Colombo to Dambulla

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Colombo to Dambulla

Just before midnight we arrived at Sri Lanka's only international airport, north of Colombo, where we were met by Ervin Alphonso - our driver and guide for the next seventeen days. Twenty minutes drive from the airport is the coastal resort of Negombo and we received a warm welcome at the pleasant, minimalist Beach Hotel where we were soon tucked up in bed in our large room overlooking the pool and - through the silhouetted palm trees - the moonlit beach and the Indian Ocean. For thirty years I had been telling myself that I must visit Sri Lanka, but it was the relocation of our friends Ashleigh and Yves Ogier from London to Kandy that provided us with the impetus to actually go. And here we finally were, about to embark on a seventeen-day tour of the island.

Early the next morning we dug into an excellent breakfast at a cool, shaded table right next to the swept sand beach and agreed that there would be worse places to spend a few days relaxing. But this was just an overnight stop for us, and by nine-thirty we were driving north up the coast with Ervin, heading for Chilaw, in the heart of what seems to be a strongly Christian area, before heading inland to Yapahuwa. Of Sri Lanka's twenty million people some 74 % are Sinhalese who are overwhelmingly Buddhist, 18% are Tamil and predominantly Hindu, and about 8% are Muslims - known as "Moors" - descendants of Arab and Indian traders. It is estimated that some 6% of the population is Christian - largely converts from Buddhism and Hinduism, but also including many of the small Eurasian minority, known as Burghers, who are descended from the European settlers.

The lovely drive to Yapahuwa, largely along back roads, provided us with an introduction to rural life in Sri Lanka. We were vaguely surprised how green the countryside is - verdant rice paddy and coconut groves in every direction, interspersed with banana, mango and papaya trees, vegetable plots, waterholes, small lakes, tanks (reservoirs), and slow-flowing rivers. Lining the roads are villages, schools, Buddhist and Hindu temples, churches and mosques, while the fields are dotted with cows, water buffalo and huge quantities of birds - especially egret, ibis, spoonbill and, perching on the ubiquitous telephone wires, the beautiful white-breasted kingfisher.


By early afternoon we were at Yapahuwa where a granite rock outcrop rises 100m above the plain although not much remains of the thirteenth century citadel built on it to repel invaders from South India. King Bhuvanekabahu kept Sri Lanka's sacred tooth relic (of the Buddha) here and used it as his capital until a successful invader captured the relic in 1284 and took it back to India (it was recovered four years later). Perhaps Yapahuwa's most distinctive feature is the almost intact stairway that rises steeply up the lower slopes to a platform where the tooth relic is said to have been kept, and one of the ornamental lions on these steps is pictured on the ten rupee note. Near the entrance to the site, behind the museum (which was closed), is an exquisite cave temple, decorated with some surprisingly vibrant thirteenth century frescos and some fine wood, stone and bronze Buddhas. Yapahuwa was worth the detour just for this.

Driving on, we stopped mid-afternoon at a small village restaurant where we were brought mounds of rice, chicken and potato curries, lentils, pol sambol (coconut chilli) and tomato salad, followed by a bunch of bananas - all for 270 rupees for the three of us (US$0.80 a head). Sri Lankans reckon that foreigners can't take their highly-spiced curries and the restaurant owner warned Ervin it would be hot - we assured him it was not a problem for us, and it wasn't, but some of it was pretty fiery.

In the late afternoon we reached Dambulla, home to a UNESCO World Heritage Site of five spectacular rock temples containing hundreds of Buddha images, ceiling paintings and murals. Archaeologists believe there has been a Buddhist monastic settlement here since the third century BC. The walls and ceilings have probably been over-painted many times, and fragments remain from the fifth and seventh centuries; most of the surfaces, however - over 2,000 square meters in all - were repainted in the eighteenth century in the style of the Kandyan School. The sculptures of Buddhas, gods and royalty represent one of the most important collections of Sri Lankan art and many of them date from the fifth to eighth centuries although they have been restored, remodelled and added to extensively ever since.

The Dambulla temples lie some 125m above the plain on a rocky protrusion, presenting a steep climb and wonderful views across Kandalama tank towards Sigiriya rock. The caves are quite magical, although somewhat marred by the lack of maintenance and the haphazardly arranged benches designed to stop people touching the walls or the sculptures.

We dragged ourselves away at dusk and drove to the nearby Kandalama Hotel. Designed by Sri Lanka's most famous architect, Geoffrey Bawa, and opened in 1993, the hotel was planned to blend in with the surrounding landscape - at which it brilliantly succeeds. Having a welcome drink at the outdoor bar we listened to the haunting sounds of a lone piper seated a hundred metres away on the sloping edge of a floodlit area of trees. Amazing.

Unsurprisingly we were shattered after a long first day, and we ordered some snacks to the room after which we were soon asleep. Next ➤ ➤

Howard's Negombo to Dambulla Gallery

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Comments

[howard and lisa]

Hi, Ervin. Good to hear from you. Would love to come back again one day. We love your country very much. Best regards to you. Howard and Lisa