Sri Lanka! Or Lanka Land as Robbie would call it. When I found out I was going to India for work again, I had to figure out a way to add in a side trip since the last time I went I didn’t have time to. And a few weeks before my trip I randomly met another Deloitte professional at lunch who was from Sri Lanka and I just KNEW I had to go there.
After traveling for what seemed like days (I think it actually was days) my co-worker Robbie and I arrived in Columbo. We had our driver take us about an hour and half outside the city to a very small village called Pinnawala. This village is well known for its elephant orphanage. Every morning, they escort the elephants down to the river to bathe them and it makes for a really incredible experience. I have never seen so many elephants in one place and watching them all play in the river was truly amazing. We stayed at Hotel Elephant Park so that we could have the best views of the elephants and it was worth it. We even bought paper made out of elephant poop which Leon of course LOVED.
After spending the work wee in Hyderabad, we flew back to Sri Lanka for a few days before heading home. Our driver took us to Kandy where we stayed overnight before taking a train to Ella the next morning. Let me pause here and say a few things to preface the train ride. When I was planning this trip, the one thing that google, bloggers, and the internet in general all had in common was the recommendation to take the train from Kandy to Ella. Everywhere it said, “this is the most beautiful train ride in the world” “if you go to Sri Lanka, don’t leave until you take the train from Kandy to Ella”. So I blindly followed the advice of the trusted internet which turned out to be the worst decision ever. WORST.
We got to the train station and there were tons of westerners, backpackers, anxiously awaiting this epic train ride. The train arrived and it was like hundreds of people came out of nowhere and ambushed the train. We had to fight our way on and we were so jam packed in there was no where to go. We were squeezed and squished between people, no A/C lots of bodies touching, OMG it was horrendous. Did I mention that this glorious train ride was six hours? SIX! Dear God what was I thinking?
About two hours into the train ride, I thought to myself, WWTD? (What would Townsend do). And suddenly it clicked, we needed to offer to pay some old ladies to take their seats. Sure enough, Robbie and I each offered a lady $20 and they gladly gave us their seats. The remainder of the train ride was still awful, there were people vomiting, people just smelling in general, but at least we had seats. It’s actually funny because I think I was so scarred from this train ride, that I don’t even remember how beautiful it was. It wasn’t until I started editing my pictures that I had a very, very small appreciation for the beauty of the tea fields and small villages we saw along the way. It still was NOT worth it so don’t get any ideas.
We stayed at a hotel that overlooked tea plantations and was very quaint and remote which was welcome change from the horrendous train ride. The town was also very charming, which isn’t a word I would use to describe basically any of the other towns we went to so that’s saying a lot. It had cute shops and restaurants which made for gift buying opportunities.
Our last day was spent in Yala National Park, where we went on a safari and stayed at a fabulous beach front hotel. The safari jeep came to pick us up from the hotel and as we were driving out, not even 100 feet from the entrance to the hotel, was a huge beautiful elephant. Its amazing how desolate things are out there and how these giant animals just roam freely.
We spent the rest of the afternoon on a sub-par safari that seemed very staged and very limited when considering the size of the national park. However, we did see quite a few animals and watched the sun set in the park.
The highlight of our time in Yala was the hotel we stayed at, Jetwing Yala. The weather was the perfect, the beach front was gorgeous, and the accommodations, superb. The waves in the Indian Ocean were deceivingly strong and knocked me on my ass when I tried to slowly inch into the water. I took that as a subtle sign that it was time for me to get home :)
Overall, Sri Lanka is a wonderful Island that has so many different variations of landscapes. Hopefully one day I can convince Townsend to go back with me. But one things for sure, I will NOT be taking another train ride there ever again!
