Sri Lanka Days 1-14

Joey and Davey
Aug 29, 2017
2 min read

So, here we are. On the Southern coast of Sri Lanka. We are 14 days into our year. Sri Lanka has been, and continues to be, a very varied, welcoming, small but perfectly formed country. A bit like Wales in that respect. Starting inland we had 7 nights in the Hill Country outside Kandy, the second biggest city in Sri Lanka. Temples, mile after mile of tea plantations, crazy tuk tuk rides, orphaned elephants, the Botanical Gardens and a couple of lazy pool days to get our breath back. We’ve already met lots of fellow travellers, many like minded, others not so much but you forget how easy those interaction become when everyone is a stranger. Jinks met a 16 yr old Free Running Parkour teacher and now can’t walk in a straight line without jumping on or off something and has some nice concrete rash war wounds already…

Travelling from Kandy through the hills on the journey south we stayed in beautiful Ella. The scenery was amazing. Best seen from the train by all accounts, but we decided a train ride with open doors, a 2 year old and too many other children to keep an eye on might send us over the edge so we stuck to the van and driver option which is the standard, well established and super easy way to get around here. Driving is not something for the faint hearted in Sri Lanka. A swim in a waterfall, picking fruit off the trees then off to Udawhalla National Park for some more elephants and a safari. It was a proper safari experience. The other jeeps had people dressed in khaki with camouflage hats and massive binoculars. We had a wriggling 2 year old in a red towelling all in one, a very loud 8 year old in a turquoise football kit and we’d left the binoculars at the hotel. As luck would have it, the elephants didn't really mind. We were treated to a big group of female elephants and their young bathing in the water hole with a little baby elephant that could barely stand up and we saw a Tusker male elephant, one of only 2 out of over 400 elephant that live there. The whole experience was incredibly special and even though we’d seen more elephants and much closer the other places didn't compare to seeing them in the wild.

We’ve now reached the coast. We were tipped off about our next destination by family who visited last year. We knew the sea was rough with big swells in the South West at this time of year but this bay, Hiriketiya, is more sheltered. The air of relaxation was palpable on arrival. The Beach House is a perfect beach shack with a couple of rooms right on a surf beach that sells Wood Fired Pizzas and rents surf board for £5 for the week. That ticks a few boxes. The wifi is really sketchy so uploading the 4@4 Vlogs is not going to happen until we move on from here, sorry… If we ever do move on… It’s pretty lush.