Day 6: Anuradhapura

Day 6: After our final breakfast at the camp (in which a spider dropped from a tree and landed on me!), we were collected by Siri our tuk tuk driver and guide for the day. A quick 1 hour transfer to our farm stay where we dropped off the bags, we headed straight off to start our tour of the city (the ancient capital of Sri Lanka and a UNESCO world heritage site).

First stop was Sarananda Piriwene (the biggest buddha in Anuradhapura) at which the heavens opened and we were well and truly rained upon! We learned about the different types of stupa and were taught about the eight Hindu gods. We were also told the story of the birth of the last Buddha and had the different Buddha hand symbols explained to us. Sheltering from the rain, Siri gave us a rendition of a prayer song to keep us entertained. After a quick cup of tea of which you drank whilst biting on a brown sugar cube (may or may not have been what it was) we prayed for our guts to not reject this delicacy after seeing how it was prepared at the side of the road 😅

Next we visited the Sadahiru Seya Stupa, built as a war memorial following the civil war that finished in 2009. We were told about the history behind this and witnessed some monks in action! Then onto the rock temple which was the first monastery in Sri Lanka and was where the king at the time first learnt of Buddhism. This was also where Siri embarked on a photo shoot of Sam and I amongst the giant boulders and treated us to a second prayer song where the monks would sit and meditate.

With some rumbling tummy’s it was time for lunch, so Siri took us to his friends buffet where we ate the spiciest lunch of our life!! 🥵 We then popped into the Sunday market which was a whole experience of chaos in itself watching the locals barter. The mound of dried fish everywhere did not leave me best pleased with the smell 🥴

Next up we visited the Royal Gardens and Isurumuniya Temple where we learnt a lot about the royal family who ruled at the time and got to see a tree which was grown from a branch of the branch of the Bodhi tree (the tree under which the last Buddha gained enlightenment). Finally we went to the final monastery in which there was an event on celebrating the police service who were being blessed by monks. Here we saw another tree which was grown from a branch of the Bodhi tree and we were given a blessing by a monk. Finally we visited the most impressive stupa of them all - Ruwanweli Maha Seya. We were there in time for prayer which was hustling with locals and not a single tourist in sight! A very cool experience to be immersed within.

To wish us farewell Siri stopped at a very poorly designed Ganesh on the side of the road in a concrete hut 😂 Here he sang us our last prayer which we had to join in with…’ommmmmm Ganesh something something something, ommmmmm Ganesh…’ - we had no idea of the words but were very entertained by the environment being lit up by a disco ball, multiple burning incense sticks and ringing bells to add to our out of tune rendition 😂

After a big day out, we were dropped back at the farm where we were served a Sri Lankan dinner (String hoppers and curry with coconut samba). After Sam chucking the questionable chicken to the cats, another family found a frog in their soup of which we found hilarious and summed up the whole place!Read more