Matt & Maria’s Trip to Sri Lanka 2018 - Part 3
Day 6 - 17th December 2018 - Dambulla / Dambulla Caves
08:00 pickup today, so check out early and meet our “guide” / driver Sumi in his old Toyota. If the Toyota has suspension then Sumi & myself use most of it, and Maria’s packing the rest. Sumi’s a decent guy and provides us with some information on our way out of Colombo. He also lets slip that Walker’s Tours had indeed forgotten us and he was pulled in at the last moment.
Enroute we stop of for tea at side road cafe and are treated to some halapa, which was very sweet, too sweet for me. However we probably needed this after having been repeatedly driven off the road (literally) by trucks and government red buses!
Our second stop (after a total of 4hrs driving) is the Dambulla caves, were I changed in to long pants (trousers) for a 300 step hike. Here we encounter our first real monkeys 🐒 (Mekak).
The hike didn’t cause any real issues and we both arrived at the top ready to remove our footwear. Me being a cheapskate decide not to pay the 25 Rps and placed my shoes 👞 in an open area.
The caves were impressive; “dead” Buddhas, sleeping 😴 Buddhas, roof art etc. Another chance to experiment with my camera 📷, and we found a theme for our photos, “peek-a-bool”. On returning to pick our shoes the had disappeared, only to have been gathered up by the attendants, so I still had to pay my 25 Rps each.
Back down to meet Sumi and off to the hotel around the corner. Dambulla is a central city where the central fruit market is situated. It is here were the prices are set for the fruit for the whole country, it is a 24 hour market and city.
Hotel check in is smooth, but Sumi advice's us not to use the hotel safe! To the room, 15 min rest and of to the pool for some rays (not stingrays - fish or drink). At 16:15 I have enough sun, but also the buffalo appear, so I head to the bar for some lion beer and buffalo watching while Maria snores by the pool. The buffalo 🐃 are great and provide a real treat by wading across the lake. The big problem is that I do not have the camera 📷.
End up chatting to some old fella at the bar!
Back to room, bath, dinner, bed 🛏.
Day 7 - 18 December 2018 - Polonnaruwa / Eco National Park & ELEPHANTS
After a good kip and 08:30 start (Sumi originally said our starts would be 10:30) we head of to the Polonnaruwa ruins, circa 12 century ruins. After a good snooze on the way we see some ruins, take artful photos and head off to lunch. The ruins are great, just dated (highly recommended though, especially if you want to walk around stupa’s in bare feet 🦶 🦶,or socks 🧦 🧦 in our case).
Lunch takes us to a paddy field for vegetarian curry of mutilated chicken curry. Touristy, naff, but pleasant. Maria manages to get some fab pictures of me here.
Now for the good stuff, elephants 🐘. On the way to Polonnaruwa we saw our first elephant 🐘 eating / bathing in a small lake. For us this was exciting. On our return from Polonnaruwa we encountered more elephants along the road. These guys almost grabbed Maria, but thought better of it! Real close encounter.
To pick up our safari guide we head of to the Cinnamon Lodge hotel, were we meet Shanta. Shanta speaks good English and is a great guide. He eagerly points out birds 🦅 etc (to our surprise we find out that we our not twitchers nor are we ornithologists). It is not long before the big guys turn up. A couple are spotted in the bush and we head off around behind them getting away from other jeeps on he safari. We have a number of different encounters finding a month old with mother as well as a herd of over 30. The elephants were majestic but the humans not so much. Jeeps would box the elephants in and follow along too closely. Our driver / ranger was a bit more considerate and keep respectful distance.
Overall the experience was awesome!
Back too the hotel after dark and we head for dinner and a drink.
Day 8 - 19th December 2018 - Sigiriya Rock (Lions Rock) / Batik “factory”
07:00 start today to make the 1302 to 1502 step climb to the top of Sigiriya rock. Having made my medical discovery on Saturday, I feel that I am capable and head of enthusiastically. While I climb the rock Maria is going to pamper herself with a massage and traditional Sri Lankan treatments and heads of to Suwa Madre and meets Deepa.
Arrive at Sigiriya at 08:00 and it is already becoming busy, so I head of straight away without dwadling. It is a descent climb along narrow steps, cliff edge ramps, spiral stair cases and steep inclines (all in days work for me though). The Lions paws near the top are impressive and really the only items remaining of note. The view from the topics also impressive, even when a little misty.
15 to 20 minutest the top and back down. In the carpark by 09:30 waiting for Maria and Sumi to pick me up. They will not be around to 11:00 so I have time to rest and watch the mekak, also buy some pajama pants for 1,000 Rps bartered down from 1,750 Rps (still overpaid though).
Sumi duly arrives at 11:00 and of we head to the Batik “factory”, otherwise known as a tourist shopping stop. We listen to the information before they try to sell us overpriced priced garments, needless to say we left empty handed.
Day 9 - 20th December 2018 Enroute to Kandy via Spice Garden and Silk “Factory”
Today it is an 08:00 start (what happen the sensible 10:30 starts Sumi mentioned). Anyway we leave Dumballa and head towards Kandy with me snoozing in the back. About 40 mins out from Kandy we visit the Spice Garden where we meet Ayesh our friendly local herbal doctor. Ayesh does a great job of explaining all the wonders of the herbal lotions,oils and pills along with a back massage for the two of us that we leave fully laden having spent a small fortune for all our aches and pains (in three months nobody will recognise us, we will be so fit, youthful and radiant). Some shopping trips do work!
The next one doesn’t, but Altea St we had photos in a sari and sarong, again prices were to high at the silk “factory”. Lunch after the factory was also a bit poor.
Our hotel is only 20 minutes down the road and we check in. The Cinnamon Citadel is ok but the poorest of the hotels so far. Dinner is tricky but doable.
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