After a few in Sri Lanka we already love it. When we arrive somewhere new I am often disoriented for a couple of days as my senses go into overdrive trying to figure out all the unfamiliar sights, sounds, smells, tastes etc. In Sri Lanka this reaction has been reasonably mild thank goodness!
We arrived at Colombo airport at 3.30am and were met in the arrivals
hall by Rolland, the driver from our guest house, who tool us straight to Anuradhupura, skipping the other first stops we had considered, Negombo and Colombo. It took almost four hours to cover the 150km drive; the roads range from well-sealed to unsealed and dreadfully potholed (think moguls!) and everything in between.
We arrived immediately after a storm and there were trees uprooted or with broken branches along the coastal road. In Sri Lanka, cars are easily outnumbered by tuk tuks, motorbikes (some carrying four-person families), small trucks, minivans and buses than cars. Road workers often wear hard hats or sunhats and jandals/flip flops, high vis jackets seem to be optional. The roads can be a touch mad, so we
were happy to have such a careful driver.
Our first impressions are of a green and beautiful country with incredibly happy people; everyone you meet, even in the street, flashes you a huge smile. There is rice growing everywhere and most of the work is done by hand or with small machines, so is very labour intensive. It is one of those wonderful places where nature is not completely paved over, even in the towns (those we have seen so far at least); soil and dust creep onto the roadside and plants grow out of little cracks.
When it rains here it really rains and there is suddenly water everywhere, although it is monsoon season so this should not be a surprise! The bottoms of the external walls of many houses along the road are stained red from the soil after previous floods. We have been very lucky with the weather so far, apart from our first day, the days are very hot and brilliantly sunny and it has only rained at night.
Little Paradise, our guest house in Anuradhapura, is a family-run business and we were made to feel at home immediately. They took us straight to our room at 9am, so we all tumbled into bed for a good sleep.
That afternoon we popped into Anuradhapura city to hunt for supplies
for Leo's birthday the following day.
It is hard to believe that Leo is already two! We had a little breakfast celebration with hooters, balloons, a couple of small presents and a chocolate cake with candles. We spent the day travelling by tuk tuk (or tick tock to Eleanor and Leo, who have discovered a new favourite mode of transport) with a helpful driver Adid, around the ancient city of Anuradhupura visiting huge 900
year-old dagobas and the sacred bhodi tree. Leo loved all the birthday
fuss, especially chocolate cake at breakfast, and had lots of fun wildlife-spotting with Eleanor at the sites. So far we have seen monkeys, little lizards, an iguana, a snake, fish, cows, stripy squirrel-like animals, a mongoose, elephants (from a distance) and lots of different birds. Not to mention all the stray dogs and cats everywhere. We have now added monkeys, snakes and lizards to the list of 'street' animals we can look at, but not touch.
There is a bit of debate on travel forums at the moment as to whether
it is worth visiting Anuradhapura now that the government have done away with the round trip ticket (which covered six of the most important ancient sites at discounted rate), so you pay individually to enter each site; at USD25/30 per adult for the big attractions it is not cheap! We thought it was impressive and worthwhile, although if you come expecting something like Angkor Wat in Cambodia you may be disappointed.
We ate at the guest house each evening; delicious home cooked Sri Lankan food with spicy dishes for the grown ups and mild options for Eleanor and Leo. One morning the owner asked Eleanor what she likes to eat; the response was pasta (no surprises there!) and that evening there was a dish of pasta at dinner. We were incredibly well looked after.
Mihintale is another ancient site about 10kms from Anuradhapura. We visited with Adid in the late afternoon and watched the sunset from the dagoba at the top of the hill. The forest setting is beautiful and we enjoyed wandering around the ruins later in the day when it is cooler before heading to the top of the hill. The sunset was lovely, although low cloud meant we couldn't see it drop below the horizon.
Eleanor and Leo loved riding in the tuk tuk after dark and when Adid put dance remixes on the radio, the whole family had a back-seat rave! After a quick photo trip to some of the Anuradhapura dagobas, which are lit up at night, we returned to an anniversary party for two other couples staying at the guest house. There was a delicious meal, more balloons, live music and even a delicious chocolate cake. Everyone staying there joined in and we all had a great time.
We visited another ancient city, Polonnarwua, on a day trip from
Anuradhapura. It was a long drive, more to do with the roads than the
distance, but definitely worthwhile. It is a more varied site than Anuradhapura, with a range of different buildings in a beautiful forest setting. Towards the end of the day, Eleanor was walking just behind me exclaiming loudly that she she didn't want to see another Buddha; when I looked around she was walking next to a monk!
On one of our first days we had walked past a school/nursery and Adrian asked whether Eleanor and Leo, who haven't seen a playground in a while, could come in for a play. The answer was yes so we went in and they had a fantastic time. The head teacher invited us to return a couple of days later when she had a session with younger children (around Eleanor and Leo's ages) who would be preparing their end-of-term dance, so we went back for an hour or so on our last morning. It is a simple school where they teach in English, but it is reasonably well-resourced and has very happy children. Eleanor and Leo had fun in the play area and drawing with the other children. We even got to watch a little of the dance rehearsal. It was a special to experience even briefly a school so different, but similar, to our own.
That afternoon we said farewell to Little Paradise and Rolland drove us from Anuradhapura to Dambulla, our next stop.
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