Sri Lanka – Catching The First Rays of Sun Rise @ Adam’s Peak
Adam’s Peak Sri Lanka | *image: Flickr
The most exciting part of my 10 days-long Sri Lanka trip was the fifth day. I spent the first five days of my trip along the west coast. Now, a very long and exhausting journey was ahead of me with one ultimate goal: watching the sunrise at Adam’s Peak at 2243 meters high.
It’s basically a mountain that could not be shared among religions. Long story short; an important person left their footprint at the top. However, every religion argues that the footprints belonged to someone else. According to Buddhist belief: it is the first Buddha, according to the Hindu belief: the first Shiva, and according to Islam and Christian beliefs: Adam.
Anyway, as historians argue, we climb. 😛
Buddhist Monks at Adam’s Peak | *image: Flickr
The peak is 2243 meters high, but you don’t really need the advanced mountaineering equipment. All you need to do is go up 5500 stone steps.
Tourists from many parts of the world climb Adam’s Peak to watch the sunrise. The sun rising from behind the hills covered with forests is really worth-seeing from above the clouds.
Following the sunrise, a triangular shadow is formed on the opposite mountains, almost an equilateral triangle. The sunlight hits the mountain and the temple at the peak from such an angle that it forms a mind-blowing triangular shadow. Besides tourists, a lot of local people also climb because of the temple at the peak.
There are certain routes to climb Adam’s Peak, but the most commonly used route starts in a town called Nallathaniya.
We left the hotel just before midnight. We started a little earlier because we thought we were “just a bit” unfit. There were a lot of buffets and souvenir shops on both sides along the way.
The first part of the hike looked almost flat, not deadly tiring. However, the peak looked REALLY high above and impossible to reach. In the meantime, groups of local people were coming down, greeting us.
After the first hour, the stairs became little steeper, so we slowed down a little.
Halfway through, we took a tea break and ate the snacks we purchased at the hotel. The tea they offered was so flavory that we almost forgot about our exhaustion.
We then hit the road again. Now, the steps were really high and steep, yet the peak itself still seemed far away. We saw interesting moments like a beggar with no legs (how did he get there?) and two young tourists helping out two old local women.
My friend started to show signs of exhaustion and heavy breathing, but seeing other people just as exhausted motivated us in a strange way.
The last hour of the hike was painfully steep and the steps were knee-high, even higher. Everybody around us was groaning with pain. It was so painful for my legs that I had to take a break after every 10 steps. I couldn’t help but think about how we were going to go down with this exhaustion.
Adam’s Peak Sunrise | *image: Flickr
We FINALLY made it to the top at 5 am. The crowd was insane. Everyone had the same goal of watching the sunrise, so there was an incredible amount of scuffle. It reminded me of the Black Friday promotion events.
The sunrise started sometime between 5:30am – 6:00am.
The hill was magnificent as expected but it was extremely crowded. The crowd and the hurry to take pictures of the sunrise took away the magic of enjoying and appreciating the moment to be honest. We started going down at 7 am with our terribly stiff legs. They were trembling so badly that it was noticeable from outside.
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Even though we almost died from exhaustion, it’s surprising that we still can smile. Our legs stayed stiff for the next couple of days, making it a huge struggle to walk.
Nevertheless, the happiness of being able to accomplish this sort of challenge was priceless.
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