Laura, 17 april 2008
Sri Lanka Unawatuna

Where are you going??

Last time I was still in India, Varkala. After that we (Josh and I) spent some time in Trivandrum and Kanyukumari. So from Varanassi I traveled all the way down to the most southern tip. They say: India you love it or hate it. For me it's definitely love...

But not much time for feeling sorrow. Sri Lanka is way too good for that. My first impression was that it’s a bit similar to Kerala (state of south India). Only less travelers because of the political situation here. I don’t experience any troubles; just don’t go to some places, that’s all. In India when you walk in a town or city every 3 min you hear: “ hello, how are you??” Here it is: “Hey, where are you going??” It’s funny all the travelers here talk about it.

Right now I’m relaxing at the beautiful beach of Unawatuna, but what a crazy week I’ve had. With a looot of climbing, I still feel all my muscles. First Sigiriya rock, a 2 hrs climb up. Not to bad. Then in Kandy I met a Russian guy, Ilias. This was his fourth time in Sri Lanka, so he knows it pretty good. The next day we walked up a mountain, hmm... I don’t know if you can call it walking. No path, just high grass and jungle.
The next thing on my list was Adam’s Peak. Somehow Ilias convinced me to go with him and take my big backpack (18kg at the moment) with me up the mountain. So we could walk the other way down, because that was suppose to be so much nicer. We ended up sleeping in a deserted house on the mountain and the sunrise and the way down were beautiful. But my legs felt like jelly for the last 2 hrs.

Ilias showed me how you can travel low-low budget. That involves a lot of bargaining, hitchhiking, walking and sleeping in a tent. The best place was in Kirekinda, next to the beach. No body there, just a few monks from the temple. Because of the Buddhist new year all the shops were closed. But we were very lucky, the nice monks gave us the best rice and curry I had in Sri Lanka till now. But like everything it had to come to an end. I wanted to go to Unawatuna and just relax…

My last days in Sri Lanka I will spent in Negombo. Where I’m gonna meet up with Sebastiaan and Tim . I’m looking forward to see some familiar faces again. Strange idea that we’ll be home in a few days.

A half year past…
I met many people, made a few real good friends
I’ve seen and experienced the most beautiful things, although sometimes it wasn’t easy.
I fell in love with Nepal, India and traveling.
It was a life time experience, that’s for sure!

Now it’s time to go home and see you all again (Almost all of you, for some I’ve to wait a few months).

P.S.
Thanx everyone for all the nice reactions and emails!!

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