Sri Lanka Photos

I can't believe it's taken me this bloody long to update this page. Sri Lanka was even my most favouritest country in the world! Well--- it WAS, until I got to Burma.... but that's a thought for later.

These are totally going to be out of order.... especially since I'm starting with a sideways photo of the last thing I did in Sri Lanka--- climbing Adam's Peak. Hey- internet is expensive here- sue me. Now, Adam's Peak is best sought out from a small, shitty little town in the Hill Country of Sri Lanka called Dalhousie. It's roughly 5,200 steps to the top. I completed about 1,000 before I started whinging. It was as very long climb for Danielle and Dave .

What's remarkable about Sri Lanka is the sheer beauty of everything. The country is so clean and unspoilt, the hill country is stunning, the people are good-looking--- and the best sunsets and sunrises I've ever seen in my life were viewed from Sri Lankan soil. Really- nowhere on earth can match it for sheer likeability. This was from the top of Adam's Peak--- the site of Buddha's right footprint as he left the earth and stepped his left into heaven.

I did a lot of climbing in this country-- and none of it was easy. This is a photo of my sweaty back after climbing Little Adam's Peak in Ella-- the hill country. I think this was my favorite climb of my whole trip. The best thing about Sri Lanka-- for the time being (and probably not very much longer) is that it's so untouristed. The people are still so keen to get to know all about you-- a rarity in a world that is fast becoming westernized and homogenized--- and climbs like this illicit so many stares and salutations that even though the view is secondary to the REAL Adam's Peak- it made for a fun one.

This is probably one of my best pictures from Sri Lanka. I'm not sure what about it makes me love it so much. It might be that the guy down on the bottom had been picking his ass just moments before. The horizon is also impeccably straight- a must-have for my photos.

This is me feeding an elephant at the orphanage in Kandy- the hill country. This little bugger ate about 4 bushels of bananas all by himself. A touristy experience, but a fun one nonetheless. It was pretty much a dream come true for Emil- who regularly uses the word "majestic" to refer to different species of wildlife.

Sigiraya was an important experience for me. There is a major difference in traveling with a budget, and existing with a budget. There are some budget travelers that are so focused on stemming the outflow of their money in order to stay out longer... that they don't end up doing anything at all. You get to wondering why they even bothered to leave home in the first place. Sigiraya is a temple built on the top of a protruding rock in the middle of absolutely nowhere in northern Sri Lanka. From what I hear, there's an entire civilization up on the top--- World Wonder material, really. I chose not to go. $30 might not seem like a lot to the average person,... but when you're subsiting on something like $15 dollars a day... it's the difference between staying out or going home early. After my friends took leave of me to ascend the rock, I found myself wandering around aimlessly for about 10 minutes before some locals asked me why I didn't go visit the temple down the road instead. Hitching a ride on a passing bike- I manged to get to an odd little hut with only one tourist- an English man who had made documenting the temples of the north his life's work. He clued me in to this spot right here- and pointed me up a hidden path- untrod for what looked like years to ascend the rock next door. Up on the top- I found this spectacular flat- unknown and unpopulated, where I listened to music, ate cheese nips, and marvelled at one of the World's Wonders from far away. Free! This should have been a learning experience for me- about spending money where it was due... but I somehow managed to dodge that one. Another win for Sam Chu!