Sri Lanka's Hill Country
- Lucy and the lens
- Sep 17, 2018
- 5 min read
When people plan their trips to Sri Lanka's hill country, there are a few places on their list - the beautiful Ella, bustling Kandy, maybe a trip up to Sigiriya or the ancient capital Anuradhapura, and base for the Sri Lankan tea industry, Nuwara Eliya.
What I'm about to say might be controversial, but...we really, really hated Nuwara Eliya! I don't know why - maybe it was the miserable weather, maybe it was the commercialisation of it...but we did. So I won't be talking about Nuwara Eliya in this post. But I will be raving about Ella, the Dambulla Cave Temples, Sigiriya and Pollonawura, and to a lesser extent Kandy. So let's get started!
Ella
Our first stop in hill country, Ella is probably the greenest place we've ever seen- before or since! We stayed at the Ella River Front guesthouse and lucked out with their best room, with a balcony overlooking a lush, forested valley with rolling hills as far as the eye could see.
The main purpose of our stay in Ella was to hike Little Adam's Peak. We started early in the morning (around 7am) to beat both the heat and the crowds - we were glad we did so, as we got to enjoy the stunning views from the summit in relative peace and without having to sweat too hard to get there! The entire round trip took us a couple of hours, and we arrived back in Ella in time for breakfast!
It was also in Ella that we discovered the joys of kottu roti, a flatbread chopped into thin strips and mixed up with shredded chicken, egg, veg and spices. We ate a LOT of it while we were in town - I think we may even have had it for every meal!
A hike to the Demodara Nine Arches Bridge is a must - our guesthouse owner gave us some...interesting directions, and we ended up taking a back route towards the bridge, via a bunch of locals' backyards! At one point, we stumbled upon a family gathering, where one woman took pity on us and helped lead us the rest of the way through a forest! It was absolutely worth the off-road experience, though, as we came upon the bridge from above, looking down - surely the best possible view!
We were in Ella over New Year's. Ella has some popular bars that were gearing up for a NYE party, but we're not huge fans of spending New Year's in bars - expensive drinks, bad music, you know how it goes - so we decided to look for a different way to celebrate. We found it in the town's ayurvedic spa culture! Ayurveda is one of the oldest holistic medicine techniques, focusing on balancing mind, body and spirit by relieving stress and fatigue. An ayurvedic spa treatment in Ella, then, seemed like the perfect relaxing end to the year! Our spa afternoon was a mixture of herbal saunas, baths and massages, and definitely left us feeling better than a hangover would have done! The most bizarre part of the experience was being shut into a 'swedana' box heated from below by hot steaming coals with only our heads poking out the end - a full steam bath!
I don't have a picture of the spa - for obvious reasons - so here's a photo of a curious friend we made outside our guesthouse, instead!
Dambulla Cave Temple
Another of my favourite spots, the cave temple itself is beautiful, mystical, intricate. The temple is actually made up of several caves of various sizes, each one featuring tens, even hundreds, of Buddha statues lined up in rows. The cave walls are painted with colourful motifs and offerings of flowers are scattered at the Buddhas' feet. My favourite cave featured a giant Reclining Buddha, its feet richly decorated.
I also enjoyed watching the monkeys in the forest outside the temple, teaching their young not to cross the electrified fence into the temple grounds. It's a shame an electric fence is necessary, but there were hundreds of monkeys and they would definitely have made a complete mess of a beautiful temple if they were allowed free range!
Kandy
Kandy was a mixed experience for us. We began our visit by exploring the truly beautiful Royal Botanical Gardens. You can spend hours here exploring the different areas - the Japanese garden, the Bonsai house, the royal palm avenue, the colourful floral displays and - most bizarrely - a copse of trees teeming with thousands and thousands of bats! Considering the chaotic nature of the rest of the city, the Botanical Gardens are a welcome break!
After the gardens, we asked a tuk tuk driver to take us to the Cultural Dance Show at the Kandyan Art Association and Cultural Centre. We had chosen this venue for a traditional show because the proceeds of the shows and the art sold at the centre go to supporting local craftsmen. However, our driver seemed to have other ideas, and took us to his friend's dance show at a venue next door. We'd already bought our tickets before realising our mistake, and that the venue was dark, dingy and completely deserted. Cue a lively debate where I managed to convince the staff that our 'non-refundable' tickets had only been purchased due to a deception! We ended up at the Kandyan Art Association in the end, and the showcase of traditional Sri Lankan dances was lovely, but the incident left a sour taste!
Luckily,our night improved as we saw the most stunning sunset over the lake on leaving the dance show, and we hiked up a steep hill to spend a few hours at Helga's Folly , a bizarrely-decorated hotel/restaurant/bar that you have to see to believe! We sat surrounded by enormous dripping candles, creepy masks, eclectic murals, mannikins, animal heads...I could go on. This place was one-of-a-kind.
Sigiriya
Sigiriya was without a doubt the highlight of our trip. As we approached the mammoth rock with its ancient temple built on top, I gulped in fear at the prospect of climbing it in the tropical heat. There is enough to see on the way up, though, that you can forget how much you're sweating! From ancient cave paintings and narrow walkways to monkey encounters and breath-taking views, Sigiriya is more than just a climb. It's a pilgrimage.
Pollonaruwa
The ancient, ruined city of Pollonaruwa is quite a drive from Kandy, but it was a no-brainer - not just a single temple, but an entire ancient city to explore! The ruins were endlessly fascinating, from the domed stupas to the elephant-carved remains of temples, the giant buddhas and the bare bones of palaces and temples. It's an absolute must!
We barely scratched the surface during our week in Sri Lanka's hill country - I'd love to go back and do it all again, and more!
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