Our last day in Sri Lanka was spent at Ranweli hotel. It was just right. Just enough nature, just enough conveniences for the tourist. We rode on a small floating wooden pad to get to the hotel. A very aesthetically pleasing path lead us to the entrance where we were greeted. What a sight for sore eyes! This place was beautiful. Everything overlooked the ocean. The bar, the restaurant, each cottage had an amazing view. We attended a few very impressive lectures on biodiversity in the morning. Professor Kule handed out our certificates of participation at the end. THIS WAS AN [View Full Entry]

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Finally, city life. I was so excited to be going to Colombo. I wanted to see what city life was like in Sri Lanka. The hustle and bustle of people and cars was some what comforting to me. I got a surge of energy just seeing all the stores and buildings; it brought a smile to my face. The apex of our journey to Colombo was seeing the Indian Ocean. I could not believe it. This was a once in a life time experience. I was overwhelmed with gratitude. Once we checked into the Janeki hotel, the three of us: Laura, [View Full Entry]

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This would be a very interesting archaelogical fieldtrip. Texas is not know much for archaelogy, so for me, all was new. Our tour guide was Professor Sudharshan Seneviratne. We began by visiting Ibbankatuwa, a site with early iron age megaliths. Next, we arrived to Anuradhapura where we saw caves from the 3rd century B.C. where forest-dwelling monks lived. The Royal Garden displayed ancient hydraulic management, and ended the evening by visiting the Reuanveli seya also known as the Great Stupa. This stupa had such a calming essence to it. You could see its worshipers loyality as they kneeled in prayer. Like [View Full Entry]

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One of my favorite fieldtrips was to Sigiriya. After so many days of rain, we got lucky, the day was absolutely beautiful. I know that it sounds horrible, but I do not excersize. I cant even remember the last time I excersized. Houston is a very lazy city. We do not walk. We climb into our cars to just drive down the driveway to the mailbox to get our mail. So, I hoped that I would be able to climb that beautiful mountain without huffing and puffing. I did it! The climb was not as bad as I thought it would [View Full Entry]

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The Devil's Home, also known as: Sinharaja. I feared this place. I had been dreading the day the we would have to go. Okay, so first I will tell you a little bit about it. Sinharaja is untamed. It is the last remaining primary tropical rainforest in the wet zone of Sri Lanka. It presents a large diversity of plants and animals. The forest has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Wilderness Area, prompting the world community to preserve this gift from nature. The forest is home to more than 60% of Sri Lanka's endemic plant species, and has the [View Full Entry]

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Minneriya was an ancient city built by King Parakramabahu. Many tanks were built here to irrigate about 8500 hectacres of land. Minneriya is now a wild life and game park with diverse vegetation of dense forest, scrubland, and grassland. The rich biodiversity of the park is habitat for 24 species of mammals, 16 species of birds, 9 species of amphibians, 25 species of reptiles (and thank God, that none of these popped up as we drove through the park), 26 species of fish, and 75 species of butterflies. This was an amazing experience! We were able to ride along in 4-wheelers [View Full Entry]

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"What a goofy name," I first thought when I heard that we would be visiting the Temple of the Tooth. I later learned the interesting story behind it. After the cremation of the Buddha at Kushinager, the remains including one of his teeth were kept in India. During this time, Buddhism in India was undergoing hardship, and so the tooth was smuggled into Sri Lanka in the hair of a princess. It was first taken to the kingdom of Anuradhapura and later brought to several other kingdoms in Sri Lanka, until it reached its final resting place at the Kandyan kingdom [View Full Entry]

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A healing ritual dance was performed at the Mahakande Bungalow by the very famous Kandian dancers. The classical dance forms were associated with the performance of various rituals and ceremonies which were centuries old and were based on the folk religion and folk beliefs going back to times before the acceptance of Buddhism by the Sinhalese people in the 3rd century B.C. Developed from the period of Kandian Kings, the dances imitated movements of animals. We learned that there are 18 different Kandian dances, each imitating a different animal. The costumes were colorful with white, red, yellow, and black mixed. The [View Full Entry]

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I look through my Sri Lanka travel pictures and most of them truly look as if I was on a National Geographic photo shoot. On Tuesday Jan. 10, we had the privilege of visiting Pinnawela elephant orphange. This wonderful place caters to the well being of 70 orphaned elephants. Every morning they are fed breakfast and a bath follows a few hours later. Luckily, we arrived just in time to watch the whole herd walk down to the river for their bath time. We even were able to roll up our pants and get in the water with them! Their skin [View Full Entry]

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What a ride! Four hours of winding roads, waterfalls, emerald green mountains and hills, picturesque tea plantations, and the most charming little stores along the side of the road. We were heading towards Nuwara Eliya. In my opinion, this was the most beautiful drive taken on this trip. A tiny town suddenly appeared after our long bus ride. The air was cool and wet, and we were tired and hungry. A perfect combination for a great (cheap) dinner together. I could not believe the prices. Dinner for all nine of us was only $12 !!! After dinner, we ran across the [View Full Entry]

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