Saturday 15th February 2025

I had a great start to what turned out to be a wonderful day here in sunny Kurunegala. It kicked off at 08:30 when I had a WhatsApp video call with Yas, who co-founded Tea Leaf Trust with her husband Tim. This call went on for 1 hour and 14 minutes, which shows incredible stamina on Yas's part, but we did have a lot to talk about! I honestly could not have had a better start to my day, as Yas is always a comforting, encouraging, and inspirational person to chat with.

Having covered all sorts of things with Yas, I abandoned my plans to stay in and work, and headed up Athugala Rock (Elephant Rock) in a tuk-tuk to see the views from the top, where a simply enormous statue of Buddha looks down on the city. It was something that Val and I didn't get round to when we were here in October/November, so I was determined to make up for that this time, stopping off on the way as we came across dozens of rather adorable monkeys.

I followed my trip up Athugala Rock with a shopping trip in town, where my prime objective was to purchase a gift for someone, who shall be nameless (just in case they are one of the few people who actually read my blog!). I then went back to the apartment and just found time to have a bit of lunch before I got a call from Aunty (Madame Sandra), who whisked me off to visit the beautiful Deduruoya Reservoir, before spending time at a very old Buddhist temple.

Sandra has known the senior, 88-year-old, Buddhist monk at the Buddhist Temple that we visited for many years now, so she introduced me to him and then proceeded to have a chat with him, whilst I had a tour of the temple with Liyanage, our driver today. I did find it all quite fascinating, and when I returned to Sandra, we were led away to have some refreshments that included egg hoppers, which was pretty much the icing on the cake for a thoroughly enjoyable Saturday!

Today's photographs are of the monkeys on the way up Athugala Rock, and the lovely views from the top there. There are also a few from Deduruoya Reservoir, and from our visit to the Buddhist Temple.





















Comments

  1. CharlesFebruary 16, 2025 at 12:23 AM

    That is some Buddha statue! Presumably, in the penultimate photo you are making a food offering to the Buddha? It's good to see this aspect of Sri Lanka, given the prominence of Buddhism in the country. The elderly monk looks pretty alert!

    ReplyDelete

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