beep beep….COMIN’ THROUGH

As we wrapped up our two weeks in Hiriketiya we packed our bags and headed to the beach for a last surf in the warm salty waves of southern Sri Lanka. Due to tired bodies from a long day of surfing the day before we only caught a few rides before filling our bellies with chocolate banana rotis and a mango lassi, which have become a favorite beach snack. 

With tears in our eyes we said goodbye to our wonderful host family that took such good care of us in Hiri over the holidays. Our journey north had just started and we didn’t know what was ahead for us.

We jumped on a speedy bus in Dickwella headed towards the national park of Yala in hopes of a leopard sighting. The bus was so crowded I started out standing before someone stood up for me to take a seat. I said “thank you so much”. I had about a half of a small seat but I made it work. Then the person in the middle stood up to leave which left me and one other passenger with a little more leg room. Before I knew it someone else was joining us so I shifted so she could sit in the middle but she pushed me into the middle seat and sat on the end seat, I was stuck in the middle again. After a few hours of this seat shuffling Dad found me an empty seat and we were able to sit together for the rest of the ride. 

Transportation in Sri Lanka has been a test for me because everyone tries to get on at the same time and the buses barely slow down to let you on. It’s kind of a game that no one wins. This leg of our journey had us taking a few different bus trips but we found our way to the Highlands of Sri Lanka in Ella. Ella is a bigger town then most in Sri Lanka, it is a backpacker haven which means you can get a decent burger and a stylish bucket hat for about $6. Ella for the W!

My favorite activity in Ella was the zipline – called Flying Ravana, it’s one of those adventures that has a lot of build up but only lasts a few seconds. Most importantly it makes for a heck of a good video. I was excited because Mom let us get the go-pro option while flying down the zipline so we documented the adventure well. It makes me want a go-pro even more.

From Ella we hopped on a train to Kandy which was about six hours. The trains in Sri Lanka are a little different from the commuter train running through Boston because they only go about five miles an hour and you can hang your body out over the tracks and if you’re lucky over bridges. It is like a very slow roller coaster.

From bus trips to zip lines to trains Sri Lanka has captured our hearts in transport. And we didn’t even talk about tuk tuks yet!