I’ve put this off almost a month just trying to find words for it. It was…an adventure. Within a single 24-hour period, Adam’s Peak encapsulated just about everything sublime and shitty about traveling.
I shall attempt to give it words in this unnecessarily long, 2-part post.
Adam’s Peak is a pilgrimmage site in multiple religions--Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Islam. There's a giant footprint at the top that's considered to that of a divine figure according to which religion you believe. You can explore the full details on this excellent website if you are interested in the nitty-gritty:
http://sripada.org/text-0.htm
And if you climb up at night, there's supposed to be a brilliant sunrise, in which the sun magically pops above the horizon without much warning. Cool, huh?
Suffice to say, spirituality + nature trails + spectacular sunrise + mountain climbing under the stars was enough to appeal to me from the start (which is when I had a 24-hour layover in Colombo that time I went to Doha).
I just sort of got on the bus from Colombo and headed to a town that seemed remotely close to Adam’s Peak on the map I was carrying. When the bus stopped at Hatton and refused to go farther due to encroaching darkness, I hired a taxi to take me to Dalhousie (at the foot of the mountain). You can do this for about 1000Rs, and probably a lot cheaper if you bother to negotiate.
So, I got into the little three-wheeled tuk-tuk, and we drove at top speed through narrow winding mountain roads into the darkness. Took about an hour to get to Adam's Peak from Hatton.
The driver let me out at the foot of the mountain. There were a lot of guesthouses around, but being the plucky duck I am, I didn’t actually bother to check in, rest up, and set my stuff down. My delusions of invincibility reared their ugly head and I started up the mountain carrying everything I possessed. Guesthouses are for WIMPS!
But first, I stopped to eat the old hamburger from BK in Thailand, since I hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast.
I was then joined by a group of Sinhalese youth who kept trying to engage me in conversation despite the fact that they could scarcely speak English (like seriously about as well I speak Khmer). I didn't particularly want them there, but they were ridiculously hard to shake off, as I was to discover.
So, we climbed.
Luckily, the steps are fairly easy to walk up for the first leg of the journey. There are little shops and tea stalls everywhere (which I made liberal use of. Sri Lankan tea is prepared like Chai, and it's GOOOOD). Everything’s all lit up--there are lots of stores, tea houses, resting points, and things to sit on.
For the religiously inclined, there’s a place at the outset where you can get the monks’ blessings before setting out on your pilgrimmage. There are several places along the way where pilgrims can participate in rituals…at one point, my entourage felt it was necessary to get me to brush my teeth in a mountain stream. I never did figure out if that was part of the ceremonials or not, but at least oral hygiene did not go neglected that night.
Shortly after that, we came to a halt. One of the entourage disappeared into a trail off the path. Then another followed. Soon all six of them were missing due to a “big problem” as one of them put it. I have no fricken clue where they went; all I know is I sat there for about 15 minutes before deciding to move on.
And so I climbed.
At this point there were many others also climbing. People you wouldn’t expect--fathers with toddlers on their shoulders, elderly women, whole families, Thai monks, ancient genderless beings being carried on litters by a team of men. All sorts of people just coming up and going down, exchanging greetings, snacks, and laughter as we all walked together along the jungle mountain trails under a canopy of darkness and stars.
I must have been ¾ of the way up when I was approached by my team of six, now four short, breathless and distraught.
They informed me that some of them had been arrested for cannabis possession (apparently the word they use for it in Sri Lanka), that they had been taken in for questioning, and that I had been targeted as a potential suspect as well. My friend informed me that the only reason we weren’t all in jail was because he had a friend who’d recently been put on the local police staff.
Of course I’m sitting here like:
Good thing I kept walking, I guess. (Just btw, No, I was not in possession of cannabis, nor was I offered any. I was completely clueless the whole time, which is why that whole instance weirded me out as much as it did.)
The thing about Adam’s Peak is, when you get to the top, the steps get ridiculously steep, and because they curve around, it becomes impossible to gauge how much farther you have left to go. It seems unending--just endless steep steps on a rock face. Stairway into heaven. I kept stopping because I didn’t want to hurt my legs. You can stop in the middle of the stairwell, if need be. That’s fine--everyone else was doing just the same thing. All people milling about, coming and going, stopping, chanting, praying, each going about their own journey in their own way.
At about midnight, we made it to the top.
At 7000+ feet, it was cold. I put on the extra clothes I had brought specifically for that purpose and wrapped a cloth around me…three shirts, two pairs of pants, a keffiya, and a shawl were scarcely enough, for the mountain was windy and dark. There were warm buildings to sleep in, but they were already filled, so we huddled and shivered together on a stone ledge, foodless and sleepless till sunrise.
And that's about what it's like to climb Adam's Peak. Be prepared for PART TWO, in which I detail my the sunrise and my descent downward.
I shall attempt to give it words in this unnecessarily long, 2-part post.
Adam’s Peak is a pilgrimmage site in multiple religions--Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Islam. There's a giant footprint at the top that's considered to that of a divine figure according to which religion you believe. You can explore the full details on this excellent website if you are interested in the nitty-gritty:
http://sripada.org/text-0.htm
And if you climb up at night, there's supposed to be a brilliant sunrise, in which the sun magically pops above the horizon without much warning. Cool, huh?
Suffice to say, spirituality + nature trails + spectacular sunrise + mountain climbing under the stars was enough to appeal to me from the start (which is when I had a 24-hour layover in Colombo that time I went to Doha).
I just sort of got on the bus from Colombo and headed to a town that seemed remotely close to Adam’s Peak on the map I was carrying. When the bus stopped at Hatton and refused to go farther due to encroaching darkness, I hired a taxi to take me to Dalhousie (at the foot of the mountain). You can do this for about 1000Rs, and probably a lot cheaper if you bother to negotiate.
So, I got into the little three-wheeled tuk-tuk, and we drove at top speed through narrow winding mountain roads into the darkness. Took about an hour to get to Adam's Peak from Hatton.
Adam's Peak--At Night
The driver let me out at the foot of the mountain. There were a lot of guesthouses around, but being the plucky duck I am, I didn’t actually bother to check in, rest up, and set my stuff down. My delusions of invincibility reared their ugly head and I started up the mountain carrying everything I possessed. Guesthouses are for WIMPS!
But first, I stopped to eat the old hamburger from BK in Thailand, since I hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast.
I was then joined by a group of Sinhalese youth who kept trying to engage me in conversation despite the fact that they could scarcely speak English (like seriously about as well I speak Khmer). I didn't particularly want them there, but they were ridiculously hard to shake off, as I was to discover.
The Six Samurai
So, we climbed.
Luckily, the steps are fairly easy to walk up for the first leg of the journey. There are little shops and tea stalls everywhere (which I made liberal use of. Sri Lankan tea is prepared like Chai, and it's GOOOOD). Everything’s all lit up--there are lots of stores, tea houses, resting points, and things to sit on.
Shops and stuff along the way
For the religiously inclined, there’s a place at the outset where you can get the monks’ blessings before setting out on your pilgrimmage. There are several places along the way where pilgrims can participate in rituals…at one point, my entourage felt it was necessary to get me to brush my teeth in a mountain stream. I never did figure out if that was part of the ceremonials or not, but at least oral hygiene did not go neglected that night.
Ritual
Shortly after that, we came to a halt. One of the entourage disappeared into a trail off the path. Then another followed. Soon all six of them were missing due to a “big problem” as one of them put it. I have no fricken clue where they went; all I know is I sat there for about 15 minutes before deciding to move on.
And so I climbed.
At this point there were many others also climbing. People you wouldn’t expect--fathers with toddlers on their shoulders, elderly women, whole families, Thai monks, ancient genderless beings being carried on litters by a team of men. All sorts of people just coming up and going down, exchanging greetings, snacks, and laughter as we all walked together along the jungle mountain trails under a canopy of darkness and stars.
I must have been ¾ of the way up when I was approached by my team of six, now four short, breathless and distraught.
They informed me that some of them had been arrested for cannabis possession (apparently the word they use for it in Sri Lanka), that they had been taken in for questioning, and that I had been targeted as a potential suspect as well. My friend informed me that the only reason we weren’t all in jail was because he had a friend who’d recently been put on the local police staff.
Of course I’m sitting here like:
Good thing I kept walking, I guess. (Just btw, No, I was not in possession of cannabis, nor was I offered any. I was completely clueless the whole time, which is why that whole instance weirded me out as much as it did.)
The thing about Adam’s Peak is, when you get to the top, the steps get ridiculously steep, and because they curve around, it becomes impossible to gauge how much farther you have left to go. It seems unending--just endless steep steps on a rock face. Stairway into heaven. I kept stopping because I didn’t want to hurt my legs. You can stop in the middle of the stairwell, if need be. That’s fine--everyone else was doing just the same thing. All people milling about, coming and going, stopping, chanting, praying, each going about their own journey in their own way.
At about midnight, we made it to the top.
At 7000+ feet, it was cold. I put on the extra clothes I had brought specifically for that purpose and wrapped a cloth around me…three shirts, two pairs of pants, a keffiya, and a shawl were scarcely enough, for the mountain was windy and dark. There were warm buildings to sleep in, but they were already filled, so we huddled and shivered together on a stone ledge, foodless and sleepless till sunrise.
Waiting at the top
And that's about what it's like to climb Adam's Peak. Be prepared for PART TWO, in which I detail my the sunrise and my descent downward.
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