More of The Cultural Triangle

---

Happy Birthday Autumn xxxxx

So at 6am this morning we set off North to Minhitale, yes more ruins and temples. It was a fair old journey and at 9.30am we stopped for breakfast at this nice little hotel I had been to before, they all recognised me and said 'Hello" which was nice, but anyway there is a point to this I promise!!!!

I hadn't been feeling too well during the week, nothing major just a bit of a poorly tummy, so I'm sitting there eating breakfast and think 'need to go to the toilet pretty sharpish, so off I goes. Welln I flushed the toilet and just as I was going to put the lid down I noticed something moving in the bowl, well you can imagine I was mortified, I thought I had passed a parasite, I envisage trips to the hospital, pumping of the stomach, or even worse that awful milkshake stuff you take when you get worms. But then I realised that what ever it was was swimmimg frantically against the current of the water whizzing round the bowl, so of course I waited to see what it was and there in the bowl was a little lizard that had obviously fallen into the bowl whilst I was on the toilet. So after a complete flood of relief had fallen over me I realised that the poor thing couldn't get out, so I did my pet rescue bit and grabbed him with a piece of tissue (didn't want to touch him I knew where he'd been hahahahaha) and put him on the wall.

Well after that little adventure we set off to Minhitale, and yes once again I had hundreds of steps to climb but is was lovely and we got to the hotel very tired.

The next day we set off for Anuradhapura, this is a huge archelogical site and was once the captial of Sri Lanka. To me the site was breathtaking, the complex covers about 30 acres and you drive from site to site.

The most important place there is the 'Bo Tree', this is the tree that Buddha meditated under when he was looking for enlightenment. The original is in India where he came from, but this tree originates from that tree and it's huge. The reason Buddha chose this tree was because of its leaves. Unlike most leaves who only have short stems the Bo terr as long stemmed leaves so when the wind blows the leaves don't rustle and therefore Buddha was able to meditate without being disturbed, clever really.

I was also attacked by a family of read ants who took a liking to my right foot and kept biting me which wasn't much fun I can tell you.

So after my experience with the lizard and the ants we made the long journey back to Vagira

---

Photos

Meditating - Minhitale
This is me sitting on a ledge where the monks used to meditate, good job you can't see how far up I am.

Monk's Rice Bowl - Minhitale
The villigers would fill this with rice and food for the monks to eat, it was at least 3 metres long.

The Lovers
This is a very famous freize from Anuradurapura.

Comments

[Connie]

Dominic, Kevin and Kelly
This is the first time I've logged on to your blogg and it's so interesting. I can't believe you sleep with all those bugs around you, you are so brave. Well done with everything you've done so far. Love the photos of the smiley children as well as the beautiful buildings. Just came back from Claire's and saw the latest photos you sent. Take care and keep up the good work. I look forward to reading the next episode of your fantastic adventure. Lots of love The Healys xxxx