Colombo, Sri Lanka Mar 25th

Today we visited 2 places.
The first was a 1,700 year old Buddhist temple at Kithsiri. It is multiple levels on top of a rock cliff in Pokunuvita. The temple had many steps up and inside there was a reclining Buddha made entirely of a huge piece of granite. We were given their national flower, the Blue Orchid, to place at the shrine. There was a local couple visiting the temple to pray, make offerings and light the oil laps to honor Buddha.
Then we enjoyed a tuk-tuk ride through the village, rice paddies and a rubber plantation. The tuk-tuks are small two stroke engine vehicles with a driver and a back seat for 2. They are the local taxis. The rice paddies had already been harvested and were being prepared for the next harvest. Cattle were grazing in the fields eating the parts of the rice crop that was still in the ground.
Then we arrived at the Organic Argo Farm. It is family owned and the owner took us on a tour through the farm showing us the tea plants that they were harvesting. Ceylon tea is a Sri Lanka specialty and only grows here. And is very expensive. He showed us red banana trees, banana trees, sugar cane, red and green chilis, dragon fruit, pepper (he explained how the same pepper becomes red, white and black peppercorns), They showed us the rubber trees and how they cut them and the sap drains out. Or tuk-tuk driver stopped and pulled one right off the tree. It was just like a rubber band, just that it came right off the tree. They then demonstrated how they take the rubber, combine it with water and one chemical, then press it multiple times to make a sheet. This is then dried and sold as raw rubber. They said one rubber tree can be cut twice a day for 6 months on one side then they move to the other side. Each tree can be used for 6 years then it is fully drained and a new tree is planted. They demonstrated how a coconut is peeled and the white meat is shaved out. One of their very expensive products only produced in Sri Lanka is Ceylon Cinnamon. They still harvest the cinnamon tree stalks, shave the outer bark off by hand and then peel the second layer off that contains the cinnamon. This had to be all done by hand.
We had a great local lunch at the plantation with food that was all made fresh there. They served us fresh fruit from their plantation and demonstrated how two of the rice deserts are made.
Then a bus ride back to the ship to leave Sri Lanka...Okumaya devam et