Sri Lanka: Negombo

Colombo Airport (CMB) is in Negombo. Our tour of Sri Lanka is ending. Back in Vietnam, the notorious (we have since learnt) budget airline Indigo, canceled our Colombo to Hyderabad flight. We took that as a cue to reevaluate our itinerary. We cut out India and Pakistan. Since the cheapest flights from Colombo to Central Asia are via UAE, we got ourselves on a Colombo to Dubai flight. Stay tuned.

We chose to stay in Negombo village. There are beach resorts to the north. The airport is 10 kilometers away. We were surprised to find the Sunday market still bustling at 5pm, right on the waterfront by the sea. Our experience from the last few towns had been, people relaxed on the weekends. There were a few cricket games on the maidon.

Note to fellow travellers: we had a hard time getting a car at 7:00am from our hotel to the airport using Uber or PickMe. We ended up hailing a tuk-tuk the old fashioned way. Maybe we should have planned on a tut-tuk in the first place.

The bus from Jaffna to Colombo first headed south to Vavuniya, then west to the coastal town of Pittulam, then south to Negombo. Second below is the spiffy Puttalam Chief Post OFfice, and 3rd below, the Puttalam beach with plastic chairs and tables, ready for customers.






From our hotel room we could see St Mary's Churtch (1st below), and a snippet of the famous Hamilton Canal (2nd below). Later we walked by a beautiful section of the canal (3rd below).




We were surprised to find the Sunday Market closing down but still vibrant, especillay the stretch along the sea. First below is a 35-second video. Link here if the embedded version does not play.






Cricket on the Maidan.


The fishing fleet was "in harbour" making for some good sunset photo ops.




FYI, the digital clock tower was out-of-order.


For dinner, SL ordered rice with curries, and John, noodles with curries. Yummy.


Here are some night pics I shot on the walk home from the resto.






Not to mention the Green Diner, and St Mary's Church.




And a few more shots from the Jaffna-Negombo bus window. First below is a brick factory from a stretch of road where there were more than several brick factories.

Sri Lanka: Anuradhapura

Founded in the fourth century BCE, Anuradhapura was the first Sri Lankan capital. Today there are still a dozen giant stupas, some dating back to BCE, drawing many tourists, and Buddhist pilgrims. In addition there is also the original descendant of the Bodhi tree under which Lord Buddha became enlightened.

We happened to be in town over the weekend. The place was bustling with white-clad pilgrims. It was rather festive in the evenings. Not just at the bodhi tree, but also at the nearby Ruwanweli Stupa, part of the Mahavihara Monastery Complex. First below is a 50-second video of a procession into the Bodhi Tree Shrine.











Our interest was mainly in the archeological remains of three huge Buddhist monasteries that sheltered thousands of monks in the 9th century. These were like universities in their day. While marveling at the ancient wonders, I was getting depressed. Ancient Sri Lanka had such levels of production and was able to support this many monks, today Sri Lanka is counting foreign tourists to make up the budget shortfall. Maybe more Sri Lankas should subscribe to Marxist materialism rather than idealism.

Jetavana Monastery Complex











Abhayagiri Monastery Complex. First, the so-called Twin Pond reservoirs, guarded by a five-headed cobra sculpture (2nd below at left).











The Great Ruwanweli Stupa at the Mahavihara Monastery Complex sits on a rectangular terrace whose walls have 338 life-sized elephant statues. Amazing!











There are several large wewa (reservoirs) near Anuradhapura. We walked by Thisa Wewa at sunset and a man was fishing from an innertube. Thirty minutes later we crossed a bridge where a lady was washing clothes in a small river.




Lankaramaya Stupa wrapped in a bright ribbon.


Elephant Pond


Notes to fellow travellers: Everything we read indicated Anuradhapura is a big site, and takes more than the one day the site ticket affords. We spent parts of the previous days checking out a few sites not covered by the ticket. On the "ticket day" we rented bicycles from our guesthouse and had a leisurely pace. Since it was 100 degrees when we finished around 4:30, we were happy to be done. So Anuradhapura is doable in a long day. The ticket was checked half a dozen times. The $30 ticket is only worthwhile if one is a fan of archeology.

Sri Lanka: Mihintale

Based in Anuradhapura, we visited the Mihintale Hills, about 18 kms by road to the northeast, said to be the site where Sri Lanka became Buddhist when the Sinhalese King was converted while hunting. It's a rather popular pilgrimage destination for Sri Lankans. The hill is dotted with monastery ruins and stupas of varying age and degree of preservation. There are magnificent views of the surrounding country at the top of Minthale Rock(250 meters) and Elephant Stupa (311 meters), not easy climbs in the tropical midday sun.

There were a lot of monkeys all over the site, as many places in Sri Lanka. I should have been more alert when I saw on the way up a monkey eating out of a banana leaf lunch packet still in a plastic bag. When we finished with the site, hungry and hot, we stopped at the concession for a drink and ice cream. As John held our purchases in hand, and I was working on paying, a monkey flew in to grab the ice creams from John. Amazingly John shook off the monkey. The monkey only made away with part of the wrapping, but John ended up with a scratch, an inch long, slightly bleeding. This incident totally reinforced my weariness for monkeys which had been going on for some time. If I don't see another monkey for the rest of my life, it would be quite okay!

We rode the local bus to Mihintale.


And up the stairs we go towards Mihintale Peak, taking a side trip up to the ruins of Kantaka Chetiya (Stupa)to check out the elephant reliefs (3D sculptures).








Of course we had to check out the remnants of the monastary's refectory, and its giant stone feeding troughs "canoes".




Views from Mihintale Peak, and the steep steps up and down.






View back to Mhintale Peak.


The view west back to Anuradhapura. The white stupas of Anuradhapura can be seen in the far distance.


View down to Kantaka Chetiya (Stupa)


View back to Mihintale Peak from Elephant Stupa.


Elephant Stupa is the highest point of Mihintale. Great views all around. Second below is Sun-Ling pointing back WEST to the stupas of Anuradhapura (very far right).






John + Monkey. But not the one who tried to steal our ice creams. ;-) And a photo record of my slight, bloody scratch.