Author Archives: wanderingwelshie95

I am a qualified nurse who has worked in the NHS for the last five years. Pre-covid, I would travel whenever I could, whenever I had a few days off together. For the past two years, I have not travelled at all (like most if the world) but now I have quit my job in order for me to travel freely for awhile. I have always been passionate about travel from a young age and was lucky enough to have gone abroad with my family as a kid. Here I will write about my experiences and observations in various places.

Happy New Year!!

14/4/22

Dosed up on antibiotics and paracetamol and tried to wash the dried blood off my legs. I went back to my usual coffee shop (slowly) for breakfast and ordered banana and chocolate chip pancakes with a coffee – it was pretty glorious! I chilled awhile with my book afterwards. They tried to move me to a stool to allow an Israeli family to sit down on the sofas. I was having none of it on day one post dog bite, and eventually they asked some other people! I always hate it when cafes pick on people on their own and so I vowed to avoid them a few days! 🤣🤣 Yes, I know I’m dramatic! Afterwards, I hobbled two hundred metres down the road to another cafe with an art gallery attached. I wandered through the gallery. They had some lovely pantings, including a series about uniformity and individuality – we all have ‘the same blood’ and yet every single one of us has unique fingerprints. It was a beautiful concept I thought!

Afterwards, I ordered a fresh lemonade in the grounds. To my luck, a woman had just vacated the best seat in the house – basically a daytime four poster bed! I lay there, chilled and read and decided life could be a lot worse and I was pretty lucky to be up and out on day one!! Afterwards, I headed back to my room to rest up, dose up and watch Netflix. I headed back out to a local place for a late lunch of paneer butter masala with naan before returning home and taking a nap.

I had arranged to meet up with Ambica, from my previous hostel, for drinks. She had no idea about my dog bite until I messaged her as I only had her Nepalese number, no socials. We met first in a local momo restaurant and then headed to Purple Rain. She had been there the day before for NYE and wanted to give me a flavour of the celebrations.

There was a live rock band on and most of the crowd were men. We sat on a table with two other girls and had a few drinks before calling it a night and heading home! On the way back, we noticed a place with loads of disco balls in the windows so we went up to have a look. It was a cool but quiet venue but it was hosting a Percussion music festival in the next few days. One night promised Brazilian and Afro-Nepali Funk music – I was keeeeen!

15/4/22

Since I was avoiding my local breakfast joint, I headed a little further today, near the Garden of Dreams. It was a tucked away cafe, but very nice indeed!! I ordered waffles with yoghurt and fruit and of course, a coffee with milk. I stayed awhile, enjoying a slow morning, before I went to meet a German guy from the hostel next to mine at a coffee shop with a gorgeous garden. We chatted for an hour or so, before I went back to chill at my hostel awhile.

I was meant to be doing my first ever Couchsurfing meet-up in the evening and someone had suggested going to Boudha Stupa. I wasn’t sure if anyone else was going but figured I may as well try and see something in my day. I got a Patheo there and walked round the bustling square – it was a massive circular space with the stupa in the middle and everyone was walking clockwise around it out of respect as well as for luck. For some reason, I found it both a bustling and very calm and spiritual place, so I walked around it a few times before heading to the Couchsurfing meet-up by motorbike taxi.

When I arrived there, a few people were already there, including the Ukrainian host, a lovely girl. A few people came later including an Egyptian, a Spaniards and his wife and kid, and an Indian. We chatted awhile, took a squad pic, before some people left, and I went for dinner in a local restaurant with the Egyptian and two Nepali guys. Then we went our separate ways home.

16/4/22

Today was day three post dog bite, which meant it was time for my second rabies shot. I headed out for breakfast, trying another new place and ordered a Mexican omelette. I chilled and read awhile before an old white guy approached. He asked if I wanted company to which I said ‘why not?’. He, Christopher, was from UK originally, but had lived in Thailand for several years now and even had a second family there. His first wife had died out of the blue from cancer about twenty years before and since then he had picked him self up, moved across the world, since ehis only daughter was already grown up, with kids of her own and had built a new life. He now had a new wife and a fourteen year old boy, and while he loved his current life, he still missed his first wife terribly – they had been childhood sweethearts! We chatted and joked awhile before I said my goodbyes and headed to the local hospital. A kind lady escorted down an alley past a dog I was scared of towards the hospital.

Sadly, the first hospital I went to as directed by Google Maps had been closed down for so long that there was absolutely no sign of where it used to be. I asked a local for directions to another hospital. They sent me further down the road. I arrived at another hospital and was seen in ED and sent to get the shot, only for them not to have the rabies shot on pharmacy. I headed even further down the road and round the corner into a temporarily pedestrianised street with lots of bunting and stalls lining each side of the street. People were milling about and everyone was colourfully dressed. I found the hospital, the ED was empty as seems to be the way here, and they sent me to get the shot. I paid up for the drugs and care (another £4 gone, lol!), before heading back to ED. I was in and out within ten minutes before deciding that I may as well wander around and see what was going on tin the pedestrianised street.

It wasn’t too long before I was grabbed on either side. Two girls had said hi and then linked arms with me on either side! They became my tiny (and young) friends and they took me round for the day. It was just as well I was happy to go as they were so excited, I’m not sure they would’ve let me go easily!! They were both sixteen, and were with another girl and guy, who were friendly, but much more indifferent towards me. The girls explained it was a festival today, in association with the new year and they were going to the temple. The temple was joined to a park with a small lido and the whole place was absolutely packed out and had a one-way system in place! We went through the park and temple before heading to get some street food.

The indifferent guy and girl left as they had places to be, and me and the gals went to a cafe less than a metre wide for some snacky food. I have no idea what the names of what we ate are, but everything was spicy and delicious. Actually, I lied. We had pani puri, a South Indian snack and something else! To eat pani puri, you add chilli sauce and the girls could shot it straight – I was impressed!! After our savoury snacks, we went down the road to get a sweet snack, cola?!, consisting of crushed ice and syrups. I had had it once or twice before in India and Vietnam and since it was soo hot was very keen on the idea despite knowing that ice is always a little risky, especially from a street vendor! We walked back up the hill with our treats and went to meet one of the girls’ mum, who had a clothes stall nearby. Then we got the local bus (after they had both got their parents permission) to go to Kathmandu’s Durbar Square. Somehow they got us in via back entrance which meant we didn’t need to pay and we wandered through. One of the the temples promised a living god inside (a child taken from her village at a young age, chosen and then worshipped til her period). Only Hindus are allowed to see her, and only at certain times. After the temples, we walked through the same streets I had wandered through alone a few days before, before they got the bus and I got a trusty Pathao motorbike taxi back to Thamel.

I chilled a little before changing and heading out to the bar with the disco balls for live music. I got chatting to Yarish, a Nepali guy there and we had some cocktails. The music was pretty good. The first band was Nepali funk and the second a more soulful Brazilian guy with the same band. The drinks flowed and eventually everyone got up to dance. I befriended a couple of Bristolians (one of which had also been bitten by a dog!), as well as two Nepali women, one of which was the wife of the guitarist and was also dancing with her young son. They were lots of fun and I danced with them awhile. The night went very quickly and once the live music finished, we headed home.

Namaste Nepal 🇳🇵(ft. Temple Terrors)

11/4/22

Despite having a morning flight, which arrived in Kathmandu around 12 noon, immigration took foreverrrrr so I left arrivals around 15.00 and arrived in Kathmandu tourist centre Thamel shortly after this. Already people were trying to sell me guides for trekking, but I was tired and starving so I took the number of the guide the taxi driver was trying to sell me and asked the hostel guy if I could go and eat before he tried to sell me a tour! I asked for food recommendations and set off for a Tibetan restaurant round the corner. I ordered thenthuk (a kind of noodle soup) as well as chilli momos (a kind of dumpling either steamed or fried) and ordered a Tibetan butter tea with it, which honestly wasn’t as good as I remembered it from Dharamshala!

I wandered around Thamel a little, enjoying the bustling streets with crazy traffic and colourful Buddhist prayer flags, the same as in Manali. There were glorious coffee shops everywhere and I was excited to try them. I stopped in one for a coffee and read. On my way back to the hostel, I got a massage. It wasn’t the best one, but it was still quite relaxing for only a tenner! I bought a snickers from a corner shop since it wasn’t really a thing in Sri Lanka. Then I watched some (a lot!) of Bridgerton in bed! There were two other girls in my room a German girl, who I’ve now forgotten the name of, and an Indian girl from Mumbai, Ambica. We chatted a bit before they went out to be sociable and I continued with Bridgerton!

12/4/22

Today I got up and headed back to the same coffee shop as the day before. I was ready for good coffee and glorious pancakes. I found a great spot only about five minutes from my hostel. After eating, chilling and reading my book, I headed off towards the Monkey Temple. I walked through busy streets, past piles of rubbish, over a stinking river and towards the mountains. Once you leave Thamel, it gets significantly less touristy. I headed up the hill and stopped at a tailors to see if they could fix my tailor made Somali top since the button had fallen off. They told me to come back and collect it later so I tried to memorise where it was so I could find my way back! There were a lot of steps up to the Monkey Temple and also a stressful amount of monkeys. After the aggression of Indian monkeys, I am really not keen on them! I tried to avoid them and made my way up the steps pretty quickly. I navigated past many a street vendor selling bracelets, juices, snacks, Om prayer flags and the like.

The view from the top was pretty nice, overlooking Kathmandu with green parky patches and mountains behind. It was also pretty hazy though! I went around the temple and took a photo with the stupa. As I was doing so, a monkey crept up in me and grabbed my skirt. I wasn’t there long!! After escaping, I went to a rooftop cafe within the Monkey Temple grounds. Weirdly, there is a story about he monkeys. The original deity had long hair and consequently got lice. Since then, Buddhists tradition says that these lice have transformed into monkeys and consequently the monkeys are not seen as skirt-pulling-nusiances but blessed. I got talking to a girl, Silpi in the cafe. She was from East India and travelling with her boyfriend whom she had met travelling around India. We had a good chat before I left to escape the monkeys grasps for good!!

On the way down, I collected my top – it costs me 50 rupees, around 33 pence! I walked back towards the town, stopping to get street food. I sat in a small square beside the river, with street food stalls and locals chilling out. Then, I crossed the stinky river once more, walked through another temple before getting a Pathao (a local Uber) to Kathmandu’s Durbar Square, with Durbar translating to ‘old’. I wasn’t ready for another full temple wander, so I skipped the entrance fee and the main temples and instead headed to a rooftop cafe which overlooked the old square and bustling market. I had a drink and chilled out in the shade. I read and blogged.

I wandered through the narrow streets away from the square and found smaller temples and shrines as well as smaller, newer squares with other streets vendors and small stall holders selling treats. I stopped at a stall with a lady selling savoury pancakes to try one. Then I continued on before walking back to Thamel. I headed back to the hostel to Netflix and chill (really chill) and went back out when I was hungry. I went out around 20.30/21.00 to find most places close to the hostel were closed. I went to a pizza place, one of the guys nly places that was still open for quite a nice pizza, considering, before heading home nto the heart of Thamel for a cocktail. I had eyed up a nice bar earlier and was surprised to find it quiet. I ordered a Margarita and relaxed. After fifteen minutes or so, an Indian guy introduced himself and asked if he could join me. I didn’t see why not so he sat down and we chatted. I left an hour later and he insisted on walking me home, which I didn’t appreciate. We had already exchanged numbers and sadly the next day he sent me inappropriate messages.. You win some, you lose some, but the actual evening of conversation was good!

13/4/22

Wednesday the 13th. Unlucky for some!

I started my day in the usual way. I returned to the same cafe as the day before and ordered an omelette and coffee. I met an Australian guy in the cafe and we chatted for an hour about what we were doing with our lives, before I headed to the Garden of Dreams. It was hot by the time I got there and the garden’s cafe was closed. I asked to go and get a drink before returning to the cafe. I did so, thanks to the nice security. I grabbed an iced coffee before heading back to the gardens and walking around. It was just like the gardens if Bridgerton – clearly I had been watching too much Netflix!! I chose a shady spot and then read my book while watching people pose with pretty flowers and fountains. On my way back from the loo, an old Nepali guy stopped me and asked if I had five minutes for an interview. Since my plans were limited and my time was plenty, I said yes. He was collecting stories of the tourists of Kathmandu. He asked basic questions of who I was, what I did, why I was in Nepal as well as questions of dreams and humanity. I told him I thought Nepali people had kind faces and were good people.

Afterwards, I left and got a very sketchy motorbike taxi to Pashupatinath Temple – the Varanasi of Nepal. We very nearly scraped many a bus and bike, and I was very much not a fan, and we went down many narrow bumpy lanes which we then had to retrace since we were lost.

When I got to the temple, I was very pleased to get off the bike! It was not clear where to go since tourists needed tickets so I asked various people before finding the ticket office. It was expensive by Nepali standards but its the #1 thing to see in Kathmandu, so I paid up before telling aan that was following me talking that I didn’t need a guide and heading over the bridge past where some cremations were being done. Similarly to India, there is a caste system here and depending on your caste depends where you can be burnt. If you are low caste you are burnt right on the river bank , but if you are higher caste, you get a grander send off. I headed up the hill to see what was there since the temple area was massive. I walked past many beggars with leg ulcers and dirty bandages hanging off their wounds. I should do a dressing round I thought! I continued on and past a small temple with ‘holy men’ with painted faces, that mainly wanted money for photos of them. Then I headed past a small caf and went into a courtyard with some pagodas.

Inside the courtyard there was a monkey in there which I gave a wide berth to, and two dogs sitting together on the floor. The dogs were looking at me so I clicked my mouth once and continued walking towards them to head out the side gate. They barked once, and then jumped up on my legs and bit the top of my thighs through my Somali maxi skirt. I had a dog hanging from each leg briefly and I started screaming. They then were no longer on my legs, having slunk off somewhere and blood was pouring down my legs. My bag was on the floor with its entire contents somehow emptied on the floor! My screams alerted a few Nepalese men, one of which tried to touch my wounds and one of which put all of my things back in my bag before trying to give it back to me. I was beside myself and did not take my bag. The dogs tried to run towards me again and one of the men chased them off. Most of the men wandered off after that, so I wandered around the main temple balling my eyes out looking crazy. Since I was wearing a maxi skirt, noone could see I’d been attacked by dogs so noone knew what to do. When some Nepalese girls were looking at me pitifully, I showed them my dog bites and they helped me. They took my bag and each took an arm and walked me all the way back down to the entrance trying to calm me down. They mopped the blood from my legs with a cloth. I was inconsolable, was in shock and yet, the pain was still hitting me in waves. I got down and someone suggested I go to the hospital on motorbike. I was horrified! I requested an ambulance and a first aid kit. The girls left. Noone seemed very concerned and I had to chase the ambulance! Eventually it came as I popped some paracetamol. I slowly hauled myself in the ambulance and some guy got in afterwards. We travelled through the traffic, with some traffic moving aside for us. Alarmingly, the first hospital we went to didn’t have a rabies vaccine and I thought I may be doomed!! I tried to Google international hospitals to see you f they would have the vaccines. I was ringing them as we arrived at a second hospital. Thankfully, they did have the anti-rabies vaccine and I went into ED. I was sent to Minors and lay next to a boy having his head stitched up. I was still beside myself and crying and the doctor and nurse looking after the boy laughed ate. They didn’t understand that it wasn’t so much the bites, but that I was soooo far from home and very alone to be sick! Eventually the doctor came to assess me, wrote a list and the guy from the ambulance went to the pharmacy to pay for and collect my drugs. Then the nurse came to give me IV pain relief and do my vaccine and dressing. I thanked the ambulance man, who turned out to be fand then I lay there awhile before awhile longer before heading out.

I got a taxi to take me home stopping at my local corner shop to stock up on Snickers, which would be my evening meal!! Then I went back to my hostel, told them what had happened and asked for a private room. A guy came to carry my big rucksack for me to my new room and I settled in with Netflix and my big bag of drugs and plasters I had brought with me from UK! I also had a meditating astronaut on the wall! It was sad I would not be going ht for NYE, but at least my legs were not as bad as they could have been. I had a few calls from kind, concerned friends and chilled, munching my Snickers bars back to back.

I welcomed in the New (Buddhist) Year by changing my dressings around midnight before going to sleep.

Colombo’s crazy rain and madddd hoppers

10/4/22

So as night buses always do, I arrived in Colombo horribly early! I was dropped off at the side of a road and got an uber to my hostel. The uber wanted to check I could get in but I waved him away as I didn’t want to waste his time. I rang the hostel owner, but it rang out. The main gate seemed to be locked and I banged a long while (maybe twenty minutes) before noticing that there was a small door in the big gate. I looked around the door and found a latch at the very top. I flicked it open and got into the garden. The main house was still locked but there was an outside toilet which I used and I slept in a covered lounger.

A British volunteer, Mandy, found me in the morning and let me in, made me a cup of tea and even checked me in and showed me to a bed even though I hadn’t booked until the evening. It was absolutely hammering down so I had a short nap before showering and heading out for brunch. I headed to a nearby coffee shop which looked great on Google! I walked briskly with my hood up but was still pretty drenched by the time I arrived!! I chilled there awhile before catching a local bus into the city centre to see the local market and the Red Mosque.

The city was bustling, the market was tiring as it was already the afternoon and the mosque was very beautiful, but frustratingly wouldn’t let tourists in even though it said online that it was a tourist attraction and could be visited. After wandering past some shops overlooking a lake, I walked back to the bus stop to get the bus back. Unfortunately for me, the bus route was not the same there and back so I went way further than where I needed to be. By the time I realised, I was already pretty far off, so I tried to get a taxi back. The first taxi said no, the second said yes but then said he had no petrol, but wanted money even though he hadn’t taken me anywhere, and finally, the third agreed a price with me and raised it not once, but twice, at which point I got out of the taxi! I was very frustrated at this point and refused all of the taxi drivers shouting at me from the road. One young guy stopped his tuktuk to ask if I was okay and if I wanted a lift. I accepted and thanked him, but told him not to go out of his way. Maybe ten minutes later, he stopped to let me get out before he turned off the main road and continued on his way. My faith in humanity was restored a little! I walked the rest of the way to another cafe for a coffee on the same street that I started on.

Strangely enough, Nishan was also in Colombo for a family event so met with me briefly for a coffee before we went our separate ways again. Afterwards, I headed out for a final Sri Lankan meal. I went to somewhere super local and it was highly delicious – possibly the best food I’ve had in all of Sri Lanka!! I had hoppers (a kind of flattened rice case), which you fill with daal and other curries and spices. It was glorious and cost less than fifty pence! I tried to leave a big tip and they gave me all the extra money back! They were having none of it! Afterwards, I headed back to the hostel and packed. I chatted to one of the guys in my room who was just starting his trip before going to sleep.

11/4/22

I got up at 03.00 to get an uber to the airport for my morning flight to Nepal. I was pretty excited as it was my first direct flight in awhile, and it was under four hours! For a nice change, I had everything I needed for airport security and went straight through.

Tuktuking to Jaffna, hitchhiking on a boat and biking round temples

7/4/22

Our tuktuk ride took quite some considerable time!! The road was pretty and we watched the sunset across tea plantations and rice paddies. We also watched two families of elephants walk through the fields further away from the road. They also had baby elephants with them and it was beautiful to see elephants just freely roaming, even outside of a National Park! We stopped around halfway for kottu and pakora before heading on. We reached Jaffna pretty late!

8/4/22

My guest house was pretty glorious as they did home-cooked Sri Lankan food. I was determined to eat tasty and authentic local food and thought that by staying with a family, I should get that experience! I chilled the morning, and requested both lunch and dinner in the homestay. Lunch was delicious. A German guy was also eating so we had maybe four different curries between us including veggies, daal, crab curry and fish curry, along with ground red rice. I was in foodie heaven!! After lunch, I borrowed a bicycle from the owner and had a cycle around Jaffna.

I started my ride towards Nallur Temple after Dave’s recommendation. Since it was such a hot day though, I looked as it as I went by and headed straight to the famous ice cream parlour Rio’s to cool down. It was Sri Lanka’s acclaimed best ice-cream and had also won the award for being the best/biggest tax payer, which possibly suggests that many big businesses do not pay their share of taxes!! After an ice-cream, I headed towards the coast via a market, stopping at a big, yet intricate temple and a tiny, colourful mosque along the way.

The main market was pretty low key, although I wandered awhile and the fruit sellers street outside the bus station was lively. I grabbed a tea in a caf in the bus station and got a fried snack too. Then I went to collect my bike from beside the original market and headed on to the coast.

From Jaffna there is a thin peninsula that nearly reaches the first island. This peninsula is very pretty and I admired it awhile along with its brightly coloured boats before passing Jaffna’s fort, fishing port and many small villages on my way back to my homestay. It was not touristy at all – people were looking at me, smiling and waving. One little girl on the back of her mum’s bicycle double-taked me and then stopped the bicycle before turning off and then waved at me again. I returned home in time to blog before dinner. Then I watched some Netflix and rang my mum before bed.

9/4/22

Today I got up early and got a tuktuk to the bus station to then get a bus to the last island that is connected to the mainland before getting a boat to Delft Island. I got the government naval boat which is the easiest way for people to get to the island publicly. It took around an hour and I sat on the front of the boat enjoying the sun and the breeze. When I got off, they wanted my passport which I did not have but luckily they were happy enough with a photo of it. I set off towards a cafe, with a tuktuk or two pursuing me, trying to take me on a tour. Eventually, I agreed to a tour of five or six ‘sights’, including a really old tree, a ‘growing’ rock, some wild horses brought by the Dutch, a Fort and a beach. The roads were not really roads and apparently there were only fifteen tuktuks on the island and a few 4x4s, along with motorbikes on the island. We bumped along dusty dirt roads to see this big hollow tree, before heading to see the horses in a large plain. Interestingly, part of this plain were made of large pieces of rocky coral. Apparently, the island used to be completely submerged in the ocean.

After the horses, we headed to the growing rock which was in fact just a rock with a ribbon round it. Apparently it had got bigger over the past twenty years, but no tourist would ever know for sure!! I got a Milo (chocolate milk) and a muffin from the local kiosk before we headed on. Next we went to the old Dutch Fort. It was falling down a little, but I was surprised to see that the walls were also made of coral rock. Afterwards we stopped by the beach, with its beautiful white sands and pristine turquoise waters. Sadly for me, there were around ten Sri Lankan men in their twenties there on an otherwise deserted beach and I felt they greeted me with a little too much enthusiasm, so I decided not to swim there. I got back in the tuktuk and headed to the port. I had done the whole island tour in less than two hours, leaving me with four hours to twiddle my thumbs with no nice cafe available to me, until the bus came at 15.00. I tried to see if there were any earlier boats and the officer in the port reckoned I could try my luck around 13.00 on a private tourist boat. I thanked him and set off round the coast on a walk to pass another two hours.

It was quite a nice walk in the end! I passed through small hamlets with a few houses and a harbour absolutely packed out with small, colourful, wooden boats. As I passed through one hamlet, three dogs started barking at me. I looked round for locals and the dogs were also barking at them. They told the dogs off and continued walking. I did the same. I stopped by a forgotten white church and sat in the shade of a tree overlooking the ocean. I read my book awhile before going paddling. The sky was very moody and dark in contrast with the clear turquoise ocean. After my paddle, I headed back to the port. On my way, I walked through an open area with loud music and a large group of people. A little further away was a smaller group of boys with palm leaves. As I walked along to the music’s beat, I felt as if I was starring in a film about me. I stopped to ask the boys what was going on. One of them spoke and said it was for a festival. It later became apparent that it was for Easter – I had completely forgotten!!

I made it back to the port for 13.00 in time to see a tour group get on a boat. The port official asked the guide for me, before waving me through. I thanked the guide before getting aboard. I introduced myself and explained my story! It turns out they were all German and were touring Sri Lanka for an action packed two weeks (with no beach days whatsoever)! The guide explained that they were heading to another island before the mainland to see some temples and I could either join them or get off at the harbour and get another boat – since it was closer to the mainland there would be more boats going back there more regularly. Three girls in the German squad were enthusiastic that I joined them, which was sweet, and I also quite fancied the temples since I was in no particular rush to be back, so we did first a Buddhist temple and then a Hindu temple.

The Buddhist temple had a very cute puppy in and many Hindu girls who wanted selfies with me. The guide told the group about the temple, but since my German is so rubbish, I couldn’t understand at all, so just wandered about and admired the brightly coloured hand painted walls inside the temple as well as petting the dog. Afterwards, we walked along the road to the Hindu temple. I grabbed an ice cream on the road. The temple was very tall, one that looks as if its been piled as high as anyone could reach, and to frame the temple, it had a model elephant either side of the entrance. We couldn’t go inside the main temple since there was a prayer going on, but we went inside the inner courtyard to find some men smashing coconuts. The crowd were going wild! Apparently the coconut smashing is a kind of omen. If you make a wish/request and you smash the coconut first time, you should have good luck and your wish should come true eventually, but if you do not, it is not good.

When we returned to the boat, the captain was ready to unmoor us. We headed back to the mainland, arriving at the same time as the naval boat from Delft! What a day! I raced to get on the bus back to Jaffna town, getting a space on the stairwell just before it left. The driver was pretty crazy and we hurtled along the narrow lanes, with sea on both sides at breakneck pace, with the driver using the horn indicating people should get out of the way instead of ever using the break. The ticket man and two other men were in the stairwell along side me. It was quite the roller-coaster since we wereboth going at pace and the roads were not smooth! I got chatting to one of the guys in the stairwell, Nishan, who commutes to the island everyday. He leaves his house around 4am to get the 7am boat to be at work for 8am. Then he gets the boat back again at 3pm and arrives home at 6pm!! Madness!! I got off the bus just before the bus station because it was so busy and Nishan got off too. He asked me what my plans were and I said I wanted a cup of tea. He seemed far more concerned about my stomach than I am and made sure we went to a place sufficiently ‘sanitary’. We had tea and chatted and he invited me to hi family home for dinner. I was tired, but in the end, I decided that it was too good an opportunity to ass up on. He dropped me home on his bike, I showered and then we headed over to his family house. On the way there was pretty countryside and temples as well as a drunkard lying in the road. One of Nishan’s friends saw us as we passed the drunk!

When we arrived, Nishan went to shower and I sat around with his sisters while his mum made tea for me. Then when Nishan was ready we headed to the most northerly point of Sri Lanka, Saint Pedro, and the closest point to India. Afterwards we had dinner and I saw their baby cow and their two dogs which barked A LOT! Then I got a lift home and slept.

10/4/22

I had a traditional breakfast of crab curry and daal with crushed red rice before Nishan came to meet me on a bike. We were going to tour around the rest of Jaffna today. We started by heading to a beach on the northern side. It was a bit of a drive, but I drove for the novelty (it has been awhile since driving in Thailand), and Nishan directed me. We parked up and there were military sat at the beach. They were acting as both security and lifeguards, which bemused me as most Sri Lankans cannot swim. Apparently they were Navy and it is a requirement for Navy members to be able to swim… Makes sense! We walked along and a group of kids asked for a selfie. I thought it would be one group photo, but no no!! They all wanted separate photos with me and passed the one pair of sunglasses they had round to each person to pose with me. I felt a little famous!!

Afterwards, we went in search of tea. Nishan found a place which did chana poori as well as tea so we had both before stopping at a couple of Hindu temples including Nallur before heading to the cinema to see a new Bollywood film, ‘RRR’. It was based on Indians revolting against British rule and also featured a story on a ‘living god’, a girl that is selected and taken from her village to live either in a temple or in this case in a grand house and is prayed to and treated as a god until the day she gets her period. This is still practiced in Hindu faith today and was interesting to see. I laughed a lot at the overplayed Bollywood drama and thoroughly enjoyed the film! Afterwards, I went to book my night bus dove myself home on Nishan’s bike before saying bye and heading off to shower, pack and blog.

At 21.30, I was escorted by the owners dad to the bus stop to ensure the correct night bus was waved down. Not long after 22.00, the bus arrived and my rucksack was stowed and I thanked the guy and scrambled on. I was near the front in the ‘womens’ section. We stopped a couple of times and I got a tea and snacks. The rain poured on the road down to Colombo!! I tried to sleep!

Trincomalee – turtles, temples and much coffee!

5/4/22

I arrived on the outskirts of Trincomalee by bus, before switching to a tuktuk to take me to my hostel instead of the town centre. I checked into my hostel and had a chill, before heading to the beach for food. The beach was beautiful. I went to Fernandos, a beach bar for food. I really fancied a bacon sandwich and after enquiring about the bacon and whether it was genuine or not, I ordered a BLT. When it arrived, I was of course bitterly disappointed – the bacon which I had been assured was legit was in fact salted pork, it was small, and there was no lettuce whatsoever. When I asked about it, they said it was bacon they ‘made’ themselves and it was all they could do at the moment with the government problems. While the government situation is dire, I told them they should just call it a pork sandwich instead!! What a to-do!! 🤣🤣🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️ I sunbathed on the beach, and also dared to order an iced coffee, which they were surprised to have on the menu and which was also pretty bad! It was nice and cold though!! I swam, read and chilled awhile before heading back to the hostel. On my trip back to the hostel, I passed many fishermen hauling in hugeeee nets from the bay. They drove the mets out by boat maybe 50 metres from the shore and then pulled them back in by hand, many hands in fact!! The men were tugging the nets in tug-of-war style. I watched them quite awhile, as did at least thirty crows, who were keen for a lazy dinner! Then, they tipped all their catch onto the sand and sorted through the fish. The ones they were not allowed to sell/could not sell, they threw back. There were many puffer fish and some particularly big and spukey fish that had to be thrown back too. While this sounds relatively sustainable, it was not as many of the fish were already dead when they were thrown back. No doubt the crowd would see to them later!!

On returning to the hostel, I showered and talked to my roomie, Alex. We realised later on that we had also been roomies in Hikkaduwa, but that we had only met for ten minutes or so that time! Small world! Then I went out for food with some other people in my hostel – a Dutch brother (an engineer – of course!), and younger sister, Mirre, a German girl, Lena, and a French ED doctor, Lucile. We headed to another place recommended by the hostel for food. I had squid noodles which were pretty good! Then we headed back to Fernandos for a drink. They made a small bonfire there every night, so it was pretty tempting. We were joined by two Brits from a different guest house, as the Dutch guys knew one of them from elsewhere. I would term him a ‘Brit abroad’, someone who is always drinking and regaling stories about being in far flung places taking drugs and being a mess!! He told many a story, some of which were interesting, some of which were not! The guy he had come to Fernandos with, Dave was older, from Brighton and very chilled. I sat opposite him and whenever the ‘Brit abroad’ got silly, we made faces at each other!! The rest of the hostel lot also agreed that he was a stereotypical Brit abroad!! A bit later, I left the stories and headed back along the beach to the hostel, navigating through many a barking dog! Annoyingly, when I went to cut through a hotel to get to our hostel the usual way, it was padlocked for the night. I tried to find a way to get through, but eventually turned back and went a longer, darker way! Thankfully a different hotels security man let me through a different shortcut, which saved a bit of time, which was all important since I needed a wee!!

6/4/22

Today I got up relatively early to go in watch of breakfast before an excursion. I was going to go to Pigeon Island National Park to go snorkelling and both Alex and Lucile were also going. The breakfast hunt was a little stressful as nothing opened before 09.00 and pick up was from 09.30 from the hostel. After trying a few places to no avail, I got a tuktuk to a local bakery and got one sweet and one savoury item along with a yoghurt drink, before getting dropped back to the hostel.

We then got a tuktuk to a hotel on the beach, where we got our equipment before all working together to push our boat into the sea. Then we scrambled in, and off we went. Within had an hour or so, we reached Pigeon Island, with its turquoise shallows, dark blue depths and white sands, littered with cream coloured cylindrical coral. We got our flippers and face masks on and in we went. There was even a one way system through the main bit of the reef, to try to protect some parts from us tourist oafs! Although when we arrived, the one way lane seemed very full, people quickly dispersed and I took a small detour from the main lane along with some others. While I was on my detour, I heard some German excitement so looked near where they were swimming to find a turtle!!! It was big and beautiful, and was just chilling on the ocean floor, resting. I looked around for the people from my boat and raced to get Lucile! The turtle was still there when we returned. I also spotted two separate sharks, which were big enough, but not so big that I was scared! I also swam directly towards a large shoal of fish which just swam around me unfazed. I was pretty pleased with this, as I used to be terrified of accidentally going too near a fish or touching it!! I also spotted many different types of coral and fish including a glorious fiag with wide pink and yellow stripes with narrow turquoise stripes in between! So iconic! If I could be a fish… After losing my bearings a little since I was just blindly following fish, I made it back to the beach. The boat’s captain prepared watermelon for us before we went to the beach on the opposite side for another snorkel. Sadly, on this side, I was a tourist oaf, and accidentally bashed my foot on a bit of coral, so I too had damaged the reef! We returned to the boat, pushed it into the sea and scrambled in again before an exhilerating dash across the sea back to Trinco.

Lucile and I went to a coffee shop I had been eyeing up for lunch before I headed to the beach. I had pancakes and iced coffee because I’m a real adult! 🤣🤣 We bumped into the Irish/German couple, Glen and Madeline, I had met in Sigiriya on our walk back. Typically, we had all got more than a little burnt while snorkelling, but since it was only my back I headed to the beach to tan the belly (and go for another swim). While I was on the beach, an English-Sri Lankan guy, Aaron, that I had been talking to on Tinder came to meet me. Some ‘aunties’ came round to sell clothes while we were there and they chatted in Tamil. We chatted awhile afterwards before heading back to the hostel, stopping to watch the evenings fishing haul. We bumped into Dave by the fisherman and stopped for another chat. We would re-meet later.

After showering, I headed out for food with Lucile and Aaron. I had told Aaron that I did not really rate Sri Lankan food, so he was on a mission to find us the good stuff. He ordered a spread for the three of us to share – we had fish curry, chicken curry, daal and devilled squid, which is a little like sweet and sour but much nicer!! To be fair, the food was very good, especially since they stated cooking it in the darkness of the power cut!! Lucile went home and we headed to Fernandos. We met Dave at the bar (the Brit abroad had left in the morning) and we chatted. I got some recommendations for what to do the next day before heading back to the hostel.

7/4/22

Went back to the same coffee shop for breakfast pancakes with Camile and Aaron, before I headed out on my own, for a cycle tour of Trinco. I cycled from the hostel along the main road towards the Fort. The fort is much smaller than in Galle and people were playing cricket by its remaining walls. I bumped into Glen and Madeline on the road and they too were heading to the temple at the top if the hill past the fort. They were motorbiking but I figured I’d see them again there. I parked my bike next to some deer and walked up the hill. They were drinking juice when I arrived.

We templed together, with a Dutch couple too. A hazard of temples in hot countries is that often if its Hindu they like you to take your shoes off as a sign of respect but the floor is absolutely boiling! We ran across the tarmac to the shadows scalding our feet in the process! The temple was very colourful and pretty chilled. It also had a lookout to sea. A few boats were stopping at the bottom of the rock. Apparently they were fishermen praying and asking for blessings before they went out fishing for the day. I appreciated the practicality of just nipping your boat to the bottom of the rock instead of trekking up every day!! Time saving life hack, yano?! Afterwards, I got a fresh juice with a view and Glen and Madeline stayed to chat awhile. Then we left.

Getting blessings before a day at the office

When I returned to my bicycle, there was a stag guarding it!! I bumped into Dave on the way down who was also on a bicycle and said he’d show me where the temple on the beach was. We set off back towards the town. The temple was down a side street and along the beach amidst small local houses thay backed right onto the beach! There were many colourful boats and noisy crows on the beach and two boats in the sea – it looked like some sort of celebration was going on. We chilled awhile before I thanked Dave and said goodbye before refilling my water at a friendly local lady’s house and hitting the road. I cycled back, stopping to buy aftersun (lol) and then for an iced coffee pitstop at my fave coffee shop.

In returning to the hostel, I showered and packed as today was the day I was finally making it to Jaffna! Aaron and I were sharing a tuktuk, which I hoped would be better than the bus. The novelty of long bus rides, especially when it’s packed, wears off quick, and as my nanna would say, a change is as good as a rest! 💛💛

A Sigiriyan sunrise and spa

3/4/22

Raiza and I got off the local bus just before Sigiriya and walked twenty minutes down rural lanes to our hostel. It was very pretty, but also (predictably), very sweaty!! By the time we arrived, we were very hungry, as it was way past lunchtime! The hostel (Roy’s), had been overbooked, which meant we were being upgraded to private rooms (win!), but they weren’t ready yet (wah!).

We headed straight out for food. It looked as if there was a local place on the corner, but it was actually just a corner shop. Instead, we headed into a very fancy resort, with golf buggies to drive you from A to B. We sat at a table by the infinity pool, which overlooked a pond and jungle. Monkeys were swinging in the trees behind and birds of prey were in the sky. We both ordered glorious salads, and iced drinks. Afterwards, we headed back to the hostel to freshen up. Our rooms were still not ready awhile, so we chatted, played some cricket with Roy’s son and a Swedish guy as well as playing some game a little similar to pool. Then we showered before dinner. Everyone ate together at Roy’s which was pretty nice, and better still, I was introduced to hoppers, a kind of rice based pancake which you fill with a range of curries and veggies before folding it like a fajita and inhaling it. It was delicious – not too salty, and not too bland, but instead packed with flavour! Finally I had found Sri Lankan food I actually liked – only took me two weeks! 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️ Then I retired to my private room and watched Netflix!

4/4/22

Today was a busy day!! We got up at 04.30 to hike up Pidanrangula Rock for sunrise. Raiza and I went with another guy and Roy, the hostel owner. Of course, Roy walked up in flip-flops and very quickly! We kept up and made it up to the top before the orange glow appeared on the horizon. We sat in a row and enjoyed the view. Roy got out some ginger tea and biscuits and we munched. There were two girls in front of us who were doing a very long photo session. Roy offered them tea, and they explained their story. One of the girl had been proposed to on the opposite rock fifteen years before. They had since divorced (after ten happy years, and five not so much), and this was a full circle trip! We chilled awhile before heading down. I got talking to some Irish girls on the way down – they were all living in Dubai and were on a package road trip of Sri Lanka. When we got to the bottom, a jeep was waiting for us. We got in the jeep and joined an Irish/German couple and another girl for our safari tour.

We headed to the national park and began our tour. We started as the only jeep. It wasn’t long before we spotted our first group of elephants. We watched them awhile before switching to different groups. There was also a peacock fanning his tail out trying to impress a peahen. The jeep chased the peacock away and we moved to more elephants including some babies. There were five jeeps at some points, which was a little much, but the elephants were beautiful to watch. They are also very loud eaters and you can hear them munching on the leaves and branches. We returned to the hostel at around 10.30, very hungry and had breakfast.

After breakfast, I napped and when I woke up, the rest of the hostel had gone out. I headed back to the fancy hotel for a full body massage. It was glorious. Then I headed to the pool, drank iced tea and swam. The monkeys were going crazy across the pond swinging from tree to tree unfazed by large gaps that they had to hurtle through!! I sunbathed and read awhile too before heading back to the hostel in time for dinner. Again, we had an array of curries, each one pretty tasty. Afterwards, I retired to bed early after a busy day full of excitement with a very early start!!

5/4/22

Today I got up and packed before getting a lift to the local bus stop to catch the bus to Trincomalee. A lot of the hostel were going hiking in Knuckles Mountains, but I had decided that it was time to get to the city, after quite some time in small towns and countryside. I needed to make sure I had enough time to get to Jaffna, which was apparently a very different vibe to the rest of Sri Lanka so I had heard! I got some bus snacks, before climbing on the bus and thankfully getting a seat!!

Fire breathing in Kandy

2/4/22

Got the train another four hours or so to Kandy from Nuwara Eliya. It was a much less eventful train ride than my previous one! I just stared out the window at the views, and listened to my own music! When I arrived in Kandy, I tried to look for a cafe to book a hostel from, but the cafe I went to was closed. I sat on a step and booked a hostel before haggling for a tuktuk to get there! I rocked up at Kandy Backpackers shortly after, checked in and then went out in search for lunch. I had witch’s fingers (okra?!), fried with garlic and rice. Then I took a nap back at the hostel before going out to see a traditional dance performance. I went with a Dutch girl, Raiza and an annoying Aussie guy!!

It was quite the performance! It was in a beautiful, traditional wooden theatre and there were maybe ten different short dances over the hour, including some aerobics, great costumes and even some fire play! At the end, they rounded up the audience and got them to sit at the front of the stage. Then they got a massive tray and placed it on the floor. They lit it and walked over the flames with barefeet. Afterwards, they lit fire batons and blew them far, with the sparks and oil from them landing on me and the Aussie guy who had been foolish enough/too keen to sit RIGHT at the front!! Aussie man headed home and Raiza and I headed to the Temple of the Sacred Tooth.

We queued up to go in, and they took our passport numbers for some reason. After that they rejected my outfit of long trousers and thick denim jacket, because my trousers were too tight!! I was very frustrated as I had worn all things long specifically so the temple people would be happy. They sent me away and after some debate, I bought another wrap!! We headed back and this time they let us through. Next they wanted us to pay to leave our shoes at a box office. Then it was quite a fee to see the ceremony in the main temple. In the end, we decided we would not see the main ceremony, we would just walk around the smaller sites and could abandon our shoes whenever we needed to! It was a pretty place! A man followed us around awhile and told us a couple of things in broken English. Then he tried to charge us for being a guide. I was not impressed, but Raiza gave him some money so he left! After the temple, we walked back to our hostel past the lake. It was very pretty, partially because there was a powecut so there were only car lights reflecting on the water!

On returning to the hostel, we chilled a little before heading to the roof for a cooking lesson. Around twelve of us sat around chatting, while waiting for the class to begin. The power cut was still on, but eventually the owner decided to start in the dark, by candlelight!! He made a few different curries and showed us how to make my nemesis coconut sambar – euchhh! He tried to convince me it was nice – it didn’t work!! After the food was ready, we all sat round the table and ate together. There were mainly Brits, Germans, Dutch, one Aussie, one Indian and some people that didn’t talk! It was a nice evening of chatting. Raiza decided that she too would leave in the morning. Both of us were headed to Sigiriya next so we planned to go together.

3/4/22

We got a tuktuk with a guy headed home to UK to the bus station before getting on the bus just before it pulled away! It was a busy bus but we did manage to get seats together, which was nice. Sadly, I had the aisle seat, which meant that as the bus became busier, I was constantly bashed and had people’s stinky armpits in my face!! I think the bus was a good four to five hours even though it wasn’t that far! It was quite a sweaty affair (as Sri Lanka always is)!!

Tea with milk horrors

30/3/22

Got the train from Ella to Nuwara Eliya, nicknamed Little England for its cooler weather and colonial architecture. The train ride itself was quite the experience! Already famous for its fine views over hills and tea plantations, when I got on my third class carriage, there were drums playing. There was a group of friends sitting around playing drums, and an older man started singing, encouraging others to join in. Slowly all the men were singing loudly, some women joined in quietly or clapped along. Then the main singer started dancing and encouraged others to do the same. After a few men started dancing, some young women joined in too. An older woman tried to wave me up from her seat, but I did not go. A western couple wandered through the carriage with a video camera. The girl joined in the dancing, the guy filmed. After another song, a couple of the Sri Lankan girls dancing pulled me up. I joined in the dancing too, although I was a little restricted as my foot was wedged under my heavy rucksack!! It was also quite precarious as the carriage was very wobbly on the rickety tracks!! The Western couple left back to their fancier carriage. Behind me, a baby was balanced on the top of the seats to watch the drumming and dancing – he was very cute, with the blessing mark on his forehead and his parents smiled at me. After a couple of hours of song, it became quieter.

Apparently, it was time to eat. Because of the dancing, everyone had changed seats since I had originally got on the train, and now I was surrounded by the group of Sri Lankan girls that had been dancing. They were all friends from work – they worked for the government in Matale and were heading out to hike Adam’s Peak on their weekend. They got two plates of food out, wrapped in plastics bags, used a plate to pour water into so everyone could wash their hands, and then began eating. They offered me food and I declined at first as I had my own food. However they offered again, and I decided it was rude to say ‘no’ so I accepted and they got another bowl for me to wash my hands and then I shared a plate with the girl opposite me. Some of the girls were feeding each other, and one girl also insisted on feeding me with her hands. I found this a little odd, but figured if they were doing it for each other, it must be okay! After I had my fill, I thanked the girls and encouraged them to eat from the plate I had been sharing – they were too polite!! They did finish everything afterwards, and then we all rewashed our hands.

The views were breathtaking outside the carriage. We chatted a little and they gifted me a gold bracelet with butterflies on it. The music picked up again, but the dancing did not. People clapped along and gazed out the windows**. In second and third class, there are actually no glass windows, just holes in the train where windows would be! When it was time for me to get off at Nanu-Oya, the girls waved me off. I walked through the station and waited for my tuktuk to arrive – I had treated myself to a bungalow overlooking the tea plantations near a well-known waterfall named Lover’s Leap, and the bonus was, my tuktuk was included!

When I arrived at my bungalow, the host made me a cup of tea before leaving me to chill out. After an hour or so, I headed up to Lover’s Leap cutting down the side of a tea plantation. A man, who wanted to be my guide, pretended he was going the same way. After speaking me small talk, I told him I didn’t need a guide and wouldn’t be paying him. He went away. I continued on, scrambling up a steep muddy banks, using branches to keep my balance. Annoyingly, random men kept springing up everywhere wanting to be my guide. Eventually, they all went away. The fall was pretty nice, but underwhelming for the story that goes with it. If I remember correctly, it was a tale of unrequited love and one lover jumped instead of living without the other’s love. It was very rocky, with little flow. It would not be a nice jump – lucky it was only an old wives tale!! It began to rain and I headed back, bumping into two girls on the way, who were doing an internship in Sri Lanka. We chatted a little before I headed through the tea plantation and they headed back to the road. I wanted to admire the views and properly enjoy the countryside. I wandered around awhile in the rain, looking down on the little villages and tea plantations across the valley. Then I headed back to my place.

I had another tea and watched sunset from my balcony, before heading out for food. It was dark when I headed out, and I walked down the lane with my torch! It was still raining and a car stopped and asked if I was okay. I said I was searching for food and he asked if he could give me a lift somewhere. I thought quickly and got in the car – he seemed like a genuine guy. He dropped me ten minutes down the road and I found a very local kottu shop. I ordered kottu and milk tea. A girl in scrubs and a hat came in. I asked if she was a nurse, to which she said yes. She was from Matale but had come to Nuwara Eliya to work. She was getting kottu as takeaway after her shift. She left and I ate my kottu. I walked back up the hill to my bungalow with my torch, going wrong only once, turning off too early, much to an aggressive dogs distress! I corrected myself before the dog appeared and proceeded to start watching the new season of Bridgerton in bed – what better place to watch than in Little England?!

1/4/22

After my nights of respite in the bungalow with a view, it was time to move on. I chilled with a coffee on the balcony awhile before turning my attention to packing. Then I walked down the hill and along the windy road to my hostel. It took me awhile to find since all the roads were so small, but I made it eventually, albeit quite sweaty! I ditched the bags, met the owner, who made me a tea, before I headed I to the town centre. I was going to mooch in Victoria Gardens, a pretty park and then go for afternoon tea at a fancy hotel, aptly named The Grand Hotel.

I hit the park, after walking through a bustling bus station, and the park felt very English indeed! There were many colourful flowers and lots of green plants arranged in near patterns. There were ponds, fountains and arches too! I wandered through, stopping to sit by the pond to read my book awhile. Then I headed round the corner to see what the local market had to offer. It was very local, selling fresh fruit and veg, huge vats of rice, knick-knacks and big hunks of meat and fish.

I headed over the road to the tourist shops next as I wanted an anklet. I did not find an anklet, but I did find a hairdressers!! My hair had been driving me a little nuts for quite some time so I was keen to get some of it hacked out! I knocked on the door and a man let me in. The last time I got my hair cut by a man was in Ludhiana, Punjab, and when I returned to my hairdresser in Brum, she asked what had happened to my hair – apparently it was not cut straight!! Despite my previous encounter, I got my haircut. It became apparent that despite having ‘twenty-five years experience’, he had never done the haircut I wanted before. I think most people have layers here and want there hair thicker.. I told him how to thin my hair, as he was just hacking at the ends only!! Then I told him about shaping. I got a head massage too, which was pretty nice! When he finished, my hair felt lighter which was good, but did not look straight!! I asked him to correct a bit, but he said it was okay for a middle parting, which I do not have!! I left bemused, but still happy, and headed to afternoon tea.

The Grand Hotel was pretty nice – it had a long drive with trim lawns and trellice arches and a pond. The dining room was also grand – the rich mahogany board kind!! I ordered my afternoon tea with a black tea with rose (my fave). When it arrived, I asked for milk, and the waiter was horrified! I was Oliver in Oliver Twist asking for more porridge! The waiter uttered the question ‘miiiilk?!’, before eventually going to get some!! After that, the tea was uneventful – they played great jazz music and I people watched and enjoyed doing nothing!!

Afterwards, I went by a food court for a mooch. They also had shops and I saw a beaut pale green cropped denim jacket. It was ridiculous to lug around a denim jacket I told myself.. Guess who bought it anyway?! I got a tuktuk back to the hostel and asked the guy to return in the morning to take me to the train station. I blogged a little and chatted to an Indian guy, who we realised between us also had travelled with Nico!! Small world, ayy?! Then the owners lit a bonfire and we all chilled outside with beers and the biggest, most scared dog I’ve ever seen!! There was a little dancing before I left for bed since I had to be up early for my train to Kandy.

2/4/22

My tuktuk was waiting for me when I checked out and we headed to the station very slowly!! We stopped by a bakery for snacks and then the driver seemed to think that since my train was in forty-five minutes or so, he could use all of that time to drive! We chatted as we went, but eventually I asked him to drive a little quicker! I bought my ticket and waited on the platform, watching people take their station selfies!

Let’s hike all over Ella, Ella, Ella, ay, ay, ay 🎵

28/3/22

Today we had another good hostel breakfast before Simon and Ruby came and met us and we headed out to Ella Rock. We were pretty tired from all the recent scrambles so planned to get a head start by taking Nico’s tuktuk one station closer, which would save us an hour. We had a new recruit, Menna, a girl from Egypt who works for an NGO – very cool! We got an extra tuktuk to the start and then had a tea break before we even began – Simon’s idea I think! Bloody Brits and their tea! 😂😂😂 After tea, we thanked the lady and she pointed us in the direction of the path (or so we thought!). After walking along the train tracks quite some way, and to be fair, past some gorgeous scenery, Nico realised that we were going the wrong way and where we were did not match up with the directions he had! We were all shocked that a woman whom we had all bought from had the gaul to send us off in completely the wrong direction so happily!! After a wasted hour or so walking in the heat of the day, we made it back to her cafe. Ruby in particular was very disappointed with the woman and went to tell her. I went to use her loo again and filled my water!! Then we headed off in the right direction. Maybe it was punishment for trying to take a shorter route, who knows?!

Anyway, once we were back on route, it didn’t take too long to get out of the tea plantations and begin our hike up the steep hill. It was a fair amount of cardio and in 30 degrees, quite a sweaty feat! We got to the top in an hour or so and admired one viewpoint, before buying fresh juice from an old woman (70+), who had carried all her stock up the hill herself! People seem so hardy out here! Then we headed to another viewpoint for some snaps! It was quite the view!!

Again, the way down was slow for me and I was way behind!! I eventually bumped into Menna, who was a little lost and we figured out the route back together – the problem with group walking is that you all blindly follow one person, and when they’ve gone, you’re stuffed!! We found the others at a small caf, drinking pop and petting pups!! We continued down along the tea plantations and stopped at a cafe for some much needed kottu – once again, it was waaaay past lunchtime!! Woops! We all squeeeeezed into Nico’s tuktuk for the short ride back to the hostel.

We showered and chilled in the hostel awhile before heading back out to Ella town for dinner in MozzarElla – the pizza was damn fineeee! We had some drinks in Chill, met up with some other Brits and an American, Colin from my hostel and then headed to a bar. Sadly, the bar was very chilled, so we were chilled! We had another drink, chatted and Nico and Menna had shisha. Then we headed back to the hostel in Nico’s tuktuk with an impressive six people!! Colin sat beside Nico then me, Ruby and Menna sat on the back with Simon lying like superman across us all with his legs folded into the roof! It was quite the adventure!!

29/3/22

Pretty much all my original crew were leaving today, but I was still keen to go to an underground pool in a cave that Nico had mentioned on our first day in Ella. To my luck, I managed to find/convince two hostel pals to come with me. Sweeeeet! Colin and I had to change hostels first since our original one was booked out, so we moved down the lane before heading off to the caves with Menna in tow. We arrived by tuktuk to a mountain road to find a load of men in matching tops. We had to pay on the road (there was no ticket office), and then one of these men would be our guide. We paid and set off up the hill, cutting off the road quickly into the jungle. 500 metres later, we reached a small hole in the ground and a hut made out of bamboo. We left our bags in the hut as advised, before putting on our head torches and lowering ourselves down through the hole using a rope. Step one complete. Step two consisted of a ladder through a hole which at its narrowest was as wide as my hips! This cave was not made for fat people clearly!!

Once we did that, the rest was scrambling over rocks, or just walking over (maybe slippery, maybe not) stone. We were moderately slow, but did take over one large group before arriving at the pool.

The pool was beautiful – so so clear and blue!! We swam and chilled in the cool water, which was much needed after a sweaty 800 metre scramble! After awhile, we headed back. We wanted to be ahead of the group we had overtaken since they were slower than us and there was many of them, and being in the corridor to the pool was boiling and claustrophobic at times, we didn’t want to prolong it!! We made it out of the cave pretty well – the final part with the rope climbing was not as bad as I thought it would be!

We washed our hands and faces and got the tuktuk back to Ella, stopping at a nearby Buddhist cave temple on the way. The temple was small but intricately painted in bright colours.

We chilled awhile, showered and then headed out for food at a local restaurant named Cafe Eden on the recommendation of someone at our hostel. A French girl, Julia also joined us. I had Lumpreis again, the range of curries with rice, wrapped in a banana leaf, which was as glorious as before!! This was mildly surprising since there had been a power cut for most of the afternoon and evening! There had been one hour of power between 3pm and 11pm, due to a combination of government problems and storms! We took advantage of the power cut and walked past our hostel to look at the stars!! It was beautiful, and there were even some fireflies buzzing about. Someone told me that fireflies are a sign of a complex ecosystem. Then we headed back to the hostel, Colin, Julia and I to play cards by torchlight, while Menna headed back to her hostel at the top of the hill.

30/3/22

After four nights in Ella, it was time to leave. After an early breakfast of eggs, with real coffee (yes!!), I headed to the station, via the bakery, by tuktuk. I bought a third class ticket for around 20 pence and boarded the infamous train.

Terrorised by leeches and kids!!

26/3/22

We arrived in Ella in three hours, which we were very happy with since the bus was meant to take six hours, and the train twelve! We chatted pretty much all the way, while staring out the window at big green landscapes – Sri Lanka is such a lushious country! We also saw monitor lizards, a flying peacock and had to slam on the brakes for a long black snake. Sadly, the sudden stop only saved two thirds of the snakes and the tail end was left writhing in the road, while the rest slithered into the greenery. We dropped Katrin at her hotel, and then went to the hostel. We checked in, and headed out.

We headed to Cafe Chill as someone at the hostel had said it was pretty nice. Inside we could have been in Bali! Everyone was western and there were juices and smoothie bowls everywhere! (I definitely wasn’t complaining!). We had an amazing Sri Lankan dish called Lumpreis, which is a few different curries including a spicy chicken one (similar to butter chicken), all wrapped in banana leaves. It was glorious and I had it alongside an equally good passion fruit ice tea – mm-mm!! Afterwards, we walked back to the hostel and Simon wanted tea, so he ordered a pot. Sadly it was Lipton and was VERY bad! We drank most of it before going on our next venture.

We headed to the Nine Arch Bridge, stopping at Simon’s hostel on the way – there was no space for him in mine. When I got there, Simon was talking to a Dutch girl, Ruby. I invited her to join us and we headed off through the village, past the tea plantations and into the jungle. It was only a short walk to the bridge and we arrived at 5pm. We decided to wait the thirty minutes until the bus went over the bridge and ordered another pot of tea (this time black with cinnamon and ginger) while we waited. Ruby is a social worker, which was nice – we were all in government jobs – a nurse, a firefighter and a social worker – I find this quite reassuring when there are so many jobs I don’t have any idea what they entail! At 17.30, there was still no sign of the train. We asked the cafe people and they said ‘train late’. We ordered another pot of spiced tea. At 18.30, there was a whistle and a few seconds later the train came thundering through the tunnel! We had to run from the cafe to make it!!

After the train, we began our walk back in the dark. Luckily, I had my head torch which proved pretty handy in the pitch black jungle! There was an Irish guy behind us, who name I’ve forgotten, but we all got chatting. He was on a fleeting visit to Sri Lanka trying to fit as much as possible into six days, after going to Dubai. We arranged to meet for dinner and headed into town the four of us.

After a delicious lunch at Cafe Chill, we thought we should try somewhere else. Bad idea. We went to somewhere called Spice. First there was live music which was fun but impossible to chat over. Then we ordered but the food took well over an hour to come. Then we the food did come, it came at random intervals. Also, each order was not as it said. The chicken fajitas arrived as chicken mayo, the curry arrived with no rice and the beef burger arrived as chicken and another thirty minutes later than the rest! Ooops. On the plus side, we ordered cocktails, which were nice and Katrin (from the taxi) joined us for awhile.

After food, Simon, Ruby and Katrin headed home while I stayed with the Irish guy to play pool. After one match, we were terrorised by kids!! There were three of them, age (I think) 5-10, and they moved all of the balls around and were wildly waving there cues around. There was even some sword fighting going on!! Amazingly, the Irish guy managed to round them up eventually and they formed a team against us. It was going well until their mums came to take them home. We had lost our opponents! Luckily, a French/Algerian couple and a guy from Singapore walked in and stepped up to the task of catching up from the little guys loss. It took us ages, and I was pretty bad, but eventually I managed to pot the black and won the game! I got a tuktuk back and left the others to drink.

27/3/22

Today we agreed to get up at the crack of dawn (technically before that!), to watch sunrise over Little Adam’s Peak. The Irish guy never appeared, so it was Simon, Ruby, me and Nico, a French guy who was in my dorm and was heading up anyway. We all walked together and made the top just as the red beam of light was peeping out over the mountain tops. It was pretty nice!!

Afterwards, we headed down and chilled in our separate hostels and waited for it to be breakfast time! The hostel breakfast was pretty good – I had desiccated coconut roti pancakes with a bad coffee, followed by fresh watermelon, pineapple and banana. After breakfast, we all reconvened and headed out together to see a huge waterfall, Diyaluma. Nico had rented a tuktuk and was travelling the whole of Sri Lanka in it and after our sunrise bonding, offered to take us all on an adventure!! We headed out, first to get fuel, and then down down down the mountains along wiggly roads towards the waterfall. We stopped at a beautiful viewpoint cafe for a milkshake before carrying on.

We past Rawana Falls and continued on. Ruby was also on a bikini hunt since she left hers at a previous hostel, so we stopped a few times to have a hunt. To no avail! Although, Simon was keen to buy Nico a tuktuk mascot to tie to the front, so he bought some terrifying plastic dolls which we attached to the tuktuk with bobbles! We set off again and arrived at the bottom of the waterfalls a short while later. The view was glorious – waterfall as far as the eye could see!! Nico then went off road with a full tuktuk to get us nearer the top. It was pretty unstable, but Nico’s trusty tuktuk didn’t fail us! We parked up, and began our hike.

We walked past a few houses, before starting our ascent. Some locals tried to sell us a guide but we declined. They warned us of wild elephants, but we figured that was just a line they used! It was pretty steep and it took some time to go up. Bizarrely, not a single one of us decided to wear trainers so we were in flip-flops, with Nico in slightly better sandals. After maybe 45 minutes hiking up in 35 degree heat, we heard water! We continued along and soon came across the pools at the waterfalls. It was glorious. We stripped off and headed in to the cool water. There were some Sri Lankan guys at the top of the falls playing drums, tourists sitting in the shallows and monkeys swinging between the trees. We chilled there awhile taking it all in before walking down the falls a little to some more pools.

When we got down, there were people jumping off the top, down around five meters into the plunge pool. We watched awhile, before Simon jumped in without ceremony after checking that it was safe with a local. After he went, we all went one by one! Although I’ve jumped off waterfalls before, standing on the edge looking down at the drop was pretty terrifying and it took me two attempts to compose myself and jump!! It was worth it, although to get out of the plunge pool, you had to hike your way up a vine which was a little taxing!! After a good few hours chilling in the falls, we headed back, prompted by heavy rain!

I always dread the back as it was steep and had lots of loose stones and I always hold everyone up, which I’m not a fan of. We started back and quickly Ruby and I fell behind, Ruby because her flip-flops were falling apart and me because I was testing every step to check I wasn’t going to slide down the mountain side!! I really wished that I’d worn trainers!! After awhile and unbeknownst to us, Nico and Simon had decided to take a ‘shortcut’, meaning we were just following some dried up river bed down the mountain with no path whatsoever. Initially, I was scared that a snake may bite us, but after maybe an hour of walking, we decided that we would not get killed by snakes as they had already had ple ty of opportunity!! Reassured slightly, we continued down. Ruby was not a happy bunny with her broken flip-flops but I was bemused at the ridiculousness of a very steep hike with no walking boots, not even any trainers! The boys were so far ahead we had no idea where we were going!! We eventually made it to a stream which a local had to come and guide us over, as he wanted us to go a different better way, but somehow felt responsible for us! He gave the boys fruit from his farm, which they tried to share with us, but we were not in the mood! After crossing the stream, I sat to scratch my foot. When I looked down, there was a leech between my toes. It was horrid!! The local guy came over straight away and tried to pull the damn thing off – it took him three attempts!! I thought of my other leech encounters in India (twice) and Thailand – eeeeeep! The local guy was very friendly and even showed us his house. The house was simple and reminded me of St Fagans – his wife was cooking with a huge saucepan over raw flames, a fire made from sticks.

We thanked him and left and began our tuktuk journey home in the rain. Us passangers were all hungry and exhausted so we all rested on top of each other. Since we hadissed lucnh, we had a snack stop for crisp and banana cream biscuits. Then we drove straight to Cafe Chill in Ella and arrived looking weather beaten! I ate another tasty assortment of curries and drank another passion fruit ice tea. Then we drove home and all bar Nico, we were pretty much out for the count!!