....I'll be on hiatus for a few months while I nurse my husband back to health. Spain will come soon, Palestine and India after that.
Stay well.
Saturday, April 6, 2013
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Sri Lanka Day 4 - The Last Day
This last day in Sri Lanka was a bit anti-climactic, not to ruin the excitement of a new post. It was about a four hour drive back to the airport in Columbo, and having seen a lot of temples in the last four days, we tried to get up the energy to stop at one last World Heritage site along the way.
It was pouring rain when we arrived that morning, and no one was happy about it, including the stray dogs waiting patiently outside hoping for a handout.
The complex itself dates back to the first century BC, and consists of a few caves chock full of Buddhist statues and paintings.
It was terrible taking pictures in the dark caves, but I tried.
I actually really liked the decoration on the walls behind the statues more than the statues themselves. I keep getting the buddhas and the kings mixed up, and it's not like I was carrying a notebook to remember what arm gesture or crown or ear lobe length meant what. So look at the pretty paintings - they've been painted and re-painted for centuries.
The nipples were a little distracting.
And what is this yellow guy holding, dental instruments or a manicure set?
Okay, if you are a little Buddha-ed and temple-ed out, so were we by this time. Goodbye, Sri Lanka, we were tired but glad to get to know you! Thirty eight hours of travel were ahead of us to get back to the US of A...
David took one last parting shot right before arriving back in Columbo. Only funny to a scientist I think.
Up next? Spain! I'm hoping it won't take another year to get the next one posted... : )
Dambulla Cave Temple
This is what Hershey will look like when he grows up (see yesterday for the puppy version).
The complex itself dates back to the first century BC, and consists of a few caves chock full of Buddhist statues and paintings.
It was terrible taking pictures in the dark caves, but I tried.
I actually really liked the decoration on the walls behind the statues more than the statues themselves. I keep getting the buddhas and the kings mixed up, and it's not like I was carrying a notebook to remember what arm gesture or crown or ear lobe length meant what. So look at the pretty paintings - they've been painted and re-painted for centuries.
The nipples were a little distracting.
And what is this yellow guy holding, dental instruments or a manicure set?
Okay, if you are a little Buddha-ed and temple-ed out, so were we by this time. Goodbye, Sri Lanka, we were tired but glad to get to know you! Thirty eight hours of travel were ahead of us to get back to the US of A...
David took one last parting shot right before arriving back in Columbo. Only funny to a scientist I think.
=========================
Up next? Spain! I'm hoping it won't take another year to get the next one posted... : )
Friday, December 28, 2012
Sri Lanka Day 3 Part 2
Driving back from Sigiri Rock, we encountered an elephant just moseying alongside the highway. Apparently not as common as you would think, even in Sri Lanka: when you seen an elephant alone like this it usually means the rest of the herd drove him out. "He was probably a little crazy," our guide said. Doesn't seem fair, he was probably just misunderstood.
The rest of the afternoon was visiting historical Polonnaruwa, which was the capital of Sri Lanka from the 11th through the 13th century, replacing Anuradhapura. Consisting of monasteries, temples, gardens, palaces and manmade lakes, it was quite a place to walk around. You could rent bikes, but we encountered more than a few lost and exhausted bikers along the way, I'm kind of glad we went the spoiled tourist way and had a car and guide.
This place is called the Nissankalata Mandapaya (or Council Chamber), where all sorts of important meetings were held. The pavilion was reportedly used for chanting Buddha's teachings. I think they probably argued about taxes.
All those columns are engraved with who was supposed to stand where.
And the King's place is right up front, of course.
On to our next stop, the world's largest book!
"What does it say?" I asked. "Oh, those are words, it's a story." "Right, but about what?" "A story, about the king, I suppose." I guess if you're going to carve something into a rock it'd better be about the king, and not some trite love story or something.
This place is called a Vatadage, which usually enshrined relics, and only 10 are left in Sri Lanka. It's been a thousand years, so the relics were probably stolen long ago, but it's pretty neat. It's a round stupa surrounded by four buddhas facing each of the directions. For some reason I was tired of taking my shoes off, so David took these pictures.
Yes, yes it is...
The royal private bath.
The royal private pisser.
We were watched at various places by jungle creatures. I'd like to think he was trying to smile at me.
And what's that back there?
I know what my dad would be thinking. Ka-blam! Dinner is served.
This place is called Lankatilakaya. It's hard to describe how huge this thing is, by far some of the coolest thing we saw most of the day. He's missing his head, but with it he would be over 40 feet high.
Some detail carved into the side has survived a bit better.
The last site of the day was Galviharaya, containing four "great masterpieces of buddhist sculpture", all carved into a single piece of granite.
According to our guide, the pose and the facial expression of Buddha show his supreme compassion towards suffering.
And thus ends our last full day in Sri Lanka. We got up early the next morning to hit one last site in the pouring rain - good thing it was caves!
The rest of the afternoon was visiting historical Polonnaruwa, which was the capital of Sri Lanka from the 11th through the 13th century, replacing Anuradhapura. Consisting of monasteries, temples, gardens, palaces and manmade lakes, it was quite a place to walk around. You could rent bikes, but we encountered more than a few lost and exhausted bikers along the way, I'm kind of glad we went the spoiled tourist way and had a car and guide.
This place is called the Nissankalata Mandapaya (or Council Chamber), where all sorts of important meetings were held. The pavilion was reportedly used for chanting Buddha's teachings. I think they probably argued about taxes.
All those columns are engraved with who was supposed to stand where.
And the King's place is right up front, of course.
On to our next stop, the world's largest book!
"What does it say?" I asked. "Oh, those are words, it's a story." "Right, but about what?" "A story, about the king, I suppose." I guess if you're going to carve something into a rock it'd better be about the king, and not some trite love story or something.
This place is called a Vatadage, which usually enshrined relics, and only 10 are left in Sri Lanka. It's been a thousand years, so the relics were probably stolen long ago, but it's pretty neat. It's a round stupa surrounded by four buddhas facing each of the directions. For some reason I was tired of taking my shoes off, so David took these pictures.
Moving on, we came to this small structure. Wait, what is that in the middle there? Is that what I think it is?
Yes, yes it is...
This little guy followed us all over the park. I started calling him Hershey, not sure why, but look at those ears, don't you just want to take him home?
The royal private bath.
The royal private pisser.
We were watched at various places by jungle creatures. I'd like to think he was trying to smile at me.
And what's that back there?
I know what my dad would be thinking. Ka-blam! Dinner is served.
This place is called Lankatilakaya. It's hard to describe how huge this thing is, by far some of the coolest thing we saw most of the day. He's missing his head, but with it he would be over 40 feet high.
Some detail carved into the side has survived a bit better.
The last site of the day was Galviharaya, containing four "great masterpieces of buddhist sculpture", all carved into a single piece of granite.
According to our guide, the pose and the facial expression of Buddha show his supreme compassion towards suffering.
==========================
And thus ends our last full day in Sri Lanka. We got up early the next morning to hit one last site in the pouring rain - good thing it was caves!
Monday, October 8, 2012
Sri Lanka Day 3 Part 1
Sigirya Rock
See that big rock? People lived up there! Not a rock, really, more of a "magma plug" from an old volcano. A king built a complex on top of it around 480 AD, and then it was used by monks after his short reign until the 14th century.
Very tranquil and picturesque...
Other than the threat of hornets.
Are there giant bird sized hornets in Sri Lanka? How big are the nests, the size of Volkswagons? Our guide told us they weren't around this time of year, but I quieted down a bit with my questions just in case.
Then starts the climb. That's our guide there, probably telling us something about the rock. Or more likely, mis-understanding what our question was, and impatiently saying, "I already told you, monks used to live here..."
Quite a view!
About three quarters of the way up, we were able to enter the King's caves, made famous by the naked lady paintings.
There used to be hundreds of these, but the monks apparently wiped most of them out when they started living there again. Too distracting for meditation, I guess.
"Why are they all topless?" I asked the guide. He didn't appear to understand the question, just shrugged and pointed. "Yes, they are topless." Grr. I tried again. "I mean, is that the way they usually dressed? Did they just walk around like that all the time or just for the King?" "Well... of course... I mean... they are very nice to look at. The king liked to look at them." That's as good an answer as I was going to get.
Going further up, you'll notice another great big rock sitting on the side of the hill with a staircase leading up to it. Look closer, the rock is just perched there, ready to be pushed off the hill, should someone attack. "But they never used it." our guide said, pointing out the obvious.
See the Lion's Paws at the foot of the stairs? (BTW, "Sigiriya" means Lion's Rock in Sinhalese.)
Monkeys watched us along the way...
David didn't want to get too close to this little guy, lest he attack!
Arrived at the top! Just before the rain started to fall.
And thus starts a long walk down. Next up? Wandering elephants, monkeys, deer, and the royal urinal. Stay tuned!
=====================================
I know most of you are going to scroll back up and look at them again anyway, so here's a good parting shot.
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