Sri Lanka: ciudades antiguas

Llegue a Sigiriya por la tarde, para llegar allí en bus hay que hacer cambio en Dambulla, otra de las ciudades antiguas. El pueblo no es mas que una calle con establecimientos de Roti y curry para turistas, pero todo muy muy tranquilo. Al dia siguiente, madrugue un poco para evitar el calor (nunca lo suficiente) y me dirigi a subir a la Roca del León, y visitar las ruinas de la antigua Sigiriya, centro del reino de Kassapa. Al llegar hay grandes jardines y jardines acuaticos, cuevas en enormes rocas y la gran Roca del leon, con sus enormes garras a sus pies. Hay escleras para subir y en un tramo se observan aun muy bien los frescos en la roca. Son un todal de 1202 escalones y arriba se supone que estaba el palacio, pero otros dicen que fue mas bien un monasterio, de las ruinas no queda apenas nada. Las vistas son impresionantes. Todo se visita en unas 2 horas.

Cuando acabe fui a coger de nuevo un bus que me llevaría a Dambulla y de ahí otro a Anuradhapura, antigua capital del reino cingales.

Decidi visitar la ciudad al dia siguiente en bici. La entrada solo vale para un dia y aparentemente son 20km que ver, pero como sabia que no lo veria todo, tire para alante. Madrugue para pillar menos calor, y aun asi puedo decir que fue infernal. Me habian dado un mapa y menos mal que uso maps.me porque  sino aquello es imposible. No estan muy cerca unas de otras las ruinas, y alguna parte no esta muy señalizada. La entrada es cara y hay un par de sitios que hay que pagar aparte. La zona mejor conservada es la ciudadela, al norte de la cuidad antigua. Hay unos cuantos controles donde te piden la entrada, y tambien algun guia por ahi que te dice que puedes visitarlo sin pagar la entrada que ellos te llevan, pero preferi hacerlo bien. Con todo, aconsejo que se haga en tuktuk, porque seis horas en bici a 34 grados es matador, y luego ya, si eres tan buena en bici como yo, salir de la ciudad nueva para ir a las ruinas entre el trafico cingales, eso ya es de nota: llegue mas estresada que otro poco!

Ruwanweli

Abayagiri

A las 13.30, a punto de morir, decidi volver a mi habitacion, y me quedo por visitar el Árbol, Sri Maha Bodhi, pero ya no podia mas. llegue roja como un tomate y despues de una ducha me quede dormida mas de dos horas. 

El sitio en el que me quede estaba guay, con balcon y genial de precio, eso si, tambien hacia un calor de morir, porque por la noche tenia que cerrar las puertas del balcon porque unos gatitos le cogieron cariño a mi habitacion.

En resumen, tengo que decir, que en mi caso que ya habia estado en Angkor y en Bagan, estas ruinas no impresionan tanto, estan mas separadas y en bici, es mas incomodo de visitar, con lo que igual merece la pensa solo visitar los templos con entrada separada que es muy barata y son dos de los mas importantes.

I got to Sigiriya in the afternoon after changing buses in Dambulla. Sigiriya is a quiet street with rotti and rice and curry restaurants for the tourists. I stayed a bit far away in the only hostel. 

I woke up early the next morning to avoid the heat, and went straight to climb the Lion's rock, and visit the ancient city of Sigiriya, Kassapa's kingdom. There at the feet of the rock you can see gardens, water gardens, many caves hiden in enormous boulders, and then the Lion's rock. When you start to climb the steps there are son very well preserved paintings and th mirror wall where visitors of the kingdom use to leave their writen impressions of the city. There are a total of 1202 steps that lead you to the top where the King had his palace, or according too there, where there use to be a monastery. There is no much left today, but some incredible views of the area.

It took me 2 hours to visit, from there I took a bus back to Dambulla and another one to Anuradhapura, my next ancient city.

Super map

I decided to visit the ancient city by bike. Apparently it is more than 20km and the ticket is only for one day, but I was going to do what I could. I got up early and left around 7.30 to avoid the heat, but that wasn't enough. I was lucky that I was given a map at the Guesthouse cause it is kind of difficult to move around ( signs are not that clear and I was so glad that I had Maps.me). The ticket is quite expensive and also there are separate tickets for a couple of the places, they are not close to one another. The best conserved part is up north, the citadel. I am not a master with the bike so the way to the ancient city from the New one and back was quite stressfull, also, 6 hours at 34 degrees with no shelter really gets into you, so I would really consider hiring a tuk tuk for the day, specially if you are 2 or 3. At 13.30 i was so tired and hot that decided to call it a day and went back to the Guesthouse. 

I got here and after a shower, as red as I could be, i fell asleep for more than 2 hours. 

The place where I was staying was for once so cheap and one of the nicest. I got a balcony but had some kittens around so had yo close the doors at nice and the room was so hot.

I had been to Angkor and Bagan and I have to say that comparing to those this is not that cool, and are quote dispersed, I would advise to consider just visiting the temples/ sites with the separate ticket that is only 200 ruppies and that are 2 of the most important ones in the ancient city ( including the sri Maha Bodhi that I didn't visit cause I was exahusted).

Tips:

Sigiriya Hostel: 10 dollars, shared room, I was invited to the breakfast. 
Entrance ticket: 30 dollars!!!

Anuradhapura: Swiss garden cotagge: 10 minutes far from the bus station. 14$ the Night with in a double room with balcony and ensuite. They have food, not local prices but ok, I had a nice rice and curry for diner and tried their juices. 
Entrance ticket: 25 dollars!!!

From there i took the bus to Trincomalee that ß at 11.50 am and i am not sure of the price but should have been something along 160 ruppies (2.5hours). The bus from Dambulla to Anuradaphura was also around 100 ruppies and around 1.5 hours.

Sri Lanka: central region, From Ella to Kandy

Tras el safari en Uda Walawe, de nuevo en bus (2) me dirigi a Ella. 

Ella es un puebo de montaña muy visitado por los viajeros, e invita a quedarse unos dias. Yo solo estuve una noche para poder abarcar mas y porque no soy muy fan de los trekkings. Visite el Little Adan's Peak, que se tarda en subir unos 45 minutos y desde el que se pueden disfrutar de unas vistas muy chulas, me di un paseo por las plantaciones de te y vi el puente de nueve arcos, por el que pasa el tren en direccion a Ella desde Badulla. Esto se puede hacer en una tarde y aun hay tiempo a pasearse por el pueblo, cenar algo rico y tomarse algo. A quien le guste mas caminar, pueden aventurarse a subier a Ella's Rock y tambien visitar las cascadas de Rawana (que se ven al llegar a Ella si vas en bus). 

En ella coincidi con Nicole, y nos fuimos a cenar, comprar te y acabar la noche con un mojito. 

Otro motivo, y el mio principal para visitar Ella, es que desde ahi sale el tren a Kandy, que es conocido como uno de los mas bonitos del mundo. Se aconseja reservar con antelacion, pero llegue tarde y no quedaba nada mas que tercera clase y me dijeron en la taquilla que mejor iba directamente que seguro que tenia el mismo dia en segunda y a precio sin reserva (menos de la mitad). Al final, cuando llegue por la mañana habia cancelaciones y consegui un billete en segunda y asi me asegure mi asiento.

Yo cogi el tren de las 9.23 y complete su recorrido hasta Kandy. Tiene numerosas paradas pero la gente suele ir o bien a Haputale, a una hora de Ella o hasta Nuwara Eliya. Me recomendaron ir directa a Kandy, y asi lo hice. Son 7 horas de viaje. La parte mas bonita esta entre Nuwara Eliya y Kandy, y tambien la parte mas fria (esta a casi 2000m). En mi caso, ademas, llovio tambien en las alturas asi que pasamos algo de frio. l tren, ademas de kms y kms de plantaciones de te se pueden ver las llanuras del Horton y El fin del Mundo. La verdad que el tren merece mucho la pena, es un must en la visita a Sri Lanka.

Al dia siguiente visite Kandy con un chico Israeli. Fuimos al famoso Templo del diente de Buda, rodeando el Lago, el paseo hasta alli es muy bonito, en el Templo hay ceremonias por la mañana y por la tarde, todos visten de blanco y llevan flores como ofrendas. La entrada es algo cara a mi parecer, unos 10 dolares para una visita de 20 minutos. El diente, que es la reliquia mas importante de Sri lanka, no se puede ver. 

De ahi subimos a ver el Big Budda y fuimos a un jardin de especias, donde un hombre muy amable se tomo su tiempo explicandonos una a una las especias ue cultivan  sus usos: clavo, canela, vainilla,-cacao, cardamomo, nutmeg (ni idea)...

Le pedi al tuktukero que nos llevara a comer a algun sitio local y nos llevo al mercado, donde hay un pequeño restaurante local a la entrada y donde comimos genial, por fin. la comida no es muy alla en este pais hasta donde yo he probado.

Por la noche, eramos un grupo grande y el dueño del hostel nos llevo a cenar a un sitio plagado de mochileros, fue divertido escuchar las historias de los viajes de la gente, muchos venian de la India, otros tantos empezaban sus largo viaje aqui en Sri Lanka. Al dia siguiente se jugaba un partido de criquet muy importante: Australia vs Sri Lanka, y muchos iban a ir a verlo, yo de ahi, me dirigi a Sigiriya a visitar la Roca.

(Tips al final del texto).

After the safary in Uda Walawe, I went to Ella on the bus (2). Ella is a town in the mountain very visited by the turists (for the train and also beacuse it atmosphere invites you to stay longer). I stay there only for a night as I was not going to do any trekking, and I visited the Little Adan's Peak, the tea plantations and thee ) arch Bridge. Those who love hikking can climb Ella's Rock and also visit the Rawana falls. I visited all in one afternoon, met again nicloe and we gent for a roty diner and a mojito.

The main reason I was in Ella was to take the train to Kandy. They advise to book in advance but I got there too late for the reserved tickets, and was adviced by the guy at the counter to return in the morning as those days it was not full and could get tickets without reservation much more cheaper. When I got to the train station in the morning some 2nd class were cancelled and I got a seat (I didn't dare to buy the cheapest and have to go standing up all the way to Kandy. I took the train at 9.23. Most people takes to train to Haputale, 1 hour away from Ella, to Nawara Eliya or Kandy, all the way to Kandy takes 7 hours. The nicest part is from Nawara Eliya to Kandy, and also the coldest as that part is almost at 2000m. It rained also the most of the trip. From the train you go through many tea plantations and also get to see the Horton's plains and the World's end. It is a must in Sri Lanka. 

I got to kandy and the net day i visited the city with an Israely guy. We went to the Buddha's Tooth temple on a walk by the lake. 

The tooth in the buddhist most sacared relic in Sri lanka and there were a lot of locals visiting it. They wear white and offered floweres. There are 2 ceremonies during the day (morning and evening). From my point of view the entry is a little expensive, 10 dolars for a visit that does not last more than 20/30 minutes. You cannot see the tooth.

From there we went to the Big Buddha and to the spicy garden were we were explanide oll spices hervested in Sri Lanka along with their uses. I asked the tuk tuk driver to take us somewhere local to eat lunch and he took us to the market where there was a small local restaurant where I finally enjoyed the Sri Lanka rice and curry. So far food is not being great...

At night we were a big group of travellers and the owner of the hostel took us for diner to a place full of backpackers. It was fun and we got to hear many travel stories. People were mostly coming from some time on India or starting their trips here in Sri Lanka. Many were going to watch the criquet game the day after: Australia vs Sri Lanka. I would continue my trip to Sigiriya to climb the Lion's Rock.

Tips (prices in SLruppies):

In Uda Tuk Tuk to bus 100 rpBs from Uda Wallabe to Wellawaya, 105 rp, form there to Ella 60 rp.

I stayed in Bloom Rose Inn in Ella, it is a homestay, they rent 3 rooms, mine was great, all new, but with carpet! It was so clean though and the grandmaa and niece (Daya and Dinithri) were so nice. 21 dollars, is kinda difficult to find cheaper and nice. Well worth it!

From there you can visit the Little Adan's peak, no need to take any tuk tuk as I decided to do everything on foot. 

We got diner at Down Town Rotty House, it was quite nice but one of the waiters was awful, which is a weird thing to find here as everybody is really nice. We had a drink at a plce just in the corner of the road that goes to the Rail station, 400 rp(2,4euros) not bad!

Tain to Kandy: reserved, 1st 1000 rp, 2nd 600 rp, no reserved: 2nd 240 rp

Once in Kandy I shared a tuk tuk with a couple and I paid ony 100 rp. I found a rotty stall were I had diner for only 50 rp on the way from my hostel to the lake.

Kandy Hostel backpackers Lanka: 12 dolars shared female room with breakfast. It was ok, nice place to meet people but no character, needs a bit of care!.

Ticket to Tooth temple: 1500 rp

Ticket to Big Buddha: 200 rp

Spice garden: free, buy something!

Diner at Slightly Chilled: around 1000 rp