Greetings from Sri Lanka, a teardrop-shaped nation off the east coast of India. We arrived here yesterday, and it has been a bit weird. Given that I have been traveling almost nonstop since January, and Matt and I just moved to London, traveling to Sri Lanka has lacked that exciting newness that travel provides. But hey! Welcome to Sri Lanka!
Sri Lanka isn't well-traveled on the tourist circuit, given its decades-long civil war, and the tsunami in 2004. But it's back, baby! Did you know...Sri Lanka was the first nation to create a protected wildlife park (not an African nation!)? Or that it was the first nation with a female head of state (Sirimavo Bandaranaike, in 1960)? Or that it has more UNESCO World Heritage sites per square mile than anywhere else in the world? It's quite a fascinating little place, and we are attempting to cram as much into 2 1/2 weeks as possible.
We flew a redeye from London 6 hours to Doha, the capital of Qatar, had a 30-minute layover (and let's be honest here- 30 minutes is all anyone ever needs in Qatar), and flew another 4 hours to the Maldives, a gorgeous island chain off the coast of India. And while on our Maldives layover, I had a thought that I can guarantee I've never thought before: "This bathroom smells like Froot Loops!" (apparently it's the scent of lemongrass. Who knew.). We then took a 1-hour flight to Sri Lanka, and headed by tuk-tuk to our guesthouse in Negombo, a city both near the beach and the airport. Arriving at our AirBnB accommodations, we became acutely aware that the photos on AirBnB were not actually the ROOM we were offered- a concrete sweatbox with a cheap fan (that broke in the middle of the night) and broken wi-fi. So we resigned ourselves to a night in a dump, and consoled ourselves with curry and beer at a nearby cafe.
We were up before 6am this morning (did I mention the fan broke in the night? And that it's about 90F here???), and bailed as quickly as possible. We caught a local bus heading 5 hours north to Dambulla, near Sri Lanka's Cultural Triangle, a cluster of ancient ruins. Now, I know what you're thinking; 5 hours on a local bus n South Asia sounds like torture. Well, you're not wrong, but it wasn't that bad. For one, half the ride was air-conditioned (we had to transfer after 2 1/2 hours). Secondly, I had a good book to read, and I'm also exhausted, so this was a chance to sleep. On the downside, the roads were so rutted that my book flew out of my hands at one point, and also I had to share a seat with a prisoner in handcuffs for a few hours (this wasn't Matt, if you're wondering). But hey! What good is travel if you don't suffer a bit?
We arrived at our charming, not-dumpy guesthouse around 1pm, and set off for another curry lunch (Sri Lankans eat curry for nearly every meal). We then visited Dambulla's UNESCO site- the Cave Temples. Now, while the cave's entrance featured a slightly off-putting carnival funhouse esthetic (no joke, you enter through a clown-like mouth), these amazing 2,000-year-old cave temples featured priceless antique artwork. However, to reach them, the caves were a sweltering staircase hike up to the top of a mountain (Matt politely inquired as to when we could cease suffering on this trip), but it was worth it. Each cave was filled with enormous Buddha statues, and the paintings on the cave walls, while restored, were shockingly vivid for their antiquity.
We decided to walk all the way back to town after viewing the caves, which sounded like a brilliant idea until the Sri Lankan Daily Downpour hit. So we arrived, completely soaked, at our guesthouse, and opted for hot showers and a nap before dinner.
Now, dinner was spectacular. Our guesthouse owner is a chef, and made a gorgeous Sri Lankan meal for us, complete with Lion Beer, Sri Lanka's beer. The meal included vegetable curry and rice, papadams, eggplant chutney, mustard greens salad, spiced potatoes, and spicy vegetables. It was a brilliant end to an improving day.
Tomorrow we head to Sigirya to see the famous Lion's Rock.
From One Tea- and Curry-Soaked Nation to Another
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Dambulla, Sri Lanka
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