Blogestuous 140 characters and more

Ceylon Soliloquys – Part1

It's been a year and a half since the last time i spelt the word v.a.c.a.t.i.o.n and considering the fact that ' 09 has been one of those years with an unfair pain:gain ratio, it was time that i packed my bags and hopped onto a jetplane else i was about to go apeshit crazy!

Sri Lanka seemed like a workable, cheap option and so heck! why not?. Its day four and i'm writing this post whilst on a bumpy six hour drive from Nuwaraeliya to Bentoba. God bless technology and iphone's internet tethering. This is what's on my widescreen right now.

Before Nuwaraeliya, my other sojourns were Pinnawala, Dambulla, Sigriya and Kandy, so i'll just scatter my Ceylon soliloquy's here and there as i remember them.

Apart from sharing names with the likes of a lolipoplickingblonde stripper, the city of Kandy has absolutely no quantity of saccharine whatsoever. I say this because I couldn't help but notice the obvious dearth of feminine eye candy here. Ok, so maybe i'm  letting my superficial side show a little too much (don't judge me, you'd be thinking the same if you were here too). Whatever happened?? The sense of fashion too is hideous. Pupil torchering colors paired in the strangest combinations that challenge the logic of the colorcycle. Think Mr. Alexander Mcqueen (R.I.P) would be tossing in his grave if he saw such blasphemy. But all said and done,  credit does go to the Sri Lankan saree. It's kinda pleated interesting but seems only skinny-friendly.

An epiphany of sorts to me was that Sri Lanka is  a Buddhist country! Seriously!? According to our incomprehensible yet over-zealous guide, Sri Lanka is 70% Buddhist and the large statues of Lord Buddha at every street corner and wikipedia only backed up this claim.

Dambulla was an interesting spot. It's this vast isolated rock mass about 500feet high with about 500 steps leading upto it. (that was my cardio for the day, btw). The place is in'fff'ested with monkeys and i had my own scruffle with one of them scampy primates. He appeared behind me from nowhere and tugged on the lotus offerings that i bought. He gripped so hard that when i turned around to look, he had swung out half way the other side whilst still holding on. All throughout while he hung midair grasping onto the petals and my index finger he gave me a look of disbelief almost as if to say'WHAT?? THESE ARE MINE!! BITCH!!!' Unbelievable!! i had a good mind not to let go but then i remembered Ma saying that when a monkey gets angry, it slaps you in the face. Guess i was a little scared of getting a walloping from one of these vicious bastards, so i let go. I managed to save one flower, which i suppose in some small way was my statement of evolutionary supremacy. I wish someone had taken a picture of the encounter because in my head, it still seems really amusing. I managed to scribble down a little sketch of my encounter with the monkey thief later in the car. Enjoy!

<<oops! having a little trouble uploading the sketch - think it'll have to wait till i get to Bentota>>

Anyhow, the Dambulla caves was quite a walk up. The guide showing us around was useless! He made everything sound like he was stating the obvious. His facts were all over the place and almost incomprehensible, so i had to do my own research on wikipedia after. (i should have put him onto it as well). You can read the entire wiki article here, but i've pulled out a little excerpt for some informative reading.

The caves in the city provided refuge to King Valagamba (also called Vattagamini Abhaya) in his 14 year long exile from the Anuradapura kingdom. Buddhist monks meditating in the caves of Dambulla at that time provided the exiled king protection from his enemies. When King Valagamba returned to the throne at Anuradapura kingdom in the 1st century BC, he had a magnificent rock temple built at Dambulla as a gratitude to the monks in Dambulla.

This road is getting a little too bumpy for me to focus and i feel a little like napping. Four more hours to go till i reach the beaches of Bentota. More from me in a bit.