Colombo to Habarana.......the joys of roadworks Sri Lankan style

Monday 20th October

Another stunning day welcomed us as we climbed aboard the bus and headed for the very centre of SL: Habarana, in what's known as 'the dry north'.

As we drove past the Singalese Sports Club cricket ground on our way out of town I was reminded that I should mention for the cricket lovers that we passed the Galle Cricket Ground frequently whilst in Galle too. It was completely washed away in the tsunami, but apparently was rebuilt with the help of international cricketers, including Shane Warne. (later in the day we also passed the Dambulla Cricket Ground which appeared to be built in the middle of the jungle - it had a huge shiny silver sign to proclaim that it was an international cricket stadium, but looked very incongruous stuck in the middle of lush jungle. Anyway that's the sport report!).

We weren't sure how long the trip would take as there was a lot of road building going on, resulting in many delays. We detoured a number of times along some very rough dirt roads, bumping along in our full size bus, through lots of small towns and villages. It's fascinating to see people going about their usual business, walking children to school, sitting in shops waiting for business, buying all sorts of items at roadside stalls and shops (including Australian Roll-a- Doors!)  and just sitting. The school children waved happily at us in their white uniforms.
The bus driver did a great job of squeezing the bus through some very tight spaces and over very narrow bridges as we all held our breath.
In the end it took twice as long as planned: but who cares ? We're operating on Sri Lankan time now.

We did have one stop at a textiles shop which caused the usual shopping chaos that follows the arrival of our bus. It was a small business so we had the chance to watch the women engaged in the process of winding the cotton and weaving the fabric, which is always fascinating. Very hard repetitive work though.

Finally we arrived at a hotel where we re-energised with lunch and cold drinks.

Then it was Sigiriya, one of the most sacred and famous places in SL. We had been discussing climbing 'The Rock' as it is known, but I certainly hadn't anticipated the beauty of the place which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It was a truly remarkable set of royal gardens and a palace built on top of a huge rock for protection. A few fit members of the group climbed the precarious trail to the top of the rock which took two hours return and 1202 steps! Clearly as a protected fortress it was a great choice!

The rest of us enjoyed wandering around the Water Gardens, the Boulder gardens and the caves that had been inhabited by monks centuries ago. The engineering and building skill that were needed to transport water around this dry area were  remarkable and apparently it's still not clear as to how they did it. 

The entire site was totally overgrown until the Brits arrived and started excavating.  Some beautiful colored frescoes of very well endowed ladies were uncovered too.

If I  was to become a monk this would be the place to meditate: brick walls built of small flat bricks covered in moss mixed with some huge rocks and boulders with lovely greys and pinks and of course lush jungle and vines. Stunning!

Everyone chose the level of challenge they could cope with and we slowly made our way back to the bus to witness an intense sunset on the way to the Cinnamon Lodge, where we will be for two nights.
It is a huge hotel consisting of white bungalows spread over many acres. The pool is magnificent and we all plunged in gratefully.

Yet another lavish meal was consumed featuring roast pork and ginger pudding with custard amongst hundreds of choices

Your tired but happy correspondent

Dianne

PS YOU MAY HAVE NOTICED THAT WE HAVE LOST A DAY SO I WILL TRY AND POST THE MISSING BLOG: JUST REMEMBER IT WAS WRITTEN ON A JOLTING BUS! !!!!