Asia trip: Climbing Adam’s Peak

We have dreamed about watching the sunrise from the top of Adam’s Peak for almost 6 years and finally, the day has come. We arrived by the most beautiful train journey in the world in Hatton. There we got on the bus to take us to Dalhousie, but we had to wait for almost an hour and a half for the bus to depart. In Sri Lanka there is no rush, everyone has time for everything and the bus usually goes when it’s full, not according to the timetable.

After nearly 3 hours we finally arrived in Dalhousie! We got off the bus and finally could see Adam’s Peak and stand face to face towards what was waiting for us that night. We stayed in the White House, recommended by Lonely Planet. Budget accommodation and not too far from the beginning of the track, win win. They offered us dinner and because we were tired as hell and hungry even more we agreed.

After dinner, the owner had a speech about Adam’s Peak, what to take, when the perfect time to go is and so on. It felt like on a summer camp haha. It rained almost the whole evening till maybe 10 pm but when we woke up at 1 am the sky was clear and all we could see were stars and lights on Adam’s Peak far in a distance.

We headed off at 1:45 am. It was chilly outside, but after a few minutes of hiking we were sweating our asses off. There were not many people on the track, only locals going down. The first part of the track was easy. There were just a few steps and the rest was a normal path. But then… then the hell began. The first step, second one and it didn’t stop until we reached the summit. Every time we thought it couldn’t get steeper, it got steeper. We had to stop every 5 minutes to rest and breath it out.

And I don’t think we are that unfit as we both walked every day 8 hours at work, but 5500 steps with 1000 meters elevation… that was just too much. All the way up we were just mad, sweated, angry and scared of the way down. But the moment we reached the summit and saw the first sunbeams, we knew it was all worth it. The sky was almost clear and the sunrise was one of the most beautiful sunrises we have ever seen. We were lucky enough to have a great view, only one lady who forced herself in front of us to take 1 billion of panoramas, but well… we still got the chance to enjoy it.

After an hour we decided to check the temple on the very top. You can’t have your shoes on there so our feet were freezing but it all went away again when we noticed the shadow of the mountain! The shadow is the reason why Adam’s Peak got on our bucket list in a first place. The shadow was mentioned as one of the 1000 Wonders of The World. Perfect triangle even that the mountain is not. We wandered around the top for a while and then headed down. The way down was even bigger hell. We only wished there had been a cableway for the way down haha. When we got down the owner of the hotel congratulated to everyone who reached the top that day which was super nice. We were starving probably more than we stank so we went straight for breakfast and ate everything, then hurried to take a shower before checking out.

There is a saying here in Sri Lanka: “If you’ve never climbed Sri Pada you are a fool. If you’ve climbed it twice you’re a bloody fool.” and we must agree. It was amazing to stand at the top of THE Holly mountain and watch the most beautiful sunrise, feeling of gratefulness, happiness to be able to travel and experience these kinds of moments, but would we climb Adams Peak again in a future? Hahahahahah – nope. Once is enough!

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