Sri Lanka Adventures Continued

Yesterday we climbed Siguriya, a very tall bit of rock that was an elaborate palace and gardens about a thousand years ago.  Our pictures don't do it justice!

The walk starts off with a very pleasant stroll through the "pleasure gardens" which are under restoration.  The original fountains still work if there's enough water in the pools above.

This one's for you Dad!  Except you would never build stairs this high!

The climb is about to start with the passage between two boulders.

Almost there!  Just the last set of stairs.

At the top.  The royal pool has been restored and has filled with rain water which the workers were using to wet down their bricks--they were restoring some of the walls.

On the way back down--can you see the lion's feet at the bottom?

Looking at the staircase with the lion's feet either side.

Continuing down...

Today we spent part of the morning in Kandy at the Temple of the Tooth Relic--one of the Buddha's teeth was saved from cremation fire and somehow made it to Sri Lanka over 2000 years ago.  It's been housed in several places, and has been in a special temple in Kandy for the last several hundred years.  The casket holding the tooth comes out for a special festival and procession once a year, but otherwise stays behind locked doors in the temple. It's a very special place for extremely devout pilgrims.  But full of tourists as well.

And then our driver helped find a barber shop for Lloyd to have his beard trimmed!

Lloyd says it was probably the best barbering experience ever--complete with scalp massage.

We spent a good part of the afternoon at the Botanical Garden--a wonderful place--some very unusual trees like a "cannon ball" tree, precocious monkeys who came running over when we started eating our lunch, and a HUGE flock of fruit bats that had been disturbed from their roost by the lawn mowing.  I'll sort through those images and post some tomorrow.

When we arrived back at the hotel, the laundry was still drying on the front lawn.  This was the view from our 2nd floor room:

Sheets and towels from guest who had checked out this morning.

As I type this post at 10:30 PM Wednesday, many of the drivers, hotel staff and some guests are out on this lawn drumming and singing (I assume) Sri Lankan songs.  While it's quite pleasant at the moment, I will have to put in my ear plugs shortly in order to get to sleep!

Greetings from the Cultural Triangle in Sri Lanka

We've been without internet for the last three days and nights hence no posting.  I'll make up for it now!

Our driver, Mr. B., is driving us at a very sedate pace through the tumultuous roads of Sri Lanka.  I use that descriptor to refer both to the traffic and the state of the roads.  There are lots of bicycles, motorcycles, scooters, cars, vans, trucks (small and large), and buses on the road, and along with pedestrians...well, there have been a few hair-raising experiences but we feel we're in good hands.  Some of the roads are full of potholes and he slows right down to a snail's pace to protect his precious car, a Nissan station wagon.   It's amazing to us to see the risks that some drivers take, especially bus drivers--they don't always come to a full stop to take on or let off passengers, and we've seen them overtake others (and us) on corners at what seem to be break-neck speeds.  We haven't witnessed any accidents however.

I'll now insert a selection of images from the last couple of days when we explored the ancient ruined Sri Lankan capital cities and monestaries (from 1000 - 2000 years ago).

The Cave Temples of Dambulla were cut out of an enormous granite outcrop about 160 metres above the surrounding countryside (a very steep 10 minute stair climb).  These were first established about 2100 years ago, and later embellished and restored around 1200 AD and then 500 or so years later, and right up into the 20th century.

The protective entrances to the caves

A small shrine next to Cave 1.  Note the rock beneath the wall--this is the same rock out of which a reclining buddha is carved in  the first cave temple.

The reclining buddha's highly decorated feet.  This figure is carved out of the rock.

Anuradhapura, the royal capital and Buddhist centre of Sri Lanka for over 1000 years, until laid waste by Indian invaders in 993 AD.  The city was finally abandoned in 1073 in favour of Polonnaruwa (which we visited the following day) and fell into ruin, being reclaimed by the jungle but still inhabited by reclusive monks.  The British "discovered" it in the 19th C.  Restoration and archeological explorations have been on-going since the 1950's and with some vigour since it was declared a UNESCO world heritage site in 1980.

Abhayagiri Dagoba, still under scaffolding.  You can just make out some vegetation near the top which hasn't yet been removed.  This restoration has been going on for the last 5 years or so.  Note the pilgrims dressed in white--this is a holy Buddhist site.

Carved staircase and balustrades at the entrance to monk's living quarters, Jetavana Monastery. 

The carved dwarves 

A moonstone at the base of the stairs for rubbing your feet clean.  Some of these were very elaborately carved.  This is a simple one.

Jetavana Dagoba, restored.  About 70 m tall.  

A carved Gana or obese dwarf which were all over the site.

Entrance to the Royal Palace

The Twin Ponds, restored, and home to lots of little fish and turtles.  We stopped to watch a brilliantly coloured Kingfisher catch a fish and kill it by repeatedly dropping it on the deck.

  Visiting Anuradhapura was a day of continually taking off shoes and socks and walking on scorching hot paving stones.  When entering any of these sacred Buddhist dagobas, temples or shrines, we had to leave our shoes at the entrance and take off our hats--a bit of a challenge in the heat of the day!   ("Mad dogs and Englishmen....")

The Ruvanvalisaya Dagoba, completely restored and painted a gleaming white.  A major pilgrimage site--many people dressed in white particularly older women in white saris.  We decided not to enter, because we weren't pilgrims, and contented ourselves with a view from the outside.  I also decided I wanted to keep my shoes and socks on!  Note the elephant heads--most are modern replacements--on the outer face of the terrace.

Elephants supporting the platform of the dagoba just as in Buddhist cosmology they hold up the earth itself.  Or, as the Rough Guide points out, they also helped in the construction of the stupa by stamping down the foundations.

The next day (no pictures--they're still in the camera) we spent at Polonnaruwa which was where the Sinhalese retreated to when Anuradhpura fell.  This is a more compact site, and we were able to hire bicycles to explore at our leisure.  This place too was abandoned to the jungle for about 7 centuries until restoration began about 50 or 60 years ago.

These last four days have been an intense exploration of ancient and medieval Sri Lankan culture.  While Europe was in the dark ages, the Sinhalese kings oversaw huge engineering projects notably dams for irrigation.  Their buildings, like those of the Romans, incorporated lavatories and urinals to keep waste water away from drinking water.  They must have employed a tremendous number of skilled craftsmen such as stone carvers, incorporating beautiful features into all their buildings, whether on stair cases or supporting pillars or the many images of Buddha and other deities.

We've had some interesting meals, and some disappointing ones too which is to be expected.  Some of the surprises have been meals at cafes known as "Bakers".  Walk into the shop and you think you're in a bakery, faced with glass cases of baked goods.  And then walk a little further into the seating area, and there will be a steam table full of "Rice and Curry".  We just point and ask for single bowls of whatever looks interesting...green beans seem to be available all the time as well as dahl, plus rice.  The staff are a little nonplussed that this is all we want, rather than taking one of everything, but we insist, "Yes, this is what we want".  The Sri Lankans all eat with their right hands, scooping a bit of rice and vegetable or meat together and then into their mouths, all without the aid of a roti or chapati as the Indians do.  We are always offered spoons!  Thankfully.  We're pretty sure our driver would prefer to take us to more tourist-oriented restaurants as he did on our first day (to a lovely open air building with a buffet, but there was way too much food and it was very expensive even by Canadian standards...)  We have had to be firm that we prefer to eat less and more simply.

Our hotel here in Kandy has WiFi so I'll post again tomorrow.  Thanks for all your notes.

Sri Lanka...first few days

We've spent a wonderful couple of days unwinding in Negombo, just north of Colombo, at the Dephani Guest House.  We're right on the beach and have been serenaded with the breaking surf on the beach about 50 metres away--mind you, the sound competes with the whirring of the fan or air conditioner too...

Sunset from our verandah! The sun dropped below the horizon within 2 minutes at 6:15 PM.  Note the shower head on the left side--very welcome after swimming in the salt water.

I was so stimulated by our Singapore experience that I didn't want to do much besides knit and stroll along the beach.

An inshore fisherman heading out to set his nets

A catamaran waiting for customers!  This is where the word "catamaran" came from:  the Tamil word is ketti-maran.

One day of that was just what I needed, and today we had a more active day.  We hired a tuk-tuk this afternoon and travelled due north about 20 kilometres to visit a tile factory (where they were making roof tiles) and a batik workshop.

The batik workshop

Filling in the spaces with the resist wax

The tile factory--these are roofing tiles.  All women, except for two men.  Lots of heavy lifting!  These people worked in a marvelous rhythm--as each woman finished a task, the next tile was put in front of her.  The clay was extruded in another machine, cut into blocks, and then each block placed on the press.  The women in the foreground were the expert trimmers.

And of course there was a wonderful shop attached to the batik workshop.  We bought a couple of sarongs from which I'll make a shirt for Lloyd, and I bought a simple short sleeved dress.  All-in-all, a very satisfying day!

Tomorrow we move on to the interior.  We've booked a car and driver through this guest house.  We'll be back here overnight before flying to India on February 3rd.

Singapore Vignettes

An amazing two and a half days in Singapore!!  We were so busy that I didn't take the time to post.  The architecture is overwhelmingly diverse--there were many old buildings similar to the Sino-Portuguese styles that I described in Phuket town.

A street near Little India

This is a concert hall in the Marina Bay area--it reminded us of the Durian fruit!

And then there are incredible skyscrapers towering in the backgrounds...

At the mouth of the Singapore River

The Double Helix bridge--the biologist just had to see this!  And another stupendous building complex in the background--three skyscrapers capped with a ship-like penthouse.

Double Helix bridge based on the DNA molecule

Singapore is in a mad frenzy of preparation for Chinese New Year which is this weekend.  We are rather pleased to be out of the fray and in a much calmer Sri Lanka.

The highlights were the museums:  The Asian Civilizations Museum where I spent a wonderful two hours in the "Patterns of Trade" special exhibition of Indian block-printed and batik textiles that had been traded in the 17th - 19th centuries to Malaysia and Indonesia.

Built by the British in the late 19th Century and housed government offices until about 20 years ago when it was converted into this magnificent museum.  Surrounded by a wonderful green space

And then the next day, we went to another museum for a special exhibition on sarongs and were guided by a delightful Singaporean woman who explained the intricacies of all the patterns...and then we went with her to the National Museum where she was also the guide for an exhibition of 140 paintings from the Musee d'Orsay in Paris.  I was thrilled to see famous works by Millet, Van Gogh, Monet, Manet, Degas, Renoir, and others--especially having just completed a 19th Century art history course in December.  I could cheerfully have spent another couple of days in these fascinating museums.  We took the time only to visit the special exhibitions and so missed out on their permanent displays of local history and art.

Another highlight was successfully navigating the MRT (rapid transit) to a yarn shop where I happily picked out a selection of cottons for my next project, and Lloyd made himself comfortable on a stool.

This is the shop, and they also sell fabrics, dress patterns, notions, and gadgets!  I just focused on yarn.

I will probably make another shawl using the same size needles.  I had a delightful encounter with one of the sales clerks--I asked her what the difference was between three of the cottons, and she replied that one was finer than the other.  After a pause, as if for emphasis, in her thick accent, she said "just like people, some are big and some are small!"  And I said, "like me and that guy over there!"  referring to Lloyd, and she laughed and laughed...and then went over to him to repeat what I'd said!  I'm sure this gave all the staff something to chuckle about for several more hours.

I had expected Singapore to be a sterile city of steel and glass.  Well, yes, it's certainly clean and there are signs posted in all the subway cars describing $500 fines for eating, drinking or smoking in the cars or stations.  There are lots of staff pushing brooms and carts to keep the platforms tidy.   And there are lots of skyscrapers of glass and steel. But there are also lots of green spaces, large and small.  Every building seems to have roof top gardens, including our hostel.

The Green Kiwi Hostel on Lavender Street--a very convenient location near two MRT stations.  About 30 mins from the airport by MRT.

Behind the hostel on the other side of a park, was a large high rise apartment complex (probably about 10 buildings each 5 - 10 floors) and under each building were open spaces for people to congregate--to get out of the sun or away from the rain.

Lots of places to hang laundry from windows!

  Most buildings (old and new) had verandah-like spaces in front of them where we could walk under cover (had to be careful to watch your step however--there were usually small changes in levels between businesses).

Walking under cover.

Another place we enjoyed was the Botanic Gardens--it was wonderful to get away from the ceaseless traffic and be serenaded with cicadas instead!

And finally, we enjoyed the food, especially from Hawker Centres like this one--they're huge food courts located every few city blocks, we assume set up to pool resources and keep the food centralized rather than ad hoc on the street.

How we wound up the day on Tuesday...in the roof-top garden of our hostel.

Not a lot of choice in wine...found this 275 ml bottle in a 7-11 and it cost plenty!  Had to drink it from the bottle too...
Note Tilley hat, and damp neckerchief in an attempt to keep cool...

A Day of R, R, and K on Phuket Island

Otherwise known as rest, relaxation and knitting...But the day began first with breakfast at a small establishment just up the road where we had eaten an excellent omelette the day before.  Yesterday we had to point at the eggs and vegetables, and mime the process, but today all we had to do was to say "same" and she with a wonderful smile went to work.

It's a very unassuming place--the one under the blue banner, with the green box on the left and the white box on the right.

Chopping vegetables in her kitchen, facing the street.

A view into the sizzling wok of vegetable oil--one omelette in process.

Here she is--queen of her domain.

 And then we caught the Songthaew to the town centre, and from there the songthaew to Surin Beach.  Once again we did the sarong dance, and this time Lloyd was able to use the sarong to change into his trunks.  Then off into the ocean for a frolic in the waves before retiring to the shade for beer and pineapple!  And a little knitting...

The pineapple was delicious.

 After another dip in the ocean, we had lunch at one of the vendors just above the beach--there is a large Muslim population in rural Phuket and this young woman was grilling chicken satay and corn.

Lloyd feels positively svelte beside some of these European men!!

Lloyd waiting for his satay to cook.  I had the corn--yum!

We returned to the hotel by about 4 PM and I happily continued knitting, and enjoyed a glass of South African white wine. 

The Pi shawl so far--this is a view from above, with the centre of the shawl at the bottom of the image and the working stitches at the top.  I realize this is a bit of a mystery to non-knitters but all will be revealed when I start to cast off in a week or so.  Lloyd is wondering what my next knitting project will be...  I am too!!

Tomorrow we fly to Singapore so tonight we're packing up again.  From Singapore we fly to Sri Lanka on January 18.  The "knitting around the world" adventure continues. Thanks for your feedback both on this site and to my personal e-mail. It's lovely to hear from friends at home.