The hike

I woke up at 4:00am, do my routine and woke up the kiddo. We were at the lobby by 5:20am and the driver came on time.

Horton’s plain was 33 km away from Nuwaraeliya and it would be a 1 hrs drive. There was only a handful of information over the net regarding the pricing of hiring a vehicle to the plain. Most of the price quoted over the net was around LKR 8000 for 4 persons. However during the search I had come across an ad over FB with contact no and email. I contacted the person and he had quoted me the price of LKR 4000 for the chartered. Frankly I was a little bit worried about the quotation but yet he was the only one that I could contact.

The driver DK was a nice young chap and the vehicle (Nissan Homy) was well maintained with good pickup. We managed to get to the entrance at 0645H. It was 13C and freezing cold when we started the hike.

\

I had decided to take the left route which leading to the world’s end instead of the right route which leads to Baker’s fall first.

The pros -> we would enjoy a good view at world’s end (mist would be up after 10)

The cons -> should be very hot on the return path.

I reached the world’s end before 9pm and enjoyed our breakfast along with the great scenery.

The returned path was quite stressful as the trail covered various kind of terrain, from plain to muddy mountain route.

While walking along the stream with my family, I could feel the loneliness; leading my family walking the path of salvation.

We had made it to the entrance at 11am and back to Nuwaraeliya at 12+noon. We had our lunch at the famous De Silva Food centre. The kids had burger(too much spicy food and they had tend to loss appetite) and I ordered a plate of fried rice.

As noted by Tripadviser:

1. The service is darn slow ->waiting time >45min

2. The burger is nice and up to standard

3. The milk shake taste superb

My personal experience:

1. The fried rice is darn big-> enough for 3 person

2. pre-cooked meal is fast

Well, I joined the group later in the afternoon and the day was uneventful, however I had slept through the meeting as the 9km hiking above 2000m was a stressful one for me.

Pre-trekking day....

We had arrived in Nuwaraeliya late in the evening as one of the members had suffered from severe nausea and vomiting during the trip. We were brought to a local food store and had our dinner upon our arrival.

I have contacted our driver during the dinner and reconfirmed about the pickup time…

I was worried about the trip tomorrow as the price was too cheap compare to what I had known from the net…

The hotel looked nice but the yet the bathroom was quite out of shape. The hot water supply was in-consistence; it was either too hot or too cold…

I had arranged the hotel to provide us with the breakfast box early in the morning before we go to sleep as suggested by other traveler to the Horton’s plain. We had to leave the hotel at 5:30am to get a good view at the world’s end.

It was a tiring day as we had been travelling most of the time for the past 2 days, I begun to question my decision for the trip but yet it was the only time that we could plan for private trip.

sluggish winding trip...

We pushed off at about eleven, at 4 pm, we could manage to cover 110km...the ascending route was filled with vehicle, tuk tuk and truck snaking around...well, 68km till our destination, reminding me about the our honeymoon trip to Cameron Highlands, it took me 3 hours to drove to Equitorial hotel from tapah...I was new to driving then, with the good old kembara I dare not negotiate the curve like I do now...

Rush start...

We reached hotel by 2am and drop to dream land before three....as usual i got up by 6 and after a simple repacking, we have our breakfast by 9....
The day begun by getting a sim card...it took us one plus hour...i got three card with one passport...and we are on our way to nuwara eliya via kandy....

Last leg..

Finally we are at the T1, unfortunately we are requested to the next gate after we leave the flight for security check..and there goes my serimuka...flight is delayed almost one hour and we world boarding anytime from now....

Complicated flight...

The flight was delayed for thirty min but when the plane taxied into the runway, the capt had declared that hkg airport was closed due to heavy rain and strong gust. We were towed back to the gate, and lunch was served on the ground...
50 min later, we were airborned and arrived in the hkg .
As the bad.weather continued, the flight to Cmb was delayed and I doubt that we could make it to t1 bengawan solo....

Bad. Weather.....

The weather is still bad, but we managed to make it to the departure area....it was not the worst driving in the rain experience but yet it is still a stress when you have a schedule to catch.
The flight is 1 HR away and I hope it would not be rough ride....10 plus years ago, I have boarded a russian made propeller flight from taichung to khh during a typhoon, that was one of the time I thought of seeing god.

The final run

After fighting with the heavy rain, we are finally at the airport...marking the beginning of the long flight...

greet by the rainbow

nothing better than a good start...1st of the last 3 shift before the tour...

the prep...

Less than 10 days before the trip, everyone are excited and the task list is narrowed down to 3 tasks : money changing, packing and drug preparation.

There is no direct money changing for LKR(ruppe) at the local bank; thence a interchanging to USD is needed (darn, forex loss x2 noted…). I had bought USD last week at the lowest rate and I would need to cash it this week.

Luggage packing would be challenge as we might not be able to our laundry during the visit. Most of the time, we would be lodging in Nurwara Eliya where the humidity is 80%...and the temperature was 12-28C. My plan is simple - > to buy a box fan (average RM60) at the airport shop and blow it 24hrs over the washed cloth…

Drug preparation is a challenge as the tour comprised of 22 persons and the focus would be acute gastroenteritis- > rule 1 -> no iced drink from the roadside, but frankly said, I am eager to try out the cendol-like farluda….

It was a good night sleep for me after a strenuous “fill with event” post call day. My sleepy bug was chased away when I read the news about the gas explosion in K city.

It was a tragic event which taken away many lives…it is really unbelievable that the local peoples did not realize that their house is sitting on a load of flammable gas transferring pipelines. 

The fire department had taken too long to search for the source and did not shut down relevant pipeline during the search. 

Someone is definitely going to bear the responsibility and hopefully it does not drag down the mayor (it is election time at the end of the year).