Day 81 Polonnaruwa and Rum

Thursday 22 march

All 6 of us met up for breakfast, plates of fruit,different breads, hoppers,eggs, jam, butter, tea or coffee or water.

We said goodbye to the couple who were leaving and got ready to go to Polonnurawa. This was the capital for the kings of Sri Lanka back around 11th to the 13th centuries and has the remains of palaces, temples and gardens to see. Thanks to Ritika we knew we needed to pack socks to wear when we had to take our shoes off mostly because the ground gets so hot. Our host checked we had got clothes that covered our knees and shoulders and we piled into the car. The driver stopped on the way for us to see a buddha statue and the river. We passed a woman washing clothes in the river too.

First proper stop was to get tickets and look around the museum. No photos allowed here but it gave you a good idea of what the site had looked like and the functions of different parts.
Our driver was waiting outside. The site stretches over a huge area, over 4km from the museum to the top end so we were grateful he was there. He dropped us off at each point, told us where to go to see things and where he would be to pick us up.

Only three stories remain of the 7 that were built

A man gave me some seeds to feed chipmunks

Kings bathing pool

Moonstone, used at entrances to buildings carved with animal figures

The day got hotter and hotter going over 40 degrees so diving into the air conditioned interior was a relief. We seemed to be playing tag with a large party of school children on a trip with their teachers, they smiled at us and we smiled back and occasionally  a bolder child would say hello and then giggle when we replied.
And of course nowhere in Sri Lanka seems to escape the presence of monkeys, we were warned they would grab things from us if they thought we had food and to keep our bags closed. Big " do not feed the monkeys " signs were everywhere.
After a few hours we had a drink of coconut water from a stall outside a large sacred area. Here we watched monkeys play. One was sitting on a wire and another shook it to make it fall off.

Yellow coconuts here

Monkeys everywhere

Guardian figure

No photos with back to Buddha

A few hours more and we were all relieved to hear the driver say only one more place to see. Everywhere had been interesting and we had enjoyed it but it would be better with some sort of restaurant or cafe where we could have had a break with something to eat about half way through.

There was no way into here and we walked all the way around shoeless before realising this

Hindu temple

Lotus pond

I was wondering what we would do about food when our driver stopped and told us we could eat. It was a large restaurant that was empty. A line of covered dishes ran along two walls and the smiling ladies told us it was a buffet and to help ourselves. No mention of cost of course! They began to lift off the lids and explain the dishes, they even had some of the vegetables there they could show me when I didn't  know what they were talking about. Only one dish contained meat which suited Rakita and I down to the ground. There were so many different vegetable dishes! I have discovered I really like Jack fruit in the way it has been cooked here, something I hadn't  even heard of before. Drinks were in a fridge and were deliciously cold ( many drinks and particularly water are served at room temperature ). We all tucked in with gusto; not surprisingly as it was gone 3o' clock!

We set off again and as we drove we started to see banana leaves laid out on the ground. The driver said an important monk was visiting from Thailand and this was the route he was walking along. People had laid down the leaves for him to walk on because the ground was hot and he was bare foot. A little further on and we passed the monks and further on we could see people laying out the leaves and waiting to watch him pass.

There was one more surprise stop. Earlier in the day Ritika had asked our driver where she could buy cinnamon from so he stopped at a spice garden. We were given a free tour of the gardens where the guide showed us the plants and told us what each one cured. This was often a long list and Jono and I are very sceptical about some of these. We looked up some of the claims we remembered later and found they were old wives tales but we couldn't  remember them all and we know some ( like aloe vera) are effective -its hard to weed those out in the middle of a garden tour. I loved seeing some of the plants growing that give the spices we use at home: pepper, vanilla, cardamon, cinnamon to name a few. We were given a complimentary tea to drink infused with spices, I don't tend to like hot drinks so Jono had mine and then we were shown into a small shop area. It was interesting smelling some of the spices too. They are subtly different from the ones in the uk, the cinnamon was lighter and sweet for instance. I loved the smell of the vanilla extract they had so I picked up a bottle of that and then it was back in the car for the journey back to Mutu Village. We all tried some of Ritikas cinnamon pieces in the car on the way back. Its nice to chew, not something I would do with a cinnamon stick in the UK!

Back at base we said goodbye to our driver and sat in the dining hut drinking ginger tea and talking before going for much needed showers before dinner.
Ritika and Abishek brought along a bottle of Indian rum with them which was really smooth and we had a great evening laughing and talking. It was their last evening at Mutu Village and they had  4:30 am start the next day. Ours was a little later, we didn't  need to leave until 6:30 but it was with regret we turned in. They were a realy nice couple to meet and we hope we can see them again sometime.

Tiger rum from India ( thanks Ritika and Abashek!)