Adam's Peak

From Kandy we went to Delhousie, the town closest to Adam's Peak. To explain that, I'll just give you more from Wikipedia:

Adam's Peak is a 2,243 metres (7,359 ft) tall conical mountain located in central Sri Lanka. It is well-known for the Sri Pada "sacred footprint", a 1.8 m rock formation near the summit, in Buddhist tradition held to be the footprint of the Buddha, in Hindu tradition that of Shiva and in Muslim tradition that of Adam.

Adam's Peak the pointy one, off to the right

Most people who climb Adam's Peak do so as a pilgrimage. We saw so many people hiking barefoot, people lugging babies, ancient men and women slowly picking their way up the steps. Whole families hike together, everyone taking turns hauling Grandma up the hill. We hiked most of the way with a woman from Colombo, who was making the climb for a third time. We didn't know her, but met her right at the beginning of the trail. She asked if she could hike with us so she didn't have to hike alone. It ended up working out for everyone, since she was an informative guide. She told me that in the "olden days" people used to give away all their property before climbing Adam's Peak, knowing it'd be the last thing they'd do. That was kind of a scary thing to hear at the beginning of the hike, but it turns out it wasn't so bad. The ascent, anyway, the way down was tortuous, more on that later....

This is our hiking pal. Brad is getting a blessing from the monk on the right.

We started climbing at 2 am in order to catch the sunrise at the top. It didn't matter that it was dark, the whole trail was lit and there were plenty of little shops selling tea, water and snacks along the way. There were also lots of statues and shrines, and chants piped through speakers. We had four hours to make it to the top, so we weren't in much of a hurry. We stopped a couple of times to have some tea and chat with people. About halfway up, around 4 am, I met an old man who'd been climbing since 9 the night before!


For almost the whole hike, we could see the top, lit up with a misty, orange glow. So I guess I thought it'd be sort of magical up there, but I should have known that it would be absolutely packed with people, some of them sleeping, some meditating, some huddled around a fire, and then since it was morning, quite a few people were waking up and brushing their teeth.

We went to the little platform that surrounds the footprint, but no one is allowed to see the actual footprint, there's just a cloth. From there we went to watch the sunrise, but it was a cloudy morning so all we really saw was a gradual lightning of the sky. Not to say it wasn't really pretty, just different from what we were expecting.




So, like any hike, you get to the top, hang around a while and then think, I guess it's time to head back down. But unlike other hikes, the way down Adam's Peak was the worst part. I would have known this if I had read Lonely Planet before the hike, but I didn't. They say, "Most people find the way down the most difficult. All those steps (5,200) can be very hard on the knees." They WERE hard on the knees, and I was tired and my blood sugar was low, so I got pretty cranky. I kept myself going by singing a song to the tune of Help me Rhonda by the Beach Boys...help me Buddha, help, help me Buddha... It helped. Near the end it was hard just to put one foot in front of the other, but we made it.

Lonely Planet also says, "Make sure you stretch afterward or you'll be walking funny for days," but I didn't find a Lonely Planet until we got to the beach, so after the hike I just ate a bag of Cheeze-Its and fell asleep. I walked funny for days.

It was worth it.









We have lots of videos of the hike, but I can't get them uploaded from home. For one thing the electricity keeps going out (horrible, it's 100 degrees) and we're down to my old PC because the Mac crapped out. So, I'll try to get them up from school. They're good. Stay tuned.

Kandy, Sri Lanka

Kandy
We headed straight for Kandy after arriving in Colombo. The guesthouse I'd booked arranged transport for us, so I should have known right away the the guesthouse was going to be crappy. The seats of the van were full of cigarette holes and there was no air conditioning. The only place to put our feet was a hot piece of metal, also full of holes, which provided a nice view of the road. But, we made it safely to Kandy Cottage, where we were greeted by monkeys and not much else. Eventually someone came out and showed us to our room where there were tons of ants and no running water. By this point I'd kind of had it, so, we took a rickshaw to a hotel I'd seen online, but dismissed because of the price tag. Fortunately, we were some of the only people there, so I was able to bargain. We got a great room with a view, goldfish in the windowsill, clean sheets and a comfy bed, plus limitless amounts of running water for almost half the asking price.





After a great dinner, we had a good night's rest and were ready to see the sights of Kandy the next day. The hotel provided us with a tricked out rickshaw and a driver.



Sri Lanka is the birthplace of Buddhism, so along the streets there are all sorts of little shrines. Also, even though it's close in proximity to India, Sri Lanka is worlds away in many respects. The streets are clean and the air quality is good too. I have to think this is mostly due to population. There are just over 20 million people in Sri Lanka, which, I guess is a lot for an island, but not much considering the almost 10 million people crammed into the city of Chennai.






Vertical Gardens
We didn't know what the vertical gardens were, but the driver took us there first, so we just went on in. Turns out, it was a great, big botanical center, where we were impressed by many things, two in paticular: orchids and giant bats.

Orchids are so pretty.





So, after the orchids we wandered around a little aimlessly until we saw a big group of people crossing a wide lawn. There was nothing else to do but follow them...right into a trap! In the trees across the lawn were hundreds of the biggest bats I've ever seen. AAAHH!! It was horrifying. Little did we know then that one of them would follow us all the way to the beach.






After that frightening experience, we went to find some serenity at the Temple of the Tooth, home of Buddha's tooth. Here's a brief, edited history on the tooth of the Buddha from Wikipedia:

According to Sri Lankan legends, when the Buddha died, his body was cremated in a sandalwood pyre at Kusinara in India and his left canine tooth was retrieved from the funeral pyre. A belief grew that whoever possessed the Sacred Tooth Relic had a divine right to rule that land. Wars were fought to take possession of the relic. Later the tooth was brought to Sri Lanka. The Sacred Tooth Relic came to be regarded as a symbolic representation of the living Buddha and it is on this basis that there grew up a series of offerings, rituals, and ceremonies.

Since The Temple of the Tooth is a holy place we had to cover up. I brought along a little hoodie, so I was OK, but Brad had to buy a skirt to cover his legs. He was worried that he looked dorky, but I seriously thought he looked awesome. And that's why I took his picture with this seriously awesome commemorative plaque at the entrance to the temple. I'm not trying to make a joke of it, I just love the wording..."Lion-hearted child hero..."




Things got even better from there. There was a good audio tour of the temple, so we both got to see and learn a lot. I'm pretty sure this was my first time in a Buddhist temple, unless my parents took me to one on a family vacation and I don't remember because I was too little or too busy fighting with my brother. Anyway, no fighting in this place, just lots of meditating and chanting and then of course, if you're a tourist, photographing and gawking.












Turns out, there's not much to do in Kandy. We didn't mind since we had a great pool, lots of books and DVDs and delicious food right in the hotel, so we did some serious relaxing before our big trip up Adam's Peak.

vacation

We are having a great time in Sri Lanka. We planned on spending a week in the hills, but dead-headed to the beach after just a few days. Full update coming.
In the meantime....Happy birthday to my beautiful niece! Lots of love from your aunt and uncle!

survived

I survived the run. I had to sit down for a while afterward, but it was mostly just precautionary. I don't know how far we ran last night, but it was long enough and hot enough to work up quite a sweat. I could have filled a bucket.

We also got an interesting view of the city from afoot. India is a crazy place for many reasons, but mostly because you can walk out of the lobby of a 5 star hotel and almost straight into a slum.

Also, I didn't have to go through the humiliation of receiving my hash name. That's for third timers, so I guess I have a few weeks to look forward to that.

But we won't be running for a while, because on Saturday we're heading for the hills of Sri Lanka, where we'll stay for a week. Then we're heading to the beaches of Sri Lanka, where we'll stay for another week.

I ♥ two week spring breaks!

look at this!

Yellow watermelon!

It's watermelon season here and everywhere you look there are melons stacked to the sky, but who's ever seen anything like this?! The yellow watermelons are smaller than the pink, and taste different too, I don't know how they're different, just different. They taste...yellower.

I'm going to eat a bunch of watermelon in an attempt to get hydrated today, because tonight we're going back to the hash. I have a whole list of things I'm going to try not to do, beginning with faint and puke, followed by, get splattered by a rickshaw. The hash starts downtown, so I have a feeling it's going to be kind of hectic and full of traffic.

I'll tell you all about it tomorrow.

food poisoning?

Maybe. And if it is, I know the culprit: yogurt. Or old almonds, one of the two.
This morning I called home and Dad asked, "Do you want us to come get you?" Answer: yes.
But first I'd have to find the strength to walk down the stairs.
The sounds I made last night while throwing up were terrifying. I felt like I'd turned into some sort of ferocious monster HUUUAAAAEEEE, pause for breath, do it all over again, ten times.
I can hear every sound the neighbors make when I'm standing in the bathroom. So you know they heard it, probably thought I was transforming into the Incredible Hulk, or some Indian equivalent.
Every time I get sick in Chennai, the thought strikes me: I could die here.
This morning I couldn't even get the door open to retrieve the Gatorade bottles the driver left for me on the porch. Between getting down the stairs, finding my keys and opening the door, I had to lay down to rest three times.
If I fainted on this marble floor, I would crack my head open for sure, brains everywhere.

not much

There's not much new here. Well, there is one thing, but Brad and I are afraid that if I write about it, it will be spoiled. But now you're probably all wondery and giddy with excitment, so I should say, it's not that great. It's just that Brad and I have found a secret spot, where everything smells nice. We love it, but we're too selfish to share. So that's all I'm going to say about that!

I'm off to Mumbai again tomorrow. This time I'm going with the girl's basketball team. Those of you who've known me forever are probably having a good chuckle about that. I am the world's WORST basketball player, I don't know anything about it. I'm just going to chaperone and cheer. And shop.

See you Monday!