Our van seems to be running well after the push start. As mentioned, driving is not as crazy as India but it's still a double e ticket. We have nicknamed our driver, Jageth, "Jag the Ripper", because of the way he rips through traffic. After hundreds of miles of driving, we have figured out that the main highways, which are narrow 2 lane roads, are really 3 lane roads. There is an imaginary 3rd lane down the center which I call the "survival of the fittest " lane - the bravest and largest vehicle wins in that lane. Being an ex-bus driver, Jag loves to use the imaginary 3rd lane. It definitely adds to the excitement of the trip.
After a few hours we arrive in Peradeniya to visit a huge botanical garden
. There are thousands of beautiful flowers and ferns, but what we find the most interesting is the high pitched chirping sound coming from a group of trees in the corner of the park. "What the heck is that?", I ask Rox. "I have no idea but I'm hot, and not in a good way", she says. As we get closer we see that there are thousands of bats, some flying around and some hanging upside down. Wow, we've never seen anything like that before. We've only seen them at night. After talking a few pictures we head back to the entrance to meet our driver who takes us to our next stop, Sigiriya, to visit the Rock Fortress, a world heritage sight.
The fortress was built in the 5th century by King Kashyapa. We are able to climb to the top for a birds eye view of the city. Along the way we see frescoes that were painted on sheltered walls that have withstood the test of time. It's hard to believe anything could last that long. The battery in our van certainly didn't! Upon returning to the parking lot, Jag got nothing but the dreaded click click click sound; time to push her again! We enlisted some strong gentlemen that were nearby and with a swift push, we were off again
.
Our next stop is our boutique hotel, The Green Edge, which is off the beaten path and consists of just 4 rooms. As we are shown our room and had a nice conversation with the owner. He explained how he built the place from scratch, using local woods that are beautifully refinished, and tells us of his aspirations to expand the place and make it self sufficient. He's a hard working young man and we find him quite inspiring.
After a great dinner using local ingredients (one of us enjoyed it and one, not so much) and a restful sleep, we woke up the next morning, hopped on a couple of bikes, and rode through town to the famous Dambulla Rock Temple, another UNESCO site. The temple is built inside of a huge rock and we were able to climb to the top to get a glimpse of a huge reclining Buddha inside the cave.
Our stay in Sri Lanka is coming to an end so we rode our bikes back and jumped in the van for our ride to the airport. No pushing the van this time as Jag got a new battery. We're going to miss Sri Lanka - it's a beautiful country with a history that spans over 3000 years. In our 8 days we only explored the southern portion and there is so much more to be seen. Our next stop - the amazing Maldives... just a 2 hour flight away!
2/8/17 Uva Ben Head to Dambulla
Wednesday, February 08, 2017
Dambulla, Sri Lanka
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2025-02-11
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Ellen
2017-03-22
Nice!!
camirandkdc
2017-03-22
Enjoying this trip with you ...keep the stories coming... . Hugs Di & Kirk
Carl
2017-03-23
Really fascinating stuff,.! Thanks for posting this.
John Neff
2017-03-24
I can't imagine there is a place so different here on Earth. Very very cool.