24th Sept Anaruhadpura

The pleasure gardens were dry, empty ponds and a bit of rubbish around. Yet a pleasant place for a picnic lunch. The morning had been spent visiting some of the ancient sites. A rock temple, stupas and the most venerated bo tree on the sland. At least 2000 years old it is meant to be the oldest tree in the world. We were surprised how thin and spindly it looked with many branches held up by ornate poles.
Anarhadhpura s one of the three cties included in the trianglar pass. For US$50 you can use the pass also in Sigiriya & Polonnaruwa.Yet the sites are so spread out here many of them aren't included in the pass and are free or quite cheap. It was only at the last one, a seated stone buddha, were we asked to pay either $17 or the $50. The cheaper was for a pass for Anaruhadhpura only. We declined.
The meals at the Ashok Hotel where we are staying are very good but too big. We tried sharing just the one meal but it seemed to be as big as what we ordered for two apart from a little less rice. A clean hotel with excellent staff. Better than most we looked at on our arrival. It has a very progressive owner/manager. When the civil war saw the drying up of overseas tourists Mr N.B. Rathnayaka attracted local business men and families as his client base. Not so much income for him but the cash flow remained. We were the first tourists to have stayed for many months. But it was his staff training that appealed as soon as you entered the door; smiles all around, pleasant greetings and well trained on their job. Senaka, our waiter, came from a small village a good distance from the city. He was young and still learning the job, his English was patchy. Yet he was so attentive to our needs, I happened to put a couple of pieces of poppadoms down on the table cloth, next thing I know they've been whisked away despite my protestations only to have a full bowl of fresh ones placed near me. Joan had finished her meal but hadn't put her knives quite in the '6.30' position on her plate, more like '8.40'. Her plate remained while mine was taken away. It wasn't until I suggested that that was the reason why hers was still there, they thought she was still eating. As soon as they were placed correctly, whoosh! it was gone. Occassionally a longer serving waiter would talk quietly into his ear, giving him a few helpful hints