A Buddha Bonanza

Sri Lanka: 29th August

The first day of my tour in Sri Lanka was a lazy one, I spent most of it by the pool. In between long stretches of sunbathing and slow laps around the pool, I met some of the 20 people I would be going on this tour with. At first I met a group of women who would become to be known as ‘Sarah and the girls’, a group of four girls from Belgium who, when they arrived, Sarah texted our tour guide introducing them as, you guessed it, Sarah and the girls. After a nice chat and a few more laps of the pool one of the hotel staff came up to me to tell me they need my key. The person I would share my room with was here. I later learn Ali had also been in Negombo and the resort since Thursday but our paths hadn’t crossed.

Later in the day I meet the rest of the group when we have our orientation meeting with our guide, Sumudu. Afterwards we shared our first group meal and a few of us had a beer or two. It was a fairly early night for the group, most wanting to sleep off their jet-lag and others conscious of the relatively early start the next day.

The next day we have a quick breakfast before setting off to the Dambulla Cave Temple, a three hour drive away. Inside this collection of caves is a massive amount of statues of Buddha. After a fairly quick hike up some stairs and paying your entry fees of course, you walk into caves with walls and ceilings beautifully filled with artwork and surrounded by Buddhas. There are giant reclining statues and human-size standing statues. Cave after cave the Buddhas that don’t seem to ever stop. We are all given a flower to place at the alter of one of the statues as a show of appreciation for Buddha. From my admittedly limited understanding, Buddha is neither a god nor a spirit, simply a man who reached enlightenment. I also believe that to reach enlightenment is to put a stop to your spirits cycle of re-incarnations. Why one would want to put a stop to that I am still a little fuzzy on, to be honest.

Three Buddhas watching the football on the big screen

Two Buddhas off to the local football match

After the temple the group trudges back down the stairs and on to the bus to head back to our hotel. Along the way we stopped for lunch where I tried a Vegetable Roti – it was lovely and the first time I actually got to taste some spice, as all my other meals had the heat taken out of them, as Sri Lankans believe this needs to happen for delicate western palates. Once at our hotel the group was given time to relax and hang around by the pool.

Once recuperated we were back out again! This time to Pindurangala Buddhist temple and although we where temporarily asked to cover our knees and shoulders to respect the customs, we didn’t actually go into the temple. We were there to hike the rock that the temple is at the base of, for spectacular sunset view. Although not a particularly long hike, there where elements that I would describe as closer to rock climbing than hiking, but it was worth it for the amazing 360 views that awaited us at the top. Including an amazing view of the famous Sigiriya Rock Fortress we will be visiting tomorrow morning. Unfortunately the clouds rolled in making the actual sunset itself rather anticlimactic.

Sigiriya Rock Fortress behind me

Waiting for sunset

After our clamber down, the group made it’s way back to the hotel in the coach. Once there Ali and I discovered our toilet had locked itself from the inside, a fun little trick! Once sorted we head to dinner to find out similar things had happened to one of our travel companions although her toilet locked itself while she was in it! I finished the night sharing a beer with new friends, the price of which had gone from 650 to 800 to 1000 rupees in the space of one afternoon. C'est la vie.

A lay down after a good hike and a few beers