Sri Lanka- Buddhas & Brown Things

I definitely went to Sri Lanka to escape the grey, brown, nasty, dirty, and concrete scenery of Shanghai. However, in Sri Lanka, I marvelled at brown things. In order of the photos. I am sitting on a rock next to Parrot Rock- the big rock in the background. Lots of birds live in this big grass covered rock on the edge of the Indian Ocean in front of my hotel in Mirissa. Behind me in the photo are tall stilts stuck in the water. Traditional Sri Lanka fisherman stand on the stilts in the middle of the waves and catch fish. Balanced on these stilts. NO JOKE. It was epic.

Travelling from one place to another in Sri Lanka was one of the highlights of my trip. Inever knew what I was going to witness as a roadside attraction. Here were kilometer after kilometer of rubber trees. My taxi driver jumped out and pulled some rubber off a tree. Yes, it really is white and sticky. Cool.

Next brown thing. Sigiriya rock, part of the Cultural Triangle of ancient cities. Basically a penthouse fortress in the sky built for a king more than 1,500 years ago. Seriously. At the top of this rock were pools, remains of a palace, and temples. It was Machu-Pichu- ish in it's majestic glory. In a real state of ruin but one could imagine the hey-day. I climbed a million stairs to get to the top of the rock, where I explored and climbed on a bunch of dirt paths.

This is Sri Lanka's largest stupa. A stupa is a shrine of sorts for Buddhists. They build these solid things (really looks like a breast with a torpedo nipple) and bury treasures, jewels, and Buddha relics inside. This one was in Polunnarua, one of the Cultural Triangle ancient cities in the northern central part of the country. The ruins were spread out over a large area. It was so quiet the day that I was there. I was basically the only person. This standing buddha was just aching to be photographed. Because this used to be a temple, you still have to observe the rule sof temple visits- ie- taking off your shoes and hats before visiting.