December 2009 Trip to Sri Lanka

(click on thumbnails to view larger picture)

Sunday, December 20, 2009

In morning visit an elephant orphanage outside of Negombo containing the world's largest herd of domestic elephants.. Then onto Yapahuwa, an ancient fortress and capital in the year 1301. It is a rock rising from the plain and surrounded by moats and ramparts. Ended at the Avukana Standing Buddha Statue, 12m tall.

Elephant with missing foot

Monday, December 21, 2009

Visit to Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka's first capital founded in the 5th century BC. The city was a model of precise planning with reservoirs and constant water supply. In the afternoon visited Mihintale, a sacred mountain with statues of Buddha.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Morning drive to Polonnaruwa, the next capital of Sri Lanka in the early 11th century. We visited the Great Statue, Quadrangle, Royal Palace, Vatadage, Hatadage, Siva Devalaya and other complexes. Next we stopped at a wood carving factory and then a Jeep Safari at a National Park. On the way back from the park it rained and everyone was soaked.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009 and Thursday, December 24, 2009

In the morning we visited a local jungle home and family. Then drove to Sigirya Fortress, built in the 5th century by King Kasyapa. It was first a palace, then a monastery and finally fell out of use. It is situated on a 200m rock, and is a very difficult climb (takes 2 hours).. Half-way up are 22 paintings of women in the rock, and were originally a series of 500.This was followed by a walk through a spic garden with many different herbal plants and trees. In the evening we arrived in Kandy, where we attended a Cultural Performance show with fire walkers. We also visited the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, which contains a tooth of the Buddha and is an important place of worship for Buddhists. In the morning of the 24th, we enjoyed a city tour of Kandy and the Royal Botanical Gardens with over 5000 species of different varieties of flora. After this we visited a gem store and then drove to Nuwara Eliya and visited a tea factory.

family treehouse	local preparing rice	local home	custard fruit
	Spice Garden	cocoa bean	Royal Gardens	Royal Gardens	view of Kandy

Friday, December 25, 2009 and Saturday, December 26, 2009

On the 25th, we had a 5 hour walk at Horton Plains on the way to Bandarawela. It was a beautiful walk through the jungle, plains and through rivers (although it was raining and I fell in the mud). On the 26th we took an early train to Ohiya. We started a 23 km (14 mile) hike near a Hindu temple. Walked through tea plantations and rice fields, near the end of the afternoon visited the highest waterfall in Sri Lanka where several people had a swim. At end of day transfer to Belihuloya.

Joanne with elk			train depot at Idalgashinna	Hindu temple	typical tea worker housing
	workers in rice field

Sunday, December 27, 2009 and Monday, December 28, 2009

Visit the Wevurukannala Temple with one of the countries largest seated Buddhas. Then the Veherahena Underground Temple Complex and the old Dutch fortress in the historic city of Galle. Galle is the southern capital and has 80,000 population, the fort was built in 1663 by Dutch colonialists. On December 28 we drove to 2 temples and visited a water hole (which only spouted once). Then we went onto an afternoon 2-hour safari ride where we saw elephants, crocodiles, monkeys and many birds.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

We took a river tour though mangroves. Later we visited a turtle conservation center.

		Water monitor