Yala Park Safari

 

Feb. 26

            Today was our big safari day in Yala Park so we had to get up at 4:30 to start our full-day tour.  Almost everyone takes the trip on a pickup truck outfitted with an open and covered seating structure sitting in the truck bed.  Our driver/guide drove like a maniac out of town, passing many other trucks and only stopping from a roadside restaurant to pick up our food for the day.  The place had a huge row of bags set to go so we figured that most of the safari tourists would be eating the same food today.  A great business model for the ones selling the food.

            We arrived at the gate behind only one other truck.  Then we had a good long wait while the park staff decided when to open the gate.  It seemed to be a regular ritual as the drivers all got out and socialized while the line of waiting trucks got so long that we couldn’t see its end.  Fortunately, the two women who were sharing our tour turned out to be excellent, well-travelled safari-mates and the time passed reasonably quickly.  At one point, some trucks moved to the front and were let in ahead of the others.  Our driver explained that there were park vehicles and they did the first run along the roads to get the animals off of them before the army of crazed safari trucks took over the park.

            Once we got past the gate, it was a mad race along terrible roads to spot animals.  We whizzed by a three-legged crocodile in pursuit of bigger things.  We were soon rewarded as two leopards were hanging out in the road,  We managed to be at the front of the pack, watching the big cats as they slurped from a puddle and wandered into the woods along a path right next to another truck.

            We then dashed from place to place, eventually heading to a rocky area that we were told was safe to eat our breakfast at.  It was wonder bread with spicy scrambled egg again, with some good fruit.  We set out again, with our guide’s eagle eye spotting eagles in trees, camouflaged lizards and a variety of birds.  He was constantly on his phone, exchanging information with other drivers about where the animals were.  We saw two elephants far from the road in a lake and then waited off to the side until they came our way and crossed the road in front of us.  We also parked and walked from the trucks in a monkey area where they raided our vehicles in search of snacks and chased each other around while we relaxed by a river.  Our guide took the women we were travelling with on a stroll through the shallow water and apparently an offer of the evening’s entertainment was extended.  We missed out on this while Meg tried to nap on the ground while a brave monkey tried to pick her pockets.

            On the road again, we saw another leopard and a few more animals before heading to the lunch spot.  Another driver got mad at ours as we were a few minutes late in getting there.  Apparently all trucks need to either leave the park at noon (thus completing half-day tours) or stay off the roads for an hour to let the animals do their thing in peace.  There had to be more than a hundred trucks there next to a huge concrete structure beside a beach.  There was one coffee booth which had a long lineup and a sign saying they were out of the good coffee so we didn’t bother with them.  The beach was nice and sandy with large waves rolling in and a rocky point visible to our left.  Signs warned us to stay out of the water and not to follow the beach off to the sides as they led back in wild animal country.  The structure itself had a large sheltered area and an open roof that was crumbling.  Our driver whistled for us and had tiffin containers full of delicious curries and rice that we quickly gobbled down to make up for our unsatisfying breakfast.  We were jealous of some of the other tourists who had big beanbags to stretch out and nap on as everyone was tired after the early start.

            Soon after one we got going again.  We spotted a baby elephant and a male peacock being strategically ignored by nearby females as he displayed his tail.  We parked beside a lake and our guide chopped up a variety of fruit for us that went down well on the hot, humid day.   After debating the issue in our truck, it was decided that the water buffalo was "the safari animal to be" as they looked so relaxed wallowing in the cool water while everyone else was running around.

            Eventually it was time to go and we headed back to town at a much more reasonable pace.  It really was an excellent safari experience but everyone in our group was due for a nap.  After waking up, the rain was really pouring down so we decided to dine at the hotel rather than going out.  Some of the street dogs started barking furiously at one point and we were able to watch as they chased a big monitor lizard that had entered the hotel grounds off across the road.

            We were pooped.  After a decent dinner we headed to bed early.  The women at our hotel felt the same way so the guide didn’t get a date from them that evening.  So much for safari romance.

Lipton's Seat Trip

 

Feb. 25

            We got another early start to see the sunrise at Lipton’s Seat.  This is a high viewpoint at the centre of the famous tea grower’s plantation.  Our tuktuk driver was there for us again but told us his wife had a doctor’s appointment but we could easily get a local bus back after we walked down to the main factory building.

             Again, the roads were not crowded and we were surprised that a gatekeeper charged us admission to enter the plantation.  We were dropped off at a strange building at the top of the hill which was an obvious viewpoint but felt unfinished.  The day was misty and windy but it was nice to watch the mist blow from hill to hill as the sun rose to expose a 360 degree panorama.  A few other tourists showed up in tuktuks (the road up would have needed a narrow and rugged car to make it up there).

            We posed for pictures with the statue of Mr. Lipton and then stayed for some tea served by vendors who rushed in just as the sun was coming up.  Most people were driving down but at least one couple walked down with us.  We were supposed to look for stairs to shorten the road journey back, which was all switchbacks.  Most of the paths among the tea leaves were irrigation channels but we found a few stone paths that cut through the fields.  Most of these were pretty rough and so required going slowly, which probably erased any time saved by not taking the twisty road. 

            Still, the walk through the fields was really atmospheric with mist blowing around and workers showing up with their baskets to pick the tea.  Eventually the road led into the village and we easily located the bus stop if front of the factory.  A tuktuk driver approached us and told us that the bus wasn’t leaving for 45 minutes but we knew not to believe him.  A bus driver then told us he was leaving in 10 minutes and invited us to sit down.

            The public buses here are red and look the way you expect but the private ones can be absolutely wild.  They usually have pumping music and flashing lights inside.  Outside they are usually blue and white but often with wild designs and images spraypainted onto them.  Ours wasn’t too crazy but the thumping music was there.

            As we got going, we wondered why everyone else on the bus was seated on the opposite side from us.  We switched over and saw that the view from this side of the bus was spectacular.  The road wound through tea fields overlooking a valley and everyone was staring out into the landscape.  It was almost as good as our train ride for a bus fare of 50 cents each.

            We walked back from town and, after a few detours, found our shortcut and got back to our room.  We had another late breakfast and packed up our things for the next leg of our journey.

            The way to Tissamaharama wasn’t direct and would have involved several changes of buses, so we cheated and used the Pick Me app to get a door-to-door ride.  Our guy showed up right on time, so we said goodbye to our host and were off.

            The trip down was scenic as we descended from hill country into the steamy jungle area.  We made good time and arrived 30 minutes ahead of our projection.  Our driver needed to make a few calls to get directions but got us to our hotel, which had a nicely gardened courtyard and a big open porch.

            We settled into our room and toughed out a power outage before heading out to explore the city.  The hotel gave us the number of their local tuktuk driver as the building itself wasn’t an easy walk to anywhere.  He let us off at a grove of trees by the water where we could watch bats fly out for their evening if we waited 45 minutes.  We weren’t up for waiting so we walked along the promenade of the huge artificial lake the city was built around.

             You would think a lakeside walkway would be busy with pedestrians but it really wasn’t.  A few people were fishing and one place had rentable swan boats but for the most part we were on our own except for the occasional tuktuk driver slowing down and offering us a lift.

            We headed inland and found the restaurant we were looking for, which was built like a huge grass hut and was known for its seafood.  Many people were there and we got seats under a fan, which was welcome on this hot night.  I had a good curry but Meg’s grilled fish was exceptional. 

            We called our tuktuk guy to get us back to our hotel and didn’t need to wait too long.  He didn’t seem too upset that we didn’t hang around for the bats.  Once back, we needed to prepare for yet another early morning so to bed we went.

The World's End Hike

 

Feb. 24

            We got up in darkness and our tuktuk driver was there waiting for us.  We headed quickly out of town and most of the trip was along quiet roads where we were almost the only vehicle out there.  A disadvantage of travelling by tuktuk is that you don’t have the view that you get out of a car but that didn’t make much difference before sunrise.  On bizarre occurrence was that as we were driving we heard a large zap above us with some visible sparking.  Our driver looked up and slowed down but kept going.  As we slowly continued, a few dozen feathers floated down in front of us.  I guess the wiring wasn’t well-insulated and an unfortunate bird landed on the wrong spot and went from roosted to roasted.

            The roads kept getting smaller and we got to the main park gate to get our tickets.  The hike we were doing was called World’s End and was supposed to have a spectacular view but usually misted over by 10 am, hence our early departure.  The road got narrower and elevated along many narrow switchbacks.  We stopped at one point to watch the sun rise, which was beautiful from the height we were at.

            We got to the hike departure point, which was a series of small buildings around a parking lot with several buses and vans.  The cafeteria wasn’t open yet (you’d think they would be, they could have sold tons of coffee and pastries) nor was the gate to start the path.  Our driver had lots of friends among the other waiting drivers but made sure we knew where to line up.

            Once the gate opened, passing through it was slow.  At the entrance they checked all backpacks and removed all non-reusable plastic.  Our chips were put in a paper bag but our reusable water bottles were fine.  Once we got past that, we headed down the wide, well-maintained path for our hike.  Most of it was very easy with washrooms along the way and long stretches that could have been navigated by wheelchair.  There were only a few spots where you needed to go up and down hills but you felt them more than usual because the altitude robbed you of breath.

            We did the loop clockwise and most of the first part of the hike was through woods not so different from a Canadian hike and we stopped to watch a woodpecker for a while.  Eventually we emerged at the lookout spot which was busy but not crazy crowded.  To be honest, the view was nice but far from amazing, perhaps because there was some mist in the air so that the horizons were fuzzy.  We stopped for snacks and obligatory photo ops before proceeding.

            The way back was hillier but more interesting, with grassy fields, marshes and scraggly trees.  Along the way was a nice waterfall to check out and enough elevating that we were out of breath a few times.  Overall, a nice but not a “must-do” hike.  The path made it very accessible, and many seniors were doing it without too much difficulty.

            Back at the entrance, the cafeteria was finally open so we had some coffee and buns before heading back.  Our friendly driver was in no rush and waited while we refueled.  The trip back was uneventful but at least we saw what we were driving through in the daylight.  Once we got back we had a late breakfast and then lazed around our room and hung out on the porch.

            For dinner we finally tried out the shortcut from our place to a restaurant on the hill above us, which saved us a lot of time.  This place was the Tripadvisor #1 rated restaurant in town, which says a lot about how small Haputale was.  It was a fine, family place with decent food but nothing exceptional.  It filled up with tourists because of its online pedigree and it probably was the best place in town.

            We walked back in the dark and wondered which way to go at a few spots where the path split but made it back safely.  We spotted a few more fireflies along our route which is about as exciting as Haputale gets most nights, I think.

Grand tour of Haputale

 

Feb.23

            We had another good breakfast on our porch and then packed up and walked to the train station to head for Haputale.  They wouldn’t sell us train tickets the day before so we got there early to make sure that we wouldn’t be left behind.  The station was packed for the tourist train that came before ours.  The ticket guy wouldn’t sell tickets to me until the current train was finished but he did have tickets for the tourist train so I got those.  It cost a bit more but got us there at least an hour and a half earlier than otherwise.

            Our trip was as scenic as before and we were at our destination in about an hour.  The Haputale train station was the one place in Sri Lanka where we were hit up by touts as soon as we left the train.  They asked us where we were going and offered overpriced tuktuk and car rides and followed us after we kept saying no.  If it weren’t for them, we might have actually grabbed a tuktuk to our hotel.

            Our place didn’t look far away on the map but it took over half an hour to get there, with the usual wondering whether Google maps had an accurate layout of the small town.  The first half of the walk was downhill, first through the small town and then along a highway.  We saw a sign with our place’s name on it and so knew we were on the right road, but Google maps had the layout wrong.  We kept going along steep switchbacks until we fianlly got there, sweaty and tired.  It was a nice place with a flowery garden that had a stream flowing though it.  All of the rooms had a porch with a great downhill views and lots of space inside.  Our host was very friendly and informative and offered us breakfast even though it was afternoon (it was the only meal they were prepared to serve).

           

We walked into town to see what we could see.  Our host had mentioned a shortcut to get there but we couldn’t find him so we went back the way we came.  The town was fairly small, almost every street we poked around petered out after a few blocks.  Household and food shops were open but many other businesses were closed.

            We stumbled upon a local market which was only open on Sundays and so appreciated our lucky timing.  This seemed to be where most of the town was and the large lot was covered with people selling household items and food.  Meg bought some chips and we admired the view, as the lot the market was on looked down on a valley.

            Nestled above the market was a restaurant recommended in our guide book so we headed there.  They had a nice balcony overlooking the valley and we sat on it outside but had to soon head inside because of high winds.  The restaurant looked as if it had once been really nice but now had piles of junk here and there and a few broken chairs and tables scattered about.  It had a logo for “Olive’s” that we had seen on other businesses in town and so we wondered if it was part of some Haputale chain of businesses.   Our soup came quickly but our main meal took almost an hour to get to us.  We watched the kitchen staff meet in the kitchen in apparent confusion, which didn’t have a functioning fume hood so the restaurant kept filling with enough smoke to make us cough.  Three different waiters checked our order and then went back to the kitchen to frown over whatever was going on there.  We were the only people there ordering food so it must have been our meal that was causing the fuss Again, it seemed that having a large staff was of no benefit and few people were willing to do anything or make decisions when a problem arose.

            When our meal finally got to us it wasn’t what we ordered.  We had intentionally ordered a grilled fish plate as it only came with cooked vegetables (not trusting the raw ones in this place).  What we got was a fried fish fillet with salad and a half-cooked egg on top.  The waiter was all deer-in-headlights but we had no intention of waiting another hour for the correct order so we had the rice and fish, avoiding everything else.

            The owner at the cash was friendly and seemed unsurprised that our meal was wrong and didn’t charge us for our main course.  We headed back to our place, not wanting to be caught walking along the busy road after dark.

            The owner was hanging around so we spoke to him of our experience.  He told us that he used to own that restaurant but had to give it us because of the COVID shutdowns and now he concentrated on his hotel.  He said that Olive’s liked to buy up local businesses but didn’t really do quality control, which explained our experience.  We then reserved a tuktuk driver through him for our early hike the next day and headed off to bed.

Little Adam's Peak

 

Feb. 22

            We got up and lingered over another excellent breakfast on our porch before meandering downtown to find Little Adam’s Peak.  Adam’s Peak is a different attraction, where you would get up in the middle of the night to drive to a site where crowds of pilgrims would be lined up to climb hundreds of stone steps with the goal of summiting the peak at sunrise.  That attraction was in another part of the country and the description of the climb wasn’t enough of an incentive to go that far out of our way.

            Little Adam’s Peak, on the other hand, has got to be one of the most accessible viewpoint hikes in the country.  After walking on the main road out of town, you turn off to a well-marked side path lined with small cafes and trinket sellers.  The path is busy with people and would be a nice pedestrian walkway except for the frequent tuktuks whizzing past and expecting the pedestrians to jump out of their way. 

            Eventually the tuktuks had to park and the last 10 minutes or so were on steep steps with foot traffic only.  At the base of these steps was a fancy hotel with a pool and terraced bar that we considered grabbing a drink at on our return trip.  There were also adventure opportunities with a climbing wall, zip line and a big swing that you could dress up in fancy clothes and have a ride on while someone took pictures and video for you to purchase afterwards.  The capitalists were doing well here.

            We watched people swinging for awhile as well as the swimmers in the fancy hotel beside us as they took pictures of each other with their butts visible above the water.  We made the final, busy ascent and then checked the place out.   The views were impressive with several spots offering a 360 degree panorama of the town behind us and the mountains and valleys around.  There were some Buddhist artifacts around a tree that appeared to be a shrine and lots of people taking turns posing at the best spots.  Probably one of the most photogenic points was further along the ridge but I started walking towards it and decided the trip wasn’t worth it.  The path had steep up and down parts that were so well worn that it would have been lots of dirty slipping and sliding rather than trekking.  The day was hot and I convinced myself that it was the wisdom of age behind my decision to enjoy the views that we had rather than seeking something more just because it was there.

            Me met our Belgian housemate and helped each other with our pictures before heading down.  The trip back was uneventful and hot but we held off getting the drinks at the posh hotel as we figured our money would be better spent at a local vendor.  We ended up back at the UFO where the drinks were yummy but the food wasn’t as good as the previous day.

            After some simple shopping we headed back to our place for some afternoon downtime.  For dinner, we decided to check out a local place recommended by our hotel-mates who had enjoyed eating there the previous night.  We located it, an open concrete area with a few tables and lights and no other customers.  The walls were covered with patron testimonials and praise for the cooking classes that apparently happened there.  Once we arrived several family members came over and the open kitchen was soon busy with five people chopping and cooking.  While we waited, people began showing up until, by the time our Belgian housemate showed up for a repeat visit, the last table was filled.  We chatted with a couple at our table, one of whom was a British Air pilot and then it was announced that the meal was ready.

            The food was laid out in a buffet style which made us wonder if that was always the plan. Would have had it the whole buffet to ourselves if we were the only customers or did our hosts increase portion sizes as more people showed up.  The food was excellent and most people had seconds.  It was nice that we only had a short downhill walk back to our place after eating as it was now dark.

            On the way back we spotted some fireflies and watched them for awhile.  Some local kids were walking by and wondered what we were looking at but kept shining their flashlight in our direction, negating the experience.  Once they left, we spotted more here and there all the way back to our place.

The Seven-Arches Bridge

 

Feb. 21

            We had a lovely breakfast on our porch and took it easy for a while before heading into Ella.  Our shortcut along the train tracks made for a quick walk as we headed to the town described by many travelers we encountered elsewhere as being crazy and overrun. 

            Maybe it’s crowded by Sri Lankan standards, but it was a walk in the park next to navigating India or China.  There were few sidewalks but the only real problem was when you met a pedestrian coming the other way and had to negotiate who inched further into the moderately busy traffic.

            We wanted to head to the famous seven-arches bridge.  Our guidebook gave us fairly cryptic directions there, but a big sign next to the road pointed us in the right direction.  A short and pleasant hike through the woods led us to an open lookout above the bridge with simple benches and different train schedules posted which contradicted each other.  One of them had a train listed in the next 15 minutes so we took a break, hydrated and enjoyed the view.  A few minutes later we heard chugging and were in luck as we got to see a train slowly cross the bridge right beside the many tourists and vendors remaining on the bridge.  Meg is really proud of the footage she got.

            We did the short hike from our lookout down to the bridge and entered a cluster of makeshift cafes with vendors hawking foodstuffs and trinkets.  The path beside the tracks on the bridge was fairly wide, to accommodate all of the people were heading in every which direction.  There were lookout areas on either side, paths down to the lower river and a restaurant overlooking the tracks that probably charged premium prices for the birds-eye view.  There was construction going on which we feared was for some international tourist hotel but the posted signs said it was for erosion maintenance.

            We wanted to avoid retracing our steps so we followed the tracks back into town.  This first leads you through a dark, damp tunnel with bats on the ceiling at its deepest part.  We figured that we were safe from meeting a train as we saw one go past half and hour previously but another one came by just after we emerged from the other side of the tunnel.  We were lucky, as there was space to move off the tracks inside of the tunnel but the safe areas were wet and murky.

             The trip back along the tracks seemed much longer than our walk there, probably because it was less interesting and the day was very hot.  Walking with us were mostly families, who would go off on side paths to their homes in the Ella “suburbs”.

            We eventually came to the train station and walked down town to look for lunch.  We settled on the UFO bar with a cool open-concept huge grass hut vibe as well as excellent drinks and decent food.  We did some shopping for postcards, gifties and a few groceries and headed back to our place for afternoon relaxation.

            We were supposed to visit our monk host at the school where he was the principal  but he didn’t return our texts.  Later he said that government officials showed up for an inspection and so it wasn’t a good day for guests. 

            We headed back downtown for dinner and Google maps led us astray in search of a top-rated restaurant so we settled for a just okay place that was close by. The walk back to our place was dark along the tracks but quick.

The Most Beautiful Train Ride in the World?

 

Feb. 20

            During our final excellent breakfast at Bernard’s we asked his wife to book us a ride to the train station to grab our train to Ella.  She asked the helper to do this, who didn’t.  He ordered a car which wouldn’t get to our property for 10 minutes and at this point it was 20 minutes until our train left the station.  He seemed perplexed that we weren’t grateful for his assistance.  We walked to the road and hailed a tuktuk.  Our driver was able to weave through Kandy’s traffic jams (a car would never have made it on time) and we got to the station with 10 minutes to spare.  As a bonus, we now knew that we could fit ourselves and all of our luggage into a tuktuk, which we weren’t sure about before.

            Of course we didn’t know that our train would be late, but we were in the right spot and killed time by chatting with other tourists while our heart rates returned to normal.

            The Kandy to Ella train has a reputation as being one of the most beautiful train rides in the world.  Tickets can be hard to come by, as I was able to get ours due to my insomnia and checking the website at 4 am on the day they were released.  Most people we spoke to got theirs from travel agents or vendors, so scalping is probably a lucrative business.  The train we were on was a special tourist train, which probably wasn’t too different from the regular one except for an inflated price and a higher proportion of first-class cars.

            The trip itself was a beautiful one but no faster than the roads.  It’s 137 km that takes 7 hours so the pace is quite leisurely.  We figured that it looked so good because of different regulations from North American trains. We're used to train tracks to be on rounded mounds that avoid drop-offs and favour flat areas.  The trip takes you up through mountains and tea plantations which would look great anyway, but you are so close to them that they pop out at you.  The edge of the tracks passes right by houses and fields and often you can look almost straight down into valleys from your train car.  Guide books might tell you to go 2^nd or 3^rd class so that you can hang out of the doorways but we could get out of our seats and walk between cars to look out unobstructed as much as we wanted to.  There was usually a short line to do this but both of us got the close-up view as much as we wanted.  Leaving our seats also made us aware of the food car where we could sit at a comfortable table and have tea and buns, which we certainly did.

            We arrived in Ella to a chaotic parking lot.  We eventually got ourselves a tuktuk and went for a longer ride than expected.  Our place was close to the station as the crow flies but a long ride up over and down a hill with long, slow switchbacks.  Walking it would have been brutal so the tuktuk was the right call.

            We were staying at a place next to a Buddhist temple calling itself the "meditation monastery stay".  The tuktuk driver had to let us off at the end of the driveway as there were several dogs lying on the ground across it who refused to move even when the loud machine was almost on top of them.  We walked in front of the temple, peeking in windows until we came to our hotel just past the main temple.  Our host was a monk and we were welcome to join him in the temple for chanting and meditation in the evenings or just chanting in the mornings.  Each room had a nice patio area in front of it and two elaborate fish tanks were visible outside.  We met a German couple and a Belgian woman who were staying there and went to our room.  We were the only ones on the second floor, with a kitchenette room and a flower-lined patio with a great view at our disposal.  A nice touch was the big ceramic jug with a spigot full of filtered water right in the room, much better than using bottles.

            We got some advice as to where to grab dinner and were told to take some steps down to the rail tracks and follow them into town.  This took about 10 minutes but it seemed that almost every time we took them a train went by us, even though the station only had about a dozen trains listed daily.  Still, it was much better than the long route along the road.

            We stepped off the tracks to see the place we were told about, a narrow dining area beside the road that had a line-up, even though we were there at about 5:30.  We perused menus and watched yummy plates go by while we waited and it didn’t take long to get a table.  The place actually deserved the line, food was uniformly good and service was super-efficient.

            We walked back to our place and went to the temple for our session.  We thought it would be with a group but it was just us and our monk.  He chanted for awhile and then led us in a basic meditation followed by a talk and an opportunity to ask questions.  His answers tended to be long and vague so we didn’t ask too many.

            We retired to our room and had a good night’s rest.