First off, the flight<\/p>\n
Jetstar business class. Photo \/ Jetstar<\/p>\n
Kiwi travellers often anticipate a punishing transit, so I prepared as if going into battle \u2013 but I needn\u2019t have. We were trying out Jetstar\u2019s business class on a refreshed 787 Dreamliner. <\/p>\n
The seat is more high-end cinema recliner than a full lie-flat, but you are greeted with sparkling wine, ample legroom, and the best plane meal I\u2019ve ever had (slow-cooked lamb shank at 40,000ft). <\/p>\n
With an attentive cabin crew bringing handfuls of chocolate, in-flight Wi-Fi, and a whole season of Love Is Blind UK pre-downloaded on my phone, the 10-hour flight flew by.<\/p>\n
Day 1: Authenticity of the intoxicating kind<\/p>\n
Negombo Fish Market. Photo \/ Intrepid<\/p>\n
At 5.30am, the Negombo fish market visit didn\u2019t initially inspire boundless joy, but it turned out to be a raw, sensory introduction to local life \u2013 the kind synonymous with Intrepid tours. <\/p>\n
Colourful boats with names like \u2018Welcome Jesus 2\u2019 bobbed as fishermen shouted prices over glistening giant tuna. Next, we met a \u2018toddy tapper\u2019, who scaled huge palm trees without a harness, walking tightropes between them to tap coconut flower sap. <\/p>\n
A man climbing a palm tree for coconut flower sap. Photo \/ Intrepid<\/p>\n
Moments later, we were sipping a delicious, mildly alcoholic toddy. I also breezed through my first squatting toilet experience here, despite our guide Dodan trying to dissuade me, clearly unaware of how many music festivals I\u2019ve camped at.<\/p>\n
By evening, we arrived at Jetwing Lake, a mystical resort on the jungle\u2019s edge in Dambulla, overlooking an ancient water reservoir and giving extreme White Lotus energy, minus the murder. <\/p>\n
Monika Barton at dinner. Photo \/ Supplied
Sambol making. Photo \/ Monika Barton<\/p>\n
Dinner was a barbecue feast in an outdoor kitchen twinkling with fairy lights in the middle of nowhere. We ate whole grilled fish, coconut sambol and fiery Sri Lankan chicken prepared by a local mother and her sons, agreeing it was the sort of authentic, off-grid experience Anthony Bourdain would\u2019ve showcased on Parts Unknown.<\/p>\n
Day 2: Lions, hikers and beers \u2013 oh my<\/p>\n
Lion Rock in Sri Lanka. Photo \/ Monika Barton<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s 4am alarm made yesterday\u2019s seem like child\u2019s play. We were off to scale Sigiriya (Lion Rock), a 200m granite column fortress. <\/p>\n
As a person of questionable cardio fitness who, truthfully, only sees that time of the morning having not slept the night before, this wouldn\u2019t normally feature on my itinerary. <\/p>\n
But beating the 35C heat to watch the sun rise over jaw-dropping vistas at the summit is mandatory. And reader, I hate to tell you, it was worth it.<\/p>\n
Sigiriya was built by the 5th-century King Kasyapa, who erected an architecturally staggering palace atop the rock, accessible only through the mouth of an enormous carved lion. I don\u2019t know if he was a Leo, but as one myself, I resonated with this big-cat flex. Most of the lion has eroded, but you still pass its immense stone paws guarding the final stair climb.<\/p>\n
We followed a polished brick \u201cmirror wall\u201d, once so shiny the king could admire his own reflection (further evidence of the Leo theory) and detoured through a fresco cave bearing ancient paintings of topless women. Some of the surviving surfaces even bear 9th-century tourist graffiti, proving the impulse to scrawl \u201cI was here\u201d is timeless.<\/p>\n
Huffing skyward, we passed an English couple who told us, \u201cWe probably shouldn\u2019t still be doing this at 200 years old, but we\u2019ve come back six times. This place gets under your skin.\u201d<\/p>\n
After a necessary dip at the hotel\u2019s unnecessarily long pool (75m), we boarded open-top jeeps at Minneriya National Park to witness \u2018The Gathering\u2019. Here, up to 300 elephants congregate around the lake during the dry season. <\/p>\n
We stood in awe, watching the interactions of huge matriarchal herds \u2013 with babies! \u2013 and passing by lone bachelor males flapping their colossal ears.<\/p>\n
Later that night, sipping a cheap, ice-cold local Lion lager in the hotel pool in the balmy night\u2019s air, I had to wonder: respectfully, Bintang who?<\/p>\n
Day 3: Where the wild things are<\/p>\n
Time to tackle the Ancient City of Polonnaruwa, where, at Gal Vihara, we attempted to take in the majesty of mammoth 850-year-old Buddha monuments hewn from solid granite.<\/p>\n
We cycled through the ruins of another ancient king\u2019s royal palace, marvelling at ornate stone carvings and padding barefoot \u2013 as custom dictates \u2013 through sacred temples. <\/p>\n
Our status as uninitiated tourists was solidified when we sprinted across scalding ground to retrieve our Jandals, which, left baking in the sun, had reached the approximate temperature of the Earth\u2019s molten core, prompting a chorus of high-pitched shrieks.<\/p>\n
A monkey from Sri Lanka. Photo \/ David Whitehill<\/p>\n
Other things to note to avoid embarrassment: no photos with your back turned to Buddha; keep shoulders and knees covered and remain a safe distance from the monkeys idling in the low tree branches. They\u2019re adorable, but try striking up a conversation, and one will casually bare its fangs, sending you cycling fervently in the wrong direction.<\/p>\n
Wildlife is so integrated here that actual safaris feel almost obsolete. On the drive back, a wild elephant sauntered across the main highway in front of us, while tuk-tuks honked cheerily and steered around it. Minutes later, a massive water monitor lizard (basically a dragon) peered through our van window, flicking a menacing blue tongue.<\/p>\n
An elephant crossing. Photo \/ Monika Barton<\/p>\n
We finished a huge day with a visit to the ZeroPlastic Impact Centre, where they \u201cdon\u2019t believe in recycling \u2013 it doesn\u2019t work\u201d, but instead focus on reducing waste and creating plastic alternatives. <\/p>\n
We made coconut teacups and bought beautiful homewares crafted by local artisans \u2013 an example of the conscientious tourism that supports communities and affects positive change in a developing country.<\/p>\n
Day 4: From ancient caves to pina coladas<\/p>\n
Our final stop was the Dambulla Cave Temples, a consecrated complex of shrines and one of the most sublime places you will ever step (bare)foot. Five caves house 153 Buddha statues beneath kaleidoscopic ceiling murals of celestial figures, marauding demons and ancient kings, with depictions of deities wearing protective \u2018cobra hoods\u2019 (an accessory I coveted deeply). <\/p>\n
Incense wafts through the humid air as devotees offer lotus flowers amid low chanting. The scale, beauty and energy of the place can\u2019t be captured on any smartphone. At the entrance, Dodan pointed out a royal decree \u201cinscribed in 12th-century medieval Sinhalese\u201d \u2013 a phrase I found so wonderfully incomprehensible as a Kiwi.<\/p>\n
We capped the trip by finally getting to sip a pina colada in a rooftop infinity pool overlooking the metropolis of Colombo, proving Sri Lanka generously offers it all, from beaches to jungles, to bustling cities.<\/p>\n
A blessing<\/p>\n
The 16-hour return transit via Melbourne is surprisingly easy, provided you book a quick stopover and manage a few winks on the overnight leg.<\/p>\n
So, if you think your soul needs a reset that a crowded Bali beach club simply cannot provide, I suggest you skip the scooter traffic and get on the Dreamliner.<\/p>\n
Among the many moments that stuck with me: Vendors at the cave temple hawking white pirith nula (blessing threads); Dodan sternly steering us past them, reminding us of something all travellers should keep front of mind \u2013 that real blessings cannot be bought; they are always freely given.<\/p>\n
The journalist travelled courtesy of Jetstar and Intrepid<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"First off, the flight Jetstar business class. Photo \/ Jetstar Kiwi travellers often anticipate a punishing transit, so…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":601522,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[4911,48563,31272,285850,13019,138,57100,24181,4526,2550,189,296457,807,60319,29851,1362,296458,296459,111,139,69,8617,63502,29850,223,61,185027,102,9192],"class_list":["post-601521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-alternative","tag-antidote","tag-bali","tag-barton","tag-burnout","tag-business","tag-cool","tag-cultural","tag-easier","tag-even","tag-holiday","tag-jetstars","tag-kiwis","tag-lanka","tag-lankas","tag-made","tag-melbournecolombo","tag-monika","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-offers","tag-route","tag-sri","tag-the","tag-to","tag-triangle","tag-with","tag-writes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=601521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601521\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/601522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=601521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=601521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=601521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}