Monday 9 August 2010

DAY EIGHT (8th August)




Elephant excitement...

Another traditional breakfast was had of coconut milk rice and potato curry with lovely roti’s (and a cheeky marmite topping!). After a manic week we we’re looking forward to a slightly more laid back day!

A windy and bumpy journey up through breathtaking scenery and brought us to a beautiful 15th century wooden temple, with intricately carved pillars depicting ancient gods and mythical creatures.
We made our way back to another important temple in Sri Lanka set amongst the hills. We then climbed up well worn steps in bare feet which were scorching hot from the midday sun, until we reached a lovely temple built from pale grey sandstone. Surrounding the main temple were smaller devotion room adorned with carved elephants and topped with domes.
We met a lovely tour guide who was also a painter, who took his inspiration from the ancient carvings and paintings in and around the temple. He showed us a selection of fabulous drawings and paintings which he had done, each falling in love with different ones!
The afternoon was a real treat as we visited Pinnewala Elephant Orphanage, arriving to huge crowds of visitors, this was clearly a popular tourist destination in Kandy. We arrived at feeding time where crowds of visitors huddled around outdoor feeding pens to try and catch a glimps of the baby elephants being fed with giant milk bottles (as the Orphanage goes through 17000kg of greenery a day we dreaded to think how much milk each baby got through!), A short walk up the hill led us to a huge ‘pasture’ surrounded by greenery and tropical plants – although the elephants much preferred to stick together and wallow in the mud to keep cool!
Everyday at 2pm the elephants are walked from the field to the nearby river to bathe and cool down in the refreshing water for two hours– we were all quite envious and wished that we could jump in the cold water too! It was amazing to see them all enjoying the water and squirting themselves cool. We were then treated to a presentation on how the Orphanage began, how it is run and the work they do in ensuring that the elephants are safely looked after and returned back to health.
We then headed back on the long journey back to Columbo, and Saida and Kate cooked delicious fresh fajitas for supper!

1 comment:

  1. heya guys!!!
    Just sat with a big cup of tea and read all your posts, sounds a full on jam/marmite packed time! How amazing to see all the factories, the special green one sounds fab - and I'm so jealous about the Karaoke! I'm sure you're taking loads of amazing photos. Vising all the old temples and seeing the countryside must be beautiful. I hope you are all well and I look forward to catching up on more of your stories on here soon. Massive love xxxxx p.s. Sorry to hear about the crunchy roaches :(

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