Rosi CornwellTuesday 21st January
After waiting a little while to get my passport back and trying to explain myself so they understood, I was relinquished from the Monastery.
I felt relief as I walked to the bus stop. I waited, a bus stopped to let someone off and then drove past me, so I thought I’d look up a taxi. It was 8000 (£21) all the way to Kandy, so I tried to book one to Peradeniya Junction for less, to get the next bus. No luck. However a bus stopped and I jumped on, paying only 14p!
I rode a few stops and the ticket man pointed to the next bus.
I rode some more stops for 27p, and then walked around a busy bus station in search of the Kandy bus.
A man helped me and shouted to the bus so I could get on. The bus was colorful and had lively music playing.
I sat in a row of 3 and pushed my big bag behind a chair. Luckily I did as it got soo busy! I was aisle side and at one point I fully had a man’s crutch at eye level. The bus took a good couple of hours, and it felt like it was whizzing down hills for the final stretch. I was glad I couldn’t really see what was going on.
I’d ended up moving to the window seat, and the fumes from the exhaust which are in the middles of the buses were penetratrating into my nose, I would later realise you cant explore Kandy with out your lungs being blakended. The bus terminated in the busiest location I’ve visited yet. (It doesn’t look that busy from the pictures though).
I looked on Pick Me for a TukTuk which quoted 255 rupees, and then a road side Tuk Tuk offered 800 and wouldn’t go for 300 so I walked away. It was a one way road so trying to find my driver was difficult. I ended up hopping in a road side Tuk Tuk for 500 (£1.36, for a 10 minute ride) so was relieved to be getting to the hostel!
I went up a windy hill, past a pretty lake. I arrived and felt a little underwhelmed by the state of the outside and wondered in.
I immediately changed my room from a dorm to a single private. In my head I thought I should ask to look at the single room first but just went ahead anyway. I was asked to wait upstairs and grabbed a beer, which tasted so good. I don’t drink beer at home but for some reason this hit different.
I look around at the dilapidated facilities, but thought the pool looked quite nice at least.
I was shown to my room, well cupboard. I can’t quite believe I didn’t switch back to the dorm at this point. It stank of damp,it was like a prison cell, it felt dirty and there was a huge gap around the aircon unit in the window that I’d literally be in a hot box for mosquitos. I covered this up and thought I’d get straight in the pool. For some reason my only issue at this point was I couldn’t work out how to lock the door from the outside. I wonder if the guy was confused that was all I was questioning about the room when I asked for his help.
I swam around and drank my beer. Life felt good. I had confirmed first if they had hot showers to which the guy said yes. As by now it was 5pm and not exactly warm outside. The shower was luke warm. I tried to appreciate the privacy I had in my tiny box, and attempting to dry my hair and get ready for the cooking class. However my hair would not dry because it was so damp in the air.
I sat and waited and was joined by an Enlgish guy with an interesting accent. He said he’d been living in Mexico for 8 years and goes by George and Jorge (pronounced Hor-hay, Spanish for George). We cheers (cheersed!?!) and he went to get more people for the class.
Two others joined, Ray and Arpo and we listened intently and learnt how to make a lentil curry with a side dish of spinach. We were joined by a norther speaking gal (Lou) who spoke like my cousin in law (is that a thing?) Donna. She confirmed she was from Burnley and we all sat and chatted over the tasty feast. Ray was from Ireland and said his name was actually Michael but he’s a ray of sunshine, so had been given that nickname. Arpo was from Finland and he was very quiet amongst us loud English/Irish folk. We drank beers and laughed and this had been exactly what I’d needed.
I’d said how bad my room was and we all decided to do a Welcome To My Crib hostel styleee. George and Arpo had the deluxe double rooms, featuring a big wooden bed with a grand headboard, a balcony over looking the pool, and an en suite. Lou had the 6 bed dorm all to herself (the one I’d originally booked), it was clean, smelt a bit damp but fairly acceptable, Ray was opposite me with a double bed and slightly more space around the bed, and general feeling of not being in prison. I did a drumroll as I opened the gates of hell and we were all creased up with shock and laughter to find a huge snail on the wall next to my bed.
It was hilarious and everyone said I should move rooms. They all helped to carry my stuff up to the dorm to share with Lou. I wonder if the snail hadn’t been there would it have still seemed bad. Yes. Yes it would.
Wednesday 22nd January
I’d drank about 5 beers so had a great night sleep, waking up at 6.30 ready to have a swim as we’d all arranged at 8am. I got ready and waited in the dorm, whic also had a balcony over looking the pool. I heard a huge splash so went and joined Ray for a swim. Arpo joined but it was cold so we only managed 9 minutes and then luckily had a warm shower.
The hostel provides breakfast which comprised of an egg and 4 bits of white toast. They must go through like a million loafs a day surely. I tried to manage a dry egg sandwich, washed down with a ‘mud coffee’ as Ray called it.
This was the weirdest coffee I’d ever drank. The spoon felt heavy when I stirred it and there were many granules floating around. It also tasted like washing up liquid. How was that possible.
We’d (me,Arpo and Lou) booked a Tuk Tuk tour to show us many sights, we literally visited so much in one day I think I’ll have to write seperate blog posts for them, because I have soooo many pictures and we honestly saw and did so much.
A short summary though, we left at 10am
– climbed Ambuluwawa Tower
And saw monkeys!
– walked around the breathtaking botanical gardens
– went to the tea factory, learn about how tea is made and tasted lots of different types.
– went to the Spice Garden, learnt how to make coconut salad and had this with a roti, got a head back and neck massage (for a voluntary donation, I paid 3000 (£8.18) as it was so good and lasted ages. Also spent £60 in the gift shop on herbal remedies that I freaked out about after thinking I’d been scammed .
– got local food as advised by our driver. We ate with our hands and it was all very tasty and so filling.
– went to visit Big Buddah and climbed up to his shoulder
– looked over at the view point on the way back to the hostel.
We arrived back at like 6pm. It was such a long day but so good!!! I couldn’t believe the guy was happy to charge 6500 (£17) for a whole days driving us around, sitting waiting, petrol. It felt inhumane! I paid 5000 and the others paid their bit so he had a good bit extra.
I felt so tired and couldn’t be bothered to do anything but knew I should take part in the cooking to get another recipe in my book.
The dorm was filling up with 3 new people, from Australia, China and unknown destination. It was a nice vibe and I felt very humbled by the snail to be back in a dorm socializing.
I stood and watched the cooking class, there was a big group this time. The first half preparing the curry and side dish of okra took about 40 minutes. When it came to tasting I had a quick try and then Arpo and I went to sit down, drink a beer and digest the day.
The cooking class took a further 40 minutes and I was glad I’d sat down. I had a small plate of dinner and everyone sat around getting to know each other. A dad called Ben was here was his 19 year old son and he was looking forward to watching Austrialia vs Sri Lanka play cricket.
The numbers dwindled and it was just Arpo, Katie from Australia and me left. It felt nice just talking about normal topics, rather than all the travelling small talk. We all hit the hay and despite a busy day I struggled to fall asleep. I started to doze off. But still felt awake and visioned sick dripping from the wall next to me, so I decided to take off the mosquito repellent band I’d been wearing, wondering if this had anything to do with weird dreams!
What a busy day, I’d read on one blog you didn’t need to stay in Kandy for more than 1 night because there’s not much to do. Maybe because you can do all the tourist attractions in one day. Anyways I’d accidentally end up staying for 3 nights because I thought my train was on Thursday but it was actually Friday… lol!
