It’s a clear black night as we wake up at 2 a.m. in order to
get ourselves to the start of the holy climb of Adams peak.
Centuries long this peak has been climbed by pilgrims. Now we
join them. Thousands of clearly visible  stars have to
guide us through the dark village, where roaming dogs rules
the street with an umbrella in my hand for defense reasons.
Already after a few hundred meters all dark corner have been
changed with dozens of food, candy,  tea and teddybear
shops to satisfy any possible demand except beer. A snake of
lighted shops, lighted temples, lighted Buddha’s guide our
way out of the town towards the mountain and its first easy
to conquer stairs. Teashops remain present just below the
finish, same goes for Buddhas and the everlasting music to
enjoy the ears and motivate the walkers. It feels a bit like
the damloop. Also streetlights go all the way to the top,
from a distance seen as a snake of lights uphill. Hundreds of
pilgrims come hiking down, some in pain. Upwards we pass by
families with kids, on daddy’s neck and mothers who can
hardly breathe. Average condition of Sri Lanka citizen is not
quite what is should be. On certain spots devotees mourn,
pray, sing at a Buddhism temple, some with massive reclining
Buddha. The more close we get to the top, the steeper the
trail and the longer the staircases become. Breathing is oke,
but the legs have a tough morning.
After 2 hours the trail divides itself between a left and
right side, one for people going down and for people still
fighting to reach the top. The crowdyness becomes bigger,
mainly due to people who take it really slow and block the
path. Steep is the path which takes us up the mountain. The
person before me is already towering over me. You can imagine
how high twenty persons will stand above me. The railing,
which serves a extra grip, and safety as the body becomes
shakey, is feeling very cold though my body is sweating
crazy. It’s gonna be cold at the top. The last steps uphill
are a little traffic jam as people search for a spot to stand
on the mountain roof, which is of course a holy temple. We
find ourselves a nice spot amidst few other tourists, but
mainly pilgrims and Sri Lankan youth. At 5.30 the drums start
to play, in other words the sun is slowly trying to get in
sight. The more close we get to sunrise, the heavier the
drums start to play, the more cameras are being used. Once
its come to a full sunrise there’s the obvious happiness.
soon people especially tourist start leaving, try beating the
traffic jam down the mountain. We decide to stay a bit, enjoy
the sunrise to the fullest and taking in the wonderful
scenery way below us, the rolling hills in the background,
green thick Forrest, and the roofs of many houses. All the
sudden we are treated to a concert in the shape of a musical
procession with several drums waking up everybody. In the
back there were people carrying flowers, with people trying
to touch them desperately. After 20 minutes or so we left as
well, joining the enormous queue down the mountain, moving
from left to right hoping to be in the fast lane. The going
down went smooth, granny going slow, kids on slippers but
with hat on running down. Funny to see how the surroundings
look like in the daylight, which wasn’t possible during the
ascent,  how beautiful it is, with white Buddha’s
everywhere, mountains colouring light green or darkgreen,
rolling around everywhere. The sun is coming in fiercely
now. Time to leave this place.
11/3/2013