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Sri Lanka travelogue, part 4: Pollonaruwa

Ben van den Anker
2006-05-02 01:43:39

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I see the land change as the bus drives through it. It seems to me that it gets dryer and dryer the further we drive to the north. The abundant green hills I saw in Kandy are gone here. I ask the driver to drop me in the old town. This old town turns out to be only one road, 500 meter totally, relatively close to the historic sites. As I jump of the bus alone, everyone seems to be going to the new town, people approach me immediately. Finding a room is not difficult.

The owner of the hotel has bikes for hire too, I take one and try to find the Museum where I can buy the "tourist" ticket of 15$ to visit the historic sites. After missing it for three times I finally find the museum, I leave my bike unguarded and unlocked. The owner didn't gave me a lock, "Everyone in town knows that that's my bike! They won't steal it!" He should visit the Netherlands once, it's our favorite pastime, stealing bikes! He will buy two locks after having visited the Netherlands!

I run through the museum, so eager to drive to the ruins. After passing the checkpoint formalities, they give me a paper to hand over to the military when I leave the terrain at that northernmost point, I drive through the sandy road to the first ruins. Amazing! It's the hottest day till yet, I'm deeply impressed. Monkeys play between the stones, it seems that everywhere in this spread out area ruins can be found. I spend all day driving through it. They say that people in Cambodia build a Buddha image on every hilltop, in Sri Lanka they turn every rock into a Buddha. The Gal Vihara is one outstanding example of a masterpiece of art.

At the northernmost point I almost turned back, till I saw one man driving with his collected firewood on his bike down the hill. I drove up the hill and there the Titanka Image house stood proudly in the sun. I didn't have the faintest idea of what that could be. Inside the temple, then that's what ...