Travels with V

Sri Lanka

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A temple where the Buddha rests

Polonnaruwa

The very early morning train takes us to the city of Polonnaruwa, in the center of the island. It’s a long and bumpy ride on tracks in poor condition, sometimes we actually fear that the train will jump right off the tracks. But after twelve shaky hours we finally arrive in the town most famous for its temple ruins.

When we arrive at our small hotel our legs shake and our bellies are in uproar. We have probably been infected when a fruit vendor on the train sold us some juicy mango when we were extremely thirsty. But he cut the fruits with a disgustingly dirty knife. For me its just one visit to the toilet and then I’m quite ok.

The hotel manager kindly lends us two bikes and we pedal off to the ruins, which are scattered around a huge temple area. Here we find a famous reclining buddha, some stupas and “book-stones”. And lots of the endemic Ceylon makaks, monkeys with 60’s style moptop hairdos. Most often they’re found where there are food stalls, often by the spots where trash is burned. They rummage through the ashes and surprisingly often find something to chew on.

But in Polonnaruwa we’re also in for a big and pleasant surprise. Our hotel manager asks us if we’d like to go on a safari the next day, to the nearby Mineriya national park.
– I’m sure you will see some elephants, the tour has an elephant guarantee, he says with a giggle. We say yes immediately and the next day we’re seated in a Land Rover driving around in the park.

And boy do we see elephants! They are everywhere, often searching for some fresh leaves of grass in the dry summer vegetation. But most of them have gathered around a pool where they take baths and socialize. One big male sets after a female and mates with her right in front of us.
– I have worked in this park for thirty years, and I have never seen anything like that, our startled guide says.

Suddenly there is some commotion  quickly leading to panic among the safari cars. Some are revving fast, and guides are shouting. An old elephant matriarch has  decided that the humans are too many and too close, and she comes marching towards us with angry strides. But after the retraction she thinks it’s ok and goes for a dip in the pool instead.

Resebloggar finns det gott om men vi har en lite annan tanke med våra berättelser. Vi vill främst beskriva våra upplevelser av udda platser, människorna vi möter och miljöer som är rätt annorlunda mot vad vi möter hemma.

Därför hamnar vi ibland i avlägsna indianbyar i Guatemalas berg eller bland andetroende bybor på en ö i Indonesien. Men också på mer kända platser som Machu Picchu i Peru eller sandstränderna i Goa. Allt sett genom våra ögon och kameror.

Den som vill ha restips får också sitt - varje resmål har en avdelning med sånt vi kan rekommendera. Eller undvika. Vårt fokus är framför allt att sporra er läsare att göra som vi - resa rätt ut i den vida världen.