I awoke to the foreign sound of an air conditioner pumping cool dry air into our hotel room. Even with the piped-in chill, the underlying humidity was palpable.
Last night we ate dinner at a family run eatery that came highly recommended from TripAdvisor.com. The seafood tasted fresh and spicy. We talked about the highlights and lowlights of our first day. Already, we had gathered take-away ideas and had begun adapting ourselves to a place in the world to which we were unaccustomed.
After our first day navigating the lanes and byways of Negombo town, we headed north and west towards the lowlands from the bustling coast. Just like when traveling in the US, the shops, people and cars became fewer and further between as we began to see fields of greenery. But instead of the tall waving and rustling leaves of corn, we were seeing rice paddy fields shimmering low and brilliant green. The site already felt a little drier and began to lose the salty, sticky feeling of ocean air. At one point, the van came to a full stop as a herd of water buffalo walked casually down the middle of the road; they were headed from their farm home down to the river for a cool dip. It was a ritual they completed every day, half tame, half wild.
Our driver Ranjith proved his worth again and again as he spotted a photo shop where Rachel could get some 35mm film and took us to a roadside vendor of king coconut for a refreshing drink.
When we finally arrived in Anuradhapura, it was too hot to explore in the midday heat but around 3:30, we began our tour of the ancient city. The site was still warm but giant trees shaded us while we wandered the remains of a once-thriving city of 10,000 Buddhist monks, with stone columns, bathing pools, and the glorious half-circle moonstones carved out of granite that had served as threshold to the most sacred places.
As the sun set on our second day, our final stop was to see the sacred bo tree - the 2000+ year-old tree was a sapling brought over from India and transplanted here. Buddhists believe that the mother tree was the one that Buddha achieved enlightenment under. It is a very sacred spot for them and there were devotees dressed in pure white gathered bringing flowers and offering prayers and incense. We had to remove shoes and walk barefoot on the sand walkways and cover our shoulders and down to our knees - even the men!
At the end of the long day, we ate a spicy and delicious meal of stringhoppers, a steamed rice noodle served with vegetables and meat. Finally in our rooms, we went to sleep exhausted.
Last night we ate dinner at a family run eatery that came highly recommended from TripAdvisor.com. The seafood tasted fresh and spicy. We talked about the highlights and lowlights of our first day. Already, we had gathered take-away ideas and had begun adapting ourselves to a place in the world to which we were unaccustomed.
After our first day navigating the lanes and byways of Negombo town, we headed north and west towards the lowlands from the bustling coast. Just like when traveling in the US, the shops, people and cars became fewer and further between as we began to see fields of greenery. But instead of the tall waving and rustling leaves of corn, we were seeing rice paddy fields shimmering low and brilliant green. The site already felt a little drier and began to lose the salty, sticky feeling of ocean air. At one point, the van came to a full stop as a herd of water buffalo walked casually down the middle of the road; they were headed from their farm home down to the river for a cool dip. It was a ritual they completed every day, half tame, half wild.
Our driver Ranjith proved his worth again and again as he spotted a photo shop where Rachel could get some 35mm film and took us to a roadside vendor of king coconut for a refreshing drink.
When we finally arrived in Anuradhapura, it was too hot to explore in the midday heat but around 3:30, we began our tour of the ancient city. The site was still warm but giant trees shaded us while we wandered the remains of a once-thriving city of 10,000 Buddhist monks, with stone columns, bathing pools, and the glorious half-circle moonstones carved out of granite that had served as threshold to the most sacred places.
As the sun set on our second day, our final stop was to see the sacred bo tree - the 2000+ year-old tree was a sapling brought over from India and transplanted here. Buddhists believe that the mother tree was the one that Buddha achieved enlightenment under. It is a very sacred spot for them and there were devotees dressed in pure white gathered bringing flowers and offering prayers and incense. We had to remove shoes and walk barefoot on the sand walkways and cover our shoulders and down to our knees - even the men!
At the end of the long day, we ate a spicy and delicious meal of stringhoppers, a steamed rice noodle served with vegetables and meat. Finally in our rooms, we went to sleep exhausted.
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