Heavenly Grace

I've been to hell, I've touched (and been touched by) one of God's largest creations, I've been inside Buddha's head, drunk Sri Lankan tea, and I've been to the place where Buddha's last/ Adam's first footprint is. Let me explain.

Hell was a fairly cold place, inside a cave. We were met by dreadful scary-looking statues that demonstrated the torture you are likely to experience if you come to hell. As we walked further into the cave, we saw paintings of terrible actions done to people and the explanation was above the painting. For instance if you kill an animal, you will get a spear through your own body.



The fright of coming to hell as a result of bad actions is a motivation for Buddhist's to live a pure life. As they believe in reincarnation after death (and the fact that they can be born in hell in the next life as a result of bad karma), they strive to reach the enlightenment that Buddha got, so that they can get to Nirvana and out of the “samsara” (the circle of reincarnations).

What strikes me when I learn this, is the lack of grace in this religion (and in the other religions, for that matter). The Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims don't believe that they can be saved and forgiven for their sins, they're completely on their own... This makes me so thankful for what Jesus did for me, that I can hardly figure out where to begin to rejoice. I've never really grasped the meaning of “grace” before now, when I see what it would be like without it. And WOW – God is gracious!!

The creatures I met that God has created were the Asian elephants. What beauties! It was amazing to look into their eyes, feeding them bananas and touching their rough skin and their hard hair. The best way do describe it is with a few pictures.












Buddha's head was fairly empty – or actually just full of himself. We went inside the tallest sitting Buddha in the world, and inside it were many small Buddha statues. Not worth showing pictures of, really, but I'll offer one of his outsides because his insides where pretty much the same...


When it comes to the Sri Lankan tea, I must say that from my English point of view, I am impressed. One of Sri Lanka's main export products is tea, and we were lucky to visit one of the plantations. Here we where also so lucky to get a nice and tasty cup of the delicious beverage afterwards.

a lady teaching us how to make the best tea inside the tea factory


me and Nixon, our helpful Sri Lankan guide who was with us during our stay in Sri Lanka.

My last paragraphes of adventures from this country will be about Sri Pada (Adam's Peak). Sri Pada means “Blessed/holy footprint” and is the name of the mountain where it is said that Buddha placed his last footprint before entering Nirvana. In the Christian tradition, it is Thomas the apostle who stood on the top of this mountain, while Muslims (and maybe also Christians) believe it is here Adam first placed his foot when he was created. As this is an important mountain for many religions and a place where many come for their pilgrimage, we had to experience it as well.
On the way down.



beautiful landscape.

I can't say it was easy to walk 5300 steps up and down in the middle of the night, but it was worth it when we could see the sunrise in the morning (although it was pretty cloudy).

Our skin was covered with “sidalepa”, a potion to avoid leaches. And it took around three days for our muscles to get back to normal again afterwards. But it was all worth it when we got to see the elephants afterwards, who actually had a peaceful therapeutic effect on my heart...
This monk made move on me, ironically enough when he's not allowed to get married. But he was interested in getting married with a tourist in the future – if he decided not to be a monk anymore... Sorry for him, but I had to reject him because I'm happy with the man I already have. :-)
Here's a little extra from the Sri Lankan culture:


These men ran in front of the bus trying to sell flowers.

We found a lovely puppy who was very cuddly and cute!

So I've had a glimpse of what hell could be like, and now I'm getting a preview of paradise. I've come to the island of Perhentian in Malaysia and it is – to use only one word – heavenly! Keep reading my blog if you would like a preview of Heaven as well.





After having read for our exam we are finally finished and can enjoy the wonders of Perhentian. Tomorrow I will start diving!! :)

I'll end my post about Sri Lanka with a picture taken by the sunset in Unawatuna, with my dear friends Margrethe and Stine, who I'm so happy to be travelling with!

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.

Quick upload from Kuala Lumpur

It's 10.45 pm in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia's capitol) and I am tired. In four hours time I have to get up because we're going to Sri Lanka. Here are some photos of our four days in KL. The purple ones are from the State Mosque where we had to cover us up. The last one is from Batu Caves where they celebrate the Thaipusam in KL. Enjoy! :)

This is Inki, checking out from Malaysia. (But I'll be back for two weeks before going to Cambodia.) Thank you for following me! :)