Sri Lanka was full of surprises for us: it's Buddhist, not Hindu; it is only 18 miles from India and used to be connected by a land bridge; and it has every climate you can imagine from tropical jungle to high mountain plains. In 2009, the country ended 25 years of civil war with the Tamil Tigers and rejoined the list of viable tourist destinations. The Sri Lankans are just now reaping the benefits of peace and tourism is picking up.
It is a chaotic place, with vestiges of its British colonial
past, the bustle of a rapidly growing economy, the marginal transportation infrastructure
of a less developed country and some of the greatest natural diversity on
earth. Not to mention recorded history
going back several thousand years, a whole host of important Buddhist
locations, eight World Heritage sites, and a mountain considered by some the
location of the Garden of Eden. And it is all
packed into a compact 25,000 square miles, about the size of West Virginia.
After recuperating on the beach from a flight that arrived after 1:45 in the morning (really!), we headed inland and spent time in the towns of Kandy and Nuwaru Eliya. The towns are high in the mountains and have beautiful views over the cloud filled valleys below. We drove through lush terraced tea plantations where women toiled with heavy bags on their backs as they picked the tea, which is still a major export. We also made the pilgrimage to the Temple of the Tooth, where one of Buddha’s teeth is venerated.
From Nuwaru Eliya we drove to a nature preserve known for
its astonishing view down across the entire Eastern half of the island. After a hike up through the park to the ridge
viewpoint, we looked down over the swirling mists that obscured the view and
gave us the impression that there was nothing beyond the wall of white in front
of us. It is yet another place known as
the “End of the Earth,” making it the third one that we have visited on the
trip.
Our drive from the mountains to the beach looked short on
the map, but turned into 8 hours of curvy nausea-inducing twists and turns that ensured we
had to keep our eyes on the road and a barf bag nearby. We were grateful that we had a driver who
kept us alive and allowed us to keep our eyes on the road and the beautiful
landscape around us. 
We spent our final days on the Southwest Coast, followed by a day exploring
Colombo on our way out to the airport. After Bora Bora, we are finding ourselves a
little jaded about what a spectacular beach looks like! To be fair, Sri Lanka’s best beaches are
supposed to be further down the coast, but we were disappointed to find that
the beach we visited suffered from two curses common to rapidly developing
countries – a tendency to use the ocean as a trash disposal and the disturbing habit
of local beachgoers to freely litter their beaches. Equally puzzling was our hotel’s disinterest
in cleaning the beachfront right in front of their hotel.
Despite the disappointing beach conditions, frustrating tummy problems, pounding tropical rain, crazy roads, and a bit of homesickness (yes - we had a lot of problems this week), we enjoyed the beauty of Sri Lanka. If we return, we will explore the World
Heritage sites we missed, go blue whale watching (we just missed the season)
and enjoy the beaches that are a little more difficult to get to. On to Jordan!
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