Ceylon2

Sigiriya

Extract from a journal
April 9th 2013

Sundaras Hotel, Dambulla, Sri Lanka

Woke late this morning and didn't get to breakfast till 7.30. Then with the advice of the lovely housekeepers at Settle Inn (Kandy), I caught a local bus into Kandy centre. At one point the bus braked sharply and I stumbled - almost falling on top of the driver. It certainly created amusement for other passengers,

Then, as if by magic, I was straight on to a country bus heading north towards Anuradhapura via Dambulla.

Two hours later, I disembarked in Dambulla and deposited my bag in this little hotel before heading straight off in a tuktuk to get a local bus to Sigiriya. It became as packed as a tin of sardines  and once again I was the only "whitey" on board.

Forty minutes later we were there with the huge volcanic  plug that is Sigiriya rising up out of the jungle. The rock has served many functions in history but it is essentially viewed as a venerable site of ancient Buddhism.

You climb up the the sheer rock and come to the fresco cave - then onward and upwards to the fortress plateau where I met two lovely Chinese students whose English was most impressive. The taller girl will be studying at The University of Birmingham in the next academic year. I also met a group of Buddhist monks from Myanmar (Burma). We sat together in the shade of a tree surveying the vast green canopy of trees below us and conversed as best we could.

There are many more things I could say about this visit to such an amazing location but let's fast forward to early evening back in Dambulla where I fancied a couple of beers in a locals bar.

I have just started drinking a cold bottle of "Lion" lager when a one-eyed man appears next to me. He is looking down with his good eye. He has a beer gut and a mean expression and several noticeable scars which he proceeds to show me - no doubt the souvenirs of past drunken battles. He does not speak a word of English and appears a little riled that I cannot speak a word of Sinhalese or Tamil.

Thankfully, the one-eyed man seems to like me but I do not dare to argue when he asks for (a) a glass of 8.8% strong beer and (b) 200 rupees for his glass eye fund.

After three bottle of "Lion" I am very happy to escape from that dark and dingy lair with backpack and wallet still in my possession. I doubt that they have ever seen a white tourist in there before and you certainly would not find that rough drinking hole  listed in the "Lonely Planet" guidebook.

I ate dinner in a humble cafe - a delicious curry feast buffet and a big bottle of water - for less than £2. Marvellous - even if there were a couple of power outages during the consumption of said meal. Then back along the main road to this comfortable and clean hotel.

from Yorkshire Pudding https://ift.tt/QvIsa3j