Suba aluth avuruddhak

Happy New Year to you all. I can’t believe I’ve been in Sri Lanka for four days now. It’s flown by and has been full of the usual travel shenanigans. 

Let’s start with our tour group, they all seem lovely (well except for one person perhaps). Lots of different nationalities and backgrounds. I assumed the ages would be similar to previous groups but it turns out we booked a Classic tour therefore the age is a bit older. I’m the third youngest in the group (Vicki is the baby).

It’s sad to say that I haven’t a clue what most of their names are. I know a few but it’s hard remembering all 15 people. If we had been a bit closer then I’m sure there would be more effort with the names. 

Our tour guide, Cham, is also very nice. He’s pretty new to G Adventures and you can see this at times but he is so good at trying to accommodate everyone. 

Yesterday, we spent the day driving from Negombo to Kandy. The distance isn’t actually that far, roughly 130 km, but the roads are pretty poor and crazy busy so the drive is slow. 

Along the way we stopped at the herbal centre of spices, to learn about Ayurveda. We had a talk about all the different herbs and spices and what benefits they have. Our guide then gave us a demonstration of what they create. There were creams that remove hair, red banana mixes which is a natural viagra and a sandalwood cream to make you appear younger. Whilst all these things sounded wonderful, since the previous experience in Colombo, I was very sceptical. The gift shop prices at the end confirmed my scepticism. 

For lunch we stopped at the Sthree Cafe. This is a G Adventures supported charity which provides opportunities for local women and youth with disabilities to train and work in the hospitality industry. The cafe serves an amazing menu of vegetarian Sri Lankan dishes and it was delicious. We decided to even give eating with our hand a try. 

After lunch it was back on the bus to head into Kandy city. We had a little tour of the local markets. Lots of different fruit and vegetables. I managed to pick up the balm (similar to Tiger balm) from a local vendor for 200 LKR (85p). The spice place wanted $15 (£11.50). This shows sometimes the tourist traps involved with these tours. 

The city was very busy. It was New Year’s Eve and although the Buddhist don’t necessarily celebrate this, there were still lots of different people out to celebrate. 

As we were walking along to the cultural dance show, a snake popped its head out of a wicker basket. I freaked out! I wasn’t expecting to see one along the street so I wasn’t mentally prepared. After recovering from the snake incident, we were then greeted by lots of Monkeys. I was so excited as I love seeing the monkeys but I remember what I was previously taught, don’t stare into the monkeys eyes and don’t smile with your mouth other. Both these things are signs of aggression to monkeys (especially the smiling as you’re baring you teeth). It’s so hard not to smile when you’re excited. 

The cultural dance show was interesting. It lasted an hour and we felt like this was pretty long. It cost 1,000 LKR (£5) so it was very reasonable but when you’ve seen one local dance show, you’ve kind of seen them all. The most impressive part of the show was the last 10 minutes- fire and coal walking. We couldn’t believe these guys putting the fire on their tongues and walking over the hot coals. 

We headed to our hotel, Winter Villa Kandy, to get ready for our NYE dinner. The hotel prepared a fantastic buffet dinner of rices, dhal, curries and yummy desserts. I’ve loved all the food so far. Some has been a little bit spicy but I’ve managed to eat it. 

Just before midnight, we distributed the sparklers Vicki kindly bought everyone. They were a real hit and the staff even lit some fireworks for us. It was a strange moment as usually at midnight you’re surrounded by loved ones, but I had my travel bestie and thoughts of my wonderful Peter and family in my mind. 

Being the young whipper snappers (name given to us by the lovely Australian Principles on the group), we decided to continue the party and head to the pool whilst everyone else went to bed. It was pretty cool (we’re in the mountains) but it was a fun experience and great end to the night. 

On New Year’s Day we headed to the Temple of the Sacred Tooth. This is where a well preserved tooth of Lord Buddha is kept. They have a ceremony on New Year’s Day and allow guests to see the tooth. 

When we got to the temple, there were beautiful flowers everywhere. People buy these flowers to give to the Buddha as an offering. Trying to walk inside the temple was so difficult. There were thousands of people. It was hot, sweaty and surprisingly people were pushing a lot. I didn’t expect Buddhist people to be so pushy but it was even the old grannies whom were the worst. 

Outside the temple, there was another area which housed the Hindi temples. Cham explained how the Buddhist would find their wives in Indian and when they came over to Sri Lanka, they didn’t want to force them to be a Buddhist so they built them their own temples. 

Then behind (or in front) of the Hindi, there was the Catholic Church. It’s amazing how Sri Lanka is so inclusive of all religions. You can see this daily when you see the ladies dressed in Saris and burkas walking alongside one another. 

After spending hours at the temples, we’d had enough of the crowds. The next stop was to the Botanical Gardens but Vicki and I were were so sweaty, we didn’t fancy walking around the gardens in the mid day heat for 90 minutes so instead we headed to have a herbal massage. 

We headed to Ayurvedic hospital for our massage. This wasn’t your standard A&E hospital but a herbal hospital. We were taken to our room where we started off with a lovely head massage, followed by neck and shoulders. They used natural herb oils which are supposed to help with aches and pains. We then had an amazing full body massage. I actually fell asleep and had to be woken up. After the massage we went into a steam bath. This was an odd coffin type bed which shut you in. It felt weird at first however I soon relaxed again. 

By the time we finished our massages, we were famished. We headed back to meet the group at a local buffet restaurant. Again the food was all Sri Lankan and so good. The only issue is, I’m eating so many carbohydrates. Lots of rice and potatoes. 

Sri Lanka is a really beautiful country and the people are very friendly. Ever person I smile at, they always warmly smile back. I knew it would be a more cultural trip rather than partying so it’s been nice. The only issue is if the tour group doesn’t gel then it makes it less fun. I’m not saying our group is bad but we just haven’t connected in the same way as I have with previous groups, thank god Vicki is here. 

Next stop tomorrow is Ella. I’m super excited to take the local train along the mountain as the views look incredible.