Wednesday, July 21st Pollanaruwa (I kid you not). More immense Buddha statues carved from the rock and a seven story palace with 1,000 rooms and a harem of 300. Sigiriya /sky fortress - a 200 meter high rock outcrop is one of the most extraordinary monuments in Sri Lanka, designed with an enormous lion sculpted at the entrance. We climbed the steps through the huge paws up to the city in the sky. This king stole the throne from his brother by killing their father and spent his entire life preparing for the day when he knew his brother would return seeking revenge. The form is much more colossal than the sphinx in Egypt and is reminiscent of entering the New York Public Library. Disney could have adopted this site for its next “Honey I ... read more

Monday, July 19th Trying to fit in we rented what they called “very-ordinary bikes” (I think the ones grandpa and his friends used as a kid) and rode around the ancient city of Anuradhapura (see what we mean about the names?) - the largest and most important ancient site in the country. We kept to the left side of the road and called out “Are you born?” as we passed. Aryubovan is a greeting that means “wishing you a long life” in Singhalese. At one point we stopped to look at an elephant getting bathed in the lake. I went down to take a picture and the man beckoned for me to get into the water too. “No I can’t,” I thought and gestured to my sneakers and he indicated that I could take them off. ... read more

Sri Lanka has been described as a tear drop island falling from the tip of India. Smaller than Ireland, just larger than West Virginia, it is 7 degrees north of the equator in the Indian Ocean. It is full of rare spices, precious stones, palm fringe shores and elephants. There are 19 million people in the entire population (about every US state has more people than that). The name comes from the Arab 'Serendib' for Serendipity, the making of fortuitous discoveries by accident - seems like a good place to be, hope it will live up to it’s name. *The life expectancy is 75 years *There is 95% literacy (although in 2008 it ranked 165 out of 173 countries in terms of press freedom, below Saudi Arabia, Zimbabwe and Somalia) *It won independence in 1948 from ... read more

August 17 The story of Koh Samed is about a prince exiled to a kingdom under the sea ruled by a love-sick female giant. A mermaid aids the prince and helps him to escape to Koh Samed by playing a magic flute. Samed is the word for the cajeput tree which is great for firewood… It is here that the early morning bus and ferry took us. We found a bungalow on the beach with buffet breakfast included (also on the beach!). With blue skies, fine, white sand, and waters that invited one to swim for miles (which mom did everyday morning and afternoon!) We strolled around the different bays/beaches and dined on the beach surf-side and watched movies in bed before venturing out to watch the fire show (guess where…on the beach!) I of ... read more

August 8 Left our ‘no electric, no showers, no water’ hostel at 4:30am. No water means they wash the linens once a year - lovely. It was only when we reached the border that we realized that our Dalai Lama souvenirs were in jeopardy as well as the safety of our Tibetan guide if we were found with the contraband. Although we unpacked our bags on the side of the road and couldn’t find it, we sweated profusely in anticipation. Our tour guide also had a panic attack and screamed at us abundantly…awkward … Maybe it was the “Nihao” smile and greeting or the strategic placement of our dirty laundry on top, or perhaps just good karma, but the guards didn’t find the DL post cards. They did look through the camera of one guys ... read more