Cultural Highlights of Sri Lanka

I am back in Pinnawala after 4 days of traveling around Sri Lanka. I had no idea there was so much to see and do in the country...I am so glad I didnt miss out! So here is a (brief) summary of what I saw:

Sigiria ("Lion Rock"): a STUNNING natural rock formation full of ruins of a kingdom that was built there. We climbed all 1,000+ stairs to get to the top and the view of Sri Lanka's jungles was amazing.

Anuradhapura: Sri Lanka's ancient capital. The ruins were only recently discovered and are now being restored. I saw the first Buddhist temple, the oldest Buddhist temple, the biggest Buddhist temple, and any other -est Buddhist temple you can think of.
Also went to see the Bohdi tree where Buddha was enlightened. It was carried over to Sri Lanka as a sapling many years ago. The temple was so crowded with pilgrims. I saw the bullet holes in the temple from where the Tamil Tigers attacked in 1985. Our guide was there the day they attacked and he told us the scary story of seeing them emerge from the jungle, and watching over 150 be shot and killed.

Golden Temple of Dambulla (largest sitting Buddha statue in the world) and the Cave Temples: both were really neat.

Spice Garden: learned about the various herbal medicines and products. Got free massages, too! I thought it was quite interesting.

Cultural dancing: watched a cultural dance group in Kandy. Also saw fire-walkers (you know, the people that walk on hot coals). It was pretty impressive but after walking barefoot on BURNING hot sand at each of the temples we visited, I think I could do it too! Almost.

Lord Buddha's Tooth: Visisted the temple that houses Buddha's tooth relic in Kandy. It was SO SO crowded because we arrived at the time when they reveal the golden casket containing the relic. It was quite special to see the golden casket. They actual tooth itself is only revealed every 5 years, drawing crowds of millions of people!

Hill Country: The Sri Lankan hillside is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. I was torn between wanting to look out the window as we were driving, and wanting to close my eyes so I didnt get sick from the winding roads! There were so many giant waterfalls. And huge fields of tea. We visited a tea factory and got to see how tea is plucked, dried, fermented, and sold. And of course, we got to try some free tea.

A few more notes on Sri Lanka:
-There are SO many monkeys here. They are like squirrels back in the USA. They run around everywhere.
-There are giant Komodo Dragons here. I never thought I would ever see one in person, but now I have!
-I am finally begining to learn some of the language (Sinhalese).
-I have seen more Buddha statues than I ever thought even existed.
-Baby bananas are way tastier than regular-sized bananas.

I have A TON of photos from my trip. I will work on putting up a few of them this week.

And a special shout out to Clinton, the lawn gnome!