Departures (2008–…): Season 3, Episode 3 - Sri Lanka - full transcript

(film reel clicks and whirs)

(gentle ethereal music)

- [Justin] Sri Lanka is a small
little Island off of India.

We were kind of nervous on coming here.

You don't really know
what it's going to be like

until you get here, you know?

You hear a lot of press
and sometimes it's good,

sometimes it's bad.

- [Scott] I feel the need to see it while

there's an opportunity to see it

before it changes one way or the other.



- [Scott] There's got to
be a positive side of this.

It's gotta be a safe side to it.

You know, there's only one way to find out

is go to the place, see it for yourself.

(serene music)

- [Scott] After traveling
the world for a year,

Justin and I were charged
with a whole new energy.

- [Justin] As I got further
away from my old life,

I started to realize that
this is where I need to be.

This is now my lifestyle.

- [Scott] One day, I hope to
say that I've seen the world

but that day's not here yet.

(upbeat inspiring music)

(gentle vocal music)



- [Justin] Sri Lanka
is a war torn country.

It's a country that's been at civil war

for the better part of 25 years now.

Our decision to come
here is based on the fact

that we want to see the
country outside of what

makes the news. A country
that people live daily lives

in and out of all the time.

- We're going to leave Columbo.

We're going to head up
and into the Highlands

and hopefully to this ancient
rock temple called Sigiriya.

It's going to be probably a few hours.

The best way for us to get
there is to hop on a bus.

Enjoy the ride.

Where? Is that our bus?

- What's in the bag? Give me your hand.

(speaking foreign language)

Now! With them. Ah.

- How you doing?

Handshakes don't last that long.

Thank you.

(speaking foreign language)

- Wow. I like, I like how
little we're cheated here. Wow.

So much respect.

- At least they're friendly.

- I'll just go with this one here.

You want to get this one or that one?

- The one that's going to Dambulla.

- (speaking foreign language). Okay, bye.

- (funky upbeat music)

- We traveled a couple
of hours to the Northeast

inland from Colombo.

We've stopped just outside
of the town of Dambulla.

One of the triangle corners
of the ancient cities.

Here we're, we're just
starting to ascend the steps

to the cave temples.

- These guys here, they're
pretty vicious looking

and we've been told that
they'll come and bite you.

They got a pretty nasty looking fangs on.

- We'll keep our distance.

Have no, uh, no interest
in getting into fisticuffs

with a monkey.

- These guys are business.

- This has been a Buddhist temple

for well over 2000 years now.
A hundred years before Christ.

There was a king at the
time who took refuge in here

and after he regained power,
he wanted to show thanks

to the monks who gave him
solace here in these caves

and turn them into really
extravagant cave temples.

- This religion is very, very potent

throughout the whole countryside.

And being in Sri Lanka,

obviously, we're going
to see a lot more of this

as we travel throughout.

- As we go from country to country

not only does the landscape
change, the people change,

but so does the religion.

This being a Buddhist
temple, I'm trying my hardest

to not have my back towards
the image of Buddha,

but it's pretty difficult because

there's so many statues in here of Buddha.

- If you're a real diehard traveler

you really want to take in
as much as you possibly can.

You go to a country,
you respect the customs

and you respect the religion.

(serene ethereal music)

- [Scott] The reason I
wanted to come to Sigiriya

in the first place, is that
it's widely considered to be

an eighth Wonder of the World.

You wouldn't miss the pyramids of Giza.

You wouldn't miss the Great Wall of China.

So why would you miss an
opportunity like this one?

- It's all up in the air.

No one really knows what this is.

It could be a fortress.
It could be a palace.

It could be a monastery.

- As we were driving closer
to it, even last night,

we could see it from 20
plus kilometers away.

And it's this geological wonder.

It's a solid piece of magma
that's the center core

of an ancient volcano,
millions of years old.

- There's a sign here says
if we make too much noise

hornets will attack you, so keep quite.

- And given the size--

- Shh!

- If that is anything close
to being accurate size--

- (whispering) Keep it down. Keep it down.

- those things are enormous.

- Shh! Keep it.

- We are in serious trouble.

- (laughing) The, the size of his back.

(Scott laughing)

(serene ethereal music)

- About halfway up this enormous
rock are these frescoes,

and they look like
they're painted what like

a hundred years ago or something, maybe.

They're 1500 years old.

- The reason why these ones are still up

is because when the monks came here,

they actually painted over most of them.

But this area they couldn't reach,

so they were just left untouched.

- But these ones in particular
are kind of what sparks

that whole mishmash of theories
that, about what Sigiriya is

or was, and what it was built for.

And these things, these
paintings here are kind of

a big reason for that, right?

Because some people look at this and say,

okay well, as a Buddhist monastery, this,

this is kind of one of those
temptation kind of things,

isn't it?

(serene music)

- It's been bothering me
of why they call this thing

Lion Rock. Like Sigiria means lion rock.

And up until this point
there's been no talk of lions,

no visual of lions until
now. It's kind of obvious.

You see these two paws
with the claws there.

- At one point there possibly
could have been a head.

So you actually walk into the lion's mouth

and then take some sort of
like old school elevator

with ropes and pulleys
to the very, very top.

(upbeat ethereal music)

I feel pretty comfortable being here.

There is a war here, but
you can't believe everything

you read and everything
you see on the news.

- This is the top of the rock.

It looks like top of
the world from up here.

- And the cool thing
is that they built this

in like seven years. And they
said, with all the technology

we have now, it would take 14 years.

You know and just because
of the amount of slaves

and the amount of people

that were involved in building this.

- So the views not not only
beautiful, but it's practical.

I mean, anyone who's
going to be attacking you,

you can see coming from,
from miles and miles

and miles around.

- I think a lot of people
come here to this country

and that's all they focus on.

And some people are deterred from that.

We're not here to document the war.

We're here to see the country.

(upbeat inspiring music)

- We're at one of the biggest tanks,

tanks being a man-made
lake here in Sri Lanka.

Everybody knows if you're
going to go fishing

you have to get up at the crack of dawn.

In the interest of keeping with tradition,

we're only having three
people on the boat.

- Just getting some
fresh ingredients here.

Some people back home have
their little herb garden

these guys have a tree
here full of coconuts.

No ladder required, hey.

(Justin slurping)

(water splashing)

- Now that the nets out,
he's whipping this rock

into the water to scare
the fish into the net.

(water splashes)

(fisherman laughing)

I'm going to end up throwing
myself in the water.

Definitely a technique
to getting these guys

out of this tangled mess.

Look at that.

Not exactly a record size, but
if we get some more of them,

it's still breakfast.

(water lapping)

I think we've got enough fish now,

enough tilapia to get
us a bit of a breakfast.

There you are.

- Well I'm the cook.

- Now get cleaning.

- He's not even...

No, no, that's still
fishermen doing that thing.

- [Scott] No.

- Yeah it is.

- Pull this out, so just gut it like this.

Now that they've been
gutted, just rinsing them off

and there's a few that they're
still picking guts out of

which is probably indicative
of the ones that I did.

I did two by the time they did about 30.

- [Sri Lankan Guy] Somammatee.

- Somammatee.

- S-O, uh.

- Somammatee.

- (speaking foreign language)

- Somammatee.
- Yes.

- [Justin] Somammatee.

- [Sri Lankan Guy] Somammatee.

- Somammatee.

Well, this lovely young lady
has decided to help us out.

Her name is Somammatee, I
believe I said that right.

- Yes.

- Okay, I got it correct (laughing).

Whoo! Here we go.

(knife blade thunks and scrapes)

We got salt, chili pepper.

Can we make this really, really hot?

Like really, really hot?

Like, normal, normal
you'd probably put like,

you know, a cup of this, a cup of this.

Let's put two cups of everything.

Whoo hoo. Waaya.

Ay yay yay. (laughing)

The one we are making right
now, what's that called?

The dish that we're preparing?

The one that we added like triple spiced.

- It's fish curry.

It's not a proper meal
without spice or without rice.

So that's the Sri Lankan diet.

- [Justin] This is the top dog?

(chili crunching)

- (speaking foreign language)

- Whoa ho! (laughing) There we go.

Whole thing. Whole thing.
Whole thing. Whole thing.

- Uh-uh.

- (moaning) Oh my God.

That was seriously hot, man. That was hot.

(knife blade scraping)

So the deal is, I get to cook Scott's meal

and what I'm going to do,
is I'm going to take this

and grind it up really, really fine.

(knife blade scraping)

I got to experience the Sri Lankan pepper

and now he's going to.

Does this make me a bad friend?

Doesn't it?

I can feel it like burning my eyes.

- [Server] (speaking foreign language)

- Is that your specialty there?

- Yeah. Normally it's
yellow, but it's red.

- It's very difficult to
use spoon and fork and spoon

for the Sri Lankan curries.
So we have to use our fingers.

- So I just mix a little of everything?

- [Sri Lankan Guy] Yes, you have to mix.

- And that's it. Then
I'm just supposed to eat.

(ominous music)

- That's spicy.

- [Sri Lankan Guy] (laughing)

(Justin laughing)

- No thanks.

- Oh. It gets all over
your lips, it's just tsss.

- What the hell.

- It's gonna get worse
before it gets better.

I think we've proven a
certain point here that

(laughing) that Sri Lankan food

is the spiciest food in the world.

- (exhaling) Like it's just burning.

(Somammatee giggles)

(serene ethereal music)

- While we were coming down
through Central Sri Lanka

we heard about this Veddas
Tribe. And the Veddas are

kind of the aboriginals of Sri Lanka.

We've been on this dirt
road, which is kind of rustic

for a few kilometers now.

Rathna, the driver here, he
knows where the Veddas Tribe is.

And the Veddas are the original
inhabitants of Sri Lanka.

These are the same direct
descendants of those people.

Nobody knows how to deal
with the environment here

better than these people do.

- When we meet the chief,

is there a certain way of greeting?

- Yes, yes, of course. When you greet

the chief of this tribe, you
have to keep your both hands

do like this.

- Oh okay.

- Yes.

- Do we say anything?

- No. Just this.
- Just like that?

- Yes.

- Hello.

- (speaking foreign language)

- Nice to meet you.

- This man here is the chief,

so we got to get his permission first

before we start traveling
around the village.

- See what of this culture still remains

and what kind of things they still do.

Is it okay to look around.

- What would be the
toughest challenge right now

for the village and the tribe here?

- (speaking foreign language)

- After 1983, there are
many restrictions to them

from the government.

Restrictions to go to inside
the jungle, kill animals.

- Is their area getting
smaller and smaller every year?

- [Rathna] Yes, yes. Because
of the government restrictions.

- It looks like the chief is
a pretty well-respected guy

across the country. You know
there's pictures of him here,

looks like some pretty important
Buddhist figures as well.

And this is kind of the
soul of the country.

These people were here before anyone else.

(feet crunching the undergrowth)

- We're tracking through
the jungle for a bit here

and spots like this open up,
it's really easy to walk around

but it can get pretty, pretty thick.

(birds chirruping)

- (speaking foreign language)

- Uh, we've got a little competition here.

They put up a little circle here.

Me against you, Scott.

Might be here for about
three or four hours.

Or we might be done within one shot.

(bow string popping)

Didn't even hit the tree.

(bow string pops)

- Close.
- That's pretty close.

- Close.

All you have to do is hit
the tree or tie it back up.

(arrow taps)

- Tighter. Tighter.

He's going to show us how
it's done. Watch this.

(serene music)

(bow snapping)

(wood cracking)

(laughing) He's a little bit nervous.

(arrow taps)

(everyone cheering and clapping)

- These people for
thousands of years have been

hunter gatherers.

(flints tapping)

I think they're trying to start a fire.

- [Justin] Close. That was close.

- [Scott] And then all of a
sudden, despite having survived

for thousands of years like
that, the government steps in

and says, you now can no
longer hunt XY and Z animals.

Today they were showing us a demonstration

of how they would hunt, and
the methods they would use.

And it was kinda sad.

Once they're completely absorbed into

the rest of Sri Lanka around them,

you know, everyone's gonna wish

they had been able to see this.

- 'Til they allowed to live with nature,

they allowed to the, this jungle,

and they allowed to the nature.

Because their lifestyle is
depending on this nature

and surrounding area.

(blade scrapping)

(coconut water splashing)

(serene music)

(tribal chanting)

(drum beating)

- [Scott] I feel really lucky
to have been able to come out

and see the Veddas, the last remaining

of the original
inhabitants to this island.

- [Justin] A couple of years from now,

this may not be around and
I found myself really lucky

that we, we do get to see this stuff.

- Thank you very much.

(feet crunch on sand)

(upbeat percussive music)

- We've just arrived in Kandy,

which is one of the largest
cities in the whole country.

So it's a good hub to
be able to catch a ride

for the rest of our trip.

We're hoping to be able to find a way

to carve up over the highlands

(truck hooting)

and down to the south coast.

Our best bet is to, to try to find um,

at least way to Nuwara Eliya,
which is the next major town.

(tuk-tuk hooting)

- No deal. Okay, it's a deal.

It's got a game plan.
It's got a game plan.

- You're the dealer.

- And the place we're going
to is pronounced properly.

- Nuwara.

- Nuwara?

- Nu-ara.

- Nuwara?

- Eliya.

- Eliya.

- Nuwara Eliya.

- Two, two, two.

- [Justin] Two.
- Yes.

- That's actually pretty
good. That's like 30 bucks.

36 to 30.

- (speaking foreign language)

- Oh wait a second. Three people.

Oh actually, he's coming too.

So three people.

- [Sri Lankan Guy] It's also, ya.

- This is a lot easier
than I thought it would be.

I thought it'd be like $100.

- [Scott] Let's close the deal.

- Wow.

- That is a good deal, but...

- Can we go lower? Can we bring it down?

- [Scott] That's it.

Should we go with the first offer?

- No, lets. No deal. No deal. No deal.

We, uh. I feel so bad
'cause it is a great deal.

People are too friendly here.

- Maybe we should just go for it.

- I don't know about you Howie,

but I think I'm going to
take the deal. (laughs)

(motorbike engines buzzing)

- Load this thing up.

- Not only am I good
at getting good deals,

I'm good at packing vehicles.

(tuk-tuks hooting)

(exhaust roars)

(Scott and Justin cheering)

The journey begins.

(tuk-tuk engine roars)

(serene music)

- Well, we suspected that this tuk-tuk

with the three of us in it was gonna have

some struggles getting up the, the hills.

(tuk-tuk engine roaring)

(passersby cheering)

They're not only steep
hills, but they're windy too.

(tuk-tuk engines roaring)

- He just blows right by us.
Three fatties in the back.

Well, we're gonna roll into town,

so we figured before we roll into town,

might as well get this
little rickshaw cleaned.

So Scott's giving it a
little bit of a bath.

You doing a pretty job in the swill, son.

- All we gotta do is find
another rag and you can help.

They're hard to come by.

- They are hard to come by.

(inspiring upbeat music)

- As you make your way
through the mountains,

there's these beautiful tea fields.

Would you say this is the
best tea in the world?

- All right yeah.

- [Justin] Yeah?

- Yeah. Sri Lanka.
- The best.

- Yeah.
- Okay.

Isn't it interesting that
every time you go somewhere

it's like these are the best
oranges, you know what I mean?

Whatever country it is, it's
like, this is the world's best.

- It's a world famous view
right now, that's for sure.

As the sun comes down over the mountains,

and it just lights up the side,

and it doesn't just grow
in clumps and bunches,

they've been able to carpet the hillside.

I think we should have some
of the world's best tea.

- When you first looking at this peak,

you realize it's a pretty tall mountain.

I think this is gonna be like

the biggest challenge of the trip.

- Anyone who's tried to
climb a lot of stairs

knows how painful that
can be after a while.

- It's looking pretty
intimidating at this point.

- Despite what kind of
religion or ethnicity they are,

everyone still shares this as a goal,

as a pilgrimage. You
know it's a holy place,

it's a respected place.

- [Justin] In order to do it
properly and to give it justice

you have to be there for sunrise.

So that means you have
to get up at one o'clock

in the morning to climb this thing.

(suspenseful music)

The rest of yesterday we got a rest,

now it's time to do this,
this hike, this climb,

this pilgrimage.

- We're doing it the right way. Nimal,

- Yes sir.

- You're gonna take us to the top?

- Yes.

- Make sure we make it there.

- Oh, if we have energy
enough, we can go up.

- They call it Adam's Peak
because Muslims and Christians

believe that there's a
footprint at the top of this

that represents the footprint
of Adam, like Adam and Eve.

- Lot's of steps.

- How many steps?

- 5200 steps.

- 5200.

- Yes.

- Wow. That's plenty of steps.

- I know. 5199.

5198.

- I'm not even going to count them.

- Don't count them.

Adam's peak encapsulates
every person in Sri Lanka,

be them Sinhalese Tamil, Buddhist, Hindi,

Christian, Muslim, it doesn't matter.

Everybody kind of reveres Adam's Peak.

- Good and you?

- How Sri Lanka? Your country?

Where?

Your country?

- Canada.

- Canada.
- Canada.

- My country Sri Lanka.

- Sri Lanka.

- Sri Lanka is great
country, nice country, no?

- Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's good.

- I like, I like your gloves.

- Good talking.

- You are Buddhist?

- I'm Muslim.

- Muslim.

- Oh, very good.

- What's the deal with
the coin in the ribbon?

- We wish for the gods,
he here to help us,

to go up and come back here.

And we giving back him lucky band.

- [Scott] Oh okay.

- We wear this for good
luck all the way up.

- [Guide] Oh yeah.

- And then when we come
back, we put it up on there.

- I got it on the left hand.
Is left okay or bad luck?

- [Guide] Okay.

- Oh it's okay.

- It's bad luck. We're
not going to make it.

- I'll trust the Buddhist on this one.

- You ain't gonna make it.

- I'm not gonna take any climbing tips

from a guy who wore jeans up a mountain.

Shall we do it then?

- Yes, we can go up. All right.

(mystical music)

- So what's the process here?

- This little kit has incense in it,

and a needle and thread.

- We can fire incense now.

(match sizzling)

- Okay.

- A couple more items
here in this little kit.

- This is a stick.

- A stick?

- To put it needle in there,

the strings you have to climb up.

- So what's, what's that
supposed to symbolize?

- You can see for the long life.

- Well, let's do the string here,

even though I'm not supposed to live long.

- Yeah.

- Oh my God, it's the smallest

eye of a needle I've ever seen.

- Round it like this.

- I'll put it back through here.

And you take the string.

- Now to put like this.

- Okay.

- Just walk.

- No. Don't we have the knot in mine?

It last, it only lasts like 40 years.

One, two, three, four,
five, six, seven, eight,

nine, ten, 11,

12 13, 14, 15, 16.

It broke (laughing). It broke.

- Ah. Since we've had a bit of break,

I think we're a bit revitalized.

Here we've got nice shallow
stairs all the way up

and it feels really easy.

Well, we're probably well into

the last quarter of the trip now

and it's only gonna get worse.

- It's starting to get
really steep at this point.

Obviously as you get closer to the summit

it just gets steeper and steeper.

(Scott panting)

- The light's coming.

We actually timed this-

(megaphone announcement
in a foreign language)

I guess that was-

- A public service announcement.

We have license plate number 6-4-8-3-9

your headlights are on.

- Ah, are you kidding me.

(contemplative guitar riff)

- Couldn't have time it more perfect.

We've got the most amazing light coming up

especially from this height.

There's really nothing else
in the way from where we are.

So you can just see the
black contour of the land

and then every color of the
rainbow already starting this.

Red and yellows and oranges
and these rusty colors.

- You get to the top of Adam's Peak,

and you see everyone who's up there

is sharing that same moment.

Nature putting on it's
most amazing displays.

(drums beating)

- A good crowd of people
here, and on the way up

we experience that there
were Muslims coming up,

there were Buddhists coming,

there were Christians coming up.

(bells chiming)

- There are so many
places in this small world

where religion powers war.

Here, that never seems to be a problem.

- This is the bell.

- This is official.

- This will mark the top.

- (whispering) Official.

- Why don't you start?

(guide roaring)

You have the honor here.

- (speaking foreign language)

- [Justin] A thousand times.

(bell clangs)

(bell clangs)

(bell clangs)

(bell clangs)

- Got a little style there.

- Ping.

- Bam!

(contemplative music)

- We're now making our way south towards

the southern coast of Sri Lanka

and before we get there, we wanted to stop

at Uda Wallawha National Park

which is really well-known for elephants,

Indian elephants.

In order to know what
the heck we're looking at

and get a bit of information
and be able to spot

these things properly,
we've got Nimal with us.

Nimal, you're from the National Park.

- I'm working here a day under 10 years.

- Looks like we've got our first customer.

A lone Asian elephant just
sitting in the road up here.

So is this a male or a female?

- This a male. Male is the alone.

Female in the group, they are in there,

small babies are here.

- The males pretty much
roam by themselves.

Will the males stay with the
female all through birth?

Like all the way up until she gives birth?

Or does she just mate with
him and just take off? Phewt.

Hit the road. He's like, I'm outta here.

I love the single life too much.

(upbeat music)

- You've heard a lot about how
protective elephants can be

of their young, and here's
a really good example of it,

because the adults have the baby

squished right between them.

And obviously they know we're here,

and they're still just trying to munch

and keep a close eye on us.

(upbeat music)

- Wow. He wasn't going
to take any guff from us.

- They not only protected
the baby over here

and watching us closely,

then they crossed right in front of us.

As soon as they moved across,

still they weren't sure of us,

so the last one watches,

makes sure the rest of the pack moves in,

then he was convinced
that everything was okay.

(soulful percussion)

- We just stopped at the heat of the day,

the sun's high, it's hot. Most
of the elephants are hiding.

A squirrel isn't normally
that crazy to see,

but this is a giant squirrel

and literally a giant squirrel.

(laughing) He just grips
on with his little claws,

it's kinda like, ow.

This is probably the safest
way to get an up-close

look at wild elephant.

Trying to figure how much it weighs.

70 some odd pounds or so.

There's a huge monitor lizard

that's just come out of the river here.

He's already starting to
hiss, so he knows we're here.

I just can't get over the size of him.

He's this big in front of you,

and then you see how much
of that tail is hidden.

(feet crunching leaves)

(slow jazz music)

Let's go.

Now that's the sun's
starting to come down,

the heat's dying off,

the elephant herds are
starting to come back

out of the woodwork and
they're actually going

to head towards another water source.

So we're going to see
how close we can get.

There's a herd right up here.

- So what happened here? It
looks like one of the males

came over looking to pick a fight.

- And then the two males there,

two males there and they
sometime to attack for him.

- (whispering) Just a small
one but he's really curious,

he's trying to figure out.

- Yes, this one there, this male here

(elephant trumpeting)

Ay.

(engine roars)

- Will he charge when we leave?

And here he comes.

- [Guide] Yes. He's standing.

- This young female got
in incredibly close.

Her, by herself, can't make
a heck of a lot of danger

but she can very easily start
to draw in the attention

of the other much bigger
females of the area.

It's one thing to be in the city

and see them slightly domesticated,

but there's nothing like
seeing animals, wild animals,

in their habitat.

(chilled music)

We spent the last couple
of weeks in the highlands

and in the interior of Sri Lanka

and it's nice to be
back on the coast again.

See the blue water, the
palm trees, feel the breeze.

Justin's off doing God knows
what, just exploring the town

and I'm just gonna get a little R & R.

(soulful music)

(gate squeaking)

- This kind man has welcomed me in here.

This must've represented
some sort of hell.

And you can see these statues
and paintings and stuff like-

(gate squeaking)

(gate squeaking)

He's locking me in. (laughs)

Oh.

This is the bad side.

I'm taking it that this guy's the devil

and these people are all
paying for what they've done.

This is the afterlife,
and so far what I see is

just like fire and brimstone.

Is this, is this all paintings and stuff?

Oh my God.

(eerie music)

If you don't follow the
path to enlightenment

I'm assuming these are the
things that could happen to you.

This guys, it looks like
he's killing animals.

This is guy who's getting a
thing shoved in his throat.

It just goes on and on and on.

Some of them I really
don't understand 'cause

this one looks like this guys
just helping this monk move.

He's like, oh, hey, I'll help you move.

I'll move your fridge, move your clock.

Result, going to hell, I can get burned.

If I'd to put a check mark
besides some of these,

I wouldn't say I'd fill up
this whole, this whole walkway,

but there'd be a couple
here I'd have to check off.

Pay my landlord. I'll put
a couple of checks on that.

Burn in hell, getting eaten by dogs.

This looks like they're fishing.

Check that off.

Consequences birds gonna
be gouging out your body,

that's not good.

You guys, seize an
opportunity when you can,

he opened up the gates so it's best off

I make my way out of here
before we're stuck here.

Oh there's number two, check.

Fishing, check.

I think we should really
get the heck out of here.

(feet thudding in tunnel)

(serene music)

- [Scott] While we're down
here on the south coast,

we get a chance to see a
couple of different industries.

And one of them is toddy.

- But in order to get it you have to climb

to the very top of the tree,

and you need to have cojones to do it.

- And Shiranga, you live in the
villages around here, right?

- Yes, I am living here.

- And you've seen this
process before, so you-

- Yes.

- Has he ever fell?

- (speaking foreign language)

- He has fell down one time.

- (speaking foreign language)

- Oh. Ow.

- It's a very dangerous job.
He's the man to prove it,

he's got all the scars.

(upbeat music)

- He just walked right
up like it was a ladder.

- It's a tough job, man,
this is not easy at all.

I was like, me, I'll try doing this.

No. Not any more.

- It takes a lot of guts, hey.

There's two palm trees that are
connected by a coconut rope.

And now he's, instead of
coming down, walking, what?

25 feet over to the base of the
next palm tree and going up,

he's crossing like a tightrope basically.

I got to try this out. He
just makes it looks so easy

and I don't think it is.

(coconut ropes squeaking)

I don't trust any of this stuff.

I can't do it. I just
don't have the cojones.

It's the idea of trying to come back down

that freaks me out.

(coconut ropes squeaking)

- Well sir, how much sap did you collect?

- (blows raspberry) Zip.

(grater rasps against coconut shell)

We've just come down by the river here

with some fresh toddy.

We're all gonna have a sample.
This is as fresh as it gets.

Cheers.

- Cheers.

- [Scott] Thanks to your hard work.

- Yeah, be safe. Be safe.

This is to hot lava being
poured down my throat

because of this drink.
To this guys cojones.

- That's really sharp, hey.

- Burning my stomach, that's for sure.

- Coconut water and vinegar.

- Cheers.
- Cheers.

(upbeat music)

- We're leaving Hikkaduwa
and heading to Colombo.

This marks almost the end of our journey.

(train engine chugging)

- Hopefully if we play our cards right,

we're gonna get back to Colombo in time

for this big full moon festival,

which is a Buddhism
festival but apparently

the entire city shuts down
and everyone of all religions

and denominations come
out to experience it.

We're just pulling in to Colombo again.

Back to the big city, you can see it just,

there was a beautiful
coastline all the way up

and now it's starting to be
that urban sprawl everywhere,

you're can tell we're
back in the big city.

(train engine chugging)

But we have a new mission.

That was a nice ride, actually.

- This is where I get off. (laughing)

- You know you're some place
strange when the city park

in the middle of the capital
city is filled with elephants.

- And tonight there's
going to be a big parade

and they're all invited.

- The festival for the full
moon. The full moon of February

so this is one of the
biggest ones of the year,

Navam Perahera.

(elephant exhales sharply)

and lucky enough that we're here for it.

And they're clearly gearing up,

I mean, you can tell that
something was going on.

(water splashes)

Like anyone would take a bath
before their big night out.

So too do the elephants.

Wow, you really have to dig in there.

- Yeah, yeah, ya, I do.

- Okay.

We're using these coconut
husks because they're abrasive

and I guess they scrub
quite well, don't they?

Well she down over here.

- He's dirty.
- That's good?

- We're gonna wash him.

(Scott and Justin laughing)

(water splashes)

- What do you say? Say please.

- [Elephant Minder]
(speaking foreign language)

(guitar strumming)

- There's a lot of activity.
Lots of people here.

- As soon as the sun starts to go down

this thing is really
going to start moving.

I've never been put to
shame for a dress code

by an elephant before. People all the time

but an elephant, yeah.

(upbeat ethereal music)

(people chanting)

- We're moments away from
this thing really kicking off.

The streets are line with people.

- Now you really get a sense
of how big of a deal this is

and how many people want to come out

and see this thing happen.

- And as it gets going,
it's going to get bigger

and bigger and bigger,
and it's going to wrap

all the way around and then end here, so.

- I feel like a kid waiting
for the Santa Claus parade,

you know, to come by.

- [Justin] Where's
Santa. On a big elephant.

- Hey, hey, hey, hey.

(bells chiming)

- Having now seen the
country of Sri Lanka,

it's actually a real shock for me to think

back about what images I
had of Sri Lanka coming in.

(ethereal music and bells chiming)

- If you have a parade
anywhere there's drums involved

it doesn't matter what side
of the earth you're on,

but to have the shehnai,

no mistaking what region
of the world I'm in.

- [Justin] We were kinda
nervous on coming here,

just because of the war
that was going on here,

but we wanted to see
what this country's about

and I think we did.

And to end it all here, at this party,

everybody's spirits are
up and everybody's happy

and that's the kind of energy we felt

throughout the whole trip.

It's a great way to leave a country.

(upbeat ethereal music)

- [Scott] That's the whole
thing I like about traveling is

every day you see something

that's gonna blow your mind away.

Every time I do something spiritual,

every time I do a climb,
I walk away from it

a different person with a
different outlook on life.

- I've never seen anything like this.

- We've been in the
middle of this thing for,

coming up on a couple of hours now

and it just won't stop.
It just keeps coming

and coming and coming.

- Russ, they got golden elephants.

- On the world map, Sri Lanka is a dot

in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

And yet at the same time,
it has a very rich culture

for such a small place.

And one of the things that
keeps it's culture so rich

is this amazing mix of religion.

In a weird way, it's kind of
the heart of the entire world

and you get to experience a lot of that

just traveling around.

That was impressive.

(whips snapping)

- The whips are sounding, so
that means that the shows over.

(high pitched beeping)

(ethereal music)

- [Scott] From here we're heading
to the country of Vietnam,

but before we get there,
we're actually flying

through Japan and meeting
up with a friend of ours

from high school named Fran.

We're gonna meet a lot of his family

that he's never met before,

and this is his first time there.

We're gonna be there for the whole ride

and experience that
country along with him.