​Riding along the two lane road that skirts Kaudulla National Park, enjoying the rich earthy smell of dry tropical forestland, the abundant bird life, and a road practically devoid of traffic, we suddenly heard a loud crash in the brush just to our right. “Holy shit!” exclaimed Allegra, gesturing toward a small stand of trees no more than 20 feet away. “An elephant!” Having never seen an elephant in the wild, I was mesmerized. Powerfully munching away on leaves and tossing dirt on his head to cool off, the elephant could not have cared less about us watching. I inched a little closer (Allegra intelligently declined to join me), listening to his deep breathing and watching him flap his ears. Eventually, perhaps alerted by the offensive smell of my biking shirt, the giant looked directly at me and made a surprisingly quick step in my direction. Few gestures in the animal kingdom are as clear a way of communicating “get lost” and I obliged. As he lumbered off, crashing into the jungle, we hopped on our bikes and rode off, enchanted.

One of the many delights of traveling by bicycle in Sri Lanka is that one can ride from the Arabian Sea to the Bay of Bengal in a few days, passing through protected jungle reserves, sweltering agricultural lowlands, and countless small villages where small scale agriculture remains a way of life, bicycles are form of transportation and small shrines punctuate the landscape.

In addition to the amazingly flavorful and firey curries we have been eating, yesterday, we found Kings Bakery, a welcoming family run “cool spot” where the gregarious son and front man of the operation introduced us to the neighborhood gang and fed us a delicious dense dark brown bread made with banana and treacle followed by a lightly sweet pastry with a baked egg and pepper on top. Stops like these have been key, as the intense and depleting heat requires plenty of smiles, liquid and delicious snacks to keep us going.

We ended our ride today at an elegant lodge with a view towards the Sigiriya Lion Rock Fortress, a monumental slab of rock that stands 200 meters proud of the jungle floor. We were greeted with chilled towels and fresh mango juice, which quickly brought us back to life. We are now 375 km into our trip, having traversed the country from east to west and are now heading south, down the mountainous spine of the country.