Blogs from Sabaragamuwa Province, Sri Lanka, Asia - page 5

Met Nishal at the KLCC by accident, I arrived at 8:35pm went thru customs around 9:30pm and bummed around for couple hours at the departure lounge, wasn't the only one, Filipinos, Vietnamese, attractive Thai girls and all sorts of people hanging out waiting their flight check in. We got booted out of the Air Asia terminal because they are flogging it, meaning spraying to kill roaches and sorts. I saw Nish walking towards me as I walk out towards the doors and we ended up hanging out together outside in the grassy area chilling until it's check in time. It's a bit of a circus atmosphere for awhile, we checked in and then have to wait for awhile till the immigration office opens up. We had quick breakfast at Dunkin Donuts, my sandwich was expired so ... read more

This is my very first entry! I'm still at home in Yang Ming San, getting ready to take this journey. My first stop is Sri Lanka! This is where I will be meditating for 10 days straight, no speaking, no reading, no writing, just meditating... EEK! It's probably going to be the toughest challenge in my entire life. It sounds slightly boring but in reality its an awakening. I want to open up my mind completely and this is the only way to do it. There are so many reasons why I am going on this journey and all of them make sense to me, but not necessarily to everyone else. There are three big dreams I have that I want t to chase after. I want to be an entrepreneur and surround myself with great ... read more

Sri Lanka had welcomed me with that mix of hospitality and embarrassment of those who, peaceful by nature, found themselves with a rifle in hand and do not understand why. Negombo Airport was armoured and Colombo city centre was constantly combed by agents (uniformed and not) looking for potential bombers. Only in Israel, I guess, I’ve seen more weapons around. But people here -contrary to what happens in Israel- keep smiling. As to say: no bomb can kill a positive philosophy of life! My not too cautious, little plausible, not at all wise attempt to cross the virtual boundary line that separates (or used to separate, at least) the South in the hands of the government from the Tamil Tigers’ controlled North was a fiasco. In a region where the tourist is by now an extinct ... read more

As you all are aware, I haven’t blogged for a while. This is down to many, many reasons but can be summed up by the old adage “if you’ve got nothing nice to say, don’t say anything at all”! I’m not going into the reasons here, but feel free to ask me upon my return and I will endeavour to enlighten you! I do however now have something nice to write, so here goes! On Christmas Eve morning I was sat at the top of Adam’s Peak (or Sri Pada, as it is also known) a very large mountain, watching the sunrise. It was magic. We set off at 4pm from Hikkaduwa in a car. Our original car had crashed on the way to pick us up, so we had to get another one at ... read more

The places we visited on this leg of journey : Maha Saman Devala This is a shrine dedicated to the god Saman. The god Saman is (a Buddhist deity) considered to be the guardian of Ratnapura. When the Portuguese captured Ratnapura, the ancient shrine that stood at this location was destroyed and a Portuguese church was constructed on top of it. When the Kandyan kingdom recaptured Ratnapura, the Portuguese church was destroyed and the shrine was rebuilt. Currently this shrine is a very important place of worship for Buddhists. Bopath Ella is situated at Kuruvita. The fall is like a boo leaf that gives it name. Ruins of Sitawaka Kingdom This infamous place is one of the most disappointing sites of Sri Lankan ancient history to visit today. I say this because of negligent and arrogant ... read more