I remember the first time I thought it was a keen idea to rent a cheap pushbike and set out down a poorly marked road in a developing country alone. Enter 2006, Siem Reap and the Angkor Temples. Think somewhere along the lines of Lara Croft: Tomb Raider minus all the cool guns and the hotness factor of Angelina Jolie. Fiercely independent and equally as stubbon 19 year old me bought my three day pass to Angkor. My handy dandy guide book told me the main group of temples were easily traversed on a bicycle. So I hatched my plan. Day 1 : bike the main temples. Day 2 : Do secondary loop on an electric bicycle. Day 3 : hire a motorcycle driver to take me to distant temples. We will conveiniantly skip over the safety issues surrounding hiring a complete stranger to take you 30km out into the jungle (probably left that part out Mom). But alas, this was neither the first, nor will it be the last I make such choices.
I recall biking out to the main gate, thinking "where are all the bicyclists?" One temple down. Two temples down. And no one. Quickly I realized I was the only jackass thinking a 8km bike ride on a crappy bike in Cambodia was a great idea in the mid-day heat.
Some lessons I'll never learn apparently. Enter Sri Lanka and present day.
To truly paint the picture, lets go back a day in time. Anxiouis to leave the beachside town of Negombo (think a more boring version of Goa for those of you who've been) I set my sights on the northern town of Anuradhapura. A lot of people hire a car and driver for this loop of Sri Lanka given the vast number of sites packed into the province. But oh no, not little Denise, she was doing this like a local. Enter the bus trip. First bus went beautifully; hopped off in full stride while the bus is still pulling into the station only to hop immediately onto my ongoing bus as it pulled out of the station. Award one gold star. Thank you. Bus 2 to 3 transition was equally as rockstar. Who needs maps? I managed to find my bus stop 300m away after j-walking a busy street. Bus pulls in moments later, and I'm off. Award second gold star. Thank you. This is where Denise's head gets too big. Enter the outskirts of Anuradhapura city and all my traveller's sense goes out the bus window. I fall prey to an easy tout/taxi driver trick and hop off my bus 2 miles before I'm meant to. One thing leads to another and I'm stuck with no where to stay, in a small city more spread out than I expected. Fast forward a couple hours, finally under a roof, with a cockroach the size of my big toe staring at me and you can remove all my gold stars. Fail one D
Early this morning, determined to regain my self pride, I set out determined to make Anuradhapura my bitch, bicycle and all. From, yet again, my guidebook descriptions (I should stop trusting them) I get the impression I'll be amongst like minded cyclists on my crappy little pushbike. Please redirect your eyes to "Some lessons I'll never learn". None the less, soarching sun, gawking school buses of children, cat calling workers and stupidly sore gluts, only alone and on two wheels can you truly escape enough to encounter empty fields, small paths through the wood, smiling old ladies and children splashing in a creek.
The Ruvanvelisaya Dagoba was originally built in 140BC commissioned by a king who never lived to see its completion.
The dagoba (also known as a stupa) was swarmed with monkeys and children. Where the monkeys' interest lay in eating the lotus flower offerings left on the many alters, the children were more fascinated with the lonely white girl in a bright orange t-shirt (mental note : try to wear white when attending temples). As for the monkeys, these particular guys are pretty harmless. It's the ones combing the grounds to watch out for; the black faced monkeys, descendants of the Hindu god Hanuman are straight evil. They can grow as tall as a 6' man when fully stretched out and they are a force to be reckoned with.
Thinking I was originally at a different temple, I hadn't realized I wandered onto the grounds of Sri Maha Bodhi. Brought from India as a cutting of the Bodhgaya, the tree is the oldest historically authenticated tree in the word and has been tended uninterrupted by guardians for over 2000 years. Swarmed by worshippers and tourists, the platform actually contains multiple trees and frankly I found it hard to tell which one would be the reallllly old one.
The Abhayagiri Dagoba was built as the central piece to a 1st/2nd century BC monastery that once housed over 5000 monks. What isn't clearly visible is the dozens of people out in the sun working diligently to restore this ancient piece of history.
Up the road from the stupa was a 9th century AD school for monks that was meant to house the best "moonstone" piece in all of Sri Lanka. I'll be honest, maybe I'm not a history buff or maybe I'm spoiled by past trips, I was underwhelmed. What did catch my eyes were these awesome stairs right above the infamous mooooonstone.
Finally, the Jetavanarama Dagoba is pretty badass when you read the history. One of the newer stupas in this area. Built in the 3rd century AD it was originally over 100m tall, making it at the time of construction the 3rd tallest monument in the world following the two larger of the pyramids at Giza. "A British guidebook from the early 1900s calculated that there were enough bricks in the dagoba's brick core to make a 3m-high wall stretching from London to Edinburgh!"
Best finish to the day : a cold sprite, samosa and chicken roll at your local small eats shop. Total damage Rs125 or $0.99 USD. half gold star back
No comments:
Post a Comment