Post #4 October 3
This morning we have a semi early start today. We’re heading towards Dambulla, inland from Columbo. Before that we have another great breakfast on that beautiful ocean front terrace and then say good-bye to that hotel.
We start our drive on the highway heading out to the north of town. It’s morning and traffic is heavy. We go across the New Kelani Bridge (I’m assuming it replaced the old Kelani Bridge). It’s a new 6 lane bridge and was finished in 2021 using Japanese funds. The bridge solved a huge traffic congestion problem.
Picture of the bridge taken from inside the van.
The van takes us through the Gampaha District, the 2nd most populous district after the Columbo District. a rural area east of Columbo. Lots of what you see are widely spaced homes that points to farming as their livelihood.
Typical scene on the highway leading through Gampaha District.
But the scenery is periodically broken up with the occasional odd sight such as this giant buddha.
The drivers in Sri Lanka are not as aggressive as in India (which is really a gong show). Here, it’s a semi controlled free for all. Once you’re out of the city onto single lane roads the rules are that you can only pass on the inside lane on the driver side. (its right hand drive here so it’s the opposite to us in North America). To pass, you pull up behind the vehicle you’re trying to overtake, honk, then pull out into the oncoming lane, accelerate and pass what you’re overtaking and then cut back in. I think Sri Lankan drivers appreciate a good cut off. Personally it’s a little terrifying just how close the vehicles get.
After about 3 hours on the road, we stop at a tea and coffee place P&G Bakers in a town called Kurunegala. It’s designed for crowds of travellers who want to take a break from driving. We all order a beverage and a snack treat but not this one:
We get on our way and arrive at the Ridi Viharaya Temple, also known as the silver temple in the early afternoon. The storey goes that King Dutugemunu (a famous King around the 2nd century BC) was building Ruwanwelisaya, one of the largest stupas in Sri Lanka (that we’ll be seeing later) and was running out of money during the build. Fortunately, silver ore was discovered in his kingdom in the location where this Ridi Viharaya temple is now located. The silver brought him new wealth and allowed him to finish his projects. The King was grateful for his new found wealth and built this temple as a show of thanks.
The temple is amazing because the wall paintings have survived here for over 4000 years. The detail and brightness of the wall and ceiling paintings is unbelievable in that it’s lasted all these years. The technique is known as wet painting and the paint is applied when the plaster is still wet.
The tough part about visiting temples is having to remove your shoes. All of the temples have an outside area that you walk around on and most of the time it’s very rough on my tender shoe-loving feet. The ground may not only be rough but the sun bakes the ground making it freakin’ hot. It’s excellent practice for firewalking… But today when we’re at the temple, it’s raining, so the only feet pain I have is from the rough surfaces.
Zen garden like design placed into the garden. The walkways included surfaces that included decomposed granite.
The first building we entered was the Waraka Welandu Viharaya which means “temple where the jackfruit was consumed”. It’s a place where the locals offer jackfruit because it is where a merchant had given some jackfruit to a monk who then discovered the silver. On some of the pillars there are Hindu influenced carvings of female dancers. Having these Hindu influenced figure in a Buddhist temple is unusual. The interior walls are filled with paintings that are still very clear despite their 2.25 centuries of existence.
Hindu inspired carving in pedestal posts.
Wall paintings
The next building was the main temple Maha Viharaya. This building is the oldest in the complex and is filled with Buddhas.
The temple is built under a cave entrance. The massive rock overhead is said to be in the shape of a cobra head.
Inside there are many Buddhas and paintings on the walls and ceiling.
Wall paintings
After the Silver Temple experience, we have a late lunch at a local restaurant, located at the Gimanhala Hotel in Dambulla.
Now now we head over our next hotel, Amaya Lake Resort and Spa. It’s near Dambulla at a little village of Kandalama. Once checked in, we load into a golf cart to be driven to our cottage hotel room.
And this is what we see when we walk through the door.
It’s a great room. I take a few minutes to set up to recharge my phone and then I’m off napping until dinner, having all my energy zapped out of me from today’s adventures. We walk over to the dinner area located on a huge open terrace. I thought I would go a la carte and not overeat at the buffet, but the curry I ordered came in 6 different bowls containing various parts of the curry (beets, chicken, beans, etc.,) rice and a big papadam, probably enough for 3 of me.
After dinner, I’m still tired and I go straight to bed.
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