Back in Negombo

The flight from Male was one hour delayed. So plenty of time to spend my last Rufiyaas in Male airport. An airport with only one, busy, runway.

Almost no one on the plane, so I went to the best window seat to a nice view of the Maldives from above.

After three weeks in Sri Lanka it feels like coming home. I know my way around know.
Know a tuk tuk to the train station is maximum 150 rupees.

The policeman checking my passport was asking me for a second visit visa. I'm 95% sure my visa allowed two visits.
Anyway, he offered me a new visa if I could "help him a little"...
100 rupees was clearly not enough. 200, same look on his face. I said I would just go to the immigration counter and have it fixed. If he was right I was looking at a 25us$ fee. But now, the 200 rupees was enough, and I got my visa and another stamp in my passport.

At Katunayake train station, the station manager invited me inside. Overprice again, was my first thought. I was wrong. He was really friendly and told me a lot about the job as a station manager, and the system in Sri Lanka.
He showed me the stations safe, extra money and tickets. The one room also had a bed for him to sleep.

Back in Negombo a tuk tuk driver wanted to show me a nearby 1000 rupees guesthouse. When I got there they wanted 2000 rupees pr night, but they quickly accepted 1000 rupees.
They seem very friendly. Tomorrow they will try to help me finding some Sri Lankan tools.

Photos: view from the window at Enzaa guesthouse.  from the plane and the train station.

Hulhumale

Left Maafushi this morning. A beautiful day with calm sea. You can sit on the roof of the ferry, which gave a perfect view in the pleasant morning temperature.

Now located on a new island, Hulhumale. It has a connecting road to the airport, perfect.

My guesthouse has a nice view to the beach.
The receptionist adviced me to go snorkeling at the north east corner of the island.
A great advice.
It was a shallow area with lots of live coral, and lots of life. The area had lots of current which made it a very interesting spot for snorkeling. I could drift along the north coast while watching the life less than a meter under me.
Some places I had to steer to avoid collisions with the sharp coral.
I saw two eaglerays cruising away from me.

The beach on the north coast of Hulmumale is the total opposite.

Terrible proof when I was back on the shore. I met a local man who seemed interested in me, and which fishes I had seen. He was telling about the nice area while drinking a can of redbull. When we left each other, he threw the can on the beach. Next to hundreds of bottles and cans... Hmmmmmm..... 

Only the popular beaches are clean. The rest is covered with rubbish. Awful, and crazy culture! 

Flying back to Colombo tomorrow. 

Photos: from the Maafushi - Male ferry.

Maafushi, picnic Island and Guraidhoo

Last full day on Maafushi. Went on a tour with a nice couple from Bangladesh. Including their 5 months old baby girl.

First we went to a neighbor island, Guraidhoo. Tourism isn't big there, so we got a taste of the real Maldivian live. The island is less developed than Maafushi. This means a lot of waste everywhere on the island. A lot of the people on Guraidhoo were celebrating the results of the election. 

After a look around Guraidhoo, our guesthouse crew from Narnia took us to a nearby picnic Island. 

An inhabited island with nice beaches, bbq's and facilities.

A nice place to relax, and our guide served us a nice lunch. 

Back home on Maafushi at around 4pm. 

Time to rest before dinner. 

Tomorrow, I'm catching the early ferry back to Male. 

Maafushi, diving and fishing

The last two days I've been diving with Maafushi divers. A total of 4 dives.
Have seen lots of turtles, sharks and colorful fish. An eagel ray, octopus and today we dived a shipwreck.
Very nice divesites with clear warm water (28 degrees).
Three of the dives were drift diving. Quite funny way to dive, and a little challenging.

Tonight I went night fishing with a local boat, and two tourist from Israel.
We were fishing for two hours, and caught a lot of little fish. Perfect barbecue size...

The tour included a free bbq with our own fish.
Eating the fish was a big disappointment though. The fish was half cooked, and had a strange taste of petrol. Bigger. Looked so nice.

Tomorrow is probably my last full day on Maafushi, so I'm going island hopping to the nearby island.

Maafushi, snorkeling

Two days at Maafushi so far.

Holiday Lodge, my guesthouse, served a nice breakfast. I managed to get a nice room, including breakfast, free city bikes for only 52us$. That's a fair price, and half of what I was paying the first night in Male.

After breakfast I visited one of the dive centers in town. I booked two dives for tomorrow morning.
They also told me some good snorkeling spots around Maafushi. Right of the beach. I visited two spots and saw heaps of colorful fish. Very nice snorkeling. For free.

The receptionist also took me to visit the school and and institution, orphanages for young people. Both places closed cause of schoolholiday, but very interesting.

Tomorrow I'm scubadiving.

Another unexpected day

Was leaving Male today, and headed for the ferry harbour. Wasn't sure which Attol to visit, so I was just walking past the different Jettys.
Not many people around, but I finally spotted a ferry with quite a few people in it.
No signs, so I just walked onboard. Think I heard one guy saying "what are you doing".

A friendly man in uniform stood up.
"where's this ferry going" I asked.

"sorry, it's a custody ship", the policeman replied, and a handful of prisoners raised their arms to show me their handcuffs. Laughing!
Well, not the ferry I was looking for. :)

I ran into a group of tourists standing at a jetty.
Like me, they didn't succeed in boarding a ferry, and didn't know what to do.
Again, a local tried to help us, and took us to his shop.
He tried to organize a boat for us, and book a guesthouse.
He went with us to find a good place for lunch, and met us later on while we were waiting for the boat. BUT, it turned out the boat was almost fully booked, so only few of us could go.
We all decided to stay in Male.

I went back to my cheap'ish guesthouse.
They had one room getting available in the evening, but also a room for locals. Locals?
The receptionist, Shifna, showed me the alright room, but she kept saying it was not good.
I thought it was fine, but after a while she asked me to follow her. ??

She walked for quite a while. It turned out she walked me to her private house where I was introduced to her sister and brother.

She didn't like tourist being cheated with overpriced hotels and guesthouses, so she offered me a room in their house. Free of charge. She just asked me to do something nice for someone else another time.
What! ? :)
So generous of Shifna, and her brother and sister seemed to be fine with her idea.

Was served a wonderful dinner. I was trying to eat with my fingers which was creating some amusement around the little kitchen table.

Her brother, a retired fisherman, showed me lots of photos and videos of his ship, and I tried to chew in a few betel nuts.

Outside, three kids were playing. I  had a good chat with them. The kids here speak very good English.
Neighbors, people passing were very curious. Stopped, and looked at me. Not a place you would encounter tourist.

Incredible friendly people. Lovely, very interesting experience.

Tomorrow, I'm off to Maafushi

Photos: a few pictures from my hosting family.

The sandbank

Wasn't entirely sure what I was joining today. Went to Jetty#1  and waited.
Apparently, my new friend Shaan had managed to get me on a 25us$ sail tour. The tour is meant for people working in the Maldives. Usually no tourist join this tour. We were only 6 people onboard. Everyone, except me, was working with tourism.
All young people from 5 different countries.

We sailed for about 1 hour to reach a big sandbank, with a tiny sand island in the middle.

We went for a swim, and we relaxed at the bank. I was snorkeling in the edge of the bank. There was heaps of coral and colorful fish. A very nice place for snorkeling.

We had a nice lunch onboard with fresh MahiMahi fish.

Back in Male late afternoon. Two from the crew took me to a nice guesthouse where I'm staying for the night. Half price from yesterday. 55us$.

Again I managed to find a nice local meal for very few $$.

Tomorrow I'm probably off to another island. Male is basically one 'big' city covering the entire island of Male. Busy, but still laid back compared with Sri Lanka's bigger cities.

The Maldives

Last night I ordered a return ticket to the Maldives. It's so close, and a return ticket from Colombo was only 1000dkr (133€)

I had to catch the train in Mattara at 6am. Ment a 5 a clock start. I thought finding a Tuk Tuk would be easy, but all passing Tuk Tuks were already full. I ended up walking 4 kilometers to the station.
At the station a huge line up at the ticketcounter met me. I just managed to jump on the train before departure, and at my connecting train in Ragama, I again had to run to catch the train.

In the end I managed to beat Colombo chaos, at reached the airport with heaps of time to spare.

Backpacking The Maldives is not the easiest. With $$$ you can do anything, but I'm trying to travel on a budget.

I got here with no prebooked guesthouse or hotel. Wrote a random address is my arrival papers.

From the airport you need to catch a ferry to the main island. Here I took a walk and looked for accommodation. A very friendly man adviced me to a guesthouse, and waited 10 minutes trying to get a taxi for me.

I got to the guesthouse, but it was fully booked.
I ran out of time searching for a guesthouse, so ended up booking a hotel room for 99us$ per night.
Another very friendly local man, Shaan,  gave me a ride to the hotel.
After a cheap dinner (taxis, food and local restaurants are cheap) I ran into Shaan again. He offered me a ride around the island. I jumped on his scooter, and he showed me everything on the little island. He even took me to an expensive restaurant and bought me coffee. He wouldn't accept me paying. He rang friends about budget tours exploring other islands.
So tomorrow I'm jumping on a boat at Jetty1.

Amazed by Shaans eager to help a visitor. In Sri Lanka I would have expected financial motives for helping. With Shaan and the other man helping me today, I feel very welcomed, safe, and with no financial interest from them.

Photos: from third class train in Sri Lanka, to first class (my standards) hotel in The Maldives.

Alone in Polhena

A day at the beach

Woke up early to go snorkeling in the shallow water. The water is usually clearer in the morning.

I saw lots of fish and live coral. Unfortunately a lot of dead coral too.

I saw 4 guys snorkeling in the shallow water. I asked them what they were hunting. One of them explained they were looking for gold. Gold?  Well, lost jewellery from tourist!
"3 months, no catch" one of the announced...
Crazy!

Have spend the day organising... What's next...
Decided to book a ticket to the Maldives. It's so close, and I've seen a lot of Sri Lanka.

So flying out of Colombo tomorrow.

Polhena, the area in Mattara where I stay is nice. The beach is near, and I'm staying in a guesthouse 20 meters from the ocean.
Polhena beach is apparently a popular beach for school trips. This means the beach is busy during the day, but at night time everything 'dies'. It's definitely low season already. There's guesthouses and hotels everywhere, but no tourist at all. The restaurants and guesthouses are desperate. I'm the only one in the guesthouse. I had dinner at a seaside restaurant, as the only guest.

Mattara

Left Ella 9:30. Direct bus to Mattara on the south coast. Great views again.
I had a seat all the way to Mattara. Luxurious!

In Mattara I found a guesthouse right on the beach. Blue coral beachhouse. Nice place.

I went straight for a swim. Perfect water.

At dinner I met a French girl, Clementine. We had dinner together, and afterwards we went turtlehunting. We were lucky, and saw heaps of baby turtles.

Ella rock

Was planning to walk to Ella rock at 5:30am, but it was raining heavily, so went back to bed.

My first job was to book a Sri Lankan cooking course as an evening activity.

To get to Ella rock you need to take this route:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwBtqcORKXYkdExSTUZhUmhMZlE/edit?usp=drivesdk

I recorded my route going back to Ella.
The track towards Ella rock was a challenge. Everywhere local "guides" try to take you off the track, and guide you up their own little track, and they'll ask for money once you reach the top.

There's arrows pointing in all directions, so not easy to trust them. And the guides hide/remove the right arrows.

Cause of guides and tracks going everywhere the climb took me three hours.

At the top I had a great view. A local man was selling tea, which was nice.

On the top I also met an English couple, Caroline and Christopher.
I followed them back to Ella, and they ended up booking the same cooking course in the evening.

The course was held in Ella Spicegarden by a very young man. He did really well, and we had a great night learning how to cook Sri Lankan food.

Photos from Ella rock and the cooking course.

Little Adam's peak, and tea factory

A Scottish, a French girl and I climbed little Adams peak this morning.

A very nice climb. Really easy compared with Adam's Peak. Great views though.

We went to a "98 acres cafe" afterwards. A cafe with a great view. 

Afterwards Elisabeth, the Scottish girl guided us to a tea factory. Or actually we ended up exactly the same place at we started, but had a nice walk on the tea tracks. :) 

We found the factory, and had a little guided tour and a cup of green tea. Very interesting visit. 

The entire afternoon was spend at cafe's in Ella. Beers, nice food and excellent company. 

Photos from Adam's Peak and the tea factory. 

Nuwara Eliyas secret guesthouse

I planned to visit Horton Plains, but prices are a little high, and Nuwara Eliya had lots to offer.
I started the day exploring a huge forest close to the guesthouse. First challenge was to find a path into the forest.
After some search I found a track and the end of the road near Green Forest Hotel.

I followed a waterpipe into the forest. Lots of butterflies, frogs and birds. And no entrance fee! :)  Sri Lanka has entrance fees for most places.
I ended up following a creek, but it got a little difficult and muddy, so I turned around and walked back to the road.
Found a tuk tuk, and headed in to Nuwara Eliya for some lunch.
I was back at the guesthouse Sri Helyes inn in the afternoon. (http://goo.gl/maps/cZKcY)
I had a good chat with the woman running the place. She is really nice, and cook some great meals.
I promised to tell my friends about her guesthouse, but explained a tripadvisor and booking.com account is very important to have. Most tourists find their accommodation through these websites.
Hopefully some tourists will Google, and find this blog entry. :)
I can definitely recommend the place. The city is only 150 rupees away, probably 100, but the 15 minute walk is also nice.

In the evening I visited the childrens village again, and had a chat with a worker from the management. He told me a lot about the place, and I explained about the social worker education in Denmark, and how some students do work experience in other countries. He was very interested, so I'll try to make a contact.

Back home at the guesthouse I was served another great meal. So much food!

Tomorrow, I'm moving on. Ella is next, I think.

Photos from the hike, the guesthouse and childrens village.

Nuwara Eliya

Lucky we climbed Adam's Peak Thursday. The tourists from Green House who climbed today, Saturday, didn't reach the top cause of too many pilgrims on the path. Simply too crowded.

I took the bus back to Hatton. Cause of all the pilgrims there was lots of busses.

When existing the bus in Hatton, I made my mind. Nuwara Eliya, the highest region in Sri Lanka, was next.
This meant a trainride to Nanuoya. The trainrides in this region is absolutely amazing. Photo opportunities all the time, and with open doors it's easy to fill your memory card.

In Nanuoya I was really lucky. The tuk tuk drivers asked for 1500 rupees to go to Nuwara Eliya. I ran into a van owner who had just delivered tourists to the station, and had an empty car to fill. He asked for 200 rupees. The distance is only 9km, but the road is terrible.
I asked if he knew a good budget guesthouse. He took me straight to his sisters place. A well hidden guesthouse.
Sri Helyes inn. (http://goo.gl/maps/cZKcY)
They have no homepage or tripadvisor references, so again I'm the only one in a guesthouse.
It's a really nice place. It feels like a home, with family/friends often passing by.
The dinner was great!

This place is nearly 2000meters above sea level, so a very different climate from the rest of Sri Lanka. Pleasant during the day, and chilly at night time.

In the afternoon I went for a walk.
Some local kids followed me, and asked me tons of questions.
They asked me if I wanted to visit "children's village". I agreed, not knowing what to expect.
It turned out to be an SOS children's village (SOS børneby). I asked the kids to find the manager or a worker. They found some adults, but none of them really answered my question. After a while a busy man appeared. He was substitute manager, but very busy. He was a little concerned about me being inside the facilities, but after a while he heard my interest, and we have organized a official visit tomorrow.
They have no students, so I was right away thinking a great place for social worker students from Denmark.
There's 122 kids in the village.
One thing that surprised me a lot was the fact that they have a house for Tamil children, and houses for Sinhalese children. They don't mix them. I asked why, but didn't get any answers.

I asked if I could teach the kids a Danish dance/song.
It's very simple and funny. Learned on a red cross summercamp in Denmark.
After some peptalk, the kids were ready, and participatet, and laughed. Great!
On my way back to the guesthouse I could hear them sing 'my' song.

Looking very much forward to tomorrows visit.

Photos:
- train/bus view
- Sri Helyes inn guesthouse
- Gold pillows! :)

The SOS children's village: http://www.soschildrensvillages.org.uk/sponsor-a-child/asia/sri-lanka/nuwara-eliya

Adam's peak

Didn't sleep much before my alarm woke me up at 2am
Warm clothes, water, snacks and a fully charged camera. Good to go.

The top before sunrise was the goal.

Walked with a French girl and her half Danish/half French boyfriend. Nice with company.
The track to the top of Adams peak is basically 5000 concrete steps.
It's season for pilgrim, so the track was pretty crowded.
I was amazed to see small children and old people, most of them walking barefoot.
It is a very hard climb, and pilgrims were sleeping/resting everywhere. A lot of pilgrims were also walking down.
Usually the track is luminated, but a power shutdown in the area ment no light for us. Well, the moon (almost full) was shining bright, and lots of stars were visible.
Considering the time of the day, I was surprised to see the number of open shops next to the track.
All selling the same of cause: drinks, tea and sweets.

The track was really crowded at some places, so we were a little worried if we could reach the top before sunrise, or even get to the top.

Before we got to the top I met some Danish tourists, walking down? Oh no ?

I asked them, and they said the top was really crowded, and too cold.

20 minutes later we reached the top, with  plenty of time to spare before sunrise.

The peak is important to most religions, but these pilgrims were Buddhist.
Outside the temple at the top there's a big bell, and your allowed to ring it once for every time you have reached the top. Some old people were ringing it plenty of times. Impressive!

We lined up at some stairs facing east. Ready for sunrise.
A lot of pilgrims were waiting here too.
It was about 5 degrees and windy.
Very cold for Sri Lankans being used to 30 degrees.
I sat next to a boy, probably 12 years old. He was only wearing a t-shirt, and thin jeans. His dad was wearing a big jacket + more.?? The kid was shaking. I had extra clothes in my bag, and after a while he accepted to borrow it.

Pilgrims were praying, sleeping and shivering.
Around 6:20 the sun finally rose, and we got what we came fore. A spectacular view. Magnificent view. Shared with hundreds of pilgrims on top of Adam's Peak.

The climb down was hard on our tired legs, but breakfast at the Green House kept us going, and passing the little shops.

We passed a lot of pilgrims still climbing. Really old ladies taking one step at the time. Impressive!
But every year pilgrims die trying to reach the peak.

My favorite lady here, 89 year old Brenda was waiting at the guesthouse with a great breakfast. By the way, she'll climb the mountain Saturday, when there's a fullmoon. She thinks it's her 88th time climbing Adam's Peak!

After a great breakfast, and a little rest,  I went for a little walk to the river.
A lot of pilgrims were swimming in the pools. I joined them, and became instantly a big attraction. Introduce my self a lot of times, and showed of with tricks in the water. Great and fun time.

I think I'm of to Hatton tomorrow. From there not sure. Yet.

Pictures are from the climb, and one from The Green Guesthouse, which I can recommend for it's great atmosphere, the really nice staff, the cheap prices and their great food. 

On the move

Left Kandy at 9:45

Had a great time at Sanjay and family's house.
Wasn't sure about where I was heading when I left them.
Chose the popular Adams's Peak.

Took a train from Kandy to Hoffa. An amazing train ride with great views all the time. From Kandy a bus to Nallatanniya.
A very interesting busride. Packed with people. Winding mountain roads.
We got stuck in a sharp corner. After 15 minutes looking, honking and not knowing what to do, the driver decided to try, and succeed... Pheeew....

All tourists got out of bus at the first guesthouse. I took a chance, and stayed in the bus.
At the end station I got out. Walked for a little while and met a nice old lady, 90 years old, and still going strong. She was working in a nearby guesthouse. Green House.
So glad I met her. Cheap rooms, great food, and perfect location.
It's 8pm and I'm already in bed. Some German tourists and I are climbing Adam's Peak from 2am... We want to get to the top before sunrise.

Pictures:
- Kandy trainstation
- All doors open, always
- view from the train ride towards Hotta.
- view from the Green house in   Nallatanniya