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Published: December 2nd 2013
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Saturday 30
th November: on Friday we had arranged to hire a car and driver to take us around Sri Lanka and the driver showed up as arranged at Reception at 10am as we were checking out. We left the hotel and headed north through Colombo and out on to the new expressway leading to the International Airport. We continued past the airport on the main coastal road towards Chilaw and Puttalam before turning inland towards Anuradhapura (a tongue twister of a name, especially if you try to pronounce it quickly) which was the ancient capital of Ceylon. Initially the drive was quite slow as there was a lot of traffic and almost continuous ribbon development along the road (house and shops) until we were well past Chilaw. After stopping for lunch in Puttalam we arrived at Anuradhapura at 4 pm. Our driver reckoned that the final leg of our journey to Kandalama would take another two hours so we decided to look at just the two main sights in Anuradhapura: the Sri Maha
Sri Mada Bohdi Tree enclosure
Visiting pilgrim contemplating the local auraBohdi Tree, which grew from a cutting taken from the original bohdi tree in India under which the Buddha achieved enlightenment, and the Ruvanwelisiya Dagoba. A large stupa over 2,000 years old said to contain some relics of the Buddha. The cost of entry to these sights certainly enlightened my wallet, to the tune of £32 for Jane and me while the locals paid a nominal fee. Neither sight was particularly impressive but what was impressive was the evident devotion of the many pilgrims who were present, as well as the sense of peace and tranquility; especially at the bohdi tree. Afterwards, around 6pm, we called at the nearby house of our driver’s cousin, who lived and worked in Anuradhapura and whom the driver had not seen for several years. We were made very welcome and had a cup of tea with the cousin and is wife before setting off for Kandalama and our hotel. The journey was easier than I had expected as the road was good quality and there wasn’t too much traffic. However, we got lost near the hotel as it was not well signposted, with only one barely legible sign mentioning Heritance Kandalama followed by three
Golden spars
Holding up one of the branches of this ancient tree; reputedly over 2,200 years old other signs for Kandalama Aiken Spence (Aiken Spence being the name of the group that owns the hotel). When we eventually arrived, sometime after 8pm, we checked in and were taken to our room only for the door handle to fall off as soon as we entered the room. Engineering were summoned and took about 20 minutes to fix the handle. Then it was time for a much needed shower and go for dinner. Dinner turned out to be the high spot of the day, Jane having scallops and smoked salmon followed by barbecued chicken; while I had a burrito followed by a delicious Sri Lankan tasting selection, mostly curries. A long day involving nearly 200 miles travelling; with the final 40 miles in the dark.
Sunday 1
st December. We had selected our hotel, the Heritance Kandalama, because it had a great location, built into the side of a hill overlooking a lake and built by Sri Lanka’s leading architect Geoffrey Bawa as an environmentally sensitive and top quality hotel. However, our day didn’t start off very well as the telephone rang at 7.30am but by the time I had picked up the handset the caller had rung off.
Ruvanwelisiya Dagoba
Built over 2,000 years ago to house some holy relics from the Buddha - repainted several times since The phone rang again at 8am and this time when Jane answered it was Reception calling to ask if the door handle was working ok! We couldn’t understand why they needed check this, and so early in the morning. It certainly didn’t put us in an appreciative frame of mind.
The hotel’s location is certainly wonderful and the main restaurant on the 6
th floor, where we had breakfast, made the most of the view with glass walls on three sides. Our original plan for the day was to go to Polonnaruwa, another ancient city in the Cultural Triangle, but as our driver, Diya (co-incidentally the same name as the Mount Lavinia Hotel driver) had told us that it would take about 2 hours to drive there from our hotel, and as we didn’t feel like spending the best part of a second successive day in the car, we decided instead to look at the local sights. This involved checking out the Dambulla cave temples. It took us only 15 minutes to reach Dambulla from the hotel and then, after parting with another quite pricey entrance fee, we headed up the rocky hill to the cave temples near the summit. Fortunately
Processional
A group of devotees parading a sash around the stupa before handing it over to the resident monks who will tie it around the stupa; just like the one that already encircles it. the weather was overcast which lowered the daytime temperature a few degrees as otherwise the climb would have been quite tough as the humidity level was quite high. Diya accompanied us halfway up the hill but as he was looking quite tired we told him to wait at a rest area while we continued on up to the caves. When we reached the entrance we were asked for our tickets which Diya had collected at the base of the hill and retained, so I had to go back to where he was sitting retrieve the tickets and go back up again. The cave temples were created just over 2,000 years ago by walling off an overhanging cliff to make long narrow rooms parallel with the cliff rather than actual caves leading into the hill. The caves were full of Buddhas and other images and the walls and ceilings were completely covered with murals. It very colourful but not particularly interesting although the views over the surrounding countryside from the terraces outside the caves were wonderful, and the cool breeze blowing around the area was very welcome. We didn’t spend long at the cave temples and returned down the hill; meeting
The Golden Buddha at Dambulla
The museum at the bottom of the hill on which the cave temples are built up with Diya halfway. Then we headed off for lunch at a hotel in Dambulla. Afterwards we went to the Dambulla Museum which contains copies of the main artworks and wall paintings of the surrounding area. We returned to our hotel at 4pm to find that our room had not been made up so I called Housekeeping and was told that it was because they wanted to upgrade us and would send someone along to show us to our new room. Half an hour later, by which time we had packed our cases, the staff arrived and took us to the new room. It was an improvement but mainly because it was already made up and it did have a better view than our original room. After bathing and freshening up we headed off for another delicious dinner at the a la carte restaurant rather than going for the buffet in the main restaurant. A long, hot and at times frustrating day. Hopefully better tomorrow when we go to Sigiriya Rock a spectacular World Heritage site the other side of the lake from our hotel.
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