A Dream called SriLanka (9 Days)

Colombo Airport -> Sigiriya.

According to our original plan we had planned to make it to Dambulla cave and then check in to our hotel. But the beauty of traveling is, we never know whats in stock !!!
Heavy rains!!! Thats what greeted us when we reached near Dambulla... And the cave is a  climb up through stairs which is not worth while rains..!! So we went back to our hotel and rested the day off in a beautiful homestay overlooking the Sigiriya Rock.

After a well rested night we woke up early morning around 6 15am.
Sigiriya Rock is a very famous UNESCO World Heritage site and if you want to avoid a long queue its very imp to reach by 7am.
Luckily Sigiriya Rock entry has a Saarc passport discount.. Yeahh!! So Indian travellers need to show their passport for the discount.
It is Beleived that once a big Rock Lion must have adorned the entry which has now been destroyed and only the big paws of the mighty animal remain for us to see.
The climb is not too difficult. But wear loose and cotton clothes and carry a water bottle as its a humid country and you are gonna sweat a lot!!!
On the way we also saw many beautiful paintings of women adorned on the wall.
The view after the climb will make you forget all the efforts you took to get there. It will give you a 360degree view of the small village of Sigiriya.

Our original plan included a visit to Minneriya National Park and the ruins of Polonnaruwa on the same day as we were back from Sigiriya by 10. But Rain had some different plans ☹️. Heavy rains meant elephants would not venture across the lake to the  National Park area so we had to cancel that. So do not book these tickets before hand, depending on climate plans might change.
Luckily for us even though we couldn't make it to the National park we could spot many wild elephants walking by the road on our way to Polonaruwa.

The ruins of Polonnaruwa have their own story to tell you. Its also a UNESCO World Heritage site. Its a large city near a beautiful lake. It was the second city of Srilanka. Adorned with beautiful Buddha statues and Stupas the place takes you back to a different time. Just keep in mind to keep you shoulders and knees covered as many places would not allow entry if you are not dressed in a way.

The visit to Dambulla Cave was shifted for en route to Kandy.
We were greeted by a nice sunny morning thankfully!!! And we made it to the Cave Temple.
The climb is not very tough neither long but it does have a lots of steps up with monkeys waiting for you so do not carry food else these intelligent guys will not leave you alone.
Once you reach the cave their are three rooms full of paintings and Statues of Buddha!!

The cave walls are all adorned by beautiful paintings. There are a total of 153 Statues of Buddha inside the cave. You will also find a small Vishnu Temple.

Kandy is a beautiful hilly city in Srilanka.
Its home to one of the most important Buddhist Temple in Srilanka - The Sacred Tooth Relic.

After lunch and visit to a gemstone shop we started our Kandy city tour. The view of Kandy Lake from above the mountains is a dream!!

The Kandy Lake forms the centre of the city. We watched a cultural show just next to the lake and came out just in time for the evening prayers at the Tooth Relic Temple.

The Temple is a must visit place, Its beautiful architecture and history will make you realise the strong Buddhist culture in Sri Lanka!!
The Tooth relic has moved across Kings and even survived during British reign and finally found its permanent home in the Tooth relic temple in Kandy! The beautiful wooden Craftsmanship and the colorful flags will make you fall in love with the place.

After having a walk around the Temple and taking a few snaps we walked to the beautiful Lake and after a short walk around it we were tired enough to just take a take-a-way and go back to the hotel.

This day is the day of the beautiful train journey from Kandy to Ella!!!!
This journey is voted as one of the most beautiful train journeys of the world. So be prepared for the heavy crowd in the train. If you need a seat you need to book a reserved seat online atleast a month before your travel date. But you will have to pay almost four times the actual price.

As we had a car with us we decided instead of the entire 8 hour train journey we could travel to Nuwara eliya by road m, visit some more places en route and catch the train from Nanuoya station.

So our first stop was at a small Hanuman Temple at Ramboda. There is a big statue of Hanuman above a mountain in the Temple. And the view of the lake from there is breathtaking. Its a silent and serene place. We spent some time there and started for our next stop. The Ramboda Falls!!

The falls is by the road only and just lil distance from there we stopped for tea by a hotel and the view from the hotel was one of the best in Ramboda!! With sound of waterfall and the birds coming to greet you and the deep blue lake!!! But sadly we had a train to catch so we had our tea and started for our next stop Seetha Eliya!!

For people interested in Ramayan trail this is a must visit place. It is the Ashok vatika from Ramayan. There is a small Sita temple by a waterfall and you can even find footprints of Hanuman imprinted on the rocks by the waterfall.  It is just near by the train stop Nanuoya.

We went around the Nuwara Eliya city. Its a small place amidst misty mountains. Its very cold even at afternoon.If you have time you can stay a day at Nuwara Eliya, its a very beautiful Mountain city. There is a lake at the centre and we could see people enjoying helicopter rides.

Then we got into the train for the wonderful journey to Ella!! Its a 4 hour journey.
As we had booked our train tickets online I got a seat that too a window one!! What else can I ask for..
The view from the train is an absolute delight, The mountains covered with tea plantations and lush green forest with deep valleys and our lil blue train moving through all those curves!!
I took some absolutely beautiful snaps and videos along the way.
After a long 4 hour journey we reached Ella around evening 5.

After the long tiresome day we just went directly to our lovely homestay facing the Ella Rock. We decided to just rest the day out at our homestay as we were too tired to go to the town. So after a beautiful sunset view and a wonderful Srilankan dinner from our Host we retired to our room.

Ella is tiny place amidst the mountains.
They have some amazing eateries around Foodies will have a wonderful time in Ella.

Our day started little late today we slept in and started around 10 for our climb for Little Adams Peak. The climb is around an hours climb depending on your pace. And same as for all climb do wear loose airy clothes as its humid and you sweat a lot.

The road towards the peak goes through tea plantations and even you can go for some ziplining if you are interested. With my fear of heights we headed straight towards the peak (Quite contradictory action 😅) .

Little Adams peak will give you  wonderful view of Ella and the waterfalls around it.

After a walk down from Little Adams Peak we had Coconut water to refresh ourselves and again started our small trekking to Nine Arches Bridge. There is a shorter route as soon as we exit from Little Adams Peak entry point, which we took to reach there.

There was a viewing point with benches where you can have a clear view of the beautiful colonial bridge and wait for the train to come by. We waited for around 30 minutes and then a train passed by.

By that time we were tired by all the hiking and we made our way back to our car and then headed to the city where we had a good heavy lunch. Srilankan delicacies again!!

We had a lot of time in our hand and had decided not to hike Ella rock as it was right next to our homestay and we were kindof njoying the view we had from there. If you are trekking buffs you can climb Ella Rock too.

We decided to go to Nine Arches Bridge again but by the traditional way !! Yes walking by the railway line. And damn it was fun!! It would be fairly 4 km walk till we reached the Bridge!! And I would advise everyone to take that route if you have time.

We sat by the Bridge and saw three trains passing by coming out from tunnel going on supported by the big arches. The police were amazing there warning tourists every time train comes to move aside..

Then as sun started going down we went back the same route to our small town.
After some tea tasting and buying some nice green tea we decided to have an early dinner.
We went into a nice Cafe had a few drinks and Nice food and started our way back to hotel. Ella is a place with night life, if you are in the mood you can stay back way late and njoy the night life. But from all hiking we tired heads rushed straight to our bed!!

This day is the day I was waiting for in the whole trip..... The day we would go for the Beaches 😁😁!!! My soul lies in the Salty waters!!!

On our way to Mirissa we stopped at Ravana Falls. Took few snaps and started the journey.
Our driver was suggesting us for Yala national park on the way as we had missed Minneriya, but we instead went for a Elephant feeding place near Yala. Depending on your choice you can go to the National park as well.
The feeding place has feeding times when the allow visitors to see the feeding of orphaned baby elephants. Its a cuteness overload 😍.
The baby elephants fighting for more milk will just want you go n cuddle with them!!

Then we started our journey to the Beach town.
We reached by early evening at our hotel. After a light lunch by the beach.. We headed straight to the waters!!
We took a walk along the beach and went to the picturesque coconut tree view point where we spent some time looking at the surfers playing with the waves and taking some awesome sunset snaps.
As we had the day just for lazing at the beach we relaxed on the sand enjoying the lovely water and the tasty food!!
After all the relaxation and pampering at the beach it was sun down and various shacks had opened by on the sands displaying their variety of sea food. We chose a yummy red snapper for our dinner. And walked back to our hotel for the day.

This was our whale watching day!!
Early morning around 6 we headed to our cruise for whale watching!!
Do not book in ahead for whale watching as  bad weather will not allow you to see whales. Our guide coordinated and got us tickets the day before as the weather was fine.

We saw many dolphins on our way to the main point. And after we reach there we were the luckiest cruise !! The mighty blue whale came out just next to our cruise spurting out water and gliding back in again... !!!
The cruise driver took us around the area of whales and we could see the whale five times coming up spraying out water gliding his whole mighty body back into the waters.
Do not miss this opportunity to see the lovely blue whales in their natural habitat.

After the whale watching we went in our hotel quickly freshened up and started for our next beach town... Hikkaduwa!!!

Hikkaduwa is famous for snorkeling and scuba diving.
Due to reef the waves are not very strong so you can have a nice swim with turtles and beautiful fishes.
On our way to Hikkaduwa we stopped at a turtle hatchery. Where we saw some tiny hatchlings and some turtles hurt by boats or fishing nets being treated. If you are lucky you can get to release few turtle hatchlings to the wild also.

We reached our hotel after an awesome sea food heavy lunch and started directly for the beach. There were 7 to 8 turtles swimming along the coast line and also having sea weed from tourists hands.
There is a spot where these turtles know tourists will come and feed them so they come there daily morning and evening.
We walked by the beach swam with the fishes, enjoyed the lovely sunset and retired for the day.

We started late around 10 today as it was a lazing around and relaxing day for us.
We went to the Galle Fort. Its also a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Our guide took us around the city explaining the Portuguese history and the buildings and then left us to explore on our own. It will give you a Goa kindof vibe with the old beautiful roads and the preserved buildings.
Be prepared with hats and umbrella according to the climate as its a large area you need to cover by foot. After a tiring walk under the unforgiving sun we started back.

If you are interested in surfing or beach hopping you can include Unawatuna and Bentota on this day.  Bentota is famous for water sports.
But we just wanted a relaxed day by beach so we headed straight back to Hikkaduwa.

We took snorkeling equipment on rent and started to view the lovely marine life!! You can also spot some baby sharks by the coast. Swimming along side the turtles and the beautiful colorful fishes is a vision not to miss.

This was one added day to our trip thanks to our guide!!

We started early morning around 6 to Colombo. We went to our guides home to meet his family and after a lovely and heavy Srilankan brunch at his place we headed for a quick city tour of Colombo before boarding our flight back to India.

We visited all the landmarks across the city.. Stopped at few. The city was getting ready for New years eve the beach was getting a nice stage and we were regretting leaving just before New year.  A new casino was also coming up by the beach.
We saw some of the old colonial buildings preserved and being used as hotels and even official purposes. Many high rise building with wonderful shapes have adorned the city. A new lotus tower had just opened in a few month it would also open for tourists.

Colombo is a big city for party lovers and casino lovers its the place to be!!

After a small quick tour, we started our journey to airport!!

With all the lovely memories and nostalgia we started for our way back ...