So it’s the second instalment of the Sri Lankan adventure and we’ve packed more in. It feels even more like a real workout, but we’re enjoying plenty of good food and on the whole the weather has been good.
Dambulla Cave Temples are five royal rock (cave) temples hewn into a 160m granite outcrop with numerous statues and images of the Buddha (reputedly around 150). It is one of several UNESCO World Heritage sites in this country that we are visiting on this trip and was the first stop of Day 6.
A visit to a spice garden in Matale included a talk/demonstration about different spices (Vanilla, Cardamon, Nutmeg, Cloves, Turmeric, Spice Tea, Chocolate/cocoa bean, Green/Red pepper corns, Ginger and Cinnamon) and where they come from as well as what some of them can be used for in traditional indigenous Ayurvedic medicine. The demonstration included a surprise but rather enjoyable shoulder massage.
Kandy was home to Sri Lanka’s last independent kingdom. It survived two centuries of colonial incursions until it fell to the British. The stay included a visit to the golden-roofed Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, Sri Lanka’s most important Buddhist relic – a tooth of the Buddha supposedly snatched from the flames of Buddha’s funeral pyre and smuggled into Sri Lanka in the hair of a Princess. During puja (prayers/offerings), the heavily guarded room housing the tooth is open for devotees and tourists but you don’t actually see the tooth as it’s kept in a gold casket. It is rumoured that this is only a replica and the real tooth is hidden somewhere secure. During the reign of the Kings it was a symbol of sovereignty and whoever had custody of the tooth had the right to rule the land.
Whilst in Kandy, we also visited a Batik, Tea Factory, Gem Museum & Lapidary and Wood carving centre as well as taking a walk through a market & bazaar. In the evening we were entertained by a cultural show (10 dances plus fire walking).
At an elevation of 2243m, the mountain in the UNESCO World Heritage Central Highlands area variously known as Adam’s Peak (place where Adam & Eve first set foot on earth after being cast out of the garden of Eden), Sri Pada (sacred footprint of the Buddha – there is a Buddha temple right on the summit), Samanalakande (translates to ‘Butterfly Mountain’; where butterflies go to die) and/or the footprint of Hindu god Shiva has been focus for pilgrimage for over 1000 years. In all it’s about 5200 hard, uneven steps to reach the summit which then have to be retraced back. In theory the sunrise is spectacular and on a clear day Colombo is easily visible 65km away. As dawn illuminates the mountain, the sun casts a perfect shadow of the peak onto the misty clouds down towards the coast. As the sun rises higher the eerie triangular shadow shrinks back towards the mountain and eventually disappears into its base. At least, that’s the theory. The reality for us was a cloud shrouded peak with no hint of sunshine and regular tropical torrential downpours. Still, we’d managed to follow in the steps of the pilgrims and climb the fourth highest mountain in Sri Lanka, which is twice the height of the highest mountain in Britain.
We had an overnight stop in Nuwara Eliya (translates to ‘City of Light’), a small town nicknamed Little England and the Hill Country’s ‘Tea Capital’. It was ‘discovered’ by the British colonial officer John Davey. It feels very British even having the coldest weather of the trip so far - English summer temperatures and rain!
Horton Plains is 2000m
high undulating plateau covered by wild grassland (patina)
which gives way to montane forest further up the slopes. It used to
be inhabited by a herd of Pygmy
Elephants (a subspecies of the
Asian Elephant) but they were hunted to extinction by the
colonial
hunters. One such hunter was Major Thomas Rogers, a colonial officer
who supposedly killed over 1400 elephants. He was struck down by a
bolt of lightning, a fate considered by some as a sign of the anger
of the gods. His tombstone has also been struck twice by lightning.
We trekked to ‘World’s End’ so called because the plateau
comes to sudden end and plunges 870m into the valley below. From the
lookout on this stunning escarpment you can see just about see all
the way to the sea. We had torrential rain before we started the
walk, but
fortunately it had stopped by the time we started
walking and brightened up into a hot sunny morning. Later the guide
told us that we’d been incredibly lucky; normally the weather is
wet and usually the view from World’s End is one of cloud and mist.
After missing out on Adam’s Peak, we were pleased to see this.
Then we took a scenic train ride from Ambewela to Ella with a prime standing room only spot by the window and a cool breeze whilst watching the scenery go by…
There’s more to come, so keep posted for the final instalment.
Still wandering,
Kath
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