jamaj

AHOJ everybody!!
Ayubowan!
this is my new blog from Sri Lanka, the land of fairy tales.....
where we are the group of international artists working on our own art projects,
during the second part we will do some events together with local inhabitants.
In the meantime, everybody is recovering from the long and demanding flight...

I thing this view does not need any comments....

as I planned, I started with the exploration of the near surroundings of the Hikaduwa,the place of surfers andbackpacker / hippie... some time ago...

anyway, I went in the morning to the south , as I was adviced by local, asking where I can find nearest buddhist temple....
so, walking on the bussy road with busses, cars and tuk tuk, I met amazing mixture of beutifull small shops, old houses, tourist hotels and some overestimated resorts...

this is actually side road, with tuk-tuk amotorbike taxi

Anyway, close to the junction, I found nice buddhist temple, white stupa with garden and lantern, which I did not know about, that it is part of each temple. While taking photographs, I was watched by a priest and he invited me inside his house, showing me his office and private shrine and collection of Buddhas , some of them interesting sculptures.
I got to know, that they are taking care about some 200 kids without parents, and that they really need the support for pencils and books and bags....

first real stupa

surrounding garden

On my way back, I realised, I can see the board with same colours of the buddhist temple,but as it was in sinhalese, I could not read anything except 2.1 km, o.k. and I went, crossed the railway and, first in my life met a varan on the road, after cca 1 km I reached a temple on the hill with beautiful staircase, and first house with wooden, nicely carved window frames and door panes..
but mainly, I was there just alone, watching the shiny white stupa, rounded with painted elephants. There was also another golden - shrine evidently under the construction, as some columns were not yet finished, and the metal rods were extended from the base. Anyway, all together, it was beutiful peaceful place in the middle of jungle, with a quiet dark cow leying near the open ceremony preparing kitchen and some more buildings bit run down, or unused for a time.
some pictures:

old, unused place

in the middle of jungle forest peaceful place

Continuing my way back, I met several interesting houses with workshops and also a metal picker, who had quite nice metal panes, but unfortunately he was not willing to sell me these for my limited amount of ruppies... so, no deal.... but later, the metal workshop appeared, with welcoming workers, who reacted to my question about leftovers with generous gesture to the box full of pieces of tubes, and metals.... so I got my first metal material.... pitty they did not want to give me a metal pane, which serves actually for the offering ceremony....

well but afternoon real adventure started, as I decided to visit two temples, suggested by the guide..,
the journey took roughly an hour, but probably i took the wrong way as i walked along the main road, out of Hikaduwa... just at the road junction, I asked a man, where the Kala Bongo temple is, he did not know... so I asked in a shop, and in the meantime rain started, so I had to wait a bit, later I continued, but after a while I doubted and asked the tuk tuk drivers, and they sent me back to the shop, it was just up the hill infront of the shop I was asking....
but really beautifull buddhist monastery with some old and also young monks, on top of the hill shiny white stupa with great golden bowl with huge, old Bodhi tree, some women beutifuly dressed cleaning the sand and rock around. Truely sacred place, with peaceful atmosphere, although in front of the gathering room there was the ceremony food and gifts prepared.....
On my way downstairs I was abe to hear the mantras of the monks in a monastery, mixed with the rain drops splashing on the stairs and leaves of palm, banana,papuya trees.. wonderfull
some photos: