Where to even start? This past week I had the incredible opportunity to go on a biking trip for 5 days in which we covered around 200km all throughout the Sigiriya area. To say it was one of the best school trips I’ve had is an understatement. From the people to the activities to the food to the teachers, one thing just kept getting better than the other.
To be quite honest I was scared of going on this trip not only because I had never been on a WWW trip before, but because I’m a new student and therefore I don’t have many people that I’m close to, and going away for five days seemed like a lot for me. However, I don’t think I should’ve ever felt that way, because those 5 days proved the complete opposite.
It all started with the 4-hour bus ride there full of laughs, terrible singing and annoying each other. Before getting to camp we got straight on our bikes and rode for about 8km until we reached Back Of Beyond Dehigala Ela, where we would be staying for the next 5 days. The location was beautiful, to say the least. Since we were only 5 girls on the trip we all stayed in the same treehouse, which was extremely fun. It’s such an experience not only to sleep in a bed surrounded by nature and having a tree growing right next to you, not knowing if monkeys will come and wake you up in the middle of the night, but also to do so with people that I barely just met but that now have become great friends of mine. I also love the idea of mixing grades, so that we get to really engage with people that not only aren’t our age but that we barely get to interact with on a day-to-day basis.
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Then came the 5 days of intense biking, riding uphill, falling, seeing elephants, getting soaked by mud, rain and much more. Seeing dogs, peacocks and snakes as we rode was incredible. Going on nature walks, exploring caves, hiking Pidurangala rock, being meters away from Sigiriya rock and getting to cook our food every night, all things that made this trip incredible. From endless laughs all sitting on the same hammock (pretty sure it broke :), to intense rounds of mafia and waiting for Takuro,
Harry and Harin to wake up every morning. All of these little things are memories I will keep with me forever, they really marked a moment in time and a moment of change for me, especially in regard to my experience here in Sri Lanka.
Overall, I am thankful for the teachers who made this trip possible and 10 times more fun, to all the students that made it amazing and to the staff at Back of Beyond and the Bike Guides who were there to help us (and first-hand witness) all of our epic falls 😉