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| 5 months and the last time I can get into that bathing suit, for sure |
We had 2 whole weeks in Sri Lanka and wanted to explore this diverse country some more, as we had really only seen a very small part of it on our first trip. We started the trip, briefly, in Colombo to pick up our rental car. In true Kristi and Matt fashion, the rental car was a disaster waiting to happen. It's a long and stressful story, but involves a pregnant Kristi running (literally) around government offices before they close in 15 minutes trying to obtain a driving license followed by a minor incident with a parked car. Matt drove the rest of the trip.
Luckily, the rest of the trip was smooth. We traveled to Kandy and Nuwara Eliya, in the mountainous region, to spend some time hiking, visiting a tea plantation, and seeing traditional Kandyan dancers.
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| Traditional Sri Lankan Breakfast: String Hoppers (rice noodles) with Dal (lentils), Sambola (fresh shredded coconut with chili), and eggs. |
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| Nuwara Eliya city park snake charmer |
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| From Nuwara Eliya we traveled to Horton Plains National Park. This park offers day hiking through forest and grassland, great views and wildlife. We saw monkeys, a very friendly bird, and something called a forest mouse which was squirrel the size of a medium-sized dog. |
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| Obligatory car trouble on Christmas Day. The best part of this story is how we had 10 Sri Lankans pulled over trying to help us-pushing the car uphill to jump start, letting us use their phones, and escorting us to a mechanic in the next town. |
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| We took a short hike to look at Adam's peak from the town of Ella. The views were nice and we were reminded that almost anywhere you go in the world you will find a sleeping dog. |
We then traveled to the South end of the island to visit Yala National Park, renowned for the wildlife and the exceptional efforts at conservation, a challenge on this crowded island. We want on a jeep safari from the town of Kataragama and got to see some amazing wildlife, including a leopard!
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| This elephant we actually saw the day before on our drive towards the park. |
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| Peacocks were everywhere in this part of the country. |
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| Temples were also everywhere. Some famous temples are popular destinations for tourists and locals alike. Walking down the road in any rural area you will encounter more modest ones as well. |
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| Offerings for sale outside the Kataragama Temple |
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| Evening ceremony at Kataragama |
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| We also learned that if you remove your shoes too close to the temple entrance they will be carefully relocated for you. |
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| Sri Lanka's national bird: The Ceylon Jungle Fowl. It's also a wild ancestor of the chicken. |
We finished our trip with a few relaxing days in Mirissa, a beach resort town. Kristi went whale watching and saw blue whales, dolphins, and sea turtles, while Matt fished.
