Today we ventured to what is known as the Cultural Triangle, which is where the ancient cities and stunning temples are located.
First up was the stunningly beautiful temple in Matala which was incredibly ornate and colourful.
En route we stopped off at one of the spice gardens. There are plenty to choose from as over 30 line this stretch of road. The one we went to was very interesting. We had a tour around the gardens and learnt about the natural health properties of various herbs and spices for a whole range of ailments including: colds, arthritus, snoring, too much hair, not enough hair etc. I ended up buying the local version of Tiger Balm which may come in useful.
Next stop was Dambulla temple which I had really been looking forward to and I thought I had done my research. This is the temple of caves and I was so looking forward to retreating from the burning mid day sun into dark cool caves. Clearly I had not researched well enough as to my horror we had to climb what seemed like hundreds of steps and sharp inclines to reach the caves that were at the top of the hillside! With sweat pouring off us all we made a gradual climb with many stops to take our breath en route. Finally on reaching the top - relief all round. As normal we were asked to remove our shoes and hand them in to a little kiosk. What we didn't bank on was that the paving stones were red hot so I hopped, leapt and screamed ouch ouch ouch as I suddenly found speed in my legs to reach the first cave. The 5 caves we saw were amazing and contained statues of Buddha in various poses, reclining, standing, sitting Buddha etc. Beautiful paintings adorned the ceilings and walls and finally it was cooler in the caves.
Another benefit of our climb is that we also had a fantastic view from the top of the hill face and could see our next stop - the famous rock called Sigiriya which contains the ruins of an ancient civilisation. It is like the local version of Ayres Rock. We were told it takes 2 - 3 hours to climb so although we did go to look at the rock, none of us felt like another long hot climb.
Feeling hot, sore and templed out we returned to Kandy , but this certainly was an amazing day with some of the most beautiful and different temples that I have seen. Definitely worth a visit.
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| Dambula |
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| Spice Garden |
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| Matala |
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| Dambula |
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