Lanka, Lanka - my love. Part II

If you remember the first part, the third day of the trip I had some problems with dizziness because of Lariam, then we walked in Horton Plains National Park and at the end we were driven to Haputale, a town in the area famous for lots of tea plantations and stunning views, which we could admire from a train, standing in open doors as locals. That day was one of the most memorable days. Even now I can visualize that day, particularly when I look at myself in a mirror – the visit in Horton Plains National Park has left signs on my body. I burnt my neck and arms in a shape of a T-shirt. Still, after two months, it is strongly visible and I look quite strange!

A train station

The fourth day was the day of leaving Hill County with one stop in a tea factory near Haputale. We thanked our hosts for their kindness and tasty Lankan dishes, who at the end drove us to the train station, where we got to a better class train, called express. Then we watched many perfect views, changed the train into a bus, met Australian guy, visited the tea factory with him and our heavy backpacks, ate some food in the Muslim restaurant (they talked only to our male friend) and got to the lowest class train, called normal (checking the proper names of trains in particular classes on the website of Sri Lanka Railways I found that you are able to transport chickens in ventilated boxes or fish accompanied by an owner or even machinery).

I want to be there. Now!

But now let’s imagine the situation: we are in THAT train, there are seats for us (lucky us!), wooden, not so comfortable and close to the loo (it is NOT a toilet), there are kids talking loudly, lots of people, we are waiting about one hour to move (not exactly with the schedule), when the train starts moving we can see gorgeous views of tea plantations, but from time to time our train is going through tunnels. When it is there, there is also darkness all around, with opened windows the smell of fumes is overwhelming and there is also the terrible roar, so you don’t know what to hide, a nose, ears or just look for a torch. Additionally someone is using the loo, so please also add the smell of urine, but only from time to time. But do you know that I would be able to repeat the whole journey with a huge pleasure? I had fun! A big one. That time I was the most happy girl in the world. I was in Sri Lanka, so far from home, in the trip of my dreams, and I was one of a few white faces in that kind of a train (I love being one of a few!), so someone also took a photo of us sitting there!

It was dark, when we got out of the train in Hatton. Then we got on the bus heading to Delhouse, a village close to Adam’s Peak. In the beginning the bus was almost empty, but at some point I had to take my 14 kg backpack on my knees to let two men sit near me. They were siting one behind the other…

When we reached our hotel (not booked that time) there was before 11 pm. We were supposed to wake up at 2 am to start climbing to the top of Adam’s Peak, which is a 2,243 m tall mountain, also known for the Sri Pada, i.e. "sacred footprint", a rock formation near the summit, which in Buddhist tradition is held to be the footprint of the Buddha, in Hindu tradition that of Shiva and in Muslim and Christian tradition that of Adam, or that of St. Thomas. But mostly Buddhists are the ones who try to reach the peak climbing ca. 5200 stairs.

5200 stairs to reach a peak, Adam's Peak

Did I manage to wake up? Of course, I told you I was the master, even I am not the Buddhist I reached the peak after 6 am and I saw the dawn, but before I had been swearing a lot! Then on shaking legs we returned to hotel, packed, ate eastern breakfast, got to the bus to Hatton, got to the better train, where we ate sweets and a mango with chilly and arrived in Kandy. Kandy is more touristy town, where locals are more annoying, and you can be cheated easily, so we wanted to run away immediately. In the same time we were tired and hungry, so we bought pancakes with eggs and vegetables. Could you imagine what happened then after so many different dishes? Yes, problems, huge problems!

Ingredients for vadas, our favorite snacks

We were supposed to go to Anuradhapura, one of the ancient cities, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. But we had to get out of the bus in the middle of the trip, in Dambulla, to find a place to sleep and… rest. Here it was the maximum of our endurance, but I believe that everything has its goal and you will see it in the third part.