More glorious cycling on a hot day, relieved by cream sodas and excellent curries. Heading north from Tangalla I visited the Rock Temples of Mulkirigala. They're up this rock (pic).
In the long climb to the top you pass five temples that contain enormous reclining Buddhas (pic). They rather put me in mind of the Ron Mueck sculptures I saw in São Paulo in November. I don't expect you find that particularly enlightening, though.
In the temple courtyard, a school lesson was taking place (pic). I'm always intrigued by the fact that the further away you get from England, the more spotlessly white the children's uniforms.
After all that climbing I rehydrated with the Sri Lankan roadside staple: the juice of a fresh coconut (pic), dramatically macheted open for you on the spot for 25p.
After pit stops at Embilipitaya I got to Udawalawe, ready for a day off the bike tomorrow, visiting the National Park here. It was a blisteringly hot day that needed plenty of water breaks, but the lush, gentle scenery, and constant smiles and waves from locals, made it another lovely day of biking. There was lots of this sort of thing (pic).
Miles today: 41
Total miles: 102
Miles since Dondra Head: 64
No comments:
Post a Comment