Carnet de voyage

Sri Lanka

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Par
9 étapes
1
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Par sangzi
Amazing country and nice people
Janvier 2020
9 jours
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1
1

The first day in Sri Lanka was a traveling day. We arrived in Colombo at 2:30pm but a lot a people told us that there is nothing interesting in Colombo. It is just a big city, crowed and poluated. So we decided to go straight to Sigiriya, our first stop. We arranged with our hotel in Sigiriya, a pick up from the airport for 10500 LKR. It was a 3 hours trip from the airport. The road was very beautiful. Villages were concentrated on the main road in a palm-tree jungle. More and more we entered the deep jungle. It was a celebration day for Sri Lankan people, our driver told us that today, everyone had to go to the temple. A lot a women was wearing long white dress. When the sun came down, the sky was light pink color. The moon was really big, it was a full moon night.

When we arrived a Sigiriya, we had dinner first. I had normal fried rice and Sarah had a traditional Sri Lanka fried rice. Wich was really good.

The hotel was really nice. It was a home stay called Sigiriya Hibiscus Hotel, the owner is very kind. The room was very clean, with everything we needed. As we wear so tried, we went to bed straight away.


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Today we woke up a 6 am. I had a very bad sleep because of the jet lag, so I was still tired when we woke up. We went straight to climb the Lion Rock. I was also the fist time we saw Sigiriya. Sigiriya was a very small town lost in the jungle. Only some houses was gathered along the main road. Expect Lion Rock there was no other interesting thing to see. We arrived almost at the opening and it was very beatuful. Canal surrounded the area, I think it was the old douves of the castle. Monkey was every where. I was actually scared of then because there were not scared of me! The climb was 270m hight and it was only stairs. It was easy but so so hot. All the humidity from the night came up from the jungle and I was sweating like a pig! In the middle of the mountain there were some painting from ancient time. It was very well preserved, the color was still on. We continued our climb until the Lion's bigs foot statue. Before a giant lion was guarding the gate to the palace but it only remains the foot. The morning light on a the foot was beautiful. Monkey are jumping from trees to the statue. I felt like an explorer in jungle finding an old temple. When we arrived at the top, the view was absolutely wonderful! We could see all the jungle around. Mist from the humidity of the night was coming out of the trees. From far there were mountains and lakes. It look like the beginning of a fantasy movie when the voice off start to introduce the imaginary word.

The palace's ruins had nothing special. Only foundation remains and it was built with bricks so the ruins itself wasn't pretty. The way down was easy and fast. We went back to the hotel and we had a home made Sri Lankan breakfast. It was so good. Our host was very kind, I feel like in this country people a kinder than other countries I visited. We arranged a tuk tuk to pik us up to go to Polonnaruwa. On the way we saw an wild elephant! We were taking photos and I just step out of the tuk tuk that the elephant star to charge me. The tuk tuk driver yelded at me to come in and he turn back. But now the elephant was angry, and he didn't want to let us pass. We had to wait a while 20m from the elephant. At the end we drove in front of him as fast as we can! The first time of my life were I was charged by an elephant! (hope the last)

Polonnaruwa is a very big site for ruins. It was the capital of an ancien kingdom there were many things to see. The tuk tuk drove us from one to another. My favorite was the old temple. Not many thing remains but the bouddha's status was still there and very well preserved. It was beautiful. One of the site had giant status of bouddha but I don't know if it's old one or new built. As it was Sri Lanka Bank holiday, there were a lot of people going to temple. They all had fresh flower to bring to bouddha, and they all wore white saris. The rest of polonnaruwa's sights was very damaged, only foundation remains. We could not have a good idear of what it was like before. Building was built in bricks so it wasn't as nice as ruins from Rome of Machu picchu of other sites I visited. As the site was really big we took the tuk tuk to go from a place to another and it took us almost 2-3 hours.

After that we went to dambulla, we wanna do the dambula cave temple so we rushed there before closing time. On our way back, the elephant was still there!

The dambulla cave temple was nice, there were nice sculpture of the boodha. And all the caves had nice painted with all the color on and the status were well preserved. I was wondering if it was ancien or not.

After that day we where so tired, we had a good diner at the hotel and we when straight to bed

3
3

Today we woke up at 6h30 we have an excellent traditional breakfast from the hotel, and after breakfast, we took a bus to kandy. The bus was a local bus, and the driver was crazy! I felt like I was in Harry Potter's bus! He droves through car by honning all the time. The driver didn't care about other cars or tuk tuk. All the véhicules were moving away from the bus. The bus overtakes cars even in a turn on a mountain road! I almost fell of of my sit! It was crazy. The bus was bleu color with painting on it and inside it was the same. All the interior was colored and there was Sri Lankan pop music all the way to kandy!

When we arrive to kandy it was just 9:50 am we walk to the train station (on the opposite side) and bought ticket to Nuwara Eliya for 11:10. So we had like 1 hour to kill before the train. we decided to took a tuk tuk and visite the tooth temple. It was Sunday there were a lot of people waiting, not tourist but locals to came to temple. It was very crowed. Everyone was wearing white cloths and had fresh flower to pay respect to bouddha. We lined up with everybody and we passed in front of the tooth. But we can not see anything cause the tooth was inside a golden coffret. After the temple we rushed back to the train station. The train was on time. Lucky for us we were sited, the train was so busy. The landscape across the tea field was very beautiful. Valley and tea platation succeeded to mountains and forest. Villages was along the train track. It was very good experience. When we arrived at Nuwara Eliya it was 5 o'clock. We went to a small waterfall in the mountain. First we wanna to go by walk and then we reallised that it was to far. So we took a tuk tuk and stop à the begging of the path. The path meandered across tea plantations and as it was almost sun set, it was beautiful. The walk was very easy and plaisant. On our way back, a guy took us back to the main road and we came across our tuk tuk driver and he took us back to the city for free. Nuwara Eliya is a small local town. It said in the lonely book that it is a colonial city with a lot of colonial buildings and golf club and hippodrome. But I found the city very traditional. There were not many tourists. There was a local market which sells everything. Sarah bought a nice sari

For dinner we ate at the hotel the home Made cury was amazing

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Today we took the 9:30 train to Ella. But the train was already 1 hour late and it was without reservation. There were so many people on the station plate-forme. When the train finally came it was already full. We had to stand up... And it was a 4 hours trip!!! I sat on the ground near the door for a while finally some people got off and we finally sited. The train track was indeed amazing. It meanded through mountains and valley. Often the train went through the cloud, it was magical.

We arrive at Ella on time with is amazing cause the train was late and it was so so so slow. Ella was a little twon in the mountains full of tourists. Our hotel was very nice, a bit away from all the noises from the main road. I actually didn't like Ella at all. It was full of bars and café, and only tourist was there. I didn't feel like I was is Sri Lanka anymore. We drop our bags at the hotel a we went to see the 9 arches Bridge. We walk along the train track. It was very peaceful, there was no one and we took some very nice photos. Arrived to the 9 arches Bridge there were a lot of people. Everyone came to see and take the photos of the train passing on the bridge. We arrive at 3pm and the train should pass at 3:40 but it was late and it came only at 4:30. I was so cold, we were in the mountain and just siting there in the wind doing nothing so it was really cold. Finally after one and half our I got my photos of the train passing on the bridge! Yeah me!

We walk back the same way and we visited the town. We bought some souvenirs (tea) and we had diner in a Cafe on the main street. It confirmed my first feeling I really didn't like Ella, the café was full of tourist and there were selling burgers and pizza. Except the waiters no one was Sri Lankan.

We went to bed after that.

5
5

We started early this morning by climbing first the little Adam's Pic. At 7am we left we find so small restaurant on the road and bought some chicken rolls and banana coco nut and honey rolls. It was so good but I was full for the climb. The path was easy there were only stairs. The view from the top was very nice. We could see all the valley and the tea plantation.

After little Adam's Pic we went back to the hotel to take some breakfast, but I was still so full from the two rolls I ate before.

After than we took a tuk tuk to visit a monastery in the mountain. It was a cave monastery. The place was very peaceful and had a amazing view on the valley. People often go there to meditate. One of the cave had painting on the wall. We could see all the monks' rooms. Same as the temple it was in caves. At the end there was a beautiful waterfall, the place was magical. There was bouddha status, it was when bouddha decided to stop eating so he was skinny sick. We didn't usually see this kind of bouddha's representation. After the tour, we sat a while with a monk, he wanna to tell us about bouddisnm, but he had such a strong accent that I understand only one word out of ten... There was a kitty so cute! Anyway he went on and on for ages, and finally he gave us his blessing and we were free to leave.

After the monastery, we went back to the hotel and took our bags. We went to the train station but we missed the bus for Tissa. So we decided to go to the next town and we will change for another bus to Tissa. We arrived a 3pm and the bus for Tissa left 5 min ago... And the next bus was at 5:30pm as som guy told us. We didn't know what to do, if we take a tuk tuk it was 3000 LRS. We went first to a sari shop and I went crazy, I bought 3 sarong for Lorenzo! Aftet that we took the tuk tuk and went to our hotel in Tissa. On the way, there was a turtle on the road, we saved him. The location of out hotel was very nice, it called Bird view hotel and it was near the lake. We went for a walk for the sunset and we saw a lot's of bird and even 2 crocodiles. The sunset was amazing, the lake became pink color and the sky as well. It was really beautiful. When the sun came down all the bird choose a tree to spend the night and all the bat were flying away for the night.

We had a really good dinner at the hotel.

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6

Wake up at 4am, pick up at 4:30 to go to Yala National Parc. It was 45 min drive to the Parc, I was so cold in the morning with the wind. The jeep car you open like safari jeep. We arrived in Yala National Parc by 6 am and we start to look for animals, at first we saw some bambie, oak, wild pig, different kind of bird... There were a lot of people in the Parc but we took different road so we were along, we crossed often some other jeep. I when we crossed another jeep, the driver talk to the other driven and suddenly, we turned around and drove so fast we knew that we were rushing to see some kind of big animal but didn't what. When we arrived, there were like 50 jeep all gather together. And then we saw it! It was a leopard! I just saw it for few second, he went to the jungle, I "entrappercue" his face and I saw he back. But after that we couldn't move the car cause there were so many jeep and we were blocked. After a while everyone start to drove the other way. We continued, the landscape is really beautiful and very diverse. There were a lot of lakes. Again suddenly the driver rush to another place after talking to another driver and this time it was for 2 bears. They were on a rock sleeping. We saw also a toucan and an baby oak and its mother. We was so cute, running around everywhere while it mother was so slow. The oak was often inside the water and we could only see theirs nose and corns outside the water. We saw also one elephant, it was a desapointing, like we saw one animal of each kind! We were a little bit frustrated because we didn't seen like bunch of elephant but just one.

After the Parc we went to Tagella by bus. As usual, the bus driver has suicide and murder tendencies, the way bus drivers drive in Sri Lanka is just crazy. Our hotel wasn't in town but by the laguna. Our room was really cute, it was a bangallow and we had a small terrace, and an hamac. We drop our stuff and went for a walk on the beach. It is a very long wild beach with white fine sand and coconut tree bordered the beach. It was beautiful.

We had diner at hotel and we went to bed.

7
7

We booked with the hotel 2 kayak to go inside the laguna. We went at 6:30 before it gets to hot. The went thought the laguna, on both it was mangrove tree. There were a lot of different birds. We saw an reptile swimming in the water but we don't know the name. The morning light on the laguna was perfect.

After the kayak we went back to the hotel and we had an Sri Lankan breakfast, with eggs and curry and coconut bread. It was so big, I was so full after that.

We arranged with the hotel a tuk tuk to drive us to Weligamma our final destination for the day. It was north along the cost. But we wanted to stop at 2 nice beaches. The first one was Hiriketiya.

I liked Hiriketiya, Sarah not so much. It was a small beach but very crowded with tourist. The water was beautiful and there were long chairs that you can rent. As the whole beach was in the sun we had to rent 2 long chairs of we wanted to be in the shade. We went for a swing the water was perfect temperature. Coconut tree bordered the beach. The atmosphere was very cool and chill. We had a fresh coconut. We stayed maybe one and a half hour and we left. But it's true that we had to paid for everything. As they already took all the shaded spot we had to take one of the long chair

The next stop was Tallala Beach.

Sarah prefer this one. It was bigger so we found a spot in the shade. The sand was so fine and the water hot. On one side there were some traditional catamaran, which gave the beach some charme and as usual, it was coconut trees. We stay more than 2 hours there, I fall a sleep. It was really relaxing.

We took the tuk tuk and went to Weligamma. Just after dropping our bags we went for a swim. But there was so much current, and the water was blury and the beach crap. It wasn't a beach actually, but more a small fisherman port. The catamarans were beautiful in the sunset lights. I was disappointed by the beach...

My mother joined us for dinner and we went to a very good restaurant. It was really good!


8
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We went for an early swim this morning with my mother at one of Welligamma's beach. We hoped to see some coral and fish. The beach wasn't a tourist beach. It was a small fisherman Port. It was cute. The small catamaran were very colorful with the morning light, it was beautiful. But the water was "flou", we couldn't see anything and there was so many current. I was a little bit scared. I swam very far, I hope to see some nice fish when I am at the drop off. But still no fish, so I turn back. Sarah and my mother too didn't see a lot of fish. We went back to the hotel and had a shower and breakfast and we went to Mirissa.

Mirissa is a small surfer town. The beach was very beautiful. It was a moon shaped beach with coconut tree all arround. The water was turquoise color and there were a small natural swimming pool, not deep at all but still protect from the waves. We went for fish hunting but again the water was "trouble" and there was a lot of current. At one point I was trapped in some rocks and I had to use all my strength to get off the rocks. We turn back cause the current was to strong and there were no fish. I saw just a Picasso fish. We went to the natural swimming pool and there, there were some fish. It was pretty but not better than what I've already seen. After the beach we went back to my mother hotel had a shower and went for lunch. We had a very nice grilled fish by the beach, a little bit expensive but it was nice.

After lunch we took a bus to Galle.

When we arrived to Galle, my first impression was bad. There were so many cars, and trafic jam everywhere. But then we saw some bouddhisme procession. Children wearing different kind of costumes were "défiler" on the street. It was nice cause there were so many colors.

Finally I really like Galle, the ancient town is wold heritage and it is very nice and beautiful. We walk along the fort. It was just next to the water. It was a really good walk. The old town is nice as well, the building were no more than 2 or 3 floor, there were all in the colonial style. Small street was bordered by art gallery, cafes and souvenir shops. There was not many cars nor tuk tuk. It was very nice.

We took the bus to Hikkaduwa. As usual it was a local bus. But this time it was packed! Like parisian metro in a strik day and with the hit, it was horrible. I was sweating like a pig. I could feel my sweat dropping along my legs. It was horrible. We waited 10-15 min before it goes. Went it droves It was OK. We could feel the wind.

We arrived at Hikkaduwa, had a shower and went outside. We found a Ayurveda massage. It was so relaxing. It said it is one of the thing to do in Sri Lanka so we tested and we don't regret it.

After that we had dinner and we slept well covered in oil

9
9

We saw turtles! We went at 8 o'clock to the beach. My parents told me that you can see turtles. We went in the water and 4 or 5 turtles were there. They were huge, like maybe 1 and half meter the bigeste one. They were not scared at all the swam at you without any fear. I find it kind of sad cause tourists were feeding them with some algues. So the turtles were all gathered near the beach and waiting for tourist to feed them. We could touch them took photos... It was amazing to see turtles, they were so cute.

After the turtles we went to the barrier reef, looking for fish.

There were some fish and beautiful one but it wasn't an aquarium. We enjoyed the snorkeling. I saw 4 or 5 shark, small one maybe 1 meter.

The Coral reef was very close to me when I was swimming. The water was just one meter, sometime less...

Hikkaduwa Beach was beautiful, even if it was full of tourists.

The snorkeling was nice the water hot. After that we went back to the hotel and had a shower and went out to have lunch. I hade a grilled Dorade, excellent! And some fried RICE. After lunch we went to shopping, and I bought a nice sari and some silk scarfs.

We took a taxi straight to the airport. And our trip was over