Sri Lanka: An Epic 5,200 Steps

I feel like every post about Sri Lanka says that something was my favorite.  And it all was.  Everything we did was awesome.  Probably our biggest venture on this amazing trip was our trip up Adam's Peak.  On top of Adam's Peak is a rock that is assumed to be the footprint of Adam (according to Christians), Muhammad (according to Muslims) and Buddha (according to Buddhists).  The pilgrimage is made by thousands of people who want to go to this holy place.  

Some people train for this trek.  Some people (monks) make it multiple times in a week.  Some people make this trek at 90 years old and die on their way up (on purpose). 

We did it just because.  

Someone had mentioned it, and said it was just a hike.  So I was all on board with that!  Later, Janna recommended that I look it up online.  To get to the top of Adam's Peak, you need to climb up 5000 steps.  

Five thousand and two hundred to be more exact.

I did some math.  If you are walking up the stairwell of a tall building and each floor has 14 steps, to get to 5.200, you need to walk up 371 floor.  WHAT!??  I freaked.  I couldn't even make it to the summit of Mt. Rinjani and I have to make it up 371 floors! Heck no.

And it wasn't even peak season... where the whole pathway is lit up.  And there are hundreds of people walking with you.  And shops along the way sell food and tea and little Buddha statues. It was dark.  And everyone warned us of the wild animals that might come out into the path because of no light.  

But we pushed forward.  Presanne bought a jacket so he could come with us.

And at 3:00 am, we left the hotel to head up the mountain.  As I was getting ready to go, I felt sick.  Like I would throw up.  And I wanted more than anything to roll over and go back to sleep.  But I dragged my butt outta bed and over to the entrance to the hike.  Shortly after we checked in, I was really feeling my stomach... and a few minutes later I leaned over a bridge into a creek bed and let go of last night's dinner.  Oh, I was a new woman!!

The next few hours were painful, as my robotic legs moved up the mountain one step at a time.  There was so much fog, that even when it was not raining so I could use my phone's flashlight, I couldn't see because the light reflected off the fog.  I kept trying to get my eyes to adjust... and I repeatedly thought that I saw the top of the mountain, that the end was finally in sight.  But each time, the end was not the end.  And the next bend in the path led up another four stories of steps.  I finally made it to the top, a few minutes behind Janna and Jon, and Lauren made it up a few minutes later.  

And we were ready for the sunrise.  We made our way to the overlook point, and Lauren excitedly proclaimed, "Wow! You can see.... absolutely nothing!"  Which was true.  There was a wall of white where the sunrise over the mountains should have been.  Humors?  Yes.  Frustrating?  Yes.  A great story to tell?  Yes.  Do it again?  That remains to be seen...

After taking our pictures against our beautiful white background, Jon and I braved the holy ground.  We removed our shoes and trekked across the temple to ring the bell, as is tradition for all those who make the pilgrimage.  

On the walk down the mountain, we shed all our layers.  The sun came out.  The clouds parted.  And we could see up to where we had just been... Yeah... it does look like 371 stories of a skyscraper.  I realized, that had I been able to see that mountain ahead of me the entire time, I would have lost all motivation.  It's so high.  And so far.  The steps would not seem big enough to ever get me there.  But one step at a time without knowing how far there was to go, that helped me get up.

We got to the bottom of the mountain just in time for breakfast.  Cleaned up.  And headed back to the city for our last night before heading home.  But first... a white water rafting trip!  

And that's all there is.  There isn't any more.  Except for about 8000 more pictures and 100 more stories of why Presanne is so awesome and 500 little things that happened to make this trip so special.

A special thanks to Jon and Janna and Lauren for their fantastic photo skills on this trip. It would not be as well photographed without them.

Sri Lanka: Temples and Palaces

When you go to another country, one of the things you just gotta do is go to the temples and historical sites.  So, we did.  We visited temples, ancient palaces, and an ancient wonder of the world, called Sigiriya.  

During these little stops, Presanne (our driver) would get a guide for us.  The guides he picked out for us to hire were so knowledgeable!  They taught us so much about each of the places that we went.  Each time we got there and he suggested a guide, we hesitated.  But each time we did, it was definitely worth it!  One time, we declined getting a guide.  But Presanne, knowing we were all teachers, felt like it would really benefit us.  So he paid for the guide.  Once again, extreme hospitality.  And a guide who has our best interests in mind.

One of our stops was to the ruins of the ancient palace.  We sat on the king's lounge, danced on the entertainment stage, dove into the pool, and sat on the king's "throne."

It's fascinating to see the ways different cultures honor their gods.  I've seen Buddhist temples in a number of countries, and each are different.  The Chinese use a lot of bright red hues in their temples.  Thais use gold, everywhere.  In Sri Lanka, most of the temples (at least the ones we saw) were stark white, which really stood out against the blue sky.  Inside the temples, however, where the actual Buddha statues were, they were quite colorful.  

We typically had to take off our shoes before going onto the grounds of any of the temples.  And in the heat of the day, that meant our feet almost burnt... many a times.  After we finished these temples, Presanne suggested we visit some others, but we declined, hoping to save our feet for the other strenuous walking we knew we would be doing later on the trip.

One of the temples that we went to later during the week was further up in the mountains. This temple was carved out of  some  caves. If I understood correctly, the statues were carved directly out of those rocks!  It was fascinating to see all the Buddhas in these caves, so different than the brightly pained ones elsewhere, but nonetheless beautiful. 

The hard part about visiting temples is that we see hundreds of lost people, searching for meaning and life in a false god.  They offer sacrifices, say prayers, walk on the hot pavement multiple times, hoping to be seen by their god.  It reminds me how important my job is, teaching young children the truth.  So that they, in turn, can share with their families, who worship in this way.

A special thanks to Jon and Janna and Lauren for their fantastic photo skills on this trip. It would not be as well photographed without them.