Winter break and where to go? Luckily some friends, Christina, Kelly, and Elena, had a wonderful trip planned to Sri Lanka and they invited me to come along. 7 days on an island I know nothing about (except that it used to be called Ceylon and just had a little civil war...). But, we packed our bags (some more efficiently than others! Kelly wins that prize!) and off we went!
Once we landed, we met our tour guide and driver. First stop? Hotel because we landed just after midnight ~
We were lucky enough to have a little van just for us throughout our stay ~ wonderful!
Sri Lanka is a beautiful, tropical island, and after a good night's sleep undercover of a pretty pink mosquito netting, we enjoyed the view as our guides took us on small roads to Kurunegala in search of the Rambadagalla Bddha statue.
On our way, we saw many palm trees and growing in them, the pretty orange King Coconut. Our guide stopped and bought some of these large coconuts and then took us to his mom's house out in the jungle, where he macheted open a coconut for each of us! We sipped the juice from a straw before he hacked open the coconut and we scraped out some of the sweet meat to eat. What a cool experience. And thank you to Aruna's mom for her hospitality!
Here is a glimpse of a Buddha up on the hill above a city. There are many such Buddhas ~ his image is everywhere!
On the way we saw a lovely Hindu temple. The Hindu temples are very colorful and one can see the numerous gods to which people pray.
In 2001, the Taleban purposefully destroyed the Bamiyan Buddha in Afghanistan, claiming that the statue was that of an idol. In the aftermath of that destruction, a Buddhist priest of the Kurunegala area listened to the demands of the young men in the village for some sort of retaliation. His response was to initiate the carving of this giant Buddha as a peaceful and positive reaction to the terror.
Just me:
Christina and me ~
On the way down from the site of the Rambadagalla Buddha, we saw a little school. The teacher ran out to meet us (he must have heard us loud Americans a mile away!) and invited us into his classroom. The Children were so sweet and one even read for me ~ too cute!
Next we stopped at one of the many Buddhist temples we would see on this trip. This is one of my favorites, though, because of it's tiny size and lovely carved entry.
The entrance to every Buddhist temple is graced with a lovely half-moon stone in which are carved significant animals. This was the doorway to a unique temple.
Unique in that there are white and blue tiles inside that depict the life of Christ! These tiles were given to the monks by a Dutch governor. It seems the monks either did not know what was depicted on the tiles or did not care so much, as the tiles were placed facing all directions.
Here is some lovely original ivory work ~ some of which has been stolen or damaged over time.
Buddha appears in many positions in each temple. Usually sitting in meditation, standing as when he spread his teaching, and reclining just before his death and entry to Nirvana.
These are the guards outside the temple doorway.
And outside we caught a glimpse of our first real, live elephant!!!! Earlier he was working to move some logs but now he is just chillin' in the cool shade of his tree.
Driving on, we could see a stupe in the distance. Stupes are large domes with spires that are usually covering some artifact of importance or value. One walks around them in prayer.
And here is an upclose look at one of the large Buddha sculptures overlooking a city.
It is said that under the first seven steps taken by the baby, Siddhartha, seven lotus blossoms sprang. One of the signs that he was to be the next Buddha.
What a lovely first day in Sri Lanka. I was just starting to learn about Buddhism and my appetite was whetted.
Day 2 ~
Today was our trip to Polonnaruwa, the capital of Sri Lanka from the 11th to 13th centuries. These ruins are of the medieval city and include city walls, palaces, shrines, monisteries, pavillions, parks, ponds, and irrigation lakes.
Oh, and monkeys!!!!
Christina and our guide in front of one of the great halls.
Me, touching the same walls that were once touched by monks ~
Standing where there once was a wooden beam ~
But which now is apparently the preferred space for one of the monkeys!
It's all his!!!!!
These are the original granite steps ~ still perfect.
And here is the corner work ~ the beautiful carving still evident.
Here is the prince's bathing pool ~
Here is fertility temple ~
These columns were once in the hall of flowers ~ named for the graceful lotus atop each pillar.
And the Buddha yet to come ~
Another moonstone ~
This is the tallest building of the site ~ with a proud monkey as king of the mountain!
Here is a huge stupe ~ as I walked around it, I could see into the various rooms where there were statues at which one could pray. Really a moving experience; walking in the same path as monks from hundreds of years ago....
This was a very cathedral-style temple ~
Guarded by a dragon ~ a creature composed of six animals (but I can't remember what they all were!!!)
The piece de resistance: The Gal Vihara! These are four statues of Buddha: sitting in meditation, sitting in enlightenment, standing as a teacher, and reclining before death, all carved from one granite wall.
At this point in our visit, I was up to owing Kelly about 400AED because we had already run into so many German tourists! I can't help it if I am a German magnet!!! lol It was time for rest and we were pleased with the lovely presentation of our bed:
Day 3 ~
This is the day I was waiting for: a climb up the Sigiriya! This is a 650ft. high rock fortress in the sky for the 5th century kingdom in Sri Lanka.
Us ~
The rock ~
This is the Elephant Gate, one of three gates for this kingdom
And this is the first natural rock arch, as we began our climb up the rock face
A view out over the kingdom; a large Buddha statue in sight
About halfway up, we came upon the 'Mirror Wall'. This is a stone wall covered in beeswax and polished to such a glossy finish that it acted as a mirror, reflecting the lovely paintings on the rock wall for the king to admire on his ride up the mountainside.
And the paintings were of is 500 concubines....
A view from about 2/3 of the way up ~
~ at the Lion's Gate
And finally, from the top!
Yay! The highest point of the kingdom!!!!
No palace is complete without a bathing pool for the king and his concubines
or a nightclub (this is the bench on which the king would recline while drinking a refreshing beverage or just drinking in the view of his concubines dancing for him
Alas, time to descend the mountain....
The final gate at Cobra Rock
The grounds for this glorious kingdom have not yet been fully excavated, but it was impressive nonetheless. The design was very symmetrical (which I appreciate!) and reminded me of Versailles, with its beautifully laid out gardens and water fountains. Yes, there were even fountains here ~ made by using the pressure of water as it ran down the mountain. A true work of art and ingenuity.
And leaving this glorious site, we caught yet another glimpse of an elephant ~ this one being bathed in the river! Another good day!
Day 4 ~
On the move again, this time to Kandy and yet another old kingdom. Behind this golden stupe is the Dambulla temple ~ five caves each filled with statues and paintings of the Buddha, each filled by kings of different centuries.
Kandy is also the home of a lovely botanical garden ~ and I could not resist a walk through my favorite part... the orchid house!
But there was more! Our walk through the park was so pretty ~
Here a man showed us (for money, of course) a scorpion that he found in the jungle.
Us (and some random Sri Lankans) enjoying the gorgeous scenery ~
This tree reminded me of the Tree of Life ~
Then it was time for a drive to our next stop, but on the way I couldn't shake the feeling that maybe I was back in Washington!
In the Temple of the Tooth ~ the Buddhist temple that houses one of the relics of this Buddha:
And we ended this evening with an exposition of Sri Lankan dance ~
Day 5 ~ Tea!
Well, a visit to Sri Lanka would not be complete without a visit to a tea plantation! I learned a lot here too. Turns out that all teas are made from the same tea plant (in fact, just the new green shoots of this plant) and that the flavor is really dependent on how that tea is cut. The finest (and least strong) tea is made only from the topmost bud, and is called silver tip tea. The next finest tea, orange pekoe, is made from the loosely cut withered and rolled tea leaves. Then, leaves cut more finely, is the broken orange pekoe. And finally is the most finely cut (and strongest) tea, the broken orange pekoe fannings.
Us, preparing to sip the delicious broken orange pekoe tea of the Mackwoods plantation!
Loving it, Kelly?
A mountain of tea!
Day 6 ~ Milk for Elephants!
After the little sneak peaks we have had of elephants on the island, we finally went to an elephant orphanage!!! Our first stop? In the feeding pavilion, the young elephants tugged at their chains trying to get to the milk! They were so cute and playful ~ too fun to see!!!
On this drizzly day, nothing looked like more fun than rolling in the mud!
An invitation to stand next to a huge animal? Of course!!!!
Hold your prodding stick? Um.......
Ack!
Way fun!!
And there they are ~ elephants just milling around for us to gawk at! Wow!
There was a scary looking bull ~ but he was chained off to the side, which was okay by me!
Here a mommy watches over her young one as he frolicks on the rocks ~
But the highlight of the day for me, was the appearance of a ten day old baby elephant ~ so adorable!!!!!!!
Everyone loves a baby elephant!
What a wonderful day!!!!
On the drive to the hotel, I had to laugh when I noticed we were waiting at a light behind a truck and, yes, a man with his wheelbarrow! hee hee
Day 7: Christmas morning in our hotel ~
How lucky for us that we were put up in a little Bed & Breakfast owned by a lovely couple (German husband and Sri Lankan wife). Everything was perfect, from the little German ornaments...
...to the pretty breakfast table, complete with gifts for each of us!
We spent our last day on Sri Lanka shopping and walking along the beach.
Dancing on the beach ~ happens everywhere in the world!
4 Girls in Sri Lanka ~ Merry Christmas!
