Tonga: Chilling with Whales on the Friendly Islands

Six Months ago I didn't know anything about Tonga.  I'd have guessed it was in the South Pacific.  I knew they had a reasonable rugby team, and that, I'm ashamed to say, was about it.  Tinas brother Drew first mentioned it to us during our stay in New Zealand as a possible adventure weekend for my 40th Birthday.  Almost as an aside he mentioned "You can swim with Whales!"  After those 5 little words I was hooked.  Sure enough the big day came around and my amazing wife came up trumps and treated me to a holiday in The Kingdom of Tonga.

So after several weeks of research, studying the Tonga lonely planet and cross referencing with trip advisor we set off for Tongatapu (Tongas main Island).  We were really keen to get straight for the outer Island groups, so we only spent one day on the main Island.  We arrived quite late in the day and our first impressions of the main Island weren't great.  The capital Nukalofu was a bit run down, not very attractive, and the sea front wasn't anything special.  Our hotel was cheap but the windowless room was a bit grim.  We went to sleep that night somewhat disallusioned and wondering if our expectations had been too high.

The next morning we set off on a tour of the main Island.  Our friendly driver picked us up in his ramshackled car, slowly chugging around the entire Island.  By the end of the day we were nicely shattered. We'd seen dramatic coastal scenery, thousands of blow holes, natural archways, several beautiful beaches, the spots where Captain Cook and Abel Tasman had first  landed, the Tongan equivalent of Stone-Henge and some amazing caves with rivers and deep pools you could swim in.  We'd also been treated to coconuts from the roadside and the Tongan equivalent of McDonalds (fish and yams in coconut sauce).  We even stopped by the local school to check on our drivers kids.  What a great day?  Our hopes were lifted.  Tonga was on the up.  After a lovely evening meal we hit the sack, optimistic and ready for our 5am start.  Next stop- The Island group of Vava'u. 

So one of the things about Tonga I loved is the relaxed pace of life out here.  When I say relaxed I mean horizontal.  Tongans will happily tell you about Tongan time, and I don't think the word for rush exists in the Tongan vocabulary.  We started to realise this at the airport when boarding was delayed because the cafe had opened late and everyone (including myself) hadn't yet been served their coffees.  Kind of nice really.  It was almost like having a private jet, rocking up late coffee in hand.  I'd love to think what Easyjets Stelios whould make of it.

45 minutes of spotting little desert islands from the plane later we arrived in Vava'u.  It didn't disappoint.  Imagine a Bounty advert and you're pretty much there.  Palm trees, plantations, white sand beaches, crystal turquoise water, coral, yachts, coconuts, and friendly chilled out locals.  Vava'u is a group of 61 islands shaped kind of like a giant Jellyfish.  The main city Neiafu was to be our home for a few days.  It's harbour, called the Port of Refuge, is considered to be one of the safest ports in the South Pacific, and is a stop for most trans-pacific yachts. 

We were staying in a ramshackled villa which we were sharing with 2 Japanese Students.  We were on a hill, 5 minutes walk from the harbour and had views to both the North and South coast of the Island.  The owner of the Villa "Toto" came to greet us and then happily spent several hours telling us all about the culture, the Islands, the history, and the local gossip.  It turns out he was illegitimately related to the King of Tonga.  They were friends and Toto was also looking after the Kings property on Vava'u.  He was such a friendly chap and we shared stories/ideas every day of our stay. 

Appently the Kingdom of Tonga is know as The Friendly Islands. Captain Cook named them this when he first visited and a local tribe threw a feast for him. Unknown to Captain Cook the tribe were actually planning to kill and murder Cook and his crew but the plan was aborted after a dispute amoungst the tribe. We realised during our time with Toto and in this community that despite the irony the name couldn't be more appropriate. The Tongan people are so friendly. We met smiles, and inquisitiveness wherever we went. Nothing was too much trouble. 

After a slow stroll around town, buying some fresh fruit off the market and a lovely waterfront meal we had another early night ready for what we hoped would be the main attraction.  The chance to Swim with Humpback Whales.

The next 2 days are a bit of a blur for me now, but I have to say it was 2 of the best days of my life.  The first day we followed several different groups of whales none of which settled down.  If the whales don't settle, the guides won't let you swim with them.  During our first day our whales were somewhat energetic and boysterous.  Appart from one brief swim we didn't really get to swim with them but we did get one hell of a show.  Splashing around.  Breaching, tail slapping and flipper waving.  Incredible and all soo close to our boat.  It was amazing!

 

After an exhausting morning we stopped for lunch on the Island where they filmed treasure Island.  It was easy to see why the location scouts were drawn there.  If ever I need a happy place to think about this is where I'll go.  Crystal water, white sand, palm trees, plenty of colourful sea life to spot.  In short- Paradise.

Day 2 came around and we set off even earlier, somewhat anxious.  Day 2 was our final day and our only chance to swim with the whales.  Luckily the whales put us out of our misery within the first hour when we came across a mother with calf and her male escort.  They were calm, almost still and after 20 minutes our guide gave us the go ahead and in we went. 

The next few hours saw our 2 groups of 4 rotate in and out of the water as we swam along with the whales while they dived, swam, floated, and  inverted.  It was incredible.  Our guide seemed able to see them underwater at great depths and would keep in the best spots.  Several times the whales came from underneath us and surfaced right in front of us.  The male would usually surface between us and the mother/calf and at times was scarily close to us.  It's quite unnerving seeing something that big swimming upwards from underneath you.  I don't think the whales felt threatened by us in any way but I'm pretty sure the male escort was keeping an big beautiful intelligent eye on us.  It felt like he was staring right at me at times.

The guides operate under regulations which dictate they can only be in the water with a certain group of whales for a limited period of time so after a while we said goodbye.  Our last memory was of the Mother and Calf disappearing off into the Blue.  Afterwards, back on the boat, we had time to reflect, and I have to confess to finding the whole experience quite moving.  To conclude our perfect day we spent lunch on another paradise beach followed by an afternoon of snorkelling in some amazing caves before waving goodbye to the whales and heading for the port.  What an incredible day?

For the next few days we relocated to the outskirts of the Islands to a great little place called Luckys Beach house where we stayed in a traditional "Fale" (Wood and Palm leaf house).  It was in a small village, right on the beach with nothing to do but chill out, snorkel reefs, kayak around the nearby uninhabited Islands, and listen to the daily church services.  It was paradise, and sitting in my hammock watching the pigs fishing, the local kids playing with sea weed, the choir singing, and yachts slowly gliding past our beach, I contemplated staying there forever.  (I'm still considering going back!)

 

On the Sunday we attended a church service.  (We aren't the most religious of people, but when in Tonga...)  This was the second occassion in Tonga where I was almost moved to tears.  The choir was just out of this world.  So powerful.  It was such a high standard.  The whole community turned out in the Sunday best.  The service also had an element of fire and brimstone with readings from the Tongan Vicar, aswell as a baptism and a remembrance reading from a tearful young lady who we suspect had lost someone recently.  All the way through the service we had curious children smiling at us and laughing if we smiled back. 

 

Eventually our time on Vava'u came to an end and we boarded our ferry back to the main Island before getting our flight home.  The ferry was an adventure in itself.  18 hours of Island, whale, flying fish and dolphin spotting, although for the last 3 of those hours I was desperately holding onto my lunch.

 

Tonga- You were amazing.  You are my happy place and in my thoughts daily.  See you again one day.

 

 

 

Nepal, Annapurna Sanctuary. There and back again.

One of the things we wanted to do with our year off was achieve something big.  Something impressive.  Something that would challenge us.  (Apart not wanting to kill each other!!!)  We'd both always wanted to visit the Himalayas and Nepal so we settled on the Annapurna Sanctuary trail.  We read that Annapurna I at 8,091m is the worlds tenth highest mountain and is one of several himalayan peaks which surround the Annapurna Sanctuary Base Camp.  It's also one of the worlds best treks and it sounded achievable.  That'll do!!!

We arrived in Kathmandu having had a few lovely chilled 5-star days with our friends Alan and Dave and their Mum in Hong Kong.  I must admit Kathmandu was not what I expected.  I'd always loved the exotic name of Kathmandu but never really thought or read much about it.  I don't know what I was expecting but Images of Inner Calm, tranquility, yoga and peacefulness spring to mind.  How wrong I was!!!  Kathmandu was noisy, dusty, busy and there seemed to be a lot of very persistent Hawkers, who really wanted to sell me a musical instrument, or a chess set, or a lifetime supply of tiger balm.  Within an hour of being there I'd dodged a guy trying to sell me oranges but nearly got run over by a motor bike.  I sidestepped him but put my foot, ankle deep into a muddy puddle.  This seemed to repeat on a loop for my entire time in Kathmandu, with a soundtrack of angry car horns playing in the background.

We were staying in Thamel (the main backpacker area). Despite my culture shock, Thamel was a great start for us.  There were plenty of shops selling knocked off trekking gear, so we ditched our shorts and flip flops and resupplied, renting walking poles down jackets and super warm sleeping bags.  We stripped our kit down to the bare essentials (3 pants, 2 tops, one pair trousers, 4 pairs of socks, and my new but worn in Berghaus walking boots- Good call Mr Goodchild they're awesome!)   After three noisy, busy days in Kathmandu we set off for Pokhara (the town nearest to the start of our trek!)  I've never been so happy to get on an 8 hour bus journey.

Pokhara is a chilled, lovely, lakeside town right at the base of the Himalayas.  We only had the one night here, but caught a gorgeous sunset.  We were keen to get started on our trip but we resolved to spend a few days here on our way back to enjoy the view.



So, as most of you know, Tina is a keen walker.  I on the other hand am more of am armchair athlete.  So you can imagine how thrilled I was when we "agreed" that we didn't need a guide or porter, that we would be absolutely fine carrying our packs and that we should start the walk at the hardest point.  Afterall why get a taxi up the first 1000m climb when we can walk.  Brilliant!  ;-)  So with a spring in our steps (at least one of us did) and 10kg packs on our backs off we went.

I'll be honest, the first day was pretty tough.  We started with a pretty severe 1000m climb .  It was pretty hot and a lot of steps.  I sweated more than a pedo at a school disco, but at the end of the first day we got to a little village called Pothana.  Knackered, we dropped our bags at the first teahouse we found and agreed a rate of 200 rupees for the night (about £2).  The room was pretty basic but they had seats and beds, and we were the only ones staying there so we had the amazing lady who ran it to ourselves.  We sat down for a cuppa and ordered some apple pie.  20 minutes latter our hostess reappeared with more tea and a freshly made apple pie.  Amazing!  After 30 minutes of very little movement, we took a slow and painful shuffle around the village.  The view was phenomenal if not a little cloudy.  We were surrounded by farmland, with goats and Yaks, and Tibettan prayer flags dotted around.  We had dinner and by 8.00 the evening had turned bitterly cold to we went to bed, in our arctic sleeping bags.
 


The next moring we got up pretty early to a very clear day (it seemed for our entire trek the Himalayas were clear in the morning and then as the day warmed the clouds rose to block any views).  We breakfasted and said a sad fairwell to our amazing hostess, and shuffled down the track, taking in the views of snowcovered peaks. 




The next couple of days were amazing as we climbed and descended and gradually made our way north towards the snow capped peaks.  We got into a bit of a routine.  The days were really warm and the nights really cold.  We were up early, walking before the day got too hot and making the most of the morning clear views.  We'd have a lot of breaks on the up bits, and some long lunches to avoid the midday sun. We'd cross icy snow melt streams using stepping stones and had to use some pretty funky (if not a little ramshackled) indiana jones style rope bridges for the rivers.  We gradually worked our way up the valley towards the basecamp.  A real adventure.  The evenings were spent in the shared dinning room of the tea house meeting our fellow trekkers and their guides around a shared fire or heater.  We met some really cool people, and the food was soo good especially in the cold after a long days trekking.

On Day 3 we hit 2500m altitude and started to feel the altitude.  A shortness of breath mostly.  Unfortunately Tina got a bit of a cold/cough and I had a loss of appetite so we decided to take a rest day.  I say unfortunately, there was nothing unfortunate about it.  We found ourselves in Chomrong with awesome views, and even had an en suite room, with it's own hot shower.  (for £6 a night!)  Bargain!  I'm suprised we didn't stay longer.  After our day recharge we set of again.  The trek after Chomrong is a bit of a killer.  We decended 1000m to the valley floor only to have to climb back up the other side.  It was one of the hardest days.

 

The following day was relatively easy, and we arrived at our destination by early afternoon.  The problem with arriving early is that it's cold and there's not a lot to do in the afternoon, so you tend to just sit around feeling cold.  We therefore decided in all our wisdom to push on to the Penultimate teahouse stop called Machhapuchre Base Camp (or MBC).  This was to prove some of the scariest and the longest few hours of our lives......

 

We set of at 2.00 with another 500m to climb and an estimated 2.5 hour walk.   No problem....  After about an hour the weather turned.  First to rain and then dramatically to massive painful hail stones.  This part of the trail can be prone to Avalanches so we had already crossed the river off the main path to be safer.  Unfortunately the path on the other side of the river was nowhere near as established, so pretty soon the ground was covered in white hail/snow and we were really struggling to find the path.  Luckily a local dog had attached himself to us and seemed to like walking ahead of us, then waiting for us.  We ended up putting complete faith in a random dog and following it up what we hoped was the right path.  Sure enough "Hobo" did us proud and got us back on the main path.  By this point the ground was starting to freeze so we were having to tread really carefully not to slip (a bit like Bambi).  The weather had got worse and there was now thunder and lightening and it was starting to get dark.  We then heard a clap of thunder followed by an Avalanche behind us. 

 

At this point I really wish I had NOT googled how to survive an  Avalanche as it just scared the shit out of me.  Apparently you only have about 15 minutes air to survive if you get caught in an avalanche and there isn't a lot you can do....  The most useful tip was "if you were unsure of which way was up then urinate and apparently if the piss runs up then your upside down."  I'm pretty sure that if I ever got caught in an Avalanche pissing myself wouldn't be a problem.  Anyway all those thoughts crossed my mind as we crossed an icy avalanche shute and the biggest clap of thunder boomed just above our heads.  I've never shuffled so fast in all my life.  Anyway to cut a long story short we made it.  There was actually a lodge on the ridge above us and all the local porters found it quite amusing watching 2 crazy English, scared witless, running for their lives in what they probably considered mild conditions.  They did give us a warm greeting and got us by the heater with warm drinks to dry off.

 

We had a great evening that night chatting with porters, guides and other trekkers all clustered around the heater, but again by 9.00pm we decided to hit the sack and left the locals drinking rum while we clambered inside arctic sleeping bags in our unheated, frozen room.

 

The next day we were up with first light, and set off again looking somewhat like Bambi up the icy path to ABC (Annapurna Base Camp).  This was an amazing few hours.  The path was pretty tough but after 30 minutes we turned a corner and entered an awesome ampitheatre of mountains.  These got even more spectacular as the sun started to climb above the eastern rim.  As the sun came up we realised we were surrounded by massive peaks, all glistening and sparkling with fresh snow.  So beautiful, so white and pure, and soo huge.  I've never felt so small.  It was a very humbling experience.

 

 

 

We still had a way to go to get to the summit (from 3700m to 4200m altitude) and with the altitude this was proving really tough.  Ten steps forward, 10 seconds rest.  We ran into some of our new found trekking friends on the path who urged us on.  Eventually after almost 3 slow hours of breath taking (literally) views we finally made it. 

 

It should have been a victorious moment.  We should have ran up the last few steps and punched the air like Rocky.  We didn't. We were knackered. Instead we trudged the last 10 meters and sat down on the front step of the basecamp.  Well Tina sat.  I stood, leaning on my stick.  Tina was exhausted.  We'd had no breakfast after the early start.  We didn't speak.  We just panted and got our breath back.  Tina looked up at me about to say something profound.  Some words I'll never forget.  Something to encaptulate the moment.  At that exact moment the snow on the roof of the tea house slid off and pretty much all landed on Tinas head.  I still don't know how I didn't laugh my socks off.  The porters and tea house staff sure did.  Poor Tina. 

 

After a bit of Brekkie, several warm drinks and a few twix's we started to feel more ourselves.  We sat for several hours reflecting on our surroundings.  It is such a special place.  Words and pictures just can't do it justice.  Simply Awesome.  We watched as some skiers got Heli dropped, and made their way down the mountains.  The Helicopter would then pick them up and fly them back up to another mountain.  "Hobo" our dog (and guide) loved chasing the Helicopter.  Try as he might he couldn't get to the chopper, but he gave it a go for several hours.  Finally he admitted defeat and found himself a nice flat rock in the sun and went to sleep.  Not a bad spot for a dog nap.

 

 

After a few hours and several hundred photos, we set off back.  The journey down took just as long as the journey up.  I guess we took our time, taking more photos and stopping to enjoy the steams and vistas one last time.  The food on the trail is standardised across all the menus, so it was great to get back to Pokhara for a lakeside beer and something other than Rice, noodles or bread.  The first beer was amazing!  Everest.  You've tried the rest now drink the best.  Everest! 

We had a couple of lazy days in Pokhara, before moving on.  On our way out of Nepal we stopped in a beautiful rural Village called Bhandipur, where purely by chance we ran into the only 2 people we knew in Nepal.  They were both in this village and both knew each other.  Bhandipur is a small unspoilt rural community, high on a mountain ridge, with spectacular views, and an interesting glimpse into a real Nepalese community.  It was a nice chilled last stop before heading back into the madness of Kathmandu and a flight onto Australia and then New Zealand.

 

Nepal You've been amazing!  Annapurna:  I'll never forget you.  The Hardest and Best thing I've ever done.

 

Next stop New Zealand.....



Laos, Monks, Hill tribes, a million Elephants, and "meat on a stick"

It was with a heavy heart that we left Sri Lanka on the very last day of our 30 day Visa, however I'd heard such good things about Laos (and especially Luang Prabang) that we were pretty excited about stage 2 of the trip.

After a quick pit stop to resupply in the Kuala Lumpur shopping malls (and some guilty pleasures at the cinemas/food courts) we then grabbed our next super cheap Air Asia flight to Laos (£65).  I'm loving Air Asia by the way.  It's like Easy Jet but really cheap and really good.

First stop Vientiane...  This the capital city and is described as a city with no hustle or bustle.  I was sceptical about this but it's one very chilled out city.  It's on the Mekong and borders Thailand.  People drive slowly here, food takes a while to come, no one hassles you and everyone seems really chilled.  Apparently Laos's full name for is Laos PDR. The Locals claim this stands for Please Don't Rush.  How very apt?  We grabbed a couple of bikes and set out to see the sights.  Cycling in a city (especially an Asian Capital city) would normally scare the bejesus out of me but here it was an absolute breeze.  Cars seem to slow down for you and traffic just nicely, politely flows along at a easy pace.

We took a trip around some of the what seemed like hundreds of temples which were all pretty spectacular.  We stopped for lunch at some lovely bakeries, visited some sprawling markets where someone selling pigs trotters, and intestines was jammed inbetween a stall selling kids toys, and another selling fabrics.  Crazy.  After a couple of sunset drinks looking across the Mekong, we hit the night markets for some clothes shopping and a few cheap snacks.















Almost everyone I've spoken to about Laos has told me I'd LOVE Luang Prabang so after a couple of days we excited headed off to the Ancient capital.  We came to Luang Prabang with high expectations and booked into a cheap guesthouse for a few nights.  We ended up staying 10.  It turns out "everyone" was right and we did LOVE Luang Prabang. 

Luang Prabang is a leafy, quiet, Uber chilled town full of Monastries, temples, markets, old traditional wooden villas, and most importantly some of gorgeous cafes with delicious menus.  The old town is almost an island being 80% surrounded by rivers with temporary bamboo bridges.  It's in a valley surrounded by forested Mountains on all sides.  At this time of year there's a pink blossom on lots of the trees.  We fell in love with the place at first sight.



On the second day we got up at 5.30 am to see the "Giving of Alms."  Every day a procession of the local monks walk through the early morning misty streets of the old town and the locals (and tourists) give food to the monks.  At first this seemed a bit of a tourist carnival but later we found some back streets and quietly observed some of the local old ladies offering rice to what seemed like a never ending stream of monks.  It was a very serene experience.

I'd say Luang Prabang has something for everyone and as we didn't want to leave we tried most of it.  First we volunteered at the local library and ended up teaching some young monks English.  Unfortunately I couldn't help them with some of their homework which included filling in the words to Westlife songs (you've got to draw the line somewhere right?)  There are several Elephant rescue centers near Luang prabang so next we decided to take some Mahout lessons (to learn how to drive an elephant).  Laos is known as the land of a million elephants. These days the truth is there's only 1,600 left.  Of the 1600 I got paired with the biggest, greediest elephant and she was determined not to listen to me.  She did however enjoy feeding and bathtime where if I'm honest I got more of a bath than she did.  Needless to say I left being a little bit in love with my elephant.  We trekked into the mountains and stayed with a hilltribe, then Kayaked back down into town.  I can now say hello in Kmu and Hmong.  You never know when that could come in handy.  Tinas been enjoying learning the language, and has done really well.  I haven't been quite as successful.  Yesterday I told the guy on the toll bridge that he was delicious (I was trying to say nice to meet you.)

The Night markets in Luang Prabang are a sight to behold.  The main street is closed and each night hundreds of stalls set up blocking the street, selling millions of different handicrafts, jewellery, silk scarves, T shirts, and fabrics.  Most have been hand made by the ladies of the hill tribes.  Tina was of course in her element.  Luckily for me they also had food stalls.  I'd call this part of the blog Meat on a stick heaven.  "Stick around" and I'll tell you why.  The Laos people are close to my heart as they love a good roadside BBQ.  Fish, Lizard, chicken breast, leg, feet and the rest- (nothing was wasted).  The smell from 4.00 onwards as the food starts to cook is just mouthwatering.  To go with the BBQ there are several Buffet stalls setup.  For 80p you can fill your plate with soo much lovely food, of all sorts of variety.  The only challenge on the BBQ or the buffet is guessing what a lot of it is, but it all tasted pretty good to me (especially for 80p).

 

Finally after 10 days we realised sadly we had to move on....  We're now down at a town called Vang Vieng. This is a riverside town that is set with a dramatic background of Limestone Karsts/mountains.  The scenery is amazing.  It's the adventure capital of Laos, but the town itself seems to have become a bit of a tourist party town, which seems a shame given the beauty of the area (especially after the quiet and chill of Luang Prabang.)  We took some bikes out yesterday and to explore the area.  We found some huge Limstone caves and and dangled our feet in a beautiful blue lagoon, but just cycling between these giant mountains is breathtaking.  It's a beautiful area and in our last 2 days here we'll probably do some more kayaking before heading back to the airport, and onwards to our next destination.....  Nepal.

Wildlife, Tea plantations, Mountains, Culture and the edge of the world

Well where do I start.  As the title suggests the last 2 weeks have been action packed, and I'm not sure what to write about first...  I guess we should start where I left off.  We left Tangalla and the coast behind (although a big part of me is still there.)

Next stop was Tissa, the gateway to the National parks and Safaris.  We chose Yala National park (thanks for the recommendation Al).  There are 21 leopards in Yala, aswell as a bunch (sorry Keith) Herd of Elephants, crocodiles, deer, water buffalo, lizards and millions of different birds.  We booked a full day Safari and set off at 5.30 am, in our private jeep.  Our guide had come highly recommended.  He took us straight to the best spots to see the leopards.  Nothing.  :-(  We drove around all morning.  No signs of any leopards.  We saw leopard tracks, leopard poo but no Leopards.  Apparently they are pretty lazy and it was a really cold day so they were probably asleep under a bush.  We saw a lot of birds but I couldn't help feeling somewhat gutted.  It was all about the leopard for me. 

 

Finally at lunchtime after all the morning safaris had turned tail and headed home, just as I was about to lose heart, our driver got a call from one of his spotters.  We set off, and 5 minutes later were staring into the branches of a huge tree straight at the rump of the biggest cat I've ever seen (fast asleep!)  It was amazing to see.  We soon found another (again fast asleep) in a tree.  We parked up and got comfy.  After about 20 minutes this one got up to stretch.  Our guide told us that every 15 minutes or so they move around.  This one however seemed to be moving along the branch towards us.  Our driver told us to be quiet, as this amazingly stealthy cat lightly picked it's way right down the tree, and crossed the path right infront of our jeep.  I swear I stopped breathing for about 5 minutes.  A truelly magical moment I'll never forget.

 

The next day we got an early bus which climbed higher and higher clinging to the side of mountains, as we headed up through tea plantations, past waterfalls, higher and higher until we reached the highland village called Ella.  This was my favourite place in Sri Lanka.  A small village/town that really caters to backpackers and trekkers.  We spent our days with trekking along railway tracks and up mountains to get some amazing 360 "top of the world" type vistas.  Afterwards we'd come down to one of the many chilled out cafes serving great food, with shakes and smoothies.  I'd like to say the walks were the reason I'd recommend this place but if I'm honest the food and drinks here sealed the deal for me. 

After 3 days of eating (with the occassional stroll inbetween) we got the train to another Highland town called Nuwara Eliya.  This was the most spectacular train journey I've ever been on (£2.50 for 3 hours and about 80km).  Clinging to the sides of mountains, with waterfalls, amazing views and tea pickers waving at us from seas of green leaves.  Nuwara Eliya is otherwise known as Little England.  There's some old 5 star colonial villas, and hotels where you can eat roast beef, play billiards or have a round of golf, but we really struggled to see the resemblance to good old Blightly.  That was until the rain started.  3 days of torrential rain....  well we now know why it's called little england.  We did a trek to a waterfall through the Pedro tea plantation and were greated on the way there by all the workers who curiously watched us go by and occassionally waved.  On the way back they stopped us and offered us lunch.  It was a really nice genuine experience.  All the guys wanted to say hello, shake hands and practice their english.  They seemed really curious about us and what we thought about Sri Lanka and their town.  I guess we did look quite Bizarre trekking through their fields in waterfproofs in the pooring rain while they took shelter.  Crazy English!

The next few days involved a lot of treks.  We started with a dawn trek to Hortons plains and a Vista aptly called "the edge of the world".  It's a huge plain with a dramatic drop and views over mountains, lakes and apparently all the way to the coast on a clear day.  On our day it was raining, but still the view took our breath away.  Next up the mighty Adams Peak.  This is a sacred mountain and lots of pilgrims climb the mountain to the temple at the top starting at 2am to arrive for Sunrise.  What a great idea we thought....  The day we chose it happened to be raining.  Still as Tina told me "there's no such thing as bad weather....  just the wrong clothes."  Waterproofs donned we started out following the twinkling lights of the path up the side of this mountain.  We got to the top for sunrise (around 6.20), unfortunately there were was torrential rain and huge winds. Despite the weather it was pretty special.  It really felt like the top of the world (it was certainly a bloody long way down!).  We sat in our waterproofs and took in the sunrise (it went from dark to not quite so dark) before the climb down.  All 5200 painful steps.  Guess what!  After breakfast the sun came out.  (Madeleine- You'd have been proud of my swearing).  That was over a week ago and I'm still walking like I've soiled myself. 

Funnily enough 5200 steps in the middle of the night was the last trek we did.  Since then we headed north for some culture (and less walking).  We've been to Kandy with it's beutiful lake and dance shows, Sigiriya-(Lion Rock) a massive ancient rock that sticks up out of the flat landscape and is surrounded by ancient ruins.  Tina had me up at 5.30 again and we were the first up this rock.  Again it was pretty special (just not what my legs needed).  Only 370 painful meters up to the ancient monastry and palace on the top.  On the way down we took in a pretty cool cave with amazing rock art of naked ladies with three nipples (Scott- Total recall tastic!). The old bloke next to me made me chuckle when he told his wife he'd got some ideas of how they should redecorate...  :-)

  The next day we cycled around the ruins of Polonnaruwa. We rested in the shade of ruins and watched monkeys play infront of massive reclining Buddhas. Finally we're back in Colombo for one last rice and Curry before we get our flight to Kuala Lumpar and then onto Laos. 

 

 

Good bye Sri Lanka...  You've been amazing.  What a great start to our trip.  Soo much variety in such a small place.  I can't recommend Sri Lanka enough.  The highlight has to be the Sri Lankan people, the friendliest people on the planet.  (Although Ella comes a close second).

Sri Lanka: Cities and Beaches

Well we're off....  The much deliberated year off is finally underway.  We finished work at the end of 2012 and had 3 hectic weeks trying to read lonely planets, pack up all our other stuff, get jabs, organise insurance, say our goodbyes and eventually booked our first plane ticket...  A one way ticket to Sri Lanka.

We arrived in Colombo and given my low expectations I was really pleasantly suprised.  We arrived late afternoon and headed straight for Galle Face Green which is a coastal park where the locals gather for kite flying, eating ice cream, yoga, exercise or just a family outing.  My first impressions were of a very smiley friendly people, a gorgeous sunset and a fantastic first first meal for less than £1.50.  On the second day in Colombo we set off to explore the city further and were met by a lovely helpful old chap who told us we were going the wrong way.  His name was "Bernard" and he was a Buddist teacher who was off to pray.  "Apparently" it was a bank holiday so the markets and temples we were planning to visit were closed but our new found friend suggested another temple which was just 15 minutes walk.  Of we went, with "Bernard" showing us the way.  To cut a long story short after 30 minutes walking we realised we'd been had and "Bernard" was taking us to his temple where no doubt he'd ask us for a donation.  After 45 minutes we reached the temple and sure enough "Bernard" asked for a donation.  We actually had a lovely walk through some of the nicer parts of Colombo (lovely colonial buildings, cricket pitches and wide tree lined streets) so we gave "Bernard" a small "donation" and set off for the Markets...  On the way we encountered several more elderly gents all with traditional english names all of whom were teachers and wanted to help us in our touristic endeavours...  Albert was another favourite.  Bless them!  :-)

The Markets weren't closed but they we're soo impressive so we took ourselves on a walking tour of Colombo. It is a strange city.  There's a fusion of old colonial architecture, and very new.  Since the end of the troubles in Sri Lanka the economy seems to be booming and there's building work everywhere.  I suspect Sri Lanka and especially Colombo will be a very differnt place in 5 years time.

As neither Tina or I are city people we didn't linger in Colombo, so on day 3 got an early bus south for the coastal city of Galle.  Getting the right bus was a learning experience.  At one point we asked for the air con bus to Galle and were directed to the bus right next to me.  Somewhat skeptically we got on and were sat down (with 4 back packs and about 60 people crammed on the bus this wasn't as easy as you'd think).  It was then we realised that the bus wasn't air con and it wasn't heading south to the Coast.  :-)  Good job we're seasoned travellers eh?  Sometime later.....

Galle is an old dutch coastal fort with a really mellow vibe.  There's not a great deal to do, so we chilled out for a couple of days, walked around the fortress walls, drank milkshakes, ate some of the best rice and curry I've ever had and people watched.  The local families on the beach seemed as curious about us as we were about them so there was a lot of "Hellos", "Where are you from?" and smiles all round.

Day 5 saw us heading further south to the beach town of Mirissa which is a beach town famous for it's whale watching trips.  The beach here was lovely, with lots of Beach bars serving cool shakes/cocktails and playing Bob Marley on repeat.  Everyone here seemed to be good looking and have the perfect bronzed beach body.  I obviously, immediately felt right at home...  :-(  We treated ourselves to a lovely resort Cabana, and could easily have stayed for a lot longer.  The Whale watching was good and we got to see a bunch of whales including the planets largest animal the Blue whale, however it was quite sad to see some of the smaller less qualified hotel boats which weren't giving the whales enough space.  After 3 days we decided to move on, so I sadly dragged my still palid corpse onto the bus south (hopefully the right one!)

We thought Mirissa was paradise until we headed further down the coast to Tangalla.  The beach in Tangalla stretches for miles and is pretty much deserted.  We walked for miles and only saw a handful of people.  Most of these were local fishermen taking shelter from the sun under the palm trees.  The surf is quite dangerous so you can only swim in a few spots but the crashing sound of the huge dumping waves will stay with me forever.   We came for 2 days and stayed 5 (most of which in a hammock).  At night we saw giant green turtles coming ashore to lay their eggs, and fire flies gliding around our cabana, all with the constant rythmic sound track of crashing surf.  Paradise.

We eventually dragged ourselves away to head to off for some Safari and Highland trekking...  I'm missing the beach already...  Tangalla I'll be back.