Orangutanfastic Borneo!

Today I visited the Sepilok Orangutan Rescue Center.  Most of these guys below have been rescued due to deforestation, injury, illness, or other reasons.  There was one very old man who was in with his group and being given antibiotics to treat an infection.  The center is only open for two hours in the morning and two in the afternoon (times when they're fed).  Sometimes, you don't see any orangutans because there is an abundance of fruit on the trees currently, so many fend for themselves.  I felt so lucky to see some of these magnificent creatures!  SO lucky!  Met some very nice people and shared this wonderful experience with them.  We were all just .  .  .  well, HAPPY!
A nice couple from Australia bought me a coconut and corn popsicle after the second viewing. (Terima Kasih Ian and Kerry).   A (slightly) bizarre but surprisingly yummy finish to a perfect day!  Below - the stars of the show!


A Baby (seen through glass)

Sticking out his tongue?

I'm in Love!  Look at the Face!

Looking Down on the People.  Who's Watching Who?

A Wild Male Surveying the Situation

Showing Off

Nice Face!

A Perfect V

And a W?

More from Borneo later.

Mirissa, Galle and Bohoma Istuti (Thank You) Sri Lanka

Fruit Stand Across from Our Hotel
 

Mirissa Beach was better than I expected, although at the beginning we weren't sure.  Sometimes reviews just don't work out and this was one of those times.  The place we reserved was just too funky - even for me!  By luck, as Paulette and I were walking down the beach, we decided to check out a place and voilà!  They had two rooms available.  It was a great place right on the beach with hammocks, chaises, free breakfast, beautiful sunsets, body surfing to the right and snorkeling to the left.  What more could you ask for?  Well, a bit of night life but not too much.  Done!  A line of restaurants on the beach  all with fresh seafood stands out in front for dinner and drinks completed the beautiful and easy-going setting. 



The Night Beach Scene



A Quiet Beach Near a Snorkeling Spot



Local Fishing Boats

 

View From My Room in Marissa
The rock in front is called Parrot Rock and
There are stairs to the top for great sunset watching.

 

No Explanation - Just Beautiful!

There was a bread truck that came by a few times a day playing what at first was an annoying jingle announcing its arrival, but the tune was catchy and I find myself missing it.  We definitely could have spent more time here (a phrase that seems to repeat itself in Sri Lanka).



Fisherman in Mirissa On My Snorkel Beach

Stick Fisherman in Wellegama

Ah, but now we're in Galle and it is an interesting place.  We're staying in the Fort area which is surrounded by walls (duh!) and is at the Southern-most tip of Sri Lanka.  There are narrow streets and lots of old, old structures within the walls of the fort built by the Portuguese and later fortified by the Dutch.  We went to a maritime archeology museum today as many ships have sunk off these shores carrying all sorts of interesting cargo including one referred to as 'the bottle ship'.  Ha!  Guess what it carried!
I snorkeled here as well as in a couple different places in Mirissa and it was incredible here for being so close to a city.  Snorkeling among beautiful corals and fish so near the fort wall was a unique experience for me.

A Snake Charmer on the Fort Wall (One of the Cobras Took a Liking to Me - I didn't like him so much!)

The Snorkel Site

From the Fort Wall - A Buddhist Stupa and a Catholic Church Behind
There is also a Moslem Mosque in Galle




Tombstone at the Dutch Church
Poor Edmund Buckle

Galle Lighthouse

Tomorrow, on to the airport and Kuala Lumpur on my way to Borneo.  I have really liked Sri Lanka, the people, the food, the beaches, the countryside . . . everything.

 

 

 

 

Udawalawe

 

Water Buffalo in a Watering Hole

Yes, that is the name of a National Park in Sri Lanka where we stayed for only one night in tent cabins and went on a safari in the early morning in hopes of seeing elephants and other wildlife. And we weren't disappointed!  We all agreed that this is one of those moments that will remain in our memories forever - a truly special event!  The park was established after a reservoir was built in the area to give a permanent home to elephants where they would be safe.  It's a beautiful place and is around 72,000 acres with over 1,100 elephants.  With that much land, sometimes you see them and sometimes you don't, but we were lucky.  Here are just a few of the 200+ photos I took.  It was difficult to chose which to publish.  What an amazing place! 

Bee Eater

Kingfisher

Painted Crane

Don't Know but ????

Golden Jackal

And the Stars of the Show - the Magnificent Elephants

 

Ella

In the Sinhalese language, Ella means waterfall and there is no shortage of them in this area.  Later today, we will hike to one. 

On day one of our brief stay here, we hiked to Little Adam’s Peak which offers incredible views of the valley, surrounding mountains and tea plantations below.  There is no shortage of tea plantations in this area either with big name companies having thousands of acres.  Tea is big business and it is everywhere – in some plantations the plants are hanging off the sides of mountains at what seems like impossible angles.   Beautiful!



Little Adam's Peak from the Top

A Tea Picker

 

Tea Plantation and Ella Rock in Background



A Sculpture by Hikers at the Top with Our Stones Added

View of Ella Rock from Little Adam's Peak

Our guest house was, of course, impossible to find but our driver was determined to get us to the door despite the warnings that you could not drive there.  The ‘road’ was a very small one-lane affair, paved in some areas and dirt and rocks in others.  We went forward, asked directions, backed up, asked directions, turned down even smaller paths and asked directions while backing up.  It was insane and, at this point, Paulette and I were holding on and sure we would back over the edge and end up at the bottom of the valley.  But our driver prevailed and delivered us almost to the door.  Way to go Jehanta!

This place is really more of a home stay, run by the delightful Raveena family.  Meals are served outside overlooking the valley and Ella Rock.  Mornings are cold and evenings are nice with great sunsets and bats coming out as it gets dark.  We have eaten breakfast and dinner here and the food is outstanding Sri Lankan fare – curries, rice, dahl, papadan.  Good thing we like it because the shortcut into town is on a lovely little forest walk across a couple bridges over small waterfalls, over rocks, up some irregular stairs and, while easy during the day, could be pretty scary in the dark.

Today for breakfast we tried a Sri Lankan breakfast of hoppers (sort of a very thin bowl-shaped tortilla that’s fried and yummy), egg and sautéed vegetables along with fruit and tea before heading off on a hike.  We started out for Ella Rock but didn’t make it that far.  It’s a long and steep hike, so we made it to a beautiful waterfall after walking about two miles on train tracks.  This is, believe it or not, the directions for how to get to Ella Rock and the waterfall!  After having lunch in town Paulette and I had Ayurvedic massages which were wonderful, relaxing, rejuvenating and oily. 

The Train, the Tracks, The People, The Sign



The Waterfall!

Off to Udawalawe tomorrow in search of wild elephants.  Yay!

Kandy, Sigiriya and Dambulla

A View from My Room in Kandy

Arriving in Colombo, Sri Lanka after a fairly easy but incredibly frigid – I mean Arctic - flight from Kuala Lumpur and walking outside of the airport felt like standing too close to a fire.  The sun and heat just hit you and almost took your breath away.  After acclimating slightly, we embarked on a taxi ride that probably ended up taking the same amount of time as the flight – we were hopelessly lost and seven phone calls by the driver to our hotel didn’t seem to help.  FINALLY we made it to the hotel which was very nice.  Colombo on the other hand . . . well, it’s just a really big and noisy city.

One night and a lovely three-hour train ride later found us in Kandy – another city with too many tuk-tuks and traffic, but with lovely rain forests, parks and wildlife right outside of the city.  We have managed to find some of the beauty walking in a rain forest park where an owl flew over our heads, wild pigs with babies crossed our path and strange bird sounds surrounded us.  We LOVED it!  We’ve been to a tea factory (fascinating since I drink the stuff every day), an ayurvedic spice farm and TA-DA . . . The Temple of the Tooth which houses a tooth that Buddha lost and is kept in a silver pagoda looking thing inside a room, inside an ante-room which is opened twice a day so the public can glance at the pagoda thing – not the tooth which can only be viewed from a distance sometime every August!  We met some nice people while waiting for our turn to walk past the tooth room and felt like we had been part of something unique and special afterwards.  This place is considered one of the holiest Buddhist places and is really something. 

Two Photos from Utawattakele Forest Near Kandy

Just returned from an overnight trip to Dambulla (Buddhist Cave Temple) and Sigiriya or Lion Rock and we all wished we could have spent more time in Sigiriya.  There is a lot of wildlife (including, we are told, wild elephants) and unspoiled jungle in the area.  The area around the rock is great for cycling and the climb up the 1200 steps to the top of the rock was well worth it despite the warnings of dangerous wasps (which we did not see).  There are many stories about the ruins, frescoes and carvings ranging from it being a temple to a hideout for a runaway king and his concubines.  I leave it to you to draw your own conclusions. 

Tomorrow off to Ella and onward from there.  More from Sri Lanka soon.

Roadside Stand on Drive to Dambulla

Dambulla

One of the Caves in Dambulla

Another Dambulla Cave



Self-Explanatory



Sigiriya Rock



Lion's Foot Carving at Sigiriya Rock
 



One of the Frescoes in a Cave on Sigiriya Rock



A View of the Valley and the Knuckles Range From the Top