Hill Country, Part II

We left Ella and made our way by bus to Badulla, another populous town in Hill Country.

Throughout the island of Sri Lanka, there are hundreds of staggering waterfalls flowing from the abundant water supply in the mountainous region. We decided to venture to Dunhinda Falls, one of the country's most famous waterfalls, close by to Badulla.

During the one hour walk to the falls, we remarked at the mossy rock faces and the dwarfing scale of the trees around us, such as the photo above tries to impart.

As we approached the waterfall, there were several rickety huts along the slippery walkway selling fruit juices and fried snacks, an enterprise popular with thirsty hikers and crafty monkeys alike. After observing monkeys in all parts of the world, especially Asia, I still don't know why we, humans, are the apes in charge. Cunning and patient, monkeys are just remarkable to watch--from a safe distance, of course. You can see one of the band of monkeys sitting on a rock in the photo above, but there are many others camouflaged throughout this scene.

Behold: Dunhinda Falls! This photo feels so lame, like it just mocks the majesty of the water and the crushing effects of its fall.

One special monkey came down to take in the view with us... He seems so contemplative, looking down and out beyond the pool of the waterfall, meditating perhaps on his next snack?

I was asked to bring back a monkey for my friend Tim; I hope this exhibitionist one will do.

This is like a scene from Indiana Jones, only there weren't any crocodiles below and we had a alternate route, saving us the splintered experience of crossing this old bridge.

We stayed in a simple guest house in Badulla for the night, but found our view to be quite trashy. This is a photo taken from the balcony of our room, overlooking what is now the city dump. The property across the way used to be, and partially still is, the municipal pool and cricket playing fields. Now, it has been turned into the area's trash heap, with a token shantytown of shacks outlaying the operation. We would get a waft of this fuming waste every now and again, and could only imagine what daily living here would be like. We all felt really bad for the owner of the guest house, as this has and will forever impact his business' success.

Waste is one of the most indicative factors in a society's development--even the sheer notion of waste creation and 'disposal'. In Sri Lankan urban areas, there is litter everywhere, even on the beaches, but alternately, the heaps of concentrated trash like the one above also don't serve the environment well at all. How much waste do we generate as a society, East and West? Certainly, in the West we consume more and thus can generate more trash, but we also have technology, infrastructure, and (attempts at) education to combat and even inverse this concept of 'waste', for example with recycling processes and composting techniques.

After Badulla, we headed off to Haputale, the last stop on this mini expedition to Hill Country... stay tuned for that final installment coming soon!

In the meantime, I am just returned from a weekend trip to Elkaduwa, a serene tea growing village north of Kandy. If you'd like to view those photos, please click HERE.