I wanna be an archaeologist (part 2)

The following day I visited in Anuradhapura a very important Buddhist temple (with a sapling of the Bodhi Tree – sacred tree; Buddhists believe that under that tree Buddha became enlightened).

In 1985 the Anuradhapura massacre took place over there – the most violent terrorist attack conducted by the Tamil Tigers. 146 people, among them many children, were killed. LTTE hijacked a bus, drove into the city and opened fire – killing random people – civilians who were on the way to work, schools... No cause can ever justify such means.

Thus, one cannot wonder about the omnipresent military, security, safety measures, controls and checkpoints. Btw, I was there about a month after the government announced victory over LTTE. I could feel and observe though that the situation was far from being ‘normal’ at least according to the ‘European standards’. Military checkpoints on the roads, guns everywhere not only carried by policemen and soldiers, but even by security guards at banks or shops.

But let’s get back to the ancient city (ancient capital in fact) of Anuradhapura (World Heritage list) – well, it didn’t make such an impression on me. Maybe cause it wasn’t that challenging, no climbing ;)

On my way back to Kandy I also visited Dambulla (cave temples, 1 BC, World Heritage site as well). In Dambulla I also saw a new (2001) Buddha statute which is 30 meters high – huge!

That evening I was basically not doing much, just chilling out with my CS friend. A. was kind enough to show me around a bit in the 'neighborhood' and took me to a small, local alcohol shop - I guess not many women enter that store ;))

And so, we smoked, drunk local beers and talked and then walked through the jungle (thank you Malgosia for the flashlight!) to J’s house where I was staying that night. It turned out A. is a fan of rock music and has friends who play in a band well known in SL. I found out that the band was going to play in Colombo in few days. “Hm... sounds like a plan” I thought. I had to see it...


In the next episode: K. gets lost in the jungle, arrives in Colombo, listens to some good heavy metal, almost gets a tattoo and sees for herself that the world is really small...