The morning walk to breakfast included meeting a host of local wildlife including a humongous bee, a palm squirrel, and a couple of owls. Thankfully, none of these were on the breakfast menu, and I settled for toast and jam again.
Our resident bus cleaner offered us frangipane as we boarded our bus and Sunil, the guide, tried to entertain us with some terrible dad jokes. I laughed.
First stop of the day was to a UNESCO World Heritage Site – the ancient capital of Anuradhapura. It was originally founded in 500BC and is showing a few tell-tale signs of needing repair. Well preserved ruins is the perfect oxymoron here. We passed the incense and candle lighting outside the gates, as the place had previous burnt to the ground.
Inside, after shedding our shoes, and navigating the sand and roughly hewn cobbles, we found out about the 2200 year old bo-tree (where the original buddha became enlightened), buddhist auras, the lotus leaf which looks like a cobra and how long it takes for your feet to burn on any surface.
The offerings in the temple included various flowers, cakes and coins wrapped in cloth and tied to the railings. A white band was available for a small fee, presumably to help the buyer achieve enlightenment.
As usual, I felt that the tourists with the cameras were somehow interfering too much in the otherwise peaceful atmosphere. However, without the entrance fees, I doubt that they could afford the props that held the sacred bo tree up.
Reunited with our shoes, briefly, we headed to Lowamahapaya, which consisted of 1600 or so stone pillars which the monks were asked to count. Presumably a purpose similar to asking Scouts to separate hundreds and thousands into unique colours.
Lots of dogs, some with very large appendices, lay in our path as we headed to several more temples, each with their own burning sand and stone floors. Shoes on, shoes off. Briefly, these included the Brazen Palace, once a nine storey residence for monks; the 4th century Smadhi Buddha masterpiece and the Ruwanmel Maha Saya Dagoba – a 90 metre-high dome-shaped shrine towering over the surrounding countryside.
Women chanting, flower laying blokes and painters and plasterers were hard at work up very tall pioneered ladders with lime in buckets. The monks seemed to be of the clipboard carrying types. Even the bricks awaiting use were piled into dagoba shapes. (A dagoba is a Sri Lankan term for a temple, pagoda or stupa.)
Lankaraya Stupa, Abhayagiri Stupa, a moonstone (look it up), snake charmer, monkey on a bicycle wearing shorts, discussions on mythical animals consisting of 7 real animals on a guardstone, monks dressed in saffron robes, reclining buddhas (are they dead or just sleeping – check the toes are aligned or not!) and twin ponds with more monkeys. After all that, we found a cool spot that sold iced drinks and emptied it of ginger beer. Jetavana Stupa was then too much for most, as taking your hat off in the middle of the day was getting a bit dangerous, but I managed a quick clockwise circuit. More monkeys ignored the do not climb signs and scampered up the front of it.
Lunch was a pleasant surprise – The Grand Heritance – which provided the standard all you can eat buffet option, fantastic lime sodas or a la carte sandwich and french fries options.
We travelled 8 miles to Mihintale, which was the site of a momentous meeting between the monk Mahinda and King Devanampiyatissa, introducing Buddhism to the country. We saw the Alms hall, which had a phallic shaped trough where the monks would fill up with donated rice. Then it was on to climb the “Great Stairway” – allegedy 1840 steps, but only 250 were used to get to a plateau with three options. After removing shoes, we firstly climbed a very hot rock face with only a few feet places cut into the slipped polished rock surface. Several up and downs took most of us to excellent views over the surrounding countryside. Getting down again was even more of an adventure!
Secondly, we climbed another 200 or so steps to another dagoba – painted white with a red stripe of material around it. This is being shown, as it is a donation to the monks – to be cut up and used as robes. I met a jolly North Korean monk in one of the shrines here. The third climb of 100 steps was to a buddha statue with the best views of the other two.
Descending and returning to the hotel, we had time to freshen up before heading out to a group meal that consisted of rice and curry. However, instead of the standard 4 bowls, this time we had lots to chose from! Fish, chicken, coconut sambol, herbs, banana leaf (the best!), chillied lotus, radish curry, leafy salad, lime chutney, poppadums, and lots more!
A great end to a great day!
Tony Mochan's Travels 
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