27th April - Colombo to Sigiriya

Ayobalum from Sigiriya,

Our flight to Colombo took three hours and was smooth as. I finally got my Sri Lankan travel insurance and we had our e-visas, plus we are double vaxxed, so we were good to go!

I watched the second Kingsman film - The Golden Circle on the plane and it was cool. I really like this series, great actors and corny plots, but cool nonetheless.

I had a window seat and flying into Colombo was pretty special. The whole island is covered in greenery. I could see a few tall buildings in the distance, but the airport was in the middle of coconut plantations. Great start!

We got through customs in a flash and all of my worries about the insurance etc, were wiped away by a smiling gentleman who was only half watching as he spoke to his mate. Very relaxed introduction. We then got our bags - after 20 minutes - very slow/relaxed whatever spin you want to put on it, before we went to the pick up zone and there was no one there to pick us up! A helpful old guy rang the number for Mango Vacations, but this German number would not work... Jen and I both had the same feeling of dread- have we been scammed?? Aw man, great start, what to do?

Just then I noticed a young bloke with Jen's name on the sign - thank God! His name was Vish and he was friendly as. A few minutes later we were in the back of his A/C Toyota Corolla Hybrid and we were off. His mate was in the front seat and he travelled with us for the first few hours before we dropped him off in some random town.

First impressions of Sri Lanka were good. The jungle is so green, As I surmised from the plane, the island is green and covered in vegetation. The streets reminded me of Thailand and India - lots of tuk-tuks, bikes, trucks and cars. There were the obligatory roadside stalls and shops where all of the produced looked incredible. I could have just eaten raw fruit and vegetables for days. The road was choas, but Vish was a confident steady driver and we didn't feel unsafe. The people on the side of the road were all well dressed and seemed very polite. The houses were poor but there was hardly any rubbish compared to Thailand.

We drove for a few hours before we stopped at the ATM in a little village called Kununungra. I withdrew 125,000 Rupiah, which was about $500 AUD! Far out - so many notes, with the biggest the 5000.

We had lunch in a quiet little place near the lake and we had a chicken biryani and vegetable biryani plus a mango and papaya juice to wash it all down with. The food was very Indian and very tasty. The serving sizes were pretty huge and we couldn't finish it all. The bill with tip came to 2500R - $10 AUD! Woah, food is cheap man!!

We then discussed with Vish what to do with the afternoon and we settled on an elephant safari before an Ayurvedic massage and then dinner.

We drove for a few hours before we were picked up in an open top jeep and driven to the elephant safari entrance. Our betel-juiced teeth stained driver had been doing this for 16 years and was fantastic. The next two hours saw us driving down dirt tracks and stopping at herds of 3 to 15 elephants - all females or infant males. It was incredible how close we got to these queens and we both got some amazing photos and videos. Even a tropical monsoonal downpour couldn't dampen our spirits. We climbed the viewpoint rock and took some great photos before we departed, through puddles and mud, exhilarated. Check 'em out!

We then drove to the massage joint which was down a back alley shanty. I was starting to think that it was dodgy, but a friendly dog welcomed us and wanted pats and belly rubs. The little old (58) lady came out, took our pulse, wrote our names in the book and led us to a concrete hut with crudely made massage beds. The next hour saw her massage Jen and her son (maybe) massage me with oils and hands than went as fast as helicopter rotors. Jen made a good and funny joke at the start that they were going to harvest our organs, because we were on the set of a horror film in the middle of nowhere. All's well that end's well as they massages were fantastic and cost us $20 AUD each!! Unbelievable.

Vish then took us to his favourite restaurant in Sigiriya called Pradeep Restaurant where we ascended the dodgy stairs to a wooden structure on the second floor. There were maybe 5 tables of travellers in here and everyone was happy and smiling. The reason for this wasn't the terrifiyingly flimsy structure that we dined upon, but because of the food and the smiles from the staff. It was just amazing. I had a standard chicken fried rice and Jen went for the chicken, cheese and vegetable roti. This crepe creation hung over the plate and was so good that she then ordered a desert one! - Chocolate, banana and caramel. Insane...

We then got to out hotel at about 9pm - The Sigiriya Asna Nature Resort - where a bunch of cranky old dudes berated Vish about our late arrival time. He just smiled and shrugged it off. The room again was a mould factory, but we were so exhausted from such a rollercoaster of a day, that we just crashed like Zombies.

What a first day, What a welcome to Sri Lanka.