Afternoon Tea, Yes, Please!

As a Brit, I love a good cuppa! In Germany I tend to drink coffee because I don’t like the taste of the milk from here (and yes, I have tried all sorts) and of course Ceylon tea is amongst the best in the world! I sauntered off to sketch in Sri Lanka in a local small temple not imagining I'd be served piping hot Ceylon tea from a buddhistic monk! Sounds like something out of a surrealist film, yep it was! 

After asking in the hotel if it would be OK to pop into the temple, I checked the dress code (bare headed, barefoot and knees/shoulders covered) I popped off. On entering the compound I realised it was really small and comprised a small stupa (dome) and the meditation area surrounding a bo tree, holy to the Buddhists. Not seeing anyone, I settled down to sketch! It was amazingly quiet and not a person in sight! On the right was a statue of Buddha and in the shrine surrounding the bo tree on the left was another statue of Buddha. I had read that in Sri Lanka T-shirts or clothing with the image of Buddha are forbidden and likewise tattoos with images of Buddha have to be covered up, as I couldn’t ask if it were disrespectful to sketch the statues, I decided to leave them.

Suddenly, the heavens opened and there was an almighty downpour (hoping this was not because I'd insulted Buddha in any way), I ran for the cover of the veranda. Quietly an elderly Buddhist monk appeared, and greeted me in German! To make great surprise he had spent two years in Germany, he then offered me a cup of tea. Now I was swithering, do I say yes, is that polite, do I say no …. before I could answer he appeared with a small tray, upon it was a steaming cup of tee, three bananas and some local sweet meats in tiny paper rolls, and there I was drinking tea in the presence of a Buddhist monk, not something that happens every day. 

In Sri Lanka tea is drunk with milk and very sweet, I normally don’t take sugar but I must say it tasted delicious or maybe it was just my heavenly surroundings! Although traffic was roaring past the gates and the trains thundered past, the afternoon was incredibly peaceful and very unusual. Not every day do you get served tea by a 

German speaking monk swathed in his burgundy robes. That’s definitely one for the special memories book!