The dreaded dengue

Oskar is well and loves pineapple. The ocean pool is at Saman Villas at Bentota, a luxury small hotel that doesn't take children, so we couldn't stay there but did get a look. The last photo is Galle Face Green (with Colombo's world trade centres in the background) at sunset on New Years Eve.

Chris and Alex have dengue and are in hospital and improving. I thought I was ok but now have it as well. I am at home having daily blood tests (with no handwashing before the procedure). I am hoping I have a milder version, Kerala has been cancelled, and just hoping my other travel plans are not too disrupted.

More Waterfalls

It was over a 2 hr drive from Dambulla to the Elephant Orphanage where Chris was waiting. We then went to Kandy and did the touristy things. The tooth temple, the Kandyian dancing and afternoon tea at a hotel called Helgas Folly. I'm sure it has a website. so you can see what you have missed. In reality the service left a lot to be desired and the rooms, while full of memoriabillia were nothing great. It was wet on the shorter road back to Nuwara Eliya and with road works that was a very slow trip, but there were plenty of waterfalls visible from the road. By the time we reached the Tea Factory about 4.30pm the mist had obscured the view and we prayed for better weather

Dambulla and Sigiriya

We left Kandy at 6am for a two hour drive to Dambulla to visit the 1st century cave temple, there are several caves all with carvings and decorated roof. The first picture shows the followers of Buddha and the last picture is part of a cave temple roof. It is better to go early as it is a steep climb up steps to the temple but it is worth the climb. I rested in the middle of the day to prepare for the ascent (and descent) of Sigiriya. I left the hotel at 3pm by tuk tuk for a 20km drive and the photos show the walk through gardens which have recently been excavated, and then a climb up steps and more steps and along ledges to the top of the rock where the king and his entourage lived for part of the year before moving to ground level. The other view is looking down from the top the way I had walked u.. A moat surrounded the gardens to stop unauthorised entry. There are frescos on the way up but many were removed by monks who took over the rock from the king. They didn't like the erotics females. I was back at my hotel before 6pm and enjoyed a cool lime soda. If you come to Sri Lanka this is a must do, but remember to do one in the early morning and one in the late afternoon to take advantage of the cooler temperatures.

WF tour Day 6 Nuwara Eliya to Kandy

Today was supposed to be the last day of wateralls on my tour. We took the longer route from Nuwara Eliya to Kandy as the road was better and there were more waterfalls to see from the road. This is tea plantation country and the women plucking the leaves looked like white birds dotted along the hillside. The scenery is amazing. I went to the botanical gardens just out of Kandy and saw a rare double coconut palm as well as the beautiful red flowers which come out at Christmas time. When I arrived at my hotel I had time for an ayurvedic massage which soothed my over-exercised body. Tomorrow I was to meet Christine with an american friend and start a more Sri Lankan type tour of the country but the friend didn't arrive and I had to make new plans for an extra day. That will be tomorrows story

WF Day 5 Ella to Nuwara Eliya

Woke as the sun was just rising for an early 7.30 start. The roads are so slow and if you get to 60kms you think you are speeding. My favourite waterfall of the trip was the Dunhinda Ella, the photo with the fine mist. There was a red rhododendron on the lookout near the falls. I did walk to this fall but not a great distance. In the afternoon I visited Hortons Plains and saw Bakers Falls, to do the circuit with the falls and a visit to world's end was 9kms. Normally takes 3 hrs, but for me 2 and a half with lots of photographic stops to record the flowers and scenery. Rhododendrons grow wild on the plain and would be a picture of red in a month or so. A few were out and some of the local tourists were picking the flowers which was a shame. On the way back from Hortons Plains I saw sambur and monkeys and beautiful views of the mountains in the area. I even took a photo of the sky for a memory, it was the clearest blue. Nuwara Eliya is high country and quite cool. If you ever come to Sri Lanka you can buy heavy winter jackets at the markets there. It s also a very big vegetable growing area and interesting to see farming without tractors etc.

WF Tour Day 4 Morning

I have my arms up to show I had conquered the long walk down to Kirindi Ella. On the way up I counted 720 steps. Today I had a western breakfast which was a nice change. I bought some grapes to eat while driving and gave a bunch to a small child on the side of the road, he knew what they were and was so excited. Later I gave some to a young girl and she had no idea what they were. While local fruit is cheap, most people only eat it if they grow their own, imported fruit is not on most Sri Lankans menu. These are just a few of the wateralls I saw today. Rubber plantations, tea plantations and rocky hills as well as a quartz mine helped pass the time along the road

WF tour Day 4 Part 2

These are some of the waterfalls I saw in the afternoon as we drove on the worst road (roadworks in progress) from Ratnapura to Ella. I had a proper lunch at a rest house beside a rocky stream. I did miss seeing Sri Lanka highest waterfall as it was too late to walk the distance but saw two other beautiful instead.

WF Tour day 3

Waterfall heaven, not only large waterfalls but small ones as well, scrambling over rocks, long walks and bad roads
To make up time I bought some take away dahl patties from the roadside,wrapped in newspaper which I couldn't read, bananas and a Sri Lankan sweet pudding to eat as we drove, that way I could stop to take more photos. Had a lady guide to one waterfall, it normally takes over 2 hrs to walk there and back, but it was less time and we had stopped to help a small truck that was bogged. Also have seen monkeys, snakes, beautiful birds and butterlies and a green chameleon, ground orchids and many topical flowers.
Top left Rajana ella,
Top right Duvili
Lower left Bopath
Lower right Napath

WF Tour Day 2

Had Sri Lankan breakfast of curry and rice. Then beautiful scenery in the hills but a very rough road with potholes. A timber truck was broken down on an impassable corner with a large bus stopped behind. It would take 30mins to fix they said. Forty five minutes later we were saved when another small bus came from our direction. This driver asked the truck driver to shift a bit closer to precipice edge and then some bystanders did minor roadworks using a hoe to dig out the side of the hill to make space to pass. The bus went first (a very tight fit) and we followed. More driving. After at least 300 steps down the mountain I viewed the Luxpanna Ella with a beautiful pool of water at the base. I had a lunch of Indian Fast Food, deep fried dahl patties, potato curry pasties, leek puffs and a sweet coconut puff at the City Hotel (Hotel means a food shop) in Hatton and said a prayer that I wouldn't get sick. I didn't and the food was delicious. The other waterfalls, St Clair and Devon can be viewed from the road. Sri Lanka is waterfall heaven.

Waterfall Tour Day 1

After driving past rice fields, coconut plantations and small villages we reached the Ranmuthu waterfall which was a precursor of better things to come. We drove to within a very short distance of the fall and walked across a small bridge. A lady was doing her washing in the pool at the bottom of the waterfall. We continued on to Kitugala (65kms from Colombo). The view from the resthouse dining area is beautiful. I was fascinated by the local ferry service, a small outrigger canoe, (everyone stands for the ride across the river). Further upstream is famous for its white water rafting which I didn't try. For dinner I joined a group of rafters and then watched a DVD of white water rafting on the Nepal/Tibet border and in Siberia. Scrambling to see waterfalls is much less dangerous.

Waterfall Tour Day 1 Cont

After lunch and a short drive, I started climbing steps and more steps, (with a local guide to show the way), we went past village houses high on the hill and reached the Sampath Ella (2nd picture)(singhalese for waterfall). This fall drops in different sections from the top of the mountain, I was about half way up, and in the monsoon season the lower fall in the picture covers the whole of the rocks. Then the local guide suggested another waterfall close by. We went by trishaw as far as possible and then walked until the track ended. Scrambling down a steep mountain side, with no steps and only branches to steady me, I reached the Mannaketiye Ella, (3rd pictre) this water continues down the mountain through rocks that look as if it was a man made canal, I would have loved to explore further but rock climbing in not my forte and I had the steep climb back to the top of the track.