Kandy To Sigiriya

Awoke at 6 AM and headed to the Temple of the Tooth for 6:30 AM prayer. The temple, also known as Tooth Relic and Five Temples, is a Buddhist and Hindu prayer site. It is necessary to wear pants and a shirt that covers at least half of the arm. And no shoes are worn inside the temple, which was fine by me! I waited in line, along with 30 some other females, to enter. There are separate lines for women and men. Once I entered, my jaw dropped at the pure beauty of this white temple. It costs $1,500 Rupee to enter the temple, but there is so much to see in the surrounding area, so I opted to stay on the outskirts and view the Hindu temples. I witnessed prayer being led by a monk and many people sitting around praying in a chanting manner. Everyone is wearing white and there are people from 5 years old to 75 years old all sitting on the dirt with their heads bowed and their hands in a mudra. I joined in for a short while and everything around me became silent.

I continued walking thru the temple, visiting all five of the Hindu temples. I sat inside another small one where an elderly woman was praying. I closed my eyes, bowed my head, and not long after, tears began flowing from my eyes, down my cheeks, and onto my hands in mudra. I sat there for maybe 20 minutes feeling each moment pass me by undisturbed. After, I walked into another one of the Hindu temples and received a blessing on my third eye. Everyone has flowers, food, and other offerings they bring into the temple when they come to pray. I saw a bunch of colorful flags, all the same, hanging around the temples. I asked what the significance is and was told that it is the Buddhist flag. Some of them have the Dharma Wheel on it, which I have tattooed on the top of my foot (the one people typically think is a sail boat wheel). I made my way out of the temple after spending over an hour inside and found a juice stand. I enjoyed a mixed fruit juice with papaya, pineapple, and other fruits along with a veggie samosa. I headed back to the hostel, did some writing while sipping coffee, and chatted Saman. He arranged a tuk tuk driver, Sunny, to come and take me around the city.

First, I went to the Spice and Herbal Ayurvedic Garden where I saw turmeric, king coconut, sandalwood, and heaps of other healing herbs. Kumara, the herbalist, taught me so much about local natural medicine. One of the herbs is used as a medicine but is so strong, it can be used by women to have an abortion. Also, here in Sri Lanka, women can eat a raw pineapple to have an abortion, as long as it is before the 3 month mark. Anyways, I enjoyed a cup of tea in the herbal garden and then purchased some pure sandalwood cream. It smelt so good, I'll use it as a natural perfume! After, Sunny and I hopped back in the tuk tuk and headed to the tea factory. On our way, we drove by the Mahaweli River, which is the longest river in Sri Lanka, and then we arrived at the factory.

This factory produces 275 million kilos of black tea per year. And Lipton Tea purchase leaves from here! I had a tour of the factory, seeing how the tea leaves are separated, watching the sifting process, and seeing all the different forms of how it looks when it's complete. Apparently, the smaller the tea leaf, the stronger the taste. And it is said that black tea is for energy and green tea is for your health. Black tea is associated with energy because of the caffeine, and it contains more caffeine because of the fermentation process. The factory also produces silver and golden tea; however, these two teas cannot be exported so they are only found in Sri Lanka.

Once the tour was finished, they sat me down to enjoy a cup of tea. Here, rather than using sugar, there are honey cubes that you first take a nibble of and then you sip the tea. I ended up purchasing Soursop tea, which is a local fruit here in Sri Lanka that I also had when I was in Bali last year. The tea leaf smelt amazing, I just couldn't resist! All the women here wear sarees, which is a beautiful skirt that wraps around the legs and then up to the arms. It is gorgeous! Anyways, I took a quick tour of the tea garden and then hopped back in the tuk tuk with Sunny and headed to the Bahirawakanda Vihara Buddha Statue. This statue is lit up at night and I saw it when I arrived yesterday evening. You can definitely walk up the hill but since I don't have a lot of time, I had Sunny drive me. I paid $250 Sri Lankan Rupee to enter and got an amazing view from of Kandy once I climbed to the top. Also, there is a temple below and people were in there praying. I love all the prayer and singing I am witnessing, it is beautiful. And so was the statue. It was definitely worth the visit.

I headed back to the hostel after, met up with Daniel and Hila, and the three of us had Sunny drive us to the bus station. Although I am headed to Sigiriya and the girls are going elsewhere, the initial bus was the same. And there were three empty seats right up front. I rode for 2 hours, happy I had a seat considering the entire bus was packed, and got off at Dambulla to catch the next bus to Sigiriya. I wasn't exactly sure which bus to take, but a local helped me and I had just enough time to purchase a samosa for the road. The ride to Sigiriya was a quick hour, but also the sweatiest hour of my life. This bus ride was even more packed (didn't think it was possible) and I didn't have a seat for the first few stops. But all good. I hopped off at Sigiriya and had no idea where to go. I followed some other people with backpacks but they were staying at a hotel. So I checked online and found Sigiri Peace Hostel, gave it a call, and Shalika answered. He was out and about so he swung by the bus stop to pick me up. Sweet!

Shalika and Marta were in the car. Marta is from Poland but is practically a local here in Sigiriya. We drove off the beaten path to arrive at the hostel, which is directly behind a beautiful temple and giant Buddha statue. The hostel actually used to be a monastery for monks, so neat! Although there is no aircon, there is a ceiling fan and a mosquito net over the bed because we are in the jungle. I have spent the last 5 days moving from the beach to the rainforest, a city and now a jungle. Wow, incredible! Upon arriving, Sanduru, the hostel worker, made me some tea and I sipped outside while chatting with Marta. Shalika went to get some dinner for us in the meantime. Dinner was delicious; consisted of rice, eggplant, veggies, green bean curry, and chili peppers.

Sigiriya is a village, and the hostel is in the heart of it. There is an old tradition in the village that whenever a girl gets her period for the first time, there is a party. So, I attended my first ever period party! And it was like a wedding! 150-200 people were there along with a full DJ stand. We found a table, took a seat, and right away they brought chickpeas, green bean curry, and a bottle of whiskey to the table. Amazing! We sipped while chatting all of Shalika's friends, and once we had enough Arrack (local whiskey), we hit the dance floor. Dancing to Sri Lankan techno music is something else, and it turns out that Sri Lanka is full of techno. Everywhere I've been it's all I've heard, and its a mix between beats and chants. 

I met the girl that we were celebrating, she was all dressed in a pretty pink dress. She is 15 years old and a legal midget and was so beautiful. So many locals came up to me telling me they loved my dancing and that was nice to hear. Also, 90% of people I've met think I'm from California, which is also a common guess in Mexico and the US. At least it's consistent! Eventually we made our way back to the hostel with Shalika's friend Asa. I wanted to hangout but saw my bed, laid down, and ended up passing right out and slept like a baby!