The last day of our trip was a busy one. We woke up super early at 6am, was picked up by a different driver in another jeep, and then we were driven to Horton’s Plains National Park. We hiked a 3 hr path through the beautiful park of misty wild land. Our guide/driver was very smart in that he knew exactly the right path to take in order to get the mist behind us so that we could enjoy the beautiful view throughout the entire hike. Almost all other hikers, though, took the opposite way which led them to having the fog block their view for more than half the hike! We were lucky to have our guide with us. We saw some deer and heard many tropical birds but most animals were hidden well. The lush forest, different greens in the fields and trees were all so amazing to look at. We hiked past ponds and through forests, where we saw a huge waterfall. After an hr. and a half in, we finally made it to the popular overlook called “The World’s End”. It was a great view of the mountains and little pond and town down below. It was so windy up there so I was constantly holding onto my hat so it wouldn’t blow away!
The rest of the hike was relaxing and a great way to start our morning. As you can see from the picture it was a little cool up so high in the mountains. Perfect weather. The only problem was that my foot started to hurt when we were near the end of the trail. (I later discovered when I returned home from our trip that I have a stress fracture in my foot. I think it will take a few more weeks to heal. )
When we were heading into our jeep to get back to the hotel, we saw a reindeer! It was so cool to see one of those. I think it was my first reindeer I’ve ever seen. I wondered if Santa was nearby.
Our driver was also amazing because on our way driving out of the park, he spotted a rare animal that they call “bear monkey”. Now when Keith and I say this name we say it in a low and slow voice to make it sound like a make-believe movie character. I took a few good pictures of him and every time I look at them they crack me up! I literally laugh out loud because he looks like such a wise old creature, with his long beard, just pondering in the tree and looking back at us. Hahaha
Well we enjoyed the morning and then had a long car ride into Kandy city. This was our last destination for our anniversary trip. When we arrived, we settled into our hotel for the night and then had to quickly rush into town to pick up tickets for the festival. We were lucky because our driver hooked us up with discount seat tickets so that we could see the whole festival from a good view.
Because this was the biggest festival in Kandy and the last night of the festival (a Saturday), everyone got to the festival about 3-5 hrs early to find seats. We were there 2 ½ hrs early so we waited patiently for the show to begin. It seemed like a looong time that we waited because we had gotten up so early and were exhausted by that point. However, we kept ourselves up and enjoyed the festival when it started. There were tons of drummers, fire dancers, elephants dressed in fancy royal clothes and lights (my favorite part), and important people from the church. It wasn’t like the festivals at home, where people can come and go as they please. At this festival, you couldn’t leave because there were security all around and all the roads were closed off. Literally people were sitting up against one another. The festival was more of a ritual and very repetitive in its performance. A Sri Lankan who was sitting behind us kindly explained to us the symbolism of the festival. The festival comes right before the wet season and is supposed to be a symbol and blessing for the rain to come and bring food, water, nature and good health to the people. It was also very religious and there were many important people from the church in the festival.
It was neat to experience but the festival was from 8:30pm-1am so Keith and I were dead by the time it finished. Haha We fell right asleep that night with our green little gecko friend in our room. The next morning we packed everything up and headed to the airport. On the way to the airport, I took a picture of the President (from an advertisement around town) and also took a picture of all the bats that were hanging in a tree. Our driver pointed them out to us and I couldn’t believe there were so many, and out in the middle of the day. When we got to the airport we thanked our driver for all that he had helped us with throughout the trip and made sure to exchange contact information. He became a great friend of ours! We’ll miss him.
Sri Lanka, like I said, was the wildest country we’ve visited thus far! It was also a perfect and adventurous way to spend our 1 yr. anniversary. I can’t wait to see all the other places we’ll go to in the summers to come.
Hope you enjoyed hearing about our latest travels! We’re hoping to visit Chicago during our winter vacation, so we’ll be taking a break from new countries until next summer.
Later,
Tina
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