot massages. The foot massages turned into full leg massages, and it was much needed as my soreness had set in. It felt so good, and I never felt like it hurt, but the next day I had some bruises on my legs. My muscles were really sore when I woke, and unfortunately our hotel was up a lot of steps. Once I got moving though, I was ok. At breakfast we tried some Sri Lankan specialties of the hopper (bowl-shaped pancakes) and kotthu roti (chopped up roti fried). That morning, we hike Little Adam’s Peak, a pleasant journey that only took us about 1.5 hour hike from our hotel. On the way down, we enjoyed drinks at a great view spot and nice hotel (that we all wished we were actually staying in). Peter left us that afternoon to head on to his next journey, and Jenna and I enjoyed another massage, which turned into a couple’s massage. The next morning, Jenna got up at 5:00 AM to hike to the top of Ella Rock with a guide. My body couldn’t do it, so I didn’t go. That afternoon we made plans for the second half of our Sri Lankan adventure. We’ve seen so much and our journey is only half over.