Twice around the world in 40 days

[Major]

There's no way I could have climbed that

 

[RB]

I am Facebook friends with Lucky. I am sure he climbs Sigiriya ever time he is hired out-he is evasive about how may times he has climbed it but I am sure it keeps him very fit for his age.
Some great photos & I am ejoying the read!

 

[JohnM]

Phwoar - now really looking forward to my visit there next year .

 

[RooFlyer]

At the top you are rewarded with, not only a nice cooling breeze, but the most magnificent 360 degree panorama.





For once the historical fort played second fiddle, but it was stll impressive. All those bricks to come up, water to manage etc.





Why build a seat when you can have it carved out of the solid rock?






That done, time to walk down ....



You come down the last bit a slightly different way, and get a new view up to those initial galleries.



At the bottom you can stock up on expensive postcards, snow domes etc .. and pass the several Asia tour groups, just arriving, with a long, hot, slow climb ahead of them.

 

[kermatu]

Late to the party but thoroughly enjoying this TR. Especially the photos in Mumbai. Spent a bit of time in Bombay/Mumbai in my youth. Keen to return one day.

 

[craven morehead]

At the top you are rewarded with, not only a nice cooling breeze, but the most magnificent 360 degree panorama.

View attachment 128831

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For once the historical fort played second fiddle, but it was stll impressive. All those bricks to come up, water to manage etc.

View attachment 128833

View attachment 128834

Why build a seat when you can have it carved out of the solid rock?

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View attachment 128836

That done, time to walk down ....

View attachment 128838

You come down the last bit a slightly different way, and get a new view up to those initial galleries.

View attachment 128837

At the bottom you can stock up on expensive postcards, snow domes etc .. and pass the several Asia tour groups, just arriving, with a long, hot, slow climb ahead of them.

What a spectacular view from up there ! Well done on the climb.

 

[RooFlyer]

Onwards ... after breakfast we headed for Dambulla Rock and Caves just south of the town of Damballa, on the way to Kandy.

Strange set-up. Apparently there was a Buddhist monk who started to charge to travel through his monastery area to get to the Caves, so the monk next door took him to court, and won, and essentially won the 'concession' . So to get to the ticket office its a bit off the most direct way. There is a steep-ish path from the ticket office to the cave area (this time at the base of the exposed rock which tops the hill ) so, because it was near noon and getting hotter, lucky drove up the hill a bit to get to another, lesser known entrance. Still a bit of a hefty climb though, but up paved, wide paths.

On the way, we got a view of Sigiriya rock, climbed that morning!



On arrival at the entrance kiosk in the LH pic, its shoes off. Nice views out into the country.



The caves are true caves and excavations into the side of the over-hanging cliff face you can see in these pics, and in the 1930s they built porticos and entrances along in front of the actual cave entrances. Flam'n hot walking across the paving stones to the porticos. Another case of shadow hopping.


There are about 80 caves in the area, but this area has the best five examples with their paintings and statues. Its World heritage, of course.

There were two phases of cave building. the first, in the 'Anuradhapura' era, 1st century BC to 5th century AD, and second from about 1050 to 1250AD.

Cave 1 (1st century AD) contains a 14 m long statue of Buddha reclining, carved out of the solid rock and repainted many times. As usual, the Buddha's feet are painted and decorated.



Cave 2 is the largest (52 x 23m and up to 7m high) and contains many seated and standing Buddahs, and you begin to get an idea of the very rich paintings that will follow.

 

[RooFlyer]

Cave 2 (52 x 23m and up to 7m high) but I didn't get a pic showing its overall size. Every inch richly painted, with decorations I think from the 12th Century. Remarkable preservation, and remember that they would have been done with only reflected light, as sooty smoke from lamps would have damaged the painting.











Detail from the above:



The Buddha on the right has a cobra flaring over it



As I've noted before, places with too much rich history occasionally let its care and respect slip a bit:

 

[RooFlyer]

A couple more from Cave 3:





Then it was back down the hill and on the road for our destination, a guest house on the edges of Kandy.

The road south gradually climbs into the mountains and the vegetation becomes more and more lush. Some enormous trees growing right across the road, from both sides, and this nice red flowering job.



We stopped at a 'roadhouse' type place for lunch - when asked, I usually ask for something 'quick' for lunch, either fruit or this type of place, just north of Matala, itself just north of Kandy.


Very nice selection of curries and rice of various sorts. I think the lot plus water cost abt $4. I didn't go for the local delicacy of Dolphin

 

[RooFlyer]

Also at Matala I needed an ATM stop for my Citi debit card. I found most banks in SR charged either a 400 or 600 rupee fee (A$3 -A$4). I think I only found 1 bank that didn't but it got too hard to chase them down (and they were often closed out-of-hours), so just ended up taking out some big amounts and swallowing the fee.

At Matala we started encountering our first decent traffic for a few days. But it got much worse!



Also stopped at a Hindu temple. Never understood 'em but photogenic enough.

 

[RooFlyer]

Approaching Kandy the roads got winding going up the mountains, and more congested with the inevitable grinding trucks and buzzing tuk-tuks. Got pretty tedious. The guest house for tonight was Riverside Villas, again a choice of Lucky and I couldn't find much on it, other than it was a bit out-of-the-way. For that reason we had to negotiate a lot of traffic, but eventually arrived, with the weather turning to rain for the first time. Crossed a dam on the main river that curls around Kandy to its north, which I think has a small hydro plant.



Riverside Villas was a lot bigger than I was expecting - more like a small motel. There's about twice as much as the LH pic shows. The pool looked good at first, but then I noticed it had a bit of a milky colour, so a swim was out. The river was very low, as the dam was upstream.



We were scheduled to go into Kandy to see the Temple of the Tooth Relic, but as you don't get anywhere near the Tooth Relic, and I was very very tired, I called it quits for the day.

The room was again basic, but had aircon yet no netting which was a worry being so close to the water. Ended up not being a problem. No point to the RH pic of the shower except to make up the pair.



They took my order for dinner that night, I said 7pm would be good. However, when I went down at 6, they said 'dinner's ready' and so I said OK. Ah, when they said 'ready' it would be ready in a while . That suited me. I had an iced chocolate and a really nice spicy dish you can see - forget all the components, but I didn't finish it (as in there is a lot there..).

 

[RooFlyer]

On the way to the National Botanical gardens on the edge of Kandy we stopped by a viewpoint that overlooks the central lake and nearby shrines.



We went to an 'alternative' entrance to the botanical gardens to avoid traffic. Entry over this suspension bridge, traversing the main river.



Its a large, mature collection of plants from all over the world, but focussing on SE Asia and Sri Lanka of course. most species are labelled with their name, scientific name, and location. In fact the signs are colour coded for native to SL, SE ASia and other.

Giant bamboo clumps and avenues of palms are a speciality of the gardens.


These with large aerial roots are native almonds Canarium row.



Jackfruit and the 'canon ball' (Lecythidacae) Couroupita giagensis



Flower of the canon ball



Like many gardens, there is an infestation of bats - flying fox type - doing what bats do - stripping trees and coughping everywhere. Move along quickly ...



Then to the orchid collection.

 

[RooFlyer]

For the orchid lovers, some of the orchids. Many I recognise from Changi! Sorry, mostly no botanical names - many weren't labelled.












And .. Peristeria elata, the 'Holy Ghost' orchid (as in a dove). I would have called it the Daffy Duck orchid myself

 

[RooFlyer]

The botanical garden has a nice balance of formal and informal parts. And of course some ponds ...






One of my favourite plant types: cycads. Never seen ones the size of trees before!



Mobile eco-lawn mower and a couple of frisky guys ...


A lot of the garden is like the LH pic - large mature trees in a park like setting. RH pic is a row of Auraucaria columnaria (type of 'monkey puzzle tree') or 'Cook's Pine, planted in 1955.



The tree on the right is a recent replacement for a gigantic Javan fig, that covered 2,500m sq m (maybe the area of the lighter green grass??). The Cooks Pines around the edge.



This guy had lunch sewn up (Stork Billed Kingfisher):



Last impressions of the gardens - a marauding band of monkeys, enjoying the trees and the grassy areas.

 

[RooFlyer]

Hitting the very congested road leaving Kandy, we descended down the mountains to an occasional panoramic view and lots of stalls of course.



Lunch as usual was an economical affair - another 'bakery' and a cheap curry - this time A$4 for the plate and a bottle of water. Quick and tasty, it suited me.



Walking out, we got down to the 'bakery' end of the business . I bought a small bag of goodies for later, but they didn't last long! Only downside was that it was a hit of palm oil.



I mentioned an aspect of Lucky's driving - I did find this pic and we weren't driving that slow at the time! then we hit the Colombo-Galle expressway, a true freeway to head south towards tonight's destination, Galle.


My hotel in Galle doesn't sell booze, so we made a strategic stop at this large 'road house' to buy lemons and tonic water for my forthcoming self catering G&T! This place has a mini supermarket, numerous eating options, bank etc.



First view of the fort at Galle, where I'm staying. And a strategically placed bottle shop. I was going to get a (half) bottle of Gordons until Lucky pointed out the import tax, so I settled for a local gin. Lots of Aussie wines available.



Arrival at my hotel - The Fort Bazzar. My strategy, carrying over from past trips was that the last couple of nights would be very comfortable, and much less in the activities log. The 'holiday at the end of the holiday' and I really needed this one!

 

[Milboo]

I recognise that road side stop!

 

[juddles]

Rooflyer, I have not placed many "likes" on this TR, but that is just because I get too caught up in getting to the next photo! You take wonderful images. As with all your photos, apart from admiring what I see, it makes me want to visit too. Thank you

Maybe next year you should come to the IV Region of Chile and take such magical photos to capture a place special in my heart. Early April maybe?

 

[RooFlyer]

Crikey, that's an invitation hard to resist @juddles !! Will be working on it!

 

[RooFlyer]

The Fort Bazaar is definitely in the 'boutique hotel' category. Maybe 20 rooms, in three categories. Mine was the lowest category, abt $300/night IIRC, but I could not really have wanted much better.



The 'Banyan' room is at the end, and opens out into a completely private courtyard.


The rooms are aligned on both sides of an open courtyard, with some steps leading up to the bar, lounge and dining areas.



The bar on the left. You give 'em your bottle of booze, and mixers and they prepare and serve. As it happened, I was the ONLY guest the first night, so got right royal treatment! Dining room on the right, but I ate out.

 

[RooFlyer]

Galle was well established by the time the Portuguese came in the 16th Century. The Dutch took over in the 17th century and built a large fort around the tip of the promontory. The fort is now a World Heritage site and one of the largest European-eara fortifications left in Asia.

One thing I didn't know as that Galle was devastated in the 2004 tsunami, with thousands killed.

There's a lot more to Galle than the fort, but this was my 'relaxing time', so I mostly confined myself to the nice, fairly compact and scenic fort area. An exploratory evening walk took me right around the fort perimeter in an hour or so.






I saw this a number of times in SL - wedding photos I think.



Back to the hotel, and ... what's wrong with the RH photo?



AH.. fixed it.



I went out to a 'hoppa' dinner, but enjoyed it so much I forgot to take pics (but more of that later). Walked around the town, which was uncrowded (its off season) - but most restaurants appeared to be open (7:30/8pm seems to be the starting time).



The hotel scrubs up well after dark.