28th April - Sigiriya to Kandi

Ayobowam from Kandi,

Before I begin, I just want to say that this was a BIG day...let's proceed.

We woke up in the world famous Mould Room of Sigiriya and got outside ASAP. We saw the pool guy cleaning the pool. The water was about 30 parts chlorine to 20 parts water, so we declined his offer of a dip in the face-melter vat. Breakfast was so-so, but we did have the old Thai fruit trifecta of pineapple, watermelon and papaya. Glad to see that this tradition has carried over.

On the road at 9 am and our first stop was a viewpoint to check out Lion Rock. We elected not to climb the 1200 plus precarious-side-of-a-rock/mountain steps, but instead got a nice piccie from the safety of the grass.

Tick. Move on!

Next we went on a traditional village tour. Hmmm, our bells always ring, when the words "traditional" or "cultural" are used, due to experience, but we went along with the 2 hour - $30 tour anyway.

We started off on an oxcart. The poor bugger pulled us along the road and down a mud jungle track for a few hundred metres before the village man put us on a "catamaran" on the lake. The cat was two canoes tied together with a wooden platform on top, but the lake was a stunner. Filled with lotus flowers, lilies and shags (oh behave,) it was serene and otherwordly...for about 10 minutes until the blistering summer sun hammered us. Old mate made us hats out of lotus leaves, a bouquet of lotus roses for Jen-Jen and necklaces. It was very cute and the lotus leaf hats were awesome, Cool, pliable and protective from the harsh sun. I think Jen-Jen is now legally married to this dude as she accepted all proffered gifts. And good luck them both I say! Vish tried to paddle for a bit, but he was hopeless! We got back to shore, gave old mate a tip took MY wife away, and went for a village cooking class.

Now I was getting excited. we saw a traditional village outdoor kitchen and we were all set to make coconut sambal and roti! Yes.

The stove was sick (see picture) and our hostess knew her way around this thing. We shredded coconut, chopped chilli, added salt etc, etc, and 10 mins later we were smashing sambal, roti and herbal tea. So simple, but damn, it was so tasty. I wrote the recipe down so that I can make it when we get home.

We then gave her a tip (all the tips are a couple of bucks, depending on how good it was and what notes are in my wallet at the time) and got a tuk-tuk back to Vish's car for the short drive to Dambulla Cave Temple.

Sometimes Vish forgets that we are not in our twenties and he said, you won't need shoes for this... We wore them anyway, but didn't get our water. Long story short - it was really bloody hot and we stopped halfway up the mountain steps - yep mountain steps, we missed Lion Rock, but Dambulla got us back - for a rest. Vish, the young trooper RAN back down the stairs in his thongs and got water for us all. Bless his rubber thongs!

Anyway, we continued climbing and we were as high as the eagles when we arrived at the top. First things we saw - monkeys and touts. We avoided both as we shed our footwear and I donned a damned fashionable sarong as knees are not allowed in the temple. Bloody bare knees, they'll be the downfall of Buddhism...

Dambulla Cave Temple was an impressive joint. An old mate took us around and explained that the five temple chambers carved into the rock date from the 18th Century to 1915. There are over 150 statues of the main man in here - some reclining, some sitting, standing, alive, dead, resting etc.. Pretty cool actually. My favourite was a sitting Buddha surrounded by mythical creatures. My favourite creature was made up of 7 animals rolled into one. It had the head of a dragon, the eyes of a monkey, the snout of a elephant, the teeth of a crocodile, the body of a fish, the legs of a pig and the tail of a peacock! Very fugly.

We also saw the Stupa - which looks like a giant bell and is the most sacred buidling in Buddhist pagodas. The one was special as it was filled with the tools of every mason and the brushes of every artist that created the place. So sick!

Vish disapproved of my 5000 (20 bucks) tip to the old bloke showing us around, but I reckon if he walked up and down those steps everyday he deserves $20. Plus my karma should have received a decent shot in the arm!

We then had lunch at this amazing little restaurant that was just the front verandah of a family home. The friendly chef, her hubby and son were all smiles as we walked in as the thunder and lightning was threatening to quench this insane heat. We grabbed a glass bottle of coke (yes) from the fridge and she walked us through the 9 clay pots of food that she had prepared for the lunch rush. They went as follows:

⦁ Boiled rice

⦁ Sweet potato (cassava) curry

⦁ Cucumber salsa

⦁ Chow - Some veg pickle curry from Kandi

⦁ Banana flower curry

⦁ Brindjal - Aubergine tomato and onion curry

⦁ Pumpkin in coconut cream

⦁ Chicken pieces on the bone with chili

⦁ Pappadums

To say that this feast was tasty was an understatement. It was absolutely delicious. We watched the rain fall and cool the day as we looked at her beautiful garden. If I so desired, I could have leant out and picked a mango right off the tree... this was one of those - "yep we're travelling moments," and to coin one of my favourite expressions: It was an awesome corner of the world to spend an hour in!

As we left , the chef gave us her business card and asked us to give a Trip Advisor review. So, if anyone wants great Sri Lankan curry go to the Athula Restaurant in Yapagam, Dambulla, it's the shiz!!

We then drove an hour - Vish is a great driver by the way. He can talk on one of his two phones, and negotiate the crazy roads and I don't feel the slightest anxiety; the kid is a natural - and arrived at the Spice Garden.

We the were lead around this amazing garden for an hour by a tour guide who was supposedly studying Ayurvedic medicine. He seemed more like a salesmen to me but I digress. We walked around and saw most of our favourite spices growing. We knew most of the medical benefits of these foods, but it was nice to hear about them again and to see the healthiest plants ever growing in the joint. Sidenote - they stack the quartered coconut husks like bricks and build retaining walls - 4 levels high. When these husks decompose, they dig them into the soil and begin again. Brilliant!

We saw so many spices including, vanilla, cardamon, ginger, black pepper, and of course the spice that Sri Lanka is most famous for: cinnamon. We put a little piece of cinnamon in our mouths and after about 20 seconds, the most incredible sweetness flooded out! Who would've thunk?? They then tried the big sell before the gift shop and two dudes massaged us with special massage oil for 10 minutes before we asked them to stop. We bought some aloe vera cream for Jen's face, tipped the 3 dudes and the fucked offski.

We then drove to the mountain town of Kandi. Lots of tourists are cancelling their travel plans to Sri Lanka because of the protests in Kandi, but we saw none of that.

Vish told us that we were in for a treat with the hotel and drove us to one of the highest peaks and to the world famous Topaz Hotel. Wow. This joint was 70's class, that had been given a recent makeover. We were shown to a penthouse apartment that had sitting area that looked out all over the mountain town - including the golden roof of the Temple of Buddha's Tooth Relic... lucky it wasn't his knee. I did get Jen-Jen with a good joke though?

GD: Do you know why Buddha's tooth fell out in this town?

JJ: No

GD: Because of the Kandi

Thank you vey much, I'll see myself out.

We had much needed libations in the bar, before we partook in an extremely ordinary buffet, that was supervised by about 20 staff. You have to feel sorry for the hospitality industry worldwide as it's been smashed. I did finally (yeah after 2 days) try Lion Beer and it was alright. The desert bar of the buffet was a highlight and all up I think we spent about $30 on food and drink. Insanely cheap.

Told you it was a big day. Imagine if we'd have scaled the Lion Rock... forget about it...

We crashed like zombies..