Gothic Buddhist Wedding and Trip Highlights

Gothic Buddhist Wedding and Trip Highlights

January 24

Hard to believe it is our last day in Sri Lanka.  Our breakfast is surprisingly interrupted by seeing an elephant walking down the beach.  


John and Steve wait for their chicken curry while Marie and I rush to the beach to discover a Gothic Buddhist wedding is taking place. Sri Lankan dancers welcome the Goth couple and a monk conducts the ceremony in Sinhalese. 

The German couple in their black Gothic dress seem a contradiction to the Buddhist ceremony but clearly are enamored with each other.  They have 2 cameramen filming the event but surprisingly there are no friends or family members as guests.  Marie is more entranced with the elephant than the ceremony. She still would like to ride the elephant. 

 However, I can’t  take my eyes off the wedding couple and am snapping pictures of them.  Then 

I am asked to stop taking pictures until the ceremony is finished ~ this is the first time I’ve had this request in Sri Lanka. 

Ring Exchange

After ring exchange oil poured over hands 

Happy Couple 

Okay now time for the elephant.

Buddhist Temple Walk

After breakfast we take a hike to a rather run down Buddhist temple. However, we enter the temple we find it is beautiful with models of monks of all cultures sitting and meditating in front of the Buddha. There are paintings covering the walls and ceiling. 

Buddha as a baby 

Buddha as an adolescent 

Buddha enlightened

Walking around outside we see the purple faced langurs we had not seen on the boat trip a day earlier. 


Also there are dozens of noisy, huge fruit-eating bats in the trees (knows as Indian flying foxes).  Surprisingly the Gothic married couple also arrives at this site with their camera crew.  We congratulate them and I think they must be steaming hot in their heavy and detailed black Gothic attire. Certainly I am dripping wet in the hottest weather I’ve experienced in a long time.

Trip Highlights

We head into town to have lunch at the Immune Restaurant.with John and Steve having fish curry again and asking for extra spices.  Marie and I again ordered grilled prawns and save enough for evening cocktails.  We wander the street afterwards and barter over some green and black tea.  Back at our villa we swim and reluctantly pack to leave.

We once again enjoy a wonderful meal and conversations reviewing the highlights of our trip together. We can’t decide what are the 5 highlights of this trip as we complete the evaluation forms for our guide Karu. In fact, we have had at least one unexpected surprise highlight or adventure every day. For example there was the day the toque macaques monkeys looking so cute with middle-parted hair and their babies ramshackled our hotel room and ate our last chocolate bar; 


Or, coming across a series of Sri Lankan weddings when we stopped to search for better coffee; 










Or, taking a spice tour which was less about spices and more about selling lotions to eliminate wrinkles, body hair and treat diabetes, high blood pressure and stress; 

Or spotting some astonishing birdlife in 2 parks and on a river cruise; 

Or, participating in picking tea with local Tamil tea pickers and learning how it is harvested; 

Or, watching Tamil people in markets treat Steve as a Hollywood star because he speaks Tamil; 

Or, being present for a historic election of a new President and seeing the hope in people’s eyes; 

Or, a beautiful bike ride among dilapidating stupas and rice paddies; 

Or, numerous spiritual moments in Hindu and Buddhist temples;

Or, amazing meals and exposure to new tastes and brinja;

Or, colorful markets full of energy and movement; 

Or, the gentle and refined walk of beautiful Sri Lanka women in their saris and the generosity of people who shared with us;

 
Or, spectacular views;

Or, spotting an elephant on the highway or on a beach at a Gothic Buddhist wedding;

 Or, holding a boa snake in terror around your neck;

Or, seeing how different ethnicities and religions have mostly learned to accept each other and learn to work together after years of war and a devastating tsunami. 

  

Or, viewing the beautiful children in their immaculate white uniforms. 

School Children 

Most of all we found the people to be welcoming, friendly, and gentle. We reluctantly leave our friends Marie and Steve who are staying for 3 more days and wonder how we will return to rain and less exotic dining. The good news is that when we get on the plane we find Sri Lankan chicken curry on the menu. We can postpone our Sri Lanka food withdrawal for a little longer. We hope that Sri Lankan people's hopes and dreams will materialize. 

Paradise Villa, Food, Cruise and Buddhist Monastery

January 22-23

Sri Lanka Paradise Villa, Cruise and Buddhist Moments

Bentota ~ Saman Villa

After a 5-hour drive and lunch of chicken kotu rotti (fast becoming John’s favorite meal) we arrive at Saman Villas ~ an incredible paradise and a romantic way to end our trip. An amazing infinity pool seems to be blending into the Indian Ocean and the dining room has a 180-degree ocean view.  

Marie  and Steve swimming laps 

Our suite is spectacular with a lovely patio looking out at Bentota beach coastline of white, fine sand.  

Our view 

Each day our beds have different designs with flower arrangements and palm tree decorations  Additionally there are lotus flowers in vases in the sitting area and bathroom.  

Marie and Steve's bed

The outside bathroom, which is  warm and free from air conditioning, has a kidney shaped tub and fountain of water dripping gently.  I think we should turn off the fountain to save water but realize it is provided for gentle auditory peaceful effects.  



From our room we listen to the repetitive waves and surf pounding on the beach every 5 seconds.  Our room information guide indicates a wide range of books we can borrow from the library as well as DVDs. The hotel menu includes curries cooked in coconut milk and roasted spices with accompaniments such as samba rice, dahl curry, and Marie’s favorite dish brinjal moju  (egg plant). I suggest to John that it would be nice to have dinner served on our deck ~ maybe breakfast and lunch too. Marie and Steve’s suite is just above our room with a balcony of the same view. 

We order two extra chairs to continue our tradition of predinner drinks and snacks before dinner.  Hotel staff welcomes us by bringing fruit and wine and offering us a free massage.  I think I am dreaming.

Bentota is known for its beaches and indeed the white sand beach here is more beautiful than anything I’ve seen before. I am surprised there are so few people on the beach and I see no one swimming in the ocean. The waves and undertow look powerful and forbidding so perhaps that is why the beach is empty.  We settle in with delight swimming in the amazing pool, reading and anticipating the next Sri Lanka meal but wondering if we are really in Hawaii.

January 23

Madu Granga River Cruise ~ A Buddhist Spiritual Moment

Incredible Breakfasts

Breakfast between us consists of fresh mango, pineapple, melon, papaya, guava and fruit drinks, curd and treacle, hopper, Sri Lankan omelets and chicken curry…we share and sample each other’s food at every meal now exclaiming how good it is.  Hopper seems to everyone's favorite ~ I learn that 'hopper' is the English translation of the Tamil word appa (rice cakes). 

Hoppers and spiced curry

I love the fruits. None of us I seem to like woodapple juice and wonder if this is an acquired taste.  

Amazing mangos

Boat Cruise 

Early this morning we take a boat cruise on the Madu Granga River before it gets too hot. This 2-hour boat trip surprises us with its beauty of the roughly 64 mangrove islands and caves, and the wild life. We are told we will see many purple face monkeys in the trees but actually see only one baby purple face monkey, which is brought to us by a boy in a canoe. I think of our search for leopards in Yala Part and wonder if this boy is just trying to convince us these monkeys do exist.  However, we are excited to see beautiful kingfishers on the tree banks as well as the familiar egrets and cormorants.

Kingfisher 

Mango Cave 

Grocery store on river bank

Growing and harvesting Cinnamon 

We stop at an island and meet a 41-year-old man who says he has lived here for 27 years. He has 4 children, one of whom is selling cinnamon sticks and oil. He does a demonstration of how to get cinnamon from the tree bark as well as cinnamon oil.  

Drying cinnamon under roof 

Cinnamon is native to Sri Lanka and was exported to China and Egypt by Arab traders as early as 2000 BC.  More than 80% of the world’s cinnamon is still grown in Sri Lanka. 




We tour this man’s home, which is made of mud bricks, and I wonder how he has lived here so long or if he just does this as a show for tourists.

Man's mud brick home

Living Room 

Kitchen 

Latrine 

Buddhist Monastery

Our biggest adventure on this trip is our visit to an island with a Buddhist monastery.  It has a small but beautiful temple with a Buddha in it. 

Our guide explains the colors ~ red for lips, yellow for skin, white for teeth, black for hair, and orange for uniform or clothing.

An elderly, tiny woman gives us flowers to place on the altar.  

There is only one monk living in this monastery and he invites us into a room where he has a 150-year-old book make of palm tree leaves. He blesses each of us by doing a chant, attaching a small white string to our wrists and tapping us on the forehead.



This monk touches us all as he connects spiritually with each of us. Our guide suggests we were all Buddhists in our prior life because the monk told him we are different from the usual tourists. 
As we leave, John says, “I have had a spiritual moment”~ I comment that he also had one at the Temple of Tooth  and in  Colombo and he agrees but clarifies that this one is a Buddhist moment and the others were Hindu. 

After our blessing our guide climbs a palm tree to retrieve king coconuts. The monk happily prepares the coconuts for us.  We drink the coconut water (thrambili) feeling refreshed in many ways despite the intense heat. 

Immune Family Restaurant

After this tour we drive into a town near Bentota (Aluthgama), which is alive with the action of shopkeepers and children getting out of school.  We find another local restaurant called Immune Family Restaurant, which has line-ups for food, and decide this must be a good place;  we hope that our immune system is up to the challenge.  

Brinjal (egg plant) Marie's favorite
John and Steve have fish curry, rice and dahl and a brinjal dish ~ the basic Sri Lanka meal.  They are worried the food will be not be spicy enough so order pol sambol a chili and coconut dish so they can add heat to the dish. 

By now we have had many curries, which include a variety of subtle spices such as turmeric, cinnamon, cardamom, coriander, coconut milk and dried fish. 






Marie and I share some of their food but also order fried prawns, which are plentiful. Marie as predicted also asks for brinjal.  

We take half of these buttery, garlic prawns home for the evening hors d’oevres.  We think this might be our best meal yet (although I notice we have said this before) and plan to come back  here the next day.  Our afternoon back in the villa bubble with air conditioning is relaxing and cools us down. We swim laps and exercise in the gym to burn enough calories for the next meal.