Kandy pt. 2 feat. Sigiriya and a Train
Captains log:
I’m becoming suspicious that Billie is annoyed at how long I spend taking pictures of monkeys. Must find way to swap her for new monkey girlfriend, preferably free of rabies.
Day 4: Sigiriya and Dambulla Cave Temple
On day 4 we visited Sigiriya, a gigantic rock upon which an ancient King built a Palace and from it, ruled a civilization.
Back in Kandy, poor, lovely Ganga served us breakfast at 06:30 and we were in our arranged driver’s car at 07:00 to begin the 3 hour drive to Sigiriya. Our fellow was lovely but tried to convince us to visit a sapphire shop (Sri Lanka’s second biggest export industry, believe it or not) and to go to a spice garden. Both of which were a bit naughty as he’d have commission on everything sold at inflated tourist prices. Whilst we’re not against paying the odd inflated tourist price, we’ve been informed that many of the products come from India and are bad for the Sri Lankan economy, and that the driver commission system is also an unhealthy one.
We arrived at Sigiriya at 10:00 and purchased our tourist tickets (equivalent of £25) each, very expensive compared to everything else we’ve done so far. We began the very cool walk down the straight as an arrow dirt path leading to Sigiriya, with the rock itself looming over us dauntingly as we approached, the climb appearing more demanding as it grew with each step. Even at the bottom, there were lots of cool ruins: ancient swimming pools and cave dwellings, some with faded wall paintings.
The climb itself was fairly long, mostly tough because it consisted largely of steps and the heat was just searing, but with plenty of stops at convenient resting areas, crowded with fighting monkeys and tourists, we made it sweatily to the top in about an hour.
The view was spectacular! We walked around the top, seeing the ruins of where the Palace and various other buildings stood, then chilled for 30 mins over a South-westerly view, which we deemed the best, before making our way down again, playing with the bold, daring monkeys on the way down.
Our faithful driver then took us to the entrance of Dambulla Cave Temple, which is one of Sri Lanka’s most famous sites. It is, as it sounds, a temple in a cave, which is mostly a huge underhang in a big old hill of grey rock. They have built walls around said overhang to create a temple. After a 30 min uphill slog, we handed in our shoes and duly covered our legs and shoulders and went in. Statues and images of Buddha were everywhere, pretty much as stuffed in as they could get, carved as large as the ceiling would allow. There were a few giant sculptures of Buddha laying down, which were v impressive. It was definitely worth the trip from Kandy!
After some internal discussion, away from the sharp ears of our driver, we decided we’d visit a spice garden of his choice. Our friends at our ‘homestay’ had been on one and said it was interesting and you get a massage out of it! Our host had warned us not to buy anything from them due to previously mentioned reasons. We went in knowing we’d see some of the plants and trees upon which spices and herbs grow, get a massage and then pay whatever fee we thought reasonable!
Our spice garden guide was very dramatic and told us all about herbal medicine, trying to convince us to detox (probably not a bad idea) using his herbal pills (probably do nothing). Luckily he did show us all the spice trees such as cinnamon, peppercorn, cardamom and many others. I didn’t realise cinnamon is literally the bark shaved off a tree! The massage was amaaaazing and lasted about an hour. We gave the equivalent of £5 to each masseuse and they seemed chuffed. We also tipped our guide another £5 but to his disappointment, and as directed, didn’t buy any of the herbal ointments or spices that cost in the realms of £30+.
Now properly relaxed, we made our way back to Kandy with the driver. We stopped off for some beers and Arrack (Sri Lanka’s hard liqueur, fermented cocunut) for the evening. We had our final dinner with our Peruvian/Dutch couple friends for the last time, as we were both moving on the following day. We (mostly me) got a little bit drunk and we had a good spirited chat. They leave the country at the same date and time as us, albeit to a different destination, so we hope to see Jose and Irena then.
Day 5: Kandy to Nuwara Eliya
We finally had our first lie in! After a late breakfast and teary farewells to Ganga, we were on the 2nd Class Reserved carriage of the train from Kandy to Nanu Oya. We bought some roasted peanuts through the window of the train when we stopped once. They were freshly roasted, still warm and heavily salted. Best peanuts I’ve ever had. Our train snaked its way through astonishing view after astonishing view of hilly tea plantation. All the windows were open on the train and fans on the ceiling rotated wildly to make sure everyone got a bit of that breeze too. The result was quite lovely and we weren’t over hot at all.
From Nanu Oya our host, Pubudu, had arranged for us a 15 min car to our new home for two nights, ‘The Hideaway Cabin’. I was very excited for this one!
We were greeted by the drivers as promised, but also… rain! Just a spattering and it soon cleared but Google weather is not positive about or prospects. We brought anoraks just in case, so if worst comes to worse we’ll power through.
We arrived via many a narrow tea plantation dirt track at our hideaway cabin. We were not disappointed! It’s very cool. Total hipster / yoga retreat vibes. Noice.
We walked up to town via a strawberry farm and after munching on strawbs eventually opted to tuk tuk it to ‘The Pub’ which was the only reliable draught beer serving establishment Google had to offer. We chatted over a couple of pints of local Lion Beer and vaguely watched the West Ham v Arsenal game on the flatscreens. We moved on to the fanciest restaurant in town, The Grand Hotels Indian Restaurant, aka The Grand Indian. We snaffled down lush Indian food with a bottle of cab sauv (our first wine here) then retreated to bed. We returned to find gorgeous fairy lights decorating the cabin. Beautiful!
I’ve somewhat rushed the last section of the day, mostly because I’m full and slightly drunk and in bed, so I’ll get to the juicy bits of Nuwara Eliya tomorrow. It’s known as Little England, and is so more than you would guess (I’m talking Clapham Townhouse architecture slapped on the hills and worse). Next time you’ll get the full Nuwara Eliya treatment, promise.