The Cultural Triangle of Sri Lanka -

We arrived in Kandy, and the next morning met up with a driver and two other couples for a 3 day tour of the Sri Lankan 'Cultural Triangle' ( i.e. shedloads of buddhist temples, ruins, and a large rock or 2 to climb)..

It was nice to have some company and the guys we were with were a good laugh. Suprisingly, we were all from different countries. Scott (US) and Xi (China), Peter (Spain) and Esther (Switzerland) and obviously Vanessa and I from OZ and England. We stopped at a place called Dambullah where we saw amazing golden Buddhas carved into caves. We also came across this monkey who looked more like a little old man asleep on a park bench..















The afternoon saw our first real bit of physical exertion…

We arrived at Sigiriya, a very large and famous rock where a king once lived. He built a magnificent palace at it’s peak amid paranoia that he would be attacked by his numerous enemies. Unfortunately, not much remains of the palace (cant imagine many plumbers or builders wanting to make the treck up there!).

Halfway up, we saw some 700 year-old Fresco’s (paintings that had been made on the sides of the rock in near perfect condition). The view from the top was really spectacular and well worth the 45 minute near-vertical climb. Here's Vanessa looking pretty proud of getting up there ;-)












That night we stayed in a new guesthouse off the beaten track in the middle of a forest of trees. The Sri Lankan curry was very tasty and we were even accompanied by fluorescent fireflies to make the day even more incredible.

Next morning we were up early and off to look around the ancient ruins at Polonnaruwa. Our guide was able to tell us a lot about the detail in the ruins such as the guard stones at the entrance to each temple and the moon stones that were on the floor at the bottom of the steps.

We also met up again with some monkeys! Here we played with them and fed them again. That afternoon was time for some more spectacular scenery. Sri Lanka is an amazing country and full of awesome views and man made buildings / temples / pagodas that are very difficult to imagine being built (and so perfectly) without today’s machinery and technology.


At Mihintale we found pristine white Buddha, so white that it doesn’t seem real. It seems to have the same qualities and unrealistic feel as when we visited the Taj Mahal. Our guide led us up to a meditation rock which was quite high (and a little bit of a hairy climb) but which gave us another fabulous view of the Buddha and the surrounding countryside. We stayed around here for a stunning sunset…




Next day was our final day of the trip which was now getting quite exhausting and we were looking forward to a change of scenery and a few days rest. We’d seen enough temples and pagodas to keep us going for a while. Anuradhapura didn’t seem to be quite as impressive as Polonnaruwa and we were quite ruin’d out by now.

Still, we were able to see some great sites. The twin pools that were used as baths for the families that lived around the ancient capital and worked in the palaces…the oldest recorded tree in the world, a pagoda surrounded by carved elephant heads on a circular wall and an amazing cave of bats next to another very old temple. We arrived back in Kandy in the evening and unfortunately had to say goodbye to everyone. We’d already rung ahead and booked in at beautiful guesthouse a little outside of Kandy up on a hill. Although it was a trek out there it was well worth it. We had the best room in the place with a stunning view from our veranda and stayed with a very welcoming and friendly family who cooked us delicious food each night.