Ancient Cities

Again apologies first of all - particularly to Aida, who quite correctly pointed out that I haven't updated my blog in the last couple of days. I have tried, but where I am there are not a great number of internet places and every time I've been in the past few days there has been some problem. Please don't worry too much if I don't update my blog every day - I will try and update it as often as I can, but no promises.

At the moment I'm in Anuradhapura, which for over 10 centuries was the capital of Sri Lanka. The town itself is a fairly minor place now, but the ruins that make up the sacred city give some idea of how big the city must have been in its heyday. Particularly impressive are the enormous dagoba (stupa), which when built were the largest human constructions after the pyramids. Some of them have been restored but the two biggest dagoba are still in the process of being restored. Today I went to visit a temple complex about 12km west of here and even from there the dagoba were clearly visible in the distance. I spent the past two days cycling around the sacred city and although it was hot work because of the heat it was well worth it. Both days I left early during the cool of the morning then came back to my guesthouse for lunch and a siesta before heading out again in the afternoon. The food at the guesthouse has been superb and since I've been here I've stuffed myself with delicious Sri Lankan food. There's no tradition of eating out here and although it's possible to get snacks more substantial food only seems to be available at hotels and guesthouses. Luckily both places I've stayed at so far have had good food. A traditonal meal is basically a plate of rice with various curries. As an example today my rice came with okra curry, daal, beetroot curry, jackfruit curry, two types of sambol (a condiment made with grated coconut and various other ingredients which I'm becoming very addicted to) lime pickle, salad and a papad. Delicious and extremely filling. So filling in fact that I usually just have a snack at some local hole in the wall for dinner - usually paratha or hoppers (!)

Getting back to Anuradhapura, the other site is the Bodhi tree, which apparently is a cutting of the original Bodhi tree that the Buddha attained enlightenment under 2500 years ago. As you'd expect in a predominantly Buddhist country the Bodhi tree is particularly sacred and an important centre of pilgramage. Yesterday afternoon I spent 3 hours there and at the nearby dagoba - even did a little bit of meditation - something I've been very lax about lately.

Tomorrow I'm off to Polonnaruwa - another ancient city - and then will slowly make my way to Kandy for the Esala Perahera festival. Friends of Judith have organised accommodation for me, which I'm very grateful for because rooms are hard to come by during the festival and often very expensive. The Kandy Perahera is the most famous festival in Sri Lanka and should be amazing.

Will try and upate my blog from Polonnaruwa, but as I said it depends on the availability of the Internet. By the way I have a mobile number here in Sri Lanka (bought a SIM card for $7) so if anyone would like to text me my number is +94724188929.