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: Gardens, Tea, and a Photo Shoot

Sri Lanka is one of the biggest tea-producing countries.  As we drove through the mountains, we passed more tea plantations than I ever thought I would see.  They reminded me of rice paddies on the side of mountains, but they were bushes of tea leaves.  We went to one of the plantations and had a guide show us how they make the tea.  It was quite fascinating!  And then we bought lots of tea.... I mean, LOTS of tea.  

Our guide was this beautiful woman.  She was so sweet as she explained the tea... and answered our other obscure questions.  Questions such as, "How do you tie that sari... it looks different than the typical Indiana sari?"  So after our tour, she took us to the ladies' room to show us how to tie a Sri Lankan sari.  And now, I know two ways to tie my sari!  

During our family Christmas letter, I shared five things that I learned from traveling.  One of  my lessons was along the lines of being friendly with others so that you are able to collect new experiences and memories.  We were friendly with this young woman.  And she taught us a bit of her traditional culture.  Priceless.  

 The tea leaves have three little leaves. The biggest one is taken off and processed to make our typical black tea.  The second largest leaf is steamed and naturally processed to make green tea.  That's why it's healthier... though that doesn't make me like it any more... The smallest leaf is barely a leaf.  This is turned into another type of tea.  The white tea.  Because it's so small, it won't produce as much tea.  Hence why that tea is often more expensive than the black tea.

Different grades of black tea

The reason why I came to Sri Lanka is because of my friend Lauren.  The reason Lauren came to Sri Lanka is because it was a childhood dream.  The reason she had this dream was from a book, "How to Make Apple Pie and See the World."  In this book, you go to Sri Lanka to buy the cinnamon.  Hence, a trip to buy cinnamon was top on the list of priorities for Sri Lanka.  We saw the cinnamon tree, as well as many other herbs and plants used to make various spices, teas, and medicines.  We also did quite a bit of shopping here... and somehow managed to fit it all in our carry-ons on the flight home.

One morning we took a few hours to wander the botanical gardens.  I've seen gardens in a number of countries.  This one reminded me of a Dr. Seuss book.  Maybe he came here to get ideas for his oddly shaped plants and trees.

bamboo

My mom has a collection of clothing from all over the world.  Each place she went, she would pick up some traditional clothing.  So I've started to do the same. I have some clothes from China and Thailand, so I figured I should add Sri Lanka to the list as well!  So we entered shop after shop to find saris that we loved.  So many fabrics, colors, patterns, and sequins lined the walls of the shops as we searched for exactly what we wanted. 

Even Jon was buying some (for his sisters)

The town we stayed in at this time was in the most beautiful little town.  It was settled by Europeans, and was their get-away from the craziness of Asia that's down the mountain.  So as we walked through town, we passed tutor-style houses and Parisian-like shopping streets.  At the lake, we decided to have a little photo shoot.  So Presane (who had four sisters growing up) tied all our saris for us.  And Jon took our pictures.  And we crashed a wedding party.  And we were the crazy Americans that the Greek family wanted photos with.

We had lunch at a little pizzeria overlooking the lake.  We sat there shivering, wondering how cold it was.  Our guess: 70 degrees.  We checked.... it was 70.  I guess when you've acclimated yourself to  90 degrees plus every day, 70 does seem freezing.

Yeah, if I were to move to Sri Lanka, this is where I would move to.  International school?  Anyone?

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: Mountain Air

It's been more than two months since my last post... and I'm sorry for that.  Sorry to you who want to see my life, and sorry to myself since I won't have some of the moments documented that I wanted to during all the amazing moments I had the last two months.

So, sorry about all the posts from the last two months... I hope you enjoy looking at the photos and reading some of the stories.  Hope I get the details right... it's been a few months since going to Sri Lanka.

During our time in Sri Lanka, we got to spend a few days up in the mountains.  It was one of my favorite times on the trip.  Getting to breath air that I wouldn't dream of breathing in Jakarta.  Seeing clear mountains.  Feeling the rainy mist on my face, and not thinking how it's full of pollution.  

View from a hotel.  A watering hole.

We took a train ride through the mountains, which was such a fun trip!  I felt like a dog as I stuck my head out the side of the train to feel the wind.  

Making friends with workers gets you a spot in the engine for a bit!

A mini hike up Little Adam's Peak

Presanne knew all the little places to go to get a good view.  So here we are, at a beautiful lookout.  And a waterfall.  (We had to go through a random hotel, down a bunch of stories, through some halls, outside, and then down a little pathway to reach it). Another waterfall along the way.

After seeing so many Buddhist and Hindu temples, we turned down Presanne's offers to take us to more.  But the minute we saw the little church coming up, we all instantly wanted to stop.  The European settlers here ages ago really knew what they were doing. I don't think I could have picked a more beautiful setting for the church. The valley and mountains behind it.  The gardens descending down the mountain.

There was an old organ and Janna played for us a little while as we talked with the woman who took care of the church.  She was so sweet and welcoming, showing us the old Bible and telling us some of the history of the church.  It's beautiful to see other Believers all over the world, worshiping God in the smallest corners of the most random countries.

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.