Lion Rock. Sigiriya.

When I first saw pictures of Sigiriya and read the description, "a fortified palace built atop a rock", I couldn't connect the dots.  I got the rock part but what palace?? That was because the first image I saw of Sigiriya was the one that most tourists would see.....from ground level.












It wasn't until I saw the aerial image that it finally made sense. There were ruins on the summit of a very large free standing rock.  Flashbacks to Machu Picchu.  Amazing!

Ancient city. Anuradhapura.

Ruwanweliseya Dagoba

The area around Anuradhapura was first settled by Anuradha, a follower of Prince Vijaya the founder of the Sinhala race, in about the 10th century BC.

In the beginning
The ancient capital city of Anuradhapura was founded in 380 BC by Prince Pandukabhaya who annointed himself king.  According to Sinhalese history, during King Pandukabhaya's reign, the city was a model of planning. Precincts were set aside for huntsmen, for scavengers and for heretics as well as for foreigners.

There were hostels and hospitals, at least one Jain chapel, and cemeteries for high and low castes.

The city also had some of the most complex irrigation systems of the ancient world. Most of the great reservoir tanks still survive today, and some many be the oldest surviving reservoirs in the world.

But it wasn't until the 3rd century BC that Anuradhapura became a great city.  That was when a Sanghamitta, Buddhist nun and daughter of Ashoka, brought a cutting from the Bodhi Tree (*tree of enlightenment*), the sacred fig tree under which Buddha attained spiritual enlightenment and supreme wisdom.  The cutting has survived to present day and the Bodhi tree spreads out over the centre of the site from a sanctuary near Lovamahapaya which is also known as the Brazen Palace.

In honor of the Sacred Tooth Relic. The Esala Perahera.

Visually, the Esala Perahera festival is about drummers, fire dancers and magnificent elephants adorned in the finest of costumes, parading through the streets at night.

But as one can expect, there is purpose and reason behind the festival.

In fact, the Esala Perahera is deeply rooted in the Buddhist traditions of Sri Lanka.

According to tradition, after Buddha died, his body was cremated in a sandalwood pyre and his left canine tooth was retrieved from the funeral pyre by the Ascetic Arahat Khema and given to King Brahmadatta of Dantapura in Kalinga (the present Orissa in India) in the 3rd century BC.

A belief grew that whoever possessed the Sacred Tooth Relic had a divine right to rule the land. Wars were fought to take possession of the Tooth Relic.

Pearl of the Indian Ocean.

When National Geographic Traveller, Travel and Leisure and Condé Nast Traveller magazines all listed Sri Lanka as one of their top travel destinations for 2012, I took notice and had put the country on my list of places to visit.

Feeding my interest in the country, my close colleague Neil is from Sri Lanka and he's been taking every opportunity he can to show me the wonders and beauty of his homeland.  Each image he showed and article I read just fueled my desire to go.   I finally caved in when Neil,  knowing my penchant for festivals, showed me images of elephants parading as part of the Esala Perahera festival.  I had to see more so I got on to YouTube and watched one video after the next of the massive tuskers, adorned with lavish garments and lights, parading down the street at night.  I was hooked!  I have to experience the Esala Perahera for myself and so I am going to Sri Lanka!