New Year's Resolution

[Digger]

Trevor has had to return to Oz and recommence work. I had to pay just to get into the Terminal building as I wasn’t a flying passenger. Then I got as far as the first screening and told to leave. Didn’t even make it to check in.



Tourists can only apply for a 30 day visa although extensions are granted. That meant a 12 hour turnaround trip involving 2 buses and a 6.5 hour wait at Immigration for the extension to be processed. There’s a day I hope never to have to repeat. Here I’m on the local transperth commuter with all the other locals. The first bus ride was an ‘express’ which took me to the main bus station in Colombo.



Waiting for the visa to be processed at Immigration. The facial expressions and body language says it all. Different countries pay a different rate. Oz costs $30USD whereas the USA pays $100USD. ONE countries fees were $200USD. That makes for an expensive visa.

[Digger]

Heading north and hugged the coast by avoiding the highway. Fishing community scene.



Selling the days catch.



Some impressive looking seafood....I was tempted to do a Bear Grylls and scoff down one of the fish steaks raw but decided against it.

[Digger]

Picked up a nail within two minutes of leaving this morning (Wednesday) as I was riding thru town. These tyres have probably done close to 4,000km so I shouldn’t complain. They’re not standard tyres and not cheap but I’ve had painfull experiences trying to save a dime in the past which cost me dearly.



The tyres are ‘puncture resistant’ but nothing was goin’ to prevent this from piercing the tube.

From here I must head inland as there is a another National Park due north but other cyclists have gotten so far and been directed to turn around.

Distance cycled to date - 928km.

SPOT Link is here;
http://share.findmespot.com/shared/face ... UCtYLNPufa

[Digger]

While heading east, I was discussing some backroads with the hotel manager that were suggested by Maps.me App. “No, no, no” he said. “All cyclists use highway A12. There are too many wild animals on the backroads”. Well, nobody told ol’ mate in the background cause he was on highway A12.



I thought somebody must have phoned ahead to the next town because I thought they all turned out to wish me well...



...it works out it was to support the students from the local school about to start their marathon. Notice the bare feet...tough lot.

[Digger]

I spent a morning looking at a Sacred City in nearby Mihintale...this is the stairway to heaven.



This is all first century stuff and apparently the birthplace of Buddhism in Sri Lanka. Some schmuck flew and landed on the top of this rock and was greeted by a king....or so the story goes.



That’s me in the foreground and the ‘Gala’ in the background. I didn’t fly...I had to walk.

[Digger]

Part of the view from the top of the mountain (Gala).



Nearby were the remains of perhaps the worlds first hospital (Wikipedia). In the foreground is a bath where patients were immersed in medicinal oils.



Kantaka Cetiya Stupa (part of) which has a base circumference of 120 metres. There are 4 alters at each cardinal point of the compass where goats were sacrificed and their hearts eaten while still beating (Bly).

[Digger]

I spent today (Saturday) walking/riding around the Adhayagiri Buddhist Monastery which is the Sacred City here in Anuradhapura. It covers an area of 240 hectares so I was thankful I had the bike. Here is one of the Image Gallerys....a bit like an early version of a library.


Another Image Gallery but it was believed this one housed a standing Buddha placed on the plinth in the centre (zoom in).



‘Twin Pools’ which was part of the main water supply for the Monastery.

[Digger]

A few km from the monastery was a stone bridge used to join the ‘suburbs’ back in the day.



Nearby, was a second stone bridge but I had to ride thru the volleyball court to get to it. The bridge is in the left rear background.



The second bridge.

From here I continue cycling east toward Trincomalee.

Distance cycled to date - 1,081 km.

SPOT Link is here:
http://share.findmespot.com/shared/face ... UCtYLNPufa

[Bozo]

Digger

The Mihintale complex is very impressive to an engineer, with bridges, water storages, showers and heated food equipment all from over 2,000 years ago.

It was my understanding that the first hospital in the world was in Greece where they took advantage of stupefying gases to operate on patients 350 years BCE. The Wikipedia reference to Mihintale says "perhaps" the oldest hospital in the world.

As an aside, Led Zeppelin's drummer was known as Bonzo.

Bozo

[Digger]

Digger
The Wikipedia reference to Mihintale says "perhaps" the oldest hospital in the world.
Bozo

I have dutifully edited the Post to ensure factual accuracy.

[profoundly_disturbed]

Digger
The Wikipedia reference to Mihintale says "perhaps" the oldest hospital in the world.
Bozo

I have dutifully edited the Post to ensure factual accuracy.

“factual accuracy“

It is of considerable relief that I can now go forward knowing that I can believe everything I read on this new-fangled inter web thingy

[Digger]

Inched my way across the country to their east coast and came up for air at Trincomalee.



Went to Uppuveli Beach which is supposed to be one of their better beaches. I’m not sure that these two foreign tourists and I would agree.



There is a War Grave Cemetery here and I always visit them when I can to pay my respects...this one was primarily Navy Personnel and included Sri Lankins, Brits and Indians.

[Digger]

Seen too many of these over the years...so much misery and heartache to those left behind with no answers and never knowing.



Another fort complex, Fort Frederick, built by the Dutch in the 1600’s



At the top of the cliffs within the fort complex is Koneshwaram Temple.

[Digger]

Deer roam the streets (and the Bus Station) like stray dogs...



I’ve since moved south to Batticaloa...interesting road conditions. This day involved a lot of unsealed roads...



...which were generally smoother then some of the sealed sections.



Maps.Me let me down today. It had me travelling on some less then prefered backroads. Stand up, lean back and throttle on doesn’t work so well on a bike. I had to push the bike and trailer thru the sand once the local traffic had passed. Shortly after this photo, I had to wade thru knee deep water to cross a creek.


I’ll spend two or three nights here before deciding on how I make my way back to the west coast. My return flight is Friday 16th Feb.

Distance cycled to date - 1,401km.

SPOT Link is here:
http://share.findmespot.com/shared/face ... UCtYLNPufa

[Digger]

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I arrived at Batticaloa and looked at a couple of $12.50 rooms and then thought f*** it...I might be here for a few days so I better be comfortable. I was....all for $55AUD per night.



[url=https://stevebly.smugmug.com/Sri-Lanka/i-7znXHxx/A]
The fisherman work in teams...there is another team about 100 metres away holding and dragging in the same net. The nets are deployed by boat the night before but dragged in by hand. It took these guys about two hours to bring in the catch.



They would’ve been disappointed in the results...about 3 standard wheelbarrows worth and nothing big. Here they are sorting the fish by hand according to size while locals in the background are ready to buy straight off the beach.