Ron and Kathy's Mid Life Adventures: Sri Lanka--The Gem of South Asia

From the Sigiriya Fortress

What’s not to like about this place? After getting over the mind fog of 40 hours of travel (with 26 of them on a plane), hot and humid Sri Lanka in January is downright refreshing. We love the food, the ambiance, the predominately Buddhist culture, the scenery, and above all, the people. While there are a few similarities with Malaysia, Bali, Thailand and India, Sri Lanka is unique in its own right. The only downsides to it are chaotic traffic and a profound lack of land use zoning.

Last October we hosted a Rotarian from Sri Lanka on a Rotary Friendship Exchange and cooked a South Indian dinner for some of his fellow travelers. Since then they have relentlessly encouraged us to come and visit them. So, here we are!

Kasun Attanayaka, a Chartered Accountant, met us at the airport and took us to our hotel for two days of jet lag recovery.

Kasun Attanayaka

Gihan Panditaratne, whom we hosted in Oregon, treated us to a dinner with his wife and daughter. Then, for the past two days Kasun has driven us into the interior hill country, giving us the back story on all things Sri Lankan.

Saturday we visited an elephant orphanage and a prehistoric burial ground.

Downward Dog at the Ibbnkatuwa burial grounds

Then we traveled to Dambulla for two amazing sites. The first was the 2,000-year old cave temple complex of five caves carved out of solid rock, 160 meters and 1000 steps above the road. With 150 absolutely stunning Buddhas, the climb was well worth it.

Reclining Buddha in one of the caves

Entrance to the caves with Kasun

Inside one of the caves

Just one of the 150 Buddhas in the cave

Yesterday we went to the amazing Sigiriya fortress straight up (2500 steps), high on a rock monolith.

Aerial view (not my photo)

Built in the 4^th century, and over four acres in size, it had a palace, gardens, water sources, and more. It also has a lot of tourists from all over the world who managed to make it to the top. This was truly one of the most amazing ancient man-made places we have ever seen, on a par with Machu Picchu in Peru or the Ajanta and Ellora caves in India.

the top was over 4 acres in size

Huge water tank on top

At least we had stairs. The builders
used notches in the rock

lots of people, lots of stairs

The Lion's foot, a Chinese tourist,
and the death march to the top.

Today (Monday), Rotarian Suthagaran and his wife are taking us further inland through a national park to their home on the east coast. It’s great to travel in such a wonderful country, but it’s quite a heart-warming and educational experience to do so through the eyes of incredibly hospitable and kind locals.

"What we can, while we can!"