After a kip on arrival at the Cinnamon Grand, 30% and I headed out into Columbo via the hotel coffee shop. Here I sampled a much needed double espresso and the Sri Lankan equivalent of a pork pie. Both were fantastic and refreshed we headed out for a walk around the city centre lake. It was nice to be doing something after being cooped up on an airliner for so long but it was not so energetic as to exhaust us. After taking in the sights, that included Pelicans and a Snake Charmer with a Cobra, we headed back to the hotel and dined at a nearby restaurant on some of the finest curry I have ever had.
After two days with little sleep we hit the sack early as we needed to be ready for our driver at eight o'clock on Tuesday morning ...
... Tuesday started with breakfast buffet worthy of a 5 star hotel. We then checked out and met Ajith in the lobby.
We then had a four hour drive from Columbo out to Dambulla where we visited the the Golden Temple. This 1st Century BC Buddhist Temple is sited high on a hill and is reached by climbing many steps. It wa exhausting on the heat but the five temples were an incredible reward. They feature 150 statues of Buddha some of which are carved from the living rock of the hill. Each temple was originally an open cave beneath a rock over hang but have now had temple frontages built to enclose these once open caves. The interiors are magnificent and every rock wall and ceiling still bears the original 2000 year old art work and decoration.
We then had a short drive to Sigiriya; The Lion Rock. This is a rock monolith that stand many hundreds of feet above the surrounding countryside. Back in the 5th Century the King laid out ornamental Water gardens within a moat at the foot of the rock. He then had stairways built to the summit where his palace complex was constructed. I am sorry to say that we only made it up as far as the lions paws which is about two thirds of the 1200 steps but it was absolutely pissing down with warm tropical rain and I had expected to be carried up as they did for the King fifteen hundred years ago.
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| Sigiriya, from the surrounding plain |
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| Fresco detail, Sigiriya |
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| It was claimed there were originally 500 paintings |
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| The Lion Gate, Sigiriya |
We are now back at our hotel; The Thilanka Spa in Dambulla watching an amazing electrical storm light up the sky.
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