Polonnaruwa, Anuradhapura (Dec 15)

Day three of our excursion into the Cultural Triangle took us to Polonnaruwa in the morning. A fairly young (1000 years old) former capital of the Sinhalese kingdom, the ruins were well preserved and maintained. The very first building we came across was the Royal Palace of Parakramabahu. It is claimed that the original building was seven storeys high, and contained over 1000 rooms.

This, I believe, is the Thuparama. Of course, I should have just said it was, and you'd be none the wiser. So let's try that again.
This IS the Thuparama, one of the only buildings with an intact roof. It's a prayer hall, with one large Buddha statue at the end of the hall.

In the afternoon we headed to Anuradhapura, and we passed a working elephant by the side of the road. The man beside the elephant is holding a large poking stick. If only that elephant realised how much bigger and stronger she is, she could have thrown him up the tree and made a break for it. I felt so sorry for her, and it was a stark contrast to the wild herd we saw the previous day. It's not really fair for me to judge I suppose, and I'm sure if he had a pack of Monitor lizards doing his bidding I wouldn't care at all...anyway...

We arrived in Anuradhapura which was the capital for over 1000 years, starting in 380 BC. This is another one of the many Buddhist stupas (also called dagobas). I found it surprising that these were just monuments, not buildings you could go into. At the center is a relic chamber, containing a strand of hair of Buddha for example, and then a half-sphere of bricks is built around it, expanding until you get what is seen below.

Nearby is the sacred bodhi tree (Sri Maha Bodhi) site. The actual tree is surrounded by a complex, so check the gallery for another pic, but I found this to be a better shot to put up. Either praying or sleeping, this monk is chillin' by one of many smaller bodhi trees in the area. Apparently this sacred bodhi tree is the "oldest, historically authenticated tree in the world," (> 2000 years) as it has been continuously attended to by Buddhist guardians.

Finally, this is a shot of a stupa that is being restored. Most of the stupas are restored, very few are as they originally existed. The vegetation that has grown is cleared, then covered with dirt. After that, bricks are laid over top. It kinda took some of the magic away...which I've hopefully taken away from you as well :)

Sri Lanka