Thursday
I traveled to Habarana. Following the leisurely morning pattern, I arrived at
the bus station at 11:05. I must have just missed a bus, as I waited on the bus
for an hour before it left. The good aspect of that is that I got to choose a
seat on the two-seat side rather than the three-seat side. Unfortunately, the
woman who eventually sat with me needed a little more than half the seat; so we
were snug for the two-hour trip. This was the most rural bus ride I’d had with
frequent stops and lots of people. When the bus left, the aisle was full of
people standing. Then more people got on at the next few stops. Loud music
played the whole time. On the dashboard there was a statue of Ganesh along with
the Sri Lankan and Buddhist flags. With the windows open, the temperature was
comfortable when the bus was moving.
I
arrived at the guesthouse at 2:30. This was one of my splurge guesthouses. It
is in the woods near a lake. Instead of rooms, guests have a large cabin.
Mine was
the last one; so it faced the woods with no obstructions. It was lovely to sit
on the patio to read and enjoy the natural surroundings. Since it was the end of
the dry season, everything was brown. The guesthouse is family-run—the young
man owner, his brother, and his father. I also noticed that two women helped
with the morning cooking and cleaning the rooms.
In the
evening, I walked along the lake and the road past it. The water level was low,
but it was still lovely. In one place there are stairs leading into the lake.
Women were washing clothes and bathing there.
Curry for dinner.
Friday morning,
I returned to the lake before breakfast. Men were collecting lotus leaves.
Later I walked past the lake the other direction. There is a small temple with
a bodhi tree.
And then there is another lake.
A woman was bathing there,
pouring water over herself for several minutes.
When I went back past the first
lake, a group of children, mostly boys, were swimming at the stairs and a
Breakfast
was string hoppers, one of Sri Lanka’s typical foods. The strings are rice
noodles and the hoppers, which are like crepes, are made with rice flour. The
dishes were curried potatoes and coconut sambol, another Sri Lankan specialty.
The dishes are mixed with the noodles and then can be wrapped in a piece of the
hopper. There was also butter and jam to eat with the hoppers. I was glad to
finally try this dish that I’d read about.
The
activity of the day was a safari ride to Minneriya National Park. I had emailed
that I wanted to do that and that, if possible, I’d like to join other guests.
Thursday evening the owner told me that a British family—two older people and
their daughter—had agreed to have me join them and share the cost. I was happy.
We left at 2:00 for our adventure. This was the season when many elephants
migrate to this park because it is dry and there is water in the park. So, of
course, many tourists were also there.
The types of trees along the road
changed several times on the way in.
We stopped to see a few chameleons and
some birds. We also saw monkeys.
After
an hour we saw our first elephants coming out of the trees.
Then we reached the
open area with lakes
where the main groups of elephants were. There were
elephants of all sizes. It was fascinating to watch them scrape the grass with
their feet to loosen it so they could pick it up and eat it.
I especially
enjoyed the babies and watching the adults protect them. The driver said the
smallest ones were about three months old. In the second area where the
elephants were congregated, there were about half as many jeeps as elephants.
We watched elephants in three different areas.
When we were going to the last
area, we came across two elephants that looked like they were doing some sort
of ritual together. Then a third them for a short time and then left alone. The
other two continued interacting for a while before returning to the group
separately. When I asked about this, the man said that, if they seem
aggressive, they are fighting but if they are not aggressive, it’s love. These
two definitely looked like it was love. We were one of the few jeeps that
stopped to watch this ritual, which also made it a special experience.
Eventually
it was time to head back. As we headed back, the elephants were also heading
back that direction on their way to another area where they go at the end of
the day. They were on the move, not stopping to eat. The driver said they walk
about 25 kilometers a day, eating 250 kilograms of grass. Our driver said we
saw about 200 elephants.
When we
got back to the first clearing, we stopped along with other jeeps to watch them
walk by. People got out of their jeeps to have photos taken with the elephants.
Our driver was more cautious and didn’t let us get out till most had passed. When
a small group came and faced us, the driver hurried us back to the jeep, saying
that one of those elephants is dangerous. They were clearly watching us carefully.
From our safe place, we watched the rest of the elephants move on.
Such a
peaceful way to end our time with the elephants. And then we moved on—out of
the park and back to the guesthouse. On the way out, we saw a bald eagle flying
above us.
For
dinner I had devilled fish. I’d seen “devilled” on the last guesthouse’s menu,
but I didn’t know what it was and it was more expensive than other meals.
Since, at this guesthouse, it is the same price as other dishes, I asked what
it is and was told that it is fried. So I was expecting fried fish, but it was
stir fried. I learned later that it is deep fried and then stir fried.
Saturday
morning I hired a tuk tuk to go to Ritigala, an archaeological site from the 4th to 5th centuries BC that is near
Habarana. I wasn’t familiar with this site, but I’d met foreigners on the bus
who had come from there and it was in the “things to do” book at the
guesthouse. My original plan had been to go to Sigiriya, but, since I’d already
been there, I decided to check out Ritigala. When we went through town, we
stopped at a vegetable stand while the driver talked to his sister. When we
left, he said she was jealous because she’d never been to Ritigala. I said she
could come with us; so she did. The tuk tuk ride to get to the site took almost
an hour, partly on the paved road but mostly on the dirt road through the
jungle, and part of that road was loose dirt since it was being improved and
the new dirt hadn’t yet been flattened.
At the site, the driver asked if I
wanted a guide and, when I hesitated, said he would be my guide. He was a good
guide and knew a lot about the site and showed me places and things I wouldn’t
have seen otherwise. The site was a palace and then became a watch site during
times of war. Then it became a monastery for about 500 monks.
There are at
least 17 palaces. We saw several, and one was labeled #17.
One of the palaces
has a urinal beside it. The driver/guide said it’s the only one outside Anuradhapura.
There are also buildings that were a library and a hospital. The hospital had a
pool and a sauna.
Some of
the path is the original paved “road.”
In one place, he showed me the entrance
to an underground tunnel that went to Anuradhapura. The area has several
waterfalls, but, since this was the dry season, there was no water flowing. We
were at the site for about two hours.
In addition to seeing the archaeological
sites, I enjoyed the opportunity to walk through the jungle.
We saw a lot of
strangler trees wrapped around other trees. He called these “double trees.”
As we were leaving, I saw a yellow chameleon
on a tree; so we stopped to look at it. We waited several minutes for it to
change color. It did become lighter but didn’t turn brown like one we’d seen
earlier in the day and also on Friday. My driver/guide said it knew we were
watching and wouldn’t change color while it was being watched.
Back at
the guesthouse, the owner asked about my plan for the evening. My only plan was
to relax and rest, as riding in tuk tuks makes me tired. I think it’s the
shaking and rattling and the air blowing on my face. He suggested a massage.
When I’d seen it listed in his book of things to do, I had thought about it; so
I decided that this would be a good time for an ayurvedic massage. At 5:00, he
took me to his cousin’s spa where he arranged a discount price and threw in a
sauna and steam bath. All for 5000 rupees/$38. The treatment began with an
hour-long body massage. She started with my head and back and then did the rest
of the body. (It’s interesting how the different techniques work.) Lots of scented
oil was used. The technique was mostly rubbing. After the massage, I had the
steam bath lying on a layer of leaves in a covered container while she massaged
my head. Next was the special head massage with oil that drips from a container
onto the forehead and then is massaged into the head and face. Last was a dry
sauna in a room where the floor was covered with the herbal leaves and they
were also hanging from the ceiling. The treatment took an hour and a half and
was wonderful. I was told not to shower for at least two hours to let the oil
soak in.
After
dinner I met the British family from the safari and chatted with them for a
while before we retired for the night. It was good to see them again.
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