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Speaker 1: You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack team podcast

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Speaker 1: from News Talks at b A.

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Speaker 2: Travel correspondent, Mike Yardley has been having a few issues,

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Speaker 2: which is very unlike him given and it's remarkable really,

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Speaker 2: given he travels the world constantly that he's usually able

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Speaker 2: to connect to us. He's here, we got have we

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Speaker 2: got my gap?

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Speaker 3: There?

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Speaker 2: He is?

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Speaker 4: Good morning, Jack.

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Speaker 2: Oh sorry, don't apologize. Yeah, no, I you go.

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Speaker 3: I was just going to say, I know we're talking

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Speaker 3: to Sri Lanka. I'm actually in Disneyland and I did

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Speaker 3: a very stupid thing and I misplaced my phone an

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Speaker 3: hour ago, which is in the process of apparently being

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Speaker 3: dispatched to Lost and Found.

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Speaker 2: Mike, that is the worst feeling a losing your phone.

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Speaker 4: I know.

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Speaker 2: Suddenly you realize how woefully dependent we are.

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Speaker 4: On these things. Well, I'm glad.

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Speaker 2: I'm glad that we've found a technical workaround with you

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Speaker 2: in yes, but fear to say that, at least for today,

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Speaker 2: it's not the happiest place on.

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Speaker 4: Earth for you, exactly.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Okay, Well, look, we are talking Sri Lanka this morning,

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Speaker 2: and we loved your tips for Gaul last week, but

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Speaker 2: we're looking at some of the World Heritage sites and

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Speaker 2: wildlife in Sri Lanka. So let's start off with some

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Speaker 2: of the World Heritage bits tell us about darm Buller.

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Speaker 3: This is the most amazing place. Jackets the start of

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Speaker 3: what they call the Cultural Triangle, and this is an

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Speaker 3: area that encompasses all of Sri Lanka's greatest World Heritage treasures.

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Speaker 3: So the dumb Baller Rock Temple. It has been a

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Speaker 3: Buddhist pilgrimage site for over two thousand years and it's

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Speaker 3: considered Sri Lanka's best preserved ancient edifice. It's this massive

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Speaker 3: cave temple complex which was carved by monks, and these

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Speaker 3: caves huddle under this vast, overhanging rock and geniously they

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Speaker 3: carved a dripline into that rock so that their interiors

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Speaker 3: would stay bone dry. And oh my goodness, it's like

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Speaker 3: an ancient art gallery. These caves over one hundred and

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Speaker 3: fifty bodist statues. There's a huge reclining border. There was

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Speaker 3: one cave jack I went into and the ceiling is

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Speaker 3: just covered in fifteen hundred border paintings and may all

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Speaker 3: flawlessly follow the contours of the rock. It is absolutely enthralling.

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Speaker 3: An inster picnic.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that sounds amazing. So tell us about Lion Rock.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, this ancient rock kingdom was the shortest lived but

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Speaker 3: the most staggering of all of Sri Lanka's ancient capital.

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Speaker 3: So it's also known as Sagidia, but better known as

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Speaker 3: Lion Rock. And it's this massive towering monolith, a bit

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Speaker 3: like Ularou, but higher, and it's got a flat top summit.

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Speaker 3: And this king called Kushipar he turned it into a

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Speaker 3: fortress kingdom about fifteen hundred years ago, and he decorated

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Speaker 3: the rock walls with frescoes, and he built a pleasure

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Speaker 3: palace on the summit that was only accessible through the

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Speaker 3: mouth of a massive carved lion. So I hauled my

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Speaker 3: way up the twelve hundred steps cut into the rock

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Speaker 3: face in the steep start between a pair of lion

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Speaker 3: paws which have been carved into the base of the rock.

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Speaker 3: And at one time the stairs led through the open

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Speaker 3: mouth of this lion's head, crouching between the paws. It's

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Speaker 3: all very James Bond in a Boddhist sort of way.

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Speaker 2: Why was he considered a crazy king?

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Speaker 3: Oh my goodness, mad is a hatter, a miglomaniac and paranoid.

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Speaker 3: He actually overthrew his father and buried his father alive

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Speaker 3: to assume the throne. I know, I mean just she

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Speaker 3: very extreme. He apparently historians reckon he had five hundred

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Speaker 3: women up in his pleasure.

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Speaker 4: Palace to leisure him.

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Speaker 3: And you can see their bathing ponds down at the

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Speaker 3: base of the rock, because those bathing ponds are part

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Speaker 3: of what is considered Asia's oldest surviving landscaped gardens, so

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Speaker 3: they sort of just unfurl like a blanket from the

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Speaker 3: base of the rock. And another amazing feature, Jack, there

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Speaker 3: is this enormous boulder down in those gardens. This boulder,

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Speaker 3: I reckon, would be the size of a three or

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Speaker 3: four story high house, and it was cut in half

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Speaker 3: horizontally the boulder so that it forms sort of like

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Speaker 3: an amphitheater for the king as an audience sort of hare.

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Speaker 3: But how did they do that cutting this boulder fifteen

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Speaker 3: hundred years ago? And that's the question that just keeps

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Speaker 3: needling it you as you go to line rock all

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Speaker 3: over it.

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Speaker 4: How did they do it?

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Speaker 2: Amazing? And you checked out another ancient capital mate.

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Speaker 3: Yes, pollon as she hod on, I'll get this right,

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Speaker 3: Polona Ruer and this was an ancient capital eight hundred

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Speaker 3: years ago before the power base shifted to Colombo. And

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Speaker 3: it's a bit like a mini ankle watch Jack. So

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Speaker 3: it's been liberated from the jungle, and it just brims

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Speaker 3: with tombs and temples and statues and stoopas the centerpieces.

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Speaker 3: This flamboy and butadage, which is a superbly decorated circular

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Speaker 3: stone shrine, and there's this huge bodder statue at its heart.

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Speaker 4: It's just drop dead gorgeous.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that sounds gorgeous. So sound sounds amazing. What about

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Speaker 2: the primates? Are they prolific in that part of the world.

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Speaker 3: Well, as much as I enjoy admiring lost cities, Jack,

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Speaker 3: I was constantly distracted by the primates. So if you're

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Speaker 3: up with your Disney knowledge, Polona Ruher was actually the

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Speaker 3: inspiration for Disney's Monkey Kingdom movie because it's considered the

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Speaker 3: best place in the country to get up close with

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Speaker 3: Sri Lanka's three diurnal primates. They've got the purple faced

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Speaker 3: leaf monkey, the Tokma Cac and the absurdly delightful tufted

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Speaker 3: gray linger. I love those langers. They're all full of

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Speaker 3: mischief and they certainly know how to work a room.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I love the monkeys. They're amazing. Do you

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Speaker 2: have to watch your stuff? Do they get that close?

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Speaker 4: Yeah? Absolutely, fearless.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, you've got to be smart because they will.

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Speaker 2: They're always cunning, aren't they.

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Speaker 4: They know how.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, take advantage of a distract good tourist.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, like a gang of muggers.

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Speaker 2: Totally. So, speaking of wildlife, what national part would you

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Speaker 2: recommend for Safari?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a good question because there are quite a

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Speaker 3: few that are all well regarded. But my pick would

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Speaker 3: be Uda wa Lawi because it's heaving with six hundred elephants.

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Speaker 3: And the interesting thing about the Shri Lunkan elephant jack

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Speaker 3: is it's the biggest of all the Asian elephants, and

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Speaker 3: they've got herds at Uda Waalawie of fifty elephants, you know,

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Speaker 3: and one herd, so it is majesty. Writ large fun fact,

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Speaker 3: by the way, the average Sri Lunkan elephant guzzles down

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Speaker 3: two hundred liters of water a day, Isn't it amazing?

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Speaker 3: So after after a lot of trunk time, we also

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Speaker 3: swooned over mongooses and jackals and water monitors who aren't

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Speaker 3: monitoring the elephant's intake, by the way, lots of crops, sloth,

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Speaker 3: be bears. We even drove over most unfortunately a six

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Speaker 3: meter python.

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Speaker 4: Oh no, oh, I know.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: The only disappointment, Jack, by the way, was the elusive leopard,

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Speaker 3: very well named in Sri Lanka because he did indeed

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Speaker 3: elude us. But apparently he's not so elusive that at

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Speaker 3: some of the other national parks. So I'll have to

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Speaker 3: go back for a second serving.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, indeed, Oh that sounds so good. Though. We're going

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Speaker 2: to put all of your tips for tripping around Sri

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Speaker 2: Lanka's World Heritage and Wildlife on the website. So if

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Speaker 2: they found your phone, if they traveled down.

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Speaker 3: The Samsung Find your Phone service indicates it's still in Disneyland,

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Speaker 3: So I've got I've got a cast of Disney stars,

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Speaker 3: all apparently ferreting out of its supposed geographic whereabouts.

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Speaker 2: Very good, Okay, well, good luck, good luck. Such a

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Speaker 2: pain in the butt. But we'll be thinking of you,

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Speaker 2: crossing our fingers and hope the hoping that we can

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Speaker 2: call you this next week. Thanks so much, Mike. That's

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Speaker 2: Mike Audley, a travel correspondent.

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Speaker 1: For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame. Listen live

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Speaker 1: to News Talks ed B from nine am Saturday, or

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