Adam's Peak

Adam's Peak or Sri Pada, is the 3rd tallest mountain here. It is a "holy mountain", to some, very popular with the locals and tourists. Reaching the top is quite torturous, only one way up STEPS !!!!!, 5831 up, and 5831 down.

We checked into the Wathsala Inn, hit the sack at around 8;30pm, got up at 2am and started our trek up. One of our fellow climbers was a british man, he only managed about 3000 or so steps when his knees gave out. I offered him some Advil ( my left knee reminded me to bring some ) he said that the only way he will continue is,  if can wash the Advil down with at least 2 Pints of the cold stuff, after 2 hours on the "step master" that concoction sound pretty good to me too!!! The path to the top is illuminated from April to June to facilitate the masses of pilgrims that flock to the peak, most in search of a blessing

( temple at the top is  said to have a concrete imprint of Buddah ). I cannot verify its authenticity as admittance inside the temple required going barefoot. Since  the temp.  at the top was freezing and for other personal reasons I politely declined the invitation. 

After 3-4 hours of climbing and donning more and more clothing ( wind, rain, wet snow ) we finally ascended on high at around 5:30am. Our purpose: see the sunrise, and the magnificent vistas of the land below. We did see the sun thru the clouds, saw some of the vistas thru the clouds as well.

The viewing experience is highly dependant on the climate which was not most favourable on our day. 

THE RETURN,,,,,,,,,,,,,, if one thinks,  "hey, at least going down won't be that bad" ( as I naively did ) this one is HIGHLY mistaken!!!  

Fish galore!!!

Finally got to taste fresh fish. Location-MIRISSA ( south SL ). This place is famous for two kinds of fish. 

1st- fried or curried.

2nd- observed from a boat.

The latter can include: Bryde's, Sperm and Blue whales. According to some sources Mirissa is the " surest place on earth to see a Blue whale". We did see the blue whale, maybe less then 5% of it, the rest was under water, oh well.

Laxapana falls

Beautiful waterfall.  Water flows over a massive rock table that stretches some 60m wide x 120m in length and then drops 423 feet, that is high!! However according to Wikipedia it is only the 8th highest in Sri Lanka. The water here has carved some very interesting patters in the rock ( fissures , holes etc ). One can enjoy some great views standing atop the rock. The 3 peaks rising above the waterfall are called "Virgin hills". Fog and " walking clouds " are common in this area, in 1974 a plane crashed into stage 5th of the 7 hills killing all 191 aboard.

Meeting people

This area has a vast territory with many villages. All accessible via bus, car (4x4 preferred) or motorcycle (Moto-cross prefered). Since this part of SL is very hilly a lot of walking is required. Walking amidst lush tea estates, waterfalls, giant trees reminds one of the beauty bestowed upon the earth by the Creator. It is very easy to engage people in  conversation. They often utter expressions such as:

- "come in sit"

- " tell your message"

- " will you drink tea?"

- " come back ANYTIME"

- " wait, my relatives (usually next door) are coming to hear"

- " thank you " for visiting 

How different, from many who are often just too busy, abrupt,

unkind, unappreciative. You can talk to people regardless of what they are doing, washing clothes, dishes, painting their house, try doing that back home.

A coconut scraper made from a tea plant 

Circa ~1970ish ( as per owner ).