Bus trip to Sigiriya and Dambulla

Sunday March 11

I decided I wanted a weekend adventure out of town.  I was told to make a day trip to the ancient cities in the north central area of the country. I invited the guys from the hospital to join me, and I got one taker; Saros.  He is a man from Cambodia who has been working at the hospital for 5 months, but hadn’t done much sight seeing since his arrival.

We headed out bright and early Sunday morning.  We met at the bus station in Vavuniya at 6:30 am.  In true Sri Lankan style, we had to wait until the bus was full before leaving.  So we actually left at 7:30 am.  We bumped our way along the road, changed buses once, and ended at our destination in Dambulla.  We hopped off the bus and I quickly consulted the Lonely Planet about what I should do next.  We must have looked lost because a friendly tuk tuk driver came to our rescue.  He offered to take us around to Sigiriya and Dambulla, and all sorts of shops in between for $30.  Since my friend Saros has lower extremity weaknesses I thought it would be good to have someone to drive us around (he was affected by polio as a child).  Our first stop was at Sigiriya. 

Sigiriya Rock

Sigiriya (meaning lion rock) is an amazing archeological site, with beautiful sights and views.  The magma formation, from an extinct volcano looks like a lion lying, and has 2 paws carved into its rock face.  At one time a gigantic brick lion sat at the end of the rock, and the final ascent to the top commenced with a stairway that leg between the lions paws and into its mouth.  The lion symbolism serves as a reminder to devotees that ascending the rock is like the truths Buddha spoke and are as powerful as a lion’s roar.  Sigiriya has many natural cave shelters and overhangs, which contain many paintings on the rock face. It is thought that the rock had been inhabited during prehistoric times.  The summit covers 1.6 hectares, and is covered with foundations of ancient buildings. Initially the site was believed to function as a palace during King Kassapa (AD 477-495), with extensive gardens and grounds.  However, recent discoveries say the rock served at a monastery in the 10^th century AD… the jury is still out.  Regardless, Sigiriya was declared a world heritage site in 1982. 

Climbing to the summit of Sigiriya

The climb to the top of Sigiriya was very warm… to say the least.  Saros chose to wait for me in the tuk tuk, as I made the ascent.  I climbed with thousands of Sri Lankan’s, all dressed in white for Sunday (a holy day).   The white was such a remarkable contrast to the surroundings, making things seem even more precious. 

As I climbed to the top of Sigiriya, I began to question the safety of the railings and metal steps attached to the rock face. Everything seemed very corroded, rusty and not well kept.  It made me very nervous! I don’t normally think about these things.  I decided that thinking about this half way up was not very productive; I should just pray for the best and don’t look down.  It crossed my mind I should have brought the paper work for my health insurance with me, rather than leaving it in my hotel room.  Hum.  

View at the top of Sigiriya

After soaking in the amazing views of Sigiriya, Saros and I made our way back to Dambulla.  We stopped at a few shops on the way.  I bought a hand painting from a man on the side of the road.  As I was waiting for him to wrap up my purchase, we saw an elephant taking tourists for a ride down the road.  It was pretty amazing to see.  Definitely not something you see in Canada. The elephant kept trying to snack on the trees hanging over the roads.   

Elephant ride anyone?

The next destination on our tour was the Royal rock temples of Dambulla.  It is a series of 5 caves filled with over 150 Buddha images, including a 15 m long reclining Buddha statue.  Most of the paintings date from the 19^th century. The caves are considered as a place of worship and are dated from around the 1^st century BC. The caves are situated 150 m above the road.   There were many stairs to climb and Saros bravely made his way to the top.  It was a difficult path for someone with his disabilities, but he made it, and we were both very proud of his accomplishment. 

Along the path we met many monkeys.  One even attacked us when we were snacking on some nuts. It was actually very scary.  Saros came to my defense and chased the monkey off.  They were very ferocious animals and I didn’t care too much for them.  

Dambulla Rock Temples

The temple caves were amazing.  The ceilings were covered with the most beautiful and intricate paintings. It was a very serene place.  I couldn’t get over the number of Buddha’s.  I also appreciated the amount of work it would have taken to create these temples thousands of years ago. 

Even Buddha was tired after climbing to the top! He needed to rest

Inside one of the caves; you can see the paintings on the ceiling

When all our sight seeing was finished we grabbed local bus transportation home.  That was an adventure in itself!  Saros and I befriended a helpful young man who told us which bus to take (not everyone speaks English here).  He said he was traveling in the same direction and would help us out.  It was a good thing he took us under his wings, because I would have been lost. The bus we ended up taking was what I considered to be full.  However, our helpful samaritan ensured us we would fit; People pushed and shoved to make room for us.  I was standing on the stairs of the bus for 20 minutes, and there were others hanging onto the railing behind me. The driver didn’t seem to mind that we were packed in like sardines, he kept his break-neck speed; honking at cars and tuk tuks to get out of our way.  At times we hit bumps so quickly that I was suspended in mid air, defying gravity.   Slowly the bus became less packed as people got off.  We arrived home after 2.5 hours on the bus, at about 8 pm.  

Nixon, the manager of the P & O department was very worried about us during our trip.  He called several times during the day to make sure we were ok.   At one point he called Saros during our ascent to the caves.  Saros answered out of breath and said he would have to call back later.  Nixon later told me he wasn’t sure if things were ok, because Saros sounded so fatigued.  It was very nice of Nixon to be keeping an eye on us.  Saros was very tired from our outing, but he ensured me he was glad that he came.  He feel asleep on the bus ride home. 

Don't you just love the decorations on this bus?  An inflatable saw and disco hindu lights.