Heading Back to the Village
Am back in Kandy after two weeks on the road - heading back to Dhanushka's village tomorrow to help with the preparation for the New Year celebrations. After Galle Dhanushka and I stayed at two beaches - Mirissa and Tangalle. Mirissa was very touristy, but for good reason as it's one of those idyllic palm-fringed beaches with crystal clear water. Beaches aren't really my thing, but it was nice to able to swim and for a few days it was ok. Tangalle was much less touristy and was actually quite quiet. We spent one afternoon strolling along the beach collecting shells! At Tangalle the damage from the tsunami was quite obvious - a lot of guesthouses and hotels haven't re-opened and of course there are still quite a lot of people all along the coast who are still living in temporary accommodation. It's a little bit strange because everything seems so normal in many ways, but so many people lost family, friends and everything they owned.
From Tangalle we made a day trip to a set of temples carved into a rock - a place called Mulkirigala. There's a very famous rock temple complex north of Kandy, which I visited last year, but I liked this one more - maybe because there were less people.
After Tangalle we headed to Tissa and Kataragama in the south-east. I visited Kataragama last year, so this time we decided to hire a three-wheeler for the afternoon and visited Situlpahuwa, an ancient temple complex in Yala National Park. Visiting national parks is quite expensive here - for non-Sri Lankans! - but there's no charge to visit Situlpahuwa and we got to see quite a lot of animals on the way. We even had a close call with a wild elephant - we'd stopped the three-wheeler to have a look at some animals in the distance not realising that there was an elephant in the forest right next to where we'd stopped. It wasn't until Dhanushka heard a strange noise that we even realised it was there! Every year a number of people are killed by wild elephants here, so we were very lucky. In the evening we stopped off in Kataragama for the evening puja.
On the way back to Kandy we spent a few days in the hills. It was very hot on the coast so it was wonderful to be somewhere a little cooler. Now is the time people who can afford it head to the hills - to escape the heat.
The Sri Lankan New Year is this Friday. I have no idea what to expect, but am sure there'll be lots of food to eat. Will write about what happens next time I have access to the internet.
From Tangalle we made a day trip to a set of temples carved into a rock - a place called Mulkirigala. There's a very famous rock temple complex north of Kandy, which I visited last year, but I liked this one more - maybe because there were less people.
After Tangalle we headed to Tissa and Kataragama in the south-east. I visited Kataragama last year, so this time we decided to hire a three-wheeler for the afternoon and visited Situlpahuwa, an ancient temple complex in Yala National Park. Visiting national parks is quite expensive here - for non-Sri Lankans! - but there's no charge to visit Situlpahuwa and we got to see quite a lot of animals on the way. We even had a close call with a wild elephant - we'd stopped the three-wheeler to have a look at some animals in the distance not realising that there was an elephant in the forest right next to where we'd stopped. It wasn't until Dhanushka heard a strange noise that we even realised it was there! Every year a number of people are killed by wild elephants here, so we were very lucky. In the evening we stopped off in Kataragama for the evening puja.
On the way back to Kandy we spent a few days in the hills. It was very hot on the coast so it was wonderful to be somewhere a little cooler. Now is the time people who can afford it head to the hills - to escape the heat.
The Sri Lankan New Year is this Friday. I have no idea what to expect, but am sure there'll be lots of food to eat. Will write about what happens next time I have access to the internet.
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