November 10
We met our driver at 8:30 in the morning. Tonight will be the biggest Diwali celebration, even bigger than last night. The fire crackers (fire bombs) were going off all night. Everyone is very excited about the holiday, it is very sweet. Our driver brought us Diwali treats. There was so many fireworks that the air smelled of gun smoke. Choose - Diwali or an assault from ground troops.
Even though we didn't rush, we got to the airport at about 9:15. Our flight wasn't until 12:45. We walked up to the check in men - not yet. So we stalled about for a little over an hour. We finally managed to check in. Our next chore, immigration. Not yet. So we stalled about for a little over an hour. About 11:15 they opened immigration and gradually customs. Since our Colombo, Sri Lanka flight was the only international flight from the airport all morning, no one was in a hurry. We went to the gate, but only about 3 people were down there. Eventually, we boarded a little propeller plane, and took our one hour flight to Colombo. Madurai is a bit dry. Although there are rice fields, the ground cover seems not to be very green. Colombo is clearly a wetter climate. Lots of jungle, coconut trees, greenery. Once we got through immigration and got our luggage - an extremely easy process here- we met our driver.
The next 4 hour was dragging out from Colombo to an area which according to the mail for the resort is called Thirappane. There isn't actually a town, per se, just a scattering of shops and homes. The nearest "town" is called Galewela. Along the way, Gabriel entertained us with various Sri Lankan facts. It was famous for clays. Noritake China has the mining rights to dig up porcelain clay in Sri Lanka. The Tamils Tigers came from Chennai. They wanted their own homeland, couldn't get it in India, tried Sri Lanka, and after 30 years of warfare, lost. We didn't arrive until about 6:15 and it was too dark to see what we arrived at. Our driver, Gabriel, had trouble finding the main entrance. Once he found it, we hopped and bopped up a dirt road for a couple of kilometers. If I had been driving, I would have turned back. I certainly wouldn't have expected what we drove into. The main lodge area is lovely. Our room, our suite of rooms has a living room/dining room, hall, bath, and bedroom. I don't think we could afford this place anywhere in the US. We had dinner in the upstairs dining hall. Wow. The oddest thing about this trip is that we really don't have any idea what to expect in any of the places we stop. Finally to sleep. No photos today.
November 11
We decided to ride bikes - provided for us by the management - over to breakfast. I was amazed how much I remembered about riding - Charlie was a bit shakier. We managed to get lost, but eventually found the main reception area. Breakfast was - like everything else in this place - excellent.
After breakfast we bicycled back to our chalet. About half way along Charlie turned oddly right in front of me. I either had to crash into him or stop my bike. My bike didn't stop too well and I fell over. I'm fine, albeit a bit stiff. The worst of it was that two guys from the hotel were a bit behind us and saw me crash. How embarrassing. We continued our bicycling and made it back to the chalet.
Driving back to the main reception area (we took a go-cart provided by the management this time) we saw a huge monitor lizard. We told Gabriel about it. That's a nice kind, he told us, they eat yams. There's a black one that isn't so nice. They have poisonous claws from the result of eating poisonous creatures. Fortunately, we haven't seen that one.
We drove to Anuradhapura, the fourth most important ancient city in Sri Lanka, built in the 4th century BC. An area with the remains of a castle with an enormous number of Buddhist stupas. Apparently, the original king of the area built a large stupa. His sons and future kings, not to be outdone, but larger and larger stupas. These stupas are made from bricks. The clay for the bricks was dug up around the area. Since the largest of the stupas has 36 million bricks, there are swampy areas where the clay had been taken. I think we walked around 6 of them, but, clearly there were lots more to see. We wandered into a Buddhist temple. People were offering Buddha flowers and fruits. There were huge yellow and black honeybees. Not big and fuzzy, like our bumblebees, but long and ferocious looking. Only Charlie and I were put off by the bees.
We stopped for lunch at a British rest stop. There are at least 22 of these, according to Gabriel, around Sri Lanka. This place was lovely. Very colonial looking with arch-lined walkways. We were incredibly thirsty - it had been very hot and humid this morning - and we downed 2 cokes each. The colas here are made with sugar not the corn sweetener from the states and are much better tasting. Of course, I was so thirsty, I could have said the same thing drinking from a muddy puddle. We had a delicious Sri Lankan soup for lunch chicken Tom Yum? During our stop, a huge rainstorm began. By the time we got back to the resort - there was no sign of rain.
We took a stroll, then, for the second time today, called the IT man to get us on the internet. Not sure why our ipad, computer, et al refused to join the router here.
We met our driver at 8:30 in the morning. Tonight will be the biggest Diwali celebration, even bigger than last night. The fire crackers (fire bombs) were going off all night. Everyone is very excited about the holiday, it is very sweet. Our driver brought us Diwali treats. There was so many fireworks that the air smelled of gun smoke. Choose - Diwali or an assault from ground troops.
Even though we didn't rush, we got to the airport at about 9:15. Our flight wasn't until 12:45. We walked up to the check in men - not yet. So we stalled about for a little over an hour. We finally managed to check in. Our next chore, immigration. Not yet. So we stalled about for a little over an hour. About 11:15 they opened immigration and gradually customs. Since our Colombo, Sri Lanka flight was the only international flight from the airport all morning, no one was in a hurry. We went to the gate, but only about 3 people were down there. Eventually, we boarded a little propeller plane, and took our one hour flight to Colombo. Madurai is a bit dry. Although there are rice fields, the ground cover seems not to be very green. Colombo is clearly a wetter climate. Lots of jungle, coconut trees, greenery. Once we got through immigration and got our luggage - an extremely easy process here- we met our driver.
The next 4 hour was dragging out from Colombo to an area which according to the mail for the resort is called Thirappane. There isn't actually a town, per se, just a scattering of shops and homes. The nearest "town" is called Galewela. Along the way, Gabriel entertained us with various Sri Lankan facts. It was famous for clays. Noritake China has the mining rights to dig up porcelain clay in Sri Lanka. The Tamils Tigers came from Chennai. They wanted their own homeland, couldn't get it in India, tried Sri Lanka, and after 30 years of warfare, lost. We didn't arrive until about 6:15 and it was too dark to see what we arrived at. Our driver, Gabriel, had trouble finding the main entrance. Once he found it, we hopped and bopped up a dirt road for a couple of kilometers. If I had been driving, I would have turned back. I certainly wouldn't have expected what we drove into. The main lodge area is lovely. Our room, our suite of rooms has a living room/dining room, hall, bath, and bedroom. I don't think we could afford this place anywhere in the US. We had dinner in the upstairs dining hall. Wow. The oddest thing about this trip is that we really don't have any idea what to expect in any of the places we stop. Finally to sleep. No photos today.
November 11
We decided to ride bikes - provided for us by the management - over to breakfast. I was amazed how much I remembered about riding - Charlie was a bit shakier. We managed to get lost, but eventually found the main reception area. Breakfast was - like everything else in this place - excellent.
Mad Max disguised as Charlie
After breakfast we bicycled back to our chalet. About half way along Charlie turned oddly right in front of me. I either had to crash into him or stop my bike. My bike didn't stop too well and I fell over. I'm fine, albeit a bit stiff. The worst of it was that two guys from the hotel were a bit behind us and saw me crash. How embarrassing. We continued our bicycling and made it back to the chalet.
Driving back to the main reception area (we took a go-cart provided by the management this time) we saw a huge monitor lizard. We told Gabriel about it. That's a nice kind, he told us, they eat yams. There's a black one that isn't so nice. They have poisonous claws from the result of eating poisonous creatures. Fortunately, we haven't seen that one.
This fellow was at least 3 feet long. I'll have to believe he's harmless
This tree has very strong wood. It's not a Banyan
This funny bird is all over south east Asia. They have such striking eyes, that I end up taking photos of them all over
We drove to Anuradhapura, the fourth most important ancient city in Sri Lanka, built in the 4th century BC. An area with the remains of a castle with an enormous number of Buddhist stupas. Apparently, the original king of the area built a large stupa. His sons and future kings, not to be outdone, but larger and larger stupas. These stupas are made from bricks. The clay for the bricks was dug up around the area. Since the largest of the stupas has 36 million bricks, there are swampy areas where the clay had been taken. I think we walked around 6 of them, but, clearly there were lots more to see. We wandered into a Buddhist temple. People were offering Buddha flowers and fruits. There were huge yellow and black honeybees. Not big and fuzzy, like our bumblebees, but long and ferocious looking. Only Charlie and I were put off by the bees.
The first stupa we explored. All but one of them are filled with dirt inside the dome. The Buddhist temples are outside the dome.
This one has been refurbished. The storm clouds were building as we walked around
Various things to buy for the temples, flowers, fruit, and other things
Incense burners
Buddha rested under a Bodhi tree. Apparently, the branch above was a shoot from the original Bodhi tree in India.
Decorations outside our next stupa tour.
The dome of the elephant surrounded stupa. The little dots along the dome are to attach bamboo poles for people to climb and refurbish the stucco covering. It takes three months.
This monkey was one of the troops of monkeys roaming the area. He was a pink faced monkey. The other - a grey faced monkey we saw later.
A tortoise resting near a pool.
There are two 6 meter deep pools in the photo. They were used for bathing by the 5000 Buddhist students who studied in the area.
The largest of the stupas.
In the area around the castle was this stone work called the moon stone. It was signifying one's life to ultimate nirvana
There were lots of figures of dwarves. We asked Gabriel, and he told us they signified strength. Here they were holding up the steps to the shrine.
Uprights of various castle rooms. They covered a large area.
Neighborhood peacock
A grey-faced monkey. These apparently aren't as nice
We stopped for lunch at a British rest stop. There are at least 22 of these, according to Gabriel, around Sri Lanka. This place was lovely. Very colonial looking with arch-lined walkways. We were incredibly thirsty - it had been very hot and humid this morning - and we downed 2 cokes each. The colas here are made with sugar not the corn sweetener from the states and are much better tasting. Of course, I was so thirsty, I could have said the same thing drinking from a muddy puddle. We had a delicious Sri Lankan soup for lunch chicken Tom Yum? During our stop, a huge rainstorm began. By the time we got back to the resort - there was no sign of rain.
Charlie on the porch of the English rest home.
We took a stroll, then, for the second time today, called the IT man to get us on the internet. Not sure why our ipad, computer, et al refused to join the router here.
We've seen lots of little chip-monk like creatures. This huge squirrel creature showed up on our stroll around the resort.
There are lots of ponds around. This one was particularly beautiful
One of a troop of pink-faced monkeys - a local mob
There is a rice paddy on the property. This bird was hopping around the mud
Our deck. There's a private pool behind the bush. We were put off by a huge frog that went for a swim the first night we got here in the dark. We DO sound like a bunch of sissies, don't we?
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