Returning to Matara
Trip Start
Dec 01, 1992
1
71
125
Trip End
Jun 01, 1993
Polhena, Southern, Sri Lanka
Friday, February 12, 1993
Andy saw a snake on the lane but by the time he took Jai to see it it had gone.
Sunil, who was the oldest boy of the household, took us to visit a drum factory back in Matara. They were lovely drums and we could see the original chunks of wood that they were carved from.
We also looked for curd to buy, but the curd sellers we found had no refrigeration and their produce looked all the worse for having had a hot days sun upon them.
We went into a Buddhist temple and there sat before a golden Buddha. Surprisingly, on one side of the Buddha was a deity of Vishnu, and another Hindu looking God on the other side (remnants of old Lankan Hinduism as pre Buddhist times). There was a stupa in the temple as well. Though what was receiving the most attention from the local people was a big old tree. This tree, it was explained to us, contained hundreds of gods.
We went to the Matara beach which we had missed out on seeing previously. It was nice, and Jai even loved it as it did not appear to be a coral area so he could safely go in the sea. He played in the sand and sat in the waves as they crashed around him. I did my tai chi, something I'd not been practising enough and so had forgotten a lot of.
We returned to Polhena, standing up in a crowded sardine tin kind of minibus.
