Some photos of this trip have been posted with more to follow as soon as my honey has the time, probably tonight. www.rtsla.photofreeway.com

We left for Sigiriya on Thursday, as Friday is Vesak, the 2550th anniversary of Buddha’s enlightenment and a public holiday. We had planned to leave at 3:00 but Ron couldn’t get away from work so we left at 5:00, just in time to hit the holiday weekend get-away traffic. It took us 3 hours to go 45 kilometers, about 27 miles! OY! I thought I was going to jump out of my skin. Ron had had the day from hell at work so I was most worried about him, particularly when he wondered aloud as to whether we should even be going. After seven hours of travel we arrived at our hotel at midnight. Ruwan, our driver had to stop at one point and splash cold water on his face as he was getting tried. It turned out that he had been up since 6:00 p.m. the previous day! Ouch! About a half a kilometer before the hotel, there were two cows sleeping in the middle of the road. By contrast we made it home in four and a half hours including a stop to buy veggies at a stand.

Because we arrived so late we decided to sleep in and not climb the rock the first day but visit Polonnaruwa instead. The bad news is we traveled for close to two hours to reach our destination and arrived about 11:30, just in time for the heat of the day. We visited the museum first, then had lunch at a rest house located right on the reservoir that is called a tank or wewa here. The museum was the best I have seen so far and the translations were excellent. And best of all it was air-conditioned. I noticed one of the edicts issued by a king in 1187-96 said ‘Buddhists should be appointed to the throne’. The current president is a devout Buddhists so it continues…

The Sinhalese kings in Anuradhapura used Polonnaruwa as their residence but it did not rank as a capital until the 8th century. The king who was mainly responsible for the design had the tank created that provides cooling breezes through the city, water for irrigation and defense along its entire western flank. This artificial lake is 14 km long and 1 meter deep and irrigates over 90 sq. km of paddy fields. The city was abandoned in 1288. It also is a World Heritage site.

We walked around some of the ruins and realized the heat was too much to endure. Ruwan, our wonderful driver acted as our tour guide as he has been here numerous times from Colombo. We finally decided to bag it as the heat was unbearable but Ruwan wouldn’t hear of it so he drove to another important area and insisted in a very sweet way that we get out of the car and see this part of the city. We were glad he did as we saw some wonderful ruins. He tried one more time but we wouldn’t budge, as our clothes were soaked with sweat. We went back to the hotel, showered and read until diner time.

As this is Vesak, there are colored lanterns everywhere. Most are made from paper, some with very elaborate designs. Ron and I walked around the hotel grounds and he photographed all of them. We then enjoyed a fresh limejuice drink in the bar before eating dinner al fresco. Another very sweet aspect of Vesak is free food and drink. Everywhere we traveled this weekend, there were stands where people would try to flag you drown so you would stop and have a drink or some food. I asked Ruwan about the practice and am not sure if it originally was a custom to serve those who were making a trip to the temple or if it is to earn merit for the next life. Something got lost in translation. We also observed so many families having picnics everywhere we went, often they would ride to their destination in a wagon pulled by a SL tractor, which is basically an engine mounted over two front wheels. We did notice that in this rural area, there was much less litter and garbage strewn about. The exception was the temple at Dambulla was littered with little paper containers of a mix you add to milk. There was litter on the climb up Sigiriya also.

The next morning we got up early and left for Sigiriya at 7:30, bought our tickets and started our climb. I wasn’t sure how I would do but it ended up that Ron had some trouble near the top. He got winded and needed a few minutes to catch his breath before we did the last two flights of stairs. The worst part is some of the stairs are mounted on the side of the rock. I was in a panic as we went up a spiral staircase to view the frescos in the caves. I realized that the staircase was mounted on the side of the rock with iron rods that were drilled into the rock. There was nothing underneath us. I kept wondering if the rods would break and we would go flying into space, landing hundreds of feet below. Not a smart thing to think about when climbing up the side of a rock! I also couldn’t help but think of Betsy Fuller and Ron’s sister Sandi, neither of who care much for heights!

Sigiriya, the royal citadel, was built between 477-485 AD. It is dominated by the vast flat-topped Lion Rock, which rises 600 feet. As well as the palace, the city had quarters the people who built the royal pavilions, pools, and fortifications. The engineering skills required to build the palace, gardens, cisterns and ponds become even more extraordinary when you realize that the site was built in seven years and abandoned after 18 years. The site is also famous for its frescos. It is considered by some to be the eight wonder of the world. It was named a World Heritage site n 1982.

Water is a scare commodity as this is a dry zone. Water was conserved and diverted through pipes and rock cut channels to provide bathing pools for the palace above and to enhance the gardens below with pools and fountains. The water pumps are thought to have been powered by windmills. When the citadel ceased to be a palace it was inhabited by monks until 1155 and then abandoned. Archaeologists rediscovered it in 1828. The ruins and gardens are in good shape as a lot of restoration has bee done here. The views from on top are spectacular. Ron took lots of photos so check them out. Of particular interest are a couple of shots showing the stairs that were carved into the granite that the ancients used. Oy vey!

We went back to the hotel around 9:30, showered, rested and then took off for a very famous hotel in these parts, Kandalama. SL’s famous architect, Geoffrey Bawa, designed it. He built the hotel between a tank (reservoir) and massive rock and it is almost indistinguishable from the surrounding jungle. Check out the photos Ron took photos inside and out while we were there. Bawa literally built the hotel incorporating these massive rocks. He didn’t move them into the hotel but rather built the hotel around the rocks. It is most unusual. We had lunch in the dining room, the most expensive buffet so far at $20 each but the food was excellent and I can’t even begin to tell you how many choices there were. I ate my favorite, rice and curry and splurged and had a couple of desserts and coffee. Yum! Our dear friend Dick Parker said we must spend a night there but t $250 a night, we stayed put at Sigiriya Village. There is also a very exclusive hotel, Elephant Corridor, down the road from where we stayed and they charge up to a $1,000 a night. We didn’t stay there either! More resting and reading. I left the room and looked for birds. Instead I found some fun monkeys.

Sunday morning we got up and checked out of our hotel and headed for Dambulla.
Dambulla is situated on a gigantic granite outcrop that towers more than 160 meters above the surrounding land. The rock is more than 1.5 kilometers around its base and the summit is 550 meters. The caves were the refuge of King Valagambahu when he was in exile for 14 years. When he returned to the throne in the first century BC, he had a magnificent rock temple built at Dambulla. The site has been repaired and repainted several times in the 11th, 12th and 18th centuries.

The caves have a mixture of secular and religious painting and sculpture. The frescos on the walls and ceiling date from the 15th to 18th centuries. The setting is beautiful and the climb much easier and less scary than Sigiriya. There were five small caves, each containing images of Buddha. One had the king’s image and one had some Hindu images. The Buddhists in Sri Lanka have long been tolerant of other religions so it isn’t unusual to see Vishnu or Siva in a Buddhist temple. There is a Buddhist museum below. Ron took a photo as it was unbelievably gaudy but we didn’t visit it as we wanted to get on the road to avoid the traffic jam we had experienced coming to the area. There was a little clothing stall in town where we picked up a few tie dyed things-three shirts and a shirt for $15. HA!

Last night Veena came over to say we should walk down to a nearby major street to see a display of Vesak lanterns. I put on my athletic goes and took off in my shorts. Little did I realize that there would be hundreds of others who were viewing the lanterns, listening to street performances, buying foods from stalls and listening to live and taped music. I was quite embarrassed to be in shorts. Lesson learned! But what a display. It was much like Christmas in the US where you walk around your neighborhood or get in the car ad go to the areas that are known for great displays of Christmas lights. There was a very festive atmosphere in the street. One interesting thing to note is that at every ‘special’ outdoor occasion we have attended in Thailand and here, there is an abundance of loudspeakers with blaring music and dialog at full volume. Remember those speakers we all had in the 70’s that were three-five feet high? Well they all got shipped to SL. You cannot hear yourself think from the noise of announcers and music completing for your attention. The same thing happens when a store is running a promotion. They will set up speakers outside and turn the volume full blast. Someone thinks this is the way to draw in customers. I can’t get near the store as the sound repels me due to the volume. Culture is most interesting isn’t it?

That’s it from the resplendent island in South Asia.