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Posts earlier than 24 July 2016
Polonnaruwa – The Drive to Passekudah
Leaving the Mudhouse, we head towards the ancient capital of Polonnaruwa. Lydia felt much better, but wasn’t a 100% yet – she needed to catch up on sleep. On the road away from the Mudhouse, our guide spotted a “Starred Tortoise” crossing the road, he wanted to pull over to give us a closer look. [photogrid ids="2016313,2016314" captions="yes" columns="two" fullwidth="no" ] We arrived at Polonnaruwa, welcomed with a great reservoir – the largest lake in Sri Lanka,…
The Mudhouse
We were greeted by a large welcoming party, who unloaded the van and carried our luggage off down a dirt track into the forest. After saying bye to Geehan and Sanjeewa (our driver) we too were lead down the dirt track unsure where we were going. Two minutes later we were presented with our very own traditional wattle & daub "mud" house! Ines (a French Volunteer student) gave us a guided tour of the…
Cultural highlights – Mihintale and Anaradhapura
Leaving Sigiriya, we headed towards Anamaduwa for our stay at the eco-friendly Mudhouse. On our journey we stopped off at various cultural places. First stop was Mihintale, which we are told is the birthplace of Buddhism within Sri Lanka; (the story goes that King Devanampiyatissa was out hunting when he met Mahinda, the son of an Indian emperor, who converted him to Buddhism – for more info, see the Wikipedia page about Mihintale). We walked around…
Sigiriya Lion Rock Tour
After the village tour, we headed back to the hotel to cool off with a relaxing swim. [slider ids="2016287" fullwidth="no" captions="yes" ] Late afternoon, we headed over to Sigiriya Lion Rock for a guided tour. Since Lucy’s ankle was still recovering, we’d already decided that we wouldn’t risk climbing up to the very top, in case of further injury… but it turned out to be a good decision as the kids were shattered and our guide…
Sigiriya Village Experience
We set off from Hotel Sigiriya and were dropped off on the main road a few minutes later. We knew that we were going on a “Village Experience” tour, but wasn’t exactly sure what it entailed. Next thing we knew; we were being ushered on to the back of a bullock cart! [slider ids="2016271" fullwidth="no" captions="yes" ] The bullock slowly pulled us up the main road, with the driver occasionally muttering words at it. Since we…
Minneriya National Park Safari
Leaving Negombo lagoon, we took our morning transfer into the Cultural Triangle region. Since it was a 4-hour drive, we aimed to catch up on some sleep, (as the night before was quite hot and we didn’t sleep so well) - although Katelyn resisted it, as she was fascinated by the sights & scenery. Lunch time we stopped off at a hotel in Dambulla, for a buffet lunch. The funny thing about Sri Lankan food…