The Picture Worth a Thousand Words

Sigiriya and Dambulla were AMAZING. Our professor(Indiana Jones) took us to a few of his sites. Right now he is in the process of restoring the largest brick structure/ stupa in the world. We got to see it being restored. Pretty amazing. I also saw my three legged monkey there. Dad, you should be proud. I took an awesome picture of that monkey, you'll see. Our professor took us to many archaeological sites. It's hard to fathom the idea that you're standing where an ancient civilization once existed. He also took us to drip caves where forest dwelling monks used to live. I touched some ancient writing. I think it was from the 3rd century BC. Pretty cool!!!
We went to Sigiriya. It's this huge rock/mountain that one of the king's sons made into a resort. You hike to the top of this rock and find the remains of water gardens and rooms for his concubines to dance in. This was the best view! Well at least a close second to land's end. On the way up to the top you walk through these caves and see frescos on the walls. Apparently these frescos were the only ones the monks couldn't reach. When this king's son died, Sigirya was given to the monks. The frescos of naked women were too distracting to the monks while they were trying to meditate and think pure thoughts, so they destroyed all of the paintings, with the exception of the few they could not reach. I thought this was hilarious! It's like putting a man in the playboy mansion and telling him to think only about the clouds. Poor monks.
Dabulla was a bunch of Budda statues carved out of the cave walls. Budda's everywhere. I now know the difference between sleeping budda and dead budda. I'm a pro. hahaha.
We returned to Gal Bungalow for one more night. We said our goodbyes. It was hard leaving Siri. He's the best friend ever!!! If I ever come back to Sri Lanka I'm staying in his hotel. He might make it out to the US sometime withing the next few years so I told him I'd show him around CA.
The last couple of days we spent in Sinharaja rainforest. This is a beautiful place. I didn't get to see a ton of wildlife but I saw lots of plants. 6 out of 10 plants there are endemics. That's pretty awesome if you think about! I saw endemic birds and fish too. I even bathed in the river with a couple of fighting water monitors and water snakes. Well, I guess they swam down the river before I got in, but they were still there somewhere I bet!!
We just arrived in Colombo. We drove past some of the tsunami damage area. Very Sad!! Tomorrow we're going to the Coconut research institute.Talk to you all later!!

PS> Happy late Birthdays Marissa and Amy. Sorry I missed them. I hope you had a good time. See you soon!
- Allegra

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