Blogs from Sri Lanka, Asia

Hey everybody! First of all, I am so grateful for all the nice and supportive messages I received after I published my first post. I am so happy to see how many kind people I got around me! xxoo But coming back to the subject of the day I must say that the excitement took the first place at the moment. I just had a look at my project's side and I found out some interesting news. Namely, the details about my accommodation aaaaand my work place have just been added! Well, I am going to work in a kindergarten! There will be 52 children who are aged from 3 to 5 years. My main role there will be: 1. Teaching English 2. Organizing arts 'n' crafts activities 3. Organizing fun games 4. Playing with children ... read more

Le lendemain de la montée du pic d'Adam, on se réveille avec les muscles des cuisses (mon père) et des mollets (moi) endoloris. Ce sera évidemment pire 24 heures plus tard, et ça me suivra pendant quasi une semaine..! Un faible maux, bien insuffisant pour gâcher un voyage qui se déroule à merveille. On poursuit notre chemin, cette fois-ci en direction de Nuwara Eliya, une petite ville à 1868m en hauteur, là où la température est plus fraîche. C'est au 19e siècles que la ville est fondée par les Anglais qui s'y installeront vue le temps plus agréable. Depuis ce temps, la ville aura conservé son style "à la British". Sur la route, on apprendra tout sur le thé, de sa cueillette à sa mise en marché. Le Sri Lanka est le 4ème plus gros producteur ... read more

Du haut de ses 2243 mètres, le pic d'Adam dévoile une empreinte dont l'origine y trouve son compte dans chacune des religions: les musulmans et chrétiens y voient l'empreinte d'Adam qui, après avoir été banni du paradis pour ses pêchés, se serait tenu sur un pied le temps de se faire pardonner (d'où la provenance, vous l'aurez deviné, du nom du pic); les hindouistes, quant à eux, y voient la trace du Dieu Shiva; tandis que les bouddhistes y voient l'empreinte de Bouddha laissée lors de sa dernière visite au Sri Lanka. Soit, tout le monde y trouve une raison pour vénérer l'endroit. Le pic d'Adam est donc la montagne la plus sacrée du Sri Lanka avec, à tous les jours, de nombreux pèlerins la visitant. Avec ses 5500 marches, et entre 3 à 5h de ... read more

We woke up to a very British feeling day, a little on the chilly side and looking like it may rain. We set off towards Yala with a planned stop at the Elephant Orphanage on the way. As we left the higher ground of Nuwara Eliya and started to drop down through the winding mountain roads, we could really feel the temperature getting warmer and needed the aircon again! After a couple of hours on the road we stopped off at an old colonial building - now a hotel for a quick walk round and a drink. It was really nice, loads of old English decoration and randomly a few tortoises as well :-) I went for a walk in the gardens and got a few pictures of dragonfly, birds and the biggest ladybird I've ever ... read more

Today we went to Kandy, the second largest city in Sri Lanka. First thing this morning we went to The Temple of The Tooth, considered to be one of the most important Buddhist temples and is home to the tooth relic. The relic is kept in a room which is only opened 3 times daily for puja - a ceremony where the relic is paraded around the temple accompanied by traditional drumming. once the golden covered relic is in place in the temple the Buddhists then move to the temple to make offerings of flowers to Lord Buddha. The buzz in the temple was amazing, the atmosphere was something else. Everyone around us seemed so excited and in awe of this ancient tradition. Throughout history it has been said whoever is in possession of the relic ... read more

We had another early start and headed off to the medieval ruins at Polonnaruwa - the ancient capital of Ceylon. The site itself is massive and there are ruins spread out across a large area. We started off in the museum where there is a scale model of the site to give you an idea just how vast it is. There are quite a few artefacts to view from coins to medical equipment to religious statues. Polonnaruwa was the capital of Ceylon from the 11th to 13th centuries and saw the beginning of Buddhist arts and architecture in Sri Lanka. The first ruin we visited was the Inner Citadel, a royal palace (originally 7 storeys), the upper storeys were wooden so there are only the brick walls remaining. There is some evidence of plaster walls decorated ... read more