The relaxing last stretch for home... Aug 20, 2005

August 20, 2005

The relaxing last stretch for home...

Hanging out in Kandy for about a week has been a brilliant decision. It's a wonderful city with plenty to do, and frankly running from one small town to the next, no matter the beauty and adventure is exhausting!

So the mad Englishman loved his "Black Forrest (ish?)" birthday cake surprise.

The next day we headed off for the stunning botanical gardens near by. They have a Javan Fig tree that is 1600 square meters (my american non-metric friends...that's BIG)! They have manicured it perfectly in the shape of an umbrella with minimal shooter roots (picture enormous tree trunks) for support. We reckoned you could fit an entire village under the canopy. Their other big show stopper is Burmese Bamboo, the largest bamboo in the world, growing up to 120 feet tall! (Yeah I know I sound like a "size queen"...but the beautiful little orchids were nice and they knew how to display them ;)

Liam spent the last hour or so taking the locals attention off my tattoos by doing back flips, (thanks monkey-boy, I needed a break!)

So, having witnessed the Pera Hera procession about 4 or 5 times now, we are pretty "festivaled-out." When you can announce the next section that will appear in a 3 1/2 hour parade before it happens, you've seen it too many times! It was splendid and we did discover more subtle nuances...like a section of the Tamil-Hindu boy troupe wears blue eyeshadow and ruby-red lipstick?!? And a rather mannish trannie brings up the rear? hmmm... Actually transgender male-to-females have a definite place in Hindu culture. They are considered spiritual beings not to be messed with! They will often show up unannounced at wedding parties and will perform, singing and dancing, (basically taking the place hostage!) until paid...then they leave. As a hindu, you wouldn't DARE throw them out. Fortunately she had the good sense not to do a daylight appearance during the final procession...our trannie looks a little rough by torch light, she might have been downright frightening during the day!

Love her! werq.

I finally paid my respects to the Temple of the Tooth. It's a massive complex (smaller than the Forbidden City, "but bigger than a bread-box"). One room was dedicated to the history of the tooth...from it being plucked from Buddha's funeral pyre to the present, much of the first 600 years I would say is mythical but about 2000 years is traceable! All of a sudden it hit me...this was not only a holy object but the "living" representation of this entire country's civilization, from it's first cut stone monuments to the present...It was a big "WOOOOOW!" Think if the Declaration of Independence was 10 TIMES as old with 10 times the history! It could be a dog's tooth or not even truly exist for all any of us know...(and that's not being blasphemous, that incisor has changed hands and kingdoms a dozen times)...the point is it's one hell of a powerful symbol of national identity as well as their most venerated religious relic.

Tomorrow is my last day. I plan to sleep in, go play in the jungle with the monkey-boy and catch a very, very long flight for home.

The next message will be photos of the trip after I've had a good rest and a sweet snuggle with the "honey."

Love ya, and hope you've all enjoyed this trip as much as I have!

xxpaul

Settling in to paradise... Aug 8, 2005

August 8, 2005

So it's been a while since I've been able to make a journal entry, not for lack of trying...Im in the technology hell realm.

They say elephants when they are about to die, find their way across miles and miles of jungle terraine to their traditional dying grounds...well it appears computers do the same thing.

Ever wondered what happened to your 1989 IBM? It's here, wheezing it's last breath.

I haven't been able to log onto hotmail for 1 week (probably longer by the time you get this email...)

So much has happened, Im not sure where to begin. I arrived in Colombo, it was everything I had hoped it wasn't. A spralling congested hassle. I later found out they've stopped teaching marshall arts in Sri Lanka because in Colombo a highly trained hitman could be hired for about US$ 20-25 dollars. Death comes cheap here.

So after one day I made the fortunate decision to get the hell out of the capital and head for the hills. Ahh Kandy. Kandy is considered the cultural center of Sri Lanka. It's in the hills so you can escape the sweltering heat of the plains. The train ride up was gorgeous, chugging (very slowly) through the lowland rice paddies then up through the lush mountain jungles with fantastic views! A four hour train ride cost me a whopping US$2.50. Transportation comes cheap here, too.

This is an actual train master's office and NOT a museum.

Step back in time to a first class train cabin :)

Knowing that I would be in Kandy for quite a few days later on (since it's the central hub, culturally and transporation wise, for the whole country), I left the next day. While sitting on my Kandian hotel's 19th cent. wooden victorian veranda overlooking the shrine that contains the Buddha's Tooth relic, I met a truly Mad Englishman. His name is Liam.

Liam is 21 years old, majors in the study of Asian religions and is a "4th black belt down" Tae kwon doe martial artist. About 120 pounds soaking wet, can-of-whoop-ass. Loves his women and his beer, showing off for the locals (they're fxxxing mad about martial arts!), and carrying on intellectual conversations for HOURS about religion, politics, and Ancient Asian arcitecture. He's been brilliant fun.

The Mad Englishman showing off martial arts for the kids.

The morning after we met we decided to head off to the plains of the ancient cities to the north. I will try to convey some of the truly amazing sites we've seen, but I'm afraid I won't do them justice.

Our first stop was Aluvihara. These ancient monastic caves are the location of where the Buddhist tradition was transfered from oral to Pali in the 1st century BC. 2000 years later the British came along and torched the entire amassed library.



We passed through more impressive sites such as Nalanda and Dambulla before arriving at Sigiriya. This bit of real estate features a massive rock, about 300 meters high, soaring up in the middle of the plains, a bit like New Mexico if you've ever been...At the base and on top were incredible works assembled by monks and kings over the past 1500 years. To get to the top of the rock you have to climb steps carved from the rock, passing between two massive lion paws and up through what had once been the lions mouth! (Im pretty sure this site may have been featured in the show the great race, ooh how embarassing of me...) The views of the ancient water works and countryside were spectacular!

In this ancient Buddhist monastery, intricate carving is found only on the toilets!

The next day we rode bicycles around the ancient city of Pollonaruwa then onto to the oldest Sri Lankan Capital Anurhadapura. Along the way we passed through a strict nature reserve finding the ancient monestary of Ritigali. This was one of my most favorite parts of the journey so far...climbing, trekking through jungle and "discovering" ancient monuments...very Indiana Jones! We ended that particular day with a quick stop at yet another sacred site, (Im tired just reading this!) called Mihintale, this is where the famous King Ashoka's son, Mahinda, converted the King of Sri Lanka to Buddhism.

Liam practicing martial arts in the jungle ruins.

This morning I have just returned to Kandy from Anurhadapura. Quite tired and ready for some relaxation (huh! will see...you know me!)

I's still savoring the quiet time I manage to make for myself under the Sri Maha Bodhi Tree. This is the original sappling that the daughter of King Ashoka, Sangamitta, brought to Sri Lanka over two thousand years ago. When the original Bodhi tree that the Buddha found enlightenment under at Bodhgaya died, they were able to take a cutting from this tree back to its original "birthplace" (remember Bodhgaya from my India travel journals...?)

The one thing that was a bit odd, was that in order to "protect" the tree the Singhalese have set up a military base AROUND the tree...hmmm a bit odd that such a powerful symbol of peace and enlightenment would be surrounded by blockades and machine guns...

what do I know...

love ya!
paul

Travel Tales of Sri Lanka, July 31, 2005.

April 15, 2012

When I originally started this blog, I intended to start with my current journey, Egypt, (done) then roll the clock back to my very first trip to Asia in 1996. Unfortunately, transcribing from my chicken-scratch journal to type is taking much longer than I had hoped...

This July, I will be leading a small group to Sri Lanka to tour this magnificent island nation and to witness the Kataragama Festival. As a teaser for this trip, it seemed fitting to share my 2005, Sri Lanka travel journal. And just a reminder for those who are considering to join me on this upcoming trip. This journal was written during an intermittent civil war, which is now over. Sri Lanka is very safe to travel and certainly could use the tourism!



Sunday, July 31, 2005

And the story continues... Many of you are new to my travel journals...so let me start off by saying if you do not want to receive my travel spam, just let me know... For those of you familiar with these rants and reviews, I hope this series proves as amusing...or whatever ;) One of the things most interesting about the journals is how I now experience my travels differently...like most of us, I'm sure, I have an inner dialog constantly chattering...(fortunately these days its less self-abusing and more amusing...), but the thing that has changed is now when I travel and I know I'm going to be writing...my inner dialog occurs in the "first person narrative"...weird huh?

So this journey started a day earlier than I had anticipated, (you can imagine the last minute scramblings...thanks mom for pointing out my itinerary confusion...would have been quite disappointing to show up at the airport to find my plane had departed 24 hours previously...) I arrived in Bangkok the evening of July 28 and I am now heading off this evening for Sri Lanka. Those of you from previous journals know Bangkok is an old friend and an easy place to adjust to jet lag and to catch ongoing flight connections for more remote destinations.

I spent the first two days shopping ad nauseam and decided to collapse poolside and start planning the Sri Lankan itinerary, yeah kinda late, but whatever...

My dear friend Mani from Berlin had to cancel at the last minute and a MAJOR festival I had booked my flight around...actually occurred prior to my trip...gotta love 3rd world governmental "official tourism" websites...why on earth would they care if their posted dates are correct?!?!? The festival I am missing is the Kataragama festival. It is a Tamil-Hindu celebration culminating in participants swinging from hooks through the flesh! (yes the birth place of the Mod-Prim's "flesh hook suspension")...oh well I will certainly still catch the other major Sri Lankan festival called the Procession of the Buddha's Tooth...So there you have it folks, the basic jist of what's in store.

A little bit of amusement for you...I went to Bangkok's Chatuchak weekend market, a very lively place with MILES of hamster trails to get lost in...I actually came across something that shocked me.For those of you who know me, I am NOT easily offended. I stumbled into a Marxist T-Shirt stall. Actually Im sure it was the money generating operation of their local communist party ( I hope the irony of this capitalist venture wasn't lost? ;)

Anyways, at first I was quite excited and just had to get this one t-shirt showing a vietnamese female guerilla fighter carrying a 50 caliber machine gun?!? with the caption "For me and my baby"...still I was amused.
Then I looked up and saw they had action figures, you know, like G.I. Joe...only these were of Palestinian "freedom" Fighters. The one that actually horrified me was the doll of a suicide bomber! Completely life-like and highly detailed including, ski mask, an uzi in his left hand, a detonator in his right hand and sticks of dynamite strapped to his chest!!!!!! I sent up a little prayer that these dolls were intended for the childish and not the children. I hope it goes without saying, I decided not to patronize...

http://www.boreme.com/posting.php?id=985

anyways, that's all for now peace and love.