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A 15-day adventure by Katharina Bo & Torsten Read more
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  • Sri Lanka 🇱🇰
    312221
    Day 2

    Hello Sri Lanka 🇱🇰

    March 9 in Sri Lanka ⋅ ☀️ 36 °C

    On Saturday morning we finally arrived in Sri Lanka 🇱🇰
    After a very long journey we were very tired, so not much happened that day. We said hello to the Indian Ocean and spent the rest of the day at the pool 😴
    On Sunday morning, we went to the port ⛵️and the local fish market and saw how dried fish is made. 🐟
    Now we are on our way to the next station, Dambulla. On the way we tried an orange coconut, which is only available in Sri Lanka. It’s much sweeter than the original ones. 🥥

    We are in love with all the palm trees around here 😍 🌴and the temperature is around 35 degrees but we are already getting used to manage it ☀️😎

    Fun fact: the time difference to Germany is about 4,5 (!) hours 🤓🤷‍♀️🤷‍♂️    Read more

  • Sri Lanka 🇱🇰
    22131
    Day 3–5

    Tropical Life in Dambulla 🐒

    March 10 in Sri Lanka ⋅ ☀️ 35 °C

    Yesterday, we arrived in Dambulla. After a short pool break we went off to climb the Pidurangala rock to watch the sunset. 🌅
    Today we got up at 4:30am to head to Sigiriya. After 1200 stair steps we arrived in time to watch the sunrise 🌄
    On our way back to the accommodation we saw our first wild Asian Elefant on the street. We named him “Hubertus”.
    Back at the hotel we caught up with some much needed sleep and spend the day chasing the shadow around the pool 😴🤓 We guess the lizard did the same🦎
    In the afternoon we drove to the royal cave temple to see over 150 statues of Buddha and had to climb some more steps only this time accompanied by some monkeys 🙊
    After that we checked out the biggest wholesale fruit&vegetable market to and were introduced to some funny looking produce (long beans -like normal free beans but 3x the length, things that look like cucumbers with dragon skin,…) 🍍🍆
    We finished the day in a local restaurant and had a red banana for dessert(🍌 🔴- also common here next to the orange coconut 🥥 )
    Tomorrow we will be heading to Kandy and will finally get to ride in a Tuktuk. ⛰️🛺    Read more

  • Sri Lanka 🇱🇰
    211
    Day 5–6

    Sri Lanka thru tinted windows

    March 12 ⋅ ⛅ 33 °C

    Today we spent the most of the day in an air conditioned (important because apparently there is a heat wave here right now 🥵) van 🚌, driving up the mountains into the center of the island.🇱🇰
    After a stop at a local woodshipping shop (where we bought the obligatory Christmas tree ornament) we visited a herb 🌿 and spice farm. Here a lovely and fit pensioner 👴🏻taught us a lot about the health and wellbeing benefits of different plants. As a bonus we found yet another fruit in a new colour and size - red pineapple and mini pineapple.🍍
    Finally we arrived at “the last capital of the ancient kings' era of Sri Lanka” (cite: Wikipedia) - Kandy. 📍
    Here one can find (but not actually see) the tooth of Buddha. Placed inside seven golden caskets, inside of a shrine, inside the temple 🛕 which was once a royal palace and home of the king🤴 .
    Other than that there is a beautiful lake, a UNESCO world heritage city center, and one of the nicest views out of an hotel room (actually not a room this time, but the presidential suite 💁‍♂️) we ever had. 360 degree view over the green mountains and a balcony perfect for some sunset yoga 🧘🏻‍♂️

    Ps. Incase you did not notice, no Tuktuk drive today but a promise to do it another day.    Read more

  • Sri Lanka 🇱🇰
    3
    Day 6–8

    Turns, Tea and a Train

    March 13 in Sri Lanka ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    Turns out the trains 🚂 can be late in other countries as well (but the view at the train station is much better).
    But first things first… coffee! ☕️ Finally a hotel with real coffee and not that instant awfulness.🤢
    Finally properly caffeinated we got back in the van and climbed turn by turn even further up the mountain. ⛰️
    And just as we thought it could not get and greener🌿, the seemingly endless tea plantations came around the corner.🍵
    Naturally we stopped at a tea factory, learned a thing or two about how tea is produced and tried some single origin black tea.🫖
    After lunch (rice and curry and fried noodles- again) we switched the air conditioning of the van for panoramic views out of a train.🚂
    Driving from Nuwara Eliya to Ella. 📍
    Standing in the open door of a train, driving along the mountain edge, looking over endless tea plantations, does feel like the ultimate instagram moment… ✨and it is. So we quickly took some snapshots and left the space for the “pros” #trainsrilanka
    Tomorrow will be an active day, so after a great dinner in the (extremely touristy) city Center we climbed up the steep road back to our hotel which is (once again) really nice and offers a great view. ⛰️

    Turn on the sound for the final video in this post to hear the jungle awaken in the morning 🌅    Read more

  • Sri Lanka 🇱🇰
    11111
    Day 8–9

    From party hub to jungle glamping

    March 15 in Sri Lanka ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Ella… a Tourist / Backpacker / Party hub 🎉, with good restaurants and finally some tasty local espresso out of a peach coloured “la marzocco”.
    One could say, we only did the “boring” stuff, and none of the fancy attractions, like zip line flying or swing on a giant swing over a mountain edge. But we enjoyed our program quite a lot. 😌
    Hiking the “little Adam’s peak” 🗻to get a great view of the Ella rock, taking a bike ride 🚴‍♀️thru the tea field and (of course) visiting the famous “nine arches bridge”. 🌉
    Thanks to a local guide we came in time to see a 🚂 on the bridge and were even able to climb underneath it. Challenging 🥵 but worthwhile! 🤩
    Today we left the party zone 💃🕺and headed straight (after a quick stop at a waterfall) into the jungle. Quit the contrast. Wild elephants 🐘 , a turtle (or was it a tortoise -but who really knows that word?) 🐢 a crocodile 🐊, monkeys 🐵, birds 🦅 and more (no giraffes 🦒, not surprising but still ☹️) .
    Here we are glamping, just like camping but better 😆, with an outdoor buffet at the river’s edge. 🤤    Read more

  • Sri Lanka 🇱🇰
    4224
    Day 9–12

    Leech therapy in an UNESCO rain forest

    March 16 in Sri Lanka ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    After a hot 🥵 but (surprisingly) good night sleep in our “tent” 🏕️ and without additional mosquito bites 🦟we left one jungle to get to the next one. From seeing big animals to small ones. 🐍
    Next stop on our way to the coast: UNESCO world heritage site: Sinharaja Forest Reserve
    “Located in south-west Sri Lanka, Sinharaja is the country's last viable area of primary tropical rainforest.” (Cite: unesco.org) 🌳
    Equipment with newly purchased and highly fashionable “leech protection socks” 🧦 we enter the rain forest.
    Here was got to see several lizards (and a chameleon 🦎), a couple of snakes 🐍 and spiders🕷️ , some butterflies 🦋 and owls 🦉 (+other birds but 🤷🏻‍♂️). Oh… and the second largest tree of the reserve. 🌲
    Naturally one leech 🪱found the small strip of exposed skin between “protection socks” and shorts and offered his (unwanted) therapy treatment free of charge. 🩸

    Now we are on the second to last hotel, right on the south west corner of Sri Lanka. 🇱🇰 Spectacular view over the Galle bay and fort (of course 😎) from our balcony. 🌅The next days will be (even more) relaxing, as we will spent most of the time a the pool or beach. 🏖️ ☀️    Read more

  • Sri Lanka 🇱🇰
    1
    Day 11

    Tuktuk not going … 🛺 🤷🏾

    March 18 in Sri Lanka ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    There are many benefits of having a hotel on top of a mountain. ⛰️ Great views 👀 from the infinity pool, beautiful sunsets (and sunrises if you manage to get up so early) and a quiet neighbourhood.
    But if you want a Tuktuk 🛺 to bring you home after a dinner in town, things
    get tricky. First you have to find one that wants to take you up the mountain ⛰️ but even if you do, there is no guarantee you don’t end up walking 2/3 of the way uphill. 🫠
    After struggling up the first couple of meters the driver stopped and said apologetically “Tuktuk not going” … 🤷🏾so we set off by foot and closed our exercise rings (⌚️) 🥵

    The closed beach was called “jungle beach” which is a quiet little bay and can only be accessed by walking down a pathway through a forest. But there are sunbeds and little “restaurant” and a cook who is learning German and used us for some real live practice. 🙃

    We also drove along the southern coast and “found” another instagram hotspot. Coconut tree hill. 🌴🥥

    And then there was Galle. Especially Galle Fort. Once build by the Portuguese, extended by the Dutch and used by the British, nowadays it’s a UNESCO world heritage site. Inside are a lot of shops and restaurants. Some say it is like the old town in Amsterdam. 🇳🇱    Read more

  • Sri Lanka 🇱🇰
    1
    Day 12–13

    Big city life 🌆

    March 19 in Sri Lanka ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    After the quiet and somewhat secluded stays over the last days Colombo is the complete opposite. 🫠
    We did a so called “street food tour” 🌯which brought us to one of the busiest street malls we have seen so far and included a very tasty cay tea. 🍵
    Today was the last day and it was spent with standard sightseeing. 🗼
    Lotus tower, temples, memorials, all the important buildings and statues, a lot in kolonial/british style, so it feels a bit like London (but with better weather) 🇬🇧
    After a last rice and curry lunch we headed to the airport. The return journey will takes us to the Malediven 🇲🇻 (but unfortunately only as a 1h stop in the middle of the night) and then back to FRA 🇩🇪via DBX 🇦🇪.

    It was a wonderful trip, a beautiful country, nice people, perfect weather and good food. We can really recommend a trip to Sri Lanka 🇱🇰 🌴☀️🐒🌊    Read more

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