Sri Lanka Day 2 - Cultural Triangle

Well I saw my cobra today, but it was in a controlled setting where a snake charmer had set up shop at Sigiriya rock. So I am still alive.

The day started EARLY. I woke up at 4 am, killed some massive spiders in the room, and then couldn’t fall back to sleep. I had already gotten my 7 hours of sleep so I was good. I puttered around the villa, looked outside for the wild elephants, birds, and wildlife, before deciding to get ready. After my outdoor shower, I had an iguana visitor. Quite a surprise, but I am at a nature resort.

After a traditional English breakfast, Ruwan and I headed over to Dambulla to visit the Golden Temple and the Cave Temples. My hired guide was ok, but Ruwan gave me most of the spiel on the way. After our .5 km walk up, the temple was great and exciting with frescos that were several hundred years old as well as incredible carvings and statues. The ubiquitous begging monkeys were everywhere and I have a video showing how it works as a monkey devours the leftover lotus flower from the 5 Buddhist cave temples. It was insanely hot and humid and I am sure that I was quite the sight given the temperature and humidity combination.

After a stop for a Sri Lankan orange colored lemonade (yep Sri Lankan lemons are orange), it was on to Sigiriya. Sigiriya is a 5^th century AD fortress build with running water, swimming pools, gardens, and frescoes of all the concubines (of which 18 survive from the initial 500). Oh yeah, and somewhere north of 1200 stairs to guide you along the 100+ story journey to the summit. The place and story is incredible as it was the prince’s summer palace and served as a central point in a civil war between brothers. The journey up (with ramps and walkways to compliment the narrow steps) was almost as hard to complete as the Mud Run due to the heat, humidity, and how uncomfortable I am with heights. And to top it off, as we reached the bottom after having completed a 3k round trip, and before the onslaught of vendors, I got to run into a guy hawking pictures with snakes playing his pipes and charming his cobra. I escaped unscathed from the encounter – maybe it was all the sweat.

Since it was now 2PM and I had sweated out several pounds and the scrambled eggs and toast that I had politely started were long gone, I was ravenous for lunch. Unfortunately, the lunch was a restaurant tied to a wood carver’s shop that probably lived up to what you would expect from a side business. The only redeeming portion of the meal being the pumpkin, ginger, Gouda soup. Did I mention how hot it was?

So with the end of the cultural sightseeing, I moved on to shopping at the wood carver’s shop and then the gem shop. Similar to the marble factory in Agra that our guide took us to, this was pure marketing. I bought a couple things, but the prices seemed high so I am holding off for some of the government handiworks stores in Colombo. I got some great gem bargains on semi-precious stones, but the stone that I really wanted escaped me at this shop - an orange sapphire. It was a little too high end and the gems were exceedingly fine quality. He could have sold me more if he had been wiling to show just better than average.  I have one more gem stop visit scheduled to find the stone for which I am looking. Oh well. I made decent purchases at both places. I did find a table to die for at the wood-worker’s, but it was too tall and too square to be able to work for me. But here is a pic for any of you designers at home – that is colored slate in the center section and they will ship it from Sri Lanka to you.

Day 2 ended with a downpour again, but this time Ruwan and I were already back at the lodge having a beer so it all worked out.