Ceylon tea or Sri Lankan mix
There are places on Earth where everything is somehow concentrated...
Once upon a time, Adam did not know grief.
But Eve seduced the guy, and he was punished...
God sent him down to Earth and left him there. . .
It was already a long time ago... People scientists say that that way 60-90 thousand years ago.
Adam ended up on Earth not at all where his temptress was sent. He landed on the island of Ceylon. Namely, on Adam's mountain, where his trace left there is preserved to this day.
Different peoples and religions attribute this trace to different people.
Hindus believe that the footprint was left by Shiva during the creation of the world, Buddhists believe that this is the footprint of Buddha during his last visit, Muslims claim that the footprint was left by Adam, who stood here on one leg for 1000 years, punished by God, Christians think that this is the footprint of St. . Thomas, who preached in these places.
In short, this relic is a place of pilgrimage for all the major religions of the world and pilgrims feel peaceful, calm and sublime here, regardless of what religion they belong to.
So we decided to see how that land looks like, where people professing such different philosophies of life coexist so peacefully.
We sat down, pondered, figured out the route, identified the main points of interest and... pulled!
Services for the flight from Kyiv were provided to us by Arab Airlines, for which we thank them!
In Sri Lanka, we had at our disposal a minibus with a Russian-speaking guide, a driver, and, well, dreams ourselves in the amount of 6 people.
We flew to Colombo and drove according to a pre-approved plan.
The first point of interest, due to its proximity to Colombo, was the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage. I didn't really want to go there at first. In general, this nursery was created to protect elephants and many animals from all over the island come there. These are injured elephants, and young elephants abandoned by their parents. Looking at “sick” but noble animals somehow did not stick me. But friends wanted and we went! Thanks to them for what they wanted and we went!
Here I realized what the power of elephants is, especially when there are a lot of them! I understood, or rather, felt what the conquerors felt, on which the army was moving, led by war elephants, and they had neither grenade launchers, nor even Molotov cocktails!
And the elephants themselves looked well-groomed and quite healthy. There were many young elephants who constantly strove to misbehave, despite the vigilant supervision of their mothers.
In a word, if you are there - be sure to go, you should like it.
The nursery exists at the expense of the state budget and donations from tourists.
Having made our contribution to the protection of Sri Lankan elephants, we moved on.
Anuradhapura was waiting for us.
What can I say... You can read a lot in various sources on the Internet, so I will only say - impressive!
The stupa itself during the Roman Empire was the 3rd largest monument built by mankind, after the pyramids of Cheops and Kafren in Giza. In addition, the Jetavana stupa is the tallest brick building in the world (120 m).
In general, stupas in Sri Lanka are quite common. They are built on places where some physical particles of the remains of the Buddha, Buddhist saints are contained, or in places where important religious events took place.
Judging by the number of stupas, the Buddha left many facts of his presence on the island. Apparently this creates a certain peace and tranquility when traveling in Sri Lanka.
In Anuradhapura you can see not only man-made shrines of Buddhism.
Here grows the famous Bodhi tree, or Bo tree (translated as "Tree of Wisdom"). The history of the tree goes back to ancient times.
It was grown from a wild fig shoot taken from the Budha Goya tree (Nepal), under which the Buddha gained enlightenment. In the III century. BC. the daughter of the Indian emperor Asoka, the nun Teri Sangkhamitta, brought the seedling to the island and planted it in the royal park of Anuradhapura. The parent Budha Goya tree in Nepal has disappeared and today the Bo tree is considered the oldest documented tree on earth. Its age exceeds the 23rd century. But old age is not joy! Under the branches of this tree are protective props, which themselves can represent works of art and historical relics.
Well, let's move on. Our next destination is Nilaveli.
Nilaveli is located in the northeast of the island. We were interested in the place, first of all, because this region was in the war zone for more than 30 years. There was a protracted internal conflict between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the government. Only in 2009 the war was ended by the complete victory of the state. In connection with all these troubles, the region was rarely visited by tourists and, accordingly, was not very "trampled" by them.
The entire road along which we traveled to Nilaveli was controlled by checkpoints, which were closed firing points built from sandbags, from the embrasures of which machine guns protruded. But the military men at the post smiled openly at us and did not interfere with our journey in any way. There was little traffic on the road. People still don't visit these places very often. But slowly the abandoned villages are settling in. The population is mostly Muslim. This causes some concern among Buddhists. The anxiety is related to the fact that if Buddhists have 2, maximum 3 children in families, then Muslims have 8-12. This may lead to the fact that the entire region will soon become Muslim and despite the fact that many religions coexist in Sri Lanka, filling the entire region with Muslims is not welcomed by Buddhists.
In Nilaveli, we had to rest a little on the ocean shore, and our plans also included visiting the Pigeon coral island.
Due to the successful passage through the territory of hostilities, we decided to go to a cafe on the ocean and celebrate this event. We immediately noticed an ad near the bar and although we didn’t order the recommended cocktail, we ordered the dish of the day. And to him local beer. It should be noted that the beer is even nothing!
As soon as we settled in the hotel, a flock of langurs immediately came to meet us.
Langurs are cute herbivorous monkeys that in India and Sri Lanka often live on the territory of monasteries, temples, and generally near people. Upon closer acquaintance, it turned out that they are all very different, just like people. Remembering and recognizing a particular monkey is no more difficult than a person (I don’t mean the Mongoloids, which I personally hardly distinguish from each other, but this is probably my peculiarity). Mothers with their children very persistently demanded from us another banana or a piece of biscuit. Dads, at the same time, did not differ in particular gallantry and successfully took away from nursing mothers what they got.
The next day we sailed for Pidgeon. The island is really very beautiful. White coral sand, transparent lagoon. In a word - a complete thrill! And no people! We rested, swam, walked up and returned to the mainland, well, that is. also on the island, but big.
Another day we enjoyed the ocean with a beautiful beach and the next morning we moved on.
Let's go to Kandy. But first we had to visit Trincomalee, and more specifically, the ancient temple of Koneshwaram (3rd century BC) was of interest. Today it is a small temple, but of great importance for Hinduism. The temple is dedicated to the main Hindu god - Shiva. The temple had the greatest importance and flourishing of its popularity from the 6th to the 8th century AD. During this period, the temple was declared the main place of worship for Shiva and was visited by Hindus all over the world. But in the 16th century the temple was destroyed and rebuilt only in 1952. The temple is located on a high rock (120 m) above a beautiful bay. A wonderful view opens from here, and the temple itself, at one time, served as a beacon for sailors.
Next up was Sigiriya.
Sigiriya is a solitary rock, 370 m high with a flat top. In the 5th century AD this place was chosen by Kasala, the son of King Datusena, as the site of his own residence. It's really hard to get there even nowadays. We tried, but we never made it to the top. It was hot!
There are niches in the sheer walls of Sigiriya. There were guards in these niches. It was an easy way to keep the guards awake on duty. The niches were of such a size that the guard could only stand. If he suddenly fell asleep, an unenviable fate awaited him - he simply fell down and broke.
Unfortunately, all these precautions still did not make it possible to rule Casale comfortably. Deceived by his invulnerability (and he ruled for 18 years), he challenged his brother, Mogallan, to a battle on the plain and lost it.
But it was a long time ago. Today Sigiriya is an object of pilgrimage for tourists. The strongest of them reach the very heights, those that are weaker admire from below. But the power of the mountain is impressive! One can only imagine what an impregnable citadel this territory was in its heyday!
Having absorbed all the power of Sigiriya, we went to Dambula.
On the way to Dambula, a Hindu temple caught our attention.
A very unusual building for our mentality. But definitely beautiful! The temple is not ancient, but, nevertheless, impressive. We walked around, looked, admired and drove on.
On the way, we stop at another interesting place for a European resident - a spice garden in Matale.
It turned out to be amazing. A well-groomed garden and famous plants in a previously unknown quality! In a sense, not packaged in bags and bottles of spices, but simply growing in the middle of a cultivated forest. We saw a lot of different things! For example, it was interesting and surprising for me to find out that black, white and green peppercorns are the same plant, but of different degrees of maturity. Cinnamon is usually used here not ground to powder, but directly in pieces of bark, which are put in salads or cooked rice. Well, at the end of the tour, we were offered to buy various oils, creams, extracts and tinctures, which can be useful in a variety of cases and will help almost all diseases. Your task is to invent a disease for yourself, and they will immediately pick up a medicine for you. Well, the prices for your health are asked, of course, not the same as for sweets. In general, Ayurveda is very common in Sri Lanka. Ayurveda is a medical philosophy that, without rejecting traditional medicine, is aimed at healing a person by achieving harmony and considers each person as part of the Universe and being in a mystical relationship with it.
Dambula is located just south of Sigiriya on a mountain 350 m above sea level. and there is a Buddhist cave temple dating back to the 1st century BC. Of greatest interest is the largest collection of Buddha statues collected in the temple. During the reign of Nissankamalla (XII century AD), the temple was restored, and 73 Buddha statues were covered with gold. Since that time, the temple began to be called the "Golden Cave Temple". Today the temple is under the protection of UNESCO.
Somewhat tired, in the evening we reach the next point of our journey - Kandy.
Kandy is a very picturesque town, ranked 2nd in Sri Lanka in terms of economic development after Colombo. Located in a mountain range at an altitude of about 490 m above sea level. Surrounded by the Mahaweli Ganga river.
Kandy attracts pilgrims and tourists primarily with the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic. The relic itself appeared on the island in 311 and served as a symbol of sovereignty.
You can see the relic only once a year, during a festive and colorful procession - Esala Perehera. It takes place on the full moon in August and attracts many pilgrims.
Kandy is also known for its handicrafts. Leaving the city, we visited one of the factories for the manufacture of wooden souvenirs. It was interesting to observe the process of preparation of natural paints used for coating and coloring products produced by the factory's masters.
Sri Lanka is famous for precious and semi-precious stones. The main mining of stones is concentrated in the Ratnapura region. A visit to this place was not included in our plans, but we did not manage to drive past the jewelry factory in the suburbs of Kandy. And not in vain. Firstly, there is a kind of museum at the factory, where the whole process of extracting precious stones is shown very clearly and interestingly, and you will also be shown how these stones are cut in the factory. Well, you can see enough of the stones that are quite rare in our country, for example, such as spinel, tourmaline, star sapphire and many others. And, of course, it is impossible to resist buying something.
Another point of interest in our action plan was the Royal Botanic Gardens.
The garden was created in 1821 and is considered one of the best in Asia.
It is probably one of the best, in any case, there are a huge number of exotic plants, trees and flowers! The garden is also famous for the fact that there are trees planted by famous people. For example, Nicholas II in 1821 planted a Ceylon iron tree in the garden - a symbol of Sri Lanka. There is a tree planted by Yuri Gagarin.
And finally, our goal is the famous Ceylon tea.
We are on our way to Nuwara Eliya.
A beautiful road to the center of the island, passing through green mountain ranges, completely planted with tea.
In general, tea plantations decorate the landscape very much. They are deep green and very pretty.
Admiring the surrounding landscapes, we drove to the tea factory.
In general, the Sri Lankans apparently should be grateful to the British for their "occupation".
What I mean is that a visit to the factory clearly demonstrated that the equipment was supplied by the British, and if not for them, then perhaps no one in the world would have known anything about Ceylon tea.
Of the curious things - it turned out, for example, that the knives in the machines that cut tea are wooden.
That tea is packaged in bags, which, according to the classification adopted here, is called “tea dust” and it costs the cheapest.
Tea was brought to Sri Lanka from China in 1824, and in 1839 from Assam (India). Different types of tea are grown at different heights - up to 600 m, from 600 to 1200 m and above 1200 m.
The British not only developed tea production in Sri Lanka, but are now the main consumers of this product.
Near the factory there is a small cafe where you can taste not only a variety of teas, but also buy yourself as souvenirs. But the Sri Lankans say that the best varieties of tea are exported, and what remains in the country is what foreign countries do not buy. Socialism, in a word. In general, we bought a lot of tea home in Sri Lanka, while it was in very beautiful, painted wooden boxes, but at home it turned out that the tea itself was not that bad, but there was nothing outstanding in it. Therefore, if you want to buy tea in Sri Lanka, I recommend doing it in the duty free at the airport.
The temple has brightly colored figures of Rama, Sita, Hanuman and other deities.
Yala reserve.
The road to the reserve is very picturesque and abounds in beautiful waterfalls with the purest water, in which the local population loves to swim.
In the reserve, we were immediately warned that the import of food into the territory of the reserve, and especially fruits, in particular bananas and mangoes, is strictly prohibited. This is due to the fact that wild elephants, freely walking around the reserve, love this business very much and smell it very well. Even if you leave the fruit in the car, it is still possible that the elephant perceives the car simply as a wrapper for a delicious treat. Well, then you understand...
The next morning I decided to go up to the observation deck to watch the sunrise. Unfortunately, the dawn that day turned out to be somehow indistinctly faded, but langurs came to watch it, which were located in a huge flock on the roof of the reserve restaurant.
Returning to my room, I sat quietly at the entrance and began to observe life around.
The lizard has arrived. Paying no attention to me, he, nevertheless, felt something was wrong and completely squirrelly stood on his hind legs in order to look around. Then came the giant palm squirrel. I decided to check if I had something tasty.
The safari itself in the reserve is a fascinating thing.
Suddenly, a huge male elephant came out of the thicket directly to our car, and while we were digesting our emotions, he proudly walked his way, not paying the slightest attention to us.
It was unexpected to observe completely wild peacocks. Their luxurious tails did not fit in with the wild. There was a sense of inconsistency.
In the setting sun, on a huge boulder, 6-8 meters high, lay a beautiful leopard and peacefully licked himself.
The next day we moved along the coast of the ocean and Dikwella was waiting for us.
It was planned to rest here for a few days before the next stage of our journey.
- OOO!! ! Dikwella... - we will often pronounce such a phrase later, blissfully rolling our eyes.
Very beautiful beach. I even tried to take staged shots by dragging seashells. Well, if not a "bounty", then a wonderful Robinson Crusoe!
Every evening it was possible to watch how local fishermen on their narrow boats go out to sea and, struggling with the rolling waves, catch fish. An exciting spectacle! The beauty of a tropical sunset, the power of the ocean waves, the excitement of the fishermen - all this created such a positively charged atmosphere that I just wanted to fly into the wind! The only pity is that the sunsets in the tropics are short - 15-20 minutes and everything is gone. But in these 15-20 minutes, life is definitely extended by 5-10 years! I'm sure of it!
Charged with huge positive potential in Dikwella, we headed further along the coast.
Our next stop was the turtle farm in Kosgod.
The farm is just that. The fact is that out of 7 species of sea turtles living in the world, 5 species "nest" on the southern coast of Sri Lanka. The task of the farm is completely environmental protection. There is a collection of eggs of wild turtles. After that, they are delivered to the farm. And when the little turtles get stronger (3 days after birth), they are released into the ocean. The founder of the center is Chandrasiri Abru. The center exists at the expense of donations from tourists and the sale of souvenirs. In addition to the reproduction of turtles in the center, you can also see "tortilos" that have suffered from human activity and can no longer live in nature. The center took care of these animals. It is interesting to look at the albino sea turtle. She lives on a farm, but she is not allowed into the ocean, assuming that with such makeup she will not live there for long.
It was time for a bite to eat and we stopped at one of the restaurants on the Bentota River.
I would not dwell on this in detail, but here, too, we were in for a culinary surprise. We were offered freshwater shrimp, which are caught right here. Struck by the length of the claws of these arthropods! I saw different seafood, but with such claws - for the first time!
In short, we had a bite, wondered at the claws, looked at the river landscape and moved on.
Then we go to Galle Fort. But on the way, we can’t help but stop in the Welligama area and watch the fishermen on the poles. They have already been photographed millions of times by everyone who is not lazy, so we decided to check in. It's interesting to watch. But they catch fish mainly “for domestic consumption” (C).
Fish for sale are caught a little further along the coast. At the same time, they use traditional nets and immediately sell fresh catch to everyone.
So we got to the Galle fort. A lizard greeted us right on the fortress wall. The locals called her a chameleon, because. She changed color before her eyes. But it was clearly not a chameleon, most likely some kind of agama that mowed down like a chameleon.
Then admiring the scenery along the road, we finally arrive in Kalutara.
Here we have the final resting point before leaving for home.
The ocean coast, although not as romantic as in Dickwell, is nevertheless very good for swimming. For those who don't like waves, it's even better.
You can wander around the hotel like a nature reserve. Then a monitor lizard will come up (by the way, there are 2 types of them) and will take an interest in your affairs. Then a lane (an analogue of our starling) will fly up and start begging for a cookie. One of the trees was chosen by flying foxes. There are small lizards. Tropical butterflies fly. And by the pool you will be offered a yellow coconut, beautifully decorated with lime.
Palm squirrels (similar to chipmunks) teem in all cafes. But crabs, with periscope eyes, run only after dark along the coast. We quickly found out, and every evening we went hunting. Every evening we had boiled crabs with beer (the Soviet habit of carrying a boiler with us helped). A toad came to look at us, and if this is not a local frog princess, then surely her mother.
The tree frogs there are different from ours - ours are green, and the Sri Lankan ones are reddish-brown.
Separately, a few words about fruits. In general, tropical countries abound in various fruits. But when traveling around Sri Lanka, one must take into account the fact that the elevation difference between the coast and the mountains is about 2000 m. As a result, different fruits prevail in different regions. In some places, mangosteen is common, in others it is not at all. There are entire regions specializing in delicious cashew nuts, while in others this goodness is only packaged. So eat fruit wherever you find it and wherever you feel like it.
A few words about the Sri Lankans. The people are very friendly, kind and not intrusive.
We watched several wedding ceremonies. Very nice! The newlyweds are dressed in national costumes and all this looks very solemn and elegant.
While buying fruit at one of the markets, I saw a little girl. She was just playing in her yard. They treated her to sweets, but she did not eat them, but began to play with them. The girl looked very colorful, cheerful and obviously not embarrassed by the attention of white uncles and aunts.
This is what Sri Lanka is like. Different, ancient, beautiful, rich - wonderful!
