No Fixed Abode: Sometimes things just aren't what they’re cracked up to be

Sun 17 Apr 2016 - Anuradhapura Ruins

In an attempt to beat the heat of the day we were up and out by 0800 on some very dodgy bikes we’d rented from the hotel with our bags stowed in reception awaiting our return - another hotel move needed to the original hotel planned, after we cut short our stay in Kalpitiya. The ancient city of Anuradhapura was the seat of power from BC to around 1500 AD, has significant Buddhist history and is a place of pilgrimage and there are many spread out ruined remains to see - a little like Angkor in Cambodia.

With a small scale, small font map (not ideal for a couple of short sighted old people who dislike to wear their glasses) from the hotel we set off for the first Stupa, a bell shaped Buddhist monument prevalent in Sri Lanka and India. With a couple of stops to work out where we were we eventually found the museum and bought entrance tickets then made our way to the large brick Stupa behind.

As it was still New Year festival and today had special significance with an auspicious time of 10.46am, there were lots of pilgrims all dressed in white, the standard festival colour, and/or blue, today’s auspicious colour, and the huge, brick bell shaped stupa had been adorned with a large orange, the standard buddhist colour, band of ribbon wrapped around its base. Reaching the staircase that lead to the stupa’s terrace we were instructed to remove our shoes and hats. Although it was quite early the stone pavement was boiling hot and we shuffled from foot to foot until we found a shady patch, however, the locals ambled around seemingly oblivious to the heat, giggling at us hopping about.

Although the scale of the huge brick stupa was impressive there really isn't much else to see - a bit like the pyramids we guess - so once we’d completed a lap we had a poke around several of the sites, marvelling at the quality of the almost 2000 year old brickwork. The ruined city is aptly named as, although there are lots of brick foundations that show where buildings had once stood, there really isn’t anything worthy of note remaining above them and there was very little information provided to indicate what the place would have looked like or what the buildings had been used for.

We could see a similarly large bright white stupa a short distance away, also adorned in an orange ribbon, so set off to take a look. On our way we crossed the main pilgrim road, which was jam packed with blue and white clad Sri Lankans all cheerily walking along the, by now, boiling road in their bare feet. The volume of people walking in with their offerings and coming out a short while later at this stupa confirmed we had arrived here at the peak of the auspicious time. We reached the entrance and sat to admire the size of the Stupa and the brightly coloured buddhist flags that surrounded its terrace flapping in the gentle breeze but as it looked almost identical the one we’d just visited, we didn’t think our feet could take the heat of the stone and our sweaty bodies couldn’t cope with the large masses of pilgrims, that’s as far as we got.

By now it is was very hot and humid and we were sweating profusely so we sat in the shade of a large tree watching the pilgrims who kept on passing by and the monkeys leaping playfully between the boughs above us. As Glenn tried to take a nap a couple of students approached us with a questionnaire on the site and its management. Never one’s to resist the opportunity to provide feedback we wrote copious responses to the questions requesting more information, better signs, maybe a visitor centre and some way to protect the delicate soles of western feet from the hot stone so we can enjoy visiting these holy sites.

Riding a short way further we found a smaller stupa with a shaded approach staircase so we slipped our shoes off and tentatively tip toed to take a look. It was almost identical to the other two, apart from its size, and we began to realise that once you’ve see one Stupa you may have seen them all. After hot footing, literally, around the base, watching the pilgrims go through their rituals at each of the four shrines set at the cardinal points.

Thoroughly hot we made our way to a museum to escape the searing sun, that was now directly overhead, passing a frazzled bat that had latched onto a power line then touched the one below as he hung upside down. Inside the museum we saw a selection of stone carvings, amazing pottery and an air conditioned wing containing some jewellery, where we lingered a while to cool down.

By now the heat had sapped us of any remaining enthusiasm so we sat in the shade of another large tree, mustering the strength to cycle back, when a young lad sauntered over to have a chat. He was very talkative and was gently trying to get us to pay him to be a guide, which we quickly let him know was not going to happen, but we spent some time with him discussing his lack of success with girls and his plans to travel to India in a few weeks despite not having the money.

At last we cycled slowly back trying not to get too hot. Back at the hotel Yvonne worked her charms on the reception guy to get us access to the pool for a swim even though we had officially checked out, which was lovely. Then out of gratitude we ordered cold beer and coke and sat at a shady poolside table feeling much better.

As the afternoon was getting on Glenn wandered up to the main road to summon a tuk tuk to transfer us and our bags to the hotel just up the road where we would be staying the next two nights and waited to hear from Niluk about our new driver who should turn up tomorrow.