A Fishing Village and the Bullah Cave Temple

Uncle Bernard explaining the process.

 Much smaller than Africa, but still dung beetles!

 Bringing in a basket of fish after rinsing them in the ocean.

Gutting the fish.

 Drying them in the sun.

 The finished dried fish awaiting shipment.

 The Bullah Cave Temples.

One of the reclining Buddhas...

 ... and his feet.

 Inside cave number two.

 Cave three.

 Paintings on one of the ceilings.

 The surrounding countryside.

 A young toque macaque.

 Togetherness.

The Golden Temple Buddhist Museum and the 15 metre Buddha.

Monday, February 5^th.

We were up, packed off my 8:30, quite civilized after Ethiopia. Our first stop was the local fishing village/market. Sam had hired a local guide, named Uncle Bernard, who gave us a tour. We saw where the lay the fish out to dry in the sun and he explained the process. Most Sri Lankans like to eat fresh fish but the villagers inland cannot. So, the fishermen process them for them. The fish are caught, gutted, and put in large barrels with a layer of salt, then fish, then another layer of salt and so on to the top. They sit there for eight days and then are laid out in the sun to dry. Two days on one side and two on the other. Bernard explained that the birds and animals don’t eat them because they are too salty. Eventually they are packed up and shipped inland where the locals soak them in water twice to get rid of the salt before cooking them. Yum, yum. We wandered around taking photos for well over an hour and marvelling at the lifestyle that probably hasn’t changed much over the years. We saw several very large yellow fin-tuna and lots of mackerel. There were crows everywhere as they ate the discarded guts of the fish.

Then we boarded the bus and drove a long north for a couple of hours. The road passed through a number of villages and towns without any real countryside in between. We stopped by a lake for lunch and then continued for another hour. When we arrived at Dambulla Cave Temple, we climbed about two hundred steps to the top, where we had to leave our shoes and put on long pants before entering the caves. There are five caves that date back to the 1^st Century. This is a very holy site for Buddhists. A couple of Sri Lankan kings have sought refuge here from invaders from Indian and one of the Sri Lankan queens has all her jewels buried here in a stupa, which is a large bell-shaped carving. The whole complex is carved out of rock. Each cave is large and contains multiple statues of Buddha in different poses. There are three large reclining Buddhas and numerous sitting and standing statues. There are paintings on the ceilings of all the caves. We stayed there for a couple of hours touring and listening to the history from Sam.

It is amazing how lush this country is after Ethiopia. Here everything is green and alive and the air is very moist and humid. A refreshing change. There are lots of crops growing, not the least of which is rice. We drove by many fields. There are also, king coconut groves with pineapple bushes growing beneath as an extra crop. Lots of fruit and vegetables too.

Then we drove for a half hour to our hotel for the next two nights, Fresco Water Villas. We had an excellent buffet dinner in the hotel restaurant and I got to know Gordon, a 50 something from California and Adrian a young man on his honeymoon. Back to my single room to type up the notes and sort photos.