Adventures with Julia

December 4, 2011

Well,well.   This is our last day in Sri Lanka.  We have had a wonderful experience and, as usual for us, are not ready to come home.  I have fallen behind on making posts do to a lack of reliable wifi connections in the last few hotels.  Hopefully I will be able to get one more off today as we spend our final day at a beach resort on the SW side of this lovely island nation.

Cave 2 in the Royal Rock Temple complex

Sunday, November 27, we departed the Heritance Kandelama Hotel for Kandy, the capital of the Sri Lankan highlands.  Our first stop was another World Heritage sight in a village called Dambulla.  It is a Royal Rock Temple built during the 1st century BC and houses a complex of  five separate Buddhist temples high on a hill affording good views of the surrounding town and jungle beyond.  Built or modified by several kings, whos names are all long and unpronounceable, it is still a holy place for Buddhists to visit and we saw many including monks bringing flower offerings and praying.  Nearly everyone climbing the many steps up to the caves was going slowly due to the heat, humidity and exertion needed, but the payoff was worth the effort.   There are about 150 Buddha images in statues and paintings.  Most of the paintings date from the 19th century.  Of the 5 caves, the second is most impressive, both in size (160 x 75 feet x 22 feet high)  and in content.   Colorful paintings of Buddha and his disciples cover the walls and ceiling.  There are painted wooden statues of two kings, plus several seated Buddha statues and one Standing Buddha which still has vestiges of gold leaf on its surface.  A large vessel near the middle of the cave collects water that constantly drips from the ceiling and is used for sacred rituals.  Hindu deities are also represented in the caves and support the fact that Buddhists and Hindus live compatibly in Sri Lanka with parts of each belief system spilling into the other.  THe other caves contain reclining Buddhas, more seated Buddhas and m0re paintings.

A Tamil man getting pierced for a Hindu penance ritual

We continued south from Dambulla and the Royal Rock Temple expecting to stop at a village to visit a spice garden.  However, along the road we saw a sight that completely captured our attention and we had to stop.  Sri Lankan Hindus are all of the Tamil tribe, people who came originally from South India and are even smaller and darker than SInhalese.  This is the tribe who wanted their own state, rebelled and were at war with the Sinhalese majority for almost 30 years.  The war ended when the Sinhalese government finally killed the Tamil leaders and the remaining Tamil fighters conceded defeat in May 2009.   What we encountered was a Tamil Hindu annual event where some of their people act out a ceremony to appease the Hindu gods for their misdeeds.  Right alongside the road two trucks were rigged with long 6″ wooden poles pivoted on a bar in the middle of the truck so that the high end was suspended above the back of the truck.  Both trucks were decorated with palm leaves.  Between the trucks several people were preparing two men to be suspended.  One had his back and the back of his legs pierced in several places with what looked like three inch fish hooks.  The other was much more grotesque as his back, both sides of his legs and arms were being pierced with the same large hooks,  His chest had already been pierced with finer hooks.  There was no blood that I could see, but the hooks were not clean, let alone sterilized.  A handful of other men had their faces pierced from check through their mouth to the other check.   I don’t know if their tongues were pierced also.  It was hard to watch, but I was so busy with my camera that I was observing mostly through the lens.  We learned that the next step was to suspend the men from the poles and take them to a fire pit where they would walk across the burning embers.  We opted not to hang around and left for the spice garden about two kilometers down the road.

The garden was interesting as we got to see how each spice grows, is harvested and then converted into the products we use.  Of course after seeing the garden there was pressure to buy some product, but we thought the prices were pretty high and opted not to buy.  I did get the recipe for one spice mixture that tasted good in tea.

Annual Tamil Hindu ritual

In about an hour we were back in the car ready to head out of the parking lot when we saw the trucks coming down the road with the two suspended men and the entire crowd of people making music with horns and drums and chanting.  Two men swung one of the suspended men back and forth, while two others supported the bouncing cross beam holding the other, more heavily pierced man.   For a while, we walked along taking more photos.  Not only did no one seem to mind,they would get out of the way so I could get better shots.  It was an unbelievable scene, which still plays with my mind.  I wonder how those men were thinking and how they are now.

Finally, we reached Kandy, which is a pretty city built on hills surrounding a lovely lake.  The elevation is 16oo feet so the area is not as hot or humid at the coastal and low lying areas.  Our plan was to drive thorough the city and to our boutiques hotel, which is about 10 minutes from town on a hillside.   As we entered the city we say thousands of pale yellow, single palm fronds suspended from hundreds of lines across the main road.  We asked Kanchana what they were about and he told us an important, retired, inspector general, Anuruddha Rathwaththe, had died the day before and his funeral was to happen soon.  At the far edge of town, just before we were to ascend the hill our hotel was on, we passed the local stadium.  Hundreds of military personnel were marching in very slow step into it.  Again we stopped to take a few photos and again people parted to let us get better views.  We were not witnessing the real thing, only the dress rehearsal.  Fine with us.

Fire eating at the Cultural Show in Kandy

We arrived at our hotel just in time to avoid the heavy rainfall that had stayed away from us all day.  Kanchana informed us that he had been replaced by another guide who would be coming to our hotel soon.  We ate a nice western lunch while we waited for the new driver/guide.  Kanchana stayed to introduce Tunga to us and departed.  We were glad to have a new guide, who we, thankfully, liked right away, but it was still uncomfortable saying goodbye to Kanchana.   We relaxed in our room until 5pm, when Tunga took us to a cultural program at an auditorium near the lake.  We saw several styles of folk dancing, followed by fire walking and swallowing.   Athough this was very tame compared with our earlier adventure that day, we were glad when it was over.  The finale was the entire ensemble singing the Sri Lankan national anthem, but the voices were drowned out by heavy rain hitting the tin roof.

The gold and gem encrusted stupa believed to contain one of Buddha's teeth

From the auditorium we walked, thankfully we each had an umbrella, a few hundred yards to our next World Heritage site, the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, which is reputed to hold one of Buddha’s teeth and is Sri Lanka’s most important Buddhist relic.  The tooth is said to have been snatched from the flame’s of Buddha’s funeral pyre in 483 BC.  It was smuggled to Sri Lanka during the 4th century AD and first taken to the ancient city of Anuradhapura in the north of the island, which we did not visit.  It was relocated at least a few times including two different temples in Polonnaruwa, that we did see, before ending up at Kandy.  In 1283 it was carried back to India by and invading army, but retrieved by the Sinhalese King.  The tooth gradually grew in importance as a symbol of sovereignty and it is believed that whoever has custody of the tooth relic has the right to rule the island.  Needless to say, the current government is determined to keep the tooth safe and secure.  The Temple complex is open at specific times each day and we visited at 6:30pm to see tour the temple complex and see the shrine.  We waited in line for almost an hour to pass by the door to the inner shrine and get a glimpse of the jew encrusted gold dagoba or stupa.  It was a powerful sight even for us non-believers.   Watching believers pass by was even more special.

After a very long, action and emotion packed day we were ready to have a small supper and go to bed.

My first sighting of a sitting elephant

Our second day in Kandy, Tunga, whose driving and conversation were much more to our taste–that is faster and clearer, drove us an hour out of town to an elephant orphanage to watch the babies being feed at 9:30am.  W arrived early and had a chance to watch the whole herd of 80 animals feeding in a large open field.  There were several very little babies who were a delight to watch up close.  We were able to touch a few of the animals and have our photos taken with them.  Then we walked to a covered, concrete platform where two larger babies were bottle fed milk.  Visitors were invited to assist.  However, both animals were chained up as were several other large elephants.  We began to feel uncomfortable with so much restriction on the animals.  Perhaps it is becuse they are unpredictable and visitors could get hurt.  Anyway, we saw a blind elephant and one whose foot had been blown off by a land mine.  They, at least, would not be alive if the orphanage were not available.  After the feeding time, we and the elephants walked to the nearby river where they soaked up the water and we took photos.  Again the very little ones were fun to watch as they played with each other.  On the way out, we stopped at a store that makes paper from elephant dung.  We were shown the process, which was identical to the paper making we had seen in Madagascar except there vegetable fibers were used, and bought some cards and a cinnamon stick pencil.  Big spenders we are!

An unusual pine species in the Botanical Garden

From there we drove back toward Kandy and stopped at the Peradeniya Botanical Gardens, the largest in Sri Lanka.  The gardens were aw well laid out and cared for as any we have seen anywhere.  There were avenues of different palm trees, pretty formal gardens, groomed lawns and paths everywhere under massive old trees from around the world including: a giant Kauri Pine, Cannon Ball trees with nuts that looked like their namesake, a Baobab tree, a huge Java fig that spread over 100 feet, Giant Bamboo stands, an avenue of unusual pine trees that looked like they suffered from scoliosis and many more.  We also enjoyed an orchid house full of unusual blossoms.

Canon Ball Tree in the Botanical Garden

During our two hour walk we encountered a group of Sri Lankan students and their English teacher.  They asked us to chat with them so they could practice their language skills.  We enjoyed the visit with them, mostly girls and learned that every one of them want to have a love marriage rather than one of their parent’s choosing.  Times and culture are slowly changing.

Lunch was in town at the top of a 5 story hotel.  Tunga would not allow us to eat anywhere he thought we might get sick, so we went along with his plan.  The weather has improved.  Although the sky is still overcast, there was no rain all day and the temperature was on the rise again.  After lunch we shopped for a Sri Lanka flag and bought one; looked at sapphires at a local factory/warehouse because they are mined in Sri Lanka and bought nothing.  I thought of my father and how he would have found something wonderful to buy for Mom if he were with us.  I wanted to walk around the lake to get a feel for the town, so Mark humored me and we walked about half way around it before Tunga picked us up.  It was not as pleasant as I had expected.  The road was right next to the path and the vehicle fumes and horn honking were most annoying.   So we went to our quiet hilltop home, had a swim in the rather cold pool and relaxed with good books until dinner.  They only had wifi in the lobby and I did not want to spend my time in the public place.

Mark and Tunga at the Kandy train station

The next morning, November 29, we were off to the train station to ride the rails into the high country.  The train departed 15 minutes late and still managed to arrive on time at 11:15am in Hatton, where we got off and waited about 10 minutes for Tunga to show up with the car.  The ride was scenic and fun–a nice change from the car.  The temperature and humidity reduced as we climbed and tea plantations proliferated.  The station was at about 6000 feet.

View from Ceylon Tea Trails with the 19th century tea factory in the distance

From there we drove 45 minutes on rough roads again to the Ceylon Tea Trails Estate.  Our bungalow was one of the first constructed in Ceylon’s tea country, which was named after the Chinese village from which the first tea seedlings originated.  The bungalows were built for the British tea plantation managers and their families during the days of the Raj.  When we stepped across the threshold we saw the sign Relais Chateau and knew we were in the lap of luxurious service and indeed we were treated royally.  We were invited by the chef to ask for whatever we wanted for dinner, but could not bring ourselves to do more than ask what he recommended.  For afternoon tea time I succumbed to a pot of local Ceylon tea and Mark had a taste too.  Nothing more to do but eat, relax and go for a walk.  The pool was too cold, the sky was still overcast and threatening and the bungalow, however hospitable, did not have wifi.

We were expected to stay for two nights with a long 7 hour drive back and forth to the Horton Planes the next day followed by another 7 hour drive the following day.  That sounded like too much driving to us and we opted to change our plans and stay at a place closer to the Planes the next night.  Looking back, I would have stayed the second night and put up with the drive, which Tunga managed to shorten anyway.  However, after only one night we left at 4am to get to the World’s End by 8:30am so we could see the view before the expected clouds rolled in.  More on that to come.