Day 5 – Polonnaruwa to Dambulla
Breakfast was coffee and fruit. Could have been more but restless nights sleep with crazy rain overnight and Becky and I switching the aircon on and off constantly (her off, me on).
Language lesson in Sinaleese.
Learnt that Sinaleese is written in circular motion as originally was scratched (top layer scraped off) into tempered palm leaves and then the scratches blackened with ash. If there are straight lines, it would cause the palm to tear with the grain.
Sinaleese symbols are written in vowels. A 4 vowel word will have 4 symbols in it. Fascinating.
D, Dee, Da, Di, Dib all have a similar starting symbol with more overlayed.
In schools, it’s obligatory to learn Sinaleese, Tamil and English, and all signposts are in three languages. It forms unity between all groups. Even the Sri Lankan flag 🇱🇰 represents all ethnic groups. Green for the Muslim population, orange for the Tamil population, maroon for the Sinhalese, 4 Bhodi tree leaves for the Buddhists and a kickass sword wealding lion for bravery/patriotism.
Dambulla Buddhist cave temple.
400 steps up but luckily the weather is relatively cool (only 28C, feels like 38C) and being higher up there’s a breeze.
Dambulla cave temple is a bit like Helms Deep in Lord of the Rings. Although a monastery, it served as refuge for various kings during invasions due to its inaccessibility. Each king from the 1st Century has added bits to the monastery.
What results is 155 Buddha statues of varying sizes and amazing wall and ceiling murials. It’s amazing the paint is still so vibrant with this humidity, but lack of light must have helped.
All cave doors closed for 15 minutes in the morning so the monks could do their offerings, which was nice and respectful.
More tourists than locals, which is oddly nice to see.
Again, limited poses as selfies with buddy Buddha are frowned upon. But amazing views from the mountain top. Quite a few monkeys on the way up and down.
Drove to our city centre hotel, right on the busy main strip and arrived at the Gimanhala Hotel. A big old colonial style building with a perfect condition Morris Minor in the garage, as well as a mint Honda Super Cub.
We were given lilac water lilies on arrival, the National flower of Sri Lanka, which was a nice touch.
After freshening up, we had 2 hours to spare, so went for a wander. Everything you wanted is here, it’s like a giant Lidl or Aldi centre aisle! Bananas being sold next door to compressors, next door to motorcycle helmets, next door to a Tupperware shop!
We found Bentota Bake House, a lovely local cafe bakery. In the restaurant side you’d present yourself at the counter pointing and gesticulating at foods not knowing what they were. I had a fish filo pastry thing and a spicy Cornish pasty samosa, breaded and fried. Becky had a couple of vegetarian pastries.
You’re then served your food and take it to the table yourself. For drinks we had Falooda! This is a Persian influenced sweet drink. Ice cream, coconut juice, rose water little bits of jelly, ice and basil seeds. Super refreshing. We got some funny looks as it’s bright pink and is a children’s drink, but who cares, it was delicious.
Paid and was about to leave when the heavens opened. So we perused the takeaway shop. Wine biscuits, some squidgy sweet stuff and some pastries later, we braved the weather and headed back.
Stopped at the supermarket to pickup a Chit-Chat and a bag of smack.🤣
Then off for our Elephant Safari through Hurulu Eco Park. An open ended National park, like the New Forest but has wild elephants not wild ponies and a jungle feel to it but with dirt tracks crisscrossing. It’s huge.
The drive was bumpy in our converted Mahindra Jeep (all with LandRover stickers on them) but we found elephants, water buffalo and peacocks. There were two distinct family groups that our 4×4 driver tracked down. 2 hours later, my back is sore but I’ve seen wild elephants up close (touchable but the Jeep would move to give way to the heffalump).
Dinner was at Sigiri Access Villa. Another platter style meal but not as good as yesterdays.
Travel Dude 