Sri Lanka- Part 1

The 1st half of our trip was a LOT of driving...a lot of time on windy roads. We wanted to travel to a couple of the national parks to see the animals via jeep safari. So each night for the 1st 4 days was driving 3 to 5 hours/day to get to our next destination...in other words, we had to stock up on motion sickness pills twice during our trip (despite already packing pills) b/c Brian sometimes gets carsick if he's not driving...and Mina thinks she gets sick too. I never know if she's legit sick or just pretending- with Mina who knows?! But I dislike vomit. And I dislike being trapped in a car for hours listening to Mina complain of feeling sick...so we let her take the pills. Those pills make you sleepy too (added benefit)!

Elephant safari- riding elephants never gets old!

Ramboda Falls

Buduruwagala Buddha Statue- this is the tallest Buddha rock carving in the world. It used to be 2nd tallest but recently became #1 b/c the other one (in Pakistan) was destroyed.

Sri Lanka is famous for its tea. Despite not being tea drinkers we took a tea factory tour to learn more about the tea making process. It was so interesting. Even though there were signs saying "no photos allowed" the tour guide insisted that Mei pose for a photo with the finished product. Those bags are full of tea!

Brian and I thought the tea tour was great. The kids thought the playground at the tea factory was great.

At each hotel, Mina "collected" the hygiene kits, soaps, shampoo/conditioner bottles, etc. We did 2 safaris- the first at Udawalawe and the second at Yala. It got pretty windy in our open jeep- Mina had the perfect solution- a shower cap.

Just in case you were wondering what our jeep looked like on safari...

We saw elephants, crocodiles, a couple different varieties of deer, wild pigs, water buffalo, lots of birds...but not the elusive leopard! There was a traffic jam towards the end of our 2nd safari...b/c a leopard was out walking along the car path- we missed it by 2 minutes! Usually if spotted, they're sleeping up in a tree- so those tourists up ahead got really lucky. Oh well- it was still amazing to see these animals in the wild.

I had to take a photo of the mass exodus at the end of the day. The guides must exit the park by closing time (6 pm)- if they're late they could have their park permits taken away...so it's a bit of traffic jam getting out of the park.

After safari-ing...we started our drive to Galle (which is where we would spend the next 5 nights). We stopped in Weligama, famous for the stilt fishermen (as seen on the Amazing Race). For a little bit of money (total tourist trap...which we totally were ok with) you can climb up, pretend you're fishing, and take photos. Thanks to Brian for carrying me so I wouldn't have to get wet!

Stilt fishermen in the background. You might be wondering where the kids were...oh, they were being party poopers and decided they didn't want to get out of the van- so our driver/tour guide stayed in the car with them.

And thus concludes this post. More on the 2nd half of our trip tomorrow...ok, I'll be realistic- probably in a few days.