Today started with intrepid thinking it was a great idea to make the white people go on a public bus. The point of this, I'm not entirely sure, because our regular private bus followed along behind it. Seemed a waste to me... But hey I guess these are the 'experiences' we pay for. So.. Early morning bus.. I'm half asleep and stupidly I picked the three seater side, and not the two seater side. Poor Sarah had the middle seat and a little old Sri Lankan man who decided to nod on and off on her shoulder, poor girl! It was a long bumpy, 3.5hr ride... So bumpy I think my fitbit clicked over, without my moving! It was an older persons dream.. As all I could think while I was bumping along, was how much the floor vibrated, just like those mats you buy on the shopping channel to circulate the blood in your legs!
After the bus ride we jumped on more bikes (these one seemed to go a bit faster than yesterday's which was nice!). The ride was around some a historic royal site, including a bath, assembly area and what would have been a throne. Really beautiful.
From there we saw the most amazing carved Buddha's, carved out of a giant rock face, they were sitting, standing and lying. Just amazing to imagine them being carved out.. At around 14meters high, it must have taken forever!
There happened to be protests in the area that day, so traffic was diverted and we managed to get banked up when a truck with logs on it got stuck trying to make a sharp turn. It was lively to see all the locals get out of their cars from hundreds of meters away to try to push the truck.. Of course there was no such luck as it was massive!! Instead a local came by with a tractor and managed to help the truck start again.. Such community spirit!
After that we had dinner at the place of a local family. The family is quite poor, the 2 daughters are married with children, and they all live with the parents. Our guide called our host, the grandfather who owned the property 'big black brother'. Quite a laugh as he has naturally darker skin than most Sri Lankans! The food was to die for. Home made, mainly on the fire. The money they get from intrepid groups is their only income and the groups visit just 3-4 times a month. It cost us less than $10 Australian dollars and they so appreciated us coming. They taught us how to make daal and coconut roti.
It was a really special night, one not to be forgotten.
A x
After the bus ride we jumped on more bikes (these one seemed to go a bit faster than yesterday's which was nice!). The ride was around some a historic royal site, including a bath, assembly area and what would have been a throne. Really beautiful.
From there we saw the most amazing carved Buddha's, carved out of a giant rock face, they were sitting, standing and lying. Just amazing to imagine them being carved out.. At around 14meters high, it must have taken forever!
There happened to be protests in the area that day, so traffic was diverted and we managed to get banked up when a truck with logs on it got stuck trying to make a sharp turn. It was lively to see all the locals get out of their cars from hundreds of meters away to try to push the truck.. Of course there was no such luck as it was massive!! Instead a local came by with a tractor and managed to help the truck start again.. Such community spirit!
After that we had dinner at the place of a local family. The family is quite poor, the 2 daughters are married with children, and they all live with the parents. Our guide called our host, the grandfather who owned the property 'big black brother'. Quite a laugh as he has naturally darker skin than most Sri Lankans! The food was to die for. Home made, mainly on the fire. The money they get from intrepid groups is their only income and the groups visit just 3-4 times a month. It cost us less than $10 Australian dollars and they so appreciated us coming. They taught us how to make daal and coconut roti.
It was a really special night, one not to be forgotten.
A x
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