Jul 22, 2012 - Sri Lanka - Day 5 - Ancient Ruins by bicycle

Today we cycled through the ancient ruins of Anuradhapura. Anuradhapura first became a capital in 380 BC, its kingdom lasting for one thousand and five hundred years, under Pandukabhaya, but was under Devanampiya Tissa (r 247 - 240 BC), during whose reign , Buddhism reached Sri Lanka, that it first rose to great importance. Anuradhapura became a great and glittering city, only to fall to a South Indian invasion - a fate that was to befall it repeatedly for more than a 1000 years. Before long the Sinhalese hero Dutugemunu led an army from a...

Jul 20, 2012 - Sri Lanka - Day 3 - Anuradhapura

Today we decided take the train up to Anuradhapura, skip the bus and go for the scenic route. We boarded in third class, but we bought tickets for second class (we didn’t realize this until we were already off the train) at 9:45am. Our journey took over 4 hours, its not that many miles in between but the amount of stops were tremendous and the speed of the train itself accounts for a lot of the hours. We met a lovely man on the train, who moved seats to sit with us and chat. He shared some of his newly bought Rambutans with us (they are...

Jan 19, 2010 - Anuradhapura

@@@@@@@ Before I proceed to tell you about our visit to Anuradhapura; I will give you a little history lesson about the city and Sri Lanka in general. The earliest people to settle on the island were thought to have arrived around 16,000 BC. They were primarily hunter-gathers, there is thought to be about 2,000 of these people, known as the Veddahs, still living in the forests. Each new wave of immigration left them less and less land to live on. The forebears of the majority Sinhalese arrived from northern India in the 4th century BC. A...

Nov 23, 2009 - Anuradhapura

Decided to head up north by train and bus to the ancient capital and world heritage site of Anuradhapura. The train was slow, stopping at every small town, but the scenery was great (you see so much more of village life from the train as you're able to peek into people's gardens, homes and lives much less invasively - a bit voyeuristic, but highly interesting). After 3+ hours, arrived in Putalam and managed to find the bus stop and a local bus heading to Anuradhapura. Because it was Sunday and people were out visiting family, going to the...

Dec 19, 2008 - Anuradhapura

12-20 Debated renting bikes but because we are on such a tight schedule we want to see as much as possible...opt for the taxi to see the sights. 1) Isurumuni Raja Maha Viharaga, 247-207 BC. 15 m. long reclining Buddha, many tanks(ponds), prayer flags 2) Mirisavatiya/wetya Dagoba - huge 3) Sri, Catussala(almshall) 3rd cent BC, huge trees, lots of minkeys & feral dogs Brazen Palace - 3rd BC, 5000 monks 4) Thuparama Dagoba - w/ right collar bone of Buddha, oldest temple/stuppa in world, 46 pillars still stand which support roof. 5) Lank...

Aug 16, 2008 - Number 5!

Not such a long gap this time. There isn't quite as much to tell you all this time as we've had a slightly more laxy time and have actually stayed in one place for a while. We're getting to know Kandy pretty well now. SO Tuesday: Organising day today. Wrote the last blog in one of the internet cafes and then headed to one of the numerous bakeries here for some scrummies temptations! Andy was very happy - he definitely enjoys the doughnuts and cream buns! Popped into the Olde Empire Hotel to check our reservations for the weekend, met the...

Mar 15, 2008 - Sacred City of Anuradhapura

I managed to manoeuvre my one-geared Indian-made bike over the first hill I came across with ease but, to be honest; it was no more than a large bump in the road. I was just curious to see if it would be easy enough to see me through the rest of the day as the owner of the guest house had informed me that it would take around 5 hours to cycle around the ‘sacred city’ of Anuradhapura. The 'sacred city' of Anuradhapura, from where Sinhalese kings and occasional Indian conquerors had ruled the island for over 1000 years from the 2nd century BC...

Feb 14, 2008 - Anuradhapura

And now to Anuradhapura, one of Sri Lanka's former capitals around 380 BC. Anuradhapura is known for the ruins of its old city which are in good condition all things considered, and quite spread out. I'm immediately struck by how few people there are: there's virtually no-one here! It seems the bad press relating to the Tamil Tigers and their recent bombing spree has kept the tourists away, which means near-deserted sights and empty guesthouses. I hired a bicycle and spent a day in the heat hopping from one ruin to another. Anuradhapura...

Feb 25, 2006 - Anaradhapura & Mihintale

After a 7 hour train journey from Colombo, I arrived in Anaradhapura, former capital of Sri Lanka. The city was frequently attacked and sacked by Indian invaders and eventually abandoned in 1073, having been badly damaged in a Chola invasion in 993. At that time the conquerors set up a new capital at Polonnaruwa. The British 'rediscovered' the ruins of Anaradhapura in the early c19th. UNESCO have been working on a restoration project since 1980. The work is seen by Sinhalese Buddhists as 'a powerful symbol of national identity' according to...

Oct 4, 2004 - Dagoba's galore

We had a very interesting day today. This morning we left early to get a good sense of Anuradhapura, we visited several Dagoba's including one where we witnessed some sort of Buddhist ceremony whereby a large group of people wrapped the entire Dagoba in a band of orange linen; Sarita and I got some fabulous photos. We also saw two Dagoba's which were pretty run-down, or more accurately, showing their true age; one effectively covered in vegetation; like a bizarre green hill. We also walked through what was once a great temple complex and...