From Ella to the end of the World

We arrived at Ella in the pouring rain so the conditions weren't perfect to appreciate the beauty of one of Sri Lanka's largest waterfalls. A managed to keep my camera dry while snapping a photo and stood eating mango followed by sweetcorn under the makeshift awning of the fruit seller's shack. By this point we'd driven for about 6 hours from Colombo and still had to find somewhere near enough to Horton Plains so we could make it to World's End before 9.30 the next morning. The driver asked if I wanted a guide and as it only cost about 2 pounds 50 I thought why not; what the driver didn't mention was the guide couldn't speak English. I then guilt tripped the driver into walking round with us so he could translate; that didn't work out to well either as the guide spoke some obscure dialect of Sinhalese and the drivers first language was Tamil anyhow.
You can't see how much my knees where knocking as I shuffled backwards towards the edge.Some people are less bothered by heights.
Check the shear drop on the right. Somewhere out there is the Indian Ocean.
Wildlife and scenic shot all in one.Oscar the Grouch or the easiest way to remove a rubbish bag?Eat your heart out David Attenborough. Completing the circle; I started with a waterfall so I'll end with one, Baker's Fall.

Out of Sequence

Burning oil for Buddha. Does anyone have any marshmallows? The temples music policy is very percussion based.
Dress code courtesy of the monk police means no shoulders or legs on display. Kandy was where I bumped into Craig again after meeting him in Hikkaduwa a couple of weeks before. After visiting the temple and walking round the lake I went looking for the local pub and he must have had the same idea. Faith and I were travelling in a mini-van with about 10 seats so we invited him to join us. The previous couple posts document our travels.

Recuperating in Colombo

The day after we got back to Colombo we headed to Mount Lavinia to chill on the beach; unfortunately the sun went in just as we got there. To make matters worse the restaurant wouldn't serve as alcohol for some bizarre legal reason as it was between lunch and dinner time.
The water is pretty dirty around Colombo so it's not as enticing as it may seem.
The lack of afternoon drinks meant we had to make up for it in the evening; the fact I'm holding a glass of gin means I may have been slightly the worse for wear, although it doesn't look like I'm the only one.

Hey Ladies and ruined in Polonnaruwa

I went back to Sigiriya to look at the ladies with the slim waists, full curves and olive skin.To see the frescoes you have to climb a spiral staircase that hangs from the side of the rock. After I'd climbed this the first time I was so grateful I wouldn't have to climb the rickety steel steps again, oh well, it wasn't as bad as I remember.

It wasn't as overcast as the first time either so I was perspiring a little. We had an action packed day of extreme sightseeing planned and next stop was the ancient ruined city of Polonnaruwa. Four for the price of one in the form of parasitic trees living off each other; there's a palm tree running straight up the middle.
Guards either side of the moonstone.
These statues are unusual in as much as they are all carved from the same piece of rock in situ.

This is a very important Buddha religiously but I had to take the picture through wire mesh as the statue has to be protected from Buddhists hurling coins at it for luck.
Sweet photo in the lotus pool; I deliberately had my eyes closed as I was overcome with calming meditative thoughts.
And back to Dambulla for the second time to hang ten with the big guy.
This is the new wallpaper for my living room.
This at least gives an impression of the zen aura of the caves. The older statues in the ancient caves are the best preserved; the stone carvings with natural paint have degraded far slower than the later wooden or concrete statues with their chemical based paints. Too Live Crew going from left to right, Rukmal the driver, Craig, Faith and yours truly.

Anuradhapura vs Mihintale

First stop, not the biggest Dagoba in Sri Lanka. The stone slabs were so hot I was preoccupied with looking for my next bit a shade to stand in.Check out the aura on that. Drink up monkey man.
Sumo stone will kick yo ass. Apparently this is probably the most artistic guard stone in Sri Lanka, which for some reason means they have to obscure it with a pointless metal railing. This might be the biggest degoba, but I can't remember. Unlike the previous one the spike on the top is bust (it represents enlightenment) and it's covered in mud / grass. The dudes on the scaffolding are clearing the mud and I'm guessing they use the high dive boards to fling the mud off.

This is the legendary stone bridge, which our driver took us to and where Craig tried to persuade the local kids to jump off; unfortunately no money no dive.
The biggest curry bowl at Mihintale. The villagers climbed up the steps towards the temple and each villager deposited a little rice in one trough and curry in the other from which several hundred monks fed themselves. I like being high up but I get mild vertigo. I can't quite remember the point of climbing this particular rock other than it was there but the view was good, even if the guard rails weren't.
Our guide made me look like a giant and you can see the rock we'd just climbed in the background.

Ok Yala

We'd intended to travel by train from Hikkaduwa to Martara and then on to Tissa, which is within spitting distance of Yala National Park. What I hadn't bargained on was the amount of people travelling on public transport over the New Year period. After standing on the train for the 10 km down to Galle I decided to abandon my plan as Faith was not looking best pleased with the travelling conditions. We took a Tuk tuk to the relative sanctuary of Unawatuna, a beach resort just south of Galle.After finding a hotel with air conditioning to compensate for the trauma of Sri Lankan public transport we booked a day trip by mini-van to Yala. We set off early the next day and although we opted to skip the stops at the turtle sanctuary and Buddha statues we did stop briefly to photograph a stilt fisherman; the others must have been on tea break or have taken the day off as most of the stilts were vacant.
Sri Lankans bathing, washing their clothes and generally enjoying a day off in the local lake just outside Tissa; there were a lot more people than this as they were spread out all along the road and we almost managed to run over a girl who ran out from behind a car.
The croc has the right idea; chilling in the shade.
We finally arrived at our destination after 4 hours in a mini-van, a short stop for lunch and a half hour jeep ride down rough country tracks.Black faced monkey gang.

Our driver was so chuffed when we saw a bear run across the track and into the bushes he insisted we stay and watch black shapes move around in the undergrowth for the next 15 minutes. There is a bear in the middle of this photo, although I managed to miss the head shot and get the rear end shot instead. "It's coming right for us!" which would have justified me shooting it right between the eyes as it could have been endangering our lives; unfortunately I'd left my elephant gun at home.