Road Trip - An Escape To Freedom

Been a while. 

Let me recap on what's been going on then shall I? 

I recently had a spontaneous urge to get out of colombo, this urge springing forth from the past weeks of tirelessly burning the mid morning oils. As chance would have it, a couple of my friends and I decided to just get out of colombo for the weekend. So with our destination known, our journey unmarked we set out on a Friday at 5am. Doing the usual round of picking up each person, 4 in total, we set out for Sigiriya. I, equipped with my handy cam, proceeded to document our journey with plenty of chiming in by the others. Our first stop was Ambeypussa for a much needed breakfast. With strings and fish curry safely tucked into our bellies and a piss stop to the loo we took off once more.

As music blasted from the iPod and cool morning breeze flowed in to the car, we could feel our stress melt away, all the tiring days and nights, the worries and pressure, all faded as our smiles and laughter grew. There's something freeing bout being on the road with friends with no set plan or guidelines to stick to, just you and the road and freedom. It's almost magical.

Making a chance to stretch our legs we stopped off for some 'Beli Mal' tea. Now I've never had this tea before so i ventured to try it and it's safe to say that i won't be having it again. :) At least the Hakuru and the surroundings were nice.

Clambering in to the car we headed off to one of my friends relatives place, which gave access to a paddy field. Since the 4 of us are avid amateur photographers we took the opportunity to snap up some due drops and morning sun rays emanating from the clear blue sky. Next we stopped over at a friends family home and trekked down to the river nearby. More photo ops and witnessing a solitary cow taking a leak we headed back topside to continue on our way.

The road was clear and smooth, and the speedometer stayed at 100 most of the way. Green paddy fields stretched out on both sides of us, while hills in the distance grew clearer as the morning sun warmed the air we were breathing. Ah, freedom.

Hours flew by and we were now in Dambulla. After a much debated wrong turn, we managed to find our hotel, which I must say was just perfect. Sigiriya Village, which is almost walking distance to the Sigiriya Rock, is a quiet and comfortable place to escape to. From the pool side, you have a view of the Rock and the hotel surroundings are peaceful and tranquil. The rooms were surprisingly spacious and by now we were congratulating each other on booking such a place. The fact that it was almost empty was a bonus. A quick swim and a heavy sri lankan rice and curry (10 in fact) we retreated to our rooms for a quick nap, since we were planning on  climbing the Rock later that evening.

With the predicted wake up call from my buddy, we groggily did a quick change and headed to the Rock, stopping for some photo ops beside a lake. I had climbed the Sigiriya Rock once before, about 9 years ago, but some of my friends hadn't so we took the scenic route. Many photographs later and a few cramp stops for my buddies we were at the halfway point near the paws, or as some say claws. Leaving one of my friends behind, since he was afraid of heights and we weren't about to be carrying him, we climbed the rest of the way. At the top the view was breathtaking, and a quick group shot entailed an interesting episode with a monkey trying to steal our camera!! Thankfully we managed to recover the equipment admist hisses at me from the gang leader. We also had the chance to witness a silohuette monkey humping session which sadly lasted only a few seconds! Hehe. I caught it on film though so that's a memory saved for reminiscing.

The sun was setting in the distance so we headed back down, picking up our buddy who was lazily resting below. Couple of group shots for memories sake and we were back down on the ground heading back to the hotel for a wash and a much needed drink. There was a tennis match semi finals on, so we turned that into a drinking game, which kind of backfired since I was planning on drinking all night but my friends got a bit too wasted too freaking soon! Sigh. We wobbled in for dinner which was good, and then headed back to the rooms to sleep off the intoxication's. 

After the expected morning wake up round, we grabbed breakfast, packed our belongings and bid adieu to our hotel. Our next stop was Pidurangala which was part of the kingdom in ancient times. The winding road to get there gave us more photo ops and the actual Pidurangala ruins and Chaityas were just plain cool to witness. We spent at least an hour there photographing and relaxing in the shade of the trees. There was no one around, just us and that just made it all the more of an adventure. Pretty soon we started getting a bit peckish so we decided to leave and head for Dambulla town for lunch. But first we made our way to the Dambulla Rock, to climb to the top and view the amazing Buddhist statues and paintings situated inside the caves. That was pretty cool but unfortunately my camera battery died on me. Making our way back down we headed over to Gimanhala for lunch and a piss break. Chilled out a bit and now realised that our little escape was coming to an end. None of us wanted it to, but reality sucks. So with heavy hearts but plenty of memories we set off back home. 

The drive back was sleepy, and we kept ourselves awake with a twisted version of 'I Spy'. Stopping for curd and honey and tea along the way, we eventually were back in Colombo. It was around 7pm by the time everyone was dropped off home, with promises to do this again very soon.

And that was my little road trip. It was an adventure and an escape and I totally recommend it to anyone wanting to unwind and leave all this stress and rat race behind, even for a few days. It renews your spirit and rejuvenates your body and mind. 

I'm already planning my next road trip. Care to join?