Anrudhapura - Kaudulla - Sigiriya

Hello dear people!

The first night was a treat for the body. I slept for almost 11 hours. I only woke up 2-3 times briefly.

What I never expected was that Sri Lanka celebrates Christmas so much. And so it happened that "Christmas parties" were celebrated everywhere here. And that until late at night...

But even more annoying are all the barking street dogs. They already disturbed my sleep. But I was so tired... Thank God it was only 2-3 times ;-)

We just had the first continental breakfast. Toast with salted butter and strawberry jam. Okay, it's supposed to be strawberry jam, but it tastes more like candy.

In addition scrambled eggs, freshly squeezed mango juice and tea.

We are about to visit the first temple. And the over 2000 year old Bodhi tree. Buddha was enlightened here about 2300 years ago.

Hours later:

It is now 19:03 (Germany 14:33).

We have arrived in Sigirya and are staying at the "Melrose Villas". It was a really adventurous day!

The morning was a bit quieter. First we went to a Buddha statue that was really huge. I had a great experience there. A little boy ran past us, a little monk. I asked if I could take a picture of him and gave him 100 rupees (about 65 cents) for it. You can't imagine how he beamed!!!

After this extraordinary experience, we went on to a large temple complex. Since the end of the year is approaching and there are currently school holidays here, many locals were here who wanted to visit the most popular Buddhist temple in Sri Lanka once again. Most of them are dressed in white and bring gifts to the monks. Clothes, flowers and everything else you need in life.

At the entrance we had to take off our shoes, because in the complex you can only walk barefoot.

Here is also the famous Bodhi tree. A nun planted it here to honor Buddha 2,300 years ago.

A short time later we walked to a large stupa. 90m high and 90m wide in the shape of a bell.

It is so, that back then the Sinhalese king fought against the Tamil king, because the Tamil king wanted to rule and the power was too important to him.

The Sinhalese king therefore killed so many enemy soldiers and out of bad conscience he had the stupa built.

Because faith was most important to him in everything.

And then we finally did something that I had always wanted to do. Actually, I was never so sure about it, but selfishness prevailed! We rode elephants.

Don assured us that the animals are treated well. And so we decided to give it a try. It was a great experience, even though I felt a little sorry for the animals.

From here we continued to Habarana. Here we had a tomato soup and a pineapple juice for small hunger in between (those freshly squeezed juices are delicious!).

Later, a driver picked us up with a jeep and we went on a safari in the Kaudulla National Park. We encountered many herds of elephants and it was amazing! An elephant lady (name: Kanehila, in German: hole in the ear) is already known in the park for her regular aggressiveness; at some point she had enough and ran after the jeeps. Those were short moments when the adrenaline level shot up. We got very close to the animals and it was an incredible feeling.

By the way, the photo was not taken in the national park, but on the main road!! You should pay attention to the traffic signs that expressly warn of elephants (known as wildlife crossings in our country).

Now I'm sitting here and just tried a national drink: Arrack (coconut brandy). Interesting taste. It reminds me of whiskey. We are going to end the day soon and then go to bed. Because we are already very tired!

See you soon and greetings to cold Germany!!