Sri Lanka

Margaritaville of the East, only drawback was the various beach shacks' instance of playing house music, how about some Marley or at least Jimmy Buffet?

A well-timed string of Indian holidays meant almost 6 full days of no class or scheduled work.  After some deliberation and reflection, I decided that I needed to go to Sri Lanka for a short holiday... err, I mean work retreat.  I was excited to visit this country and go on somewhat of an agnostic's pilgrimage to some sacred Buddhist sites.  The country is so beautiful, probably one of the most striking I have seen.  The food was as good as Indian food, even more flavorful, they did offer Western breakfast, which I indulged in (I miss Western breakfast).



Compared to India, Sri Lanka is a very different type of place and a completely different vibe.  There was almost no litter on the streets, the air is clean and even crisp, in the mountains you could drink water from the tap, cars stop to let pedestrians cross streets and there is virtually no honking.  I attribute the relaxed and chill environment to Buddhist culture and perhaps less temperance. I really liked this place and hope to visit again, soon.

I met up with three USAC students (Jessica, Rian and Max) the first day at the Tropic Inn at Mount Lavina, south of Colombo.  We agreed to hire a driver and see where it took us.  We headed east to the mountains, then south to the beaches.  So much to see.  Our clan was perfect, I give them all A's for travel spirit, conversation, easy going attitude and general drinkability.  Lets hope they can match that in the classroom.

Breakfast overlooking the city of Kandy.  I meant to buy candy in Kandy but forgot.

This is the first clean water I have seen since I left Idaho.  The water from the taps were even good enough to drink.  Kandy was a beautiful city and could have spent a week on this place alone.

A view from the walls surrounding the Buddhist temple containing a relic of the the tooth of Buddha

I love these carvings, they are all over the Angkor Wat in Cambodia.   These are apsaras, kind of the Buddhist equivalent of angels

I made a floral offering to the temple.

Outside the temple.

A view of Kandy.  There is a large Buddha statue on the hill on the left.

A view of the temple of buddhist tooth.

We briefly visited a tea plantation and factory.  I think we were the only tourists in there that day, but there was a staff of 6 or 7.

We enjoyed delicious tea after our tour. 

Our driver, Desmond, was great.  Desmond's Christian name is "Brian," he really warmed up to us as the trip progressed he was a great tour guide. I would recommend him to anyone visiting.

Much of the country is lush and tea farms and spice plantations dot the interior landscape.  The forested areas are under threat from clear-cutting.

We caught a magnificent sunset, I would see the sun rise the very next day from the top of Adam's Mountain.

We got up at 2AM to make a trek to see the sunrise from the top of the famous "Adam's Peak."  After three hours of walking we arrived at the top to find a small house and a funny, hermit like man who offered us tea.  There were other foreigners there and we shared biscuits. The woman in the middle didn't seem to like it and complained a lot, I don't  think she knew how lucky she is.

Given the altitude wind and sweat drenched clothing, I was actually cold for the first time since leaving Idaho.    

We made it!  Daybreak at the top of the mountain.

Sun peaking up from the side of the house on the top of the mountain. 

Such natural beauty and wonder.

Looking northwest.

Bell some ring when they reach the top

Look carefully and you can see the shadow cast by the mountain on the clouds.

The top had a small temple where lore says is a footprint of the Buddha during his third trip to the island. Christianity and Islam legend holds that it is Adam’s footrprint from when he was first cast out of Eden.  It was interesting to see a site held sacred by four of the world’s major religions (Hindus say it is Shiva’s footprint).  I never actually got to see the alleged print as it was locked up in a strange looking encasement.  This last picture is looking back about halfway down the incline.

Off to the beach town of Unawatuna on the southwest part of the island.  On this night I pulled rank on the students and took the "professor's suite."  I slept a good 10 hours while they were out enjoying the night life.  I can't accept that I am getting old, ah, the impermanence of it all.

One last shot of Unawatuna from hotel balcony before it is time to go back.  That is a Buddhist pagoda on the cape.