Right.....

My last post did not publish right due to ridiculous power and Internet speeds. My evocative descriptions of Adam's Peak are lost forever. So, as I ma getting behind in my travelouge I'll have to do a crap-re-cap of it. Okay so I climbed, alone, in the darkness. Prayer flags whispered in the wind. The mountain arose before me unknown and looming. A monk jumped me in the dark, and taxed me a fiver for "Good Luck"on the mountain. Or his lunch fund. At 3 in the morning it wasn't clear. I climbed on towards the peak and sunrise. Being a mountain there isn't really any respite. I stopped for fizzy refreshment in one of the many tea shops, some with crazy music blaring. One man is asleep along his counter top nestled between his water bottles. I climb on. I summit in around 2 and 3/4 hours which is respectable. I have surmounted five thousand and five hundred steps which is faintly ludicrous. Try not ot think about getting down. See a beautiful sunrise and traditional music blares as the red ball of the sun crests the clouds. I ring the bell for good fortune and look at the sacred footprint on the very top. Its actually part of the temple at the peak, which is helpfully organised through a tannoy system. However its all in Singhala so I can blot it out. Cross to the far side of the peak to see the "shadow" cast by the sun. Its famous for being mysterious, purplish blue and in a perfect triangle shape. Which does not reflect the true shape of Adam's Peak at all. It hangs in the air. Mystical sign apparently. Its certainly hard to explain. After wafting at the summit, I descend like a three legged goat that's been on the piss. My right knee is playing up so I have to adopt the descent mode of a crab, sideways all the way. But I make it despite being overtaken occasionally by local women in their 70's wearing flip flops. Return to guesthouse feeling like I've achieved a new status as a minor mountaineer......