Blogs from Anuradhapura, North Central Province, Sri Lanka, Asia - page 2

HE SAID... Today we were travelling east from Wilpattu National Park to Anuradhapura. We bumped and lurched our way out of Wilpattu National Park in the late afternoon, jumped into a minibus and set off on the final leg of our day-long journey to Anuradhapura, having left Negombo in the early morning. We arrived at our hotel, The Lakeside at Nuwarawewa, around 7pm. We checked in, showered and headed out to Jayasiri Hotel for dinner. We stood outside the small restaurant and watched as our egg hoppers (thin crispy rice flour and coconut crepes cooked in a mini-wok, with an egg in the centre) and kottu roti / chop chop (roti chopped up and stir fried with eggs and vegetables) were prepared on open grills in the open air, then settled inside at a very basic ... read more

Anuradhapura had been the capital of Sri Lanka from around 200BC to 1100 AD. It's legacy are the many Dagoba's that were built to house the earthly relics of Bhudda. some of these rivalled the Pyramids in Egypt in terms of height and wealth contained within them. We had a small disaster on our trip around the temples. At each stop we had to drop our shoes. Unfortunately someone with feet half a size smaller than Shelley's put on her pair and left a par of the same brand. They were a different colour and in much worse condition. One of our packing techniques to minimize the weight we have to carry is only take one pair of shoes. Hopefully the shoes that Shelley has inherited can hold up. My Keen's rock shoes also had a ... read more

Here's some photos from my first stop in Sri Lanka, Anuradhapura. I rented a bike from my hotel to cycle round the ruins of the old town. They made me wear a hat to protect me from the sun which I presume a woman must have left there before. I don't have any pictures of myself with the bike and hat but I was basically riding round these old ruins looking like Mary Poppins. ... read more

Um 9.30 sitzen wir mit unserem Gepäck in Toni’s Kleinbus. Wir fahren Richtung Norden entlang der Küste durch Palmplantagen und Reisfelder. Die Landschaft wird zunehmend grüner, das Klima scheint hier etwas feuchter zu sein. Vom Monsunregen ist allerdings nichts zu spüren, auch hier im Norden herrscht für die Jahreszeit ungewöhnliche Trockenheit. Wir passieren Chilaw und machen einen kurzen Stopp an einem hinduistischen Schrein mit farbigen Statuen der bekannten Hindu-Götter. Von Ganesh und Hanuman, Krishna in blau, bis Shiva sind alle vertreten. In Puttalam zweigt die Straße Richtung Westen ab, der Verkehr wird deutlich ruhiger und wir fahren teilweise durch ursprünglichen Urwald Richtung Anuradhapura. Am frühen Morgen ist hier Vorsicht vor wilden Elefanten geboten. Entlang der Straße warnen zahlreiche Schilder vor Elefanten-Wildwechsel. Unser Fahrer Toni ist sehr nett, spricht recht gut... read more

29 mars Je quitte Kandy dans un chaos pas possible à la station de bus. Diesel Tetris. Les bus déglingués s'imbriquent tous en klaxonnant, étouffés pas une fumée noire qu'ils crachent à tour de rôle de leurs poumons carbonisés. À part des autres, comme un premier de classe, un mini-bus annonce Kandy-Anuradhapura A/C (air climatisé). Bingo. Le temps de m'acheter deux pains veg/curry et me voilà qui prend place dans la boîte climatisée avec le trop plein de sri lankais. Le mini-bus s'active et bientôt, se fraye comme il peut un chemin à travers les tyrans qui sacrent et crachent salement dans la cours d'autobus. Je suis assis dans le petit-à-lunettes qui se fait malmener à la sortie des classes. Rapidement, j'engloutit les deux galettes veg/curry, assis sagement à l'avant du mini-bus. Un picotement doucereux me ... read more