Nina: Our trip through half of SriLanka

by Nina

Introduction
We started on the 13th of March at eight o’clock in the morning. We did the trip with some friends called Anne and Barry. In this story I am going to tell you all about Sri Lanka, such as Dondra Heads light house is scarily high, there are lots of wild animals in Yala National Park, Little Adams Peak has a fabulous view, and the Ella train ride is well worth it.


Day 1
We left Galle and started to drive. We stopped at a few places that day but my favorite place was Dondra Heads Light House. It was really fun and really scary. You climb up a spiral stare case in the center with curved doors going off to rooms. The gallery was very high, the light house was the tallest in South East Asia. It is the southern most point in Sri Lanka.

Dondra Head Light House and the three hundred year old curved oak door.

The hotel we stayed in had a pool. It was in a town called Debarawewal.


Day 2
We left the hotel at 5.30am to  go on a safari through Yala National Park. It was really amazing. The first wild animal we saw was an elephant’s butt. We saw lots of peacocks and we saw a leopard which was really amazing but it was a long way away. We saw lots of birds. We got back to the hotel at 11.30 to have breakfast, I was hungry!

An elephant’s butt and a superb peacock on display in Yala National Park.

We drove up into the highlands. We climbed Little Adams Peak, the view was amazing. The mist rolled in and out.  Once we couldn’t see any thing except the peak we were standing on.

We stayed that night in Haputale in a really nice hotel. It had a rock in the corner (a boulder).

Day 3
We got up and had breakfast and  had a walk around town and then we got on a train. The train was really cool, it didn’t have seats, all it had were benches. You could stick your head out of the window, it was awesome. There was a fabulous view. We got off the train at Nanu-Oya.

The train ride through the highlands!

We spent the night at Nuwara Eliya.


Day 4
We started driving down to the low lands. We stopped at a tea plantation and a batik factory along the way. We got to Kandy early in the afternoon and had a look at a university. We went back to the hotel and played a dice game. Then we went out to the cultural dance. The women and men were really good dancers. It was fabulous!

The dancers in Kandy were fabulous

We spent the night in Kandy.


Day 5
We left Kandy and drove for a little while then I went on an elephant ride it was really fun and I enjoyed it a lot. The elephant swings side to side as it walks. Then we went to Sigiriya next.

Me on my elephant named Kumari

 Sigiriya is a really big rock in the middle of no where. It had a beautiful lot of gardens out the front and a stair case up the rock. It was made in 500 AD. On top of the rock you can still see the foundations of the palace, it was really cool!

Sigiriya is enourmous and we climbed all the way to the top.

Day 6
We got up and had breakfast and then we went to Polononaruwa. Polonnaruwa is an ancient city of Sri Lanka.  All you can see now are the ruins now. The king’s palace was very big. It was 7 stories high. Only two are left, 5 stories were made of wood but the other two are made of brick. There were lots of temples in the city and a lot of stupas. After we had lunch and went to the hotel. We were really hot and tired!

This is Zeke and I and my best friend, stupa.

Day 7
We got up at 7.30am and had breakfast. We started to drive 8.00am we stopped at Dambulla it  is an enormous lot of caves.  There are 5 right next to each other they all have lots of Buddha statues in them. After we drove all the way home.

This picture is very old, maybe 2500 years old!

Conclusion
I learned a lot on the trip such as an elephant sways a lot when it walks, and climbing Sigiriya is very tiring