Elephants, temples then beach.

After spending 3 days in Habarana, in the center of the area that's been dubbed the "cultural triangle" of Sri Lanka, we found our way to Kalpitiya, on the west coast of the country, known for its kite surfing, dolphins and reefs. 

Yesterday, we saw Polonnaruwa, an ancient city that is now in ruins, but previously was the center of power for the ruling King starting in the year 1070.  It is a huge site and it took us a few hours to walk through everything. We took a tuk tuk from our hotel about an hour east.  Tuk Turks are great for cooling off in between hot ruins!  Below are some pictures from our visit. 

A toque macaque hangs out in a tree (and that's not all that's hanging out). There is a huge population of these critters there and we came back to the tuk tuk once to find two shaking it down, looking for things to steal. I guess this is quite common. 

The art of carrying things on your head is still going strong here. Next time we go camping, I'm going to ask Tom to bring back the firewood this way. 

Many offerings are left inside the ruins. 

Impressive halls. The guard is here to make sure all shoes and hats are removed before entering. Many of the temple ruins are considered religious sites and these must be taken off out of respect. 

Bowls of oil and incense burning on a makeshift altar outside a stupa. I snapped this picture right before we realized we were standing in a fire ant colony, without shoes, of course. Ouch, we both got stings. 

Foot wash stations.  

So many prayer flags exist in this country, where 80% of the population is Buddhist. 

We also took a very short "safari" to a closeby national park to see Asian elephants. I put safari in quotes because if you've ever been on a real African Safari, this is a bit laughable to be marketed as one. But it was nice to get out and ride in a jeep and enjoy the scenery and wind. We found a few elephants inside the park, including this family, complete with three babies of different ages, a mom and dad. 

But after we left the park, we found this group alongside the road. 

Including this guy with cool ears. 

We had a great stay in Habarana at Mutu Village. I highly recommend it, very friendly and helpful owner. We have five nights left in Sri Lanka, and four of those will be spent in Kalpitiya, at a nice little beach resort with about 6 rooms, a pool, a good bit of beach on the Indian Ocean, and COLD beverages. Oh, and ice for Tom. He's been jonsing for it since we arrived and very few places have it. We hope to see Dolphins, maybe blue whales, do some snorkeling or diving on their reef and maybe some kite surfing. 

It faces west, so there are sure to be spectacular sunsets as well. Ahhhh....  Happy leap day!