Dambulla and Sigiriya

We squooshed into the AC bus to Polonnaruwa in order to get the fastest ride to Dambulla, our next destination.

Transportation can be quite an art here, and I know I am good at it because I was a Peace Corps volunteer.  Yvonne has put her trust in me, LOL.  With tuk-tuks, I bargain, and I always ask what they are charging before we get in.  I have my money ready in my hand.  I use my Sinhala always...when they ask how I know Sinhala, I tell them I was a teacher at the university.  This commands respect and gets the reaction I am looking for. Well, I am being melodramatic because every driver, waiter and business person has always given us 100% courtesy here.  Slowly I have dropped the fancy story I can tell about my former life here.

Our first tuk tuk driver was young, friendly and had good English so we went with him for "a package deal", go to our hotel out in the middle of "nowhere", get up early the next day and climb Sigiriya.  Go to ayurevdic massage and steambath. Go to the Royal Rock Temple.

We were pleasantly surprised by the peaceful hotel on a pond in a remote area.  It is gorgeous, the big spacious rooms, new facilities, balcony overlooking the pond and wildlife... We spent the afternoon at the pool which is very clean and it is right next to the pond, so you can sit in the pool and overlook the pond.  They told us there were friendly alligators and from time to time a crocodile, so we kept our eye out for them but never caught sight of any.  Only a few tourists here so it was very relaxing.  http://www.mpsdambulla.com  We also got some of the best curry so far.  The vegetables were very fresh and not overcooked, as they can often be when sitting in curry all day.  The waitstaff were great.  Our main waiter made us box lunches with toast, hardboiled eggs, wrapped pineapple and delivered them at 6:30AM the next day before our departure to climb Sigiriya.

We enjoy the pool at MPS Village.  PERFECT WEATHER, cool, breezy.

SIGIRIYA: watch this awesome Youtube video of our experience!

We set off to climb Sigiriya early while the temps were cool and before the crowds.  Great idea, as it turned out.  The huge rock, the surrounding countryside, the ancient ruins were just as I remembered and even more beautiful.  THIS WAS CERTAINLY THE CLIMAX of our trip to Sri Lanka, time-wise, literally and figuratively.

When you first start out, it is flat plains, and you pass what used to be walls and paths that lead to the big huge rock.  You can see the remnants of an irrigation system that was sophisticated.

You start climbing the foot of the rock, and then a steep winding stairwell that goes up and up the colorful streaks on the cliff until you get to some caves where the beautiful still fresh-looking frescoes of beautiful women (either celestial nymphs or the king's concubines??) holding things like gems.  They are "wasp-waisted" with large sexy breasts.  http://seelanka.net/sigiriya/sigiriya-frescoes.html  Again, the colors and sharpness seem like they were recently painted, not 1600 years ago!

It was after the frescoes, that you climb more steps and arrive at the feet of the lion.  This is the last part of the ascent to the palace on top.  So I heard from a tour guide that now they believe that at first this was King Kassapa's fortress and palace, once quite grand but now mostly rubble.  It was very secure from enemies because they would remove scaffolding to prevent anyone from reaching the top.  The King would be carried by ropes up and down the rock to his palace.  Later this place was probably a monastery.

the foot of the Lion

NOW ON TOP--in the so called palace.  We could find the place that was likely the throne...various rooms, etc.

These men were reconstructing the brick wall on top.  I chatted with them.  They were contracted to work for 8 months.  It was hard work because they carried bricks and supplies up the rock on their backs, but also there is a pulley system to bring up supplies.  I asked if I could work there too, they said, "Okay sure!"

Many on the top sat and pondered the experience and the view, quite a few tourists, mostly European.
We enjoyed the cool, strong breeze.  I think Yvonne and I will remember these moments all of our lives.  You need these type of experiences to not only mark time and changes in life, but also to have some clear memories of different points in your history once you move into old age.  So you don't forget important things and what "the living of life" really felt like.

Going down we still encountered some interesting places, like this "audience hall" where the King held performances.  You can see where he probably sat too.

the audience hall

And this was a meditation room they think, from when it was a monastery.

The fee was to enter and climb this historical site was exhorbitant on Lankan standards.  40$ per person.  Nothing cost this much on our entire trip.  We hope they are using the money wisely to preserve this site.

So at the foot of the site, we encountered another "snake charmer" trying to drum up some business. I talked him down from 500 rupees to 300 to make his cobra dance for us.

DAMBULLA

Dambulla is quite the bustiling town, it still not big enough to have an official bus stand.  (You hae to wait on the main road and catch a bus en route somewhere.)  I had almost no recollection of coming here until I was at the entrance of "the rock temple", the Golden Temple according to UNESCO.

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/561
There is a big and touristy entrance with lots of big plaster lotuses and monk statues...then you climb some stairs and go up big rocks to the amazing rock/cave temples form 100BC.

The entrance

We had to cover our legs (as we did to enter the Tooth Temple) with our sarongs to show respect to Buddha.

You enter five different "chapels" or sanctuaries...a series of caves.  Several are quite large.  The walls and ceilings are covered with detailed paintings to include paintings of Buddha, monks, kings, and then patterns that are almost hypnotic and probably great for meditation.  The colors are still quite vivid to be as old as they are, but the dimlight helps with that.

This large reclining Buddha was in the first sanctuary...there was another similar one in a different cave.  They fill the room and give you a "breath-holding" feeling to include dark shadows and somberness.

Inside the caves at Dambulla

Of course afterward, you can't help but get captivated by the antics of the little monkeys, especially the babies.  But never did they try to grab our things like I remember from before.  They kept to munching their lotus flowers.