About Sri Lankan lunches, Buddhist teachings .....
Door: Maartje
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22 Juli 2010 | Sri Lanka, Talpe
About Sri Lankan lunches, Buddhist teachings, country homes and more....
Thursday July 22nd 2010
On Tuesday night we visit Danielle and David at their country house. They own the Lime House Villa, but live in the Paddy house out in the rice fields. This house is even more amazing than the Lime House. The Lime House is more of a mansion, the Paddy house is a lovely country home. The view over the rice paddies, the wild life, the dusk that fell… Sara says: “ I have a view but it feels like I am standing in the view” (cannot really explain it, but it was an amazing view). We have a beer and Danielle shows us the second home they bought, which they are patching up and will move into and then let out the Paddy House. I could easily live in the Paddy house, there are no words to describe it, take my word for it….
We leave around 7 and went for dinner at Wijaya’s.
Yesterday (Wednesday) we visit with Chandimo Thero. His name was given to us by Rebecca and we go to his temple for a lunch invitation. He’s a very sweet natured monk. Again we are chanted to, blessed and shown around the temple which was full of Buddha’s images and told the story of Buddha’s life. Lunch was quite an experience. Here people invite you and watch you eat. They don’t eat (or maybe the monks don’t eat with lay people (lay = non monk), but we sit down and have tea and cakes. AFTER tea and cakes lunch comes and all this at noon (right after breakfast). We are so full, but you don’t really turn down food here. After lunch we sit with Thero for at least 1.5 hrs and have him explain some basic Buddhist philosophy. It does vary from the Tibetan philosophy, but not much.
It is a very interesting afternoon and we really do enjoy it. For dinner we opt for Unawatuna’s King Fisher. The only local hang-out the expats here like. And we now know why. DJ, GREAT food, bon fire on the beach and an almost full moon make this a super comfortable and relaxing night.
Today we are invited for lunch at the Talpe Temple. We go in the morning so we can see miss Mala and the children. It is great fun to see all the materials we bought are being put to good use! Cutting away with their newly bought scissors the children are making all these cute little handy craft thingies. We help her clean up and she invites us for tea at her house tomorrow after school. At noon we are invited to lunch. Again a table so full of food it could feed at least us two and 10 other monks, but no, it is just for us two. 5 monks are standing beside the table watching us eat until their own lunchtime comes and they leave. Big Thero takes a full plate and leaves as well. So much for having lunch with him, haha. I do think it has to do with the “lay people” thing, but I am not sure. All in all it is again, an amazing experience. After lunch we it on our couch in his office and are sang to in Sanskrit and Pali (both old languages) by this young monk who has the voice of an angel. After we talk to some of the monks about some Buddhist books that are around, about their school work (Rebecca, we warned them you are coming and to follow up on their homework haha) and about the Pail, Sengalese and Sanskrit languages. We are both given a book in Pali and Sanskrit with the Buddha’s teachings in it. Luckily it has the English translation at the bottom of each page. We leave in the afternoon for some Wijaya beach lounging where Claudia and the kids turn up. She books us a room at Arugam Bay (so we don’t have to worry about that) and ask Sudu to book us a private van to drive us from here to Tissa, Yala and Arugam Bay. All taken care of. One tiny annoyance, there are no pin machines in Arugam Bay so we have to pin 300 euros worth of RPS, which means holding about 200 bills (IF provided in 2000 RPS each). One feels like a millionaire, when maybe just holding no more than 50 Euros.
We’re in the internet café now, soon we’ll go out and buy Miss Mala a gift and we just bought tennis balls for her son to play cricket with on the beach.
I have no idea when I can get online again. Probably not for a while, as Arugam Bay doesn’t have an internet connection.
Look up at the sky on the night of the 25th and I’ll see the same full moon from our night Safari camp in Yala National park.
Love,
M&S
Thursday July 22nd 2010
On Tuesday night we visit Danielle and David at their country house. They own the Lime House Villa, but live in the Paddy house out in the rice fields. This house is even more amazing than the Lime House. The Lime House is more of a mansion, the Paddy house is a lovely country home. The view over the rice paddies, the wild life, the dusk that fell… Sara says: “ I have a view but it feels like I am standing in the view” (cannot really explain it, but it was an amazing view). We have a beer and Danielle shows us the second home they bought, which they are patching up and will move into and then let out the Paddy House. I could easily live in the Paddy house, there are no words to describe it, take my word for it….
We leave around 7 and went for dinner at Wijaya’s.
Yesterday (Wednesday) we visit with Chandimo Thero. His name was given to us by Rebecca and we go to his temple for a lunch invitation. He’s a very sweet natured monk. Again we are chanted to, blessed and shown around the temple which was full of Buddha’s images and told the story of Buddha’s life. Lunch was quite an experience. Here people invite you and watch you eat. They don’t eat (or maybe the monks don’t eat with lay people (lay = non monk), but we sit down and have tea and cakes. AFTER tea and cakes lunch comes and all this at noon (right after breakfast). We are so full, but you don’t really turn down food here. After lunch we sit with Thero for at least 1.5 hrs and have him explain some basic Buddhist philosophy. It does vary from the Tibetan philosophy, but not much.
It is a very interesting afternoon and we really do enjoy it. For dinner we opt for Unawatuna’s King Fisher. The only local hang-out the expats here like. And we now know why. DJ, GREAT food, bon fire on the beach and an almost full moon make this a super comfortable and relaxing night.
Today we are invited for lunch at the Talpe Temple. We go in the morning so we can see miss Mala and the children. It is great fun to see all the materials we bought are being put to good use! Cutting away with their newly bought scissors the children are making all these cute little handy craft thingies. We help her clean up and she invites us for tea at her house tomorrow after school. At noon we are invited to lunch. Again a table so full of food it could feed at least us two and 10 other monks, but no, it is just for us two. 5 monks are standing beside the table watching us eat until their own lunchtime comes and they leave. Big Thero takes a full plate and leaves as well. So much for having lunch with him, haha. I do think it has to do with the “lay people” thing, but I am not sure. All in all it is again, an amazing experience. After lunch we it on our couch in his office and are sang to in Sanskrit and Pali (both old languages) by this young monk who has the voice of an angel. After we talk to some of the monks about some Buddhist books that are around, about their school work (Rebecca, we warned them you are coming and to follow up on their homework haha) and about the Pail, Sengalese and Sanskrit languages. We are both given a book in Pali and Sanskrit with the Buddha’s teachings in it. Luckily it has the English translation at the bottom of each page. We leave in the afternoon for some Wijaya beach lounging where Claudia and the kids turn up. She books us a room at Arugam Bay (so we don’t have to worry about that) and ask Sudu to book us a private van to drive us from here to Tissa, Yala and Arugam Bay. All taken care of. One tiny annoyance, there are no pin machines in Arugam Bay so we have to pin 300 euros worth of RPS, which means holding about 200 bills (IF provided in 2000 RPS each). One feels like a millionaire, when maybe just holding no more than 50 Euros.
We’re in the internet café now, soon we’ll go out and buy Miss Mala a gift and we just bought tennis balls for her son to play cricket with on the beach.
I have no idea when I can get online again. Probably not for a while, as Arugam Bay doesn’t have an internet connection.
Look up at the sky on the night of the 25th and I’ll see the same full moon from our night Safari camp in Yala National park.
Love,
M&S
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23 Juli 2010 - 07:36
Rebecca:
Sounds like you're having a ball, ladies! SO glad.
The 'watching you eat' thing is such a strange experience. It's actually a Sri Lankan custom & not to do with the Monks vs. Layman thing. The idea is the guests must eat their fill & be waited on/served as a gesture of kindness & great hospitality. Only then will others partake. That enormous amount of food was guzzled by the watching Monks will be finished once you were! & I SO relate to being totally full the ENTIRE time! Boy, do those guys chow!!
Love & thoughts & travel safe. Rxx
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26 Juli 2010 - 08:10
Stijntje:
ik kreeg een berichtje van je waarbenjij.nu, dat je vakantie er bijna op zit en dat ik je een warm onthaal moest gaan geven, rare website...volgens mij mag je nog heerlijk anderhalve week vakantie vieren ;-) x stijntje
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