We left our hotel and headed inland. Plenty of fascinating sights as we left Negombo and went into the countryside. Very much like areas of Thailand we have been to, and no doubt what Phuket was like 30 years ago.
Despite Negombos catholic composition, Sri Lanka is mainly buddhist
. Manoj is Buddhist but does send his children to catholic school.
Sri Lanka has been under the rule of the Portuguese, the Dutch, and the British over the years and hence has been heavily influenced by those cultures. Most of the Sri Lankan language originated from the Portuguese.
We travelled inland to the Pinnewala Elephant Orphanage.
There are lots of stray dogs on the road which become a bit of a traffic hazard. We saw lots of monkeys too. The driving is not as dangerous as Cambodia....but it's pretty bad! There are soooo many tuk tuks - not so many motorbikes. Unlike Thailand where they are really only used for tourism, they seem to be the vehicle of choice here for most households. They are in all sorts of colours.
The elephant orphanage is a huge tourist trap where 90 elephants are herded through the park at various times and the mahouts are very vigilant with trapping tourists into paying for extras like photos
. I knew this in advance so was not caught. As far as elephant orphanages go, the Elephant Nature Park near Chiangmai in Thailand is a far superior experience as the elephants seem much happier and it is easier to get up close. But if I had not been to Chiangmai, then I would have appreciated Pinnewala a lot more.
We had lunch in a restaurant overlooking a beautiful river where the elephants bathe. A highlight was when an elephant grabbed a shawl off a lady and the tried to swat other elephants with it and had a grand old time. Most amusing. There are approximately 7000 elephants in Sri Lanka. Given that the island is the size of Tasmania, that's a lot!!
There are squirrels here too. Not sure what I was expecting...but they are like rats that can jump from tree to tree.
We have about 5 hours of driving today - hence I can write this! The scenery is breathtaking (Tim thinks a bit of Thailand....a bit of Fiji) with lots of interesting sights on the way amongst the 800 dogs.
Some interesting things we saw on our journey...a funeral procession, a bakery van with music (like the ice cream truck), construction workers in thongs, gold Buddhas on the hills, ornate temples, lottery ticket kiosks, a wedding, black faced and red faced monkeys, a mongoose, and so much more!
We have then checked into our next hotel, but more on that later!
From Elephants to Monkeys
Saturday, July 18, 2015
Kandamala, Sri Lanka
Other Entries
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1A day of travel
Jul 171 day priorSingapore, Singaporephoto_camera4videocam 0comment 0 -
2Arrival into Sri Lanka
Jul 18earlier that dayNegombo, Sri Lankaphoto_camera6videocam 0comment 0 -
3From Elephants to Monkeys
Jul 18Kandamala, Sri Lankaphoto_camera3videocam 0comment 1 -
4Heritage Kandamala
Jul 191 day laterKandamala, Sri Lankaphoto_camera7videocam 0comment 2 -
51200 Steps, Elephant Trekking, Curries and Temples
Jul 202 days laterSigiriya, Sri Lankaphoto_camera13videocam 0comment 3 -
6Dambulla to Kandy
Jul 202 days laterKandy, Sri Lankaphoto_camera10videocam 0comment 2 -
7The hills are alive with tea!
Jul 213 days laterNuwara Eliya, Sri Lankaphoto_camera23videocam 0comment 0 -
8Into the Wild
Jul 224 days laterYala National Park, Sri Lankaphoto_camera8videocam 0comment 1 -
9A safari and food poisoning
Jul 235 days laterYala National Park, Sri Lankaphoto_camera7videocam 0comment 0 -
10Galle - Sri Lanka's "Hoi An"
Jul 246 days laterGalle, Sri Lankaphoto_camera28videocam 0comment 0 -
11Chilling at the Beach
Jul 257 days laterHikkaduwa, Sri Lankaphoto_camera8videocam 0comment 0 -
12Colombo - enjoyed our stay
Jul 268 days laterColombo, Sri Lankaphoto_camera21videocam 0comment 1 -
13The Maldives. It's paradise!
Jul 2810 days laterMaldives, Maldivesphoto_camera17videocam 0comment 1 -
14First full day in paradise!
Jul 2810 days laterMaldives, Maldivesphoto_camera16videocam 0comment 0 -
15Whale Sharks in the Maldives!
Jul 2911 days laterMaldives, Maldivesphoto_camera15videocam 0comment 0 -
16I don't want to leave the Maldives!!
Jul 3012 days laterMaldives, Maldivesphoto_camera18videocam 0comment 1 -
17And on the way home via Singapore
Aug 0114 days laterSingapore, Singaporephoto_camera9videocam 0comment 0 -
18A day in Singapore
Aug 0114 days laterSingapore, Singaporephoto_camera16videocam 0comment 0
Comments

2025-02-09
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Donna
2015-07-19
Sounds interesting so far...