One ancient site just isn't enough in a day! About 13km from Anuradhapura is Mihintale and we headed off with our tuk tuk man late that same day. It's one of the earliest places to have introduced Buddhism to Sri Lanka.

We climbed more flights of stairs and checked out another Stupa and a big buddha. It was heaving with full moon pilgrams, all wanting to stand on the rock and see the sunset. It had potential to be a very peaceful place, however with the crowd and the obligatory drumming and Horanawa (Sri Lankan) trumpet playing, it was anything but.

About a year ago I joined an organisation called Servas International. Their philosophy is one that I hold close to my travel ethos. "Peace and understanding through travel and hosting". So now when I travel, I contact the hosts in that country and try and meet them. This time I was lucky enough to meet Ken and Visakha Kawasaki who live in Kandy. They insisted that I stay with them in their gorgeous home and I was I made to feel part of their extended family that consists of friends, neighbours, monks, nuns, philosophers, teaching colleagues and their loyal and caring staff, Lily the cook and housekeeper and Ashoka their driver.

They are fascinating people with amazing past lives as ESL teachers and workers in Indochinese refugee camps. They still teach at the university and have many Chinese and Burmese monks learning English through the many resources that they create. Check out their website  Brelief.

With the help from a lovely local lady shopkeeper, we were given precious walking directions and timing to get the 8.42am bus from the junction near Nallathanniya. We made the bus just in time and launched ourselves into the back door and flopped down on the back seats. The bus went back to Hatton depot and it was our intention to get the train back to Kandy but once arriving, it all just seemed too hard, so we optioned for a bus ride.

Like the trains, buses are extremely noisy. If it's not the mechanics crashing,  grinding and screaming, it's the constant doof provided by a looped MTV style video at the front of the bus.

Sri Pada or Adam's Peak is a 2243mt high mountain in Nallathanniya, central Sri Lanka. On the day climbed it was a cloudy, but rainless sky. Apparently it was the first fine day in three months. It was our intention to rise at 2.30am and trek up and witness the sunrise, but after talking to the locals the day before, it become evident that viewing a sunrise was not going to be possible and walking in the cold, dark and wet, wasn't going to be much fun. It certainly didn't appear like this photo on our trek as we were mostly hiking through mist and the cloud that clung to the peaks the higher we climbed. It was still breathtaking scenery and we stayed dry and warm all day. 

It's not the highest mountain in Sri Lanka, but it's certainly the most visited. A depression in the rocks at the summit looks like a huge footprint and legend says that it's either Buddha's footprint or Shiva's or Adam's, depending on who's telling the story. St. Thomas the Apostle gets a look in too if you ask a Portuguese person.

One of the stories tells of Adam being thrown out of paradise for being recalcitrant and was made to stand on one foot for a thousand years on top of the rock as punishment. He eventually got together with Eve on another mountain (Mt. Arafat overlooking Mecca).

By the ninth century, this divot in the rock was considered one of the most sacred sites in the world. Go figure.

Stairs. Lots. Of. Stairs. If I took a guess, I'd say probably 5km of stairs. It was a 6km trek straight up, trudging up 5200 steps. And then of course 5200 steps down. I'm very grateful to have strong healthy knees and legs as it was a tough hike.

During a full moon festival or Poya, as it's known, the little town is inundated with local pilgrams and tourists. The path from the little town square near our hotel to the top of the mountain is jam packed with devotees wanting to be at the peak before sunrise. It can take up to an hour to move just a few metres. I read somewhere that 20,000 people have trekked over a weekend. We were fortunate in that it was off season and there were no pilgrams, let alone tourists. It was peaceful and beautiful and it's hard to imagine the place any other way. Here's a slide show of the highlights.

Train riding in Sri Lanka is challenging for a second class traveller. (I'm all class, so I fit anywhere!) The overcrowding is stifling and the noise is ear wrecking; but it's one of the most exhilarating things to do. This train trip was particularly audacious. The train was already full to capacity having left the tourist capital of Ella earlier that morning and as I stood on the platform with my two packs turtled front and back, I wondered how it was going to be possible to board. I hoiked myself onto the first step and then clung to side rails and stared up into the faces of disbelieving travellers. "Yes, I'm coming in!" As the train started to move, I pushed up and into the bogie section of the carriage where there were at least 20 people intimately jammed. I looked through to the section between the carriages and there were six people sitting and standing on the articulated area.

I shimmied out of my packs and found a spot to shove the large one under the central luggage shelf. I kept my little one on the front. There was no need to find a hand hold as there was no way I could fall. The people were so kind and not at all disturbed by the intrusion and a group of young men were happy to chat and take selfies with me. This is one benefit. You get to meet lots of people. The other bonus is that the doors are open and there is cool fresh air and amazing views to be had. Pretty difficult to take pictures and video, but here's a couple so you get the idea.