Markets and Cave Temples in Dambulla

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R: I decided to split the last post as it was getting a bit lengthy. After our brief stop for a rest and pool time, during which time I managed to get myself very sunburned indeed, we got dressed again and headed to the Dambulla Cave Temples. As we wound our way through the roads on the way to Dambulla we came across several bullock carts that Ranjan explained were the traditional way of travelling. Though the one we could photograph clearly had tourists in the back, and was creating traffic chaos.

On the way, we stopped in at the Dambulla produce market for a wander around. Its the biggest produce market in Sri Lanka due to the area's significance as a growing region, so you can see enormous amounts of root vegetables, bananas, onions, green beans (and plenty more we couldn't identify) being lugged around in large sacks, and loaded onto lorries for transport around the country, particularly to Colombo (the capital city) where they don't really grow as much. Some also goes for export, but Ranjan explained that it is mostly to Sri Lankan communities abroad who like particular vegetables / foods. The place was frenetic - lots of shouted negotiation, lots of people hulking enormous bags of vegetables out to waiting tuk tuks and trucks, and piles upon piles of vegetables and bananas all over the floor that made it a bit mad to negotiate. We managed to avoid getting squashed by a truck, and were pleased we had come - this is a working market, not a tourist attraction and we saw relatively few westerners (or Chinese) here. We tried to observe without getting in the way - but it was hard to know where to stand!

Then it was on to the cave temples. You park at the bottom, and have to walk up a long steep flight of steps up onto the top of the rock some 160m up. One of the Sri Lankan kings took refuge here 2000 years ago after being forced out of the royal capital Anuradhapura. Once he left he had the caves turned into a temple, and later kings continued adding to the caves, adding intricate ceiling paintings and over 150 Buddha statues. First, you need to give your shoes to a shoe minder - quite enterprising and not something we have seen in other Buddhist countries, but it only cost 20 Rupees, which is 10p, so it was the cheapest (and only) shoe insurance we have ever bought.

After you enter there is a large complex with numerous entrances to caves, covered in entrance buildings. Just above this was a large cut in the rock which we didn't understand initially, but it's to catch rain so it doesn't flow in and ruin the caves, instead dumping it on the heads of visiting tourists! Inside are dark caves, with numerous versions of the Buddha. Now we have seen a lot of temples in our travels in Asia, but having Ranjan with us really made this more interesting. He was able to explain all the poses of the Buddha, including the standing and seating pose, and the various gestures of the hand which symbolise different states of mind, such as protection, fearlessness, fulfilment and many others. There were several caves to explore, some smaller and some larger. One had an enormous reclining Buddha, who we learned would have his disciples at his feet - in this case, painted on the cave walls. The "guidebook" photo was in Cave 2 where there are rows of Buddha statues in a enormous cave.

This is still considered a sacred area, so there were people sitting outside the entrances to the caves praying in groups who we felt rather bad stepping over to get in and out, but this seemed to be the norm...

We explored all the caves, which to be honest were extremely humid given the weather and number of tourists inside, but one of the best bits about being up here was coming out into the courtyard outside which held a large Bodhi tree, considered sacred. From here the view over the surrounding plain and lakes was impressive. On the way out we found numerous cheeky monkeys, who had learned that visitors were bringing fresh flowers to offer to the Buddha, so had learnt to get in there and steal them as they had a tasty centre, stripping the petals and dropping them on the floor, creating sort of a pink carpet in places, and brown in others where they had started to decay.

On the way down the steps Ranjan picked up a large stick to protect us against the monkeys. We thought this was a bit much, though he didn't actually hit a monkey, but he explained later that a souvenir seller we had just walked past has just told him the monkeys had been attacking and climbing tourist's clothes just a few minutes before.

And the best part? Disrespecting the Buddha by turning your back on it is not allowed. So, definitely no selfie tourism! There are even anti-selfie signs and security guards to tell off the people that do. Brilliant.

We headed back to our accommodation for food (which is also fairly normal here) which is mainly buffet in style - again seemingly normal. Now we aren't generally fans of eating like this (I mentioned that this trip was a bit of a departure for us from our normal habits) but there aren't many restaurants, certainly out here in the countryside, most being attached to a hotel. Actually the food was rather good, and I used it as an opportunity to try numerous things I wouldn't have ordered a whole plate of from the menu - Jack Fruit Curry, various Dhals, Okra Curry, and lots of wet and dry fish curries, chicken curries, Dosa... I'm hungry just thinking about it. It's hard to assess the quality of buffet food really, but it all seemed good to us, and you could also "top" the food with various sambals which were like chutneys and these often carried a "3-chilli warning" on the label... We decided to avoid the "flubber" on the desert buffet, however...

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Photos

Cheeky Monkey
stealing flower offerings from the temple

Kandalama Lake
With a view back to Sigiriya Rock