Dambulla – Sigiriya - Polonnaruwa

We checked out and headed to Dambulla, the cave temple. It was already hot when we started our walk up to the temple. The caves at the top date back to the 1st century BC when King Valagam Bahu, driven out of Anaradhapura took refuge in them. When he regained his throne, he had the caves converted into a rock temple.

Another shoe check- and for John, rental of a sarong (no knees showing!). He was quite a sight in his Ralph Lauren polo shirt and a batik skirt!

The photo of him with the temple monkeys was a classic. The monkeys were a riot- sneaking into the temples to stuff their faces with the rice and food left for the Buddha, fighting over coconuts (the people bring an offering to the temple in a coconut – with a candle inside- then crack the coconut on the pavement and the monkeys pick up the pieces). We found a whole pond of Sri Lankan staring frogs.

Dambulla itself was a series of 5 caves containing over 150 Buddha images. The first cave had a 15-meter long reclining Buddha and was filled with people bringing food and flowers- and with a small booth for the Buddhist monk who was chanting. Next door, at the Hindu cave, the Hindi’s were doing a competitive chant for their followers. Halfway down, we stopped at the local antique stand and bought a very cool Buddhist monks’ holy water bronze jar. A deal at $15. What a place!

After a hike down and a cold mineral water, we headed towards Sigirya. It was a huge rock fortress.

Legend has it that in 473 AF King Dhatusena of Anaradhapura was overthrown and walled up alive by his son, Kasyapa (son by a palace consort). His true son, Moggallana (by the queen), fled to India swearing revenge. So, Kasyapa decided to build an impregnable fortress on the huge rock of Sigiriya. He used it as a kind of 5th century penthouse. After his death, it eventually became a monastic refuge.

It was a 200 metre high rock…the first site of the rock fortress brought chills- just knowing that the next step was the walk to the top. The first few minutes were relatively painless- walking through the water gardens that extend from the western foot of the rock…with royal bathing pools, trees.

Then- the stairs began- a series of switchback steps leading up the face of the rock through the boulders- ascending very steeply (with tiny steps—designed for the folks back in 400AD with small feet!).

About half way up the rock was a modern spiral staircase that led to a small gallery in the rock face. Fighting the hordes of people trying to go in both directions on the tiny spiral was quite a feat- but we finally made it to the top. Painted in the niche were a series of women—Sri Lankan ancient pin-up girls- bare-breasted. The Buddhist monks who used the fortress in subsequent years found the paintings quite distracting- and left their graffiti on the mirror wall on the outside of the rock face.

A gentle climb to the next and most challenging part of the climb…At the northern end of the rock was a large platform with two large lions paws (hence the name – Sigirya “Lion Rock”). At one time it was a gigantic brick lion- with the final ascent to the top commencing in his mouth. Today, it’s a sometimes frightening (mostly nauseating) climb on tiny metal stairs to the very top of the rock fortress….definitely not for those with vertigo.

We managed to make it to the top- along with the locals dressed in sari’s and bathroom thongs! The summit covered 1.6 hectares and at one time was covered with buildings- only the foundations are there now. It must have been an enormous pleasure palace- swimming pools, the kings throne.

The way down was much easier- and we topped off our adventure with a very cold beer and tomato soup at the local resthouse.
Everyone was following the 5-day Sri-Lanka/Pakistan cricket game- so getting any help or attention from the local wait staff was a challenge as the waiters congregated around the TV set.
The Sri Lankan script is very strange- it’s Sinhalese- and looks like boiled Chinese noodles…hence our new term for it, “noodle”.

An hour drive through the jungle- we spotted mongoose, porcupines, and jungle fowl. Finally, we made it to our rest house in Polonnaruwa. The rest house was right on the tank- so we had a wonderful water view. The place was also filled with monkeys making a horrible racket on the roof. We had a few drinks with Punchi while he showed us photos of his family and talked about his motorcycle. Dinner was at the resthouse- with the restaurant over the water. The power was a bit tenuous—so we spent most of our dinner eating by candlelight- with frequent power outages.