Written by A world on the cultivation of tea, cricket hours, bus / buses colorful, colonial heritage, fishermen seem to levitate, cultural traits with centuries of history, sacred mountains, elephant stalls inevitable, and an amazing city like Candy. Again, Aldana Chiodi brings us a story with their impressions travelers Sri Lanka .
I came across the word serendipity recently. I did not know what it meant. Looking discovered that comes from Serendib, the name by which the first Arab traders called the island of Sri Lanka. Apparently, when the British arrived in the early nineteenth century, coined the word serendipity, which means something like "lucky to find something interesting and valuable by chance, unexpectedly." That's what happened with Sri Lanka. I discovered a rather interesting coincidence.
1. The "kingdom of tea" (Ceylon tea)
.
I had always heard these two words together: "Ceylon tea", but I never associated that Ceylon tea is tea that is grown and harvested in Sri Lanka. Is that Ceylon (Ceylon) was the name that the British Empire gave the island since taking office in early nineteenth century.
Currently, Sri Lanka is one of the largest producers of tea and its cultivation is expanding throughout the island, but mainly concentrated in the mountainous area in the center of the country. The tea plantations are there to hand in the side of the road and permeate the landscape a wavy color and inviting to dive inside. And we did.
We got in the middle of tea plantations near the town of Nuwara Eliya. What are we? With women who work every day between 9 and 10 hours, regardless of the day is sunny or fall a shower, collecting 16 kilos of tea leaves per day. His skin is dark and rough, but his eyes are big and bright and always welcome you with a smile. Those who were not happy were the supervisors who began to question and could not get much information, except that for every 16 kilos women earn LKR 280 (280 Sri Lankan rupees), about 2.5 dollars a day. An example of how workers are exploited in the world.
2. English-flavored national sport (Cricket)
.
In each country we visit we try to witness sports, almost always a soccer game. When we were in Sri Lanka was developed by the World Championship cricket . We are very excited to go to a party because it was something different from what we were used, but as we said they could take more than 8 hours to fully gave up the idea. Instead, the people of Sri Lanka do not mind being 8, 10 or 12 hours watching a cricket match.
This game, which they inherited from the English, is very popular on the island and the team of Sri Lanka is among the best in the world. Just as in America we are accustomed to everything revolves around football, in many Asian countries including Sri Lanka and India, all about cricket. The advertisements for soft drinks and sportswear image used as the most famous cricketers of the island. It is very common to see children playing the sport in any corner of any item, do not need a stick and a professional baseball, all serve as a national sport to play it. Although some say that the national sport is volleyball.
3. Collective / colorful buses, trains and old tuc tuc
.
One of the best ways to learn more about life in a country is to travel on public transport. And in Sri Lanka is almost all you have to move from one place to another.
to link villages and towns almost always we used group (bus) and the train. The groups did not differ between short and long distance, but they all seem to buses. What struck us most is that most are very colorful, highly decorated are both in exterior and interior (with altars, images of gods, incense and flowers) and acquire unusual speed for such vehicles and roads. So it should be prepared for the odd scare ...
trains are another legacy of the British period, most are old and slow, but it is one of the best means to move between cities, especially in the mountainous area where beautiful landscapes invite to stay hours looking out the window.
For shorter distances between towns or inner cities used the inevitable tuc tuc Asia : three-wheeled motorized cart. In each country have a feature that differentiates them from others. In the case of Sri Lanka are of one color (green, yellow, blue or red and black canvas roof. Generally speaking, we can say that drivers are honest enough compared to other countries where they are used to get more silver to be the tourist.
4. Galle Dutch heritage
We had been told that we could not go south of the island because we would find much more than beautiful beaches. And so it was. Beyond the beaches were pleased and surprised with Galle , whose forte lies the colonial city that is best preserved.
The fort has high walls and narrow streets, that treasure house of the Dutch colonial period (from 1638 until the arrival of the British Empire). It is a pleasure walk through the streets and engage only watch quietly takes the lives of people there, so different from what happens outside the walls, where markets on the sidewalk, colorful groups, the tuc tuc passing " flying "next to the bystanders, Buddhist and Hindu temples, Christian churches and a large shopping center will not permeate the characteristic chaos.
5. Pescadores mosquitoes
If we move away from areas populated beaches in the south, we see the famous fishermen (Fishermen of Sri Lanka) right nearby the route. They say it's the only place in the world where fishermen ply their trade sitting or standing on poles stuck in the sand banks. They are there. They carry out their activity early in the morning and around sunset. If you want, you can come and watch them for hours. They will remain there.
Other fishermen decide to go offshore, very early in the morning, with its small colorful boats. They are the ones preparing the nets, bait and then sold put the fish in the sea. In any ship missing flowers and offerings to their gods to guide them and help them in their daily journeys. One of the most beautiful places to see this activity is to Galle and its surroundings.
6. The cultural triangle
For the origins of Ancient Sinhalese before the arrival of the Arabs, Portuguese, Dutch and British to the island, is a very good idea to drive the so-called cultural triangle in the central-north, which includes towns such as Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Dambulla and Sigiriya.
Walking through this area of the island we find archaeological sites in 400 BC, with sacred trees planted from an outbreak of the tree where Buddha was enlightened for the first time, with cave-temples with statues of Buddha, some kings Sri Lanka and gods of Hinduism, with palaces and many dagobas. The dagobas is the architectural symbol of Buddhism and there from simple white hemisphere Sri Lanka, Tibet and Nepal to the most elaborate of Thailand or pagodas of China and Japan. I discovered in Sri Lanka, because for me there were only the "pagodas." Apparently, the term dagoba Sinhalese became the pagoda, most commonly used today.
7. Chimes on Adam's Peak
Adam's Peak or Adam's Peak is one of the highest points of Sri Lanka and has the distinction of being one of the most important pilgrimage centers in the country. But what is striking is that these religious pilgrimages not only devotees attend a religion, but of four. The reason is that its summit is a curious depression called Sri Pada (Sacred Footprint) which is venerated by Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism and Catholicism.
For the Buddhism is the footprint of the Buddha himself made at the request of God Saman, one of the 4 main protective deities of Sri Lanka. For Muslims it is the first mark left Adam after the expulsion from Paradise. For Hindus, the footprint represents Shiva and finally, to Catholicism, at the hands of the Portuguese, is the trace of the apostle St. Thomas.
Almost all the faithful make the climb at night to reach the summit before dawn and power enjoy the sunrise from a height above the clouds. So we did the same. We set the alarm for 2 am and, with much effort, we got to follow the path to the top. The rise is hard and stressful, but the final reward is worth it. When you reach the top, tradition says you have to ring the bell the number of times it has risen. While we rang us only once, had a lady who did it 50 times ...
8. Elephants
The kings of Anuradhapura elephants used to beat down the foundations religious monuments of the kings of Kandy were using them to trample the prisoners until his death, the Dutch used to transport heavy artillery and the British, for the clearing of land for tea plantations.
Today, elephants are carrying heavy objects to the places that can not get the machines. They also have a central and important role in many religious festivals are celebrated on the island. So Sri Lanka is one of countries with the largest number of nature reserves with elephants and has one of the most famous elephant orphanages in the world. Everyone who is loving and wants to see these animals in their natural habitat in Sri Lanka can do.
9. hawkers and street stalls
Asia would not be what Asia is not the number of hawkers and street food, clothing, tickets lottery, games, drinks, etc. that filled the streets, avenues and markets. And Sri Lanka does not escape this feature. While they are in smaller numbers than in other Asian countries such as Southeast Asia, their presence is visible.
The world is overpopulated people who spend their whole day trying to sell a product, whether it's something that they prepared, that they harvested or purchased elsewhere. Sometimes when we see so many vendors selling all together and we wonder if the same thing can really live on what little they sell daily ...
10. Kandy, the capital of the mountains
Kandy is the capital of the mountainous area. Surrounded by green hills, with houses on the slopes and an artificial lake in the center built in 1807 , is one of the most important cities in Sri Lanka. One of the reasons it is considered the Mecca of Buddhism on the island, since there is the most important temple in the country: "Temple of the Tooth" whose one Buddha's teeth.
According to legend, when Buddha was cremated in 543 BC in northern India, several of its parts were salvaged from the fire, including a tooth. In the fourteenth century, when Buddhism gave way to Hinduism in India , the tooth was taken in the hair of a princess of Orissa (India) to Sri Lanka . First stayed in Anuradhapura and in other cities north, then was captured by several kings, until the tooth came to Kandy in 1592.
Despite this important Buddhist architecture mixed with colonial buildings and Catholic churches. The downtown area has a busy commercial life and invite you to walk around the hillsides, to get lost in the tea plantations and seek viewpoints into the artificial lake.
