Travelogue Sri Lanka and Maldives

3.4 we fly from Prague via Qatar to Colombo. The vanguard consists of 3 men. Me, Jara and Jirka. Relaxing flight, pleasant flight attendant crew and good service. One mistake was that they did not take one friend from us, who unfortunately had a passport only valid for 5 months. We take a cabin with a board from him. We have not fully used the scale. You were allowed to carry 30 kg. After a few hours in Qatar we fly to Colombo. Here we are waiting for another member of our crew. After two hours, Julie arrives and we are in full force. After exchanging money and purchasing a $ 15 local card, we leave for Kandy by pre-ordered car. Along the way, we still stop at the elephants, here we have refreshments and a ride on the elephant's back. It's a beautiful holiday entrance. We are accommodated in a hostel with a swimming pool. Breakfast very tasty, bathing as well. We visit the Temple of the Tooth Relic and in the evening we go to a demonstration of local folklore. It is true that we were tired during the performance, but it was worth it. In the morning we arrange with the local fat people on the next trip. First we stop by the river, where we see a long rope bridge and then the river and the museum of road technology. We arrange for lunch and we want a typical home restaurant. Our guides fulfill this for us. We swear something from each dish and go eat. It surprises us a little that there are no cutlery anywhere. Just here with her right hand, her left is unclean. We can all handle it, only Jirka got a spoon. We drive to the next temple with a red standing Buddha. After paying the symbolic entrance fee, we set off up the hill for a tour. Next to the tea plantation and here we get acquainted with the production and preparation of tea. We stop and go on a tour of the royal gardens. Very nicely landscaped parks with many trees and shrubs. And we're going home for dinner. The next day we leave for Sigirya. Along the way, again visit the temple of the White Buddha, where we receive some blessings. We continue through the Muslim area to the temple promised by Kali, a Hindu temple. Here again we are blessed and now we are almost saints for other experiences. Upon arrival in Sigirya, we visit the Rock Temple and the Temple of the Golden Buddha below. We are looking for accommodation that should have cost $ 140 and to our horror this is not yet in operation. Within minutes we have new accommodation for $ 28 and with a very nice host, he prepared a fruit plate and dinner for us. After morning coffee and breakfast, we are taken to our destination „holy mountains“. The ascent takes us about an hour and as a reward there are beautiful panoramas. Well, we go again to our friend Kandy, here we stay at the station in a „hotel“ with us, it would be the fifth category, but we are satisfied that it is clean, and the fan and mosquito net work. We get up early in the morning to still be able to buy train seats. We buy the cheapest ones in 3 classes. I recommend the train to everyone, it is a real experience, it is said that it is one of the 10 In trains in the world. Beautiful nature, plateau, tea plantations, rice fields in one word 6 hours of beauty. We stay in ELLI and the next day visit the old bridge, which was built here by the British, like the whole railway, then the waterfalls, Adam's Mountain. We would not have seen these beauties if we did not rent motorcycles. In the morning we set off to Colombo, so exactly Nekombo, from where we fly to the Maldives tomorrow. When checking in, we extended it a bit, they always had two tickets bought together and it was still necessary to check in. but not spring, and don't sign up. In the end, Jirka had to go again because they had a ticket together. Veronika joins us here. We finally leave after almost two hours of check-in. Here it is necessary to make a sufficient reserve. After an hour we arrive in the Maldives. Here we buy a local card for $ 30 and sail to Hymafus. Transfer from the airport to Male and in half an hour by fast boat to Hymafuš costs 100 rupees. Here, after a few meters, our landlord comes, but when he finds out that we need 3 rooms, he directs us to a neighbor. It is even more beautiful than the original object. We stay after a welcome drink, cheers for dinner. The next day, the last member of Julie arrives and we are complete. The beach is within 200 m from the house and there is lounging. There are coral rifs around the islands, but they are destroyed by the warming of the seas, corals are dying out. The fish are still there, but they are switching to another diet, plastics. We order fish for dinner and the diner turns into a gluttony. The next day we book a snorkeling trip. This is about fish and turtles. The next day of vacation and catching squirrels.4 day we leave for Male and there after crossing to the next terminal on Fulidoo. Very nice, but we don't think the price, but it's paid via airbnb and so we happily enjoy rest and swimming, the whole time the water temperature did not fall below 30 degrees. During the day it is well over 30 and at night it drops to 28 degrees. It rains sometimes, but it's more of a refreshment than a problem. Some individuals are a little spoiled by the impression from swimming that there are relatively strong currents, without fins it is very strenuous. We are going to see a trip connected with snorkeling. It's a bit adventurous, because we were caught by tropical rain, because we were already on the island, so we climbed into the water, which was warmer than the air at that time. After the rain we go to the resort, where we meet a shark and tuna at least 120 cm. There is a large flock of them. Next we move to the riff with the turtles and home. On the way back, a flock of dolphins playing by circling our ship. Price $ 20. Maldives highest hill 2.5 m above sea level. It's a little awful what will happen when the water rises. After fourteen days home and we look forward to more experiences.

temple of the tooth of buddha

visit performances in Kandy