Studying Sri Lanka

So I'm in Sri Lanka now. Quite different from Malaysia, but still quite fascinating. It's been raining non-stop for a week and we've hardly any dry and clean clothes left. This is the view from where I was sitting writing my blog in the town Anuradhapura.
We have now come to Unawatuna, a fairly bigger town on the coast of Sri Lanka, and I can finally post what I wrote when I didn't have internet...

Since we've been in this country, we have been looking closer at Buddhism. The first couple of days we spent by the sea, in the town Negombo. We've learned about the country's history (which is quite complex because of the war that only just ended), and we have been visiting the fourth largest architecture from the Antique period (after the pyramids).
Apparently one of Buddha's collarbones is buried deep inside this construction. We've also seen the “daughter” tree (Sri Maha Bodhi) that Buddha got his awakening underneath. And we've been to the famous Tooth Temple in Kandy, where Buddha's tooth is kept.

On our way from Negombo to Anuradhapura we went on a dolphin safari. We had to show a ticket to this man before our boat could go out to sea. And this man had to guide us through the shallow parts. We were lucky to see some of the beautiful creatures, although our stomachs almost turned inside out because of the big waves.
As we were driving in the bus again, we suddenly heard a big bang! The cows in the fields nearby ran off, and our bus came to a stop. One of our tires had punctured. Luckily there was a tire shop close by, and thanks to our clever Srilankeese friends, we were on the road again by an hour. We were lucky to find a small shop where we could by some snacks to fill our empty stomachs with. Some of us also found a small café where we could have a cold drink. The owner suddenly brought in three rabbits, and we were confused if she wanted us to eat them or what. We figured she just wanted us to pet them (or at least that's what we told ourselves).

We continued our journey and were happy to have half a banana plant with us to eat. Yummy! When we came to this sign, we didn't quite understand why it was forbidden to play the trumpet: But when we came to this sign straight after, we understood: There were wild elephants nearby, and if you honked the horn, you could frighten them. Sadly enough, we didn't see them that day. But we saw a wild elephant right by the road a few days later!

Okay, I am getting covered with mosquitoes now, so I think I have to stop writing. There's also a limp dog here trying to beg me for something. Looks like he's got flees, so I think I'll keep a distance... As you can understand, life here is quite different to Norway. In many ways Sri Lanka reminds me of Madagascar, but then again nobody understands me when I by mistake try to speak Malagasy to them!

Since I wrote this blog we have experienced even more. We visited the indigenous people, the Veddah-people. They welcomed us with flowers and we had a nice meal before we went to sleep on the brick floor.
Our teacher Trond was greeted with leaves and had to dance a traditional dance with the tribe leaders.




Here are just some photos from the last days. Yesterday we had a party (it's after all Sri Lanka's National day today!).Levi and his wife, Anne Lisbeth, who is visiting now.In front of our hotel.
Singing the Asia song we made on the bus.The view from our hotel room when the sun goes down.
Stine was 22 on the 29th of January, and we had a party for her and two others. Nearly at the top of the Sigiriya mountain/"rock", where a king built his palace and lived with his 1000 wives.

Young munks inside the Tooth Temple in Kandy.