http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Sri-Lanka/North-Central-Province/Anuradhapura/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , Sri Lanka , North Central Province , Anuradhapura en-us Tue, 29 Dec 2009 12:25:20 +0000 Tue, 29 Dec 2009 12:25:20 +0000 After 2 days of intensive givingdonatingoffering today we could afford to wake up a bit later and have a relaxed breakfast. Since we spent most of the past 2 days doing charity work and didn't manage to have much sightseeing today our Bhante decided to bring us around Anuradhapura and Mihintale for some cultural sightseeing.We first went to the Sri Maha Bodhi Sacred Bodhi Tree temple in the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Sri-Lanka/North-Central-Province/Anuradhapura/blog-419066.html Sorry for the delay in my blogs its now 3rd January 2009 and still blogging about Sri Lanka in December 2008. This is the last chapter from Sri Lanka before I arrived in Thailand. Mihintale The morning sun was in full swing and as l started to climb the first set of steps my TShirt being to show the signs of the heat and became wet. Once at the top you come across a statue of King Devanampiya a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Sri-Lanka/North-Central-Province/Anuradhapura/blog-359526.html Saw a lot of Tempels. Beautiful colours. Our driver Asela showed us everything. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Sri-Lanka/North-Central-Province/Anuradhapura/blog-145655.html Happy Birthday Autumn xxxxxSo 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 promiseI hadn't been feeling too well during the week nothing major just a bit http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Sri-Lanka/North-Central-Province/Anuradhapura/blog-128240.html Marie and I are now half way through our travel time We have been to Kandy the Pinnawela elephant orphanage Dambulla rock temples Sigiria Polonnaruwa and now we are in AnnuradhapuraYesterday we discovered that you could get female Buddhist nuns. Up until that point we thought that they were all male as the male and female monks all where a orange tunic and have a shaved head with no jewelr http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Sri-Lanka/North-Central-Province/Anuradhapura/blog-104333.html Statue of Liberty on the Open Market The Ownership of Cultural PropertyWe were discussing the ability of an oversized monkey to abduct a toddler when the Englishman approached us alongside the Tivanka image house in ancient Polonnaruva. Tugging the hem of his collared bowling shirt over the taut waistband of his cargo safari shorts he pointed to the tops of the trees with a crooked arm. ldquoW http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Sri-Lanka/North-Central-Province/Anuradhapura/blog-93941.html ANURADHAPURAFinding accommodation can sometimes be a challenge especially with the 3 wheeler drivers trying to help you ... which really means take you to a place where they get commission. After some heated discussions we finally made it to a nice guesthouse and then set out on bicycles to explore the ancient city of Anuradahpura.First a short history lesson...Sinhalese kings ruled from pala http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Sri-Lanka/North-Central-Province/Anuradhapura/blog-53346.html We left Days Inn at 8am ready for our long guided journey to Anuradhapura via a Hindu temple the cave temples of Dambulla and the rock fortress of Sigiriya. The intricately decorated Hindu temple was first its tower adorned in Hindu deities was a sight to behold. After a couple of hours we reached Dambulla and after paying our entry our guide left us to climb to the top of the hill and to the t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Sri-Lanka/North-Central-Province/Anuradhapura/blog-43457.html So...after Kandy and basically off for a circular tour of the 'old bits' of the island and my my it's a fascinating place.We started off on a small detour to a herb and spice garden. A bit of a tourist trap but we had a fantastic talk from a professor of something or other and then a 'free' massage. Wow beat anything we had in India by a long shot incredibly soothing done by pressing with http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Sri-Lanka/North-Central-Province/Anuradhapura/blog-40505.html Knife ShopWe are heading for Anuradhapura. Along the road we stop to visit an archeological site. A tank these are manmade reservoirs centuries old. And learned how the people use to farm the land. Sri Lanka has no natural lakes so over the 3000 years that people have been living on the island thousands of tanks some small some mammoth have been built. These tanks are still used today collec http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Sri-Lanka/North-Central-Province/Anuradhapura/blog-39937.html FIELD STUDIES AT ANURADHAPURAAfter a morning class it was once again back on the bus. The first part of the ride retraced the roads we had traveled heading to Giritale but eventually we hit a fork in the road and turned towards Anurahapura. During the bus trip we made a few stops to see some early archaeological sites. The first stop was simply a small tank or manmade lake which was made t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Sri-Lanka/North-Central-Province/Anuradhapura/blog-39910.html