On the way to Adams Peak

We left Kandy direction south with Adams Peak as the target for today. Shortly after we've stopped to fill up the tanks we misunderstood each oder and got separated in two groups. Miguel and I took our way to the Ramboda falls, the hills on the way there are covered with the tea plantations and water falls everywhere.

Ramboda Falls

 

 Our next stop was at the Mackwoods Tea Factory for a visit and a tee.

Brocken Orange Peak

We continued on the way to Adams Peak where we saw this almost abandoned temple, at least it was not in good shape like the others we saw before.

 Our journey continued without a sign of our companions, we saw a sign pointing the Adams Peak in 27km but then we drove for hours on a beautiful road between tee plantations, stopped a couple of times to ask directions but nobody spoke English or even understood the words "Adams Peak", with one hour daylight remaining we picked up the phone and got finally a waypoint from the other guys, Adams Peak was 70kms away, too far to reach within an hour so we decided to change direction head to coast and look for a place to stay on the way there before it got night.

We found this hotel on the road side.

 

Sigiriya

Today we left the hotel and drove to Sigiriya, on the road we stopped for our already traditional, morning coconut, on one of the many fruit stands along the roads.

Then we drove further to Sigiriya.

After that we visited Dambula.

Traditional Kottu for dinner

Kandy

Today we decided to stay in Kandy, actually the decision was to choose a nice hotel and remain here for a couple of days. We did choose the hotel but it was not as good as expected. The view is OK the rest not so.

View over Kandy

 In the evening we had hot water, in the morning only cold water was available, it was supposed to have WiFi everywhere but it only works in the lobby. In the morning when I went to take breakfast, there were two tables near the window and no other guests on the room but the waiter told me that I couldn't sit there because our table was the one 10 meters away from the windows without no daylight at all, I asked why? There's nobody here, what's the difference? He had no answer for that and let sit on the second table after what he brought me this "french" fruit salad :-)

and then these small omelet, two small german sausage and two slices of raw potatoes. The coffee cup was dirty and when I asked him to change it, he said it was just a peace of bread and a got little bit mad about lack of comprehension.

After breakfast we went to visit the tooth palace, you have to take your shoes of and wear pants, otherwise they wont let you in. There are three rooms there where locals throw money in bowls, the tourists are immediately pushed away. I didn't feel any religious atmosphere in there, just "all for the money".

 

 

 

Then we tried to have lunch very fast and go see the elephants taking bath in the river. 

I was the first to arrive there, a guy told to park my bike in the park and also that I had to pay 2500 rupees to see the elephants taking bath, I waited until the others came and then he commented that for 500 more we could ride, feed and take a shower. After a long argumentation and price discussions, we decided to do it but I must say that I felt bad about it afterwards.

The way back to Kandy was a nightmare, it took me almost two hours to do 35kms and the first 30 only took around 40 minutes.

They have these jets of water along the road but I didn't figured out what they should be good for, maybe to draw the attention of the drivers for the upcoming fruit stands.

Batticaloa to Kandy

Last night it didn't rain and the sun was shining when we woke up, the temperature was good enough, so we decided to go have a swim in the Indian ocean, it took a while to find the right spot but it was just perfect, the water wasn't as warm as I read but I have stayed the all day there.

Guest House in Batticaloa

 

After the short swim we headed up to Kandy, had lunch mid way and decided to stop later for desert. The road side is full of fruit stands and that was what we were looking for.

I found one and bought a papaya, I asked how much it was and the young girl told me 150, I looked around for money and as I finally had the 150 together she asked "you want three?" - no just one "fifty". Sometimes is just amazing how cheap things are. The last time I bought a papaya, back home, it cost me 19€, it was about the same size but didn't taste so good. This one was just 31 cent.