Friday 13 March 2015
Happy Friday the 13th! Luckily for us nothing
unlucky happened today! Verity arrived late last night after her taxi driver
didn’t know where he was going and drove around aimlessly for ages. We had a
brief catch up and made a bit of a plan for the following day and headed to
bed.
We got up around 8.30am and got ourselves set for the day we
had planned to leave for the train station at 9am but by the time we got moving
it was about 9.30am. The rickshaw driver we had was not a proactive driver and
we began to think we might miss the train whilst we were stuck behind a parked bus
and all other traffic jetted by us.
It was 10.20am when we arrived and the train left at 10.35am
so we had to hustle we paid the driver and then headed into the tourist office
to ask about trains annoyingly the man said the 10.35am train was full and said
that the 12.40pm train was standing room only and kept trying to sell us
tourist 1st class tickets in the observation car of the 3pm train
for 800 rupees I wasn’t having a bar of it he then went back on what he said
and told us that we could reserve tickets on the 12.40pm train for 280 which
was a better deal but I said we should just try our luck unreserved on that
train as we could sit on our bags if need be. At that point he said if that was
the case we may as well get on the 10.35am train and try our luck for a seat.
Annoyingly we then had to leave the tourist office and join the queue for
tickets!
Thankfully it moved quickly and we paid only 190 rupees
each. On the platform we stood in the middle as we were told that was where we
needed to be to have the best chance of getting a seat. We needn’t have worried
we got a seat and there were still seats spare here and there. The man had also
told us there was no space to store our luggage but there were overhead spaces
as well as big cubbies at the end of each carriage.
The ride should have taken three and a half hours but there
was a delay. For reasons unknown we stopped at a station for over 40mins and
never made back the time arriving closer to 3pm when we should have arrived
before 2pm.
The ride was stunning the train winds its way up through forested
mountainside. The air was cooler and cleaner and there was even a spell of
heavy rain which cleared the air even more. The passengers were lively with a
man singing and playing a tambourine (although we really wished he would have
stopped as he was a tad terrible) and a bunch of young guys danced.
We got to Kandy and tried to find a rickshaw to take us to
Burmese Rest, a quaint little guesthouse owned by the Myanmar government and
home to a bunch of monks as well as being the cheapest place to stay in town.
The first few drivers we spoke to offered us outrageous rip-off
prices and the third tried to convince us we could stay there as we aren’t
Chinese. (that argument seemed a bit weird since it’s not even a Chinese
guesthouse but who am I to dispute a toothless rickshaw driver with a greasy ponytail
and a guestbook for his rickshaw) he agreed to take us there but told us we
would be sorry when they didn’t let us stay so it was much to our delight when
the friendly monk welcomed us in and set us up in a sparse but large clean and
airy twin bedroom.
The place is a former pilgrimage guesthouse so is basic with
shared bathrooms (which are super nice) plain twin beds and no Wi-Fi but at
less than a third of the price of the hostel in Colombo how could we complain!
Once we were checked in (the process took about 20 seconds
and was just verity writing her name and date and signing it, hotels are so
much more relaxed than in India where passport copies are needed and numerous
forms and registers must be filled out) we chilled in the room for a bit.
Verity took a nap and I read up on Kandy in the lonely planet.
About 4.30pm we headed out to find food other than toast
this morning and a samosa like fries thing on the train we hadn’t eaten all day
and I was fairly hungry. We wondered about until we found a local hang out and
had a bit of a munch.
On the walk back to Burmese rest we grabbed cake at one of
the many many bakeries along the road. Despite the lack of doing anything today
I felt tired and so we chilled out for a while and then did about 30mins of
meditation.
In the evening we headed out for food I wasn’t too hungry
and just had fruit salad for dinner and we abused the free Wi-Fi while we ate.
We had to be back at the guesthouse by 10pm and walked through the door at
about 9.55pm. After showering the grime of the day away I read for a bit before
heading to bed.
Saturday 14th March 2015
I woke up super early this morning and couldn’t get back to
sleep so read my book for about 90mins before feeling tired again so I went
back to sleep.
We mooched about and had a slow morning and it was 11am
before we actually got going. The food in Kandy leaves a lot to be desired and
after a fuck up with our order my breakfast turned out to be two plain
parathas.
From breakfast we wondered along the road heading for the
lake in the drizzling rain. We stopped off to buy postcards and then popped
into the post office to get some stamps. We took a walk to the tourist info office
stopping along the way in a few shops. (Including one with free Wi-Fi) and
chatted to the helpful lady about good beaches and the ancient cities.
We then stopped for lunch at a cute little café where the
food was average but the staff were full of smiles. We lingered there for a
while sorting out a bit of a rough plan of where we wanted to go.
Coming out of the café the rain had stopped and so we took a
walk around the lake along the way we saw loads of different birds, a cat, a
chicken, heaps of ducks and geese and several water monitor lizards lazing on
the bank.
As we walked we stopped at the Kandy cultural association
and had a look at some handy crafts as well as taking a rest sitting on the
bank admiring the view of the lake and the giant Buddha on the hill in the
distance.
Along the far side of the lake there were heaps of dead fish
floating in the water and a few dead birds hanging from the trees. There was
bird poo everywhere and bats hanging in the tree. The lake was built in 1807 by
the last ruler of the kingdom of Kandy, Sri Wickrama Rajasainha. Whilst it was
being built there were protests by several minor chiefs about their people
being put to work on the lake and so Sri Wickrama Rajasinha had them put to
death on stakes on the lake bed, since this area smelt a bit like death we
concluded that it must be where those bodies were.
W completed a circuit of the lake and headed back to the
guesthouse to chill for a while before heading back out to see the Puja at the
temple of the sacred tooth relic.
I sat writing about a million postcards and at around 6.30pm
headed to the temple. It’s free for Sri Lankan nationals but for foreigners
it’s a whopping 1000 rupees. The temple itself is stunning but the entrance fee
is far more than double the price it should be. I got a ticket and gave my
jandals to the shoe minder before making my way in.
The puja was well under way and the place was packed. I
headed in (picking up my free temple DVD on the way) and made my way to the
entrance. Upstairs I stood in a non-moving line for over 30mins I’m not sure
what we were waiting for. People kept leaving the line to sit down and when
they came back they would bring friends and family members with them so the
line was growing in front of me as well as behind.
Everyone was pushing in and although we were all stationary
we were pressed up against each other every time I inched a tiny bit forward
the woman behind would inch forward as well pressing herself into my back.
When finally the line started to move we were hustled past
the sacred tooth relic (that you can’t even see as it’s enclosed in a golden
casket) so fast that I barely caught a glimpse. I walked around the rest of the
temple complex and then headed out and back to the guesthouse.
On the way back I picked up another 5l bottle of water and
then Verity and crossed the road to a Chinese restaurant called The Flower
Song. It was a nice place but a tad overpriced (even if the portions were
ridiculous I got an extra small and it would have been enough for two people as
it stands I have breakfast for tomorrow)
We got back to Burmese Rest just before 10pm and got ourselves
ready for an early start tomorrow.
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Tuk Tuks in the rain
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Flower stalls selling offerings for Buddha
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Kandy Lake
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on the banks of Kandy Lake
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Kandy Lake
The tortoises that live at the guest house
Sunday 15th March 2015
We were up at 7am this morning to get an early start on a
big day out by 7.45am we were in a rickshaw heading for the bus station to get
a bus to Dambulla and from there to Sigiriya. As soon as we got out of the
rickshaw touts were calling out to us to get us on their bus. We jumped aboard
a big mini bus which was a bit more expensive than the proper bus but
comfortable and a bit quicker and it was leaving pretty much right away.
The drive to Dambulla took about two hours the countryside
was pretty and I alternated between taking it all in and dozing. In Dambulla we
got off our bus and straight onto another one to take us the further 20km to
Sigiriya.
Sigiriya is a small town with not a lot more than a huge
rock which back in the day had a palace on top. We were dropped off on the side
of the road and had to walk a long dusty path pat water buffalos lazing in a
pond full of water lilies to the entrance.
The ticket was a tad expensive at 3900 LKR (pretty much
$40NZD locals pay a mere 50 rupees yup less than a dollar) we walked through
the gardens at the bottom and through the boulder gardens at the base of the
structure before making our ascent.
Sigiriya is thought to have been in use as a place of
worship and later as a palace for the last 6000 years (which is insane really
as all the stairs up to the top are man-made out of iron how the heck did they
build stairs 6000 years ago the mind really does boggle)
It was just after 11am and already the day was hot and
sweaty the climb up is constant stone steps with small flat areas to enjoy the
view. On the way up there are cast iron spiral staircases that are wide enough
to walk in single file enclosed in a wire cage which lead up to the fresco
gallery where there are ancient paintings on plaster on the cave walls.
After seeing the frescos you leave down an identical spiral
staircase and continue onwards and upwards the whole climb is not for the faint
hearted but that section was defiantly the most vertigo inducing.
After coming down from the fresco gallery there is a slight
respite of flat which is also slightly shady and channels a nice breeze however
it doesn’t last long before there are more stairs to climb this time cut out of
the rock face.
At the top of these stairs is a plateau and is where the
stairs up to the top go from. It’s called the lions paw entrance and as the
name suggests there are two huge stone lion paws at the base of the stairs.
However whatever staircase was originally there is gone now leaving in its
place more cast iron stairs bolted into the rock suspended in the air
thankfully they don’t move at all but I can imagine if you were scared of
heights you might struggle.
The views from every stopping point along the way were
stunning but the view from the top was something else from the top you get a
full 360 degree view of the surrounding countryside and oh my what a
countryside it is. As far as the eye can see is beautiful dense green jungle
scattered with lakes and rivers and mountains we had a perfect day for it with
azure blue skies and fluffy white marshmallow clouds that seemed to lounge in
the sky.
We spent a good chunk of time sitting up there taking in the
view, exploring all the twists and turns and walking up and down crumbling staircases
before making our descent. Down was much easier but we were forced to go at the
pace of the man in front of us clearly wracked by nerves gripping the rails
with white knuckles and inching down step by step.
At the bottom a man said we were going the wrong way and
took us on a bit of a tiki tour through the boulder garden which was nice as we
got to see a bit more of the ruins but also frustrating as we came out in a
carpark on the other side of where we wanted to be and had to walk back around
in the full sun of the day. The man of course asked for a tip even though we
didn’t ask him to walk with us and everything he pointed out to us was
incorrect.
We got back to the start point walking past one of the
massive ponds where we saw kingfishers in the trees and a huge lizard basking in
the sun, and went into the museum. It’s a huge ugly building I think designed
to be very modern and hip but actually there isn’t enough displays to fill the
vast space and you end up walking through hot dusty empty gallery halls to get
to the displays.
The displays themselves are very well done (and air
conditioned) but we were lacking the brain function to really take any of it in
and so we skimmed through and then headed out in search of a cold drink. The
walk back to the road seemed triple the length of when we came in but we were
entertained en-route by packs of monkeys, there was even one eating ants out of
an ant hill.
Along the way we treated ourselves to a popsicle which
melted faster than we could eat it and I ended up as a sticky mess. As we neared
the road a bus was coming along and we ran for it, it slowed down and then
instead of stopping drove off with everyone aboard waving. Luckily the bus stop
was shady and we had only been there a couple of minutes when another bus
pulled up.
We got off at the bus station in Dambulla looking for food.
There didn’t seem to be much about but we found somewhere semi decent after a
wee bit of walking. The vegetarian section was a bit sad with only three
horrendous sounding items and so I got two veg samosas (which were cold and not
as tasty as Indian samosas when they are cold) Verity’s butter chicken took
20mins to arrive and when it did it was chicken fried in butter rather than a
curry which was a tad disappointing (the search for curry in Sri Lanka
continues!) feeling fed and a little bit rested we opted to get an auto to the
cave temples as we were a)knackered and b)running out of day.
Little did we know that to get to the cave temples we had to
walk up another hill although it almost killed us we were rewarded with another
spectacular view and we could see Sigiriya rock off in the distance. At eh base
of the cave temples sits a huge golden Buddha as well as a Buddhist museum and
bookshops (although none of the books are in English)
There are five cave temples all dating back to different
times and between them there are over 150 Buddha images. There is also a Siva
temple which we were lucky to get a glimpse in as it is normally closed. The
caves themselves are amazing with reclining Buddhas and Buddhas seated in many
different mudras. The ceilings and walls are painted in amazing colours of more
Buddha and of beautiful lotus flowers.
We didn’t stay long at the temple as we were fading fast and
we needed to get back to Kandy before the buses stopped for the day. Luckily
for us when we had walked down the hill and exited the complex there was a bus
stop directly across the road. While we waited we chatted to a friendly
policeman (but his English was so bad I don’t think he actually understood a
word we said) I tried to feed a starving dog peanuts (she wasn’t having a bar
of it) and I acted as mediator between two fighting dogs (one very healthy mutt
who growled while wagging his tail and the aforementioned starving dog who had
a cataract on one eye but despite her flaws was still gorgeous)
We got on the bus and although there were no seats we were
allowed to sit on the big boxy thing that Asian buses seem to have next to
their extreme gear sticks. As we had been walking down from the temple the sky
grew darker and thunder rumbled so we were pleased we were already on the bus
when the rain started to pour down.
All was going well and we had even graduated to real seats
when the bus broke down. We stopped on the side of the road while they tinkered
with it in the rain for a while and then we were off again but there was a
smell of burning rubber and we seemed to lose traction quite quickly on hills.
We stopped again and sat there for a while when suddenly everyone started
making a break for another bus we asked if it was going to Kandy they said yes,
we followed suit and crammed on board.
We managed to get seats and were settling in for the ride
when the conductor told us we needed to buy new tickets I said we came from the
broken down bus and although he didn’t make us buy new tickets he did delight
in the fact that this bus didn’t actually go as far as Kandy rather it stopped
in Matale 26km from Kandy.
Whilst on the bus there was a man who kept staring at me I
would stare back and he would look away embarrassed this continued for the
whole journey. At Matale we got off and were immediately soaked a man was
telling us we needed to cross the road and get a bus going the other way so it
was lucky that a Kandy bus pulled up at that moment and we didn’t go on a wild
goose chase.
As we crammed onto the bus my staring friend from the
previous bus got on behind me and proceeded to grind against me and then touch
my arse when I was a step higher than him. The bus was packed full and I pushed
my way through and swapped places with a man who shielded me from the pervert and
introduced me to his wife. Annoyingly the little creeper squirmed his way
behind me again and continued his molestation I gave him a telling off and
thankfully the other men around us sent him packing and I could relax.
When you are standing up on a packed bus that is honing
around corners 26km suddenly seems a lot longer and by the time we arrived in
Kandy after 8pm a full 12 hours after we left my legs were about to give way
and I felt nauseous with motion sickness. Thankfully it wasn’t raining in Kandy
and smelly as we were we decided to go straight for food.
We almost fell asleep in our meals and had to force
ourselves into the shower before collapsing in bed exhausted.
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Me with Sigiriya Rock in the background
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Water buffaloes hiding from the heat
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Lizard chilling in the grass
Freaking giant squirrel
The scaffolding is the spiral stairs up
Some of the cave painting
Stairs up from the lions paws
View from the top - Well worth the climb!
View from the top - Well worth the climb!
View from the top - Well worth the climb!
II fed this girl peanuts!
View from the top - Well worth the climb!
View from the top - Well worth the climb!
Fair warning!
Cast iron stairs from the Lions paws up and down
Huge stone paw
Golden Temple
Cave Temples - Dambulla
Cave Temples - Dambulla
Cave Temples - Dambulla
Cave Temples - Dambulla
Cave Temples - Dambulla
Monday 16th March 2015
This morning we both woke up early which was annoying as we
could have used the extra sleep. It didn’t mean we were very productive though
and it was about 10.30am before we were packed up ready to go. We left our bags
in a corner of the guesthouse to collect later and went in search of some
breakfast.
We chilled in a café eating and abusing the free Wi-Fi for a
few hours before we got on with the day. After posting our postcards we set
about finding a rickshaw to take us to the Ceylon tea museum.it took a while
and a bit of haggling before we agreed on a fair price with a driver to drive
us wait and drive us back. The only snag was the museum was closed when we got
there.
The drive up was beautiful the sides of the road were lined
with tea bushes and we could see out over Kandy. We decided to head back and
see if there was anywhere worth stopping along the way (we were thinking a cup
of tea and a view at a posh hotel) we hadn’t driven far when we saw an ayurvedic
spa and decided to nip in and see what treatments were worth.
We ended up getting a full body massage and a steam bath. We
started off with a herbal tea while they set up I’m not sure what was in it but
it was very sweet. When we walked into the room it was like a couples massage
as we were on beds side by side after all the walking yesterday it was just
what I needed. The steam bath at the end was weird you lie inside a big wooden
box with just your head poking out and inside gets pumped with steam. While you
lie there sweating it up the therapist gives you a facial massage.
We finished up and returned to our tuk tuk driver who was
dozing in the shade, we got him to take us back to the guesthouse and wait
while we grabbed our bags he dropped me off at the train station and then took
Verity to the bus station. I bought a ticket back to Colombo and although it didn’t
leave for 25mins the train was there so I got on to ensure I had a good seat.
The train was pretty empty most of the way and so I had two
seats to myself. I read and listened to music and took loads of photos of the
world going by outside. I arrived into Colombo at about 7pm and despite feeling
in despite need for a shower decided that the cheapness of the bus outweighed
my desire to be clean.
I found the bus stop without drama and was soon on my way thankfully
when I got on there was a seat by the door and enough space for my bag. It quickly
filled up and I struggled to see where I was going which wasn’t helped by the darkness
and everything looking different. I was pretty pleased with myself for getting
off at the right stop and walked the short walk to the hostel.
There was no staff around (except for the groundskeeper who
let me in) so I chilled chatting to some other guests (the hostel has filled
out in the last few days!) once I was checked in I showered and didn’t even
bother to put a bra on I was hungry but not enough to bother venturing out so chilled
for the evening.
In bed I slept fitfully as it was unbearably hot and even
smothered in deet and under a mozzie net I was eaten alive which didn’t make
for a restful night.
From the train I saw an elephant on a truck!
View from the train
View from the train
View from the train
View from the train
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