Tissa Day three

Today hasn't quite panned out a planned. Initially we set off to visit the local Temple which like previous ones is Buddhist. We had also mentioned to Saji , who is Buddhist, that the Hindu one sounded very interesting but this vanished like vapour as he mapped out a logical progression geographically. We drove to the Lake which was on our way to elsewhere . This is a huge lake created by the reigning Monash in the 1st century BC as a water supply. It was then restored and had the capacity increased by the British in the 1850's. It makes a restful centre piece to a busy town. The temple was photographed from the outside as Bob was wearing shorts which didn't cover his knees. I knew this decorum related to women's dress but hadn't realised that it applied to men also. While we were standing admiring the building which was interesting I noted a young man ignore the protocol and stroll in. This obviously happens but not on Saji's watch. The temple was interesting because it had a rectangular Stupa compared to all the others we had seen which were round. This may be because it was built in the 3rd Century BC and was governed by the technology of the time. From there we went downtown and indulged in a bit of shopping. Because we bought locally produced items it was very reasonable. It remains to be seen how successful our purchases will be. For lunch we dined at what Saji said was a genuine Sri Lankan restaurant as opposed to a tourist one. The vegetable side dishes for our curry and rice were certainly more varied and one of them was the spiciest we have eaten. We went vegetarian which seemed the safest as there were a few flies buzzing around. No repercussions yet. The plan was to return to the hotel for a rest and the Saji would collect us at 4pm to go to The Hindu temple. However he phoned us at about 2pm quite distressed because his family had phoned to say his mother was ill with chest pains. He was obviously worried and naturally wanted to go home. He has arranged another car and driver for us who will hopefully turn up at 10am tomorrow to take us to Galle. He came around as he was leaving because our rain jackets were in the car and so that we could give him his tip for his work until then. He was a cheerful young man who was a good driver but didn't know much more than Google did about the towns we have visited. Bob is currently swatting up on Galle because we have four nights there and the driver is an unknown quantity. He is being supplied by the original travel agency that recruited Saji so there is some reliability in that history.

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