Flights from Cairo to Colombo are relatively cheap and short, with a stop over somewhere in or near the Emirates. We left after school on a Friday and were in Sri Lanka by 8am Friday morning. A prearranged van picked us up and took us straight to Anuradhapura.
The site was massive and pretty cool. We actually had to be driven from part to part, from seeing the stupas (solid dome-looking things with the points on top) to the Buddhas. After a few hours in the hot sun, we journeyed to our remote accommodation called 'Galkadawala'. It was an amazing tree-house type lodge right next to a large watering hole. Everything was open-air with big beds (with mosquito nets), outdoor dining and vegetarian food. It was like being a kid and having a massive tree house with friends. It was a place I would have loved to have spent more than 2 nights. While at Galkadawala we visited the cave Buddhas of Dambulla and made it to the super impressive site of Sigiriya.
Sigiriya was a palace hewn out of a massive rock in the middle of Sri Lanka. It reminded me of my favorite site of Petra in Jordan. The hike up to the top of Sigiriya was long, and I can imagine having done it when they used 'ladders' carved out of the rock. The humidity must have made it nearly impossible to have any traction. There were numerous pools carved out of the rock on top for bathing and drinking. The structures built on top would have been up to 3 stories tall and visible for miles. Sigiriya is definitely something that everybody going to Sri Lanka needs to see, but make sure you go as early as possible, it gets hot and crowded fast. (And don't miss the museum.)
After the site, we had a nice lunch and swim at a nearby hotel with a view of the palace we had just explored. The next morning we headed south through the tea plantations to Kitugala where they filmed 'Bridge on the river Kwai'. We went rafting down the river (which was much calmer than our experience on the Zambezi) as the sun set shortly after we arrived. Our rooms were stilted bungalows right on the banks of the river that were totally open minus the mosquito net. The view from the rooms was beautiful and the sound of the river was very relaxing, although it could make you feel like using the bathroom more than normal.
The next day we headed to our final destination of Ambalangoda on the beach. Unfortunately our trip was slightly delayed as our back left wheel decided to detach itself from our van and going rolling past us, jumping a fence and landing in a nearby yard, just meters from falling into the gorge. This delay cost us about an hour or two, but we were lucky enough to get the experience of riding a swiftly moving local bus around the tight mountain turns, back to our previous accommodation so we could calm our nerves with a beer as we waited for the van to be repaired. The van ended up having some bigger problems, and we ended up meeting another driver closer to Colombo to finish our journey to the beach.
After a few hours of less-eventful travel, we made it to our villa which was right on the beach. For the first time we had AC, which was a nice change. (Although at night, both places we stayed were cool enough that we did not need AC.) We spend the next 4 days or so swimming in the really warm ocean, watching lightning storms coming in, playing cards and 'quiz-up', drinking beers and Arrack, reading and just relaxing, far from the stresses of Cairo. Our villa had 24 hour security, breakfast brought to our table every morning and delivery services. There wasn't much indoor space beside the bedrooms, which was nice in the fact that it forced us to be outside as much as possible.
After Ambalangoda we spent a few hours at a hotel by the airport and departed at about 3am. It was a great final trip with Brad who was one of my favorite and most easy-going travel companions. Looking forward to him visiting in Japan soon!