Blogs from Sri Lanka, Asia - page 122

The travel fairy has waived her magic dust again, so we have nearly reached the time to venture abroad in Summer 09. To Sri Lanka for a 17 day tour/beach trip. We leave on the 26th so the packing needs to start NOW! Get the mossie spray ordered the tasty Europeans are coming. Will be updating as we go on tour 2009, between cups of tea.... read more

The weekend of 5th-7th June We arrived at the bus station a little later than we ought to have. The first bus was crowded and we decided erroneously to wait for the second. By the time it arrived there were enough passengers waiting to fill the QE2. In the ensuing melee I discovered that the endless hours spent playing rugby as a child were not wasted, but were preparation for getting on the Polonaruwa bus from Kurunegala on a poya (full moon) weekend. I managed to grab a triple row for the four of us to share. Jake got the window seat and Nicky, Elliot a large rucksack and I shared the remaining 2. Even the aisles were packed and the boys were distinctly unimpressed. Luckily we plugged Jake into HP (Harry Potter) on the i-pod ... read more

After 2 days of intensive giving/donating/offering, 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 middle of the Anuradhapura's ancient site. The sacred tree was grown from a cutting taken from the original bodhi tree in Bodhgaya, India, where Buddha attained enlightenment. The cutting was brought to Sri Lanka by Princess Sangamitta (sister of Prince Mahinda, who introduced Buddhism to Sri Lanka) in 3rd century BC. Not long after, the original bodhi tree in India was destroyed, but the "descendant" in Sri ... read more

This day was definitely the highlight of this trip. Never in my life had I done so much charity work in 1 day... Not only we did charity work at Mihintale, the holiest place in Sri Lanka, we also went to several refugee camps in northern Sri Lanka to give/offer/donate/distribute... This day was also one of the holiest day in Sri Lanka, as it was Poson day - the day when Buddhism was introduced to Sri Lanka in 3rd century BC by Arahat Maha Mahinda (son of King Asoka of India), who appeared before the Sri Lankan King at Mihintale. Poson is also a full moon festival and is characterised by day-long processions and ceremonies at Mihintale and Anuradhapura. Being Buddhists, we were very honoured to celebrate this important day in Sri Lanka. More importantly, we ... read more

We woke up at 6:30am today and had a quick breakfast at the hotel cafe. At 7:30am, Bala (the guy who offered us a day-trip for 3800 rupees) turned up with his friend. Bala had to work later, so he would let his friend drive us to the various attractions. Before he went to work, he accompanied us to this panoramic viewpoint on the hill, where we had a bird's eye view of Kandy and the surrounding mountains. He also accompanied us to Kandy Central Market, where we bought some fruits, T-shirts, incense sticks and candles. (At the end of the day we would realise that we actually overpaid for our purchases in the market. I would talk about it at the end of this blog.) After the market visit, Bala went to work, leaving his ... read more