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Published: January 11th 2013
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January 5...After finally getting my aunt on her way back to Vancouver (missed connection in Hong Kong due to late departure from Colombo, she then had to wait until next day to catch it), George and I were able to do a bit of sightseeing Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. We visited the Gangaramaya Temple - apparently, the temple has never disposed of any items gifted to it, making the collection especially eclectic - I particularly liked the collection of ivory pieces and the the two cars out front! Biera Lake was nearby, so we walked over and saw a modest temple built out over the lake. Later Saturday afternoon, I experienced my first Sri Lankan train trip - a 20 minute or so journey south from Colombo took us to Mount Lavinia Hotel, the one-time residence of a former Governor of Sri Lanka in the 1800s. Train fare was 20 rupees, or the equivalent of about 16 cents. Granted, it was standing room only and the train never exceeded about 15km per hour but for a few cents, can you really complain? After drinks at the hotel, we headed to a beachside cafe for dinner. Nothing like picking dinner from
a plate of fresh fish and seafood presented to you by the staff and having it cooked to your liking.
January 6...Pettah Market - what an interesting place - truly the lifeblood, I suspect, for many locals in Colombo. There is pretty much anything to be found here - fresh vegetables, meat, clothing, dry goods - one stop shopping. All I could think of afterwards was "How does the government ever tax or collect any revenues in a totally cash-based system like this?". Somehow it all works. In the afternoon, George put me on the train for Nattandiya, the closet station to Marawila, where I was to meet my group. 60 rupees, approx 65 kms and 2+ hours later, I arrived (thank goodness I had a seat for this journey - 2 hours standing would not have been much fun). I was certainly a curiousity to the locals on the train, especially when I didn't disembark at Negombo (closest station to the international airport). Locals so far are very friendly, if a bit reserved, especially if you make the effort to smile and say hello.
I met the group I'll be travelling with in Marawila, a beach town.
It's a fun group - with 8 of the 10 members being Australians, could it be anything else? A lone Scot and myself are the other Commonwealth representatives. Deva, our leader, is very good and a wealth of information - this is his last tour after nine years in the business- I think we are lucky to have him.
January 7...is a 5 am wakeup call really how I what I signed up for on this tour? Fortunately, any jetlag I may have had is gone and I'm on the local clock now (MST +12.5 hours). We had a busy day, stopping first at Pinnawela, an elephant sactuary with about 70 resident elephants. There were a couple of absolutely adorable baby elephants - too cute for words! These elephants have been orphaned, abandoned or injured and brought to Pinnawela, where they seem to be well cared for. It was quite funny watching the mahouts (elephant keepers) keep the elephants in line while the elephants were in the river having their daily baths - a few ramdom ellies were intent on escape!
After Pinnawela, we headed to Mihintale, known as the birthplace of Sri Lanka Buddism. Legend has it
that in approximately 247 BC, one of the local kings met the son of an important Indian Buddist emperor and was converted to Buddism. A climb up (only 800 steps as we cheated and parked midway up the hill) led to the main sights. More climbing to see the Mahaseya Stupa (also known as dagobas or pagodas here), the largest stupa at Mihintale. I'm sure the views are spectacular, but all we saw was a lot of mist and fog. It made for an atmospheric visit though.
January 8...The UNESCO World Heritage sites of Anuradhapura and Sigiriya were today's highlights. Sri Lanka has 8 World Heritage sites (Canada, for comparison, has 16), not bad for a little island about 1/10th the size of Alberta!
Anuradhapura is considered the first ancient city of Sri Lanka, and its most important. Kings ruled from here for over 1000 years, between approx 380 BC and 800 AD, while periodically fending off the Indians from the north. Highlights of the site were the Sri Maha Bohdi, apparently the oldest living tree in documented history - it is known to be over 2000 years old. The Ruvanveliseya Stupa stands 55 meters high and is
surrounded by a "fence" of elephant statues. It's a very impressive stupa.
The best part of the day was the visit to Sigiriya - the Lion Rock, with a fortress built on the top. The site is approx 1600 years old and is surrounded by a series of terraces and water pools. They claim the site is 370 meters tall - I'm not sure it's that high but do know it took the better part of an hour to climb! They must have had small feet, as many of the stone steps are quite shallow. I'm pretty sure that they would never allow visitors to climb this site in North America, as all there was between you and the edge was an insubtantial handrail! The benefits of travel in the third world. About one third the way up was a detour to see the "Damsels", frescoes of naked women in very good condition painted on the mountainside. Two thirds of the way up was a terrace with large lion paws surrounding the next level of steps up. Views from the top were fantastic - mountains in the distance and lush greenery and lakes surrounding the rock. The Fanta Orange
pop at the carpark was a well deserved treat after the climb up and down! Once again, the rain held off until we were in the minibus and headed to Polonnaruwa to our hotel.
My impressions so far...it's been very humid (ick! but good for the skin), hasn't been scorchingly hot (good!), friendly people, lots of stray dogs, you better like rice and curry as it is the main meal option.
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Lea Norman
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Fantastic! Keep 'em coming. I am now living vicariously through your adventures and loving it!!! Those baby elephants - cuter than cute!