Sri Lanka Trip - Day 3: A delightful gem

Day 3. 3rd May. Mihintale


Mihintale was the place where Buddhism began in Sri Lanka. Even though it had enormous significance, I thought it was a small place and we could probably finish visiting it in a couple of hours. Against my expectations, it turned out to be a very delightful place and we ended up spending more time there then we originally planned.

After a simple breakfast of rotis and (bad-tasting) coffee, we took a bus from near the clock tower at Anuradhapura to Mihintale (Rs24 per person). It's a short journey (about 30 mins), but strenuous when you don't have a seat (the driver's a bit crazy and you need to get a good grip as you sway in the bus).

Before going up the stairs up the hill, we first passed by the ruins of a hospital. The pilgrims did not seem interested in the hospital ruins and we were the only ones there. The main object of interest was the coffin-like medical bath.

There were lots of vendors selling lotus flowers (Rs10 each, about SGD $0.13 each) on the way up the hill. I bought 10 to make offerings.

The first flight of stairs were wide and nicely lined with flowering fragipani trees. On the way up, we were distracted by the ruins of the relic house, assembly hall and refectory.

When we finally reached the top, we found an active place of worship of delightful tropical charm. There was an entrance fee for foreigners, but I thought it was reasonable compared to other places (Rs250 at Mihintale, compared with Rs500 at Aukana Buddha and US$10 at Dambulla Cave Temple).

There were a lot of shady palm trees surronding the Ambatthala Dagoba. There were dogs and deers resting around the sandy grounds. White-clothed pilgrims sit around in quiet prayers. It had a lazy tropical feel, very peaceful and mediative.

Getting to the top of the Rock of Invitation, we get a nice view of the Mihintale. My friend Sheung was afraid of heights, but he managed to get to the top nonetheless. There was also a big Buddha statue overlooking the Ambatthala Dagoba.

We trekked (barefooted) to Mahinda's Cave which was now fenced up and infested with monkeys.

By the time we got up to big Mahaseya Stupa, it was past noon. The problem was that the stone floor was now baked blistering hot. On the way up, we basically had to run from one shaded spot to another. But at the top, there were no shaded spots and it was a big stupa with a big circumference....

I would like to say I circumambulated the stupa (walking clockwise round it), but it was really an undignified and unmindful running and hopping round the stupa.... (There were more of such dashful runs round stupas for the next few days and I got blisters under my right foot).

There was a temple at the base of the stupa with a statue of a standing Buddha and a reclining Buddha. I found that this seemed to be a standard feature in most big stupa/dagobas in Sri Lanka. The only thing I did not like was the way the monks or care-taker would demand a "donation".

On our way down we check out a few more ruins like the Sinha Pokuna (Lion's Pool).

Then we went down the old road and went to the Kaludiya Pokuna (Black Water Pool). We had not seen a single foreign tourist at Mihintale (In fact, we had not met any foreign tourist since we left Negombo), and at the Kaludiya Pokuna, there were not even local pilgrims. We basically had the whole place to ours. There was only a lady doing laundry and bathing by the pool. The sun and the heat was basically giving us an headache. The water really looked inviting, except that we did not have our sarongs with us. But that gave us the idea and we started to bring sarongs and bathing shorts with us as we move around the next few days.

Sheung decided to take a nap by the pool under the shade. I spied an interesting black bird which would dive into the water for minutes before surfacing again. We spent quite some time exploring the area, looking for old urinal stone as well as the meditation seat.

I suspect the Kaludiya Pokuna is rarely visited, but I would recommend exploring it if you have time.

Most people visit Mihintale as a day trip from Anuradhapura. The only sleeping place in the guidebook is Hotel Mihintale which is US$30 and above. However, I saw that there was a place next Wijaya Garden Hotel next to the bus stop which looked like a budget place. It would be nice to stay in Mihintale and it will give you a more leisurely visit as well as the possibility of visiting it at dawn or sunset.

We took another bus back to Anuradhapura. This time, we found out what it really meant by be in a crowded bus. The bus was packed like sardines. We have our bodies pressed against each other. Those sitting was similarly pressed by those standing and had to carry the bags for those standing (it is quite interesting to see that some times those standing would hand their bags to sitting strangers and those sitting would quite willingly carry take the bags too). In fact, the conductor asked one of those sitting to carry Sheung's bag.

When we finally got back to Anuradhapura, it was late to visit Issaramuni temple (which was our original plan). We loaded up on water at a grocery shop (we were getting pretty dehydrating). The shops were selling laterns for Vesak celebration and I bought some paper laterns from a bookstore. I walked into another shop and bought a sarong with a nice print for Rs500. The shops were all closed early. I was not into shopping -- but I did want to look for a wood-carved stupa to add to my collection. The strange thing was, I had not seen souvenir shops, nor have I encountered many vendors selling souvenirs/toys. My guess was that the tourist industry was probably quite badly hit by the civil war that was going on.

After a simple dinner, we headed back to the guesthouse. From the guesthouse, I could see the lit dagoba in the Mihintale as a small triangle of light in the distance. Mihintale was one of my favourite sites for this trip.