Dambulla, Sigiriya and the Domino effect

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Once again sorry for neglecting the blog for the last few days but the spicy food has finally taken its toll. One after the other we've been hit (usually after an optimistic comment about how we never get ill) but hopefully, (fingers crossed!) everyone has recovered and we can get back to our work and filling you in on our adventures.

Despite illness our spirits have remained high and we have had an enjoyable last couple of days. Very early on Wednesday morning we began the long journey up to Jaffna, breaking up the 14 hour drive with stops at Dambulla and Sigiriya along the way. As well as the unplanned emergency roadside pit stops!

Dambulla is home to one of the largest golden Buddha statues in Sri Lanka and it is situated next to the cave temples. It was a very impressive sight and definitely helped to raise our spirits after our early start. We had a look around the museum in order to learn more about Buddhist history and culture and then got back in the bus and set off for Sigiriya.

Sigiriya, the 200 meter rock, in the heart of Sri Lanka is a World Heritage site with architecture going back to the 5th centuary. In hindsight, beginning the 40 minute climb at miday probably wasn't our smartest idea due to the scorching heat but nevertheless after several water stops, lots of huffing and puffing and tactical avoidance of the hornet nests we reached the top and the fantastic 360 degree views did not dissapoint.

Once we'd got our breath back our homing pigeon driver, Sheeva (seriously he can find anything anywhere!) took us to a quiet spot for some lunch. We asked if he knew anywhere with western food as we still had several hours left on the bus and didn't want to risk it.

The rest of our journey included a lot of getting to know each other better, singing along to some old school classics ( lets just say we won't be entering X factor anytime soon thats for sure) and getting some well needed sleep.

Finally we arrived into Jaffna province in the dark, so sadly missed a lot of the view on the way to Jaffna town but the bumpy road kept us alert! We were all glad to finally arrive at Tilko Hotel in Jaffna at around 10pm and pretty much headed straight to bed. Funny how sitting down for so long can completely wear you out!

A little rest is in order but more will be coming soon about our first few days in Jaffna and catching up with CORD our project partner.

Until next time, Beanie and Alison 😊

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