A taste of the country

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We had breakfast and watched peacocks flying around in the trees while we did. This is a huge novelty for me as I've only ever seen peacocks in parks in the UK before. Seelan picked us up at 8.30am and we drove to Polonnaruwa - an ancient city. First stop there was the bank, to withdraw cash and pay off our debts! Next, we had a quick look at the Polonnaruwa Rest house which is situated on the huge Tank at Polonnaruwa. Seelan showed us the room that Queen Elizabeth (allegedly) stayed in during her visit to Sri Lanka in 1954. We took photographs, because he seemed keen that we did. On the way back to the car we were hounded by the first of many hawkers selling maps and postcards of Sri Lanka, hats and all manner of tat.

Polonnaruwa is a great place - fascinating to walk around the ruins - but my god it was hot here today! Seelan did an excellent job of showing us the main sights in a morning, culminating in the beautiful Buddhas at the Gal Vihariya. Once again, photographs do not do justice to this place.

Seeing all the tat prompted me to ask Seelan to stop at a decent wood carving shop, and so we ended up at a place just outside the village where we were given homemade lemonade and a quick tour of the "factory" bit, where we watched the guys who work there doing their carving. We were also shown some cool "magic paint" - the shavings from a tree (rainbow tree?) which, when mixed with various things (lemon juice, bicarbonate) changes colours and is used to stain wood. The manager then took us in to the back room of the shop - all the carvings in here seemed a bit poor and I wondered if they were the work of the trainees? So I asked him could we go into the main shop.... the quality improved significantly here. Roy wanted a giant ebony elephant but we decided that upwards of £600 was a tad extravagant! So we ended up buying a "blessing Buddha" (standing Buddha) for 11,000 rupees. About a tenth of the cost of the elephant. It is carved out of Royal Ebony. We don't know if we've been ripped off as we haven't seen any other prices... we paid less than the 15,000 they asked.

Next, we headed back toward Vil Uyana, but early on in the trip, Seelan had offered to take us in to a village for lunch, followed by a trek in the jungle. We agreed, but had spent most of last night wondering if we could be bothered and should we try to get out of it. We decided to leave it in the itinerary. This morning, when he started talking about the mud hut we were going to eat in, I got a bit concerned. When he pulled off the main road somewhere around Sigiriya village, he headed on to a rough track, full of elephant dung, and leading in to the middle of nowhere.. or so it seemed. After about 20 minutes slow driving, he pulled over and we got out of the car. We walked down a lane and past a house made of mud and bamboo. A lady came out and a young boy was sent ahead to chase away a rather vicious looking dog. We were here! We washed our hands using a coconut shell in dipped in a bucket of sun-heated water. Next, we were invited into a mud house, which was "open plan" with a small walled kitchen at the back. All that was in the house was a display of clay pots on one wall, and a huge swing seat in the centrel We were invited to have a seat while lunch was finished. I went to watch the lady (I never asked her name, how rude of me) coating leaves in a curried batter and deep frying them. Everything was spotlessly clean. The fritters she was making were the final dish. Out on display in the main room was a feast of:
- banana flowers
- rice
- chicken curry
- brinjal (aubergine)
- baby aubergines (teeny tiny ones)
- green beans
- bitter salad leaves
And some more that I don't remember. Everything was beautifully cooked and most dishes were spiced. Nothing was too hot - just a nice chilli heat from a few of the dishes. We ate Sri Lankan style (with our fingers) although they did provide napkins and some Lifebuoy soap with the water bucket! The farmer came in to chat to Seelan but did not eat with us.

The hut is situated in the middle of the family's organic farm. Everything we ate was grown there - they're totally self sufficient. We were taken round the farm to see onions, banana, papaya (which we ate fresh off the tree for dessert), manioc, etc. Marigolds are planted around to cater for the insects so that they don't have to use insecticide on their plants. The farmer gave us a huge carrier bag of peanuts in their shells. Seelan said we could take them home to roast (although we ended up leaving them for the room boy at Vil Uyana). The biggest stress for this family is that they get elephants marauding through the farm at night eating their crops. Government won't help them with proper fencing and so they tie beer bottles on string near the bamboo fences to rattle when the elephants come in - apparently they don't like the noise. Also, somebody keeps watch in a tree house all night and lets off fire crackers to scare away elephants.

After lunch, we went for a walk in the jungle - the farmer led the way with a machete. We walked for a while to a lovely pond filled with clear, cool water. We were getting quite hot and bothered by now - felt like being on Extreme Dreams! Saw so many stunning butterflies, birds, trees. I was slightly worried by the fresh elephant dung scattered around the trail but tried not to stress about it! We walked back to the car and bid our farewells. The village name I don't recall but in English is is "Water Cutting".

We arrived back at Vil Uyana at 5 and headed to the pool for a swim. We then took a stroll around the grounds to do some bird spotting. Got some bites here (stupidly walked out without repellent after dusk) and unfortunately one of mine became infected. I started on antibiotics as Iwasn't taking any chances of cellulitis taking hold.

We didn't think we'd be hungry for dinner after such a splendid lunch, but we managed to eat:
Jan - Veg kebab and pakora
Roy - Smoked beef salad
Both: Sorbet/Pork chop, bacon, veg, roast new potatoes, sauce/Blueberry cheesecake and chocolate eclair.
Usual coffee and white wine. This is our last night in Vil Uyana. We'll be sad to go, but excited for the rest of our trip and new adventures to come.

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Photos

Inscriptions on slab
Telling the story of the city's development

Meditating Buddha
At Polonnaruwa

Standing Buddha
Not a usual pose - quite rare to see Buddha with arms crossed like this

Close of of Buddha's face
Beautiful carving out of the living rock....

The lovely lady who cooked us lunch
Frying leaves in curried batter - tasty!

Farmer and his family
In a village outside of Sigiriya

Walk in the jungle
Roy, Seelan and elephant dung

Sunset at Vil Uyana
A beautiful place to start our trip in Sri Lanka