Sri Lanka (3/3) – Sigiriya & Kandy

As part of our Sri Lanka round-trip there was a „Sigiriya local tour“ included. We had no idea what that contained, but learned about it when we arrived in Sigiriya. It is today not really a town, but rather an accumulation of some basic touristic infrastructure with hotels, food stalls, spa and other facilities. At one place there were a couple of oxcarts at the roadside, and we hoped that this would not be part of our package. To no avail, because Dushan stopped at a nearby house, and we were asked to enter the oxcart.

It is clearly something we do not like a lot but is of course a source of income for the local farmers. It took us a while to reach our destination as three oxcarts in front of us were desperately interlocked and one of the bullocks was stubbornly refusing to move. After some back and forth, we finally arrived at a lake and our oxcart coachman turned into a boat steersman and we paddled over the quite romantic lake with a good first view on the massive Sigiriya Rock which was the ultimate place we wanted to visit there.

The steersman made some funny hats and necklaces with the water lily pads, we saw a crocodile appearing in the middle of the lake, and after some time we returned to the nearby shore. From there the coachman turned into a farmer and brought us to a hut in between rice paddy fields and the jungle and handed us over to his wife, who gave us a cookery course and we produced jointly a delicious Sri Lankan curry which was our lunch for the day. This was actually a lot of fun, the lady was very friendly, and we learned more about curries and their ingredients. From there it was a short ride with a tuk-tuk back to our car.

We then checked in at our hotel, the „Sigiriya Hotel“, which turned out to be the best hotel we had on Sri Lanka, with a large pool with a marvelous view on the Sigiriya Rock, good food and really convenient rooms. We stayed there for two nights so could enjoy the amenities of the hotel which was actually not very expensive in comparison to other countries we have been. The only downside was a very obtrusive waiter who was keen to increase his tip, but we tried to ignore his attitude as much as possible.

After some free time at the pool, we left the hotel again before dinner, to drive to another massive rock nearby where you could enter through yet another temple a stone path around the steep hill to the rather flat top of the hill, called “Pidurangala”. The last part we had to climb through the rocks, but it was worthwhile to reach the top which is famous for its breath-taking view during sunset of the “Sigiriya” rock (which is the “Lions Rock”)  and the ruins of a king’s fortress which he had built in the 5th century in that unbelievable location. It was indeed an outstanding experience as these rocks have the shape of an oval casserole and the sidewalls are going up at right angle.

The next morning we left before breakfast to the among the first ones to arrive at the main attraction of Sigiriya, the former king’s town and temples surrounding the main rock and to climb up the rock which is much more demanding and steeper than the Pidurangala. The first half up to a platform is comparably easy as you can use a flight of stone stairs. However, the final half is a flight of stairs with a handrail and partly suspended in the open air. Quite scary, and not possible for one of us due to my vertigo. However, Martina made it all the way up and visited the ruins of the fortress as well as the marvelous wall paintings of the “Wolkenmädchen” (cloud maidens) which you could reach taking yet another flight of stairs and a metallic spiral staircase in the middle of the steep rock.

In addition, it was a quite huge areal to visit which hosted a huge city and many temples some 1500 years ago. There was also an informative and well-done museum, financed by the Japanese friends of Sri Lanka, which was flagged on huge boards everywhere – reminding us that the EU is often not getting this kind of visibility for its financial support.

In any case, what is remarkable about this huge ancient town and its rock fortress is that it was the capital of Sri Lanka just for around 20 years. Prince Kassapa, born to a secondary wife, had killed his father and became king. He built the city and the rock fortress as he was afraid of his half-brother Mogallana and legitimate heir to the throne. At the end, he was actually defeated in a battle against Mogallana instead of staying safely in his fortress. Mogallana moved the capital back to Anuradhapura, and Sigiriya fell into oblivion.

We then drove to another highlight of Sri Lanka’s “Cultural Triangle”, the ancient city of “Polonnaruwa”. It is an one-hour drive to reach today’s town. Like in Anuradhapura, the remains of the ancient town are located across the modern town. Like in Anuradhapura, Dushan recommended a guide who accompanied us on the tour around the former palace, several temples and stupas, and a huge monastery. We did not learn as much about history and religion as from the previous guide, but we heard quite some amusing anecdotes instead.

One highlight was that he took us along to an ancient Hindu temple where an ancient ceremony was taking place with a young couple praying for the support of the gods for their wish to conceive. It was a very interesting experience to watch, from some distance, the priests and believers conducting the ceremony. Hope it helps. We then continued visiting the ancient stupas, temples, and the remains of a huge library. Another highlight were three large statues of Buddha, sitting, standing and lying, which had been carved out of the same immense stone with a central cave behind.

On our way back, there was suddenly a huge elephant at the roadside. Dushan stopped and we were able to watch the elephant for some time, but when he came closer and closer to the car, we were glad that Dushan moved on quickly. He had told us before that the free roaming elephants are a big risk for the population and several people are hurt or even killed by elephants every month, with an estimation of 80 people (and 250 elephants) being killed every year. We are arrived safely back in our hotel despite the fact that we had to pass by a second elephant occupying the main road.

The next morning we continued our intense round-trip with a visit of one of the most important Buddhist temple, the “Rangiri Dambulu Rajamaha Viharaya”, or “Dambulla Royal Cave Temple”. We started at the foot of the sacred mountain, where a huge golden Buddha watches over the stairs that lead up to Cave Temple. We walked all way up, only realising later that we were supposed to come back after looking at the huge golden Buddha and to drive up the mountain. But no problem, we met Dushan at the parking closer to the cave temple and he accompanied us inside.

It was actually the most beautiful temple as it is a monastery built along an overhanging hilltop with three main caverns which are all beautiful painted inside from bottom to top, using the natural forms of the rock to make the scenes and figures more lively. In addition, hundreds of golden buddhas in all forms and sizes are lining the walls and shrines inside. In addition, lots of monkeys are populating the area.

We then continued our way to Kandy, another former capital and still a holy city for the Sri Lankan people. We had a nice lunch on the balcony of the “Honey Pot” restaurant above a sweeping river.

Thus strengthened, we visited yet another, even more important Buddhist temple, the “Sri Dalada Maligawa” in Kandy, the “Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic”, near the ancient Royal Palace. It is actually one of the most renowned places of worship, as the left canine tooth of Gautama Buddha is enshrined there.

When Buddha had died his body was burned as it is the common practice in India, but his 4 canine tooth were given to 4 different kings to protect these holy remains. This particular tooth has spent most of the time in today’s Sri Lanka but has made a long journey over the centuries as it was said that who has the tooth holds the power over the country. The tooth has therefore been moved around several times before finally coming to the last capital of the Sinhalese kings, and staying there until today (if you do not believe the story that the Portuguese colonialists have stolen and destroyed it in Macao). 

We then had the pleasure to watch one of the traditional dancing and music shows for which Kandy is well known today. It was a professional and entertaining show and much better than we had expected.

The next morning, we visited yet another Buddhist temple on the top of a hill overlooking Kandy and then drove on to the airport to catch our plane to our final destination: the Maldives.