Village trek, Dambulla Cave Temples and Spice Gardens

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This morning we set off to go on a 2 1/2 hour trek through a 'typical Sri Lankan village' this really wasn't what I'd imagined... For starters, we set off in a canoe we had a little boat guy and a guide rowing so that was alright. I can assure you I didn't look remotely elegant getting in or out of this thing! We went over to a farm where they grow chillis, pepper, tomatoes and of course coconuts. We were able to sample the coconuts and they gave us the low down on farming in Sri Lanka.

We continued on with the trek through the trees and in parts it was totally amazing with sunlight bursting through a break in the trees and dozens of butterflies hovering round us. Next stop was a ride on a bull cart, I just a escaped without a bull crapping on my foot!! Good job I was paying attention or that would've been messy :-)

Late morning we went to the Dambulla Cave Temples, when we arrived, I looked up and thought... How tacky is this. It was kind of Blackpool meets Buddah! There's a large gold coloured statue at the top with what looks like fibre glass lotus flowers across the building and random mannequin Buddhas lining the walls. They do try and tell you the tacky gold Buddha is the largest Buddha statue in the World... It's really not!. I'd advise anyone going here to not judge a book by its cover - once you get past the tacky facade, there is a pretty tough walk up a huge hill (there are some steps) to the caves. There really isn't much in the way of shelter on the way up and I was thinking there was a real chance I might frazzle on the way up there. Plenty of water and a hat helped me survive!

Again, it was shoes off and they're pretty strict on ensuring knees and shoulders are covered... Not ideal on such a hot day really, but expected all the same.

The caves originate from 1st century BC and each contains various statues, places for offerings, carvings and wall paintings - remarkably preserved when you consider the age of them. In my opinion the first cave is the best with a 14 metre sleeping Buddha carved from a single piece of rock. This must have been elaborately decorated in its original form and some of that decoration remains. The other caves contain examples of statues lined up around the walls and many wall and ceiling paintings depicting demons, evil spirits and such like.

One cave contains an urn of holy water, it is said the water comes through the rock and never dries out, even in dry season so they then consider it to be holy.

After burning anything I had left of my feet, we set off for the spice garden. Here we were given a short tour around the different herbs and spices grown here. The bulk of this visit was a bit of a sales pitch to sell lotions and potions and try and get us to have a massage. I decided to just sit and watch and then get a bit concerned about how they were massaging... Not because they were being mucky, but the technique wasn't right! My tutors would be proud! ;-)

We also visited a local craft centre where they hand carve traditional masks, Buddha, furniture - you name it, they can carve it from any wood you can think of. They did this really clever thing with a certain wood in its natural state they shave bits of the wood, mix it with warm water and add chalk, lime or stir with metal and it produces a different coloured liquids, they then use this to colour the carvings and it doesn't ever fade.

After another manic day, we drove to Kandy. It's a little higher up than we've been the last few days so it's cooled down a bit. Driving through the busy streets on the way to our next hotel, it reminded me of Egypt, mental traffic and loads of shops selling random stuff. There was a car sales place called Auto Trader and yes, they nicked the Auto Trader logo and stuck it on a sign! We checked into the Cinnamon Citadel hotel and all I can say is... Wow!

Tour people update: the mental guy is officially mental!! He decided he didn't want to see the wood carvings and went for a run instead ( he runs EVERYWHERE, well actually he shuffles and calls it running) down the busiest main road you've ever seen and the drivers who can manage to turn a normal road into a 6 lane race track!! He'd have been safer running down the the M6 on a Friday afternoon! He went nuts at the tour guide for bringing him back. Also decided he didn't want to listen to the guide at the spice garden so took his MP3 player and sat tapping his feet ignoring everything and everyone. I swear I've never met anyone so rude! Apparently, he only drinks on a Saturday - I reckon there will be a fight!! There have nearly been a few today.

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Photos

Cave temple #1
Buddhas feet elaborately decorated

Comments

[Pops]

Mental
Let mental man go running in fact encourage him, tell him a mile a day will do him good after 3 days he will be 3 miles away never to be seen again. Kath in USA is following your blogs and is finding them quite interesting.

[Alboppo]

Mental reply...
I wish he'd run off a cliff!!