Buddhism, Day Trips and Pap Fiction

So after the excitement of the music night I changed my hut to The Rock Inn, a great unintentional play on words. It has a great view of Ella rock from the balcony and from my window and sparrows flying in and out. Chipmunks spin up and down the electricity cables, tails whirring to keep themselves upright. I explore the surrounding countryside taking a walk up little Adam's Peak in preparation for the "big one". (Adam's Peak is supposedly where Adam fell when he got kicked out of heaven and there is a sacred footprint atop it. Its a sacred pilgrimage site for Buddhists who have installed a temple at the summit and indeed a tannoy system, but more about that later). I jump a bus and a tuk to Buduruwagala to look at tenth century Mahayana Buddhist stone carvings, with an unusual bit of tantric influence. The Ticket Officer is about 9 years old and runs to his post in astonishment to collect his 200 rupees. Methinks they don't get many visitors and out here; if you broke down or crashed it would take a week to be found. Note to self: take phone on next trip. EVERYONE has one. Feel very 1980's. Explore more and randomly see a huge lake, some locals painting their houses for New Year in pink, lady with a full laundry bin on back of motorbike, some hills and a Sri Lankan funeral not necessarily in that order. On arriving back manage to hook up with the errant San Diego boys for dinner after last nights missed rendezvous. Greg, Jim and Bruce are very nice and good company but quite weird on the humour front. Greg has an Italian girlfriend who told him "No Ayurvedic massages!" and has OCD, Bruce looks uncannily like Roger Moore. But the restaurant they pick has delicious home cooked curries, the best of the trip.
Decide to have a rest day as am feeling flaked and the plan to climb Adam's Peak makes me tired just thinking about it. Meet Kanthi who takes me to her home and describes the women's development project she is setting up doing sewing skills and allowing women to train and then become self employed. Her kids are very cute and they show me all the family photo albums....Take lots of photies and promise to try and help the project in the future. Back at The Rock Inn find the classic and widely under-read work of fiction "A World of Shadows" circa 1964 and settle down to enjoy it. Its the only English book there and is surprisingly readable. The cultural references give a good insight into the ideologies of the time. The central tenet is a governess with a secret that could threaten her happy work placement looking after a 5 year old boy in a country pile. When the fearful truth arises it turns out the governess's stepfather has "shady connections", is alcoholic and mixes with n'er do wells. The shame! The horror! (get him on my case load it'll all be fine). The lord of the manor comes to the rescue when aforementioned son is kidnapped, cue much hankerchief wringing and sleepless nights, and the adversity brings them together. The aforementioned stepfather is conveniently murdered en route to finding kidnapped son. Kidnapped son is found by governesss who is also taken hostage and then everyone is rescued by Scotland Yard. The End. There now you don't need to read it.
After the excitement of all that I decide to move on and head for Dalhousie, the home of Adam's Peak and march up the hill for my first Sri Lankan train experience. It costs about 40p to travel 4 hours by train. Imagine this at home.....We wind through the tea plantations and up into the hills, the kids sceaming and whistling at every tunnel which is funny until we hit a strecth with 9 tunnels. The men lean out the open doors and hawkers squeeze up and down selling snacks shouting over and over what they have. Everyone is getting excited. New Year is fast approaching.....