Sadly, it is time to farewell both Sri Lanka and my parents, who return back to New Zealand after a great month and a half together.
Sri Lanka has definitely been one of the highlights of our trip so far, with incredible hospitality, amazing curries and seafood, excellent beaches and no shortage of scenery and cultural attractions. Travelling this country has well surpassed everyone’s expectations!
Over our last week here, we went from Ella to Nuwaru Eliya, and then to Kandy where we decided to hire a van and driver for a few days to move us between the cultural attractions of the north at Segiriya, Pollonarua and Anuradhapura before taking it easy for the last couple of days in a beautiful villa near the airport in Negombo.
We were occasionally caught in some downpours in Ella
The train was a great way to travel in this part of the country
But from Nuera Eliya to Kandy, this was also a pretty good way of getting about
It was a beautiful and colourful drive through the tea regions. We stopped by at the lush Macwood tea plantations for a cuppa.
In such a humid climate, washing usually takes about two days to dry which is why it wasn’t too surprising to see so much of it hanging out.
A typical scene as we got closer to Kandy
Bees at the temple of Buddha’s tooth
Family photo outside the tooth temple. The amount of fighting and violence over posession of the relic was quite ironic given the nature of Buddha’s teachings.
The boys had a bit of a trim
Firewalking in Kandy as part of a cultural show
The truly bizarre ‘Helga’s Folly’ hotel was a massive sprawling eclectic collection of strangeness
There were tens of thousands of fruit bats hanging around at the Kandy botanical gardens
When is a tree not a tree?
When it is four trees of course!
These were the entangled branches of the same Java fig tree
Sofia and Liam made some new friends at a playground on the way to Sigiriya
We also stopped by at a cave temple and encountered these little fellas on the way
‘Yes kids, they are playing piggybacks’
The Buddha filled cave temples
The next morning we climbed to the monastry on top of Sigiriya rock
And on the way to Pollonarua, enjoyed one of the best meals of our trip amongst the rice fields
The ruins at Pollonarua can only mean one thing – treasure hunt time!
A hornets nest at the Pollonarua ruins
On the way to Anuradhapura, we stopped by for the long promised elephant ride
Banana feeding time
The kids had a great time playing with our driver, Sara
We explored the temples and stupas around Anuradhapura at dusk with Sara, including a ceremony outside the world’s oldest tree
Strolling the neighbourhood with Liam earlier that day was a great way to meet people. Almost all people that we encountered came up for a chat. We were even invited to tea later in the evening by this very welcoming family.
The next morning, we completed our last ruins of the tour by ascending the 1,800+ steps to the Mihintale stupa
There are so may ways to caption the following two photos… we couldn’t decide, so we offer a selection to choose from. Further suggestions are welcome…
Unfortunately dad did not heed the warning on the bottle of arak that excessive consumption may increase the risk of exiting the restaurant via the goldfish pond.
Or…
Dad did not realise that a self serve meal did not involve catching his own fish until it was too late…
Or…
Not satisfied with the state of the polluted Negombo beach, dad opted for a dip in the restaurant goldfish pond instead.
The garden in ‘Shades Villa’ was the perfect place to wind down this leg of our trip at Negombo…
…which sadly also means saying farewell to our most excellent travel companions.
