Day 3 – Cycling around Ancient Anrathapura.
Not a great nights sleep. Our aircon unit was clicking, zapping and sparking throughout the night, but it worked. Just dodgy wiring.
Breakfast was a Western affair except fried slice cooked in coconut oil/butter with sweet syrup poured over. Yumm.
A short bus ride to the unesco world heritage site of Anrathapura (spellcheck is not liking this word).
It was the first capital city of Sri Lanka from 10th to 3rd century BC.
We picked up some bicycles and a local guide and off we went, riding though the back roads and across the countryside on the outskirts of the ancient city.
We rode (wobbly) to our first stupa. I was expecting ruins but was presented with thousands of ‘pilgrims’ dressed mostly in white. Masked and barefoot. It was a joy to be amongst crowds again!
First stupa was a big white affair with monks and ‘prayers’ and offerings. It supposedly holds bone fragments from Buddha hence lots of pilgrims.
Learnt a lot about Buddhism. From my basic understanding, the principles are don’t be a douche bag and treat others as you’d like to be treated yourself. There’s far more to it but that’s my simplistic take.
Walked over to the Bhodi tree. Story goes that an Indian prince guy sat under a Bhodi tree and gained enlightenment. By enlightenment, he figured that through meditation plus ‘stuff’ he could find inner peace and there was no need for deities or higher powers to intervene. At that point he became the Buddha. I know this is a very simplistic view, so don’t take offence.
Someone took a cutting of said Bhodi tree and brought it to Sri Lanka, where it was cultivated into the worlds oldest recorded living tree, over 2000 years old.
It was interesting to see potential ‘disciples’ doing a ‘day as a monk’. Basically you can sign up for a day as a monk, go to talks under a tree, do mediations and other ‘monk’ stuff and see if a life of prayer, simplicity and inner peace works for you. It was ‘trial a monk’. Open to anyone (if you knew the lingo).
Next was a massive brick stupa. This one isn’t that old (only built 3rd century) and houses some sacred texts enscribed on golden tablets. This is the largest brick building in the world, with brick foundations 20m deep. A lot of bricks.
I found the trees here fascinating, with branches turning into roots.
Further cycling took us into the woods to the Twin Ponds, some really old irrigation systems used by the monks.
There was a multiheaded cobra stone depiction on the side and I found it interesting it was like a Greek hydra but half way around the world. Hindus and Buddhists see the cobra as a protector, whilst in the west it’s a more sinister creature (hail hydra, spectre etc).
It was getting very warm now so being in the shade was an advantage. My bike had two gears, really hard or really loose. There was another Buddha statue further along in a meditation pose. The path was lined in jasmine flowers and it was quite tranquil and took my mind off the rubbish bike gears.
Quick stop at the guardstone and moonstone, intricate stone carvings, but it was too hot for me to take in any information.
Further cycle to our lunch stop. Our guide has arranged for a couple of tuktuks to meet us by the Elephant Pool with picnic blanket and a spread of rice, potato curry, spiced okra, and other little pots full of taste.
It’s how picnics are meant to be.
Short cycle back to the start, past waving children and coconut sellers. All in all a very pleasant day out and a good way to tour the ancient city.
Afternoon was spent at the poolside bar getting to know the other guests in our group, chatting religion, philosophy and politics and drinking beer.
Dinner was at a local eatery. Tried plain hoppers and egg hoppers (crispy rice pancake with fried egg in the middle) and Kotu.
Kotu is roti (thick chapati) mixed with chicken and veg and spices and then rapidly shredded using two crazy chopping blades whilst cooking on a hot griddle top. It’s a shredded mouth taste explosion and very moreish. We had dinner and drinks for less than £3.
What a great day! History, culture, cycling and food. No one treated us as tourists gawping at the worshipers. We were all there showing respect and with a common goal of expanding our minds.
Travel Dude 