Checkered-shirt-white-pants-3-wheeler-dark-green’s name is Darkshana. He would be my little tuk tuk driver for my stay in the cultural triangle.
As I was told that my accommodation, Nice Place (how ironic), is just 7km away and we would be there in 20 minutes. Well that was the longest 20 minutes drive ever (it took almost twice as long). In Colombo, if it wasn’t for the traffic you’ll be there in no time but out here, I later discovered, there are many speed ‘cameras’ (you do see traffic police ever so often) hence the careful driving. To top it off my tuk tuk driver isn’t a driver at all, he’s actually a tailor and he was doing this as a favour to his cousin, Kalum (Rusty’s main contact in this part of the country).
As I was told that my accommodation, Nice Place (how ironic), is just 7km away and we would be there in 20 minutes. Well that was the longest 20 minutes drive ever (it took almost twice as long). In Colombo, if it wasn’t for the traffic you’ll be there in no time but out here, I later discovered, there are many speed ‘cameras’ (you do see traffic police ever so often) hence the careful driving. To top it off my tuk tuk driver isn’t a driver at all, he’s actually a tailor and he was doing this as a favour to his cousin, Kalum (Rusty’s main contact in this part of the country).
By the summer palace in Sigiriya (Lion Rock)
Finally, Nice Place! And it’s a really nice place! Blocks for bungalows nestled amongst lush green landscape. You get cheeky squirrels watching you and getting closer wanting food, birds chirping and, peace and quite. After Colombo, this is something I needed, some peace and quite time.
Checked in, quick change and out I go again to climb Sigiriya. The place where I’m staying at is between Habarana and Dambulla, and it’s close to Sigiriya, ‘Lion Rock’. The grounds of Sigiriya is spectacular, one will be awestruck by the beauty of its vast gardens. The landscaping is just so lush it left me gapping in wonder to how did they manage to cultivate it back in the day. You could spend a whole day walking past the gardens and enjoying its landscape and wild life, and this at no cost at all. The best would be to get a bicycle and cycle around the grounds.
Checked in, quick change and out I go again to climb Sigiriya. The place where I’m staying at is between Habarana and Dambulla, and it’s close to Sigiriya, ‘Lion Rock’. The grounds of Sigiriya is spectacular, one will be awestruck by the beauty of its vast gardens. The landscaping is just so lush it left me gapping in wonder to how did they manage to cultivate it back in the day. You could spend a whole day walking past the gardens and enjoying its landscape and wild life, and this at no cost at all. The best would be to get a bicycle and cycle around the grounds.
There is a fee of about Rs.3750 to get to the top of Sigiriya. Now there will be a lot of tourist guides around, although it seemed like a good idea to take one, you should always find out how much they would charge and agree on a fee before you even take another step. Normally they cost anywhere between USD18-25 (now they all want to be paid in USD but if you have the local currency, like this smarty-pants, then ask them or rather insist that you want to pay them in rupees.)
Having a guide was nice as I got a history lesson more than what the guidebook gave me. History has it that King Kashyapa (477 – 495 AD), built this complex as he wanted to seize the power from the rightful heir to the throne, Moggallana, who is the Queen’s son. Kashyapa may be the first-born but not to the Queen, he was the first born to one of the concubines, hence he has no right to the throne. Due to the that fact, Kashyapa murdered his father and moved the capital from Anuradhapura to this place, which is more secure from attacks which he foresee coming from his brother. In 495 AD, the King Kashyapa slits his throat and the palace was giving to the monks, which didn’t last for long as the monks didn’t approve of the kings and the many frescos of his concubines all over the place. Hence the palace was abandoned.
Having a guide was nice as I got a history lesson more than what the guidebook gave me. History has it that King Kashyapa (477 – 495 AD), built this complex as he wanted to seize the power from the rightful heir to the throne, Moggallana, who is the Queen’s son. Kashyapa may be the first-born but not to the Queen, he was the first born to one of the concubines, hence he has no right to the throne. Due to the that fact, Kashyapa murdered his father and moved the capital from Anuradhapura to this place, which is more secure from attacks which he foresee coming from his brother. In 495 AD, the King Kashyapa slits his throat and the palace was giving to the monks, which didn’t last for long as the monks didn’t approve of the kings and the many frescos of his concubines all over the place. Hence the palace was abandoned.
One of the few bathing pools for the King's concubines. He had 500 of them!
I have to admit, I think he was living the life which I know half of the men on this planet would dream of (yeah, like you men would deny it). A beautiful palace grounds, being looked after and fussed over from head to toe by 500 concubines to bit your every need, apart from having an army of servants. Also this king was smart… I have to give credit to the architects too. The castle is well protected and had only two points of entry. There is an outer mote and an inner mote that goes around the entire castle. The outer mote is filled with beautiful lotus flowers and deathly quick sands while the inner mote was filled with crocodiles (back then of course). The place is divided into two, the winter palace (monsoon season) and summer palace (dry season).
The summer palace is beautiful, as its on ground level where it’s adorned by bathing pools and water features. The irrigation system is a clever engineering and still works till today. The water runs from the catchment area into the bathing pools, which then run out to the inner motes and outer motes when it fills up. Water never over flows but rather fills up each chamber in sections. As we carried on, my guide further explains that on rainy days that water gushes from the top and due to the pressure in which it travels in, the king built little pressure release chambers which would create like fountains. The water rushed out and then falls back into the basin and out again from the drain at the end. This forms a fountain as the water shoots up from the pressure release ducks. Pretty cool stuff! | The water would rush out from the holes in the foreground which creates a fountain. The water then falls back and gets into the bathing pools from the drain pipe further down. |
One of the frescos in the gallery.
All the steps are made from moonstone that shines under moonlight that adds on to the beauty of this place. As we moved from the summer place, we entered the winter palace from the ‘Elephant’ entrance and my guide just casually mentions that it’s about 1200++ steps to the top. Wait… WHAT???!!! After a long rattle, shaky ride I sat through, I had to climb all those steps? Oh well, I did it anyways after all the shock and ‘horror’ my face went through.
Half way through the walk, you’ll come by what remains of the frescos of the king’s concubines. When the monks took over the scrapped away much of the frescos and then nature did the rest. Apparently each of the concubines had their pictures painted all over the rock. So there were 500 paintings of woman! And each one was distinctive and different.
After the gallery, I continued walking to the main entrance of the winter palace. The main entrance is said to have a huge lion with its jaws open welcoming people in. You would have to walk through the mouth to get to the top of the rock where the palace is situated. All that is left is just it’s paws… But before, a break is much needed under a shade.
Half way through the walk, you’ll come by what remains of the frescos of the king’s concubines. When the monks took over the scrapped away much of the frescos and then nature did the rest. Apparently each of the concubines had their pictures painted all over the rock. So there were 500 paintings of woman! And each one was distinctive and different.
After the gallery, I continued walking to the main entrance of the winter palace. The main entrance is said to have a huge lion with its jaws open welcoming people in. You would have to walk through the mouth to get to the top of the rock where the palace is situated. All that is left is just it’s paws… But before, a break is much needed under a shade.
The Lion entrance is the main gateway to the winter palace. One would have to go through the lions mouth to get to the top. Sadly, only the paws are left.
As I took my break, I watched parents’ shh-ing their kids to keep it down. Half way on my walk up to the palace, that’s when it made sense, there were huge hornets nests on the walls of the rock. Yes there was more than one… and the last thing we needed was loud noise bouncing off the walls and us running down steps.
Finally, top of the rock and my legs were actually doing pretty good! The view from the top is amazing and the breeze...ahh so welcoming. You can see beautiful lush green forest all around and the mountains. Sigiriya is in the middle of the triangle of the main cities, Anuradhapura, Polonaruwa and Kandy. Now my guide was in a rush to get me down but I insisted of seeing the whole place and sitting down to enjoy the view and take everything in. After all, I’m not the ordinary tourist who is rushing from one end to the other and I paid a heck of a lot for a painful walk up. I’m getting my moneys worth!
We exited through the snake entrance and my tuk tuk driver whisked me off to the next temple Dambulla cave temple!
Finally, top of the rock and my legs were actually doing pretty good! The view from the top is amazing and the breeze...ahh so welcoming. You can see beautiful lush green forest all around and the mountains. Sigiriya is in the middle of the triangle of the main cities, Anuradhapura, Polonaruwa and Kandy. Now my guide was in a rush to get me down but I insisted of seeing the whole place and sitting down to enjoy the view and take everything in. After all, I’m not the ordinary tourist who is rushing from one end to the other and I paid a heck of a lot for a painful walk up. I’m getting my moneys worth!
We exited through the snake entrance and my tuk tuk driver whisked me off to the next temple Dambulla cave temple!
Dambulla cave temple.
It’s about Rs. 1500 with admittance to the museum at Dambulla cave temple. From the front, you can’t tell that it’s an old temple as you are greeted by a huge golden Buddha. I soon figured that it was around the corner, just after two flights of stairs… Which it was… Sure it was. It was behind the golden Buddha statue but it wasn’t two flights or stairs though.
Never have I ever been so glad to see more steps! NOT!! More steps… why, WHY??
Up I went regardless. The mentality is, "since I am here, just do it! Plus I paid for this."
So much for my legs doing well, after this climb, I’m sure I won’t have my legs anymore. At least it didn’t have as many steps as Sigiriya but doings these two in one day is asking for a bit much, and not taking a break was silly!
As soon as you get to the top, you’ve got to remove your shoes, as it’s a scared place that still in use hence for Rs.25, you have someone to safe keep your shoes from monkeys.
Never have I ever been so glad to see more steps! NOT!! More steps… why, WHY??
Up I went regardless. The mentality is, "since I am here, just do it! Plus I paid for this."
So much for my legs doing well, after this climb, I’m sure I won’t have my legs anymore. At least it didn’t have as many steps as Sigiriya but doings these two in one day is asking for a bit much, and not taking a break was silly!
As soon as you get to the top, you’ve got to remove your shoes, as it’s a scared place that still in use hence for Rs.25, you have someone to safe keep your shoes from monkeys.
One of the paintings in the cave. There are about 4 caves to look at.
So much for reading Rough Guide, the temples are not as hyped up to be…honestly I was a little disappointed. But still it is worth a visit, especially in the evenings during sunset as its quiet and peaceful. Great place to sit, meditate and catch up on my travel journal. Get a great view of the Kandalama Wewa reservoir from up here, especially during sunset.
The four caves are covered from wall to ceiling with paintings and stories of Buddha. The lighting is a bit poor and some of the frescos needs up keeping. As you can tell, I don’t have much to write about it as there isn’t much to write about.
The four caves are covered from wall to ceiling with paintings and stories of Buddha. The lighting is a bit poor and some of the frescos needs up keeping. As you can tell, I don’t have much to write about it as there isn’t much to write about.
View of Kandalama Wewa reservoir at sunset.
Getting back to my accommodation was wonderful… and that pool they had was great! After all the heat and the steps, and the train ride, floating in a pool was just BLISS!
Tomorrow’s agenda, more temples and NO more steps! Not for the next few days at least.
Next stop: Polonnaruwa.
Tomorrow’s agenda, more temples and NO more steps! Not for the next few days at least.
Next stop: Polonnaruwa.