My first trip from Dubai!! The farthest that I have travelled East, and the first time I have seen the Indian Ocean!!! This is a beautiful country full of wonderful places and very kind people. I travelled with two friends from school, we had a planned tour with our own driver which helped everything go very smoothly. It is not easy to get from place to place because of small curvy roads but we managed. We got to go inland toward Giritale and a national park for a jeep safari. It was amazing to see monkeys on the road and other animals out in the open! We travelled to Sigiriya which is an old rock fortress that we climbed 1202 steps to the top. This was not easy especially with my fear of heights, but I put my head down and went up as fast as I could!
We then spent the night in Kandy, an old colonial town where we saw a native dance performance and visited the Temple of the Tooth Relic! We then drove down to the southern coast to Unawatuna which was a great beach town! From there we visited a fort at Galle and walked along old fort walls, explored the streets and shops of this cute town, saw the lighthouse and watched the sunset!!!
On the way back to Colombo we took a river cruise and saw cinnamon farms and participated in a fish pedicure! You stick your feet in a pond of fish and they nip off your dry skin! Tickles like crazy and can hurt too but definitely worth it!! Last stop was a turtle hatchery where we could hold baby turtles and injured ones. This part of the country was hit by the tsunami back in 2004 and it was interesting to hear stories and see the results of that. I loved the greenness everywhere and the beauty of this country. The people treated us well and were very respectful. I enjoyed visiting and learning about a new place!
