Blogs from Anuradhapura, North Central Province, Sri Lanka, Asia - page 3

26 avril arrivée à l'aéroport de Colombo, mon chauffeur est censé être là à 4h50, heure d'arrivée du vol Sri Lanka airlines mais j'ai un doute n'ayant reçu aucune réponse de mon dernier mail, on verra bien, sinon j'improviserai, une file de chauffeur attend les clients à l'aeroport mais pas de Vipula, je remonte de nouveau la file et là derrière d'autres panneaux je crois reconnaitre mon prénom écrit en grand. ouf!! Vipula Gajendra est au rendez vous avec un grand sourire, il m'emmène jusqu'à la voiture direction Anadapura, 4 à 5 h de route, il fait chaud, une chaleur humide et je ne vais pas tarder à dormir à l'arrière de la voiture apres une nuit sans sommeil, vers 9h, nous nous arrêtons au bord d'un étang, et, j'apprécie le calme et la tranquillité de ... read more

D4 Today was spent visiting Hindu Temples and I can honestly say we are now ‘Templed Up’. We are also trinketed up, well I am at any rate. I was offered some small items and eventually bought a couple at 40% of asking price. However, his cronies then moved in like vultures and pleaded for rescue from depravation and dire starvation of their families, even though they were far from looking like stick insects. My philanthropic spirit kicked in (or was it gullibility) and I ended up with two more. I must have SOFT TOUCH tattooed on my forehead. I console myself that the local economy is now thriving creating replacements. We cycled around just a few of the temples close to the lake in the morning and then Mihintale in the afternoon. We saw the ... read more

We were now headed to two more of Sri Lanka's UNESCO World Heritage Sites back to back - Sigiriya and Anuradhapura. The ride out of Kandy was uneventful other than the roads and traffic were not much different than what we encountered entering Kandy. With no shoulders and rough tarmac, these would be the worst roads of our trip. That wasn't to change until we hit Dumbulla (actually home to yet another UNESCO World Heritage Site…). It is interesting to note that the worst roads of our trip were around Sri Lanka's two largest cities -- Colombo and Kandy. I guess with the new motorways (Sri Lankan now has a few true freeways -- Colombo to Galle and Colombo to Kandy) constructed recently the older roads are no longer as much of concern. Riding in Sri ... read more

Kandy is a pretty city nestled into the hills surrounding a lake... it was the last capital of the Singhalese Kingdom, which fell to the British in 1815. They defied the Portuguese and Dutch for 3 centuries but the Brits managed to prevail. Kandy is situated at about 500m, so the climate is slightly cooler and dryer than the coast. If was very pleasant actually. The lake in the center of town was actually a creation of the last ruler of the Kandyan Kingdom. We were off to a good start in Kandy we had a lovely Chinese (yes you heard me right - Chinese) dinner at a funky restaurant called “Slightly Chilled”... This is THE hangout in Kandy - the views are killer! We started out our day in Kandy after a lovely breakfast at ... read more

The woman enters sparingly in the old temple, bows her head respectfully in front of Bodhisattva’s statue, she leaves some flowers and sets a thin smouldering incense sticks that immediately release a deep sandalwood fragrance. Others faithful remain and slowly and ceremoniously repeated the same gestures. Probably these have not changed over the past two millennia. What is changed is the temple itself, just a ruin in an old city deserted hundreds of years ago. Here the cult is still preserved in the temples besides excavations and restoration. Anuradhapura would be an appropriate setting for Lara Croft adventures, and is likely to have been inspired by this city spaces to host Tomb Raider pixel heroine cyber adventures. The magnificent lakes and irrigation systems provide even today fresh water to thousands of residents who live there and ... read more