South Asia – Page 4 – Where is Phil now?

Can there ever be too many monks ?

Wednesday 20 March 2013 – Sigiriya.

As I had arranged to see the rock in the afternoon I did not rush around too much in the morning, barely moving at all to be perfectly honest. I had organised with the guest house to join the other guests for a 7:30 breakfast which was as huge as I expected. Though this was the first breakfast where dhal and roti were on the menu, along with a small omelette and toast. I did the Ugandan thing and rolled my omelette up in a piece of roti for a role eggs. Very nice. It was a great breakfast, even the coffee wasn’t too bad.

I sat around chatting to an America/German couple – there are a lot of German tourists in Sri Lanka, more than any other nationality from my experience so far. We talked for a couple of hours, they have amazing jobs in video journalism and documentaries based out of Bangkok and I was deeply envious of their travel and journalistic opportunities. Just before ten, my young German friend Benne turned up at the guest house to stay the night and we agreed to do the rock together around 3:00. This left the rest of the day for doing not much which was very much alright by me. I got to finish yesterdays blog post, though was unable to post it as the internet sucked. I also managed to get another good load of washing done, staying two nights in each place means I have been able to really keep on top of laundry which means my lack of clothes is not too much of a problem…

So that was two thirds of the day done ! At 3:00 Benne and I walked from the guest house to Sigiriya Rock. The walk to the park was about a kilometre and it was very hot, Bennes thermometer said it was 37.1 degrees. There is a tourist elephant walk in Sigiriya, not something I particularly agree with, but I did enjoy watching this elephant enjoying a soak in the river. When I walked past in the evening people were washing their clothes in the same spot, hmmmm.

From the road there is a further km of walking around the side of the palace moat, I loved this sign warning against bathing, the sign in blue behind advises there are crocodiles….

The ticket for the site is 30USD which is really expensive when you consider 30USD gets you unlimited three days across all the many Angkor sites in Cambodia. This is one day access only and a bit steep in my book.

Out first visit was the museum, semi-interesting, a vast building with a large number of staff that were all sitting around doing nothing, except one got up to point to the no photos sign. We were sort of laughing at the place by the end of it. Sad really – one should not laugh at museums… But they could have housed the collection in something far smaller.

Sigiriya Rock is riddled with caves and overhanging shelters so has long been a feature in Sri Lankan history, possibly back to pre-historic times. Though it is ‘officially’ dated as a home to monks as early as the third century BC. Though the main attraction for tourists and local pilgrims alike is the ruins of the tenth century palaces/monastaries as well as the cave paintings. Much doubt still lingers about the exact purposes of the site either religious or royal !

We were not in a major rush to go through as it was quite warm so we took our time wandering through the various ancient gardens below leading up to the rock – which turned out to be a major mistake !

We also watched a couple of girls doing silly jumps in front of the rock for the camera, so had to do the same.

I took a side trip off the main path to look at some of the ancient and more unloved cave paintings, possibly dating back to the fifth century – there is the top half of a female figure.

While I was doing this the monk march I ran into yesterday started passing us by and there ended my zen like experience of the rock. I got very frustrated with such a huge amount of people, at least five hundred, slowly marching through the single file path ways. It took ages for them to pass. Apparently it is an annual month long march for world peace through Sri Lanka by Buddhists from a variety of nationalities. All it did was piss me off, I was not very peaceful…

Benne waiting paitently…..

I was not so patient – I know, many of you are shocked as I am always so tolerant ! So I wandered around a bit.

There are two ways up and down to the base of the final section of the climb, though I wanted to see the rock paintings so had to go where the monks were, along a narrow path and up and then down a spiral staircase.

Once the monks had finally passed through the narrow section Benne and I went and climbed the spiral staircase for a look at the wonderfully preserved cave paintings. The latest theory is the images are of Tara a bodhisattva (enlightening being) and an important figure in tantric Buddhism – surprisingly!

From the frescoes cave we walked up to the start of the climb to the top of the rock. The entrance to the final staircase was supposedly through the mouth of a lion though all that remains now are its feet on either side of the staircase. I was really keen to see the feet, but when we arrived there were still too many monks around. So we bashed our way up a narrow metal staircase to the top of the rock.

The views were spectacular from the top and there were a large number of foundations from the buildings that were built here fifteen hundred to one thousand years ago. I would loved to have spent some tome here relaxing, enjoying the views and some peace. However the place was packed with monks, monks and more f*cking monks. One can be cynical about monks when they are using their iPhones to take photos of each other doing the Leonardo De Caprio pose from the Titanic movie on top of the rock.

After a quick “munchee munchee” – which seems to be Benne’s favourite thing – eating, I spotted the monks looking like they were about to leave so we hot footed it over to the exit and we managed to get there quite early in the stream. I got to the bottom and managed to get a quick snap of the lions feet, which I somehow managed to get half out of focus, but they quite cool.

You can see from this photo why I was keen to get down before them, it could have been a long wait otherwise!

I started down the main path to the exit but Benne stayed to take a couple of pictures and we ended up being separated from then on. I got to see the cobra head cave, which was sadly not that interesting.

I stopped and waited for Benne for a while, and tried to get a couple of selfies. Though my camera seemed to be attracting way too much attention from the local strays to be able to get a good one. So I gave up and walked back to the guest house.

I decided to take a bike and ride the ‘1.25kms’ to the beer bar to buy a couple of cans of lager to go with dinner. This turned out to be close to 2km and by the time I had gotten beer it was a pretty dark ride back up a dodgy unlit highway with no lights on the bike. I rode fast – and won’t do it again either. The next day as Benne and I were heading out of town we passed a funeral of someone killed riding a bike on that road…

The beers were welcome though, nice and cold and I was dripping by the time I got back to the guest house, in time for a shower and a brief lie down before dinner. Benne and I were joined by two young Lithuanian brothers who were travelling together, it was an interesting night – I have never met Lithuanians before.

A visit to Dambula’s Golden rock

Tuesday 19 March 2013 – Sigiriya.

I had another massive breakfast at the guest house before finally getting myself organised enough to get out the door soon after 9:00. I was going to catch the bus to Sigiriya, my next destination, and had decided there was not much point in competing for space and oxygen on the bus with people going to work, school or about their normal morning business, so later was better – there was no way I was going to do 6:30 AM. The bus station, even for west bound buses is in Kaduruwela, a town six kilometres east of Polonnaruwa. Though the bus goes back, almost past my guest house it is recommended to go to the station to ensure a seat. Either that or it is an excuse to get one last tuk-tuk ride in and pay three times as much for the short ride as the long ride on the bus will cost! In this case I actually believe it is the former reason.

As I was approaching the bus station I was met by a tuk-tuk driver from Sigiriya who was heading back there after dropping some tourists in Polonnaruwa, we negotiated a better price than his original offer. It was probably still seven or eight times the bus; but relatively cheap and it would get me to Sigiriya quicker and more comfortably as it could go direct. Plus I could snap a few shots on the way and we could stop if I wanted. It was market day in Kaduruwela as we passed through.

A lot of the countryside in this part of Sri Lanka is flat and used for agriculture.

On the edge of Lake Minneriya was this new and very tall Buddha image.

There is a direct road to Sigiriya but the buses do not travel on it, though imagine once the massive road works are finished this will become a more common and faster route for buses to move between towns.

Minneriya National Park borders on the lake and has a good collection of the normal Sri Lanka wildlife; elephants, crocodiles and leopards. I was hoping to pick up some other people in Polonnaruwa who wanted to do a safari and unfortunately I missed a couple who did one from my guest house by just a few minutes on the day I arrived. It is too expensive to do solo. I spent the whole ride through the park looking for elephants, but only saw lots of dung – I did see this peacock in the middle of the road though.

I arrived in Sigiriya late morning and checked into a guest house, the most expensive yet, Sigiriya has a few options and is very popular so a bit more expensive than other places. The room was OK, cleaner than the others, but the shower was hopeless and the power point was strangely about two metres off the ground in the middle of a wall…

The guest house had a tree house out the back that was the central meeting point for most people and it had a great view of ‘the rock’ – the reason why people come to Sigiriya. More on the rock tomorrow.

I had intended to stay here for two nights and then stay in the nearby Dambula for the following night to visit the cave temples. However I met a German couple here who said that accommodation options in Dambula were not that great and it was better to stay here. Apparently it is easier to get a bus to Kandy from here as well, even though it passes through Dambula. Just like in Polonnaruwa, if you get the bus here you will get a seat, from Dambula maybe not. The guest house owner also said to visit ‘the rock’ in the late afternoon rather than in the morning which was my original plan. So I tossed the original plan out the window and decided I would do the cave temples in Dambula this afternoon and the ‘the rock’ tomorrow afternoon. Which was good as I had a call from Benne when I was in Dambula and he was arriving in Sigiriya tomorrow, so we could do ‘the rock’ together – cool!

I mooched in my room till 3:00 and then wandered up the road to the bus stop to catch the Dambula bus. I was talking to a man in the bus stop and he advised I skip the normal bus and catch a special bus with him. It was a private school bus from Dambula that drops kids off in Sigiriya and then picks up paying passengers on the way back,. It was three times as much as the normal bus at one whole dollar for the forty minute ride, but there was three of us and it did not stop. I called it a bargain. For the same amount I got a tuk-tuk from the main street of Dambula to the cave temples 2km away.

The first thing you see at the cave temples is the massive, kitsch and tacky Golden Temple, built in 2000 with funds from the Japanese. In true form there is a sign saying at 30metres, it is the largest Buddha statue in the world, but apparently it is not even the largest in Sri Lanka. Love it ! I also really liked the life size plastic monks queuing to get in, so classy!

The cave temples were 1500 rupees about 15NZD, more than I was lead to believe, but I think it was worth it and I wished I had a bit more time. A morning visit would have been good as the caves faced sort of north westish so trapped the late afternoon sun.

The cave temples sit almost at the top of a 150m rock rising above Dambula and were first used by King Valagamba as a refuge when driven out of Anuradhapura in the 1st century. When he regained the throne he had the caves made into temples. Later kings lined the temples with gilt and it became known as golden rock.

There are five caves, all fronted by a long white washed corridor, it was incredibly humid inside the caves and I was dripping when I was finished. Each cave contains a number of Buddha and other images, each were poorly lit and I was surprised flash photography was allowed inside, though I shot almost all of these without flash as I don’t like it.

Cave one had the longest reclining Buddha and was lit by the doorway. Each cave also contained a number of paintings as well. This was my favourite cave.

Cave two is the biggest cave with the most images. I used the flash for two of them I will say I am really impressed at the high ISO images from my new GX1 compared to the old GF1 I used in SE Asia.

Cave three.

Cave four.

Cave five.

The view from the top was pretty nice as well and it would have been a good place to sit under a shady tree and eat lunch – apart from the dozens of macaques !

I took a tuk-tuk back into Dambula and we passed this massive long march by mainly foreign monks, I have tried to find something about it on the internet, but no luck so far. Having said that, I only have access via the mobile network on my phone so I didn’t spend a lot of time on it.

I caught this bus from the bus station and partly because of the monks procession and that it was rush hour it took a long time to get back to Sigirya.

I had dinner in the tree house with three couples who are staying here, the food was great and of course plentiful ! It was a pleasant evening, but an early night for all.

A day in the ancient city of Polonnaruwa

Monday 18 March 2013 – Polonnaruwa.

I wanted to be out and about as early as possible this morning to get to the museum ticket office for opening time, which was theoretically at 8:00, but this is Sri Lanka, my aim was to get as much touring of the ancient sites as possible before the worst of the heat kicked in. So I leapt out of bed as soon as I woke up at 7:40, all ready for coffee and the day. Except it was 6:40 and there was no coffee for another thirty minutes, damn ! I did find this wee frog in my sink when I went to brush my teeth.

Just like last night’s dinner, breakfast this morning was massive, a huge plate of fresh fruit, about 6 slices of toast and then I was asked if I wanted eggs…. I just asked for one, between two slices of toast and I did not finish the fruit either > Here is me trying to lose a couple of kilos and I get given these massive mounds of deliciousness. Shame about the coffee though 🙂

I rented a bike for the day – it is possibly the most unstable one of all my travels, but so much better than walking, and rode to the museum for 8:20 and lo and behold it was actually open. I was served by the surliest man I have met in Sri Lanka, and he was deeply un-amused when I did not have exactly 3125 rupees (about 31NZD) for the entrance ticket. He gave me my change in two chunks, I think he was hoping I would forget the last 500, no chance you miserable git.

I hot footed it from the museum, past all the tour guides and tuk-tuk riders who said it was far too hot to ride a bike or too complicated to find things, depending on what they were selling and I was at he entrance to the main Polonnaruwa site before 8:30. Perfect !

I took an awful lot of photos and visited all of the relics inside the area over my five hour visit, I have been very selective in what I have written about or this would have been an even more mega post…

Polonnaruwa was first the capital of the Indian Chola people after they invaded around one thousand years ago and moved the capital here from Anuradhapura. When Sinhalese king Vijayabahu 1 defeated the Chola and kicked them off the island he retained Polonnaruwa as his capital and it remained the centre of Sri Lankan life for the next three centuries.

I decided to ride to the Tivanka Image House first, the furthest point from the entrance and work my way back. It was a toss-up between getting to the distant relics first while it was cool or getting to the nearby, and more popular items while there was virtually no-one around. Practicality finally won over wanting to miss tour bus groups so I made the three km ride first.

The Tivanka Image House was sadly under renovation on the outside, but the interior was lovely, it houses some of the best original wall paintings in Sri Lanka as well as a dark and mysterious headless Buddha image.

My next stop was Gal Vihara, famous for its Buddhas carved from a single piece of rock, quite amazing, the reclining Buddha is fourteen metres long. I have a wee confession; the photo has been cropped because my finger was in the bottom of it, I have not done that for a long time !! It is hard to believe these massive and beautiful works were carved in the 12th century.

I really liked it here but it was extremely hot, even at 9:30 am and there was no shade in a convenient Buddha image contemplation space. I finished my first 500mls of water here and bought a second from one of the stalls, I was not going to make the same mistake as the other day and not drink enough water.

I next visited what is known as the Northern Group which contains a number of buildings including Buddha Seema Prasada the tallest building in the group and was constructed in the 11th century. It contains another large and headless Buddha as well as a very nice statue at the entrance that I have not seen before.

The Kiri Vihara was built under the guidance of Queen Subhadra, the wife of King Parakramabahu who has been credited with most of the construction here. When it was rediscovered in the jungle it had retained its lime bleached white vista, the name Kiri Vihara means milk white.

I also really liked this partially moss covered dagoba nearby.

I was mostly alone here so wandered the broader area of ruined monks cells and meeting rooms around the outside of the central dagoba. I came across most of the local wildlife here; monkeys – having, what looked like swimming lessons, once this guy had done a few laps they all jumped in!

A couple of monitor lizards

Some cows and of course the ubiquitous Sri Lankan dogs, I have never seen so many dogs, luckily so far all of them have been totally uninterested in me.

In the distance I could see Rankot Vihara, the largest dagoba in Polonnaruwa and my next stop.

There were some really good old Buddha images here. Sadly I saw two couples walking round the dagoba wearing shoes and hats which is a big cultural no-no, and they must have walked past the sign advising not to wear them. Disappointing and ignorant behaviour!

The history of Manik Vehera is largely unknown, but I did like the frescoes.

There are a few remains from the pre-Buddhist Indian Hindu period and this is the only one remaining with a Vishnu image, a number of bronzes were found here and are in the museum.

There are also a couple of small Hindu temples including Siva Divale (no 2) it was built in the tenth century and is still used by the Tamil people who live in the area.

Very little is also known about Pabula Vehera, but I liked it, it was completely off the main path and I imagine is quite unvisited. Both this and Siva Divale above were down a little and very rough side road, so those travelling by car would not get to see it. One of the real benefits of doing this visit by bicycle !

I made my way down to the main part of the site to the “Quadrangle area”. I was going to buy more water but just after I got there a tour bus load arrived so I dived into the ruins to start looking before the group got in my way (and me in theirs). My first stop was this huge inscription, Gol Pota, the largest in Sri Lanka – and there are an awful lot of them ! It was created in the shape of a manuscript under the reign of King Nissankamilia in the 11th century. It is 9 metres long, weighs 25 tons and was carved in Anuradhapura, 100km away and dragged here…

I quickly nipped into the Hatadage for a quick snap just as the tour group arrived. I have been photographing some of the moon stones that are the entrance to many of the Buddhist monasteries and this is the best one I have found so far.

The Vatadage was my favourite building in Sri Lanka, so far anyway. I just loved it. It was also heavily crowded when I got to it so I walked round it and snapped some details and then came back to visit it later once the tour bus people had left. Sadly one of the group had climbed onto the stupa to have a photo taken with one of the Buddha images, there was an uproar with police whistles going and the tour guide yelling, what a bunch of fools, I would have caned them. Some people should stay at home. Like a lot of the ruins here the Vatadage has a contentious history though it is believed to have originally been constructed in the 12th century by by Parakramabahu I to hold the Buddha tooth relic.

I loved the dancing dwarves frescoes. There a lot of these and along with elephants that appear to be the most common of the frescoes, both here and at Anuradhapura.

The Nissankalata Mandapa is unique in that the pillars that held up its roof were carved in the shape of a lotus flower stem, all the other pillars are straight.

I particularly admired the detail on the pillars – and I am talking the detail of the carvings – not the large breasts!

As I left the quadrangle and headed south towards the Royal Palace group I found this recently re-assembled building. There is no detail on it, but it looks like a giant jigsaw puzzle has been partially completed. It reminded me of a saying about the Baphoun temple in Angkor Thom in Cambodia, its 300,000 pieces make it ‘the world’s largest jigsaw puzzle’.

I arrived at the royal palace area just as five bus loads of Sri Lankans soldiers were, thankfully, about to leave.

There was not a whole lot to see here, I was kind of expecting more ! The palace was not particularly photogenic. I loved the bathing pool and had just plopped myself down on the steps in the shade of one of the trees when the bus load arrived and I had to remove myself from blocking the steps. But I did find an ice cream seller by the pool so enjoyed a cold block under another tree while everyone scurried about, peace ruined !

The council chambers was the last place I visited within the main part of the Polonnaruwa ruins.

I then defied my prediction from yesterday and had enough left in the tank to ride back and visit the museum, it was quite enjoyable, though a tad humid inside. Though, maybe it was me creating the humidity, it was entirely possible, four hours under the sun with barely a sit down had left me a sweaty wreck, but I was not done ! I rode for 2.5km up the side of the tank (artificial lake) I walked along yesterday to the southern most ruins of Potgul Vihara, built in the twelfth century. The key feature here is a 4m high statue, though who it is exactly is not defined. One popular story was the statue was of King Parakramabahu eating a piece of papaya, though that is more of a thousand year old urban myth.

The ruins of Potgul Vihara itself were not particularly exciting but I did take some time to sit in the shade and enjoy some quite time before making the ride back to my guesthouse.

After a lie down and endless drinks of cold water I ventured back out again just after five to find the last remaining ruins left to be seen. I rode for about 3.5 kms on the highway, a challenge in itself, to the Vishnu Divale (No1), Though, disappointingly there was not a heck of a lot to see. A large rock, some steps and a monkey were the highlight!

Tonight’s dinner was as large and delicious as last nights, a slightly different range of vegetable curries and chicken rather than fish. The chili potato was especially lovely…

Feeling like a beached whale now, burp!

Defeated by rice and curry

Sunday 17 March 2013 – Polonnaruwa.

Yesterday afternoon I was led to believe the bus to Polonnaruwa left at 7:00, but of course there are loads of buses and the guy in my guest house who served me dinner said they go every hour or so. My original plan of getting up at 6:00 was tossed out the window so I squeezed another hour of sleep in and got up just after 7:00.

After packing and walking down to my regular place, Walkers, for coffee I grabbed a tuk-tuk and went to the new town bus station. My tuk-tuk driver drove around the rutted, pot-holed and deeply puddled bus station until he found the bus I needed, fortunately for me – as all the signs were in Sinhalese, so I would not have had a clue.

The bus was not due to leave for 45 minutes so I wandered about the bus station and bought a small packet of biscuits to munch on if I got hungry. I am not willing to trust local food stored in dubious conditions and handled with bare hands as I am about to get on a three hour plus bus ride, no offence meant !

At the insistence of the bus crew I got on with about thirty minutes to go and I could soon see why they were so keen. The bus was crowded – with people standing in the aisle ten minutes before departure and a bunch more jumping on as the engine started. There was another westerner on the bus when I got on, but he had his pack on the seat next to him and wasn’t looking like he wanted company so I sat in the row in front – in some sort of solidarity I guess. As the bus was filling the bus guys came and took his pack and made him sit next to me. I asked where he was going and he said ‘Polonnarruwa’, the same as me, he then told me he was Czech and had little English, which seemed to mean “don’t speak to me”. So I didn’t. He was a very unhappy and rather sun burnt man and did not enjoy the journey one little bit.

It got very hot in the bus while we waited, I was so glad I could stick my head out of a window and suck down some air. There was a lot of women standing, not much chivalry in this country and chivalrous as I am I was not going to start a trend, albeit a likely trend of one – there was a long ride ahead and I liked my window 🙂

The bus ride was interesting, we drove past countless paddy fields and tanks (dams/lakes). It does not seem as poverty ridden as Africa or parts of SE Asia, most houses we pass are of reasonable construction and have power, mind you we are on main roads and I cannot see up any of the countless small dirt lanes that criss-cross the highway. The road is very good for the most part I believe it is the inevitable Chinese money that has built the road.

We stop everywhere, people on and people off but always quite full. As is the norm, we ride with the bus horn on full blast for much of the way, we hoot at bus stops, any traffic we come up behind and as we enter small and large towns. Every pedestrian is a potential customer. It is the way!

The ride cost 145 rupees, about $1.45 NZD or 70p !! Great value for three reasonably pleasant hours.

The entertainment highlight for me was an excruciating version of Guns and Roses ‘Sweet child of mine’ that was played by a Sri Lankan band on a three hour live concert DVD that was full volume throughout the entire ride. This band played no other western songs, I guess it just shows how a song like that can transcend audiences and cultures. The Filipino cover band I saw on a drunken night out with Dan and friends when I was in Da Nang in Vietnam did a fabulous version.

The bus arrived exactly on the scheduled three hour mark in Polonnaruwa and I was immediately pounced up by a tuk-tuk driver and guest house owner. He had a GH that was not in my Lonely Planet but it was priced right and near the two I was going to look at anyway so I went with him and decided to take the room. It is fine – not great, but for the price it is fine…

He told me there was an Aussie and a French couple staying there, the Aussie turned out to be a Kiwi from Christchurch and she arrived back from a morning of templing just after I arrived. Yes, templing is a word. Ok, I may have made it up, but I am declaring it an official word! Even though it was early afternoon I had a beer and some popadoms for lunch with the girl from Chch – yes I am hopeless at introductions I know, before unpacking and sorting my stuff out before a wee afternoon snooze.

I decided to go for a walk into town and check out the museum as well as a couple of free sites near the museum. The museum is supposed to be quite good and as I was planning on a fullish day tomorrow I wanted to get some small things out of the way today. However…..

As I mentioned the other day, there is a 25USD one day permit needed to enter most of the sites here, and I will pay that tomorrow and get my ticket. I wont use dodgy tuk-tuk drivers who do it for less and bribe the guards to get in, that is WRONG. Sadly you also have to have the permit to enter the museum, no exceptions. I asked if I could buy the permit for tomorrow, but visit the museum now instead. No, it has to be bought on the day, no exceptions. I cannot buy a permit before 8:00 am, though the site opens at 7:00. Sometimes rules are dumb! This means I may not get to see the museum as I will be wanting to get as much of the ruins done as early as possible and as I am planning on doing this by bike I will be stuffed when I am done. I doubt I will be wanting to make a separate trip to see the museum as it is off-site . Shame on the bureaucrats !

I did however visit the nearby, free and very lovely Island Park. I was amused to see this group of monks trying to shoo some monkeys out of their bus. Never leave a window open !

The ruins here are a royal park from the twelfth century, the baths in their current state left a wee bit to be desired.

Though the council chamber of King Nissankemalia was in reasonable condition.

I was not the only person here, soon after I arrived I was joined by a group of, I think, Thais.

Who were then followed by some local monks.

I wandered up the side of the tank (lake) for a couple of kilometres as the sun lowered in the sky, I did not stay for sunset, while I feel safe here I am not going to be hanging around by a lake in a strange town by myself after dark !

I did find this lovely tree with old and damaged Buddha images in it.

I went back to my guest house and had a really nice Skype with El, I didn’t think it would work as the wifi is pretty slow. But it did work and it was great to see her smiling face and have a chat, I do miss her.

I was going to have dinner with Chch girl, but she has been sick since lunch – and she had the same as me! We chatted for a while but she did not want food. I was served some traditional rice and curry (curry and rice is Indian, rice and curry is Sri Lankan – I read it somewhere). I was initially thinking I was being served food for two, till I saw how much the French couple were served…..

I fought bravely but just could not finish it, or even half of it. It was all lovely; fresh vegetable curries, fresh fish from this afternoon and lovely oily, but oh so light, popadoms. yuuuuuummmmmm.

I spent the rest of the night in my room, tying this blog post and listening to music, dressed in long pants and socks as it is mosquito city here. I might have to buy some bug spray… I was going to post this, but the wifi was turned off at 10pm, oh well, I am sure it can wait.

Apart from my frustration with the museum I enjoyed today, I liked being back on cheap local transport, going to a new town with no accommodation booked, chatting to new people in hostels. I feel like I am back in travelling mode again. And a great Skype to cap it off : )

Sacred trees and really big stupas

Saturday 16 March 2013 – Anuradhapura

I read and listened to music well into the night, but even after a reasonable days exercise I still had a lot of trouble getting to sleep and didn’t drop off until well into the wee hours. Subsequently I did not wake up till 8:40 which is a lot later than I planned. I wanted to get back out on the bike today and see the bits of Anuradhapura that I could not find the other day.

After visiting Benne’s guest house for dinner last night I discovered that I had mis-placed my guest house on the map I was using and I was not quite where I thought I was – with this new knowledge my day of exploration today was so much easier.

The other gift from Benne’s guesthouse, though probably more from being outside in the evening after rain; was mosquito bites. I have been woefully lax in using mozzie repellent since I have been here as I just haven’t seen any. Mistake, I found two when I got up but noticed a whole load later in the day, damnit!

I was on the road for a not unreasonable 9:30 and with my new found confidence in actually knowing my start point I found my way to my first destination, the Bodhi Tree, fairly swiftly. I do actually have to point out that I was ninety percent sure I was as at one of the other entrances to the Bodhi Tree site when I got ‘mis-placed’ on Thursday – and this turned out to be correct.

Anuradhapura has a reasonably large military presence with a number of armed forces bases around the town, including one very close to the side entrance to the Bodhi Tree. There are a lot of military type signs about the place and I am always wary of straying into places I do not belong, especially where people with guns are concerned. But I feel better that I was not that lost on Thursday, and even better that no-one shot me.

The Bodhi Tree is central to Sri Lankan Buddhism and therefore to Sri Lanka. It is the oldest documented in the world and is from a cutting imported from India by Princess Sangamitta, the sister of Mahinda, who introduced Buddhism to Sri Lanka. The tree has been tended on this site for over 2000 years. Visually it is not that impressive, but once inside the grounds and milling with the many hundreds of devotees that are here at any time you get a feel for how sacred a place this is. It ‘feels’ different. I spent a bit of time sitting in the shade just enjoying the atmosphere before moving on.

On a more earthy note, I also spent some time watching these monkeys eating the flowers left at the Buddha image outside : )

I cycled around for a bit longer, this time with a plan, and unlike Thursday, an idea of where I was going, stopping to enjoy the view every now and then. It was incredibly hot even at 10:00.

At the lakeside I was approached by a guy on a motorbike who was selling souvenirs, I negotiated on a small granite Ganesh statue (2020 edit, it is now in my flat) and bought one. He then wanted to sell me his tour services which I declined – about twenty five times before finally just riding off to the ancient cities ticket office. I was after a ticket that would allow me access over three months to all the key ancient cities, Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Sigiriya and Dambulla. Sadly they do not do those anymore and each site is now 25USD each, except Sigiriya which is 30USD and Dambulla which is only a fiver. There is no way I was able to afford or willing to spend 100NZD on day passes to sites so had to choose which one to do and decided to ditch Anuradhapura as Polonnaruwa is supposedly ‘better’. A tough choice, sorry Anuradhapura, too much money means you lose out. Luckily there was still plenty of free stuff to do.

My next stop then was the Ruvanvelisaya Dagoba, one of the larger white dagobas in town. I had to put some socks on my bare feet to be able to walk around the outside as the ground was so hot, I was not the only one with socks, though I noticed that the Sri Lankans were all bare foot !

The dagoba, and in fact the entire area around here and the next two (free) places I visited are surrounded by a vast tree shrouded park land that is full of the ruins of old monasteries, houses and the various other undefined buildings from the era when Anuradhapura was the capital of Sri Lanka. There was a lot of effort put into its archaeology back in the colonial days, but less so since, admittedly it is a huge task and probably not helped by people like me not willing to cough the 25USD. If I knew with all my heart the money was going into research and archaeology then I perhaps would have spent it, but I know it doesn’t.

I also discovered my Ganesh selling friend seemed to be stalking me, he stopped me again to ask if I want a tour “inside the city, no ticket needed”. I ended up having to turn my back on him. This was the third time he had stopped me and it was enough.

My next stop was the much photographed Thuparamaya Dagoba, built between 250 and 210 BC it is supposed to be first stupa built on the Island. It was the place I wanted to see the most, mainly because I had seen some cool photos of it with the pillars from long ago collapsed buildings sticking out all different angles. Unfortunately progress means that light pylons and power lines are all over the place and the photo is no longer available. I will admit it is not the best reason for wanting to visit an ancient and important religious site, but there you go, it was my reason.

Inside the ground was the smaller Padhalanchana Chethiya, which apparently covers a footprint left by Buddha as he went up into the air on his third visit to Sri Lanka.

My last visit was to this wonderful old dagoba and the largest in the area, Jetavanarama Dagoba was built in the 9th century and at over 100 metres high was likely to be the 3rd tallest building in the world at the time. It is now just over 70 metres high and is incredibly impressive.

By the time I left here it was past mid-day, I was a wee bit dehydrated (again) and definitely feeling sun burnt. I had nothing left I wanted to do in Anuradhapura so I rode back to the GH, had a cooling shower and slobbed for the rest of the day. I have started watching The Beiderbecke Affair, a mid-eighties English comedy/drama and I am loving it.

The focus is a bit off on some of these shots, sadly. The new camera has a touch screen display which allows me to select the focal point, but it is not 100% reliable, also with the bright light it is quite hard to see exactly what is going on on the screen. I really wish I had bought the viewfinder as well…

Mihintale

Friday 15 March 2013 – Mihintale.

Last night I arranged to meet Benne, the German guy I met on the train a couple of days ago, this morning to go to Mihintale for the day. It is a small town fifteen kilometres out of Anuradhapura that has a few places of historical significance, and therefore of interest to me! Benne went there yesterday and wanted to go back to a special place to meditate. he had met a great tuk-tuk driver/guide that he said we should use again, it all sounded like a good plan to me as I was going to go there tomorrow anyway.

I was up at 8:00 and wandered back down to the place I had breakfast at yesterday for more of the same today. Though sadly they had neither of the things I had yesterday so I tried a bun with a fried egg on it plus an onion roll – or I should say an onion and chilli roll, it damn near took the roof of my mouth off!

On the way there and back and during breakfast I had versions of this conversation, I have it about twenty times a day. Mr X is a tuk-tuk driver. If you have travelled anywhere there is tuk-tuks you will know this conversation.

Mr X – hello
Me – hello
Mr X – How are you?
Me – Good, thanks. How are you?
Mr X – Where you from?
Me – New Zealand
Mr X – Ah, New Zealand, nice place. How long you in Sri Lanka?
Me – One month
Mr X – You like Sri Lanka?
Me – Yes, I like it very much
Mr X – how long you in Anuradhapura?
Me – Three days
Mr X – Where you go now?
Me – Shop – just there.
Mr X – Where you go later?
Me – Riding a bike around.
Mr X – Where you go tomorrow?
Me – I don’t know yet, not sure.
Mr X – I give you good price for tour.
Me – No, thank you very much.

Mr X drives off.

I am wondering if I should just get my answers printed on a t-shirt, save everyone some time. Its all part of the fun I guess and I am sure most see it as a bit of a game.

I met Benne after breakfast and we walked up to Main St where we caught a bus to Mihintale, we seemed to have picked the right time of day as it was not too crowded and we were charged the local price as well, 30 NZ cents for the thirty minute ride. On pretty diabolical roads !

We met our guide for the day, Amara at the bus station and headed off to visit some of the sites. Benne wanted to go and spend some time meditating alone at a spot he went to yesterday so Amara took me round the places that Benne had already visited.

We started with some rock caves that Buddhist monks had lived in for centuries, but were finally closed in the 1980’s. The hill complex Rajagirilena contains a number of old monk houses as well as the usual collection of cheeky macaques.

From the hill we went to the Indikatu Seyu complex, a 9th century site that is believed to have been an active Mahayana Buddhism monastery, which is unusual in an country normally associated with Theravada Buddhism. These gate posts represent jars of water, flowers, milk or other offerings and they are at the entry point to most of the sites here.

At the base of the main temple complex was the remains of a monks hospital, consisting of a number of cells as well as this herbal oil bath. Though that does not look herb infused oil to me…

Ammara and I then went back to the Dark Water Pool to collect Benne, who I found sitting on the top of a large rock. The area is incredibly peaceful and I could see why he wanted to spend some time alone here.

The large pool was man-made probably around 1200 years ago. The large site had a number of buildings including a library and this reading room.

There was a meeting hall, complete with bathroom.

The small rock hill on the side of the pool has a number of caves that are still being used as homes for monks. We were allowed to walk past the monks houses while they were at the monastery for lunch. I liked the walking meditation path, I have not seen/noticed these before.

We stopped for some water and short eats in a road side shop, where the owner brought her son out to see us – and have his photo taken.

This other boy was quite interested in us as well and wanted his photo taken as he rode past. The people of Sri Lanka are famous for their smiles and it is a very friendly place.

Mihinthalaya is the birth place of Buddhism in Sri Lanka (the first temple was monastery was built in Anuradhapura) when Mahinda, the son of Ashoka – a great Indian Buddhist leader, converted Sri Lankan king Devanampiya Tessa in 247BC. The temple complex here is quite large and up a load of stairs. We were told by Amara that there was not too much at the main dagoba at the top of the hill, which I later found out was not quite true and I was disappointed we did not go up there, I should have read up on it before going – a rookie mistake! Anyway, what we did see was pretty cool though.

When we arrived a large group of school children were coming down the stairs so we waited for the bulk of them to come down before taking a walk to the first landing. Many waves, hellos and smiles were exchanged with the children and the accompanying adults.

We turned off here and went up another set of steps to the Kanthaka Cetiya, constructed around 210BC.

There were some quite nicely preserved carvings and a painting of lions.

Behind the dagoba was a set of rocks the main one had an inscription, thought to be the oldest recorded in Sri Lanka, from around 2000 years ago, dedicating the rocks and caves for the purposes of meditiation.

We had a good grovel and clamber around the rocks, admiring the view out over the mainly flat forested areas surrounding the town. I am always amazed at how tree roots work their way down to water.

We plodded back down the steps feeling all a bit dehydrated, before heading back up another small hill to Giribhanda Citaya. A smaller dagoba that is mostly under ruin, there was a good view down over the ruins of a small monastery at the base of the steps.

Which I visited next.

For our last stop we took a fifteen minute ride out to the edge of one of the large tanks in the area. A tank is basically a large reservoir and there a number of them in the area. They are mostly man made and must have been a major construction project when they were made centuries ago. The wind picked up as we got in the tuk-tuk and a sudden storm blew over the area, luckily we were not still on the hill as we would have been completely soaked. The wind was blowing the water over a small spillway.

Which made crossing the ford a damp affair.

We stopped on the ford for a while to watch the amazing collection of water bird life, some of my colleagues from the Africa trip would have loved it here, we saw a huge variety of bird life – and I did not photograph any of it – Ok I took a couple, but they were crap!

Our final objective was this granite bridge, thought to be the oldest bridge in the country, pre-dating the great Buddhist building work so over 2300 years old. It is in the middle of nowhere !

I really like the tool marks in the stone.

And that was it ! back to Mihintale through a brief shower.

And on the bus back to town. I went round to Benne’s guest house for a large and nice rice and curry dinner, my guest house does not serve food. Benne is off to the coast tomorrow which does not fit in with my plans, though we will probably catch up further down the track.

It was a good day, again!

A templing I will go

Thursday 14 March 2013 – Anuradhapura.

Some days I just wonder if there is something odd about me or if my travelling luck/karma/whatever is just bad. I am happy to acknowledge that at times I can be a bit grumpy and after a few days on the road could even be taken as being rather feral. But why do I always seem to end up in restaurants on my own!! Take tonight for instance, I am clean (ish) – I did shower after a hot afternoon, my hair is not standing up crazily, I am in good humour and I don’t stink of booze. Yet here I am utterly alone in Lonely Planet’s pick of restaurants AND the number one on Tripadvisor. What more can I do ? I guess I didn’t have to go in the door!

But it gives me time to write blog posts, though service was so fast I only go this far. Food was OK.

Back to the start of the day. For my first night ‘back on the road’ I kind of slept OK. My room is not too bad, it is the cheapest I could find on-line at $17NZD per night and is actually better than I anticipated, it even had its own bathroom – with the weirdest shower combination I have ever seen….

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It took me a while to get to sleep, I read for ages; finishing another Inspector Rebus novel – I am addicted to them, so consequently I did not wake until quite late – almost 9:00. I exchanged a series of miss-timed messages with Benne and we did not manage to hook up. I had planned on renting a bike and riding to some of the sites around town, avoiding paying some of the entry fees if I could. I will buy the approx $25USD pass that is required for the whole area, but am not happy to then pay fees at individual places as well – though not all charge them of course.

I got a bike from one of the neighbouring guest houses, the normal humiliating slightly small step through style is the rental norm and that I look ridiculous on, but a bike means freedom, and for me this meant getting utterly lost – about five times, well maybe not lost, just not always going the right way….

Before I set off on my adventures I rolled down the road to get breakfast, I chose a selection of ‘small eats’ as they are known here, in my case two vege curry rolls and a sweat pancake along with two cups of lovely sweet coffee.

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I was pretty much completely lost after about five minutes on the road, no-one seems to have a map and my three year old lonely planet is hopelessly out of date as so much work has been done on the roads. I will say that by the end of the day I had kind of worked out all the places I went wrong, but not entirely.

The first thing I found was this large Buddha figure standing by an intersection, there was no info about it and by the state of the grass and gates I guess it is not used much anymore, but I liked it anyway.

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I then got a bit lost for a bit more, it was very hot, sunny and humid and I was starting to wonder how much I could actually do today and was really glad I had allowed two days here. But I did find my first historical object, Yay ! Mirisawatiya Stupa, which was built in the 2nd century. It is believed it was fully surrounded by walls with elephant carvings.

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There were a few herons and monkeys about, but the monkeys were just too quick.

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I liked these discarded coconut oil candles, there was a huge pile of them out the back and the nearby steps were heavily oil stained.,

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To visit all the Buddhist sites you have to remove hats, sun glasses and shoes. The ground was excruciatingly hot and my feet are completely soft these days, it hurt a lot to walk so it was quite a quick visit and I was wondering if my feet will be OK for tomorrow. I saw a number of people wearing socks at sites the other day and wondered why they didn’t take them off, now I know !

I met an English couple and they pointed me in the direction of some other ruins close by and I actually found them 🙂 First was the Ranmasu Uyana, the goldfish park. I really liked the elephant heads carved into the rocks.

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I followed a dirt path for a few more metres which lead me to Isurumuniya, the first Buddhist temple built in Sri Lanka, back in 200BC. I was shown around the temple by a guide and again did not have anything less the $5NZD for a tip, far too much money. I must learn to say no when I do not have any small bills…

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This dying Buddha is only a couple of hundred years old, not an original piece.

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There were some great Buddha feet.

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After the temple I went off seeking the famous Bodhi Tree, but could not find it. As it was approaching 4:00 and I was extremely hot I cycled back to the guest house, only misplacing myself the once !

There was a wedding going on back at the guesthouse and I got invited to join a bunch of very drunk youths, but I got a bit frustrated with them as they were taking the mickey a bit – I think. Anyway I was hot and needed a shower so didn’t linger, plus I wanted a beer and they were not being served anymore ! Luckily the wedding was all over soon after I arrived back as it was really loud.

So after a shower I went into Main St for dinner and we are back at the start of this post – which I finished in my room after eating.

A class above first class

Wednesday 13 March 2013 – Colombo – Anuradhapura.

I had a far better sleep, but still felt shattered when I woke. I was up earlier than the day before but faffed for a bit in the morning, got some washing done and semi-packed for my departure in the afternoon, basically I did sod all.

I took a tuk-tuk back to the Pettah market area and this time declined the day tour. My first stop was the Colombo Fort train station, this is the main station for Colombo.

I collected the ticket I had booked on line for this afternoon’s journey to Anuradhupara as I didn’t want to put pressure on myself trying to organise ticket collection while carrying my pack and day bag – especially in this heat. I then walked around Pettah for an hour or so, but really didn’t see much that was photo worthy, or that I felt comfortable shooting. I have seen lots of Asian market places selling shoes, bags, cheap clothes, cell phones and plastic stuff so a wee bit jaded by it all. I did like this section, which I have dubbed ‘speaker corner’.

I decided to do the stupid thing given it was hot and sunny, and walk the five or so km’s back to the apartment. I could do with the exercise, it has been too long and I am getting way too saggy… I had made it out of town and was walking along Galle Face when I was approached by a man who told me he was teacher in the monastery I visited yesterday. He had very good English so we chatted amiably as we walked, before taking a tuk-tuk back to the monastery where I had a better look around and was shown a Buddha in a tree which I do really like. Of course I had to give him a tip, and only had the equivalent of $10NZD so left feeling a bit ripped off. A lesson learned – keep small bills at all times. Which is harder said than done !

I mooched over lunch back at Trudy’s and had a wee doze before getting another tuk-tuk back to the station for my train. I was quite early so I picked up a sim card and some mobile data before I boarded.

I have gone with Expo-rail, which I think is a private company that tack their own carriage on the end of the main train. It is about double the price of first class, but still ridiculously cheap and I thought that for my first train ride in Sri Lanka I would travel in style.

Once on board the stewards provided us passengers with warm towels, mints and water as we departed Colombo Fort Station on time. I made an attempt to write some blog as we went through some of the flat farm land on the edge of the city but the train was rocking and rolling all over the place and it proved to be too difficult, and really I should be looking out the window anyway ! The carriage is facing backwards though which is a real shame, it is supposed to be safer that way, but I always like to see what is coming up!

I met a German guy, Benne on the platform and we chatted for a part of the way to Anuradhapura, he is staying in a different place to me and we tentatively arranged to meet up tomorrow. The journey was quite bouncy and there was not a whole load of interesting things to look at outside, the windows were too grubby to photograph through, which was expected, yet disappointing. It rained really heavily at dusk and by 6:30pm it was too dark to see much outside so I tried to doze for a bit before dinner was served. I had requested a vegetarian meal but ended up with rice and beef, oh well. I ate some of it but was not particularly hungry anyway, though it was most adequate. We finally arrived thirty minutes late at 8:45pm. After crossing under the tracks to exit the station I grabbed a taxi to my hostel, had a beer and posted a blog and went to bed – tired…

I am glad to be back on the road again, interested to see how it will all go, today was a good day though and at least I know there are other tourists in town !

A tuk-tuk tour of Colombo

Tuesday 12 March 2013 – Colombo.

Damn it, I knew this would happen! The night before last I managed to get about three days worth of sleep in one go, so I had to make up for it last night by having none, not a second. So frustrating as I am back to being tired all over again. As well as my body clock suffering from the jet lag of being five half hours out of whack with London it was also a warm and very noisy night. Though they are not supposed to be working at night, there was concrete drilling going on at the construction site next door at 1:30 am and then grinding at 3:00. I was not a happy chappy when I did get up.

Though I did make the most of the day and was out the door by 9:00, I was going to get a tuk-tuk into the Fort area of Colombo and then walk up to the Pettah district to look around the markets. As with most tuk-tuk drivers any opportunity to open a conversation is a potential business opportunity and my driver, Lateef took the chance to offer me a two hour tour of Colombo for the princely sum of $30NZD, I found this remarkably funny and we eventually agreed on half that….

It was worth it as I did get to see quite a few things I would not have seen on foot, plus he knew a bit about some of the history so that made it all the more worthwhile.

It appears that all developing countries have to have some Bob Marley and Che Guevara stickers and posters around the place !

We first visited some of the old and not so old Hindu temples, or kovils in the local Sinhalese language. Both the new Kathiresan and the old Kathiresan Kovil are on the same street. It was enjoyable cruising up these noisy and crowded streets in a tuk-tuk, I am sure I have said it before in what now seem to be posts from so long ago, about how much I enjoy travelling by tuk-tuk.

Our next stop was this catholic church and for the life of me I cannot remember what it was called, but like the Hindu temples it was busy with worshippers rushing in an out and beggars of all ages, shapes and ailments crowding the footpaths and entranceways.

We next visited Sri Ponnambalam Vanesar Kovil one of the key temples in Colombo. The temple is unusual in that it is built from granite slabs and is unpainted, inside and out. Inside is wonderful, but no photos were allowed. Blessing with milk is carried out here so there were a number of cows in the grounds as well as two bullocks used for work. As we were in the temple grounds we were barefoot, I really needed to be careful of the puddles.

We next visited Wolvendaal Church built by the Dutch in 1749. It is a large but simple church and I quite liked it. Sadly my camera battery died when I arrived and the spare I recalled was sitting on the floor in my room at Trudy’s place. Damn ! Luckily I could use my phone for a few basic shots.

I was given a tour of the church by one of the staff, there are five gravestones inside were the bodies of the families of the first five governors were buried. The skull and cross bones mean they died of disease and were not to be dug up.

The church is sighted on the highest point of a largely flat Colombo and could be clearly seen from the harbour entrance when ships arrived. After full independence in 1948 a Buddhist stupa was built between it and the harbour entrance so this was the first religious symbol seen by arriving sailors. Sri Lanka is largely Buddhist.

We next visited the food market and had a walk through the fruit section, I was given a few of the twenty four banana varieties to sample as we walked through a banana house.

On the way out we passed the very fresh chicken section – choose your own !

That was pretty much the end of the tour so it was back to the apartment for a lie down and some lunch before heading back out for a walk round Victoria Gardens to the National Museum.

I really enjoyed the museum, though I didn’t like having to pay an extra camera fee, especially given how poorly lit it was inside, but hopefully the money goes to the museums upkeep so I cannot complain.

I did like some of the Buddhas, especially this sandstone one from the 9th century. If you have followed some of earlier travels through SE Asia you will know how much I love the symbols and statutory of Buddhism.

There were some very good carvings of some of the Bodhisattva as well, many well over 1200 years old.

The only time someone asked to see my photo permit was when I took a photo of this 9th century bronze cast of Tara – I found that so amusing…

In the museum grounds there was a good example of the vine covered trees that are all over Colombo, many filling round abouts. I really like them and something I miss from SE Asia. My tree photography is somewhat lacking so I have not captured this wonderful living thing as well as it deserves.

On the way out of the museum I grabbed a couple of samosas from a street vendor and munched them on the way through Victoria Park, which seems to be completely under construction at the moment. Trudy told me that CHOGM (Commonwealth Heads of government meeting) is here in November so the place is getting tarted up – at great expense to a poor nation : (

I also passed by this roundabout temple – where devotees have to brave the seemingly constant traffic – except for the second I clicked the shutter !

Back at Trudy’s I spent thirty minutes doing laps of the pool to cool down. There was no sun shining on the pool as it is between the two apartment blocks so it was extremely refreshing.

It was a good day 🙂

Sleep, sleep and more sleep ! oooo and a visit to a temple

Monday March 11 2013 – Colombo.

OMG – Not a saying I use often, if ever but, OMG – I slept fairly solidly for almost fifteen hours. OK, I will admit to some light dozing towards the end, but fifteen hours !!! I don’t normally sleep that much in three days, let alone one night. I was obviously really tired when I went to bed.

My plan to get up at 6:15 and get outside before the heat of the day was well and truly scuppered by my waking up at 12:30 in the afternoon!

I was really groggy for a while but once I had downed a litre of pure caffeine I was only feeling mildly groggy, but with a caffeine rush going on as well – confusing 🙂

Trudy has a housekeeper, Irene, who comes in most week days to do stuff in the apartment and it took me a while to relax into letting her make me lunch and get coffee, I am not used to having help and mildly uncomfortable with it. Given unemployment, low pay and poverty in Sri Lanka I can see the benefits for this sort of work to Irene and her family. We are all considered wealthy compared to most of the Sri Lankan population, so an opportunity to feed back into the community should be taken, but it doesn’t mean I felt OK with it, different strokes and all that. It is a conversation I can see both sides of I guess, and not a topic for a lightweight travel blog!

After lunch I spent a few hours trying to put together a cohesive plan for the next couple of days. Similar to Laos, I found it hard to get useful and current information from the internet, information that was applicable to me as a traveller spending a month here rather than a week or ten days. My next goal is the ancient cities or ancient triangle and it seems a lot of the folk who have blogged their experience have hired cars for a couple of days and whipped around whole thing. I was sort of thinking of spending a couple of days in each place, maybe I am just fooling myself on how interesting they really are. I am also just starting to get to grips with the cost of entry fees which are frankly, outrageous – though I had been warned !!

After much faffing about I have booked myself a first class train seat to Anuradhapura, about four hours from Colombo. The first class seat plus a meal came to a whopping $14 NZD. I could have gone 2nd class for cheaper, but meh – I want to enjoy it ! It cost me more to go to Dartford from London – a thirty minute ride through the less scenic parts of east London, so this is really worth it. I will have to do one 2nd class journey for the experience though. Once I get there I will work out where to go and what to do next.

With that and some reasonably priced accommodation booked in Anuradhapura for three nights sorted it was time to go outside. I went out to visit the nearby Gangaramaya Temple. The temple is the biggest Buddhist site in Colombo and sprawls all over the place including over the road where I found these relics from a former building.

Next to the temple entrance is a small elephant enclosure with a chained up temple elephant, that looks like it has gone as nutty as the polar bears used to be in Auckland Zoo, rocking back and forth. I really felt for the poor beast.

The temple was interesting though not informative, it had a vast collection of historical items from Colombo’s as well as its own past, but no information on them. However, I really enjoyed walking around the temple site, I really do like the Buddhist imagery and idealism. Though I do need to get back into the temple viewing groove, it always takes a few days to relax back into visiting Buddhist and Hindu temples and the freedoms we tourists have to look and photograph things without restriction. They are often quite serene.