Sri Lanka Day 29 (Anuradhapura & Mihintale): 1840 Rock-cut Steps to Mihintale Mounatin
Started the day with a weak stomach. I have had diarrhea twice already at 5.30am and 6.30am. Quite a bad start to the day also because of breakfast.
Oh look! That’s Astra, which is what my company blends for Unilever.
Picture of the garden at Lievi’s Tourists.
Took the bus out to Mihintale and once I reached, I could feel my stomach signaling to me that it was time to get a toilet. I think because it was quite early, I was one of the first few users of the toilet at the petrol station and so it was really clean. Luckily Lynette brought toilet paper, maybe everything was just fated or she could actually predict that this would happen to me.
We coincidentally and accidentally and luckily landed at the right place. We thought that the entrance were further up actually but it was not. Got to climb a lot of steps before getting to the temple with the Buddha Statuee, the stupa and the rock.
At the midway point, there would be a ticketing counter, which would charge tourists LKR500 which i think it is really reasonable because the view was really amusing and you wouldn't want to miss it.
At the left side, you would see the refectory
Continue climbing more steps and you would get to the plain. In the middle of the plain would be the Ambasthala Dagaba., which is surrounded with stone pillars.
From the plain, you would be able to see the three different flight of steps which would lead to the three main attractions. The three main attractions form a triangle and at the top of each attraction, you would able to able to see the other two from afar. The views from the Buddha Statue and the rock as well as the Stupa were really awesome. You just wanted to chill there (if not for the sun).
First, we went up to the Buddha Statue and took a photo with Maha Stupa from there. The sun was really hot and I couldn't open my eyes and as a form of respect in temples, no cap to be worn.
Next, the Aradhana Gala.
There was only railings at one side and often taken by the people who were climbing up. There was also only one route to do up and down and hence most of the time, people who went climbing down would have to make do without holding on to the railings, which was really dangerous because the climb was rather steep. While climbing up, we met people who were going down and really, that was the time when we humans have to help one another. I lent my hands and shoulders for the ones coming down as a form of support but sometimes, the people actually put so much weight on you, you actually felt like you were slipping down and that was exactly what happened to me but yup, you got to hold onto the railings even tighter because if you were to roll down, the people behind would roll down as well.
Tips from my personal experience were that to keep your hands free and take our your socks for better grip. We didn't do that in the beginning when climbing up because we didn't know that there wasn't proper step at all as you could see from the 2nd photo below but we learnt and did that when coming down.
I would recommend that anyone who were to go there in future should stop by at the mid-point to take some photographs because the top would be really crowded with not much space and there really wasn't much time fore you to chill there and take photos because people just kept climbing up. The view from the midpoint was quite similar to the peak so why not stay away from the crowd for some time for good pictures before continuing to climb up again.
Went to the Maha Stupa and the view was amazing and the best part was that there was a lot of space up there for you to chill and take photos.
While going up to the stupa, there is a cave with budhha statues.
The view was really panaromic and you could even see the ancient city of Anuradhapura, which was where we went the day before. There is also a temple inside the stupa, which has really colourful and well maintained paintings and statues.
The view of Aradhana Gala from the stupa
Back to Anuradhapura for lunch before embarking on our train journey. We ended at this restaurant called Rangiri in the end and the food was really not bad. I love papadums! Anuradhapura seemed to be the only place so far where I tried the local rice and curry on weekends!
Train was delayed for at least 30min. Hoping for an aircon one but it ended up to be even more cui. HAHAHHAHAH. I was really sweating like crazy and I could smell myself.
Watched my kdrama on the train and OMG the locals started to crowd behind us to watch what I was watching because we just happened to be sitting at the last row of the carriage.It was really invading. And there were a lot of people smoking there.
Back at Colombo and we got onto the aircon bus because we needed it. HAHAHAH.
Back at Misuki and bathed! We always looked forward to bathing after a long day of sweating.
Dinner: mixed noodles and they added an egg for me
I slept at 9.30am and woke up at 2am to wash my socks, my bag, my cap, etc because they were just too smelly to bear. Felt really good after clearing them and started organizing my photos and uploading them on social media. My skin is really in a very bad condition now because of the sun. My skin is now super tanned and dry ):
I am sleeping at 6.00am. It felt good to finish my things but definitely gonna regret this tmr when I wake up.
