Advertisement
Published: January 6th 2018
HE SAID... Today we were travelling east from Wilpattu National Park to
Anuradhapura.
We bumped and lurched our way out of Wilpattu National Park in the late afternoon, jumped into a minibus and set off on the final leg of our day-long journey to Anuradhapura, having left Negombo in the early morning.
We arrived at our hotel, The Lakeside at Nuwarawewa, around 7pm. We checked in, showered and headed out to Jayasiri Hotel for dinner. We stood outside the small restaurant and watched as our
egg hoppers (thin crispy rice flour and coconut crepes cooked in a mini-wok, with an egg in the centre) and
kottu roti / chop chop (roti chopped up and stir fried with eggs and vegetables) were prepared on open grills in the open air, then settled inside at a very basic table and enjoyed a fantastic meal. The freshly cooked hoppers and chopped roti were brought to the table, and we ate from plates inserted in plastic bags. We instinctively wanted to remove the plates from the bags, but we were advised to leave the bags on. Our guide didn’t need to explain why – the look in his eyes said it all.
On our way back to the hotel, we picked up a few small tubs of Sri Lankan ice cream from a Cargills supermarket. It was a perfect finish to the meal.
On arriving back at The Lakeside at Nuwarawewa, we shared a few drinks with a travel companion in our hotel room, which was virtually ‘underground’. The more pedantic word boffins among us would probably describe the room as ‘just below ground level’, but I preferred ‘underground’, because I felt we’d been deliberately hidden away from a group of senior French tourists who had monopolised all of the ‘above ground’ rooms. Assumptions aside, our room was NOT ideal, and we were NOT happy. The gigantic cockroaches in the bathroom didn’t help. Making matters worse, we’d been promised a balcony room overlooking the beautiful Nuwara Wewa tank (an ancient artificial reservoir).
Despite our grumblings, we eventually crashed at 11pm. We had a 12km bike tour of the grand ruins of Anuradhapura the following day, and we needed to rest.
We woke at 6am and headed down to breakfast, where I inadvertently served myself the sweetest sultana bran on the planet, along with toast, jam, tea and fruit juice.
Feeling suitably refreshed and sugar-high, we headed out on a cycling tour of Anuradhapura’s archaeological sites. We rode bikes with baskets between the handlebars along narrow paths and dirt tracks, stopping at stupas, citadels and monasteries. While it was an easy flat ride and a great experience, the heat and humidity started to catch up with us as the morning wore on. One of our stops was the Bodhi Tree Temple, the second-most sacred site in Sri Lanka (after the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy).
We visited the Ruvanvelisaya Dagoba and marvelled at Buddhist worshippers sitting around the base of the huge white structure, praying and chanting in the searing morning sun. This was an incredibly calm place, and I was mesmerised by their meditative chants as I circumnavigated the dome-shaped shrine. Another site with a very calming atmosphere was the Samadhi Buddha, considered by some to be the most serene Buddhist statue in the world.
Over the course of the morning and early afternoon, we visited the Mahavihara (the heart of ancient Anuradhapura) and the Abhayagiri Monastery area (an ancient city that remains shrouded in tropical forest). We walked and cycled to the Ruvanvelisaya Dagoba, Sri
Maha Bodhi (sacred tree), Brazen Palace (ruins), Jetavanarama Dagoba, Kuttam Pokuna (water feature), Samadhi Buddha (monument), Abhayagiri Dagoba, Moonstone (monument) and Thuparama Dagoba.
As the sun approached its zenith, the intense morning heat began to increase exponentially, and the many sacred ruins and sites all began to merge into one (in my mind, at least). It was fine when I was riding, because there was a breeze, but when I stopped the heat would sap every last inch of energy from my body. Fortunately, we stopped at a small roadside stall for lunch at 12:30pm, where we sat in plastic chairs in the red sandy dirt and enjoyed vegetable and cheese roti, coconut and treacle roti and Sri Lankan chai tea. It was fantastic, and it went some way to restoring my waning energy.
‘Life is a kind of suffering’. Our guide shared this precis of Buddhism with us, and I liked the simplicity of the description. It certainly felt like we were suffering as we stood before these ancient ruins in Sri Lanka’s unrelenting sun.
We rode back to our starting point, jumped into the minibus and made our way back to The Lakeside at Nuwarawewa
in the mid-afternoon, picking up some drinks from Cargills supermarket on the way. Having listened to our concerns, the hotel management agreed to move us to our promised balcony rooms, so we quickly changed rooms, showered and sat out on our balcony overlooking the Nuwara Wewa tank. I recovered from the bike tour with a cold beer as I soaked in the serene atmosphere of the hotel’s surrounds. Bird calls were all I could hear, apart from the continuous and very comforting sound of leaves being swept by hotel staff. Our travel companion Damien walked across the lawn to the hotel pool with his iPad and a bottle of diet coke laced with rum, and the indistinct sound of him diving into the pool momentarily broke the tranquil atmosphere. However, as the sound of lapping water subsided, the birds continued to call and the leaves continued to be swept.
We left the hotel in the late afternoon and travelled to
Mihintale, a small village 13km east of Anuradhapura. We visited the old hospital and Kaludiya Pokuna (a serene man-made meditation pool) on our way to Mihintale’s Mahaseya Dagoba, which sits atop Mihintale Hill. We climbed the smooth stone steps
to the ancient Buddhist temple and enjoyed a majestic view of the sun setting on the distant horizon. We walked back down the steps in fading dusk light, jumped into the minibus and headed back to Anuradhapura for dinner. We opted for Casserole, a large restaurant that served ‘Sri Lankan Chinese food’, and it was fantastic. I had a set menu with vegetable fried rice, devilled egg, vegetable chop suey and chilli paste, while Ren ordered the
nasi goreng (Indonesian fried rice). The food was hot, spicy and incredible, and we enjoyed the meal in a special private room where we could bring our own drinks.
We finished the meal and headed back to the hotel, where we sat out on our balcony and enjoyed a few drinks (arrack and rum) with two travel companions (Damien and Mark). We eventually crashed around 11pm – it had been a very long and very hot day, and we were absolutely exhausted. We had a four-hour train journey to Jaffna the following day, and we needed to be fresh.
SHE SAID... From Wilpattu National Park, we drove for an hour to our hotel in
Anuradhapura. The Lakeside at Nuwarawewa
Hotel was right on the banks of the lovely Nuwara Wewa (one of the three man-made reservoirs in Anuradhapura). The hotel looked lovely from the outside and had a plush open lobby area, so we were all quite shocked at our tiny dirty rooms which were almost in the basement. We were also perplexed because Bala, our group leader, had really talked up the hotel, and the Lonely Planet guide gave it a glowing review. The cockroaches casually hanging out on the curtain and in the bathroom were the last straw! It made us adamant about changing rooms, especially as we were at the hotel for two nights.
We didn’t have much time to dwell on the room, as we were running late for dinner. We showered quickly, and made sure all our bags were securely sealed and off the floor before we left for dinner at a very local eatery.
Jayasiri Hotel (in Sri Lanka the term hotel is also used to refer to small local eateries) had two open kitchens on either side of the entrance, and we watched the theatrics of
chicken kottu roti (roti chopped up and stir fried with eggs and vegetables) being
chopped on one side, and
egg hoppers (thin crispy rice flour and coconut crepes cooked in a mini-wok, with an egg in the centre) being expertly made in the other. We sat down to taste both dishes, and the
chicken kottu roti was much better than the one we had in Kandy, but the
egg hoppers that came with
dahl (lentil curry) and a spicy gravy weren’t that great.
We returned to the hotel via a bottle shop to buy beers, and a supermarket to buy small tubs of local
pani cadju (treacle and cashew) ice cream. It wasn’t the best quality ice cream, but the flavour of treacle was delicious. Back at the hotel, we had a night cap in our room with Damien. Ideally we would have been sitting out on the balcony, but our promised balcony room (by Bala) hadn’t eventuated, so we sat in our cockroach infested room instead. Despite the manky setting, it was nice to discuss our safari and travel day, and to wind down.
We were up early for a 7am breakfast and 7:30am departure to see the famous ruins of the ancient city of Anuradhapura. For the first time on
this trip, I didn’t really feel like a savoury or Sri Lankan breakfast. So I had fresh pawpaw and pineapple, French toast and lovely fluffy pancakes with maple syrup, with mixed fruit juice and tea for hydration. Having breakfast on the terrace of the hotel was very peaceful, with the Nuwara Wewa reservoir and its jungle setting just over the hotel fence.
As we boarded the minibus that morning, it became apparent that everyone in the group (except that one slightly odd person we seem to strike in every group) was quite displeased with the quality of the rooms. Even though our complaints were quite valid, Bala got a bit upset about the whole thing, but promised he’d try to organise better rooms for us by that afternoon.
After that slightly uncomfortable start to the day, we drove to the ancient city of Anuradhapura to begin our excursion for the day. Just before we got to the city gates, we stopped at a bike hire place because most of the guys in the group had opted to see the ancient city by bike. However David, Anne, Grace and I opted to get driven around the sprawling complex in
our minibus instead.
Anuradhapura was appointed a royal capital in 380 BC and despite suffering a turbulent history with multiple invasions from South India, it remained the ruling city for over a thousand years. The city is well known for its archaeological and architectural places of interest, and is UNESCO Heritage-listed. However, what I hadn’t realised was that Anuradhapura was the capital when Buddhism reached Sri Lanka, and as such it had many highly significant Buddhist places of worship. I had imagined a docile city in ruins, and definitely not a living, breathing holy city with many restored shrines (and areas garishly modernised for crowd control).
The ruins were extensive and contained about 17 different areas, and the most prominent sights were the enormous dagobas (brick stupas). We started our explorations in the Mahavihara, the heart of the ancient city which holds most of the key religious sites. The Ruvanvelisaya Dagoba was a hive of activity as we approached it. We had to leave our shoes a long way from the temple and walk down a stone tiled path to the shrine area. There were slightly disorganised-looking archaeological excavations in progress right near the path, and I was
very surprised to see the rampant use of pick axes and shovels… I suppose a kind of sledgehammer approach to archaeology. I was so busy being judge-y of the excavations that I wasn’t looking where I was going, and I stepped in monkey poo! In bare feet! Oh so so so gross! It took me a while to recover my composure (not helped by Andrew and the boys finding it extremely funny) and continue walking to the shrine.
The restored white bubble-shaped 55m Ruvanvelisaya Dagoba dwarfed everything in sight, including the interesting perimeter wall with a frieze of hundreds of black elephants that guarded it. The original dogoba site was constructed in the 2nd century BC, but sadly the somewhat over-restored works didn’t reflect the ancientness of the construction or craftsmanship. We could have been at a newly built temple.
We walked clockwise around the vast base of the stupa trying not to disturb the lone figures and small groups of people praying or quietly chanting. It was a very lovely and serene atmosphere. There were a couple of beautiful shrines that had various large Buddha statues in them, but my favourite part of the site were the
small open air altars around the base of the stupa with all manner of small Buddha statues, colourful floral offerings and incense. I was also slightly mesmerised by the narrow unstable looking bamboo ladder strung down from the high pointed spire and over the round stupa, which I assume was how they paint the plaster. Eek!
Before we moved on to the next site, I was thankfully able to find a tap and wash the gross monkey poo grass stains off my feet before retrieving our shoes. Such a relief!
We then walked half a kilometre along a concrete path to the Sri Maha Bodhi complex. This is the spiritual centre of Anuradhapura, and is built around a very sacred 2000+ year old bodhi tree (a fig tree native to south Asia). Buddha is believed to have attained enlightenment while meditating under a bodhi tree in India, and it has since become a symbol of the Buddha's presence and an object of worship. There were separate male and female security gate entrances, but they weren’t staffed, so we walked in without getting checked. I assume this was a remnant feature from the war, when security was high at
all holy sites.
I was expecting a single bodhi tree, but there was a collection of them, with the oldest tree on a higher platform surrounded by railings and rows of prayer flags. The main tree was supposedly brought to Sri Lanka from a cutting from the holy tree in India, and has been looked after by a dedicated group of ‘guardians of the tree’ for 2000 years. Some branches of the ancient tree had been propped up with what looked like gold painted metal stakes. It wasn’t a well-designed or ambient place by any stretch of the imagination.
As expected, there were masses of pilgrims, and just as many ‘guardians of the tree’ and armed guards. We walked along the perimeter of the railings and observed the pilgrims praying at the little shrines that encircled the tree. One of the posted armed guards struck up a conversation with us, starting with the usual ‘where you from?’ and ‘do you like Sri Lanka?’ questions, which escalated very quickly to ‘can you help me to get a visa to Australia?’… err ‘no’. It was awkward and turned even more uncomfortable when he insistently followed us around for about 10
minutes. The only escape was to exit the area, and I was quite annoyed that I couldn’t get all the photos I wanted of the complex.
We walked back to the carpark where our minibus was parked, but the walk had made us hot and thirsty so Bala treated us to icy poles from an ice cream van. I had a red ‘necto’ icy pole (made from a local raspberry flavoured soft drink), and the taste took me right back to my childhood. It was already getting quite hot and we’d only just started our day! On the plus side, the crowds thinned out drastically after these first two sites… it could have been due to the heat or that we left the popular Mahavihara area for other smaller areas.
While Andrew and the boys rode to the next stop rather quickly, our minibus had to take a rather longer route to get to the Jetavanarama monastery area of the site. At our third stop, we stood under a shady tree and took in the colossal elliptic-shaped Jetavanarama Dagoba, built in the 3rd century AD. Although now in ruins (and missing most of its pointed spire), the original
122m structure is thought to have been the largest ancient stupa constructed and the third tallest (after two pyramids) structure in the ancient world. Using approximately 93 million baked bricks, the structural and engineering skills would have been significantly advanced, not to mention the labour force of brick makers, bricklayers and stonemasons that would have been required. Records also show that elephants were used to stamp down the earth and stones used to fill the stupa. In the ancient world, this massive brick dagoba was quite a phenomenon.
We walked around it rather quickly as our bare feet where uncomfortably hot on the heated up stone floor. There was no shade to speak of, and at one point I had to basically hop around to prevent burning the soles of my poor feet. Despite this, I was quite in awe of this amazing ancient structure, and very grateful for the lack of over-restoration.
We then drove to the northern side of the Anuradhapura ruins, to the somewhat forested Abhayagiri monastery area. Our next stop was the Kuttam Pokuna (Twin Ponds), and although referred to as twins, the two ponds weren’t identical. The pool-like ponds are thought to have
been built for the monks in nearby monasteries to bathe in, and had decorative steps on both ends, and tiered embankments cut into the sides of the granite walls as well. The pools employed a hydro engineering system that was significantly advanced for that ancient period (that still works today), where water from underground ducts flowed into the pool, and was filtered when emptied out of the pools. Even though the pools were in a rather tranquil setting, the stagnant green water that had pooled at the bottom of both ponds took something away from the experience. A few of us mentioned how much nicer it would have been if we could have seen the hydro engineering system in action with clean fresh water, rather than staring at mosquito infested puddles.
Our fifth stop was at the beautiful creamy granite 4th century AD Samadhi Buddha Statue that sat under a small canopy. The 4th century statue depicts Buddha in samadhi pose – crossed legged with palms up – one of the acts of Buddhist spiritual practice. There was something quite serene about this place and Andrew and I both loved it (even with the botched restoration job on the
nose of the statue). So when one of the nearby vendors said he had a small copy of the Samadhi Buddha statue, we decided it would be perfect as one of our souvenirs.
We then visited the bell-shaped Abhayagiri Dagoba, the main focus of the Abhayagiri monastery area. Although similar in looks to the red brick Jetavanaramaya Dagoba, it was very much older and slightly shorter (originally 100m). It was part of an ancient monastery dating back to the 1st century BC that was the largest (home to 5000 monks) and most influential monastery in the country. We sat under some trees near one of the stone step entrances, amongst the very old stone pillars that had stood the test of time. It was very atmospheric.
Although it was a very interesting space, by now the temperature was very high and we were all getting quite hot and bothered. None of us wanted to leave the shade of the entrance area and hot-foot it around the hot stone floor of the dagoba. Writing this much later in the cool of our hotel room, I’m already admonishing myself for not putting in more effort… but it really was very
very hot and I’d already slightly burnt my feet at the Jetavanarama Dagoba.
The other causal factor in our flagging energy levels was that Bala was very passionate about history and quite authoritative in the way he wanted to impart detailed information on each of the locations we visited. I know this can be a good thing, but my attention span isn’t the best… and it gets worse when I’m hot and tired. I think it would have been ideal if we’d been able to just take in the ruins, and seek more information if we wanted it.
Our seventh stop was to view good examples of a Moonstone and a guard-stone. We drove to the ruins of a 9th century school for monks, and walked to a fenced off Moonstone and nearby Guard stone. A Moonstone is a semicircular carved stone (not actually made of moonstone) that sits flat on the ground at the entrance to a holy space. Adorned with a series of concentric semicircular rings with symbolic figures (usually depicting animal species), the stone is thought to symbolise samsara (the cycle of rebirth), and each ring represents the spiritual journey to reach enlightenment. I’m quite
attracted to the artistry of the Moonstones, and have taken many photos of the very different ones we’ve seen at the various Buddhist temples we’ve visited. I especially like that they are unique creations of Sri Lankan sculptors and not seen in Buddhist art anywhere else in the world.
Mura Gala (guard-stones) are the carved upright slabs of stone on either side of the flight of steps leading to a holy building. Thought to be a remnant from when the population was Hindu, they usually depict Hindu symbols such as the pot of abundance (cornucopia), lotuses or a king cobra. Even though this particular guard-stone had been singled out by archaeologists, I thought we’d seen nicer ones at the dagobas we’d visited earlier.
By now we were beyond hot, tired and thirsty! Thankfully we were near the small gathering of roadside stalls in the complex. We had lunch at the stall that specialised in
pol roti (coconut roti). The
pol roti was hot off the griddle, stuffed with stir-fried vegetables and cheese, and served with
katta sambol (salty chilli and lime paste). I’d never had stuffed
pol roti before, and it was more delicious than I thought it
would be. This was followed by a
pol roti stuffed with grated coconut and
jaggery (Sri Lankan palm sugar) for dessert. I might need to persuade my Mum to make stuffed
pol roti for us when we get back home. We ended the meal with a refreshing ginger, cardamom and cinnamon tea. The flavour of the tea was lovely, but I’m just not a fan of tea made with evaporated milk. It was a very basic and simple meal, but a fabulously Sri Lankan experience.
Our eighth and last stop was back in the Mahavihara area, at the pretty bell-shaped Thuparama Dagoba which sits in a beautiful treed setting. Compared to the gigantic dagobas we’d seen that day, it looked positively petite at just 3.5m. It was constructed in the 3rd century BC, making it the oldest dagoba in Sri Lanka. However, it was destroyed and rebuilt many times over the centuries, and the current version has been plastered white. I loved the rows of original stone pillars surrounding the stupa that stood charmingly at various angles – they provided a lovely contrast to the new looking dagoba.
That was our final stop on the tour of the
ruins. Even though I had been driven around the complex, I was still really tired, so I had sympathy for the guys who had been riding all day in the intense heat. On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at a Cargills to stock up on coke, rum and beers for dinner and after-dinner drinks.
When we returned to the hotel, we found out that we had thankfully been ‘upgraded’ to the nicer rooms we’d actually booked – is it an upgrade when you get what you should have had anyway? We surmised that the very large older French tour group that had just checked out had been given the rooms we should have had, and our tiny group had been shunted into the drivers’ quarters (most hotels in Sri Lankan seem to have these, and I’d guess they were a leftover from colonial times).
After we’d swapped rooms, we had two hours to shower and refresh ourselves in our much nicer, bigger, non-cockroach ridden balconied rooms.
That afternoon we headed off to
Mihintale at 4:30pm. Mihintale is the mountain location where the Buddhist monk Mahinda (son of the Indian Emperor Asoka), is thought to
have converted King Tissa of Anuradhapura to Buddhism, and thus introduced the religion to the country in 247 BC. It’s now a sacred precinct containing ancient ruins of the monasteries and associated buildings, and remains an important pilgrimage site.
We started at the ruins of an ancient hospital that sat at the foot of the mountain, in a peaceful green park-like setting. While the ruins aren’t well preserved, there were clear indications of square walled rooms that faced a central courtyard with a shrine, stone entrance ways, baths and urns. I was a bit surprised that we were the only people in the whole vicinity. However, I definitely wasn’t complaining!
We then drove a short distance to Rajagirilena Kanda. We walked up rough rock cut steps and past large boulders to the beautiful Kaludiya Pokuna (Black Water Pool). It’s the largest pool at Mihintale, and is surrounded by trees, large boulders, ruins of meditation halls and bathing houses, and caves. I loved this very tranquil spot, and just as I was thinking it would be an ideal place for a picnic… the tranquillity went south as we were joined by a very large contingent of college students on
an outing. We didn’t linger long after that, but long enough to clearly see that it was called Black Water Pool due to the dark shadows of the boulders in the waters.
We then drove to the main entrance of Mihintale Mountain. There’s an ancient ceremonial stairway of 1840 steps cut into the rock, which leads up the mountain. However, the climb apparently takes about 30 minutes, and because we wanted to get to the top before sunset, we cheated by driving up the side on Old Road and starting our explorations about half way up.
At the first landing of the ancient rock cut steps, there was a side branch of about 100 very steep granite steps. This took us up to the site of the ruins of the ancient circular Kantaka Chetiya dagoba, thought to date back to the 1st century BC. There were remarkably well preserved and beautiful friezes of humans, divine figures, animals and floral patterns on the four square pillars at the four cardinal points. Prominence had been given to the elephant on the east, the lion on the north, the horse on the west and the bull on the south. While there
are many archaeological theories about the significance and symbolism of these animals, there aren’t any clear answers. I found the friezes of the small elephants to be very charming, especially as the granite gleamed white on some of the elephants, making them stand out on the mostly black stone surroundings. There were also caves located near the stupa which were the earliest dwellings of the resident monks of this sacred complex. Again, I was quite amazed that we were the only people in the area…
Back at the landing area, Bala pointed out the small but significant Sinha Pokuna (Lion’s Pool) with some friezes around it and a remarkable 2m large lion carving on the side. The thinking was that anyone placing a hand on each of the lion’s front paws would be right in line for the stream of water from the lion’s mouth. However, the pool was dry, so the fountain effect was a bit lost. And to be honest, I would have walked past the whole thing and not noticed any of it, if it hadn’t been pointed out to me.
While at the Lion Pool, I was extremely lucky to chance a fleeting glimpse
of the very shy purple faced langur. One minute there were two of them in a tree above us, and no sooner had we got our cameras out that they disappeared into taller trees. I had really wanted to see these primates, as they are endemic to Sri Lanka. There used to be a thriving population, but very sadly habitat loss has caused one of the four sub-species to be listed under the 25 most endangered primates in the world.
I was pleased to have now seen two of the three primates that are endemic to Sri Lanka (the toque macaque and the purple faced langur). I didn’t like our chances of seeing the third – the red slender loris, which is a nocturnal creature, and also listed as endangered.
We now joined the impressive ancient rock cut stairway that I mentioned earlier. I was surprised at how wide the steps were, and beautifully sheltered with frangipani trees on either side. It was a very pleasant climb, until a troupe of cheeky grey langurs decided to cause a bit of a ruckus in the frangipani trees above us.
On the second landing of the stairway, we exited
to explore the ruins of the Monks’ Refectory and the Main Shrine. In the ruins of the refectory, there were two impressively large stone troughs used for serving rice. It is thought that the trough would have been lined with metal and that the refectory also had overhead water pipes and an elaborate drainage system. A rock cut inscription suggests that the refectory had 12 cooks, a warden and firewood gatherers.
On an elevated level adjoining the refectory, a flight of steps led to the ruins of the Main Shrine. At the entrance to the shrine, there were two large slabs of stone with detailed inscriptions on both sides. These Mihintale Tablets apparently outlined the rules of the shrine and all information related to the running of the complex. It outlined the rules and schedules of the monks; defined the cooking and firewood gathering duties of the servants; detailed things like how much land is to be given in exchange for a reliable supply of oil for lamps or flowers for offerings; and recorded all the payments to workers in the monastery.
Apparently, apart from using prisoners of war from India, there is no record of slave labour
in the building or running of any of Sri Lanka’s ancient cites. I have to admit that I don’t necessarily believe that this was the case. Having seen the ruins of the extensive and elaborate ancient cities, and combining this fact with recorded history that notes some of the kings were tyrannical in their rule, I find it hard to imagine that all workers were paid by the royal families of those times. As an aside, later on in Sri Lanka’s history, there are clear records of slave labour used by the colonial rulers.
I digress. Back to Mihintale. We climbed the remaining steep rock cut steps to the upper terrace. There was a small shelter near the top where we left our shoes with an attendant, hired a sarong for me (as I was wearing shorts), and walked to the central stupa of the complex.
The Ambasthale Dagoba sits at the front of the terrace and marks the site where King Tissa is thought to have received Buddhism from the Buddhist priest Mahinda. It’s a small stupa surrounded by stone pillars with coconut trees swaying in the background. A nearby grey stone statue of King Tissa marks
the spot where he first met Mahinda while he was out hunting.
We had made it the top just in time for sunset, and there were three possible vantage points – on a rugged and steep rocky outcrop, at a Buddha on a mid-level, or at the Mahaseya Dagoba on the mountain summit. Andrew climbed to the Buddha, while I scaled the revered Aradhana Gala (Meditation Rock) with Colin, Paul and Mark. It was basically a massive boulder with a railing and some rough cut footholds. The rock was still hot from the sun, so it was quite a balancing act placing bare feet in the narrow rock cuts, and trying hard not to use the railing with rusty jagged metal bits unless I absolutely had to (Mark had already cut his hand on the rusty metal). It wasn't that hard to climb, but it got tricky where there were no foot holds, or when we had to make way for people coming back down by stepping onto narrow ledges. When the steps ended on the main boulder, I had to scale a small boulder to get to the viewing platform at the very top.
The view was
so stunning from the top of Aradhana Gala at sunset that it was totally worth scrambling up the hot rock face in a very un-OH&S way! I couldn’t make it down in time to join Andrew at the Mahaseya Dagoba for sunset, so I watched the sunset from the rock lookout.
It got dark quite quickly after the sun set, and as the 110 stone steps to the Mahasaya Dagoba were barely lit, sadly I had to make the decision not to climb up. As it was, Andrew hurt his foot while coming down the stone steps in the dark. Luckily, the main stairway of rock cut steps that took us down to our minibus were lit, and we made it slowly but safely back down.
Andrew and I had been talking about our love for ‘Sri Lankan Chinese food’, so we all went out to dinner at the Casserole Restaurant. I had the
nasi goreng (Indonesian fried rice) which was a Sri Lankan version of the dish and unlike any
nasi goreng I've ever had before – and it was really nice and large enough to feed a family of four! Andrew had the set menu with
fried rice, devilled egg and vegetables – again a very Sri Lankan take on East Asian food. It was a lovely night out, especially as we had a private room, and the restaurant allowed us to bring our own beers and drinks. For dessert, we stopped at the Family Bakery downstairs from the restaurant to sample their
watalappan (spiced coconut egg custard), and it was the best one we’d had on the trip so far.
What little we saw of the current town of Anuradhapura wasn’t anything to write home about. It was a sprawling city that I suspect only gets visitors on their way to the ruins.
Afterwards we gathered on our hotel room balcony with Damien and Mark to celebrate our much nicer rooms, and debrief about the day. As always, with these sorts of gatherings, it turned out to be a longer than expected evening. 😊
To reflect on our time in the North Central Province… I think it would be fair to say that ancient Anuradhapura has enough sacred city ruins to fill a few days – if that’s your thing of course – but one day was more than enough for me.
As much as I enjoyed some of the dagobas and aspects of the other ruins, many of the sites weren’t what I’d call ‘thoughtfully curated to maximise the experience’. In fact, I’d say the opposite was true for over 80% of the ruins. The dusky experience of Mihintale was quite enjoyable, and I would recommend timing a visit for a sunrise or sunset view from the top of the mountain.
Next we travel north to Jaffna – the city, peninsula and northern province of the same name.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.16s; Tpl: 0.023s; cc: 14; qc: 47; dbt: 0.0591s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb
Travelphilosophy
Marco
Sri Lanka
Hello Ren, I absolutely love this picture and reminds me of Acient Angkor Wat in Cambodia!! great...