May 2013 was my favorite month. I went to Sri Lanka, as a backpacker, for a trip of my life to check if it might be my way of traveling. At the beginning nothing indicated that I would be even glad or happy with it, but then so many things happened and after two months I am still in love with this island.
Sri Lanka had been on my mind for a very long time, but flight tickets used to be very expensive though, so it had stayed only there, in the field of dreams. To my surprise, in February Emirates airlines launching their flights in Poland started spectacularly with a great promotion. They offered tickets to many destinations in such a price that it would be a sin not to buy any. Especially to Sri Lanka. That's why I started looking for a good companion for my dream trip.
I really thought it would be easier to find a right person. Not only had that person been prone to take up such a challenge, I also wanted her or him to be nice, corresponding, inquiring, rather optimistic, creative, with a suitable number of days off and money for two week trip. After asking several people, not only with such features, I found the right person. Finally two Capricorns, as a great team, could start conquering the world.
Sri Lanka had been on my mind for a very long time, but flight tickets used to be very expensive though, so it had stayed only there, in the field of dreams. To my surprise, in February Emirates airlines launching their flights in Poland started spectacularly with a great promotion. They offered tickets to many destinations in such a price that it would be a sin not to buy any. Especially to Sri Lanka. That's why I started looking for a good companion for my dream trip.
I really thought it would be easier to find a right person. Not only had that person been prone to take up such a challenge, I also wanted her or him to be nice, corresponding, inquiring, rather optimistic, creative, with a suitable number of days off and money for two week trip. After asking several people, not only with such features, I found the right person. Finally two Capricorns, as a great team, could start conquering the world.
As you know from a story about getting visas to Dubai, the beginning of conquering the world was full of traps. Another two traps were waiting in Bandarawela, but we had needed to get there first, which had taken 8 hours in two crazy driving buses.
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| In the bus from Colombo to Bandarawela |
In Bandarawela, in a dark evening we could not find a guest house we had booked in Poland. The person who helped us to find it was a student of a meditation center, who was telling a tuk-tuk driver how to get to our place to stay in. Later, we found the guest house is not located in a town, but just 3 km far from it, somewhere on a slope of the mountain. Getting there after another crazy driving, much more worse than bus drivers, we were tired, exhausted, sleepy, hungry, annoyed, pessimistic, so when we saw two huge cockchafers (it sounds better than cockroaches…) in our room we said “no more backpacking, no more exotic trips, only fancy hotels”. But then, in the morning after 12 hours of sleeping we saw such a view:
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| Hill County. Gorgeous? Yes. Stunning? Yes. |
The second day in Sri Lanka we learnt what tropical rain means, conquered Little Adam’s Peak, met with our helping student in his meditation center, where I learnt that “Nothing is permanent. Everything comes and goes”, ate Lankan home dinner and in our room met that time geckos with sweet paws, which my friend didn’t like at all. I still remember her shout. That day I also took Lariam for malaria, which is the worse sh.. I have ever used, so…
The third day when we were driving in a car with the owner of the guest house, driving in Lankan style, I was green on my face, sick, feeling dizzy and I was dreaming only about the end of this nightmare ride. And I am sure the effect of Lariam was the main reason. Anyway, we were heading to Uda Walawe to see elephants. Elephants! A thousand wild gorgeous elephants! However, there was a landslide on a road, so even if we had driven another road, we would have been too late to see even one elephant (later you will see why I wasn’t sad because of it). That’s why we changed the plan and chose Horton Plains National Park. Thankfully, it was closer than Uda Walawe and I could get sick less.
The third day when we were driving in a car with the owner of the guest house, driving in Lankan style, I was green on my face, sick, feeling dizzy and I was dreaming only about the end of this nightmare ride. And I am sure the effect of Lariam was the main reason. Anyway, we were heading to Uda Walawe to see elephants. Elephants! A thousand wild gorgeous elephants! However, there was a landslide on a road, so even if we had driven another road, we would have been too late to see even one elephant (later you will see why I wasn’t sad because of it). That’s why we changed the plan and chose Horton Plains National Park. Thankfully, it was closer than Uda Walawe and I could get sick less.
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| Horton Plains National Park |
Horton Plains National Park is a protected area covered by montane grassland and cloud forest. This plateau is at an altitude of 2,100–2,300 m. We wanted to walk on the trailblazing to see World's End – a sheer precipice with a 870 m drop, and another cliff known as the Lesser World's End of 270 m located not so far from World's End. Any problems? That day I was wearing flip flops… – I was supposed to see a thousand wild gorgeous elephants, not little hills. But who is the master? Of course, me. I did it! Moreover, my great trip companion explained it wisely that I had just jumped over two levels of being a real traveler: no. 1 – a beginner in sporty shoes, no. 2 – advanced in trekking shoes, no. 3 – the master in flip flops.
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| In flip flops? Why not! |
Now the master is inviting you to the second part of the story. Soon.
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