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: back on track

Tras unos meses, vuelvo de nuevo a la aventura, aunque esta vez con un viaje corto: 22 dias en Sri Lanka.

Los que me conoceis sabeis que me quede con ganas de alargar mi viaje viniendo aqui, y de alguna manera, al final he conseguido lo que tenia en la cabeza.

No me voy a extender mucho hablando sobre Sri Lanka:

Pais situado en la ruta de las especias, muy goloso para todo el que pasaba, fue ocupado por portugueses, holandeses y britanicos. Finalmente, la antigua Ceylan se independizo en el 48  pero ha estado en guerra civil entre sus dos grupos etnicos (tamiles y cingaleses) hasta no hace demasiado tiempo (87). Es un pais mayoritarimente budista (70%) con solo un 13% de poblacion hindu.

A pesar de que poco a poco comienza a llenarse de turistas, es aun un pais por descubrir.

Comenze mi viaje llegando a la capital, Colombo, pero me dirigi directa al tren en direccion a Galle. me quede en Fort Galle, un pueblecito construido por los holandeses en el 1663. Me recordó mucho a Fort Kochi (Kerala, India). Esta rodeado por una muralla que le valio de proteccion durante el tsunami y que locales y turistas recorren de lado a lado para contemplar las vistas. 

De ahi me diriji a Mirissa, y finalmente decici salir en busca de la ballena azul desde alli. 

Mi siguiente parada seria el parque nacional de Uda Walawe, para ver elefantes y con suerte, leopardos (no hubo suerte).

After some months, I am back on track in a new adventure. This time only 22 days in Sri Lanka.

Those who know me know that I would have loved to continue my last trip here, but by that time it couldn't be. I got it in the end though!

I am not going to tell you much about Sri Lanka: you might already know that it was formerly known as Ceylon and that it was in the middle of the spices' route, what made it very appeling to everyone who went by. It was occupied by portuguese, duch and british and finally got its independence in 1948, though it has been in turmoil in a civil war between cingalese and tamil until 1987. The mayority of its inhabitants are buddhist(70%), with only a 13% of hinduists.

Although tourism is getting bigger, it is still a country to discover.

I flew to the capital, Colombo, and took a train straight to the south, to the city of Galle. Í stayed in Fort Galle, a town made by the duch in 1663. It reminded me a lot to Fort Kochi (kerala, India). It is surrounded by a wall that protected it well from the tsunami, and that is full of both turists and locals that wander it to admire the lovely views of the town and the sea.

From There I headed to Mirissa, and finally decided to go whale watching. 

My next stop would be Uda Walawe National Park, to See elephants and what have you ( I wasn't lucky, no leopards for me today).

Tips:

Bus from Colombo airport to Colombo bus station (besides Colombo Fort Train Station) 130 ruppies.

Train express to Galle, 2nd class 180 ruppies(1.2 euros). No matter what you do it is diffcult to find a seat, so be prepared for the 2.5 hours ride. I was so tired after the flight but it was so cool to see the views from the door betwen 2 carridges. I shared a tuk tuk with Alex to my hostel, Galle is a bit expensive and we paid 70 ruppies each for the ride. We spent the day together visiting the town.

Pedlar's Inn Hostel: nice white rooms with 3-4 beds for 15 dolars the night. 

Mama's restaurant: for me, the curry and rice wasn't worth it.

Dairy King for the best passion fruit ice cream.

I visited the vegetables and fish market outside the fort with Nicole, that I met again in Mirissa...I'm running a day ahead of her everywhere!

Up to now I have moved in bus that has been so funny and so cheap:

Galle bus station is just outside the fort. From there I took a bus to Mirissa ( is the one to Matara) for 60 ruppies (0.4 euros).

Hangover hostel: 4 beds room for 10 dollars per night.

The sea was really rough, not the best time of the year for surfing or whale watching, but I decided to go as I was told that you could see whales everyday. They never told me the sea sick I was going to get, maybe i would have given it a second thought. Hey!!! but I saw blue whales!! 3000 ruppies including the tuk tuk ride to the marina ( apparently you can get it for less but that was already half price compared to high season).

Visit Number 1 Dewmini Roti shop for its fantastic rotis,  it is on the Lonely but also all accomodations will recommend it. 

To go to Uda Walalwe I had to take  buses: first one to Matara (25 ruppies, 0,15 euros), then to Emilipitinya (120 ruppies), from there to Ula Walawe junction (50 ruppies) and finally a tuk tuk (340 ruppies!!!) to the guesthouse (a total of 1.2 euros for the buses and 2 for the tuk tuk, not bad!!!). it was a journey of 3 hours, and I didn't have to wait for any of the buses :)

Silent Bungalows: after reading all reviews I decided to come to this place. It is a bit under construction but they are quite nice (I got here almost at 4 and asked for something to eat and they prepared me a sandwich some tea and bananas). They ofered me a safari with 2 couples that were on the guesthouse and it was a total of 4700 ruppies, 28 euros for a 5 hours safari: we saw elephants, many peacocks, marabues and other birds along with buffalos, jakals, deer, crocodiles...

It is enough to stay for one night as the morning safari starts at 5.45 and ends around 11. I booked  nights not wanting to be on a rush...