Anuradhapura - Sri Lanka

The first stop: Anuradhapura, the longest appointed capital in the world with the oldest relic of ancient times after the Pyramids of Gyzeh and the oldest sacred Bhodi tree in the world.

But first you had to get there. And the fear of the unknown of the Asian world contradictorily disappeared on the outward journey by bus. Why contradictory? Well, the bus drove through towns at 110km/h for 4 hours, overtaking everyone, even people who were about to overtake, people getting on and off while the bus drove slowly and if you weren't kept awake by the incense sticks, then from the food vendors who sell everything you can imagine on the bus, but fried. It was the moment when I was greeted by the loving chaos that had not yet been broken down by the bureaucracy of the West (without glorifying the lack of security measures :D)

After a long conversation with an old Buddhist, I arrived at the hostel and was warmly welcomed and watched the sunset with everyone. The hundreds of huge bats that were now flying over the temple complexes and ruins made me feel like I was in Transelvania.

After a short night and still a lot of jet lag, the alarm clock rang at 4:00 a.m. and we were off to Wilpattu National Park. With the sunrise we were greeted by peacocks, deer, turtles, crocodiles, water buffalo, iguanas, chameleons, leopards and elephants. That was also the day I was chased by a 4-ton Asian elephant for the first, and hopefully last, time. And the animals are a lot faster than you think given their weight... but I was faster :D After the exciting day, we just went to eat something with the other backpackers and went to bed.

After a comfortable 12 hours of sleep, we explored the ancient district of Anuradhapura with all its magnificent temple complexes. They were also the first places of worship of a religion that you couldn't enter that I saw. All domes were completely closed to protect ancient sanctuaries and treasures. The oldest Bhodi tree looked more or less surprisingly like any other tree, only there was a huge wall and guard posts around it.

My first impression of the people is fantastic. Everyone is very friendly and you can laugh a lot with them. As a German, your marble-white skin makes you a bit of an attraction, especially with children. When school classes gather around you and everyone wants to touch you, while the adults probably also see the mobile ATM in you.

Tomorrow we're going to Jaffna, in the far north. In this metropolitan center of the Tamils (the social, Hindu minority of Sri Lanka) a big festival is to take place in the coming days. What exactly will I find out tomorrow when I meet a backpacker there to take a look. Now it's time to go to bed :)